The Secret Recipe for Moving On Karen Bischer (read my book .txt) 📖

having a party—well, my brother is having a party—next Friday, if you guys are around. Our parents are going to Vermont for a wedding and he wants to invite the whole senior class. I have no idea where we’re going to put everyone, but he insists it will work.”

Alisha’s twin brother, Darpan, is incredibly popular. He’s just like Alisha, in that he’s super friendly, but he’s on the soccer and baseball teams, which means he’s friends with mostly jocks who are into the whole party scene. Which means it could get out of control pretty quick.

“I need to see,” I say, hoping I don’t sound ungrateful for the invite. I mean, I’d love to hang out with Alisha, but at a loud, raging party?

“Come on, El,” Jodie says, tugging my sleeve. “I’ve never been to a co-ed kegger. I need to see if every TV show and movie has been lying to me all these years.”

Alisha leans forward and lowers her voice. “And if you’re worried about Brynn and Hunter being there, don’t. Kim is apparently having some kind of wine and cheese party that night.”

The conspiratorial glint in her eyes makes me laugh out loud. “Okay, then that’s working in its favor.”

“And, seriously,” she says, “I won’t be going crazy partying or anything. You guys could keep me company.”

“Alisha!” Across the parking lot, I can see a girl in a band uniform waving at her. “We’re heading down soon!”

Alisha nods and gives a thumbs-up to the girl. Then she turns back to us. “I hope you’ll both come! Good to see you again, Jodie! And I’ll see you Monday, Ellie!” she says, limping over to her fellow bandmates.

“That party is going to be so epic,” Jodie says, linking arms with me. “And no, you’re not getting out of it, Mary Ellen.”

“I wouldn’t dream of not having a front-row seat to my classmates puking up copious amounts of beer.”

Me. At a huge party. I don’t know if I should laugh or be completely terrified.

We head down to the field, which is so brightly lit, the grass practically glows. We take a seat in the bleachers, off to the side of an area that’s roped off for the RHHS band. I see Mrs. Gillroy, wearing an RHHS shirt, sitting arm-in-arm with a guy, who I assume is her husband, wearing a navy-and-yellow baseball cap. I also see several of my teachers spread out among the vast seating area, and recognize a bunch of my classmates.

The RHHS band starts to march onto the field and the PA system crackles to life and a voice announces, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Ringvale Heights High Fightin’ Hornets marching band. Under the direction of Maria Francis, they will be entertaining us this pre-game with a medley of hits from the 1980s.”

There’s a burst of cheering from our side of the field, and most of the people near us are watching attentively as the band forms a giant Pac-Man, but Jodie sits up straighter and scans the bleachers. “I didn’t realize we get musical entertainment and—” She suddenly clutches my arm, scaring the crap out of me. “Oh my god, that guy is so freaking hot!”

“Who?” I ask, looking around.

“That guy!” She points to a guy walking up the aisle on the other side of our section. I suck in my breath.

“That’s Luke, from my home ec class.”

“Wait, this guy is in the JAILE family and I’m only now hearing about him? Good god, woman, how do you not see this? He’s a total fox.”

“He’s supposed to be with his girlfriend tonight,” I say, ignoring the heat creeping into my face. “I wonder if she’s here?”

“Well, ask, genius,” Jodie says.

“You mean call him over here?”

“Yes. I’d like to meet him.”

I’m worried that if I call him over, Greta will find us, and we’ll have to sit with them for the rest of the game. I worry she’ll make another weird comment about Luke and me. I worry what Luke thinks of her saying stuff like that. And I worry that I’m worried about it.

Jodie nudges me with her foot.

Fine. “Luke!” I call, and I see his head turn in our direction. His eyes light up and he waves. He searches for an empty row of seats and makes his way across toward us.

“Ellllll,” Jodie whispers. “You need to at least make out with this guy.”

“Jodie!” I bark, then lower my voice. “He has a girlfriend! And he’s not even my type.”

Jodie rolls her eyes. “Except he is. He’s hot. Every girl likes a hot guy.”

“Then maybe you should like him,” I say.

“No, I’m fully devoted to pining over Joaquin, the new guy at work. Besides, you’re bright red right now, so I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I don’t get to argue with her because Luke has reached us. I notice he’s carrying a golf umbrella. “Fancy seeing you here,” he says.

“I thought you were going out with Greta tonight?” I say. I can feel my face get even hotter when I say Greta’s name.

“She ended up going into the city to meet up with some of her snowboarding friends from Canada. She told me it’d be a lot of shoptalk, so I stayed home,” Luke says, his face totally neutral. “But at least I get to see the game now.”

“You should totally sit with us,” Jodie says smiling at him.

“Unless you’re meeting friends,” I say. “No pressure.”

“No,” Luke says, “I was actually hoping to run into you!”

Jodie kicks me, but she distracts Luke from seeing it by scooting down our bleacher, dragging me with her and opening up a seat for him on the end. Next to me.

“Oh,” I say, “Luke, this is Jodie.”

Luke sits down and his smile broadens. “Nice to meet you. Are you a big football fan?”

“Ha, I’m not the biggest sports gal, but I do anything for a friend,” she says, elbowing me.

“She also can’t turn down seeing guys in tight pants,” I say, starting to giggle, and