“Ugh,” Adan said. “You’re such an instigator, Fani.”
“What of it?” She looked at the grand festivities around us, the food and the music. “These parties can be so boring. All these men trying to pretend they’re boys; all these boys pretending they’re men.”
“Boring? How can you say that? I have never seen such a birthday party,” I said.
She grimaced. “Well, don’t expect to see a piñata. Get me a glass of champagne, Adan.”
“Champagne? Do you want me to be arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor?”
“Spare me. It won’t be the first time you did so,” she said, and he laughed.
“Wait here. I’ll have to get it and pour it into a soda glass.”
The dancers broke into the cancan again, and men and boys were cheering.
“Adan really likes you,” Fani said. “I never heard him speak about a girl as much. I couldn’t get him off the phone this afternoon. He thinks you’re head and shoulders above other girls your age. What did you do to him on the way home from my house last night?”
“I did nothing.”
“Did you go straight home?” she asked, swinging her eyes toward him.
“Yes. Straight home.”
“Yeah, well, whatever you did or didn’t do was enough to capture his imagination, and Adan has a wild imagination.”
She stopped talking when he returned with the champagne in a soda glass. “Gracias, señor.” She clinked his glass and sipped her champagne.
“Let’s get something substantial to eat,” she suggested.
As we crossed the room toward the displays of food, Fani paused and nudged me to turn around. Sophia and Christian were just coming into the party.
“This is going to be good,” she whispered, and nodded toward Danielle and her girlfriends, who had spotted Sophia as well. Their chatter became more animated. They reminded me of angry bees.
“Oh, I hope they don’t make trouble,” I said. It sounded like a prayer.
“She’ll only get what she deserves,” Fani declared. “Besides, it’s Danielle’s party. She can do what she wants.”
“With your little help, I’m sure,” Adan muttered. “You so enjoy running everyone’s life.”
“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it,” Fani said, and they both laughed.
Adan fixed me a plate of food and guided me to one of the tables that had been set up like in a French café, with candlelight and baskets of croissants. Looking across the room, I saw Danielle and her friends descend on Sophia, who, although she was dressed more elegantly than I had ever seen her dressed and walked with Christian Taylor holding her arm, still looked like a fish out of water.
Adan fixed Fani’s plate of food as well, and she sat beside me. It occurred to me that none of the boys from our school was trying to get her attention. Were they all so afraid of her, of being rejected? She didn’t seem to care.
Just before Adan joined us with his food, Fani leaned toward me, both of us still watching Danielle and her friends talking to Sophia and Christian, and whispered, “Adan knows what happened to you. He knows all about the famous Bradley Whitfield affair. He knew more about it than I did.”
I nearly choked on the lobster I had started to chew. I turned to her, but before I could respond, he sat next to me.
“What’s happening in the soap opera?” he asked, biting into a hamburger and nodding toward Sophia and Christian.
“I’m sure they’re cross-examining her,” Fani said. “She looks as if she’s defending herself. And Christian Taylor looks as if he’s here to be her attorney.”
They did appear to be in a serious argument now.
“This is not nice for Danielle’s party,” I said. “She will be upset.”
“Are you kidding? Danielle is just like the others. She enjoys tormenting someone. I just provided her with some new ammunition.”