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  It reminded me of this one time back in third grade, when Olivia, a friend from Miss Mallard’s, threw a birthday party at her house. Olivia was kind of nerdy back then, always wearing maroon turtlenecks and stuff, and she didn’t have a lot of friends, but still, when she invited every girl in our class she kind of expected at least half of them to show up. On the day of the party, though, it ended up being just her, me, and this overpriced Russian magician that her parents had hired from some sort of crazy European birthday party service. He pulled about twenty dollars’ worth of quarters out of my ear, then asked for them all back. It was the lamest party of all time, and Olivia and I never talked about it ever again. No way did I want tonight to turn out like that.

  When I got home, though, I started to feel a little better. The living room looked really nice the way that I’d decorated it—just the Japanese-looking lamps made a huge difference—and I told myself I was making way too big a deal about this whole thing. People would either like me, or they wouldn’t. If I had to throw the best party of all time to win their friendship, then they probably weren’t worth hanging out with anyway. So after setting up the hummus and stuff, I made myself stop obsessing over the party space.

  I fed Noodles, changed into this really cute green Miu Miu dress I’d bought when Liesel and I went shopping together, then curled up in a chair with a book to wait for my guests. I was kidding myself if I thought I could get through even one page, though, because I couldn’t concentrate at all. Mostly I just kept reading the same paragraph over and over until I finally shut the book. I looked out the window. I could tell it was really fall now, because it was getting dark earlier. By seven-thirty, it was almost like night outside.

  Patch showed up first—actually on time, if you can believe that.

  “I’m so glad to see you,” I said, leading him into the living room. “All these people canceled on me—and I can’t believe Mom and Dad aren’t going to be here. So, does it look okay? What do you think?”

  Patch laughed at me. “You’re worrying way too much.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” I threw myself down into a chair and sighed. “Patch, how come you’re so laid-back?”

  My brother shrugged. “Things have a way of working themselves out, you know? Just take a breath.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” I put my feet up on an ottoman and took some deep, relaxing breaths. But then the doorbell rang again, and I jumped right back up. I could relax later. Right now, the real guests were starting to arrive.

  Chapter 30

  Welcome to My World

  The minute I saw Meredith and Judith, I was glad I’d dressed up. Meredith was wearing this cute lacy dress that looked like it was from the sixties, and her hair was down all the way, with these awesome barrettes in it that had artificial flowers glued to them. Judith had on a halter top and heels. And, even though it wasn’t my birthday, they’d brought gifts. Judith was carrying a bottle of sparkling cider, and Meredith had made me a belt out of bottle caps. It sounds like it would be ugly, I know, but it was actually cool. Even if it had been the tackiest thing ever, though, I wouldn’t have cared. It was just amazing that they’d put so much effort into getting ready for my party. Obviously this was a bigger deal to them than I’d realized.

  “Wow, this is so nice,” I said, taking the presents. “You guys really didn’t have to do this.”

  “We just felt bad we doubted you and everything,” said Meredith shyly, tucking her hair behind her ears.

  “Oh.” I felt really touched, almost like I was going to start crying. “Well, you guys had every right to doubt me. I’m sorry I kept so many secrets. From now on, I won’t. It was really stupid.”

  “We were the stupid ones,” Judith admitted. “Or really, I was. Meredith kept telling me we could trust you, but I guess I just didn’t believe her.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter,” I said. “Come on in.” I stepped out of the doorway so they could come inside. Judith handed me the bottle of cider, but Meredith held on to the bottle-cap belt, turning it over in her hands like she was worried I wouldn’t like it or something.

  “Let me show you how it works,” she said.

  She was still showing me how the buckle she’d made fastened—it was adjustable, and kind of complicated—as we walked into the living room. I glanced around in surprise. Patch was gone—it was like he’d evaporated or something.

  But before I could say anything about it, Meredith and Judith had started wandering around the living room, looking sort of confused. And in a flash, I could tell just what they were thinking: Where were my other friends? My family? My scene? They cooed over the refreshments and the cool sofa and everything, but I could tell that they thought I was still hiding something from them.

  “Hey, I know this isn’t what you were expecting,” I said, standing awkwardly in a corner of the room.

  Meredith bit her lip. “Well, it is a little … quieter.”

  “Yeah, I know. When you hear about the Flood house, people are always talking about our parties and how it’s a huge hangout. But the thing is, it’s this way a lot of the time too. My parents travel a lot, and when my brother and sister are out having their adventures, I’m actually just alone.”

  Judith frowned. “That must be so weird. I’m sorry, Flan.”

  At first I was afraid she was being sarcastic; it took me a second to realize she was actually sympathizing with me. But before things got too heavy, Noodles ran in, wagging his tail and squealing, and Meredith and Judith practically went into hysterics.

  “Oh, he’s so cute,” shrieked Meredith. Noodles stood on his hind legs, waving his front paws at her, until she got down on the ground and held him in her lap.

  “How old is he?” asked Judith, scratching him behind the ears.

  I shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

  “So he’s a rescue, then?”

  I thought of the tacky model from the bar—her Mickey Mouse shirt, her belly button ring, her flip-flops.

