Page 13 of The Promposal

He let out a sigh of exasperation. “Prom is not that big a deal. It’s just one dance. I can’t believe how everyone’s acting like it’s the most important thing in the whole world.”

It felt like he’d just verbally slapped me. For a moment I sat there in stunned silence. “It’s important to me.”

“Not everything’s about you, Mattie. I have to go.”

Go? He just got here!

He stood up, grabbing his backpack and ignoring Ms. Elias telling him to take his seat. He left the classroom without even glancing back at me.

Jake had called me Mattie. Since we’d become official, he never called me Mattie. Ever.

Something big was going on. Something bigger than even the prom.

I hated that I didn’t know what it was.

CHAPTER FIVE

My dad requested that I do the dishes after dinner. Something about it building character, which was the kind of thing parents said when they wanted you to do housework for free. Why even bother paying our housekeeper if he was going to make me do everything? I tried not to take my frustration out on the plates. It wasn’t their fault my father was in one of his “improve the children” moods or that Jake had snapped at me the way that he had.

I decided to concentrate on my plans for tomorrow. I was going to see Kenyetta, my tutee. It had (obviously) been Ella’s idea for me to volunteer as a tutor. Supposedly for my college applications, but mostly to try and become a better person. “You have no idea how good it feels to be selfless!” had been her sales pitch, and I’d done it just to humor her.

I’d thought I would hate it, but I didn’t. It also turned out that I wasn’t as noble and selfless as Ella had hoped for. I decided I was somewhat selfish because I loved the high I got from helping others.

Not to mention that it so often made my other problems fade away. They seemed so much smaller when I focused on somebody else who needed me.

I hoped that was still true.

“What’s going on with you?” Ella entered the kitchen and stopped short when she saw the expression on my face.

“Other than the illegal child labor currently taking place? My boyfriend told me the prom isn’t that big of a deal. Just a dance.” I pushed a couple of buttons on the dishwasher, not sure which one made it run. I decided on the Start button and slammed the door shut.

Ella let out a gasp. “It’s the pinnacle of your student presidential career!”

At least someone got it. “Exactly. Thank you!”

“What is wrong with guys? Why don’t they get this? And you have to add detergent.”

Holy Buddha. I found one of the little rectangle detergents thingies under the sink and added it to the dishwasher, throwing it in the bottom. I didn’t know if it went there or not, but now it wasn’t my problem.

“You’re supposed to take the wrapper off,” she told me.

I shrugged. The dishwasher could figure it out. It was one of those smart kinds, right?

Ella lifted up a stack of papers my dad had left on the table.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I can’t find my phone.”

I pulled my own phone out of my pocket. Where I had no missed calls or texts from Jake. “Want me to call it?”

“It must be dead because I tried that already. Which is weird because it was fully charged this morning and should still have some juice.”

“Did you turn it off?”

She made an expression liked I’d just asked her if she tortured sick puppies in her spare time. “I never turn it off. My entire life is on there. My course schedule for next year, my calendar, all my prom to-dos, my homework assignments, everything.”

“When’s the last time you remember having it?”

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