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“What do you think about all of this?” I asked.

“I think cars like that are a desperate attempt to cover up issues of male inadequacy,” Eli said. He was on his computer, typing an essay for English.

“No, not that. The gorillas. What do you think about the new gorillas?”

“I don't know. They're cool, I guess.” He frowned. “I think my spell-checker is wrong.”

“Spell-checker is never wrong.”

Eli was preoccupied with his paper, so I gave up trying to have a meaningful conversation with him and returned to cleaning the espresso machine. Bonnie said I did the best job, but I suspected she was just using flattery to get me to complete the most undesirable task at Something's Brewing.

After I got home from work I flopped onto my bed and called Lan. She and Eli were in the same English class and Lan was also working on her paper.

“I can't believe it's due tomorrow,' she said. “Five full pages! I'll never be able to fill five pages with stuff about American Romanticism.”

“Does Eli talk a lot during class?” I asked. I rolled onto my back and looked up at the ceiling. Years earlier Lan and I had spent hours positioning little plastic stars across the white plaster to resemble some of the constellations. At night, they would glow a faint green color that I found oddly soothing.

“Are you asking if he talks to other people? Not really.” I could hear the clicking of her computer keys as she typed.

“No, I mean, does he speak up during discussions, that kind of thing?”

“Yeah, if he's got something to say. Right now he seems to think that Thoreau and Whitman are gods.”

“Really? He likes Whitman?” I noticed a few of the larger stars were coming loose, so I stood on my bed and pressed at them with the palm of my hand.

“Yeah, he's always quoting one thing or another.” The typing stopped. “Wait a minute. Why are you asking about Eli?”

I froze, my hand planted against a star. “No reason. I mean, we work together and I was just curious. That's all.”

Lan laughed. “I knew it. I just knew it. You have a crush on Eli!”

I felt my face burn red. It wasn't a big deal, but I didn't like how Lan thought it was so funny. I sat back down on my bed.

“Forget it,” I said. “I'll talk to you tomorrow. Good luck on your paper.”

“Don't hang up! Kate, I'm sorry I was laughing. I think it's great. I think you guys would be perfect together, really.”

“It doesn't matter,” I said. “He's with Reva.”

“You could take her,” Lan joked.

“She could tear off half my face with those nails of hers,” I muttered. “Besides, he just sees me as a friend. Not even that. I'm a coworker, that's all.”

“You know, I don't think things are going all that well with Eli and Reva,” Lan said.

I felt a little spark of hope. “What makes you say that?”

“She was out in the hallway after class a few days ago and
they started arguing.” Lan was typing again and I knew she had to get back to work, but I wanted some details.

“What were they arguing about?”

“I didn't hear all of it. I was on my way out,” Lan said. “But I know he said that he needed more space.”

“Interesting.”

We were quiet for a moment. The clicking of the keyboard was slow, like a metronome, and I closed my eyes.

“It would be so great if you started dating Eli,” Lan said.

“Yeah.”

“I mean, it would be great for me, too. I would get more time with Trent. We could all hang out together.”

I was tempted to tell Lan about Brady's crush, but I had promised Eli I wouldn't say anything, so I kept my mouth shut. Lan gushed for a few minutes about Trent before I reminded her that she had a paper due.

“Ugh. I'm only on page two and I am totally out of ideas,” she complained.

“‘Whatever satisfies the soul is truth,'” I recited automatically.

“What's that?”

“A quote by Whitman. It's one of my favorites.”

Lan groaned. “You sound like Eli.”

I smiled and looked up at the plastic stars. “That's not such a bad thing,” I said.

I
T WAS JUST LIKE THE FIRST DAY
of school. The crowded parking lot, the cell phones held high, the excited rumbling of hundreds of students. This time, they weren't looking at the wall, even though the gorillas were still there. This time, all eyes were focused on Tiffany Werner as she stood on a wide wooden stool looking out over the crowd, dressed in a white overcoat and matching gloves, a sparkling tiara perched on her head. Her two best friends, Monica and Mallory, positioned themselves on either side, smirking a little at the horde of people.

Tiffany held up a bullhorn. Behind her, a cameraman filmed the crowd while another guy held a fluffy microphone above Tiffany's head. A third cameraman stood off to the side, his lens trained on Tiffany.

“I will now call out the names of the chosen,” she announced, her expression serious. “Once your name has been called, please come up here to receive your invitation.”

Lan and I stood against the back wall, our backpacks on the pavement at out feet. It was going to be impossible to get past the crowd to Lan's car, so we decided to wait it out for a while and watch the drama unfold before our eyes.

“This is so stupid,” I muttered. I pulled my digital camera out of my backpack and snapped pictures of the crowd and the camera crew. I took a few of Tiffany, too. She looked strangely artificial to me as she stood there in her fake crown, surrounded by people paid to capture her every word on film.

Tiffany cleared her throat and began reading the names aloud.

“Marcus Abbott,” she called. People clapped when one of their friends went up to receive an invitation from either Monica or Mallory, who seemed to be taking their duty very seriously. When Tiffany called Trent Adams, people looked around, but he was nowhere in sight.

