"Alright, so for the next club meeting, Dawn, I need you to bring those candles..." Kristy trails off, tapping her pen against her chin. "...I think a Halloween themed dance for kids is a great idea, but there's definitely more planning to do." She claps her hands. "Claude?"
"I declare this meeting, adjourned," Claudia smiles, pulling the pencil out of her bun and scribbling down a couple of notes. "Dawn, candles. Stacey, bring a couple of decor inspo, and Mary Anne..."
"I'm going to work on refreshments," Mary Anne says, glancing at me. "Y/N can help me."
"Good," Kristy, being the organized professional she is, adds - "-Will you two create a list of ingredients too? We need to keep track of anything with peanuts..treenuts..etc."
"Yep," Mary Anne nods, doing an invisible check in the air.
"What should Mallory and I do?" Jessie asks from the other side of the room. She does a pirouette, toes pointed perfectly.
"Um...costume design?" Kristy suggests. "I was thinking we should do a group costume of some sort."
"That's a good idea," Claudia waves a finger around. "What about..."
"Meeting adjourned, right?" Kristy adds. "Sorry, I guess we ran out of time today."
"Extra meeting tomorrow?" Dawn tips her head to the side. "Mary Anne and I are free, since Richard's painting class is cancelled."
"Sounds good to me," Kristy looks around. "Is everyone free?"
A series of yes's echoes around the room.
And I remember that I told Sam I could hang out after school.
"Uh," I inhale. "I've got a...thing."
"A thing?" Claudia raises her eyebrows. "What kind of thing?"
"A...thing?" The end of my sentence sounds like a question, unintentionally. "Yeah, so I had a plan with a..friend to hang out..so.." I trail off. "But I can cancel."
"No, that's okay," Mary Anne covers for me. "We can brainstorm some cooking ideas later tonight over FaceTime, and..."
"Hang on, but all club members have to attend every meeting," Kristy says. "It's in the handbook."
"Just this one time?" I ask, sighing. "I swear it won't happen again."
"Who is this friend that you urgently have to see?" Claudia frowns. "Is it a guy?"
"No," I say quickly. Too quickly. "No. It's...a...-"
"Guys, we should just continue this conversation later," Mary Anne says. "It's getting pretty late; Dad'll kill me if I'm one minute past curfew."
"Yeah," Dawn agrees, standing up. "See you guys later."
As the rest of the club members file out, Mary Anne tugs me aside.
"Sam, again?" She whispers, a small smile.
"We're friends. That's all," I say convincingly. "But if Kristy finds out, I'll quite literally be dead."
"If you say so," Mary Anne winks, grabbing her bag. "Later, Y/N."
I start to go back to my room, but Claudia stops me.
"It is a guy, isn't it?" She leans on the doorway and pops a piece of gum in her mouth. "Is it Kenny?"
"Who's Kenny?" I frown. "I don't know anyone named Kenny."
"You know, that boy in our class," Claudia continues, like I should have any idea what she's talking about. "He's always staring at you."
"Yep, no idea who you mean."
"Long hair, braces..."
"Oh, that Kenny!" I get a mental picture, cringing. "No, gross."
"Then who is it?"
"It's no one!" I say, walking down the hallway. "I've got homework to do, Claude."
"I'll figure it out eventually," Claudia grins, throwing her gum wrapper at me. "You can't keep a secret from me, Y/N."
"What's this about keeping secrets?" Janine's girlfriend, Ashley Wyeth smiles at both of us as she comes down the hallway from Janine's room. "Are you seeing someone, Y/N?"
"Oh my god, no," I say loudly, trying to go around both of them to my room. Unfortunately, they persist.
Claudia always forgets that Ashley's a real person, not just a TikTok star. She gets so excited when Ashely's here, which is basically all the time.
Also, she, nor my parents, know that Janine and her are dating.
I found out when I walked in on them kissing, two months ago.
"-so, a secret boyfriend?" Ashley smirks. "Or girlfriend."
"There is no secret romance," I groan. "Now can I please just go do my homework?"
"Homework, right?" Claudia winks. "Yeah, go ahead."
Sometimes they can be so irritating.
