Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus

Aven’s mom excitedly helps her prepare for the dance. Aven wears a purple tank dress and Star Wars Vans. Trilby chalks Aven’s hair to match her dress. When Zion and Lando arrive, Lando is tickled to see that he and Aven wear the same shoes. Janessa is not with Lando, and Zion tells Aven they broke up. At homecoming, Trilby asks Zion to dance, not caring who sees them. Aven sits alone in the gym bleachers far away from Joshua’s group and feels like crying. Lando sits with her, tells her she looks pretty, and asks her to dance. Aven wonders why he is asking her. Joshua walks by and blows a kiss. Lando asks about it, but Aven runs out of the gym, crying. She scrapes her knee and twists her ankle as she runs up the bleachers by the football field to hide. Aven thinks Janessa is perfect compared to her. Lando finds Aven and wonders what is going on. Aven says Joshua is a jerk. Lando tells Aven that he broke up with Janessa because she became unattractive to him when she started to say mean things about people. Lando gently puts pressure on Aven’s aching ankle, but Aven panics and runs away, saying she needs to find Zion and go home.

While visiting Josephine, Aven asks her how to turn off feelings and stop liking someone. Aven privately thinks that Lando, because he is good looking and has tons of friends, could not like her romantically. Aven thinks that Josephine must know what to do, since Josephine never had a boyfriend. Josephine tartly replies that she did love someone—which is how Aven’s mother was conceived. Aven’s grandfather was a soldier who died in the Vietnam War. Since then, Josephine has not “had time for that nonsense” and kept to herself (206). Aven asks why she cannot be friends with Milford. Milford gives Josephine a big smile when Josephine glances at him. Josephine grumpily admits she has met Milford’s grandchildren, who love him, but she does not want to get trapped into taking care of a man. Aven counters that Milford does not need taking care of and says that Josephine just cannot believe someone would like her. Josephine retorts that Aven acts the same way.

The weather cools off for Aven’s next horseback riding lesson. The horse show is in a month, and Aven is still not ready to try jumping. Bill wonders if she truly wants to be in the show and assures her that she does not have to participate. Aven is unsure. She feels that high school has robbed her of her drive and self-confidence. She works on trotting and thinks that Bill is losing faith in her. Spaghetti the llama remains listless.

After she gets home from her lesson, Aven is taken aback when her parents surprise her with a “Find My Family” DNA testing kit so she can locate her birth father and his family. Aven tells her parents she was mostly joking about finding her birth father, but her mother says that there must be something behind all Aven’s comments about finding him because she keeps talking about him. Aven feels confused and is not sure if she really wants to find her father. She worries he may not be a nice person and worries she might be a letdown to him.

At school, Lando stops by her locker as Aven struggles with the combination. He offers to help and tells her to whisper the combo in his ear. Aven is flustered by his smile and proximity. Lando helps her switch out her books and asks if they can walk together to her next class. When Aven asks why he wants to walk with her, Lando gets upset. He wonders why she always asks him why, and questions whether she thinks he has a hidden agenda. He just likes hanging out with her. Aven responds that he has many cooler friends to be with and Lando is hurt. He asks if she wants him to leave her alone and Aven thinks that would be good for everyone. She tears up as Lando walks away.

At the ice cream shop, Aven silently eats ice cream with Connor. When Connor asks what is wrong, Aven thinks “everything.” She is confused by Lando’s attention and wonders if he pities her. She refuses to like Lando because she is sure many other girls like him, he could not possibly like her, and she does not want to be rejected. Connor asks about Lando, having heard from Zion about Aven’s flight from the dance. Aven is angry that people are “in [her] business” and wishes everyone would leave her alone (218). Connor, upset with her secrecy, is hurt, and leaves her to see Spaghetti, saying Aven may get what she wishes. Henry checks on Aven and gets an earful about how she wants to be left alone so she will not have to deal with the horse show, bullies, her birth father, and fights with her friends. Henry calls her a chicken for avoiding life. He advises her not to let the bullying incident influence her so much and damage her friendships. Henry was bullied in the orphanages but got through it with the help of his friends. He thinks friends can be as close as family members. Aven joins Connor and they share their worries about Spaghetti, and she apologizes for being a jerk, but still doesn’t share her problems.

The next week at school, Aven greets Lando, but he replies that she told him to leave her alone, so he will, and he walks away. Aven feels conflicting emotions. Zion, defensive toward Lando, is angry that Aven is dissing his brother and wants to know why. Aven does not understand why Lando cares about how she treats him, since he has so many other friends. Zion wonders if Aven hates Lando, and if that is why she will not be friends with him. To Zion’s surprise, Aven finally admits she likes Lando. She orders Zion not to tell Lando. Aven deflects the conversation and asks if Zion has called Trilby. Zion thinks Trilby would not like him, but Aven says that is ridiculous and that Zion sounds like Josephine. Zion counters that he sounds like Aven.

After school, Aven finds Henry staring blankly at the wall and runs to get her dad. They help Henry upstairs to his apartment. Aven is sad that Henry has no photos or mementos to show that people love him. She worries that Henry will die without ever knowing his family.

Sitting together outside school, Aven and Zion worry more about Henry. They think he cannot keep working much longer. When that day comes, Henry will go into the assisted living wing of the retirement home where Josephine lives. Joshua walks by and blows his air kiss. Aven angrily tells him to “keep your diseases to yourself” (231). They trade insults. Aven finally asks, unmaliciously, why Joshua is “such a bad person” (231). This momentarily floors Joshua. He is about to reply when Lando arrives and orders him to leave Zion and Aven alone. Joshua insults both Zion and Aven, enraging Lando. A teacher intervenes before things escalate.

Later, Zion calls Aven to say Lando quit the football team because he got in a yelling match with Joshua and refused to play with him. Zion confesses that he told Lando about the mall episode just before practice. Zion told Lando because he kept asking Zion why Aven did not like him. Zion thought it was because of Joshua. Aven is mortified that Lando knows about her “Great Humiliation” and knows that she likes him. She hangs up on Zion.

Angry at Zion, Aven avoids him and spends a lonely lunchtime in the school library. She misses Connor. After school, she runs away to avoid Joshua. She thinks that Henry is right, and she is “chicken.” Aven visits Henry in the ice cream shop, but finds him lying on the floor, unresponsive. Aven frantically gets her phone from her bag to call for help but she fumbles, growing panicked and frustrated with her armlessness. She runs from the shop, shouting for assistance.

Josephine joins Aven and her parents at the hospital as they wait for news about Henry. Aven worries Henry will die without knowing his family history. A doctor announces Henry had a minor stroke and they are hopeful for his recovery. The doctor praises Aven for finding him. Back at Stagecoach Pass, Denise interrupts the family’s late supper with bad news: Spaghetti the llama has died. Aven is so sad for Henry, and Spaghetti, and the damage to her and Zion’s friendship that she cannot cry.

Over the course of the next week, Aven feels isolated and overcome. She feels that she has alienated the people she most wants to talk to. She writes a blog post listing 20 of the major difficulties in her life. These include not making friends at school, irrepressible emotions, discovering that she has trust issues, being bullied, feeling helpless, missing her friends, becoming a liar, being weak, losing her best friend, wishing she did not like Lando, feeling bad she is the reason Lando is hurting, and now having to plan a funeral.