Chirp

by Kate Messner

  Mom nodded. “We can do that anytime.”

  “Not yet,” Mia said. “But maybe when everything quiets down.”

  “Anytime,” Mom said again, and hugged her.

  Then a car pulled into the parking lot, and a dad and three kids got out. They pointed to Gram’s open-house sign and headed for the door as two more cars and a minivan pulled in.

  “Wow,” Mia said. “People are actually showing up for this.”

  Mom smiled. “Your grandmother is so proud of you,” she said. “So are we.” She pulled Mia into one more quick, tight hug. “We can talk more later if you want. But right now, you should get in there and serve some crickets.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Crickets, Warriors, and Taking Things Back

  The open house was a whirlwind. Everybody from Launch Camp came. Quan and Bella took a zillion Chirp Challenge selfies. Eli went straight over to Anna, and Mia was about to go rescue her when she heard Eli say, “This robot is the coolest thing to come out of Launch Camp.”

  “Thanks.” Anna looked like she was bracing for him to start bugging her about going for ice cream again, but Eli looked down. “Listen, I’m … really sorry about how I acted when we were working together. After the competition yesterday, my mom asked why you weren’t on our team anymore, and when I told her, she let me have it.”

  “Good,” Anna said, adjusting her robot arm.

  “I know. I do now, anyway, and I just … I wanted to say sorry.” He shuffled away to the balloons, where Nick was talking like a chipmunk. Pretty soon, they were both squeaking and laughing.

  “You think he meant that apology?” Mia asked.

  “Seemed like it.” Anna shrugged. “We’ll see how he acts when we get back to school.” She looked up. “Hey, there’s the honey-lime-lemonade girl!”

  Mia waved and then recognized a bunch of other Vermont Launch kids, along with some people from the audience. Anne Marie and Miranda were there, too, for their meeting with Gram, and then they volunteered to help hand out balloons.

  Since Daniel’s Lake Monster buddies didn’t need to patrol outside anymore, they came in and posed for selfies with everybody. They also got to share the fun news that the Lake Monsters would soon be serving roasted crickets at the ballpark concession stand during games.

  A bunch of kids from Warrior Camp came before their extra Sunday Fun-Day session that started at noon. Mia and Clover were hoping to catch the tail end of that if the open house ended on time.

  Chet Potsworth from the food-processing plant showed up, too. When he walked over to talk with Gram, Mia switched from the sample table to the craft center so she could listen.

  “I understand now that you’re not interested in selling,” he said, “but I heard this week that you might be taking on some investors, and I’d really like to be considered.”

  “We can talk about that,” Gram said. “Let’s set up a meeting next week.”

  The open house ran through lunch. Mia and Clover scarfed down Thai cricket pizza slices while they were attaching pipe cleaner antennae to headbands.

  “Got a slice for me?” someone asked.

  “Mayor Obasanjo!” Clover jumped to her feet.

  Mia stood up and shook the mayor’s hand. “Thanks for sharing that picture from the farmers market. You have no idea how much that helped us.”

  “That’s great to hear,” the mayor said, arranging her cricket antennae. “I think my new headgear definitely calls for another selfie. You want to be in it, too?”

  Mia and Clover called Anna over, and they all put on antennae and posed with the mayor.

  “I love to see local businesses thriving,” Mayor Obasanjo said. “Congratulations on this terrific turnout.”

  By the time the mayor bought some protein powder and left, it was five minutes to two, and the crowd was starting to thin.

  “How did the Chirp Challenge go today?” Mom asked. For someone who didn’t really approve of Gram’s cricket farm, she’d been a huge help. She was even wearing a pair of antennae.

  “Great! It’s not too late, you know …” Mia grinned and held up a cup of roasted crickets.

  “What’s this?” Gram came rushing over. “Somebody call the newspapers! Is my daughter-in-law finally going to eat a cricket?”

  Mia looked at Mom and raised her eyebrows. “You should at least try one.”

  Mom sighed. Then she smiled and picked up a single cricket between two fingers.

  “Wait! Let me get a picture!” Clover grabbed her phone and positioned Mom under the Chirp Challenge banner. “Okay, go ahead.”

  Mom looked from Mia to Gram. “I’m only doing this because I admire both of you so much. Here goes …” She posed for Clover’s picture, then dropped the cricket into her mouth, chewed quickly, and swallowed. “Okay,” she said. “That could have been worse.”

