Sweet Thirteen Page 14

  “Exactly. And Charlotte, what happens where there are too many of the same thing? Too many copycats?”

  “Ummm . . . ,” Charlotte replied. The bell rang, and kids flooded around her, out of the lunch room. Scarves of all shades and patterns fluttered past like tulip petals.

  “Crazes never last,” Ms. O’Reilly finished her story. “Tulip prices fell, and people lost their entire savings. It was a horrible tulip crash.”

  “Thanks for the story, Ms. O’Reilly.”

  Charlotte left the cafeteria feeling a bit lighter and more at peace with the whole situation. Sooner or later, the Sophie mania would die down. And I’ll be there for her when it’s over, Charlotte thought. She had a quote above her writing desk at home: “A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.—Walter Winchell.” And Charlotte intended to stay Sophie’s real friend, no matter what happened.

  As she made her way to class by herself, Charlotte felt freer than she had in days. She loved her friends and would always be there for them if they needed her, but right now no one really did, and that was okay. A little extra bounce snuck into her step as she realized exactly what she needed most: a place to be just by herself.

  I’m not going to go to either of Sophie’s clubs, Charlotte decided. She can handle this on her own, and I’d like some time to curl up with Marty, a good book, and maybe work on “Orangina’s Travels.” She had a new idea now, inspired by the tulips.

  Overbooked

  After school Maeve met up with Katani, Avery, and Isabel by her locker. Sophie was busy arranging things with Betsy and Anna for the clubs, and no one knew exactly where Charlotte had gone to. She’s probably with Sophie, Maeve decided. They are such cute friends! I love it when they speak French. . . .

  That reminded her.

  “Um, I can’t go to French club,” Maeve said.

  “Ohhh . . . right! The monster child,” Isabel sympathized. Maeve had IM’ed the entire horrifying story the night before.

  “Well, he’s not so bad now. I think we’re kind of friends.” Maeve grabbed her babysitting stuff out of her locker. “Plus I brought a whole bag of M&M’s to bribe him with! If it goes well, they might want me to sit again next week.”

  “Ahhh, very interesting.” Katani gave the others a look that meant that this was very good news.

  Maeve was oblivious to the glances her friends were passing behind her back and over her head. “Well, have fun at the French clubs!” She pranced toward the door, then turned around.

  “Hey, no one’s said anything about my unvitations yet,” Maeve stated. “Do you think they’re mad at me?”

  “No!” Isabel barked, a little too abruptly. “I mean, not at all. We haven’t handed them out yet.”

  “We will at the clubs,” Avery added.

  “And we won’t let anyone get angry!” Katani finished.

  Maeve shrugged and dashed out the door. She wanted enough time to make a very important stop on her way to Austin’s house—a stop at Think Pink.

  Pink Panic

  The dress looked even more gorgeous on than it had in the window! Ms. Rose, the saleslady, held both hands up with thumbs circled into the A-OK symbol. Ms. Razzberry Pink made all her associates change their names to something pink-related while they were working. Maeve thought that was one of the most fabulous ideas ever! When I’m a famous actress, I might go by Ms. Magenta Kaplan-Taylor sometimes, just for the glamour!

  “I love it!” Maeve announced, spinning around in the pink sequined gown. With this dress on, she figured she could go by any name in the world and she’d still turn heads.

  “Shall I box it up for you?” Ms. Rose asked, and Maeve turned the shade of the saleslady’s name. All she had in her pocket was the $40 from yesterday’s babysitting, plus the $31 she had saved up. She still needed to earn $118!

  “Can I put it on hold?”

  The saleslady shook her head. “I’m sorry; it’s the only dress we have left in this style! They’ve practically flown out of here. Perhaps you could come back later with your mother? When she sees how beautiful you look, I’m sure she’ll want you to have it!” Ms. Rose smiled.

  Maeve nodded, a lump rising in her throat. “Okay. I’ll come back.”

  “We’ll just put it back in the window, then,” Ms. Rose cautioned. “Hurry back! And have a nice day.” Ms. Rose waved as Maeve ducked out the door, clutching her babysitting bag with white knuckles. She needed that dress, and time was running out!

