Snark and Stage Fright by Stephanie Wardrop

promised. “You’ll see.”
    I nodded like I agreed, but I knew she had no idea what she was talking about. She had met the love of her life, Trey Billingsley III, early last year, and they have been a happy couple ever since. I’m sure the first time they had sex, Trey had covered the bed with rose petals, and seraphim had played harps overhead and all the angels sang in exultation. Neither of them had insulted the other, that’s for sure. Soon they were going off to nearby colleges, separate but committed to being together because they so obviously belonged that way. And they deserved to be happy.
    Still, I asked her, “Do you worry what will happen when you’re at Williams and Trey’s at Amherst?”
    Tori looked at me for a second as if I had asked her if she thought it was a good idea to breathe in oxygen every few seconds. “Of course! We’re going to be apart and he’s going to meet all new people … ”
    “Well, so are you,” I pointed out.
    She shook her head slightly and stretched out on her bed with her back against the fluffy ruffled pillows, frowning. Seeing Tori frown is like seeing the Tooth Fairy slap a kid for having a cavity. It made me feel even worse—I wouldn’t have believed that to be possible—so I hurried to say, “He’s not going to find anybody better than you, Tor. And one of the best things about Trey is he knows that.”
    She smiled but reasoned, “That’s not a guarantee, though, is it?”
    I looked at her carefully. I had never seen her this uncertain about anything before, except maybe for the brief period last year during Christmas break when Trey had gone away and forgotten to text or call her. I decided not to point out that while away at college she might find someone she liked even more than Trey because I was positive that every heterosexual guy at Williams would love Tori. Instead, I scooched myself next to her and rested my head on a shared pillow. I couldn’t reassure her any more than she could reassure me. Because she was right.
    There aren’t any guarantees in life.
    Especially when you have a brain like mine.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Two days later, I hesitated at the door to Dr. Endicott’s office before making myself turn the knob and go in to work. I was pretty sure that Michael hadn’t told his parents what had happened between us. It had been, after all, a pretty mortifying experience for him, too, one he would not want to share even with the kind of parents you can actually talk to. But on my first day back at work, I learned that he came up with an excuse, too, because when Dr. Endicott came out of his private office to the reception area and saw me bent over a stack of files, he asked me, “Are you feeling better, Georgia? Michael said you two came home early because you didn’t feel well and wanted to be at home.” I saw genuine concern in his eyes, so like Michael’s, and I thought for a second about throwing my arms around him and telling him everything. Instead, I assured him, “Much better, thank you. Too much sun, I think.”
    “Well, if you need me to take a look at anything, let me know. There have to be some perks to working for a doctor.” He laughed, winked, and went into an examining room to meet a patient.
    “You okay?” Shondra asked. Shondra was probably my best friend in Longbourne. We had started hanging out together as we both felt like misfits and were new transfers to Longbourne High. She can always be counted on to know what to do. “Oh, yeah. I wasn’t sick, really,” I admitted. “Michael and I came home early because we had … a misunderstanding, I guess.”
    Shondra set her stack of files on the front desk and shook her head in confusion so hard her braids bounced in a halo around her head.
    “Haven’t you guys had about five million misunderstandings by now? You two are either going to be with one another through the next twelve lifetimes or one of you will murder the other in their sleep.”
    When she could see