Most Likely (Most Likely #1) - Sarah Watson Page 0,36

Hyatt Regency. We can meet in the lobby bar.”

“Uh…”

“Meet me there at seven.”

He hung up. The first thing Jordan did was to call the Hyatt Regency and ask if the lobby bar was limited to patrons twenty-one and up. She was relieved to learn that it was also a restaurant. “Kids welcome.” That’s what the man on the phone actually said. Kids welcome. As soon as that was done, she uncapped her red pen and wrote something down.

Councilman lying?

CHAPTER TEN

AVA DIDN’T mean to look at Logan’s canvas. He’d asked her not to look at the painting of her until he was done and she’d agreed. She’d walked into the art room after school because she’d finally had a revelation about how to paint her mother in the background of her self-portrait. After-school art hours were optional, and it was usually just Ava and Isla and Tobin in the room. She’d been surprised when she opened the door and saw Logan, paintbrush in hand. He’d been surprised too. His easel was angled in a way that she could see it. She looked away at first, wanting to keep her promise. Then she couldn’t help herself. She glanced back. It was only a quick look.

“You made me white!”

Logan spun around. “You looked? You said you wouldn’t look.”

“No. Okay, yes. I looked. I couldn’t help it. Logan. I’m Latinx. My skin does not look like that. Even white people aren’t that white.”

Logan stepped back and looked at his painting. Ava could tell he was embarrassed. “I know. It’s awful. I can’t do this. Mrs. Simon is going to fail me, isn’t she?”

“Well…”

“Shit. I can’t have anything below a B on my report card this semester. How is art harder than AP Physics? Shit, shit, shit.”

Logan was spinning out far more than the situation required, and now Ava felt bad about her reaction. She was going to feel really terrible if he had another panic attack. “Okay, calm down. Mrs. Simon grades on effort, not talent. The fact that you’re here after school… and that you’re taking this seriously…”

“I’ll try to find the right skin color,” he said.

While Logan went to the back of the room to get more paint, Ava found her self-portrait. She set it up on the easel and thought about how she was going to do this. Her plan was to paint her own face onto her mother’s. Then, using the palm of her hand, she’d drag it through the wet paint to make a blurred shadow effect. Logan came back with the paint and paused behind her.

“You make it look so easy.”

“It’s not,” she said. “I work harder than people realize. And even then, it doesn’t always come together. This one’s been really tough. I thought it would be interesting not seeing her face, but it’s just weird.”

“Do you ever think about looking for her? Your mom?”

Ava grabbed the edges of her sleeves and pulled them over her wrists. “Um, it’s complicated. I don’t really want to… It’s not something I want to talk about.” With you.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ll try to get your skin color right. I really am trying.”

He returned to his painting and she returned to hers. She could feel him staring at her from time to time. He’d peek around his easel and squint at her, studying her, trying to get the image right.

Of course Ava thought about looking for her birth mother. Sometimes she thought about it every waking second of every day. She had so many questions. That’s why the fuzzy image wasn’t sitting right with her. Because a fuzzy image would never be enough. She desperately wanted to meet the woman who had given her away, and she wanted to ask her why.

Suddenly Ava felt goose bumps spring up all over her arms. She looked up and saw that Logan was staring. She knew it was just because of the assignment, but he didn’t look away when she met his eye.

“I’m going to get this right,” he said.

Ava nodded. Then she dug for her phone and sent out a desperate text.

CJ was already in the parking lot of the rec center when she got the text from Ava.

Logan is staring at me. It’s horrible. It’s the assignment. But still. It’s horrible. Can anyone come hang out in the art room? PLEASE. Like be a Diffenderfer buffer?

Martha and Jordan both texted back right away that they couldn’t do it. CJ sighed. She would do anything for Ava. And if she was being honest,