“Oh, good lord.” Camille hangs her head in her hands. “It’s a prank, boys. A prank. I’m not asking you to go into battle against Taylor. How can you not see that not pulling a prank is what started the mess with your fathers in the first place? How are you so clueless that you can’t see that? Taylor will just keep escalating and at some point, at some point, they’re going to do something you can’t ignore. Or that the team can’t ignore. And then there will be hurt feelings because y’all are toddlers who cannot handle your emotions and boom… brawl on the football field again. Homecoming canceled.” Camille stands up again, pulling at her hair from the roots. “I swear to y’all if my homecoming is canceled my senior year? You are not going to want to be around me. I’ve got my garter for… for whoever I’m taking all planned out. I’ve ordered a red dress with more sequins on the bodice than all the dresses in the entire Miss Texas pageant. If you can’t guarantee me that I’m going to be marching in the homecoming parade with my sparkliest Guardettes outfit on or accepting my homecoming queen crown and sash on Hartwig Field four weeks from now, then you better just get on out of my room right now because I am about to blow.”

“Whoa,” I whisper under my breath.

“Homecoming is not going to be canceled, Camille. There’s no reason for all the drama,” Julian says, sighing loudly. “You’re letting your imagination get out of hand.”

“Okay, maybe. But can’t you see that this isn’t just about you?” she says to Julian, sitting back down next to him.

Julian hangs his head. “It’s supposed to be about football.”

“It’s supposed to be about tradition!” she almost yells, jumping up again. “What makes you think homecoming is only about football? That’s a pretty narrow vision, don’t you think? The entire school gets involved! Everyone wears mums and garters! There’s a dance! A parade! A king and queen! The alumni have a huge bonfire! Sure, there’s a football game, but this is about so much more than that, Julian. It’s about so much more than just you!”

Camille is completely out of breath, and her face is bright red.

Julian gets to his feet. “But if I’m the one who is supposed to make the decision about what we do, then I’m the one who is going to have to take the fall for it when it all goes to hell! That’s probably the reason my dad didn’t want to do all of this, either!” he yells back.

“Hey, hey, let’s all just calm down a little bit,” I say, trying to ease the tension between the two of them. It doesn’t work.