Alive by Chandler Baker Page B

ruffling my hair because I still can’t believe it. “He asked me out! He asked
me
out.”
    “Where the hell did you go? I thought you went to the bathroom.”
    “I, uh, I ran into him. On the way.” I’m not ready to share the whole story. I don’t want anyone else knowing that I’m not one hundred percent better. Not yet
anyway.
    “He asked you out?” she says, as if finally registering it. Then she smirks. “On the way to the bathroom?”
    “Shut up.” I wrap a strand of black hair around my finger and twirl. I’d forgotten what it felt like to talk about normal girl things. News other than what my iron levels were
and how I was feeling that week. “He asked me out,” I repeat. “But it’d be okay to tone down the surprise just a hair.”
    “Sorry. No, I mean why wouldn’t he?” She rolls her eyes. “Come on, you know that’s not how I meant it.”
    “I know, I know.” I peer through the back windshield to check on Elsie. Thankfully, she seems to be engrossed in a serious chat with her stuffed penguin, Mr. P.
    “So, details, please!”
    “We’re going out Friday night.” Brynn sucks in a mouthful of air. “What?” I ask, suspicious.
    “I hate to break it to you, but that’s the night you’re going to the concert with Henry.”
    Her statement takes a moment to sink in, and when it does, I groan. “Ugh, you’re right,” I say, smacking my forehead with my open palm. “How could I have
forgotten?”
    “I have a few guesses.”
    “What do I do, Brynn?”
    “Do you really need me to tell you?”
    I glare at her and jut out my lower lip. “No.”
    “It’s Henry, Stel. You can’t blow him off.” Yes, it’s Henry, I want to say, but what does that mean? “If you still feel this way after the concert,
then—”
    “Then you’re implying it’s a date with Henry, when I don’t think that’s the case.”
    “Don’t be an idiot. It’s a date and you knew it when you agreed. You can take your naive ingenue routine elsewhere, thank you very much.” Brynn unfolds her arms and takes
pity on my pouting face. “Look, Levi asked you out once. I’m sure he’ll ask you out again.”
    “Not if someone else gets there first.” I pout. He’s only just started at Duwamish. Running into him out here was pure luck.
    Wasn’t it?
    And what happens when he realizes I’m not the most popular girl at school. Or the prettiest?
    “Come on.” Brynn shoves my shoulder playfully. “They have nothing on you.” But she’s only being nice.
    “Since when did you become the moral police?” I huff.
    “Please, I’m an angel.” At that, I laugh out loud, because there’s nothing angelic about Brynn McDaniel. “You should have just told Henry you weren’t
interested, Stel.”
    Through the back windshield, I see that Elsie is now beating Mr. P’s head against the seat. “But I’m not
not
interested.” The truth is, I was excited when Henry
asked me out before my surgery, but the last thing I wanted was some sick-girl pity party. And worse, what if I hadn’t survived? Then Henry would have been forced to mourn my death for, like,
fourteen months as the sad, dutiful boyfriend of three and a half days? Not on my watch. “I liked him before…you know…and I’ll probably like him again. I’m just, I
don’t know, I met Levi and—”
    “Sparks?”
    Sparks, an inferno, take your pick. I sigh. “It’s complicated.” I tap the glass and for a second Elsie pauses in her quest to beat the cotton stuffing out of her
penguin’s head.
    “It’s not a fucking mathematical equation,” Brynn says.
    Elsie stares up at me. Her tiny lower lip is starting to get wet and slimy, the way it does right before a good, solid cry. I’ve only got a minute before the real screaming starts. This
wouldn’t be half as difficult if I didn’t want to shove my tongue in Levi’s mouth every time I laid eyes on him. “Fine, I’ll cancel my date with Levi, okay?”
    Brynn pinches my cheeks. “Look