“If she thought Trent was going to stand in line for an invitation, she's seriously deluded,” Lan remarked.

When Trent didn't appear, Tiffany moved on to the next name, but I could tell she was mad because she sighed a little, and it echoed through the bullhorn. She expected everyone to treat her ridiculous ceremony with the same reverence one would reserve for a royal coronation.

“Let's go,” I said as the crowd began to thin out. Tiffany was halfway through the alphabet and people were starting to realize that they weren't on the list. I heard Eli's name called, but he was another no-show.

It was chilly, and I shoved my hands into my coat pockets. It never got really cold in Cleary, and I had only seen snow three times in my whole life, so I had a low tolerance for winter weather.

“Kate Morgan.”

Lan grabbed my arm. It took me a moment to understand why she was pulling at me. Tiffany had just called my name.

“Kate Morgan?”

People were looking at me. Someone was pushing me forward until I was standing in front of Monica and Mallory. Monica handed me a small blue box while Mallory checked my name off a typed list. I must have looked completely confused, because Tiffany began to giggle. “You can go now. Congratulations.”

I turned around and searched for Lan. I didn't see her but figured she had headed to her car, so I walked toward the other end of the parking lot with the blue box jammed inside my coat pocket. I found Lan sitting in her car with the heater on at full blast.

“Can you believe it?” I asked as I slid into the passenger seat. I pulled the invitation from my pocket. It was a little bigger than a ring box and “Tiffany-blue.” Lan was silent as I flipped back the lid. Inside was a blue plastic bracelet and a piece of paper folded into a diamond shape. I carefully unfolded the cream-colored stationery and read it aloud, being careful not to sound excited. I already knew that if Lan wasn't going, neither was I. There was no way I would choose some party over my best friend. Ever.

“You have been chosen to celebrate Tiffany Werner's sixteenth birthday on Saturday, March 3 at the Cleary Country Club. Please arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. Tiffany will make her entrance at 8:00 p.m. sharp. No one will be admitted after that time. All guests must wear the bracelet provided. Only those invited may attend—no uninvited dates. Formal dress. Guests may not wear blue or white.”

I turned to Lan, who was just staring out the window watching the crowd slowly drift away.

“Can you believe her? I've never heard of someone telling people what they can't wear.”

Lan didn't answer.

“Lan?”

“You should go,” she said finally.

I thought she was telling me to get out of the car. “Lan, I had no idea that Tiffany was going to invite me! I don't know why she did, honest! Please don't be mad!”

Lan looked at me. “I'm not mad at you, Kate. I'm saying that you should go to the party.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Nope. No way. Not without you.”

“Well, I'm not going to be invited without divine intervention.” She sighed and looked out the window again. Only a few kids and the camera crew remained. “I hate the fact that this means something to me,” she murmured.

“I'm not going,” I said again. “You and I will do something fun that weekend instead.”

Lan gave me a sad smile. “You say that now, but this is going to be the only thing anyone talks about for a month. You'll want to go and I won't blame you. You should go. Then you can tell me all about it.” She pretended to wipe dust off her dashboard.

“I can tell you about it now,” I said. “Tiffany will wear a ridiculously expensive dress, she'll arrive on the back of a unicorn or something, and everyone will have to stand around and clap any time she sneezes. No thanks.”

Lan began to protest, but I held up my hand. “I'm not going. End of discussion. Now take me to work, please.”

I was only a few minutes late to Something's Brewing, so I
knew Bonnie wouldn't mind. I invited Lan inside for a cappuccino and she said okay. When we got inside, Eli was there with Brady.

“Sorry I'm late,” I said as I took off my coat. “Traffic was crazy. The parking lot was jammed.”

Brady was staring at Lan, but she didn't seem to notice. Eli did, though, and he winked at me. I tried not to smile as I made Lan an almond cappuccino, her favorite.

“Right. The invitation thing was today,” Eli said.

“Yes, and I heard your name called, so you'll have to get your invitation from Tiffany tomorrow.”

Eli rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I'll be sure to do that.”

“You don't want to go?” asked Lan. I noticed that Brady had inched forward and was standing right next to her, which wasn't difficult to do in the small space of Something's Brewing. Her long black hair contrasted with Brady's pale blond, closely cropped cut.

“No. She only invited me because Trent said she had to or he wasn't coming.”

“Were you invited?” Lan asked Brady. I couldn't remember if his name had been called or not.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I think so. I don't know,” Brady stammered. He was actually blushing a little. “Are you going?” he asked Lan. She just shook her head no. I handed her the cappuccino and tried to think of a way to change the subject. Eli beat me to it.

“So thanks to the math whiz here, I passed my precalc test,” he said.

“Good. Maybe you can get that car and I can stop driving you around everywhere,” Brady joked.

“But I just love having a chauffeur,” Eli said. Lan laughed and Brady smiled and we were all quiet for one awkward moment. Then a car pulled up to the window and Lan and Brady had to move back because there was so little room.

“I'll talk to you later, Kate,” said Lan as she left.

Brady followed her out and, as I made change for a crumpled twenty-dollar bill, I saw through the window that they were both standing next to Lan's car, talking.

