13 and Counting

by Lisa Greenwald

  “Thank you so much for saying that, um, Helen.” I remembered her name. Finally! It feels like a major victory.

  “Oh, call me Bubbie. You’re a granddaughter to me like Ari and Gemma. I only have two so I’m happy to have one more.”

  “You can call me whatever you want,” Zeyda adds. “Just don’t call me late for breakfast.”

  I burst out laughing. I’m not sure if he means call him by the name “late for breakfast” or call him too late to come to breakfast.

  But either way, it’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in forever.

  24

  ARI

  “WAIT, WHAT?” I ASK KAYLAN over the phone.

  “I went to visit Bub and Zeyda,” she says, laughing. “I thought you were there because you said you were going but then I didn’t hear from you, so I went anyway because Loyal to the List, ya know? And then you weren’t there. But I hung out for a while, anyway.”

  I crack up. “For real?”

  “Yes! And it was awesome,” she says. “They’re the best. I even told them about comedy camp, and they were so psyched! I’m jealous that I don’t have grandparents.”

  “They are the best. But you have Mrs. Etisof,” I remind her.

  “That’s true.”

  I ask, “How did Bubbie seem today? My mom was going to take me over but then she got busy with this planning meeting for the parents’ association and we never made it.”

  “Oh.” I pause and flip my hair over to pull it up into a bun. “Honestly, it was kind of fun to be there on my own. I mean, it was super awkward at first but then it was fun.”

  “Love it,” I reply. “So you’re all ready for the trip? It’s so soon.”

  “Yeah,” she says. “I started packing. But can you come over one day soon and help me decide on bathing suits? I don’t think I need fifteen for an eight-day trip.”

  “I still can’t believe you own fifteen bathing suits and still borrow mine sometimes.”

  She laughs again.

  “I’ll help.” I pause. “So you’re okay about this Jason thing?”

  “I think so,” she says. “Is it weird that I’m so fine with it?”

  “Not really,” I add. “I think part of being thirteen is changing our minds a ton. Like I just thought I was in love with Golfy and now I’m totally not. And you liked Jason and now you don’t at all. It’s just the way life goes these days.”

  “You’re right. Well, I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

  “I think we’re really on our way with Be Me, and we’re pretty good with the infused water. We have like a zillion varieties. I’ll email you the list.” I take a sip. “I’m drinking some raspberry lemon right now. And we’re getting to school early tomorrow to practice with the unicycle and the Hula-Hoop right?”

  “Right. My mom will pick you up. And when we’re back from February break, we’ll keep doing our unicycle practice in the gym, so that will help.”

  “Fab,” I tell her. “I snuggle up under my covers and look out the window, across the street to Jason’s house. From this angle, I have a perfect view of him, in his room, sitting at his desk playing some kind of handheld video game.

  It’s the easiest thing in the world to have a crush on the boy across the street. It’s so easy to just do a quick snoop here and there, to know what he’s up to, without even really trying.

  I keep watching him across the street while Kaylan goes on and on about the unicycle and then about Cami and the resort and her family.

  “I can’t believe I won’t be there when my dad comes to visit,” she says, and I refocus. “I wish I could send you over to my house for some reason, so you can snoop and tell me what’s happening.”

  “I’ll go.” I pause. “Oh, wait! I can bring over some fruit water. For them to sample? Would that be weird?”

  “Um, kinda? Maybe. Maybe not?” She laughs. “I’m not sure. We might need a better reason. Maybe you forgot something and need to pick it up.”

  “That could work.”

  She sighs. “Ugh, it’s like I don’t really want to be there for it, but I also don’t want to not be there for it.”

  “Yeah. I know what you mean,” I reply. “Well, I’ll go over there if you want. Or at the very least spy on them from your back deck.” I look over at Jason’s house again. “I’m very good at spying. Do you think that means I should become a private eye when I get older?”

  “Definitely a possibility.” She laughs. “Okay, I gotta go finish homework since I spent so long at your grandparents’ house. We’ll be over to get you around seven fifteen so we have lots of time to practice unicycling.”

