Wishing Upon the Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman

Author:Jacquetta Nammar Feldman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

Saturday morning, furious chopping noises echo up the staircase from the kitchen.

I stumble down in my pajamas to a near-restaurant-style assembly line. There’s a big platter covered in layers of aluminum foil along with several smaller ones, and nearly all our recycled yogurt containers sit waiting to be filled.

“What’s all this for?” I ask.

My mother grins at Sitti and gestures to an invitation on the refrigerator, a small card I’ve somehow missed amid all her sticky notes. “We are preparing for tonight’s neighborhood holiday party! It is another potluck!” she says.

The good feelings I’ve had since yesterday on the bus instantly evaporate.

A neighborhood party? Will the Joneses be there?

I walk to the refrigerator to read the invitation. It’s even worse—tonight’s holiday party is being held right in their cul-de-sac.

Ever since Waverly walked away from me that day on the school steps and broke my heart into a thousand pieces, I’ve been avoiding her, and she’s been avoiding me.

On the bus, I sit in the front and she sits in the back; at lunch, I eat with Esme and Carlos as far away from the Sapphires’ table as I can; and during seventh period advisory, she sits behind me and I never turn around.

My mother doesn’t know that we haven’t said a word to each other in over a month. She thinks we’re still friends, since Waverly never responded to the Sapphires’ racist texts and she didn’t get detention like the other girls.

She doesn’t know that Waverly chose her mean friends over me. She doesn’t know that Waverly’s best friend, Hallie, still torments me at school while Waverly looks the other way.

My mother doesn’t know because I haven’t told her. If I did, just like at school, she’d only make everything worse. She’d probably call Mrs. Jones!

Then I have a horrible thought. What about the Cohens? Will they be at the potluck, too? Mr. Cohen doesn’t know that I never told my parents that he coaches Math Lab.

And neither does Ayelet.

I feel dizzy. I stagger over to the kitchen table to sit down. If everyone finds out that I lied, I don’t know what they’ll think of me. I have to tell my parents about Mr. Cohen, but I don’t know how.

So, I squeak in my smallest voice, “Do we have to go?”

My mother looks at me, perplexed. “Yasmeen, what are you saying? Of course, we are going to the party! Of course, we would like to meet more neighbors!”

It’s pointless—there is no talking my mother, Mrs. Myriam Khoury, out of anything at all.

That afternoon, I drag myself downstairs behind my skipping little sister when we’re called. Sara’s super excited about the holiday party, unlike me.

She doesn’t have any little white lies to worry about.

Despite my family’s obvious attempts at blending into tonight’s holiday scene, I’m sure we won’t: my mother’s wearing a velvety forest-green dress, her high heels, and all her gold jewelry; my father’s in slacks and a festive red button-down shirt; Sara’s wearing a skirt and a much-too-hot

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.