all anxious to start planning. I love having projects! Plus, if I donât have something to do, I might end up spending all my time worrying about Yamir.
âGreat, then itâs settled,â Erica says. âLucy, weâre going to need a pre-event visit at your spa. Okay? Talk to my assistant to set that up.â
âYour assistant?â
She nods. âYeah, Zoe Feldman. Sheâs right here.â
âYouâre Ericaâs assistant?â I ask, but sheâs too busy typing something into her phone to notice.
Finally our bus comes and we say good-bye to Erica and Zoe. It almost feels like what just happened is some kind of weird dream. I guess itâs good to be wanted, though. And thatâs probably the nicest Erica has been to me since kindergarten. Maybe Zoe is a good influence on her.
âItâll be fun,â Sunny says when weâre on the bus. âI mean, we might as well get involved. Weâre only going to have one Eighth-Grade Masquerade.â
âYouâre so right, and thatâs totally how Iâve been feeling lately,â I tell her.
âExplain?â
âThat weâre only going to be in our last semester of middle school once. And we have to make it awesome. Actually, more than awesome. We have to make it perfect,â I explain.
She looks at me. âYeah, butââ
âNo buts,â I say. âWe have to.â
When we get to my house, my parents are in the kitchen drinking coffee.
âHey, Luce. Hey, Sunny,â my mom calls to us. âHappy weekend.â
âHey,â I say back, and Sunny and I go upstairs.
âIs that weird?â Sunny asks when weâre in my room with the door closed. âI mean, having your dad around so much? I know itâs been like this since the summer, but still.â
âNah.â I throw my backpack under my desk. âItâs nice. Just little things, like how he helped me with the math homework the other night. Video-chatting on the computer is great and everything, but itâs much better to go over complicated problems side by side at the kitchen table. I feel really lucky that heâs around.â
âThatâs so great,â Sunny says. âEspecially since your dad is really good at math.â
I run downstairs to grab us some snacks, and when I get back Sunny squeals, âOh my God, did you see this picture Claudia posted online?â Sheâs on my bed using my laptop. I run over to see what it is, and thereâs a picture of Claudia and Bean smooching in front of some fountain.
âTheyâre really in love,â I say. I didnât like Bean much atthe beginning, but I kind of love him now. Heâs a part of the family, and even though I wonât see him for a while, I canât really imagine things without him.
âTheyâre totally gonna get married, right?â Sunny asks. âHow cool is that? Theyâre on their own, in college, in love. Itâs like a dream.â
Itâs hard to be jealous of my sister, since Iâm so happy for her. And also I kind of feel like things will work out for me one day too. When Iâm older. I bet Iâll have a cool boyfriend when Iâm in college.
âDo you think Evan and I will go to college together?â Sunny asks.
âI think itâs too soon to tell. You guys have all of high school to get through.â
âThatâs true.â
âSo, what should we do tonight?â I ask. âAnnabelle said something about going to see that movie about the magician. But Iâm not sure I feel like it. Thereâs always Friday night rec, but we just went last week.â
âYeah, but we can go again.â
Friday night recreation is an Old Mill tradition. I guess parents were worried their kids would become delinquents, so they had the teachers open the middle school to let kids hang out there. Some play basketball and others just sit