Match Me If You Can

by Anna Staniszewski

  Ann-Marie hesitated. “It wasn’t just seeing stuff. It was like…all these hazy images and random thoughts floating around. It’s hard to remember.”

  “You don’t have to remember all of it,” Natalie said. “I’ve kind of trained myself to focus on one main thing and then to write it down the minute I snap out of the vision. Try to think back to the major stuff. Sometimes even one word is enough to be helpful.”

  Ann-Marie nodded and closed her eyes. “Okay, so the first vision was…well, it was this year’s New Year’s dance at the Y.”

  “How could you tell it was this year’s?” Marcus asked.

  “Or that it was at our Y?” Natalie broke in. “Those places all kind of look the same.”

  “Because there were some of the weird misspelled posters Connie hung up everywhere,” Ann-Marie said, her eyes still closed.

  Marcus wanted to laugh. Maybe Connie’s wacky spelling test had been more helpful than he’d realized.

  “What else did you see?” Natalie asked.

  “I…don’t know.” Ann-Marie’s eyes flew open. “It’s too hazy. I can’t remember!”

  “You said there was a phrase that was stuck in your head,” Marcus jumped in. “Something like, ‘No kiss at midnight.’”

  “I did?” Ann-Marie shook her head. “I don’t really remember.”

  “Did you see people kissing at the dance?” Marcus asked.

  Ann-Marie thought for a second, her eyebrows furrowed. “No,” she said finally. “Just everyone dancing and having fun.”

  “Was it midnight in your vision?” Natalie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ann-Marie answered. “There was a clock…and maybe it said midnight.” She looked at Marcus. “I’m sorry. That’s really all I remember.”

  “It’s okay,” Marcus said, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. He’d hoped his sister would be able to give them something else to go on. “What about the second vision?”

  “It’s just what I already told you,” Ann-Marie said. “Yesterday when I was at the gym, I saw a flash of Mom and Dad introducing themselves to each other like they’d never met before. They were standing in our bathroom at home.”

  Marcus nodded. “That’s exactly what happened. But why would you see it as it was happening? What’s the point? You couldn’t stop it.”

  “Maybe she wasn’t supposed to stop it,” Natalie broke in. “Some of my visions just show me things that are happening. I don’t always know why. Maybe to reassure me that they’re going the way they’re supposed to.”

  “My parents losing their memories of each other is meant to happen?” Marcus asked. “Seriously?”

  Natalie shrugged. “I’m just telling you how things work. But when I see something before it happens, sometimes it means I’m supposed to stop it from coming true.”

  “Sometimes?” Ann-Marie asked. “What about the other times?”

  “That’s when I’m supposed to try to help it come true.”

  “So if her vision was about ‘no kiss at midnight’?” Marcus asked. “What does that mean?”

  “Someone isn’t supposed to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve,” Natalie said.

  “Well, if it’s me, that’s easy. Connie pretty much banned me from going to the dance, and Lena won’t be there anyway,” Marcus said.

  “And I have…” Ann-Marie laughed. “Well, I guess I kind of have two dates, but I’m not planning on kissing either of them!”

  “Wait,” Marcus said. “You said yes to both Albert and Peter?”

  “Not exactly,” Ann-Marie said, her cheeks turning pink. “But when I tried to turn them down, they both kind of assumed I’d meet them there.”

  Natalie chuckled. “Well, I definitely don’t have that problem. I’m not even going to the dance.”

  “Okay, so maybe…” Marcus’s brain swirled. He’d made such a big deal about the midnight kiss, how important it was to set the tone for the rest of the year. But maybe the opposite was true too. If you didn’t kiss someone, you started the year with a clean slate, in a way. Maybe that was the key to fixing things. “We have to keep everyone at the dance from kissing at midnight.”

  Natalie stared at him. “Everyone?”

  “If we don’t know who it’s supposed to be, we have to make sure no one does.”

  “But that’s impossible! How are you going to do that? Shut down the dance?”