  “You could say that, yeah,” I answered.

  “Well, he is amazing,” Judith said. “He’s the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen!” Noodles promptly licked her face—I think he knows when he’s being complimented.

  We sat around, eating red velvet cupcakes and listening to the party CD I’d made. Meredith recommended some bands to me and promised to burn me copies of their albums. We mostly just joked around and gossiped about people from school until the guys showed up.

  The second the doorbell rang, all three of us leapt up. And even though it made them look kind of over-eager, Judith and Meredith came with me, giggling and fixing their hair, when I got up to answer it.

  Bennett, Eric, and Jules were standing on the steps, looking awkward as I swung the door open. Bennett was wearing a collared Madras shirt and he had his hair slicked back. He smiled at me, sort of shyly but with his dimples showing, and held out a bunch of yellow lilies. How did he know they’re my favorite?

  “These are for you,” he said. He quickly added, “From all of us,” but before he could get the words out, Meredith and Judith went, “Awww …”

  “Thanks so much,” I said, grinning.

  Bennett blushed. I think that if other people in our class at school could’ve seen him right then, they never would have called him the second-cutest boy in tenth grade. Especially because Eric, who was supposedly the first, was standing right next to him in wrinkled blue jeans, with this big scowl on his face like he was too cool to be there or something. It was definitely not the kind of expression you see on male models, that’s for sure. Even Jules looked cuter, because at least he was smiling. He stood behind the other two, wearing this vintage suit jacket that looked like it was from the seventies or something, and he looked like he couldn’t have been happier. The minute she saw him, Meredith looked away and stared straight down at her feet—I think she was glad he’d shown up too.

  “It’s so great to see you guys,” I said, stepping aside to let them in. “
I’m so glad you could come.”

  “So this is the famous Flood house,” said Eric, striding into the living room before anyone else. He looked around and sniffed the air. “Hmm. Hmmm. Not too shabby. Yeah, it’s all right, Flan. I’m glad to finally see it myself. You know, your brother’s got a rep for being the biggest party animal in the West Village. But don’t worry, I never really bought it.”

  “Thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes. I went out to the kitchen to put the flowers in some water. As I was running the tap, it occurred to me for the first time that maybe Eric was jealous of my brother. And now they were both here. Oh boy, oh boy. This was going to be some evening.

  I went back out to the living room, where my friends were all drinking the sparkling cider Judith had brought. I sat down next to Bennett on the sofa and poured myself a glass. The guys were trying to make conversation with Judith and Meredith, but it wasn’t going too well.

  “So, Judith, who do you have for history class?”

  Giggle, giggle.

  “Hey, Meredith, you know this song?”

  Shy silence.

  After a while, Jules and Bennett were actually able to get a conversation going about movies—Meredith mumbled that she liked pirates, and Judith giggled something about flying snakes—but they didn’t have much help from Eric, who was sitting in one of the chairs with his arms crossed, still scowling. I wondered how they’d managed to drag him there. Probably he’d just wanted to see our house himself so he could go back to school and say parties at the Flood house weren’t all that.

  Finally we poured out the rest of the cider, and the party fell into a real lull.

  “I have some board games up in my room,” I offered. “We could play Scrabble—or Monopoly.”

  “I call the race car,” Bennett volunteered.

  “I know a better game we could play,” suggested Jules. He had a kind of mischievous grin on his face and even before he reached for the cider bottle, I knew what he had in mind.

  “Oh no, not spin-the-bottle!” cried Judith, delighted. “Let me go first.”

  She jumped up out of her chair and went to the coffee table.

  “Wait a second, we have to sit in a circle,” said Jules.

  So we all sat down on the carpet in a circle around the table. I moved the box of red velvet cupcakes (which were now half gone) down onto the floor, and Judith gave the bottle a spin, then squealed. Because it ended up pointing right … at … Eric.

  There was a long, really awkward moment as Eric stared at her like she was a total stranger on the subway, and then I realized that Eric was actually nervous about this kiss.

  “Relax,” Bennett said. “It’s just a kiss.”

  “Shut it,” Eric said. And everybody sort of giggled.

  “If you don’t want to …” Judith said.

  “Of course I want to!” Eric said, and then his face got this look that was sort of like, “Okay, I’ll do this, but I am really, really embarrassed.” He closed his eyes, puckered up, and leaned slowly over the coffee table. But just as she moved her face close to his—

  “Oh my God, it’s Patch Flood!” Judith shrieked. Meredith, bringing a cup of cider to her lips, promptly dropped it into her lap.

  I turned to look, and there he was: my brother, standing in the doorway to the kitchen, wearing his board shorts and a clean T-shirt. His hair was all sun-bleached and wavy. And he was holding a bag of chocolate animals from Li-Lac, my favorite candy store.

  “Hey,” he said with an effortless smile. “I realized I hadn’t brought anything for the party, so I snuck out the back door. Hope you like these—Flan always used to have them at her parties when she was a little girl.”

