The Pages Between Us (15 page)

Hey, sorry that we seem to be getting less than fifty minutes lately. I tried to find you after class yesterday, but I saw you walking away with Ellie. And I was going to wait for you today, but then Bethany had a note she needed to pass to me and we ended up walking to our lockers together.

Did I tell you Renee is going out with Travis now? They seem like a weird match, since you know how chatty Renee is and Travis always just sits there like a jar of paste.

Wait, have you met them yet?

So I'm writing this really fast during sixth period so I can drop off the notebook in your locker before we meet up tonight at the animal shelter. Seriously, how is it possible that I literally haven't seen you in over a week!

Yes, of course I'm still working at the shelter. I know we've both been so busy lately, but I'm not going to give up on Trigger. Or filing things for dogs like Trigger.

Anyway, that all sounds cool about Chess Club. I'm glad
you've found your people. Even if your people can be a little bit snobby, that's great that they are so nice to you. I'm sorry I can't invite Ellie to my birthday, though. I tried to get more people invited, but Mom said it's like fifteen dollars a person and they are already spending a fortune. It's a good thing I'm dropping the soap-opera angle—I would have to start a spin-off series with all the guests! And I don't really know her anyway.

Have your parents met her yet? Ellie sounds like your mom's cup of tea. (Although maybe not because her dad owns a Dairy Queen. Hopefully Ellie's mom is a football fan. Or from the South.) Maybe you guys can play doubles chess against them. Is that a thing? If not, I'm making it a thing. Tell your chess friends I invented a new game!

I never in a million years thought I would say this, but I'm starting to miss the Jackson Whittaker updates! We've spent three years dissecting every time you've breathed the same air as him, and now you TALK to him in class and it's

No Big Deal. Bethany abbreviates everything. Saves loads of time, trust me.

Shouldn't we be writing a script so you can talk to him at my birthday party instead of talking about a regional tournament? Isn't that why we started the clubs in the first place?

So I finally wrote my OIL—Official Invite List. I'll attach it in here. It sure took a while. And I have a BIG SURPRISE to give you tonight at the shelter! You are going to love it. I'm so excited, I feel like I'm that lady in
The Sound of Music
, spinning around and singing about all my favorite things. Tra-la-la!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,

Piper

Grateful: one thing is enough. And I'll give it to you tonight!!

Birthday invite list . . .

1. YOU

2. Bethany Livingston

3. Tessa Ramsey

4. Eve Pinkler

5. Scarlet Kingborn

6. Joel Lamier

7. Ryan Dawson

8. Troy Addelson

9. Jackson Whittaker

10. Jordan Goldberg

11. Dana Huffington (she begged me!)

12. Andrea and Danny

13. Felicity from LARP!

14. Brittan Tanner (I need to come up with extra money because I'm over but I couldn't cut back.)

See? I don't have room for Ellie. But you'll have JACKSON, so not worried about you a bit.

You're right. I haven't even talked to you about Jackson! The fact that I was able to put words together in a sentence that even resembled normalcy is a huge feat for me, right?

I talked to Ellie and the other girls from Chess Club at lunch about him. They all think I'm ready to try another note to him. One that has his name on it so that it will land IN HIS HAND. I'll put one of the girls on alert to make sure Jordan isn't anywhere in the northern hemisphere when I give it to him.

I've been practicing what I'm going to write by jotting stuff down on my lunch napkin. It's starting to come together. Sort of.

And I can't wait to see you at the shelter tonight too. You have a surprise for me?? Well, guess what? I have a surprise for YOU!! Can't wait to show you.

Wheeeeeeee

—Olivia

Why are you late? Why aren't you here? I had my mom drop me off fifteen minutes early so I could see you! So I could give you . . . ta-da!

THIS INVITATION . . .

Isn't it just the most amazingest? I've never owned a piece of paper that is lovelier. Someday, I will pull aside my children, and my children's children, and say, “Come, my child. Come see the moment when your grandma, Nobel Peace
Prize Winner and President of the United States, first started her pathway to excellence.”

“Grandma?” Little Henry will say (btw, he's also a piano prodigy or something. I'm going to have remarkable offspring). “Has anyone else seen this rare artifact?”

I will look out the window and smile wistfully. “Only a select few. Fourteen lucky peers, in fact. The Smithsonian asked to display this precious paper, but I declined. I believe one guest sold their invitation on eBay for one trillion dollars. I don't blame them. My twelfth birthday party was spectacular!”