  Marcus shook his head. He seriously doubted Connie would let him cancel the party she’d worked so hard to organize. But maybe… “Connie Reynolds is the queen of getting people to kiss at parties, right? Maybe she’s the one we need to talk to.”

  Chapter 24

  “Lena, are you all right?” Miss Fine asked, sitting down next to her during the class break. “Your mom seemed pretty upset when she left.”

  “Yeah, sorry about all of that,” Lena said, staring at her uneaten animal crackers. “I guess we have some, um, unresolved issues we’re dealing with.”

  Miss Fine gave her an understanding smile. “It’s tough when you and your mom don’t see eye to eye. Before my mom passed, she and I argued a lot. She always saw the bright side of things, always told me to relax, to let things happen, but I…” She laughed. “I could never do that. I always liked being in control.”

  Lena nodded. She could certainly relate to that.

  “But you know what?” Miss Fine said. “After a while, I realized that—”

  Suddenly, a fire alarm sounded. Everyone jumped to their feet.

  “Okay, stay calm!” Miss Fine called out. “I’m sure it’s a false alarm. But let’s go outside. Single file.”

  Lena could tell the other kids were nervous. All except Shontelle, who had a smug smile on her face. “I told you guys this place was haunted!” she said with some dramatic finger wiggling.

  Zade and Luis both laughed, but Lena’s stomach sank. What if that’s exactly what was happening? What if Pearl was acting out again? She already liked to set off the alarm on the emergency exit. Why not step things up and hit the fire alarm instead?

  When the group filed out through a back door, Lena hung back at the end of the line. Then, when no one was looking, she slipped off toward the piano in the lobby where Pearl liked to hang out.

  “Pearl?” Lena called out. “Pearl, I know you’re here! Why are you trying to drive everyone out?”

  She crinkled her nose. There was a weird smell in the air. Not popcorn this time, but something else. Before she could place it, she spotted the clump of light coming toward her.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Pearl said.

  Lena shook her head. “No, you shouldn’t be here. You need to move on, Pearl. It’s time to leave Miss Fine alone and go.”

  “Get out.”

  “You can’t do this!” Lena went on. “You don’t understand how important this class is to me. How important this show is to me. I’ve been dreaming of being onstage for years. This is finally my chance, and I won’t let you ruin it. I won’t! Not after everything I’ve given up to be here!”

  Lena took a step back. Wow, she hadn’t realized how much this class really meant to her. Nothing like spilling your guts to a soul to make you realize how you felt.

  But all Pearl said was, “Get out.”

  “Listen, Pearl. I’m trying to—”

  “Get out!” Pearl shrieked, so loudly that the chandeliers rattled. Then the door behind Lena flew open, and she felt herself being shoved toward it.

  “Stop it!” Lena said, struggling to free herself. “Don’t you see that I’m trying to help you? The more you fight me, the harder it’ll—”

  But she was already outside. Before she could fight her way back into the theater, the door slammed shut, and Lena heard it lock with a loud click. Then she was alone in an alley by the side of the theater.

  As fresh air f
illed her lungs, she realized what the odd smell inside the lobby had been. It was gas. There was a gas leak in the building.

  She ran toward the front of the theater where the other kids were waiting on the sidewalk.

  “Lena!” Zade cried. “Where did you go? Miss Fine went back in to look for you. She said to wait here until the fire department came.”

  Lena gasped. “Oh no! She needs to get out of there!”

  She ran toward the door but it was locked. Gah! Lena tried a nearby window and another. Then she ran back to the door Pearl had pushed her through, but it still wouldn’t budge.

  No! This had to be what Pearl had been waiting for. After years of stalking Miss Fine, Pearl had finally decided to attack her. Well, Lena wasn’t going to just stand by and let it happen!

  She spotted a nearby window with a crack down the middle. Frantic, she grabbed a rock and flung it through the glass. She crawled in, managing to avoid the broken shards, and then ran through the theater, screaming Miss Fine’s name. No answer.

