Can You Say Catastrophe? Read Free Page B

middle of town? And if the answer to all these questions is no, why am I stuck serving pie? But I couldn’t ask any of those questions. All I could do was pull my jacket up around my ears and hand out pie to everyone I know. It was bad enough handing it to old ladies from my neighborhood, but it was complete humiliation handing it to my friends.
    Brynn and her parents got there first. “April, I’ve always loved you in red,” said Mrs. Stephens. She wrapped a bangle-braceleted arm around me and smiled as if she actually liked what I was wearing. Brynn’s mom is very fashionable and she’s always nice, but unlike her daughter, she’s not always brutally honest. I know she wouldn’t have been caught dead in a jacket like mine.
    Brynn’s dad was nice too. When he saw me, he wrapped his big arm around me and asked how his “other daughter” was doing.
    Brynn wasn’t as nice as her parents. I don’t think she was trying to be not-nice—she was just being Brynn. When I handed her a plate of pie, she stuck her pretend journalist mic in my face. “Tell us, April Sinclair, do you think red vinyl will be in this fall?”
    When Billy and his family arrived, things went from bad to worse.
    Billy and I have barely spoken since the toe-touching incident, which is totally weird because we usually talk every day, but he hardly said anything to me in school all week. It’s not like we’re mad at each other. It’s just like we’re pretending the other person doesn’t exist. I wouldn’t be pretending that, except Billy is, so I’m stuck doing it back and I’m not even sure why.
    It’s confusing, and to make matters worse, I can’t talk to Brynn about it. I know if I tell her about Billy’s toe touching mine and that I think it happened in more-than-just-an-accident way, she’ll say I’m crazy. She’ll say that the three of us are best friends and that toes or other body parts touch all the time, especially when we’re doing things like lying around on the floor. Then, she’ll probably say something that she’ll consider to be totally honest like, “April, do you think you’re being a good friend when you make it seem like Billy likes you more than he likes me?”
    That’s what I was thinking when Billy and his family walked into the diner.
    â€œThere are the Weisses,” said Dad. He handed me plates and pushed me in their direction. “Please help them find a place to sit.”
    I wanted someone else to give them pie and help them find a table, but they were already looking at me and it was pretty clear that’s what I was supposed to do. I steered them through the crowds of people laughing and talking and eating every known Southern delicacy.
    When I gave them their pie, Dr. and Mrs. Weiss both said they could use some pie after the drive over.
    â€œHa, ha,” said Bobby, Billy’s older brother, who got his license last week. “My driving isn’t that bad.”
    Dr. Weiss laughed like he was just teasing Bobby.
    All the Weisses were chatty except for Billy. It was so un-Billy-like. I guess it’s what Billy has been like lately. Normally, he would say something to make me laugh, but tonight, he just sat there eating his pie.
    I didn’t really want to stand there and not talk to Billy, so I walked off like I had some official Love Doctor Diner server business to take care of. That was a big mistake because the person I walked into was Matt Parker. I actually walked right into him.
    He stepped back and looked at me. “Cool top,” he said.
    â€œIt’s a jacket,” I said back. The minute the words left my mouth, I regretted them. What’s wrong with me? Why would I say something so dumb?
    Matt shrugged like he didn’t care if it was a top or a jacket.
    I could feel my face turning as red as my jacket. I tried to think of something clever to say,