Page 48 of Releasing 10
“I know. I just…like it.” Still clutching the invitation in my hands, I read it out loud for the hundredth time. “To Lizzie, you are—”
“Invited.”
“I know how to read, Caoimhe,” I grumbled before quickly carrying on, “to my seventh birthday party—”
“At two o’clock, on the thirty-first of October.”
“Hey,” I snapped, covering the invitation with my hand so she couldn’t see it. “I said I can read it myself.”
Huffing out a breath, I retrained my focus on the invitation.
“From Huge,” I said slowly, concentrating on saying it right. “From Hu…ge…” A laugh escaped my sister, and I narrowed my eyes in challenge. “It’s a hard name, okay!”
“Yes, it is,” she agreed, trying to smother her laughter. “And it’s Hugh, just so you know. NotHuge.”
“I knew that,” I grumbled, fingers trailing over the handwritten invitation. “Hugh. I like his name.” A small smile grew across my face. “I like his handwriting, too. He’s neat.”
“Heisneat,” she agreed, leaning over my shoulder to inspect the invitation.
“I’m neat, too,” I offered. “Not as neat as him, though.”
“Yeah, well, you’re only six. He’s seven.”
“I’ll be seven in June.”
“So? It’s not a competition.”
“He does joint writing.” I held the invitation up to her face for a closer look. “Look at how good hisgis.” I pointed to the perfectly curved letter. “It’s the bestgI’ve ever seen.” I glanced up and caught her eye in the mirror. “You have to show me how to do it.”
“Oh my God, Liz, chill.” Setting the hairbrush down, my sister retrieved a bottle of perfume from the vanity and squirted it on my hair. “You don’t need to learn everything right now. Just turn your mind off and enjoy being a kid.”
“But I can’t turn my mind off,” I protested. “It never stops talking to me.”
“No.”Smoothing my hair, she gave me a warning look. “Youdon’tsay things like that.”
Swallowing down my words, I nodded my head in understanding.
I knew what that look meant.
It was the same one Dad gave me.
Shut my mouth and keep it in my head.
“See how much we get along when you’re not being crazy?” Caoimhe offered then, fixing my outfit. “I swear, this past year has been the best since you were born.” She smiled at me in the mirror. “Honestly, you’re like a different person since they changed your meds.”
“I got in trouble at school last week,” I reminded her. “I bit a boy in my class.”
“Okay,asidefrom that,” she chuckled. “Overall, you’ve been kicking ass.”
I smiled proudly.
I liked it when Caoimhe was happy with me.
I wanted everyone to be happy with me.
“I hate my new doctor,” I replied, grimacing at the thought of the lady with the bright-pink lipstick. “She keeps asking me questions.”
“Yeah, well, if you don’t want to answer them, just lie.”
