Page 53 of Anytime I Want

“Last night, my mom was up so late, cutting out all kinds of things on her craft cutting machine thing,” Nathan says, pulling out of the parking lot. He nods to a couple kids hanging out by the gate, his eyes narrowing on Josie.

“You could just ask her out, ya know?” I tease.

“Sure, because that was so successful for you and Julia,” Nathan bites back.

“Nice. You and your sister’s moods are in sync today. I stand by my suggestion but will keep it inside. For now. I make no promises that it will be forever. Or even longer than a few hours.” I offer him my hand. He hits his fist against it, and we sit in silence for the rest of the drive. Thankfully it’s a short drive, because I’m not great at being silent, but I am a good friend. So, quiet I am. I jump out of the car, adrenaline starting to rush into my bloodstream. I bounce on my toes while I wait for Nathan to get his bag.

“Mom!” Nathan calls, entering the house.

“Nathan? What are you doing here?” Aunty Theresa's head pops around the corner at the top of the stairs.

“Graham said you and Aunty Em were okay with us skipping class and helping?”

“Ah, Graham. Makes sense. Well, since you’re here.” She gestures us up the stairs. Nathan takes a minute to punch me in the arm, hard, and then we head up the stairs to Julia’s room. We walk around the corner and are met with total chaos. Gray squares of different sizes and shades are attached to the wall around Julia’s door. My mom is smoothing long brown strips of some kind of wallpaper on her door, making it look like an old fashioned wooden door.

“Graham, how nice of you to bring someone else into your delinquency,” Mom says, glancing over her shoulder with a smile. I stop holding my breath now that I know she isn’t actually mad.

“Yeah, about that. I was hoping you could call the school for us.” I give her my best smile.

“If you are actually helpful, I will give the attendance secretary the best excuse phone call she’s ever heard,” Aunty Theresa declares.

“Uhm. How about you just do it online? We don’t need this to be memorable,” Nathan says, kicking thin white paper out of the way. “So how do we help?”

The next three hours, we are the best helpers we can be. We haul blocks, curtains, paper, and pails. We stack, unstack, and restack all of the things, while our moms cock their heads side to side and change their opinions over and over again. By the end of it, Julia’s room is unrecognizable in the best way. The bed has a faux wooden frame, making it look like a four poster bed. Her window is covered with gauzy white fabric. Her closet door is covered with a vinyl fireplace (my mom taught me vinyl after I called it a giant sticker), and surrounding each door, thereare gray vinyl stones. Both sides of the door look like it is made of old wooden slats, and they’ve even taken her doorknob off, replacing it with a latch. My mom brought over all of the fake plants we have in the house and surrounded her door with them. They made cardboard turrets to put over the door. I stare at the room in complete awe.

“Mom. Aunty T.” I pull them into a big group hug, squeezing them so tightly, they start to cough. “This is the most amazing castle ever. Julia is going to love it.”

“Well, the list did say to build her a castle. And this one will last for as long as she wants it to.” Aunty Theresa looks around the room and nods in approval.

“Yeah, except for the forest. Your dad will most likely want those back sooner rather than later.” Mom grimaces, leading me to believe she didn’t ask him to borrow them.

Aunty Theresa clapped her hands. “Okay. Nathan, hurry back to the school to pick up Chloe and Julia. Don’t leave them waiting, or else they’ll suspect something.” She waves him out the door and points at me. “Graham, in Nathan’s room there’s a costume for you and a sign for you to hold up.”

Nathan gives a salute and heads out while I go into his room. On the bed, there is a light brown suit, but not a normal suit. It looks like something a prince would wear: tight pants, a loose shirt with no buttons, a jacket with puffy sleeves with so many buttons (side by side, not one single row, which confuses me a little), and boots that go up to the middle of my calf. I hurry to get dressed, and I have to ask my mom for help with the jacket, but we manage to get it done. Right as I am finger combing my hair, my phone buzzes with a text message.

Nathan

ETA 5 minutes.

I show my mom the screen and she claps her hands and squeals. “Oh, this is so exciting! I need my camera. Where is it?” She rushes around Nathan’s room as if she left it there fifteen years ago, the last time she used a camera instead of her phone.

“Ma. Your phone. Also, you cannot be in here for this. I’m a good sport, and I love to share things with you, but this is weird. Just me and Julia, k? Promise.”

“Oh, pish. I’ll hide.”

“Okay, compromise. You and Aunty T wait in the trees and give us a few minutes, then you can come in?” I’m not an idiot. I know there is no way she’ll be able to stay hidden if she’s in the actual room with us.

“Deal!” She shakes my hand and runs to grab Theresa and hide. I take a deep breath, check my hair and my breath because, you know, and pick up the sign. I haven’t even looked at it yet. The moms have discolored it somehow, making it look old-fashioned. It is a scroll, and I carefully remove the ribbon. It unrolls and in huge letters, in the style you’d see at a renaissance fair, it says “We’ve slayed dragons together. How about we slay the dance floor? Winter Formal, my fair lady?” It’s not the best phrasing, but the sign is quality. I chuckle, rolling it back up as I hear the front door open.

“Okay, okay. I’m going. Why are you being weird?” Julia says, sounding exasperated. I hurry to get into her room and am barely situated when I hear her gasp.

Chapter 29

Julia

I make my way up the stairs, irritated with Nathan and Chloe. They are being so pushy. I want a snack, but they keep saying I need to go upstairs. And then, Nathan, Josie, and Chloe go and get a snacktogether? Weird. If this isn’t about a dance-posal, my friends suck. I shift my backpack higher on my shoulder, give myself a pep talk to stay calm and manage expectations. I turn around the corner at the top of the stairs and I stop short, my backpack falling at the same time as my jaw. I hear a gasp and I look around, realizing it must’ve come from me. The hallwayoutside my room is completely transformed into a medieval castle. I lightly touch the latch on the door, as if it’s from my imagination, and I really don’t want it to disappear. I run my hands along the fake stones and the wooden door. I am in total awe, and I can feel the tears threatening. He built me a castle.

The biggest tree shakes a little and I hear my mom’s voice, “Open the door!” I drop my hand to the latch, unsure if I want to enter my modern-day room and ruin the magic.

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