The Rule of Thirds

Chapter Eight

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28: 8 DAYS UNTIL VANTAGE POINT

Why hasn’t Dylan replied to my text? Isn’t it common courtesy to reply? How hard is it to just type “Yes” or “No”? It’s not hard at all. It’s a few buttons plus the Enter button. It’s EASY. And then, while packing my stuff for Dace’s, I get a text.

        Dylan: Yes! What time?

He said yes. He didn’t delete me from his phone. He likes me. Or doesn’t not like me. My fingers are shaking as I text back, giving him Dace’s address and telling him to come anytime after 4.

Dace was a bit concerned about her parents finding out about the party if I told Mom.

THE RISKS IN TELLING MOM ABOUT THE PARTY

1. She could tell Dace’s parents.

2. She could forbid me to go.

3. She could forbid me to go and tell Dace’s parents.

THE RISKS IN NOT TELLING MOM ABOUT THE PARTY

1. She could find out.

2. I could be grounded for life for lying.

3. That would be the end of Sleepover Saturdays.

The deciding factor came down to the fact that this Saturday we were supposed to be sleeping at my house. If we changed it, my mom would be suspicious. So I told my mom. Which went over surprisingly well, though she did have a few rules, which she typed up at work (shouldn’t she be busier with sick animals?) and handed to me when she got home from the clinic:

MOM’S PARTY RULES

1. No drugs

2. No drinking

3. No sleepover

“Are we clear?” Mom asks.

“Yeah, I’ll put this through the laminator so it doesn’t get wet at the party. That way I can keep referring to it all night.”

“Pippa . . .” Mom says warningly.

“I’m kidding! I got it.” I’m not worried about the drugs part—at least, me doing them. Dace and I tried smoking pot last summer but it made me lethargic and boring, and I’m not about to start doing something more hardcore. Besides, I like drinking just fine. So #2 is definitely going to be a problem since the definition of a party when you’re in high school is “excuse to drink while someone’s parents are away.”

But #3? “No sleepover?”

“NO sleepover,” Mom says.

“But we can’t break tradition.”

“No sleepover or no party.”

“But if I don’t sleep over I won’t be able to help Dace clean up. Not that we plan on making a mess, but we can’t control what everyone does. Not that there will be a lot of people, but there will be boys. Not a lot of boys . . .”

I was digging myself my own pool.

“If everyone is still at the party when you leave, which I would suggest is not a good idea anyway, but if they are, then you can go back in the morning to help Dace clean up. Home by eleven.”

“One.”

“Midnight. And not a second later.”

My mom may have had some rules, but Dace and I have a few rules of our own.

DACE & PIPPA’S PARTY RULES

1. No one gets in the house.

2. If you’re about to let someone in the house, remember Rule #1.