Dedicating Every Day to You

Chapter Fifty-One

Ani, my partner in Home Ec, sprinkles a little flour on top of my head, grinning mischeviously. They've been really helpful during the whole class, and they choose now to goof off.

"Aniello, stop it!" I giggle, tiny puffs of flour shaking down onto the table. Our chocolate cake is cooling and frosted, and now we're awaiting judgement.

"Make me," they laugh back. Our amazing teacher, Miss Jessie, is making the rounds and tasting everyone's cakes.

I've gotten used to my class schedule by now. Mr. Lloyd-Weber is strict but fair, and while Level A ballet is challenging I've gotten the hang of the intensive training style. Mr. Rosario's Spanish class is more hands-on, but I'm still struggling with the verb conjugation stuff. Geometry is still beyond me, but I understand a little more than I did last year. I love Home Economics, and Basic Choreography is probably my favorite class this year. I've made a bunch of new friends, and we've been hanging out at lunch and goofing off together.

Miss Jessie walks over to us. "Hello, Kat and Ani. What have you two made for me?"

"Chocolate cake," Ani says cheerfully, pushing back a piece of their short hair. They're covered in chocolate icing, but they look incredibly happy.

Miss Jessie puts her hands on her hips. "I love chocolate." In her ruffled apron, grinning at both of us, she looks like a proud mom. I know she has a little girl, because once she didn't have a babysitter and so we all got to meet her three year old daughter.

The PA system crackles to life, and several of the kids wince automatically. "All eighth grade students, please report to the auditorium. All eighth grade students, please report to the auditorium." It clicks off, and we all look around and shrug.

Ani gets up. "Come on, Kit-Kat, gotta go fast." They grab my hand and pull me to my feet, and I grin. We run down to the auditorium, after holding the door for six people who made it there before us.

I wonder what it's about this time. I really hope we don't have to do another performance for the parents. My singing voice and I barely made it out of the last one alive. Theodosia, Avery, and Philip flag me down from the front row, and so I bid farewell to Ani and go to sit with them.

"Do you know what this is?" I ask, sinking into the chair beside them. Theo shrugs and shakes her head, her delicate bob hitting her cheeks.

Philip nods. "My big brother used to go here, and he said that every year, the eighth graders go on some special field trip, but I can't remember where."

Principal Adams walks onstage and taps his microphone for silence. The feedback it emits makes everyone duck and cover their ears.

Avery snickers. "Seriously, people react like it's an air raid siren or something. It's just some feedback. What are we, dogs now?" She tucks a long strand of coppery-red hair behind her ear.

"Thank you all for coming in here on such short notice." Principal Adams paces back and forth on the stage. "As some of you may know, every year here at Odom Academy, we take the eighth grade students on a special field trip. I'm pleased to announce that our destination will be Juilliard!"

Everyone jumps up and begins clapping ecstatically. I'm absolutely thrilled. Julliard is one of my dream schools for its incredible dance program, and now we get a tour!

"Your teachers in your next classes will give you permission slips for your parents to fill out. If these are not turned in the day of the field trip, you will not be permitted to attend. We will leave at precisely seven in the morning this Friday. Please bring money for a lunch." Principal Adams nods at all of us. "Dismissed!"

Avery and Theo are holding hands, and they look incredible happy. I distantly remember that Avery is a classical music prodigy, and that apparently she's a genius on the viola. She wants to attend Juilliard or Berklee Conservatory of Music or something. As we walk out of the auditorium, I think of a question.

"Theo, where's Harriet? She usually sits with us." I haven't seen her sparkly shoes or sparkly backpack or sparkly grin all week.

Theodosia sighs and shrugs her backpack up higher on her shoulder. "Harriet got pneumonia over the weekend, and she has no voice. She's coughing something awful and has a pretty hardcore fever, but the worst part is that she literally can't speak. Most of her classes are voice training and choral arrangement, so her parents decided to keep her home until she's a hundred percent better."

I sigh. If she's this sick today, there's no way she'll be better in time for the field trip. It's a shame, too- Harriet would have absolutely loved to tour Juilliard. "That's really sad. Remind me to shoot her a text later to see how she's feeling."

"Come stop by her house with me after school." Theo grins and squeezes Avery's hand. "Text your dad and let him know that we'll bring you home."

We part ways, and I dig my phone out of my backpack. Odom Academy has a strict no-phones-in-class policy, but since I'm in the hallway, I see no problem with it.

ballyay: Hey, my wonderful father

John (ICE): What do you want from me, my wonderful child?

ballyay: Harriet's sick, so Theo and I were thinking about stopping by after school

ballyay: Aaron would bring us home afterwards

John (ICE): There needs to be a period after each of those sentences, but yes. You may go and visit your friend.

********

Theodosia knocks sharply on Harriet's front door. We have a giant armful of flowers- every red one we could find at the florist's shop, plus a couple of white ones for good measure. I'm carrying most of them, but Theo has three very special flowers in hand- a red carnation, a yellow one, and one that's white with purple edges. "It's us," I had whispered when I saw them in the shop, and we bought them specially for the occasion.

The door is pulled open by Sally, who smiles at us. "Hello, ladies! Come right in. Oh, hello, Aaron. Please, come in and have some coffee."

We run through the mudroom and up the stairs to Harriet's bedroom. I don't even knock, just nudge the door open. Harriet is lying on her bed in her spangly black and white pajamas, her face buried in her pillow. When she looks up and sees us, she turns her phone on and types something frantically. After a moment, a deep male voice reads out, "You brought me flowers! How amazing are you guys!"

Theo cracks up. "We're the most amazing," she gasps between giggles. "We missed you in school today. Avery and I held hands, and you didn't even sing the song you always sing."

Another furious round of typing. The deep male voice reads out in a flat tone, "Theo and Avery sitting in a tire. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." A second later, it corrects itself. "Sorry. Tree."

Now both of us are in stitches, and Harriet's grinning in a way that lets us know she would be laughing if she could talk. I perch on the bed with her, laying the flowers across her back in a giant stack of sweet-smelling petals.

Theo pushes herself closer to us, and we all look to Harriet to type up a response that will start a conversation. Instead, she clicks her phone off and smiles at all of us. We return the smiles, and I realize that sometimes, silence is even better than conversation.