  Judith and Meredith stared at each other, their mouths still hanging open. Eric crumpled up his napkin and threw it over his shoulder in disgust since he’d been totally called out as somebody who had never really kissed a girl before, even though he was handsome. If he’d been jealous of Patch before, he was crazy with anger and embarrassment now. Finally, Meredith was the first one to speak: “Flan,” she whispered, “this is the best party ever!”

  I was glad she thought so. And it was pretty much the most perfect evening. Except for one still-missing invitee.

  Chapter 31

  The Girl Next Door

  “This is a really great party,” Bennett said. We’d gone outside to get a moment to ourselves before he had to go. He ran his hand through his hair self-consciously. “I really hate that I’m going to have to go soon. But like I said, my brother’s getting home from college for the weekend, and—”

  “Say no more,” I told him. “I totally understand.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ll have to tell me how the Clue game turns out. I still think Professor Plum was involved somehow.”

  I laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it in school on Monday.”

  “Actually, would you like to get together before then? Tomorrow night, maybe? There’s this movie playing at the Angelika—”

  “Bennett Keating, are you asking me out on a date?”

  “Yeah, I guess I am.” He rubbed one toe into the step, and I thought about how it made him even cuter that he was so shy. “I mean, if you’d rather not—”

  I took his hand. “No. I would absolutely love to.”

  “Great!” Bennett smiled. I was liking his dimples more all the time. “I’ll come by around seven to pick you up.”

  “Maybe my parents’ll actually be around this time. I’m sure they’d like to meet you. They are real, I swear.”

  “I believe it.” Bennett looked at his watch. “Okay, now I really do have to go.”

  “Sure.”

  Bennett reached out like he was just going to give me a hug, and I stepped forward to hug him back. But then, at the last second before he let go, he turned his face toward mine—and we kissed. It wasn’t on the ear—it wasn’t a part of spin-the-bottle—it was a nice, normal kiss, like real couples share, and it was absolutely wonderful. Bennett let go and we stood there for a minute, grinning at each other like idiots.

  Then Sara-Beth Benny leapt out from the bushes and totally ruined the moment.

  “Oh my God, Flan, is this him?” she shrieked in a stage whisper behind her hand. “The ear man? I’m so glad to see things worked out—finally!”

  Bennett turned beet-red, and I think I did too. But at that point, Sara-Beth could’ve said anything and I wouldn’t have gotten mad, I was so glad to see her. Before she could move an inch, I wrapped her in a big hug.

  “Sara-Beth! I’m so glad you’re here.”

  She hugged me back and gave me a big smile. “I couldn’t stay mad at you for long, Flan. When Philippa told me you wanted me here, I couldn’t say no.”

  “I just feel so bad about what happened. You have no idea.”

  “If anyone should feel bad, it’s me—showing up here looking like this. Ew! I’m a mess!”

  Sara-Beth was wearing this little pleated Prada skirt and top, but she had leaves stuck to her back and dirt on her knees. As she started brushing herself off, I wondered how long she’d been hiding there—and why.

  “I was about to come in to see your lovely party,” she went on, as if answering my question, “when you two came out and I dove into the bushes. That was one thing I learned from the jujitsu course—reflexes!”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met,” said Bennett, finally bouncing back from his embarrassment. I was glad to see that he was smiling again—it was sort of a funny situation if you looked at it right. “I’m Bennett.”

  “And I’m Sara-Beth Benny,” she said, offering her hand like she expected him to kiss it or something.

  “Wait a second. I thought you looked familiar, but …the Sara-Beth Benny?”

  “The one and only,” I said, and Sara-Beth tossed her hair like the movie star she was.

  “Well, it was great to meet you, Sara-Beth,” said Bennett. “But I’ve got to get going. See you tomorrow, Flan.” He gave me a long, soulful
look in the eyes, like he could barely stand to leave, and squeezed my hand. Then took off down the front steps. He waved just before disappearing down the sidewalk, back toward his apartment building.

  “You have no idea how glad I am you’re here,” I said to Sara-Beth. “You have to believe me—I didn’t write those mean things about you.”

  “Oh, in my heart, I knew that all along. You don’t have that kind of meanness in you, Flan. Besides, the handwriting didn’t match.”

  “Match what?”

  “Your diary,” she said matter-of-factly. “I found it in the desk drawer the first day I was staying with you, when I was looking for the clothespins.”

  I sighed and shook my head. A few weeks ago, I would’ve been mad, or at least freaked out—but now I knew there was nothing written in there that I wouldn’t have told her anyway. She might be a little nuts, but I was quickly realizing that she was also my best friend. “Listen, where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to call you all day. For a few days, actually. It was like you fell off the face of the earth or something.”

  “I’d say I was a little closer than that—I was moving into my new house, silly!”

  “New house?”

  Sara-Beth smacked me playfully, like I should know already. But before I could ask her what in the world she was talking about, she was opening the door and going into my party.

  Jules, Eric, Meredith, and Judith were all still playing Clue together, and I heard dice hit the table in a clatter as they all turned in unison to stare at the movie star who’d just burst through the door. Sara-Beth removed her sunglasses with a flourish.

  “Sara-Beth Benny,” she said to the room. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  Meredith and Judith looked at each other and screamed, “Sara-Beth Benny?”