I Forgot to Tell You by Charis Marsh

are in the basement, so if you want to go downstairs …” Kaitlyn realized that there were two parties going on, one upstairs with adults and their party below. She and Taylor took off their shoes and headed down.
    Downstairs there was a pool table, a couch, and a lot of people. Kaitlyn didn’t recognize anyone. “Is anyone here from McKinley?” she whispered to Taylor.
    â€œA few people,” Taylor whispered back. “Zack’s friends with all the other tech-club kids who work backstage. I met a few of them when I danced at the assembly before the break, but I only really know Zack. He should have gone to King William’s, the school I was supposed to go to, but he didn’t want to go to the same school as his brother. So I guess all these other people are his old friends who go to King William’s.”
    â€œHow do you know Zack?” Kaitlyn asked. But Taylor was already walking in. She hooked her arm around Kaitlyn’s, leading her in a weaving path toward the kitchen. She pulled two coolers out of her bag and handed one to Kaitlyn. “You owe me,” she said, giggling.
    â€œHow did you even get these?” Kaitlyn whispered back.
    â€œMy mom always keeps a bunch in the fridge and she doesn’t care when I take them. She says that it’s better than me getting roofied.”
    â€œYour mom is so weird,” Kaitlyn said, laughing. “Like seriously.”
    â€œNo, it makes sense.” Taylor opened her bottle and somehow managed to spill a bunch over her jeans. “Oh geez, now it looks like I peed myself,” she giggled. “Come on; let’s go say hi to Zack.”
    â€œOkay.” Kaitlyn followed her, sipping slowly on her drink. It tasted a bit sweet, like juice. It made her feel warm, and nice, and sort of happy. She liked this party; everyone was smiling.
    â€œHey, Zack,” Taylor said, walking up to a small boy sitting on the corner of a table, talking loudly to a small group of people who looked several years older than him. They looked very entertained. He turned around when he heard Taylor, and Kaitlyn recognized him. He had been in her math class once, and had never shut up, except when he was absent, which he had been for a third of last semester. Second semester he hadn’t shown up at all; the rumour was that he’d had to finish the course online because he was failing. “You do acting, right? You played that possessed kid on Superbly Unnatural. ” Her head felt heavier than normal.
    He nodded, grinning. His hair was blond and just covered his ears, and he had a cheerful face. He was holding a can of beer and looked ridiculously pleased with himself, but he was so small that he could have passed for twelve, not fifteen. He was wearing a pale blue dress shirt, and it hung off of him. “The ballerinas,” he said, a bit too cheerily. “So you made it!” He was only looking at Taylor, and she sat down on the arm of the couch that he was sitting on. Kaitlyn stood by awkwardly.
    â€œYeah,” Taylor said, looking around. “I, like, know almost no one here. What’s up with that?”
    â€œYou guys and Matt and some of the tech-club kids over there are the only people my age,” he admitted. “Everyone else is in my brother’s grade. He goes to King Will’s.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œI like your hair.” Zack kept tapping his foot, and Kaitlyn couldn’t stop herself from watching it.
    â€œThanks,” Taylor said, smiling and tossing her hair. “Your house is pretty sweet.”
    â€œI know, right?” Zack gulped some of his beer. Beside Zack was a tall gangly boy with red hair, and Kaitlyn giggled as she saw him roll his eyes.
    â€œYou want me to show you around the house and stuff?” Zack asked. He sounded weirdly stiff.
    Taylor giggled again. “Totally. You should show me that robot you made.” They headed off, Zack casually