DISCONTINUED

Chapter 36

Luna sat on the edge of her bed staring at the clothes hanging in her closet. Actually, it was her younger cousin's closet that they now shared in her younger cousin's bedroom, which they also shared. The dance was tonight. It was a formal and she didn't have a clue what she was going to wear. She flopped back on the bed with a sigh and closed her eyes.

She never felt underdressed at school or anything, but it had been a while since she'd had occasion to really "dress up" at all, and it seemed she had since outgrown everything that could be considered even slightly formal. Nobody would ever accuse her of being a "girly girl" or anything, but truthfully, she still enjoyed dressing up once in a while. What girl didn't, really? It made her feel, well... pretty. Her Mom had always been the one to bring out that part of her and if she was here now, they'd be going shopping for something cute, she was sure of it. They hadn't done it a lot, but she had always loved it when her and her Mom had gone shopping for clothes. They'd always had such a good time trying stuff on. Stuff they often had absolutely no intention of buying. Her Mom was one of her best friends. Was. She bit her lip as she stared at the ceiling.

Her phone rang. It was Bo.

"Hey Bo. What's up?"

"Hey Lu. Ah, you know. Not much."

"So I guess tonight's the big night, eh?" she said sarcastically.

"Actually, that's why I called. I was talking to Liv this morning and she was not feeling well at all. Said she had a horrible sleep and woke up feeling like crap."

Lu suddenly sat up straight, her eyes wide. "Seriously? That's great news! I mean... you know what I mean. It's not great news that she's sick - that sucks for sure - but if she's really sick then we can't go to the dance!"

"I knew you'd be crushed. C'mon Lu. Have a little sympathy."

"Hey, I said I feel bad for her, and I do. But we might as well, you know, 'look on the bright side', 'focus on the positive', 'see the silver lining', etc., right? I mean, 'it's a matter of perspective', right?" she said in her best mocking Bo impression.

"Ha ha. Very funny Lu. Thanks for throwing my words back at me. Anyways, she said she was going to go see the doctor so she should know more soon."

Luna's phone rang again. It was Olivia.

"Oh hey, that's her calling me now. Hang on a second." Luna put Bo on hold and picked up Olivia's call.

"Hi, Olivia. I heard the bad news. How are you feeling? What did the doctor say?"

"How did you know I was going to see the doctor?"

"Bo told me. Actually, he's on the other line still. Just a second and I'll conference him in."

"Bo, Olivia... you both there?"

"Yep."

"Uh-huh."

"Liv, how are you doing? What did the doctor say?" asked Bo.

"Ugh. The doctor said I have the mumps! Can you believe it? I have some stupid kid's disease."

"Wait, what? The mumps? I thought we all got vaccinated for that way back when, in like grade one or something?"

Bo laughed. "Leave it to Lu to remember a vaccination."

Luna stuck her tongue out at her phone.

"Yea, we did. But I guess even if you've had the vaccine there's still a chance you can get the disease, so, yea... lucky me I guess."

"Oh Olivia, I'm so sorry. I had the mumps when I was a kid..."

"You did?"

"Yea, like before kindergarten. I don't actually remember of course, but my Mom and Dad told me I did. And I guess once you've had them you can't get them again so I was all excited that I'd get to skip the vaccination for it, and then they told me the vaccine covered some other stuff too, so I still had to get it. And yes Bo, that I do remember. It was the first in a long line of needle related public humiliations for me."

"Crud" said Bo. "I'm so sorry Olivia."

"Thanks. I guess it could be worse. I'm all tired and achy for sure, and my throat is sore... does it look swollen to you?" She pointed her phone towards her neck. "But I don't really have a fever or a bad headache or anything, which is good. The doctor gave me some meds to take so hopefully they'll kick in soon, but mostly he said that I just have to rest and let it run its course. But unfortunately going to the dance is out of the question. Even if I felt better by then - which doesn't seem likely right now - I guess I'm contagious for like 3 or 4 more days."

Luna sighed and made her best sympathetic sad face. "Aw Olivia. I know how much you were looking forward to this. I'm so sorry that we can't go to the dance."

"What do you mean 'we' can't go? I'm the only one that's sick here. I can't go but you two still can."

Bo and Luna shared a very confused look.

"What? No. No, we're not going without you Olivia. I'm... it wouldn't be fair. No way. We wouldn't do that to you, would we Bo?"

"Oh, I see. So you're going to skip the dance for MY sake. So that I don't feel bad. How very kind of you" said Olivia mockingly.

"Look, Liv" said Bo. "You know that you're the only one of us that wanted to go to the dance. Why would Lu and I go if you can't go? We never even wanted to go in the first place."

"Thanks for your honesty Bo. At least you get points for that, unlike our friend Lu here who tried going the 'oh darn, as much as we'd love to go we'll make the sacrifice and skip the dance too so that Olivia doesn't feel bad' route."

Luna stared blankly at her phone, her elation from moments earlier now fading. She didn't like where this conversation seemed to be going.

"Oh no. Don't think you're going to get off that easily. A deal's a deal, and you guys are going to serve your punishment for being mean and excluding me. You're going to that dance."

Silence.

Luna thought Olivia looked pretty smug and satisfied for someone that was supposed to be sick.

Bo glared at the phone. "I'd like to take this opportunity to once again remind you Lu that this is all your fault."

"Bye Bo. Love you dear. Have fun at the dance tonight! I want to hear all about it tomorrow..." said Olivia as Bo dropped off the call.

Luna scowled at her friend. "I can't believe you're still making us go to the dance."

Olivia smiled and batted her eyelids at Luna. "So, Luna dear, I have an idea. Why don't you come over to my house before the dance and let me do your hair?"

Luna hesitated. She avoided Olivia's house like the plague. It scared her to be around Olivia's Dad just by the very nature of his position. It revolted her actually. And her stepmom, well she barely had time for Olivia let alone her friends, particularly the "common" ones like Luna. "That's very kind of you Olivia love" she said about as sarcastically as she could, "but I'm sure I can do my own hair just fine. I mean, it's only Bo that I'm going with, so it doesn't really matter what I look like. Besides, you're quarantined, remember?"

"And you're immune to my miserable mumps, remember? Come on Lu. I'm SO bored. It'll be fun."

"I don't know Olivia."

"Please?" Olivia pleaded. "I'm missing the dance I so badly wanted to go to and I'm letting you go with my Teddy Bo. You owe me."

"First of all, you're not letting me go, you're making me go. And second, ewwwwww!" Luna fake gagged at her phone. "Making me go with Bo as my date isn't exactly doing me any favors." The butterflies in her stomach confirmed that not a single part of her actually felt that way.

"Please Lu" Olivia begged. "Look, I know you're not super comfortable coming over to my house, but my parents won't be home, I promise. They've got some thing on tonight so they're abandoning me."

Luna bit her lip and shook her head, then sighed. "Ok Olivia, you win. I'll come over and you can have your way with my hair. But only because you're sick. I trust it will be very therapeutic for you."

"Yay! Awesome. Thanks Lu! You won't regret it."

"I already do Liv, I already do."

"Ha! The dance is at 8 so why don't you come by at around maybe 6 or so?"

Luna gave her phone a drippingly sarcastic thumbs up. "Ok. See you then Liv."