  “Great. Nighty-night.”

  “Nighty-night.”

  I stay on my bed for a while after that, watching Jason across the street and thinking about Kaylan and her dad and her Cami trip.

  I send Kaylan an email with the waters we’ve come up with so far:

  Ari and Kaylan’s Fruit-Infused Water Varieties:

  Raspberry lemon

  Kiwi strawberry

  Pear apple peach

  Cucumber mint

  Cucumber lemon

  Strawberry peach

  Orange

  Lemon lime

  My phone buzzes a few minutes later, an ongoing group text chain with my camp girls.

  Zoe: so golfy and ari are no more? Officially?

  Alice: Ari?

  Me: It’s true. Don’t hate.

  Hana: why would we hate?

  Me: IDK

  Zoe: only love from us to you

  Alice: obvvvvvvvv

  Me: LOL. Ok.

  We text on and on for hours about nothing, but I laugh out loud a zillion times and it feels like I’m with them. Like we’re all sitting on the bunk floor eating snacks and cracking up and talking about nothing and everything all at once.

  I glance over the list.

  Find a unicorn.

  I think about it for a minute, but no.

  The Camp Silver girls are special; they’re magic, really.

  But a unicorn is something even more than that.

  25

  KAYLAN

  WE PICK ARI UP AND she runs out to the car the fastest I’ve ever seen her run in the whole time I’ve known her. Maybe she will really be amazing at the race we’re doing.

  “So cold. So cold,” she says over and over again. “Thank you for picking me up.”

  “Of course,” my mom replies. “I’ll put on your seat warmer. That was one of the most exciting things when I first got this car. To discover we have seat warmers in the front and the back! Incredible!”

  “You’ll be warm and toasty in no time, Ar,” I reassure her.

  My mom asks, “How are your grandparents doing? I haven’t gotten an update from your mom in a few weeks. Must be so nice to have them close by.”

  “It is,” Ari says. “But my bubbie’s not one hundred percent right. Did you hear she had a stroke?”

  “I did.”

  “It seems like it’s taking longer than normal for her to be walking around and stuff like she usually does.”

  “It takes time,” my mom reassures her. “But having you all close will be healing for sure.”

  I peek at Ari in the backseat, kind of wishing we weren’t in this conversation. I don’t want Ari to get upset in the car.

  She smiles and says, “I think so, too.”

  We get to school and hop out of the car and run inside as quickly as possible. “It’s seriously colder than I can even really comprehend,” Ari says. “Like we don’t live in Alaska. How is it honestly this cold?”

  “You need to move to a warm climate when you’re older,” I tell her. “Maybe for our fifty-nine before sixty list.” I burst out laughing. “OMG, that one will be ‘sit on rocking chairs every day,’ ‘drink tea.’” I fall on the floor laughing and Ari does too.

  She says, “For our eighty-nine before ninety list, we can add: walker races!”

  We crack up, unable to control
ourselves, and when we finally do, Ari says, “Our next list should have a thing on it that says ‘make another list’ and on and on and on.” She bursts out laughing again.

  “I think so, too!” My cheeks hurt from laughing so much. “Okay, let’s go to the gym. We lost a good five minutes with that laugh-fest.”

  “But it was worth it,” Ari replies.

  We walk over to the gym with our arms around each other, but I stop in the middle of the hallway because I realize something I forgot to tell her. “Mrs. Etisof. I think she may be my unicorn.”

  “Really?” Ari asks.

  “Yeah, that one person who’s not related to you and doesn’t have to love you but gives you advice when you need it and helps and is always there for you.” I pause. “What do you think?”

  She thinks for a second. “Could be. I don’t know. Don’t just be grasping at stuff because you feel like you need to fulfill this list thing. We have time. We can wait it out until we know for sure about the unicorn.” She hesitates like something just dawned on her. “Wait, do we need to have the same unicorn?”

  “Um. I don’t think so.”

  “Me neither.”