  CHAPTER

  15

  Sworn to Secrecy

  Come on, Austin, it’s homework time.” Maeve carried Austin’s backpack to the dining room table where she’d already laid out pencils, a glass of water, and some M&M’s to use as rewards.

  “Awww, Maeve, do I have to?” Austin grumped, dragging his feet as he entered the room. “I was practicing a hip-hop beat on Riley’s bongo.”

  Even though Riley had given Austin the drum, he still insisted that he was just borrowing it and he’d give it back soon.

  “Sorry, Charlie.” Maeve ruffled Austin’s hair. “You can go back to playing drums after homework.”

  When Maeve first brought up the idea of a designated half hour for homework, she’d offered to do her own work at the same time. Austin seemed to like that idea— especially when Maeve groaned about how long homework always took her and how hard math was. It was like they had something in common.

  “But I hate reading,” Austin complained.

  “And I don’t like math at all.” Maeve pouted like she was also in second grade, then brightened up. “But we’re both going to try!”

  Maeve pulled out her math book and stared at the page. Because of her dyslexia, it took a lot of time to figure out word problems. So she started with a worksheet of simple calculations.

  “Maeve, what’s this say?” Austin asked, looking up from the story he was reading.

  “Read me the sentence,” Maeve instructed, not knowing what he meant.

  “The . . . bird . . . fway . . . few . . . flew? . . . far away,” Austin read slowly.

  Maeve took a look at the sentence he was pointing to. He’d totally skipped over the word “orange,” then tripped over “flew.” Maeve’s eyes grew wide. She thought about Austin’s completely out-of-control behavior the last time she babysat, especially when it came time for schoolwork. Could it be? An idea was forming, but Maeve wasn’t sure.

  Maeve wrote a line of words in her math notebook. Some were real words, but others were made up.

  “Austin, try reading these,” she instructed.

  He did okay with most of the real words, but when it came to the fake ones, his face got all red and he jumped up from the table. “No! No! No!” he shouted.

  Maeve quickly closed her notebook and held out a handful of M&M’s. “It’s okay! We won’t do any more right now,” she soothed him.

  Maeve had Austin read the rest of his book out loud, and at the end, asked him a few questions about what had happened. He couldn’t answer. Maeve remembered when she was in first grade, struggling to make it through pages and pages of letters. It used all her energy to sound out the words, leaving her no extra brain space to understand the story.

  The way Austin was acting was painfully familiar. What if Austin is dyslexic too? That would explain his problems with reading. And it might even explain some of his behavior: If he acted out, his teachers and parents would focus on dealing with that before they’d make him read.

  When Maeve’s parents finally got her tested for a learning difference, she’d gone through hours of special education and tutoring—in fact, she still had tutors. But finally she’d gotten to a point where she at least knew what her strengths and weaknesses were and how to approach her homework without completely shutting down.

  I’ve had dyslexia my whole life, and I’m okay!Maeve realized. It may take me a little longer to do my homework, but I’ve figured out how to get by. I bet I could help Austin figure it out too!

>   “Hey, Austin,” she said, playfully snagging his book away. “Let’s play a game.” She pushed her own homework aside. “You read a sentence, then I’ll read it back to you, and you’ll repeat it one more time. And after that, we’ll act it out together. We can make up funny voices or actions, or even wear costumes if you want.”

  “Yay! I’m coming right back!” Austin jumped up and disappeared for so long, Maeve was worried he’d locked himself in the bathroom again. But finally he returned with a pile of silly hats.

  Maeve plopped a plastic fireman’s hat on her head and Austin put on a Darth Vader mask. He was supposed to be a cat, not Darth Vader, but Maeve wasn’t about to get picky! Austin tripped through the first sentence, and Maeve read it back patiently. “The chestnut tree in the front yard was Terrance the cat’s favorite place.”

  By the time the Franklins came home, Austin understood the whole story, he had answered all his workbook questions about it, and he’d had a wonderful afternoon. In fact, “homework half hour” lasted nearly two hours!

  “Mom! Dad! Guess what? I know the whole story—by heart! Want to hear it? Want me to read it to you?” Austin was beaming.

