Nine
“Movie night at your house Saturday?” Lindsay asked, using her phone’s camera to apply more lip gloss on the way to class.
“Of course,” Maizie said. This was their routine. Every Saturday night, regardless of any boyfriends they had at the time, were girls’ nights.
“Ooh, we should invite Jayce and Christian.” Lindsay’s eyes lit up.
“No!” Maizie said too quickly.
Lindsay lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Um, why not?”
“Because I don’t want to hang out with my cousin. And his friend is super irritating.”
“Irritatingly sexy,” Lindsay said, pumping her eyebrows.
“Okay. Stop. I just want to hang out with you while we still can.”
“Fine.” Lindsay relented. “Just the two of us.”
“Thank you.”
Why was everyone so obsessed with Christian? He was annoying. Granted, he had the bluest eyes she had ever seen and would be considered attractive by any regular girl, until he opened his mouth anyway. But girls kept throwing themselves at him left and right, all the girls at the pond, Stephanie in particular, then Mira at church. So many girls had asked about him at school.
Stupid small towns. It was pathetic really.
She was still stewing about it when Principal Hayes caught her on the way to lunch.
“Maizie, can I speak with you for a moment?”
“Sure,” she said, following him to his office.
He adjusted some papers on his desk and plucked a pen out of his top desk drawer before looking back to her. He was new to the school this year. He seemed like a nice guy but his indecisiveness showed.
“As you know, this is the first graduation I will be in charge of, and I want to make sure I do everything right.” While he spoke he clicked a steady rhythm with the pen.
Maizie nodded.
The clicking sped up. “So, together with the senior class presidency, we would like to honor Mack at graduation.”
Maizie froze, and her heart stopped pumping. “W-what?”
His thumb moved at lightning speed on the pen. “It will just be something small, we’d like to put his picture in with the class announcement and were wondering if you would be willing to say a few things.”
“No.”
The clicking stopped. “No to the picture, or to the speaking?”
Maizie’s lips trembled. “No to all of it. This isn’t his funeral.”
The last time she’d seen his picture in a program had been at his funeral. She couldn’t go back to that day.
“Of course not, I didn’t mean that at all. I just thought it might be a nice way for your classmates to remember him,” he said and resumed his pen clicking. She resisted the urge to snatch the pen from him and toss it across the room.
Maizie pressed a palm to her forehead. Was she selfish to want her graduation day to be a happy one?
But would a tribute to Mack make her parents happy? She could see the tears in her mom’s eyes already. The kind of tears that pained you to see but slowly healed a broken heart.
The clicking sped up the longer she remained quiet. She couldn’t take it anymore. Her head shot up before she could change her mind. “Fine. But two minutes is all.” She stood from her chair and left the office before he could click his stupid pen and ask more of her. He’d already asked too much.
