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When I had finished reading, I looked up at the rabbi, who smiled and nodded. And I looked at Patrice, who gave me a big thumbs-up. And I glanced at my mom and dad, both beaming and dabbing away tears.

Rabbi Weiner leaned into my ear and whispered, “Do you have the speech?”

I took a deep breath. My hands were shaking. The Hebrew was just memorization. But the speech had always been the hard part. And even though I had tried, I had never been able to get a good draft down on paper. Suddenly my heart was pounding hard.

“No,” I said. “But I still have something to say.”

He smiled, a big proud smile. “Then say it!”

With that, he went back to his chair.

There was my family, all gathered in this unlikely building in this unlikely town, and there was my one friend who had put up with me and stood by me, and there I was. I had survived the divorce and the move to Indiana. And in the process I had learned a whole lot about who I was. Maybe I could say something about that?

But just as I opened my mouth to begin, I heard a beeping sound. Then the basement door creaked and Archie's mother peeked in. Everyone turned to look. “I'm so sorry,” she whispered, and she held the door open. There was a whirring noise and Archie came in, looking pale and sitting in a motorized wheelchair. He saw everyone staring at him, and I could tell he was mortified. Patrice immediately got up and moved a chair away from the table so Archie could sit there, and I realized that if I started talking, everyone would stop looking at him.

So I did.

This is what I said:

I looked out at my whole family, at my new friends, at this whole cobbled-together version of my new and old life. I heard my mother sniffle. Patrice and Archie were both smiling at me. Rabbi Weiner put his arm around my shoulders.

“Amen,” he said, and everyone repeated it.

Amen.

THERE'S A
lot of other stuff I could tell you—about the Quails losing the championship after all; about Kendra and Lucy getting in a fight when Kendra got the lead in the musical and never talking to each other again; about Angelina and my dad getting married.

I guess I could also tell you about how one night over Thanksgiving break Patrice and I stayed up until midnight playing Scrabble, and after she beat me for the fifth time, I leaned over and kissed her—both lips. And then I did it again.

But really, there's only one other story I want to tell.

In the spring there was a talent show. And Kendra, of course, worked up a big dance number that everyone went nuts for. But then, right after her song, while she was still onstage, the band started playing a different tune, something slow and sort of mystical. And suddenly Archie wheeled himself out, carrying a microphone.

The audience went berserk, clapping and laughing. Then Archie turned to them and asked them to be quiet. Patrice was sitting a couple of rows ahead of me with her dad, and she turned and looked at me and I smiled.

Then Archie cleared his throat, and he sang the song I had heard on his computer six months before, the song that told Kendra that what he wanted more than anything else in the world was for her to notice him and know his name.

Blushing, Kendra stared out into the audience. We hadn't said a word to each other since Brett beat me up, but I wondered if she remembered what she had promised me.

When Archie was done singing the song, there was not a sound in the whole auditorium. Everyone was just staring at Kendra and Archie, lit by two spotlights alone on the stage.

Kendra got up and walked over to Archie's wheel-chair. She smiled.

The crowd whooped and hollered. People started taking pictures with their cell phones.

Kendra kneeled down next to Archie and took his hand. He dropped the microphone and it landed with a thud. He was shaking.

Then Kendra took Archie's face in her hands, and turned it so he was directly looking at her. And there, in front of that whole room, the most popular and most beautiful girl in Appleton, Indiana, kissed Archie.

(But no matter what he tells you, there was no tongue.)

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