  After promising Austin they’d be right back, the Franklins walked Maeve to the door. “I’ve never seen him so excited about homework. And he’s never wanted to read me anything before,” Mrs. Franklin commented with a smile as she paid Maeve.

  “I think,” Maeve began tentatively, “well, that is, from my personal experience, Mrs. Franklin, I have the feeling that just maybe Austin might have a learning difference.”

  The Franklins’ faces changed from overjoyed to confused. Maeve hurried to explain. “I’m dyslexic, see, and it seemed like Austin might have more fun if I made reading into a game. Like a play. That’s how I always have to do it. And it worked!” Maeve was beaming.

  Mr. Franklin nodded thoughtfully and turned to his wife. “The school did recommend testing. . . .”

  “We’ll discuss this later,” she shushed him. “Maeve, dear, whatever you did worked wonders. Would you be interested in tutoring and babysitting next week?” Mrs. Franklin asked.

  Maeve was thrilled. For the first time in her life she could be the tutor instead of the tutee. “Coolio!” she said, in way of an answer.

  “Is that a yes?” Mr. Franklin asked with a warm smile.

  “I’d love it!” Maeve agreed.

  I can’t believe MKT, the girl with the most tutors in the universe, is going to BE a tutor! Maeve thought excitedly. She skipped happily the rest of the way home, touching the money in her pocket. She’d counted all the money six times already: $121 total. As she passed her dream dress in the Think Pink window—the only one left in that exact style—Maeve blew it a kiss.

  The Secret Committee

  While Maeve was babysitting, Avery, Katani, and Isabel were headed to Maeve’s house on a secret mission.

  “Quoi de neuf?” Isabel practiced her French.

  “What’s that mean?” Avery tried to remember.

  “‘What’s new?’” Katani swung her orange scarf over her shoulder and picked up the pace to keep up with Avery. She may have been almost a foot taller than Avery, but her legs weren’t nearly as fast!

  “Bien sûr. Of course,” Isabel agreed. The first meeting of Betsy’s French Club had been productive and fun, especially with Mrs. Fields there helping out. Katani’s grandmother had a knack for keeping kids focused. Sophie had bounced back and forth between the two clubs, and so had Katani.

  “I hope Charlotte’s okay,” Katani remarked. She had noticed Charlotte was missing the first time she switched clubs. She tried to tell Sophie, but it was impossible to talk to her with everyone clamoring for her attention.

  “Char’s pretty bummed about Sophie mania,” Avery put it bluntly.

  The other BSG nodded. They had called Charlotte from Katani’s phone as soon as they realized she was missing, and she’d told them the whole story. But none of them really knew Sophie well enough to confront her about what was going on, and Charlotte didn’t want them to, anyway. She was hoping it would all “crash like the tulips.” Whatever that meant.

  “They’re going out for Mexican tonight, right?” Isabel remembered telling Sophie about her favorite restaurant in the Boston area—the only one that made tortillas that could even measure up to her mother’s cooking.

  “Yeah, I think that’s right.” Katani nodded. So far, Sophie and the Ramseys hadn’t followed her detailed schedule at all. It annoyed Katani’s sense of organization, but she told herself it would all work out in the end.

  “I wish they could have joined our secret mission.” Avery kicked a stone along the sidewalk as she pulled ahead of the group again. The Movie House was just ahead.

  Katani sighed. “I’m beginning to think this is mission: impossible. How can we pull this off without asking anyone for money?”

  No one got a chance to answer because Ms. Kaplan turned into the driveway and stepped out of her car with her briefcase. Sam hopped out of the backseat, hugging a brand-new plastic soldier set.

  “Hi, girls,” Maeve’s mom greeted, and turned back to get some groceries out of the car.

  “We’ll help you,” Isabel offered. The girls each picked up a canvas bag and followed Ms. Kaplan upstairs into the duplex.

  “Maeve’s babysitting right now, but I appreciate the help,” Maeve’s mom thanked them as she started putting away the groceries.

  “We actually came to talk to you,” Katani said.

  “Look out troops, bombs away!” Sam shouted, disappearing into his bedroom with his new toy.

  “What’s going on, girls? Is there a problem?” Ms. Kaplan folded her arms, waiting for an answer.