  When she got to the lobby, near the piano, she gasped. There was Miss Fine, sprawled out at the bottom of the staircase, unconscious. And she wasn’t alone. Pearl was hovering over her, her light glowing brighter than ever.

  “Get away from her, Pearl!” Lena cried, running over. “Get back!” Her hands flared to life without her even trying, and Pearl jumped away from the glow. Then she quickly fled through the ceiling.

  After the energy had faded from her hands, Lena grabbed Miss Fine and started dragging her through the lobby. Her teacher was breathing, but there was blood trickling down her forehead as if she’d hit her head on something.

  The gas smell was making Lena cough, but she kept pulling and pulling until finally—crash!—she burst through the front doors of the theater with Miss Fine in tow. She sucked in a breath of fresh air and lay Miss Fine on the sidewalk, cradling her head.

  “Mom,” Miss Fine whispered, squinting up at her. “Is that you?”

  “N-no, Miss Fine. It’s me. It’s Lena. You’re safe now.”

  Miss Fine smiled. “You were right, Mom, about the guardian angel. It saved me. I saw it. You were right.” Then she closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.

  When the fire department came, everything was in chaos. Someone rushed Miss Fine into an ambulance, holding gauze to her forehead, while the firefighters inspected the building. Meanwhile, the world spun around Lena. Around and around like a carousel.

  She vaguely heard the firefighters saying that workers must have hit a gas line when they were cleaning out the pigeon nests. She nodded when someone asked her if she was all right.

  “No idea why the fire alarm went off,” Luis said. “A gas leak wouldn’t have triggered it.”

  “It must have been the ghosts,” Shontelle answered. “They kept us out so we wouldn’t get blown up.”

  “Yeah, right,” Zade answered. “As if ghosts care about that kind of stuff.”

  All Lena could do was listen and try to stop her body from shaking. She’d thought Pearl had been trying to hurt Miss Fine. But maybe Lena had been wrong. Maybe Pearl had only been trying to help all along.

  • • •

  The drive to the hospital was pretty much silent. When Lena’s mom had picked her up from the theater, she’d asked some general questions about what had happened. Lena had told her about the gas leak and about Miss Fine being injured, but she’d left out the part about Pearl. She didn’t want to remind her mom about the soul or about her powers or about the fight they’d had that morning.

  “I knew letting you out of my sight was a mistake,” her mom said, her voice weary. Thankfully, she left it at that. Maybe she didn’t want to rehash the fight either.

  When they got to the hospital, her mom used her ID badge to park in the employee parking lot. They went into the building, and her mom stopped to chat with one of her nurse friends while Lena went down the hall to Miss Fine’s room. For once, it seemed, her mom was giving her a little space.

  Miss Fine looked pale, and there was a bandage on her head, but otherwise, she seemed all right.

  “Lena!” Miss Fine said. “I hear I have you to thank for helping to get me out of the theater.”

  Lena shrugged. “It’s also my fault you were in that building in the first place. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have wandered away like that when the fire alarm went off. Are you okay?”

  “A bit embarrassed, honestly. I can’t believe I tripped on those darn stairs! I knew the carpet was loose, but I was rushing and not paying attention and…” She laughed. “Mostly, though, I’m annoyed that we didn’t get to do a dress rehearsal.”

  “We’re all going to practice on our own tonight,” Lena said. “We’ll be ready for tomorrow. Don’t worry.” She swallowed. “Miss Fine, before you passed out, you said something about a guardian angel? And about your mom being right?”

  Miss Fine blinked in surprise. “I did?” She seemed to think that over for a moment. “It sounds silly, but everything always seemed to line up for my mom. She claimed she had a guardian angel looking out for her. She said some kind soul was keeping an eye on her and that one day, that angel would look out for me too. I thought it was all nonsense until…until today when I felt someone—something—trying to help me out of that building. Before you ran in and dragged me out, I could have sworn someone else was there with me.”

  “Miss Fine?” Lena asked softly. “Your mom’s name, was it Myrna?”

