“Shotgun.” Jonah nods at the still-open car door.
I groan but climb in the back next to a new, high-end baby car seat. Mack looks over her shoulder at me and beams. I don’t know how the queen of bargain shopping has pulled this off.
“Niiiiiice,” Jonah says, looking around the pristine car.
“I thought the accident on Monday was your fault?” I say.
Mack’s smile dampens. “It was. Fiona was screaming. I looked away from the road for a few seconds, and when I turned back, I ran up on this tank of a pickup’s trailer hitch. I owe him $2,000 to buff out a quarter-size dent in his bumper. Meanwhile, my beloved Toyota lost its life during my brief moment of stupidity.”
“Better the Toyota than you. Or Fiona,” Jonah says.
“True. It could have been much worse.”
“So where did this sweet ride come from?” Jonah pushes a button that makes his seat dip back until his head is practically in my lap. “It’s got power everything.”
“I know, right? I’m not even sure what some of these buttons are for.” Mack stabs at a few as Jonah rises back up. “The car is on permanent loan from my father. He insists that he was planning to buy a ‘midlife-crisis car’ anyway and Monday’s disaster sped up his timeline. The new car seat was a belated baby shower gift from my mother. Oh, make no mistake. There are strings attached. There always are, but we gotta start somewhere.”
“I’m glad you reached out to them,” I say.
“I didn’t have much of a choice. Gran’s on a road trip to Las Vegas with her Bunco friends. This was my week to be the adult of the house while she was gone. I wanted to give Gran a break from having to take care of Fiona and me and to just enjoy her retirement for a change. And, as usual, I…” Mack’s breath hitches and she looks away. “Why do I always mess everything up?”
I tap Mack on the shoulder with Fiona’s obviously new Santa-themed rattle until she looks at me.
“It’s okay to ask for help.” I think about what Brandon said to me the other day. “I’m not sure what we can actually do about any of your problems, but if you need to unload, I’m all ears.”
“That goes for me too,” Jonah says. “You know I always got your back.”
“Thanks, guys. Really. That means a lot. I hate that I’m such an emotional and financial burden on Gran.” Mack grinds the heels of her hands in her eyes and lets out a frustrated sigh. “I feel like I’m stuck in limbo. One part of me still in high school and the other part in adulthood. There are days when I wish I could rewind the clock and tell past perfectionist Mack to get over herself and just go to freakin’ ASU. To enjoy being a college student. Go to parties. Join a ridiculous club. Stay up all night studying. Watch the sun rise from ‘A’ Mountain. Make pancakes at 4:00 a.m. on a Tuesday just because I can. Go to Mexico for spring break. My life isn’t going quite the way I planned. And now with this accident on top of it, nothing is going right.”
“I don’t know about that. You got us. And Stuart and Midori. And the derby girls.” Jonah points at Mack’s expensive sound system. “And this new car stereo system is sick.”
Mack sniffs. “Yeah, it even has satellite radio and Bluetooth capabilities. I mean, what kind of sorcery is this? How am I supposed to play my GNR cassettes now?”
Jonah strokes the sound system. “Shh. You’re going to offend it with your choice of archaic technology. Besides…” Jonah pushes a series of buttons until a specific channel comes up on the satellite radio. He sits back in his seat with a smug look on his face. “You’re welcome.”
I’m not sure what song it is, but it’s obviously something by Guns N’ Roses based on Mack’s off-key singing. It starts off innocently enough. A little head bobbing. A little air guitar. A little car dancing. Then Jonah cranks up the volume until the bass buzzes the glass windows and all hell breaks loose. By the end of the song, my neck hurts, but my soul feels better.
A polite knocking on Mack’s window interrupts our gut-busting laughter. I hand Jonah back his bandana, which flew off his head some time during the second chorus.
Mack rolls down the window. “Oh, hey, Midori. Just checkin’ out my new sound system with the kids.”
“So I heard. Along with everybody else in a five-mile radius,” Mom says, massaging her lower back with her fists. “Jonah is supposed to be training. I don’t know what’s happened to Mr. Choi. He’s usually here by now.”
Jonah’s eyes widen. “I’ll text him. He’s probably running late.”
I’m not sure how Jonah is supposed to do that exactly since his mom still has his phone, but I keep my mouth closed.
“Midori, go home. You’ve been here all day. Give your back a break. Stuart and I’ll keep an eye on these two. My parents have Fiona, and they aren’t in a hurry to give her back, so I can lock up.”
Mom puts her hand on Mack’s arm and gives it a squeeze. “I’m glad to hear that, Annabelle. Okay, then, see you at home, Livy. And don’t stay out late. You have school tomorrow.”
I groan. Now she’s interested in my education. “Okay.”
* * *
Our odd trio enters Ice Dreams to find Egg jumping up and down like the time he found a scorpion curled up in his skate pants in his locker.
“Yes, yes, yeeeeeeeessss!” Egg says.
“What, what, whaaaaat?” I say.
“I got a callback!” Egg’s voice crescendos with every word. “And they want you to come with me! They said, and I quote, ‘Is your partner under contract right now? If not, we’d like to extend the invitation to her too, to audition for the next leg of our tour.’”
“We did it! We did it! We did it!” Egg and I grab hands and jump up and down in a circle.
“When’s the audition?”
“Friday. If we make it through the cattle call, then we skate our choreography in the afternoon. If we make it through that hoop, then they give us new choreography together or make us switch partners or skate solo or maybe all of the above. If they love us, then we stay through the weekend and learn a few of the easier numbers. We’ll fly out tomorrow morning.”
“Oh.” After the brownie bakeoff and the crash course in Call of Duty, part of me actually is looking forward to experiencing the normal teen event called a midnight movie and a sleepover. And then there’s my midterms.
“Don’t tell me that’s a problem.”
If you aren’t going to do it at 100 percent then why bother?
“No problem at all.”
Jonah puts his hand on my lower back. “Congratulations, man. I guess Olivia is your lucky charm too.”
Egg drops my hands and takes a step back. “There’s one bad thing, though. We’ll miss Mack’s debut with the Surly Gurlz on Saturday.”
“Wait, I thought you didn’t make the team?” I say.
“I didn’t.” Mack plunks her diaper bag–purse on the snack bar’s counter. “Barnacle Barb is organizing a charity bout for Toys for Tots this Saturday and their roster is a little light. There’s no guarantee I’ll get to skate, but I’m happy to be a benchwarmer if it takes me one step closer to my goal. I was hoping at least one of you would be able to come, though.”