  “Well . . .” Isabel twisted a strand of hair around one finger, hoping Sam was distracted enough by his soldiers that he wouldn’t listen in.

  “We want to throw a party,” Avery blurted out. “For Maeve.”

  Ms. Kaplan nodded curtly and sat down. Katani explained the whole story—how Maeve broke down in tears at Montoya’s, how hard she’d worked on Project Thread and on learning her Hebrew; and how much they all wanted to honor her on her special day.

  “I know you and Maeve agreed to have just a luncheon with family,” Katani finished. “But our party would be after that. It wouldn’t be super fancy. And we’d take care of everything ourselves.” She crossed her fingers behind her back.

  “I don’t know,” Ms. Kaplan said, looking at the faces of the three eager girls. “It is so kind of you to think of such a thing, and I’m touched that you would do this for Maeve. But I already told her no. I think it would cost more money than you realize. And even if that weren’t the case, I’m afraid there isn’t much time to pull something like this together.”

  Katani’s heart sank. That’s what she was afraid of too.

  “But we already have all these plans!” Isabel thrust out a notebook full of Katani’s lists of things to do. “And I know lots of people would want to help out.”

  Ms. Kaplan looked through the notebook, and made a hmmm sound. “You know,” she said. “I told Maeve she couldn’t have a big party for two reasons. One, I wanted to teach her that becoming a Bat Mitzvah isn’t about huge, fancy, glittery parties. It’s about community service and tradition. Second, there seem to be a lot of people who spend a tremendous amount of money on the party.” Ms. Kaplan paused. “I personally can’t afford or support such an extravagant show of wealth. And sometimes I worry that it sends the wrong message to the kids and takes the focus off of the ceremony. That should be the focal point of the experience. I mean, when else does a thirteen-year-old get the opportunity to show how hard she has worked and to display her knowledge of her own religion in front of her community?”

  The girls stood stunned for a moment, not entirely sure how to respond to this lecture. Was it a yes or a no? Avery fidgeted, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

  Finally Isabel spread her hands in front of her. “Maeve keep
s talking about how much work she’s doing and how responsible she feels about everything.”

  Katani added, “And we’re really happy that the work Maeve started at Jeri’s Place is going to count for her community service project.”

  “And we want to celebrate all this with a surprise party, community style!” Avery cheered. “You know, with everyone pitching in.”

  “It’d be a kind of potluck after-party party,” Katani explained.

  Ms. Kaplan nodded. “Believe it or not, you’re beginning to convince me. But where are you planning on—”

  “Sam!” Isabel suddenly cried out. “We have a spy!” Sam was peeking from behind the partially opened door into the living room with a plastic soldier clenched in one hand.

  “Oh, dear.” Maeve’s mother sighed. “Sam isn’t very good at keeping secrets, but . . .” Just then, the phone rang. “Hold on, girls, I’ll be right back.” Ms. Kaplan picked up the phone and wandered off into her office.

  “Sam, come here,” Katani ordered.

  “No way!” Sam yelped, running down the hall toward his room. “Retreat, troops!” he shouted as he dashed away.

  But Avery was faster than a retreating soldier. She quickly caught up, gently tackled Sam to the floor, and tickled him. He giggled as he struggled to get away again.

  “I’ll let you up,” Avery said, “as soon as you promise you will keep this a secret.”

  “I will not promise,” Sam declared, squirming around, trying to get up.

  “Then I can’t let you go,” Avery said with a sinister grin. She tickled him some more.

  “Okay, okay!” Sam begged to be let up. “I’ll keep your stinky secret. But I get the biggest piece of cake at the party.”

  “Pinkie swear?” Avery made him link pinkie fingers and shake on it.

  “I promise.” Sam shook eagerly.

  Multitalented Multitasking

  Ring! Ring!

  Charlotte leaped up the stairs two at a time. They’d just gotten back from the Mexican restaurant, and the phone was ringing upstairs. She kicked off her fancy shoes— they’d been squishing her toes all through dinner—and picked up the phone. Maybe it’s Nick!She could really use a friendly voice after her long day at school. Sophie hadn’t said anything about Charlotte skipping out on the clubs, and she wasn’t sure what that meant.