I stick it into the dishwasher and say, “Did they make a wrong right?”
“What do you think?”
“It doesn’t bring my mom back. It doesn’t erase what happened—which is still messed up beyond imagination. Whack.”
“No, it doesn’t. And yes, it still is.”
“So I really have access to all that money?” I ask, shoving a handful of spoons into the dishwasher utensil bin.
“No,” Donna says while rinsing the last ice cream bowl. “You have a college fund that you can use to pay college and graduate school tuition. I drew up all of the papers.”
“What happens if I don’t use the money?”
“Why wouldn’t you use the money? You’re still planning on going to Bryn Mawr and then Harvard, right?”
“Yeah, but maybe I’ll get scholarships—like you did.”
“I thought of that.”
“You did?”
“If you get to go to school for free, you can donate the money to the charity of your choice.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“So I could like—donate all of the money to the Childress Public High School Business Department so that Franks could maybe build a killer classroom and get out of the basement? Or maybe, at least, he could get some windows put in and he wouldn’t have to buy all of his own supplies using his own personal money?”
“You could do something like that. Absolutely.”
I smile, thinking of all the good hooey I can do for others with the money.
CHAPTER 58
When the junior prom rolls around, Donna rents Ricky and me a stretch limo. I wear my silver dress. Ricky wears his tuxedo. Donna has flowers for both of us. We take a crapload of pictures in the backyard, and then we go to Ty’s house and pick him up. He’s still got the beard, but he looks dashing in a navy blue tuxedo. Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix take pictures of Ricky, Ty, and me for—like—an hour, and then we jump into the limo and tell the driver to take us to Jared’s and Chad’s house, where they are waiting with their dates—Carla Winslow and Sally Craig—from the cheerleading squad. These girls are bimbo airheads, but for my boys, I’m super nice to both of them. Mr. and Mrs. Fox take pictures of all of us in various poses for another hour, and then we are in the limo again—off to the local Hilton reception room where our junior prom is held, with Mr. Fox following us in the Fox van, which transports Das Boot for Chad.
When we arrive, we get Chad into Das Boot, and then we make our entrance.
Franks is a greeter, which means he has to check our breath for alcohol.
So we walk in all staggering, pretending to be hammered.
“Want some vodka?” I ask Franks.
“I’ll probably need some by the end of the night,” Franks says to me, and we all laugh.
“How do I look, Franks?”
“All of you look great,” Franks says, and Carla and Sally giggle at that one.
At the prom we eat good food, we dance to the music the DJ plays, we mix in with Lex Pinkston and all of the football players and their cheerleader dates. I split the slow dances equally between Ricky and Ty. And when they play “Always And Forever” at the end, all members of The Five and Sally and Carla dance in a big circle with our arms linked—and our teachers watching and waiting to go home. It’s all pretty silly, really.
When the prom is over, we put Das Boot into the Fox van, hop into our limo, and drive to Ty’s parents’ beach house in Long Beach Island, or LBI. Mr. Fox follows us down with Das Boot, because he is a good dad.
Ty’s parents’ house is actually right on the beach, so after we get Das Boot into the house and Mr. Fox leaves, we put Chad in a backpack and hit the sand to do some stargazing.
Barefoot, but still in our tuxedos and dresses, we run along the edge of the ocean, the water licking our ankles—laughing and singing like the kids we are.
Somehow we decide to spend the entire night on the beach so we can see the sunrise.
We pick out a spot in front of Ty’s parents’ house.
We lie down on the sand making this big pile of teenagers.
We look up into the universe, and we get pretty quiet as we marvel.
Everyone falls asleep except me.
I think about my mom.
I get up and cry a little down by the ocean, so that the others won’t hear.
After a few minutes, Ty appears and puts his arm around me—in a brotherly sorta way.
When I turn around surprised, he holds me, I sob into his overly starched tuxedo shirt, and his friendship beard scratches my forehead.
Hours later, the sun comes up.
Ty and I are simply sitting together on a sand dune.
When The Five finds us, I snap out of my sadness and yell, “I’m making breakfast!”
And then in Ty’s parents’ beach house, I make killer omelets for everyone.
CHAPTER 59