  “No, no,” Miss Fine said, shaking her head. “It was Martha.”

  “Oh.”

  “Myrna, that was my grandmother’s name.”

  Lena stopped breathing for a second. “Who…who was she?”

  “Well, let’s see. She was a nurse. Like your mother, in fact. Except this was years and years ago, back when tuberculosis was a big problem.” Miss Fine leaned her head against her pillow. “Grandma Myrna worked with kids who were sick. People would bring their kids to Arizona because of the warm, dry air. That was the only cure for tuberculosis back then. My grandmother loved the kids she worked with. She’d play the piano for them and sing songs. They were like her own children. Many of them recovered, but some didn’t. She took those losses pretty hard. Eventually, she met my grandfather and stopped working to have kids of her own. By the time I was born, her memory was failing her. She didn’t remember much about who she was or where she was, but she’d talk about those sick kids a lot. She still remembered all their names. Jacob, William, Elizabeth, Pearl. She’d tell us about them over and over and about the songs they loved to sing.”

  “What was Pearl’s favorite song?” Lena asked. “Do you remember?”

  Miss Fine thought for a long time and then let out a soft laugh. “Actually, I do.” She started to sing, a low, sad lullaby that made Lena’s skin tingle. This was it. This was how she was going to get Pearl home.

  Chapter 25

  As Marcus got dressed for the New Year’s Eve dance, he couldn’t stop looking at his phone. He’d tried calling and texting Connie, begging for her help, but so far, she hadn’t responded. His only hope was to go to the dance, figure out a way to get inside, and avoid letting anyone there kiss at midnight. No problem, right?

  He desperately wanted to call Lena and beg for her advice, but she was probably getting ready for her show. Besides, he couldn’t keep relying on her for everything. He had to figure this one out on his own. Instead, he sent Lena a message wishing her luck with the show and left it at that.

  He smoothed his unruly hair one more time and then went out into the living room to find his parents in the kitchen, unwrapping packages of newly purchased pizza dough.

  “Um, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “Oh, Marcus,” his dad said. “Claudia here was telling me about the big exhibit she has coming up. Isn’t that exciting?”

  “Yeah…” Marcus said. “Mom, don
’t we have enough dough?”

  She sighed. “I realized the pieces weren’t working because they didn’t have enough structural support, so I scrapped them all and am starting over.”

  “What? You spent weeks working on those dough blobs!”

  “It’s all right, honey. Bruce is going to help me.”

  Marcus looked at his dad in shock. “You’re going to help make sculptures?”

  “Sure!” his dad said. “I’m not much of an artist, but I know about building things. If we put our minds together, we’ll figure it out.”

  “As long as you can stand the smell!” his mom said, laughing. “This stuff gets moldy pretty fast.”

  To Marcus’s surprise, his dad smiled and said, “If it means spending more time with you, I can handle a little mold.”

  His mom beamed back at him, and for a second, Marcus saw sparks flare between them. His chest swelled with hope. He’d thought Natalie was wrong about Ann-Marie’s vision showing her what was meant to happen. Why would his parents be destined to forget each other? But this was the happiest he’d seen them in…well, maybe in forever. He remembered what his mom had said about the two of them talking about art and even making art together when they’d first met. Somewhere along the way, they’d lost that, but maybe it wasn’t gone. Not completely. Maybe it could be rebuilt again.

  Just then, Ann-Marie breezed out of her bedroom. Marcus almost fell over when he saw she was wearing a dress. He didn’t think he’d ever seen his sister in anything besides T-shirts and running shorts. Then he glanced down and smiled. She might have been wearing a dress, but she was also wearing her sneakers.

  “What?” Ann-Marie said.

  “Nothing. You look good.”

  “Thanks,” she mumbled. “So do you.”

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Let’s go.”

  As they headed to their bikes, Marcus realized this was possibly the first time ever that he and his sister had gone somewhere together on purpose. Weirdly, part of him hoped that maybe it wouldn’t be the last.