  “Want to hear a joke?” I ask her.

  She nods.

  I crack up before I even start the joke. “What’s the difference between a well-dressed man on a unicycle and a poorly dressed man on a bike?”

  “What?” Ari asks

  “Attire!” I burst out laughing again.

  “Oh, Kaylan.” Ari shakes her head. “That wasn’t one of your best, but definitely fitting for the situation.”

  “I thought it was so funny! It popped up when I was searching for unicycles online.”

  We get to the gym and the new student teacher, Ms. Gidlitz, is there, filling in for Mr. Kohnmi today.

  “Hi, girls,” she says, all cheerful.

  “Hi!” Ari and I say at the same time.

  “Do you have any unicycling experience?” she asks us.

  “Not yet,” Ari replies. “But we’re ready to become experts. Do you have unicycling experience?”

  “No.” She laughs. “But I’m here to help.”

  “And this is actually just step one of our mission,” I explain. “We really want to learn how to hula-hoop on a unicycle.”

  “Interesting. Well, let’s get started.”

  She grabs our unicycle from the closet, and I’m grateful she’s letting us store it here. And then she hands us a printout from the International Unicycling Federation. That’s really a thing that exists.

  “Read this first,” she tells us. “You have to be prepared to fall at first. That’s basically the gist of it.”

  “That’s the basic gist of life, too,” Ari adds, completely serious. “Don’t you think?”

  Ms. Gidlitz thinks about it. “I do. I agree with that.”

  I try to get on first, and Ms. Gidlitz shows me how to get on from the side, the way you would with a bicycle, and where to put my feet on the pedals.

  Ms. Gidlitz explains, “From what I know about unicycling, which isn’t much, I’ll admit, is that it’s going to feel weird at first but eventually you will get the hang of it. Stick with it.”

  “That metaphor applies to life, too,” Ari adds.

  “You’re a deep thinker,” Ms. Gidlitz says.

  “She is,” I add. “Very deep.”

  “Lean forward. Start pedaling! Go with it,” Ms. Gidlitz instructs.

  “Don’t look at me,” I tell Ari through my teeth. “Ar, if you look at me I will fall.”

  “I’m not looking at you,” she yelps.

  I stay up for a good minute and a half, I think. It felt like a really long time, but based on when I looked at the gym clock before and when I’m looking at it now, I realize it was only a minute and a half.

  After that, Ari goes, and I have to say—I think she learned from watching me go first. She’s not as wobbly getting on, and she’s able to stay up for over two minutes.

  “Ari!” I yelp. “You’re practically a pro.”

  “Yeah, right.” She cracks up.

  “Great start, girls,” Ms. Gidlitz says. “Really great!”

  “Thanks for your support,” I tell her. “We’re going to try and come a lot in the mornings if we can, and then we’ll resume after break, for sure.”

  “Sounds good. It would be cool if we end up offering this as a PE elective. This school is open to ideas and suggestions, which is rare and very wonderful, but it’s not a guarantee.” She looks at us, all serious. “You know that, right?”

  “Yeah. Okay, bye; thanks, Ms. Gidlitz,” Ari adds as we pick up our backpacks and leave the gym.

  “That went well,” I say to Ari. “Maybe Ms. Gidlitz is our unicorn.”

  She shakes her head. “Okay, we’re pausing the unicorn thing for now, because I think we’re just grasping at straws. No?”

  “Maybe,” I admit.

  At lunch, Ari’s telling everyone about our fab unicycling experience. “I mean, it was our first try and we honestly did amazing. Didn’t we, Kay?”

  “We did.” I nod. “We completely crushed it.”

  “Tell them your joke.” Ari taps my knee. “The more I think about it, the more I realize how funny it was.”

  “You guys want to hear a joke?” I ask them.

  It feels good when a friend is into something you did, but when it’s your BFF—it’s the literal best.

  “A unicycle joke?” Amirah asks.

  “Uh-huh.”

  Everyone sort of groans but says sure, and listens while they eat their lunch.

