I shrugged. “I don’t know, but you really can’t get much worse than hoopla.”

Dexter considered it. “Hootenanny?”

“Hullaballoo?” Poe offered.

I cringed. “Okay, I stand corrected. Clearly, it can get worse.”

“Well, I have news too,” Reg said. “One of my less offensive instructors has suggested I join the debate team. She said my knowledge and poise would be an asset.” He puffed up his chest in an exaggerated superhero pose. “At last, someone recognizes my superiority.”

The twins giggled, and Poe gave Reg a high five that lingered for just a second into a loose-finger hold even after their hands lowered. I tried not to be jealous that Reg had reached the fingertip-touching stage with his conquest, when I was still playing cat and mouse with mine. I wasn’t even sure who was the cat and who was the mouse.

“And the play?” Poe asked. “What did you decide?”

“I believe I can do both,” Reg said.

“What play?” I asked. What had my brother been up to while I’d been tied up in boring party planning meetings?

“I’m auditioning for the school play.”

“Oh yeah.” I recalled our conversation from the first trip to All Hours. “Shakespeare, right?”

Reg was a massive Shakespeare fan and often talked about what a missed opportunity it was that no one had ever turned him immortal.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Poe said. “My favorite.”

“And mine,” Reg said. “Poe and I are both auditioning for the part of Puck.”

“Let the best man win.” Poe held his hand out to shake Reg’s in an overly dignified way that I think was just an excuse for more touching.

Dexter teased, “I see no men here. Only boys.”

I matched Dexter’s smile. “Guess we’ll have to keep ourselves occupied while these boys run off to the theater.”

“And debate,” Reg added.

“You don’t plan to join any clubs?” Dex asked, feigning surprise. “And here I pegged you as a 4-H girl.”

“I don’t know what that is,” I said with a flip of my hair. “But I can tell when I’m being mocked.”

“You could try out for soccer,” Sophia said. “We could train together.”

“I don’t kick things.”

She laughed. “Well, Poe and I are also in student government, and I’m the president of the National Honor Society. NHS is great on college applications. If your grades are high enough, I could recommend—”

Sydney dropped her head to her sister’s shoulder and pretended to snore.

Sophia responded with a playful shove. “Okay, okay. I know when I’m being too much.”

“You really don’t,” Sydney said.

When the pair of them left for home, I turned to Dexter, my lips pulled into a side pout. Now was his chance. Maybe he just needed a little push.

“I guess I’m just interested in other kinds of extracurricular activities,” I said.

Push.