“How much wine did you have?” Mom says, standing in my doorway. She’s yelling too loudly. My mouth feels like a cotton ball. My head is splitting right down the middle. This is my first hangover.

“Don’t talk so loudly,” I say.

“Excuse me?” Mom says.

“Please,” I beg. I am actually begging my mom.

“Is this how you are going to behave at the Nemesis reception at the museum?”

“No,” I say. “Please talk quietly. In fact, please don’t talk at all.”

“I give you so much freedom and this is what you do?” Mom says. “I didn’t think that you would become a drunk.”

Now she is making me angry. She is being dramatic, as usual.

“I’m not a drunk. I never get drunk.”

“Except last night.”

“Saba Greer was a bitch. She was a horrible, horrible bitch.”

“Well, Saba Greer is playing Athena in the movie with me, and since you’ll be coming with me to Greece this summer before you go to college, you’d better get used to her being a bitch.”

“Maybe I’ll have other plans for the summer,” I say. “I’ll be a high-school graduate and can make my own goddamned decisions about where I’ll be this summer. I might not go to college right away. I might not even go at all. I’ll be independent, and I would like to consider all the choices open to me.”

Mom doesn’t have an answer for that. She just slams the bedroom door shut.

I am so glad it’s Saturday and not a school day.

I make my way to the bathroom and take some aspirin and drink lots of water. If I cared, I would notice that I look like hell.

I slide in front of my computer and log on to the Terminal Earth site. There are ten new postings all about the party at the Cinematheque last night. They all say that Saba Greer was the nicest, most sincere, most loving person ever and that she had complimented all of their Egg costumes.

That seals it. Saba Greer really is a good actress.

I follow a thread on the message board that asks the question, “Any chance Saba Greer is gay?” I’m tempted to reveal that I know she is dating Lark Austin, but I resist.