Page 43 of The Future Play

“Give me a heart attack, kid. Jeez.”

“You’re breaking the rules.”

“It’s my birthday. I can do what I want.” She stares at me. “And if I give you half, you’ll have no reason to tell anyone.”

She stares at me for another beat, then breaks into a wide smile as she holds out her hand. “Your secret is safe with me.”

I hand her half the cupcake. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

We walk over to the nearby couch and sit down, both licking at the frosting on our cupcakes.

“So, why are you sneaking cupcakes?”

I shrug. “I was feeling sad and wanted something to make me feel better.”

“Mm. Yeah. Cupcakes are good at that. But why are you sad? It’s your birthday. Did someone steal one of your presents?”

I chuckle at that. “No. I made a mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?”

“I hurt Amanda’s feelings.”

Penny’s brow furrows. “Well then, you should feel bad.”

“Yeah. The thing is, Ireallyhurt her feelings, and she doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you apologize?”

“I tried, but she won’t answer me.”

“Why did you fight?”

I run my free hand through my hair, then take another bite of my cupcake. “That’s complicated, but?—”

“Did she want to date you?”

I frown at that. How is she so perceptive?

“Maybe. The thing is, I did something I shouldn’t have?—”

“Did you kiss someone else?” she asks, horrified at the thought.

“No, but… it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I want to date her, but now she won’t talk to me.”

“Hm.”

She takes another bite of her cupcake, and I do the same. Weeat in silence until we’re both finished, then she brushes the crumbs from her hands, dabs her mouth with a napkin, and stares me down.

“You need to grovel.”

I choke on a laugh. “What? Where did you learn that word?”

“I overheard my teacher talking to one of the other teachers during lunch. Her boyfriend did something really bad, and she said if he was going to get her back, he’d have to grovel. So I think you should probably do that.”

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