My mom drove me around after school to pass them out. It was so much fun! She was so smart to have set the date nine days earlier than my real birthday. The first weekend of December isn't as busy as the rest. There aren't office parties or holiday choir concerts or cookie exchanges. It'll actually be about my birthday and not Christmassy! Plus, Pottery Palace was super booked. I'm so glad everything worked out. Oh, and when I dropped off Jackson's invitation, he asked IF YOU WERE GOING TO COME TOO. It's like all of our dreams are coming true.

I just looked out the office window and you are here! I'm going to GET ALL SCREAMY and start RanDomLy cApiTaliZIng. And Miss Jill has us both cleaning out the file cabinet all afternoon, so we have loads of time to plan plan plan. So yeah. Invitation! Best surprise ever, right?

I'm writing in This Notebook because I know once you get done fuming over there, you're going to be curious what I'm scribbling in here.

Piper. Why didn't you tell me you were doing your party so early? I just naturally figured it would be, like, on YOUR REAL BIRTHDAY. This regional tournament has been set since the beginning of the school year. The regional tournament doesn't care about when I joined or when you were born. The regional tournament is not going to be changed. And the regional tournament is what I will tell MY children and grandchildren about someday. Don't you get that? I worked hard and I earned this. I even beat out Ellie. She was named the alternate. I found her in the bathroom, rubbing at her eyes. I knew she was crying, but she claimed it was allergies. I feel awful for beating her since SHE'S the one who taught me everything. But she shook my hand, like a good friend.

I know those invitations are going to be worth a trillion
dollars someday, but can't you change the date? Imagine if I won, or placed, and my dad was sitting there watching me?

Everyone wants to come to your party. They'll make it happen.

Sliding this over to you. Talk to me.

O

So OTHER PEOPLE can make my party happen, but you aren't other people, right? No, you are part of the SPECIAL people, and special people put tournaments before best friends. Maybe you can have ELLIE go to the mall with you after. Go have TEA with your mom.

I know you do chess because it's important to feel close to your dad. But haven't you ever thought that this party is important to me because of my family too? There isn't ever anything that is just about me! I'm just the kid in the backseat driving around to everyone else's destinations. Designing and delivering those invitations with my mom was the first alone thing we've done in forever. Dad even helped us write the addresses out. Just the three of us at the kitchen table.

I'm not as different from you as you think.

And I'm so confused. You want me to drive to twelve other people's houses and de-invite them? What should I say? “Oh, sorry. This time doesn't work for Olivia. Chess is a priority.”

We were so lucky to get into Pottery Palace. The only
opening they had for the next three Saturdays was that 3:00 p.m. slot, and my mom had to put down a one-hundred-dollar NONREFUNDABLE deposit. So should I also tell them to forget about the pottery part of the party? Should we all just come to your chess match?

You like lists. Let's think back to a very important list . . .

THE TWO REASONS WHY WE STARTED GOING TO CLUBS IN THE FIRST PLACE:

1. To Cast My Birthday. And I accomplished that. Sure, I never found an Ashley Desdemona, but I have a Bethany Livingston. The real-life people at our school are possibly better than the made-up people on my show.

2. Talk to Jackson Whittaker. Except you realized that talking to Jackson wasn't your problem. It was talking to anybody. Which is so true, Olivia. You clam up around people, and they never get to see the amazing person I do. Chess Club helped change that, but I'm worried it's changing you TOO much.

We agreed we wouldn't let anything or anyone come between us. We agreed we could make other friends as long as we stayed FOREVER friends. WE AGREED. But I'm not sure if that's happened. I think our tide pool ceremony didn't really
work. I've branched out. You've branched out. But why does that have to mean we're branching AWAY from each other?

Going to the office to FILE.

Piper

Piper,

You forgot to add Danny on your goals.

—O

Olivia,

What are you talking about?

—Piper

P,

You also got to use LEGO Club as a way to see Danny. You had other good things happen too, so don't forget that. You said he acts weird in the hallway, but guess what? I saw you staring at him when you were at your locker the other day. Just staring.

O

Olivia,

Why would you possibly bring Danny into this? I don't care about Danny! I'm not the boy-crazy one here. STAY FOCUSED. I just shared my soul with you; write me back for real.

Piper