Page 27 of Celebrities Don't Date Bookworms

Okay new theory: you’re all models

Tis Moi, Luca

You are soooo close

It’s actually a little painful to watch

Eggo

Let’s review all the information we’ve got

a) you all live together (but not related?)

b) you’re in high school, and will be attending Summerfield

c) you do photoshoots that get published in magazines

Tis Moi, Luca

All correct

Bay

Any more guesses?

“All right, hon, phone away,” Mom said. She carried the rest of the food over to the table. “You know the rules of family dinner.”

“I’m not sure it counts as family dinner if we’re missing a quarter of the family,” I said, indicating Dylan's empty seat. At least my dad would be here tonight, though. Dinner was always awful when it was just me and my mom. We had so little to talk about, and she refused to let me go on my phone or for us toeat in front of the TV, so we would just eat in silence instead.

“Your brother’s busy,” Mom said. There was some clear subtext of the comment:your brother has a life, and you don’t.She sat down in her spot and called upstairs, “Stephen! Dinner!”

I heard a muffled “Coming!” from Dad’s office upstairs. Mom seemed to take that as a good enough sign for us to start eating as she put some food on her plate.

“I need to eat quickly,” I said. “I told Sloane I’d call her after dinner.”

Well, actually, I told Sloane I would call her sometime tonight, but there was only a small window of time that was ideal to call her, and it happened to start in twenty minutes. Sloane’s evenings were very routine, and she did not like anyone messing them up. Mom just nodded in response, accustomed to this routine.

“Good evening, ladies,” Dad said as he walked into the room and sat down at his place. He looked at me as he served himself. “So, Megan, I hear that you have some special newcomers to your school.”

I choked on my spaghetti and started coughing to dislodge the feeling of it in my throat. What did he mean by a special newcomer? Was he talking about the boys? But why would he care about that? Maybe, more importantly, how would he know?

“What?” I asked between coughs.

“We got a newsletter from the school asking all parents to talk to their kids about theimportance of being calm and respectful around celebrities,” Dad explained. My heart rate started to go back to normal as I guzzled down some water. That made a lot more sense—he was talking about the boy band starting next week, nothing that had to do with me specifically.

“I hadn’t read that yet,” Mom said. “Why would they need to send such a thing?”

“Well, it seems that a certain boy band will be starting at Summerfield,” Dad explained. There was a twinkle in his eye as he looked at Mom like he anticipated her excited reaction to the news. It wasn’t surprising in the least, considering how much she liked Take Five. She was the only mom I knew that loved their music; from what I knew, most other parents were just annoyed that their kids were playing the music so much.

I started shoveling down food as fast as I could. Now that my dad had brought the band up, they were all my mom was going to talk about for the rest of dinner. She would go on and on about how they seemed like such great, stand-up boys, and how good their music was, and how they deserved all their fame. It was a speech I’d heard a thousand times, and I didn’t want to hear it again.

“I’m going to call Sloane,” I said after I ate the last of what was on my plate. Good thing there hadn’t been much. I grabbed my plate and jumped up to put it in the sink.

“What?” Mom asked. “But you just sat down.”

“I told you I’d have to eat quick.”

“Well, I know, but I didn’t think you meant thatquick.”

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