1 A Few Words from Quinn Every morning before school my second best friend Madeline comes over for breakfast Together we use Madeline’s cell phone to call my first best friend Bella I’d use my own cell phone to call Bella but I don’t have one Even though I’ve begged and pleaded with my mom about it It’s the one and only thing my twin brother Zack and I agree on He begs and pleads for one too Not that Zack has any friends to call He says he wants a phone for safety reasons Which is a dumb reason since he never does anything 1
remotely dangerous He’d wear a seat belt to ride his bicycle if he ever rode a bicycle which he doesn’t because he says bikes aren’t safe But it doesn’t matter anyway because Mom’s answer to both of us is the same No cell phones I know Mom’s not saying it to be mean It’s just paying for cell phone service each month is expensive Ever since Dad died we’ve had to be extra careful about money Instead of our tenth birthday party being at a cool place like the nail spa or the water park it had to be at home And we didn’t get cell phones as our birthday presents even though we both asked for them I’m not saying that birthday parties and cell phones are the reason I wish Dad were still here I wish he were still here because he was the greatest dad in the world He snuck notes into my backpack to give me an extra boost Quinn you will ROCK the track meet today or Don’t worry Quinn You’ll get them next time He made pizza from scratch He knew how to 2
juggle He gave the squeeziest hugs And when he came home from work at the end of the day everything just felt cozier I’m just saying that when something as unfair as your dad dying in a car accident happens it seems like more unfair things keep piling up on top of it Not having a cell phone is the icing on an unfair cake Or whatever the opposite of icing and cake are The worms on top of a pile of mud The cavities in a mouth of gingivitis It’s all bad and it makes me miss my dad even more But back to Madeline and her cell phone Like I said she comes over every morning and over cornflakes we use her phone to FaceTime with Bella Bella used to go to school with us Last year her parents decided to move and they stuck her in boarding school That’s another unfair thing The only difference is this one doesn’t have anything to do with missing my dad Madeline Bella and I have the timing 3
