Rhonda gaped at me. TELL THEM! she mouthed.

“Wait,” I said. My friends turned to look at me.

“What’s up, Georgia?” Mari asked.

“Um…” The only way to say it was to spew it. “Rafe signed us up for the Battle of the Bands which is in eight days so we have to practice because we’ll be performing in front of the whole school and our names are already on the program so it’s kind of too late to back out but I probably could if we really wanted to so it’s up to you guys.” I squeezed my eyes shut.

“What?” Nanci asked. She crunched a chip.

“We’re signed up to do the Battle of the Bands?” Patti asked. She made it sound like You volunteered us to jump off a bridge?

Nanci and Mari looked at each other. It was a look of horror.

“Our names are on the program?” Mari asked.

“Rafe did it,” I said.

Dead silence.

I wish I could just dig a hole and live in it, I thought. Maybe Mom could bring me a sandwich now and then.

“COME ON, YOU GUYS!” Rhonda screeched. “THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!”

“Rhonda, we’re not ready,” Mari pointed out.

“YOU ARE READY! YOU’RE AMAZING, AND THE DANCE WILL BE PATHETIC WITHOUT YOU!” She waved her arms in the air. “YOU OWE IT TO GEORGIA TO PERFORM! YOU CAN’T BACK OUT ON HER IN FRONT OF HER FRIENDS.”

I put up my hands. “Wait! This doesn’t really have anything to do with me—”

“YOU GUYS WILL REGRET IT FOREVER IF YOU BACK OUT NOW,” Rhonda insisted. “HOW WILL YOU PERFORM NEXT YEAR IF YOU BAIL ON THIS YEAR’S BATTLE?”

Mari turned to Patti. “Rhonda has a point.”

She does?

“SO WHAT IF YOU’RE NOT PERFECT?” Rhonda was clearly in the zone. She wasn’t about to stop screeching now. “ROCK IS NEVER PERFECT!”

“She’s right!” Nanci twirled a drumstick. “Let’s rock!”

“Yeah, let’s go for it!” Patti agreed.

Mari turned to me. “What do you think, Georgia?”

I looked over at Rhonda’s beaming face. She really, really thinks we’re good, I realized. It was kind of inspiring.

“Let’s do it,” I said.

Rhonda let out a shriek that might have been a cheer. I clapped my hands over my ears but smiled. Rhonda was our biggest fan, and I didn’t want to let her down.

Of course, she might just be completely insane.

But I didn’t want to let her down anyway.

Grandma’s Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown

I was almost home from school when I saw him:

Rafe.

We had managed to avoid each other in the morning. Airbrook Arts starts forty-five minutes later than HVMS, so I ate a piece of pie for breakfast and snuck out early. But I couldn’t avoid him forever.

Rafe had paused midstride too. For a moment, we both stood stock-still, like mirror images. I guess we were both waiting for the other to make the first move.