Page 150 of Something Rad
Once she does, she settles on the couch, raising her brows at me in a way of asking me if I’m going to sit down. I shake my head, plopping down next to her, leaving a few feet of space between us.
“Are you going to fast forward through the previews?” I ask.
Cooper shakes her head. “It’s all a part of the experience.”
“Oh, of course it is,” I deadpan.
“And besides,” she shrugs. “I figured I’d give you the time to get all your talking out.”
“How considerate of you.”
“Well, itisthe season of giving.”
I breathe out a laugh.
“I’m going to grab a drink before the movie starts,” Cooper says, pushing off the couch. “You want a Coke?”
“I’d prefer a Pepsi.”
“And I’d prefer to be watching this movie with Rob Lowe, but we get what we get.”
I hear the fridge close, and, a few seconds later, Cooper is holding out a Coke to me. I let out a scoff. “Fair enough, Cooper,” I say, taking it from her.
I don’t think it’s intentional, but when she sits back down on the couch, her knees pulled up to her chest, Cooper’s a lot closer to me now. We crack open our cans of Coke in unison, each of us taking a sip.
“So, speaking of the season of giving, do you have any plans for the holidays?” I ask.
Cooper shakes her head. “It’ll just be the same old, same old for me. I’ll go hang out with Alice’s family on Christmas Eve until my mom is off work, and then it’ll just be me and Mom on Christmas day. Nothing extravagant. But I don’t even feel like I can think about the holidays right now. The next two weeks are going to be crazy.”
“The next two weeks?” I question her.
She takes another sip of her Coke, her brows pulling together. “Finals, Robbie.”
“Oh, right. Those.”
Cooper lets out a sigh. “Ihaveto be valedictorian. I’ve worked so hard for it now. I can’t let it slip my last year. And especially now with me applying for the NYU scholarship.”
“Right,” I nod. “I get it.”
I don’t. At all. But I know it’s important to her.
“You’ve got it in the bag, Cooper.”
“We can only hope,” she mutters.
“So, other than finals,” I say, “there is something coming up in the next couple of weeks that I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
I blow out a breath, meeting her eyes. “Denise’s annual holiday party.”
“Oh…” Cooper says, her face scrunching.
“She has it every year on the last Friday night before winter break. It’s huge.”
“Is it?” she asks, suddenly very enthralled with the tab on her soda can.
I nod. “Her parents go out of town to give her the house for it and everything.”