“That's a good sign,” I said softly.

Eli leaned over me to get a look. “Good,” he said. Again, I caught the faint scent of his soap and something minty on his breath. I closed my eyes for just a second to breathe it in, then moved away.

Our customer left and Eli pulled out his laptop while I went over to the sink. “I meant what I said earlier,” he commented while the computer warmed up.

“What's that?” I was rinsing off one of the long-handled spoons we used to stir steamed milk.

“You helped me pass that precalc test. Thanks.”

“No problem.” I was thinking about Lan and Brady. If they did start dating, it would probably mean double dates with Eli and Reva, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be coming along. I tried to think of some of the other eligible guys in their group, but no one with potential came to mind.

“You still following the graffiti story?” Eli asked.

I sat down in a folding chair across from him and leaned back. “Not really. I guess I've been a little distracted by this party.”

“Oh. I didn't think you wanted to go to that,” Eli said. He didn't look up from his computer, but there was something in
his voice that bothered me. It sounded like he was disappointed, but I couldn't imagine why.

“I don't. But Lan does.”

“Would you go if she was going?”

“Probably.”

Eli finally looked up from the computer. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I don't know. Because it's big. Because everyone will be there. Because it's going to be on TV.”

“Hmm.”

“What? Aren't you going?” I was starting to get annoyed.

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's big. Because everyone will be there. Because it's going to be on TV.”

“Very funny,” I said. “So basically you're above everyone who wants to go?”

He smiled. “I didn't say I was above everyone else.”

I was suddenly irritated by Eli's smile. It appeared smug. There was nothing wrong with wanting to attend a big party, even if you didn't like the hostess. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be social and get along with people and have fun. Eli seemed to be hinting that there was.

“If you don't want to go, then don't go,” I said. “But you don't have to make other people feel like they are inherently flawed and somehow inferior just because they want to see what all the fuss is about.”

I got up and stormed to the back room. Eli had no right to criticize me. He could sit there and convince everyone he was a nonconformist, and that was fine. But he had no right to judge others. I shut the door and slumped against the wall next
to a metal shelf stacked with paper cups and tall bottles of flavored coffee syrup. The storeroom had that weird cardboard smell to it. I could hear Eli taking someone's order and I didn't feel the least bit guilty for making him work alone.

After ten minutes, Eli knocked softly on the storeroom door.

“You okay?”

I didn't answer. Let him wonder, I thought. Let him worry a little.

“Can I bring you something? Water? Juice? A weapon of some sort?”

I chuckled at that, and I knew he heard me. I opened the door a crack, but remained sitting on the floor. Eli hunched down on the other side of the door so that we were almost face-to-face.

“Sorry I upset you,” he said. “I seem to have a real talent for doing that.”

“Yes, you do,” I agreed. I paused for a moment. “Or maybe I have a talent for taking everything the wrong way.”

“Can we call a truce?” He held out his hand. I took it. It was warm and smooth. He helped pull me to my feet, and we returned to the front of the store.

“Are you going to tell me what's really bothering you?” Eli asked. “I know it can't all be me.”

“It isn't,” I said. “But sometimes I feel like you're really harsh on people who don't think exactly the way you do.”

He nodded. “I get that. It's just that there are some things I feel strongly about, you know? And I want other people to feel the same.”

“Well, maybe you need to try a new approach,” I said, but I smiled so he would know I wasn't trying to be mean.

He smiled back. “So, what else is bothering you?”

I could tell he wasn't going to let it go until I came clean, so I did. I told him about why Tiffany's party meant so much to Lan and how I was still struggling to find something that I was good at that wasn't math- or coffee-related. Eli seemed to listen to me as I rattled on for a few minutes. He nodded and asked questions. When I was finished, he was quiet for a moment before he spoke.

“I think I can help you,” he said.

A brash voice interrupted Eli before he could say any more.

“Help her with what?”

We turned around, startled. We hadn't heard the back door open, so neither one of us knew how long Reva had been standing there listening to our conversation. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but suddenly I felt embarrassed and guilty.

“Hi, Reva,” Eli said. I smiled and gave her a little half wave. I didn't know what to say.

Reva walked over and stood next to Eli, planting a kiss on his cheek and tracing her finger over his ear. “Help her with what?” she asked again. She wasn't wearing her usual spiky heels, I noticed, which was probably why we hadn't heard her.

Eli cleared his throat and moved away. I could tell he didn't like having his ear tickled. “We were talking about helping Lan get an invitation to Tiffany Werner's birthday party.”

Reva snorted. “She can have mine. I'm not going anywhere near that freak show.”

Eli gave me a sympathetic look as if to apologize for Reva, who was now studying one of her long silver fingernails.

“I wish it was that easy,” I said, “but there's a guest list and
even if you have a bracelet, security won't let you in if your name's not on the list.”

Reva shrugged. “Oh, well. No big deal.” She turned her back to me and faced Eli. “When do you get off from work?”

“I'll be done in about an hour,” Eli said.

Reva sighed. “I am not hanging out here for a full hour,” she complained. “Can't you leave just a little bit early? Please? I'm sure Katie won't mind.”