I Forgot to Tell You by Charis Marsh

Justin; he said that his GPA has gone up since he started dating her.”
    â€œYeah, he said. Have you seen his transcript?”
    Beth didn’t bother answering Alexandra, instead focusing on the sauce she was making.
    â€œOkay, fine. I’ll invite someone else.”
    Alexandra went upstairs and went through her conversation list on her phone, trying to find someone who would make the night more bearable. Jessica? Definitely not. Grace? Uh, obviously not. Taylor (ew), Kaitlyn, Mao, Aiko, Emily … haven’t hung out with her in, like, a year, would be too weird. Kageki, Keiko … She gave up and started to look through her phonebook, through the people that she’d never even texted. Julian. Hmm. She paused, considering. There wasn’t that much time left to decide; it was already almost five o’ clock. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe …” Oh, whatever. She picked up the phone and called Julian.
    â€œHey, Julian?”
    â€œHey, Lexi … what’s up?” Julian sounded confused, and Alexandra didn’t blame him. She’d never called him before.
    â€˜Hey, I’ve got like a massive favour to ask you. This is going to sound really weird …”
    â€œOkay …”
    â€œYou know Anna?”
    â€œUm …”
    â€œSorry, stupid question. She’s decided to date my brother.” Alexandra waited for Julian’s reaction on the other end of the line. All she got was silence. “Julian?”
    â€œUm, yeah — is this a good thing? Or a bad thing?”
    â€œIt’s a bad thing!”
    More silence. “Why?”
    Alexandra held the phone away for herself for a moment. “Ugh!” She put the phone back up to her ear. “It just is. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner. Anna’s coming over, and I just know it’s going to be super awkward.”
    â€œThings are only as awkward as you make them.”
    â€œNot helping, Julian. Can you come?”
    â€œUm, tonight?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWell, I’ve got some homework I really need to do, but …”
    â€œYou can do it here. I’ll go ask my mom if we can go pick you up. Phone you when we’re at your house.”
    â€œOkay, do you even know where I live?”
    â€œOf course. Everyone knows where Mr. Yu lives. Bye.” Alexandra hung up on Julian and ran back downstairs to where her mother was. “Mom, can you please drive me to pick up Julian? He lives in Mr. Yu’s homestay.”
    Beth stared at her. “Lexi, are you insane? Mr. Yu lives way too far away, and I am in the middle of cooking dinner!”
    â€œMom, please! Come on, you’re letting Justin date Anna, and Julian can’t bus here, it’s way too far and the buses are stupid.”
    Justin appeared in the kitchen door. “So what are you planning now, oh crazy, rude, annoying, idiotic sister of mine?”
    â€œI hate you, Justin.” Alexandra turned back to her mother. “Please? If have to go to this stupid dinner, then I get to have someone over, too. It’s not fair.”
    â€œOh no, you don’t,” Justin interjected quickly. “You are not inviting Tristan over. I’ve heard you two talking about Anna together, and you’re enough of a bitch on your own.”
    â€œLanguage, Justin,” Beth said automatically, putting the chicken in the oven. “And I already told her she couldn’t invite Tristan, don’t worry. Now she wants me to drive all the way into Vancouver, to the east side, to pick up that new boy.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œJulian,” Alexandra interrupted, her voice pitching into a whine. “You have to, Mom, otherwise it’s not fair.”
    â€œI remember Julian,” Justin said, thinking. “You know what? Go get your coat; I’ll drive you to pick him up.”
    Alexandra stared at him. “Really?”
    â€œYes. I like him; he seemed like