  “That’s our best endorsement yet,” Gram said, laughing, and went to let Syd out of the office. Syd had been banished so she wouldn’t launch a waddle-bark attack on the guests. Poor dog. She’d have to figure out someday that not all strangers were awful and not everybody who gave you a pat on the head was okay.

  Mia took a break from cleaning the craft table to rub Syd’s belly while Clover rolled up the banner. Then they said goodbye to Anna, packed away the few cricket samples that people hadn’t scarfed down, and finished the last of the pizza and half-melted Creepy Coconut Cricket Crunch ice cream.

  “We can’t let it go to waste,” Clover said, crunching on a chocolate-covered cricket.

  “That would be awful,” Mia agreed. “Although we won’t be able to move at Sunday Fun-Day if we finish all this.”

  “Oh!” Clover looked at the clock. “I forgot about that, but I really want to go.”

  “We’ll still have half an hour if we leave now,” Mia said. “Here, Syd!” She put her paper plate down and let Syd gobble up what was left of her pizza crust. They grabbed their gym bags, changed in the farm bathroom, hugged Gram goodbye, and headed down the hall to the gym.

  “Ten feet today.” Clover reached out for a fist bump. “You’re going to hit ten feet on that warped wall.”

  “Ten feet?” Mia said. “Nah. I’m going all the way to the top.”

  Mia didn’t get to the top. And she didn’t quite hit the ten-foot mark, either. But it didn’t matter. She was close, and everybody cheered, and way too soon, it was time to go home.

  “My mom’s outside. Need a ride?” Clover asked as they headed down the hallway.

  Mia shook her head. “I’m going to see if Gram needs more help.” Both their phones dinged with a text then. It was Anna.

  We should go swimming at that place again!

  Clover looked at Mia. “You in?”

  Mia nodded. “Want to meet there at four?”

  “Perfect.” Clover texted Anna back, then waved and bounded out to the parking lot.

  Mia picked up her duffel bag and looked for her water bottle to have a drink. It wasn’t there, so she headed back to camp to find it.

  Maria and Joe had already locked the Warrior Camp gym, but through the window, Mia could see her water bottle next to the warped wall. She’d have to get it on Tuesday. As she was leaving, she stopped at the big window that looked into the gymnastics room. They had Sunday Fun-Day, too, but later in the day, so theirs was just getting started.

  “Hey there!” That Jamie lady popped her head out the door. “That invitation to try out our program still stands. And it’s Sunday Fun-Day, so you’re welcome to join us for a while if you’d like. Your Warrior Camp paperwork covers you here, too, so it’s fine if you want to pop in for a quick vault or turn on the bars.”

  Mia looked through the window. A tall, skinny girl was tumbling down the length of the mat. A boy was running toward the vault. Another girl was just jumping onto the bars. The balance beam was empty.

  It was strange. Mia didn’t miss gymnastics anymore. Not really. But something about that beam tugged at her. She hadn’t given it up on pur
pose.

  “Actually … is it okay if I try one thing? Just for a minute?”

  “Absolutely.” Jamie held open the door. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?” She ran off to talk with another coach by the mats.

  Mia sat down and took off her sneakers and socks. Then she walked up to the beam. She ran a hand along the rough leather and felt her Warrior Camp calluses scratch against it. Her heart sped up, but she closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Then out slowly.

  And then she mounted the beam.

  It still felt so familiar under her bare feet. She held out her arms and walked to the end.

  She lifted on her toes and pivoted.

  She walked back.

  She waited for her stomach to drop. Waited for the panic she thought might come. But it didn’t. She was just there.

  Mia on the balance beam.

  She leaned forward into an arabesque. She did a tuck jump and landed. She wobbled just a little. And then she found her balance.

  Mia felt the muscles in her legs, strong and steady from Warrior Camp. She felt the cool, hard leather under her feet. Solid, and steady, and hers again. If she wanted it.

  She didn’t think she did. And that was okay. There were other things she wanted back, though.

  Mia did a roundoff. And totally stuck the landing.

  She found Jamie to say thanks. Then she went back to the farm, helped Gram feed the crickets, stopped home to change her clothes, and rode her bike to meet Clover and Anna.

  “Mia!” they shouted as she climbed down to the beach. They were camped out on a towel with their water bottles, sharing an enormous bag of potato chips. “We haven’t been in yet,” Clover said. “We waited for you.”

  “Well, I’m here now!” Mia said. “And I’m melting.” She pulled off the T-shirt and shorts she had on over her swimsuit. Then she climbed up onto the jumping rocks.

