Summary

In "June 15," the 14-year-old first person narrator Claire Goldsmith waits for the Dads' Dance to begin. She starts crying, wishing her dad could participate. Her best friends, Alanna and Katherine, hug her. She remembers all the afternoons she used to spend with her father.

In "Cursed from Birth," the narrative shifts into the past. For Claire's thirteenth birthday party, Alanna, Katherine, and her friend Roshni, slept over. The friends joked and laughed. Claire said she was cursed because she was born on Friday the Thirteenth. Claire's older brother, Matthew, complained they were too loud. Claire's parents calmed him down. Alanna asked Claire and Katherine if they had seen the email from their dance instructor, Miss Nina; they had not. The email announced that she would be moving up to the high school group. Claire...