Page 73 of Wonderstruck

Cora looked up, eyebrows raised. “Didn’tyou just say the Bitteroots were finally coming together?”

The Bitteroots was the, now, official bandname for Daisy’s band.

“We are,” Daisy said with a groan. “Andthat’s the problem. I finally found a drummer who doesn’t live four states away, and now all they want to do is rehearse 24/7. And don’t get me wrong—I love them, Cameron is amazing and I’m pretty sure Bodhi was born with drumsticks in his hands. The band’s finally starting to feel real, you know? But I needed this tonight. Just us, no noise, no lyrics to rewrite for the thousandth time. And no boys.”

Goldie swirled her paintbrush in a mix oforange and yellow, her strokes deliberate. “I get that,” she said after a moment. “I’m loving my psych classes, but they’re a lot. To the point where I feel like it's becoming my personality. The other day, we were talking about cognitive dissonance, and I made this joke about Festinger that went completely over everyone’s heads.” she shrugged. “Well, Tristan laughed, but he kind of has to, so I won’t count that. But, like, hello? I've become a nerd. I'm the only one here who reads the assigned papers.”

Daisy snorted. “You’re the only one wholikesassigned papers.”

“Maybe,” Goldie said with a shrug, “It’sjust…” She hesitated, her brush stilling on the glass.

“What?” Cora prompted.

Goldie sighed, her voice unusually soft. “Iwant time to slow down, you know?Ineedto slow down. Tristan’s leaving for Europe soon. A whole tour, right when I was starting to feel like we were in this really good place. Before I know it, the year’s going to be over, and I’ll be spending the last of it without him. Again.”

The room grew quiet for a moment, the airheavy with unspoken understanding. Then Daisy broke the silence with her trademark optimism. “Well, let’s focus on the positives, like your twentieth birthday!”

“Oh, yeah. Shit.” Cora said, her facelighting up. “What are we doing for that?”

Goldie perked up, her wistfulness replacedby giddiness. “I have no idea, but I think we need something fun.”

“Party–obviously. We’ll have it here.” Cora suggested, excitement framing her dark eyes.

“We’llneed a theme." Daisy chimmed in. "Like… Oh! The cosmos? Or maybe, like, a retro vibe?”

“Retro would be so cool,” Cora agreed.“We could do 80s.”

“Too much neon. And Jess might implode.” Goldie said, her smile widening. “How about, oh I don’t know… we all dress up as fae? How fun would that be!”

Her eyes darted around the room, hopefulthings, meeting nothing but the arched brows of all us of.

“What?” She asked.

Cora perked up, shuffling in my seat. “That theme wouldn’t have anything todo with the fact that Tristan looks eerily similar to the love interest in that romantasy series you love, would it?”

Goldie shrugged, grinning. “Maybe.” Guiltwas written all over her face. “And Imayyyhave already ordered some pointy ears for him.”

Theroom burst into laughter.

Goldie lifted her arms. “What? A girl hasneeds. And he’s already nailed the whole ‘book boyfriend leaning against a door frame’ thing. I wanna see what else he’s capable of.”

Cora’s eyes narrowed playfully. “Issinging, playing the guitar, being hot and having the best accent in the world not enough?”

The only response Goldie gave Cora was amiddle finger kiss blown right at her.

After we all fell into laughter again, thetheme ideas started bouncing around,their voices overlapping with growing excitement. I smiled faintly, trying to keep up, but the knot in my chest only tightened. Their words blurred together, the warmth of the room feeling too much and not enough all at once.

“Rory?”

I blinked, realising the conversation hadstopped. They were all looking at me now, concern etched into their faces.

“You okay?” Goldie asked, her voice soft.

I nodded quickly, forcing a smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been quiet all night,” Cora saidgently.

I forced my smile again, dipping my brushinto the water cup. “I’m just exhausted. The rink time really drains me.”

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