  “Woo-hoo!” Clover shouted. “You go, girl!”

  Mia had thought about it the whole bike ride there. She wanted her rocks back. She wanted the brightness of that blue sky like in the photo. All summer, she’d been hoping she might find her way back to that girl in the picture, but she’d been thinking about it all wrong. It wasn’t about finding her way back. The rainbow swimsuit didn’t fit anymore. She’d have to find her way forward.

  Mia planted her feet on the warm rocks and stood up tall. She wasn’t doing the kung fu mantis thing. She was just done being small. She had a new purple-and-blue two-piece. She loved the way it showed off her Warrior Camp muscles, and she wasn’t ashamed of that.

  It showed off her battle scars, too. Even though they’d faded with her summer tan, the scars on her arm would always be a part of her. That was fine, too. But nobody else got to say who she was going to be. Mia would decide that herself. She deserved that.

  She deserved to speak up and swing on swings and spell out her name with sparklers if she wanted. And she deserved to jump off rocks with her friends.

  They were chanting her name now. “Mia! Mia!”

  Mia flashed them a peace sign and held it while Clover took a picture with her phone. Then she turned to the lake. A breeze lifted her hair and cooled her face. She looked out over the waves. The sky was just like it had been in the picture, that impossibly perfect blue.

  Mia looked across the lake at the Adirondack Mountains, all purple and hazy in the afternoon light. She breathed in the sunshine. Then she took three quick steps, leaped from the rocks, and soared through the summer air.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I learned a lot about entomophagy while I was writing this book. Thanks to Steve and Jen Swanson of Flourish Farm for the crash course in cricket farming, and to Steve Hood for talking me through the business aspects of running a start-up like Gram’s farm. I’m also grateful to Gabe Mott of Aspire Food Group in Austin, for showing me around the company’s cricket farm operation and talking with me about automation and cricket-farming setbacks. If you’d like to read more about entomophagy (and other thoughts on eating more sustainably), I recommend the book Diet for a Changing Climate: Food for Thought by Christy Mihaly and Sue Heavenrich (Lerner, 2018).

  Mia and Clover’s Warrior Camp was inspired by my visit to Vermont Ninja Warrior Training Center in Essex, Vermont. Thanks to Chris Tower, McKinley Pierce, Amir Malik, and all the young warriors who answered my questions and allowed me to sit in on their camp.

  The parts of this story that deal with Mia’s and Clover’s experiences with harassment were inspired by stories in the news and my own experiences growing up, as well as those of many women I’m lucky enough to call friends. I have so much love and respect for the women who have shared stories with me over the years and endless gratitude for those who stood by me as I shared my own. You are all warriors, braver than you know.

  When we were growing up, kids weren’t always encouraged to speak up when something felt wrong. Thankfully, that has begun to change, but there is more work to do. It’s my greatest hope that Mia’s story will help move that conversation forward and that readers who see themselves in these pages will understand that they are not alone. Not by a long shot.

  The world is full of caring, wonderful adults who work as coaches, clergy members, and scout leaders, and in many other roles, helping kids. But there are also a small number of adults who use those positions to gain kids’ trust and harm them.

  No matter how old you are, no one has the right to touch you in a way that makes you uncomfortable. It doesn’t matter who that person is. You have a right to say “Please stop touching me” or “I don’t want a hug. How about a high five or fist bump?” Anyone who truly has your best interests in mind will respect that. If you find yourself in a bad situation that you can’t handle on your own, you can always find help. Talk to a family member, or a trusted teacher or counselor at your school. And never forget how brave you are, every day, whether you’ve found your voice yet or not.

  BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS

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  First published in the United States of America in February 2020

  by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

  Text copyright © 2020 by Kate Messner

  Interior art copyright © 2020 by Christopher Silas Neal

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Messner, Kate, author.

  Title: Chirp / by Kate Messner.

  Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2020.

  Summary: Moving to Vermont the summer after seventh grade, a young gymnast hides a secret as she makes new friends and investigates her grandmother’s claim that someone is trying to destroy her cricket farm.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019019160 (print) • LCCN 2019021949 (e-book)

  ISBN 978-1-5476-0281-0 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-5476-0282-7 (e-book)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Coming of age—Fiction. | Farms—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Secrets—Fiction. | Sexual abuse—Fiction. | Vermont—Fiction. | Mystery and detective stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.M5615 Cj 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.M5615 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019019160

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