I kept my head down for the rest of the walk, literally, so I wasn’t prepared when we turned onto our driveway and heard my mom’s voice.

“Welcome home, my moonbeams!”

She was kneeling in our yard—clover, not grass, because it was better for the environment and brought good energy apparently—surrounded by chunks of raw crystal. Uh-oh, these were the big rocks—what was going on?

“I just checked again, Amethyst, and the sky should stay clear tonight.” Dad trooped out of the garage with his huge telescope, and I remembered that there was a meteor shower tonight.

My mother grinned. “I know. I left a clear quartz and a sun stone on the altar this morning. Why do you still doubt me, Steven?”

Dad grinned, rolling his eyes, then smiled as he noticed us walking up to the house. Having a neo-spiritual hippie and an astrophysicist for parents was usually an absolute sitcom of differences, but one thing they had in common was the love of the night sky. It was why both my brother and I were named for the moon, and why astrological events were treated like holidays around here.

Kamari immediately moved to help my dad with the telescope, just as much of a physics nerd as he was, and Demitri followed, but Mom waved me over.

“How was school, my star?” she asked, still fussing with the placement of crystals around her.

I sighed, thinking about my awful day. Where did I even start? “It definitely could’ve been better—” I began, but Mom flashed me a quick smile.

“I love the positivity; you’ve been using that citrine I gave you, haven’t you?” Before I could answer, she waved me toward the house. “Could you bring me the basket by the door? This still needs…hm, I’m thinking amazonite and a little lapis. I’m trying out a new grid. The shower tonight is going to give them some amazing energy!”

Swallowing a sigh, I gave my mom a smile. I knew she didn’t mean to ignore me, she just got so excited about her crystals and stuff. There was no getting through to her right now, so I didn’t even bother.

After I dropped my bag and brought her the basket of rocks, I tried my luck with my dad, going over to where he and Kamari were fiddling with the telescope controls. I tried not to be disappointed that Demitri wasn’t anywhere to be found. I’d have made a quick exit too.

Dad flashed me a smile and wrapped me in a one-armed hug, but his attention stayed on whatever scientific question Kamari was asking.

“Well, that’s the amazing thing, son,” he said excitedly, and then launched into some explanation that I followed for about a millisecond before the math and advanced physics came out.

With a grimace no one noticed, I ducked from under his arm and went inside, trying my best not to feel left out. They weren’t leaving me out—in fact, my parents would love it if I joined in the astronomy talk with my dad, or crystal woo-woo with my mom—but those weren’t the things I wanted to talk about.

Since everyone was so caught up doing their own thing right now, I headed upstairs, pulling out my phone on the way. I needed to talk to someone about my terrible day. Hopefully Chelsea was free.

But by the time I closed my bedroom door behind myself, she’d texted back with, Sorry, can’t talk, the kids are running wild lol.

Right. Chelsea had a million and two siblings, and her parents pretty much always needed the help. Anytime we got to talk on the phone was usually late at night after they’d all gone to bed. I tried, and failed, not to feel bitter.

And overlooked.

And completely invisible.

I knew it wasn’t all the way fair, but I couldn’t help wondering as I flopped back on my bed—did anyone care to talk to me?

“Hey, Lu, I’m leaving!”

I heard his voice distantly and sat straight up. Demitri? But I’d thought he left already? I could have been talking to him this whole time?

As fast as I could, I scrambled to the door, hoping to catch him quickly before he left. I could mention the book, the game this weekend, anything, I just needed to get him to talk to me again!

But I reached the top of the stairs just in time to watch the door snick shut. I was too late; he was already gone.