  “Attire! Get it!” I crack up again, and this time Ari really laughs.

  The rest of the girls fully laugh but Cami just sits there.

  “Oh, because it’s only one wheel?” she asks.

  We all stare at her.

  “No, but also because, like, attire meaning clothing. So, it’s a double meaning.” I pause. “Never mind, it’s no good if you have to explain the joke.”

  “Ohhhhh,” Cami sings. “OMG, Kaylan. Where did you even hear that?”

  “I found it online.” I laugh again.

  There’s an awkwardness at the table after that and I’m not sure what it is or what’s causing it. It seems Cami’s confusion sucked all of the happy air away from our table. At least lunch is over soon.

  Ari leaves a few minutes early but doesn’t say why. “See you guys later.”

  We watch her walk out of the cafeteria and down the hall and then Cami cranes her head around to see what’s happening.

  “She’s with Jason,” Cami declares like we were all waiting to know. To be honest, I wasn’t even concerned.

  “Okay.” I shrug. “Whatever.”

  “Don’t you think it’s weird that Kaylan doesn’t even care that Ari is with Jason now?” Cami asks the table like she’s taking a poll for a very important scientific study.

  June rolls her eyes. “Who cares, Cam? If Kaylan’s okay with it, why are you so obsessed? Maybe you like Jason.”

  “What? Um, no. June, come on. You know that’s not the case here.” Cami rolls her eyes right back. “Whatever, you guys never really see what’s going on in a situation. I like to analyze stuff so I think about everything a little more deeply. It’s just a difference in personality.”

  It’s right then that something dawns on me.

  Something kind of serious.

  Something not so great.

  I think the rest of the lunch table girls have lost patience with Cami and I was the only one left who still thought she was great. Maybe she asked everyone else to go on the trip but no one else wanted to.

  I like her, though. Despite what the others think. Yeah, she can be a little annoying and obnoxious and know-it-all-y. But she’s still fun.

  I look at her across the table, seeming all gloomy that no one’s chiming in about her analyzing and stuff. I have a crazy urge to just get up and leave the table because it feels like all of this awkwardness is swallowing me wh
ole.

  But then I decide to do something else. I offer Cami a relaxed smile.

  It’s all going to be okay. Even though the relationships between the lunch table girls seem to change on an hourly basis, it’s all going to be all right.

  I know it is.

  As we walk to class, an unexpected sense of pride washes over me.

  We unicycled today.

  And we were pretty good at it.

  That’s a huge thing and I’m not going to let any lunch table awkwardness get in the way of that.

  26

  ARI

  TIME STARTS TO FLY BY. That always happens right before break.

  It’s like the break actually starts before it officially does. Teachers let us watch more movies in class. We don’t have any tests. Even homework gets lighter. Everyone’s off in another world thinking about vacation even if they’re not really going anywhere. The ones who are staying home are imagining cozy mornings, sleeping late, staying in pajamas and watching movies. And the ones who are going away are thinking of beach time and pool time or ski time or whatever.

  No one’s really here anymore even though we’re all still here, in the same school building, doing the same things we always do.

  And when Valentine’s Day is one of the last days before break—well, that’s a whole other thing. It zaps some energy into the overall sense of sleepiness.

  “I brought you gals some chocolate hearts,” Cami sings as she walks into school. “You’re all my loves.”

  She hands them out to us, and then pulls me over. “Are you and Jason doing something special?”

  I laugh, trying to pretend I’m not annoyed. “No, we didn’t even discuss it. Honestly, I’ve said this a hundred times. I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day.”

  “Whatever. I don’t believe that.” Cami rolls her eyes. “Everyone celebrates it.”

  The rest of the girls bring in candy and pass it out to whoever wants a piece, and there’s a bake sale in the lobby and we all buy powdered doughnuts. The teachers wear red to get into the spirit but Ms. Phipps takes it a step further—she has a headband on with light-up hearts.

  We’re at lunch when Ms. O’Leary comes to our table and taps me on the shoulder.