by Lisa McMann
“Thanks!” Charlie put the comic on the dining table. She showed Maria to the living room to get the movie going, then ran through the house to turn out all the lights for an ultrascary experience. She and Maria settled on the living-room couch in the dark to watch Cringe 3. They turned up the volume. And they screamed their heads off. By the time the movie was over, Charlie’s heart was racing. Her palms were sweating. And she was scared to death.
“Come on,” Maria said in a low voice. “Let’s sneak through the house with all the lights off. Maybe some murderous ghosts will come out like in the movie.”
Charlie shuddered. She was still getting used to this house and the quirky sounds it made at night. In daylight she would have scoffed at the idea of creepy killer ghosts in her house, but after watching the movie and being here in the dark without her parents at home . . . well, of course she knew there weren’t supernatural things happening, but . . . what if she was wrong? “Okay,” she whispered, her voice faltering.
Maria crawled through the dark living room, with Charlie sticking close behind. They went into the dining room and on to the kitchen, inching along quietly. Charlie’s heart pounded. She heard a rustling sound and stopped. “Do you hear something?” she whispered.
Maria didn’t answer.
Charlie’s pulse pounded in her ears. “Maria?” she whispered more harshly this time. “Where are you?” She began feeling around for her friend, who had been right in front of her a minute ago. “Come on, don’t tease me.”
Maria still didn’t answer.
Charlie began to panic. She scrambled to her feet and tried to remember which wall the light switches were on. She ran into the garbage can, knocking it over and scaring herself even more. “Maria!” she shouted. “This isn’t funny!”
Suddenly something grabbed Charlie’s leg. Charlie let out a bloodcurdling scream. Jessie came bounding down the stairs from Andy’s room to see what was going on, knocking into Charlie and spinning her around in the dark.
Completely disoriented, Charlie could think of nothing but escape. She ran, stumbling over the garbage can again and slamming her shoulder into a wall before finally finding her way to the front door. She flung it open and took off out into the neighborhood with her excited dog chasing after her.
Maria came out of hiding and followed her to the yard. “Charlie, come back!” she shouted, hands gripping her hair and a worried look on her face. But as she watched Charlie move under the streetlamps, her worried look faded and turned to confusion. Charlie didn’t seem to be running any faster than normal—certainly not as fast as when they’d tested her. Jessie was keeping up with her just fine.
A few minutes later Charlie and Jessie returned, breathing hard but unharmed. “Why didn’t you answer me?” accused Charlie.
Maria’s voice was filled with remorse. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to scare you so the bracelet would turn on like before. I didn’t think you’d freak out like that.”
Charlie’s eyes clouded, but now that Maria was visible and penitent, she began to feel a little silly. “I told you Cringe 3 would be too scary,” she mumbled. “Anyway, it didn’t work.”
“Nope,” said Maria glumly. “So now I’m extrasorry I scared you.”
“It’s okay,” said Charlie, giving Maria a quick side hug as they walked to the front door. “It’s weird, though. Once I could think straight, I realized the bracelet was warm. So I tried to run faster, but it didn’t work. I don’t understand it. Between you and Jessie scaring me, I seriously thought I was about to die. Not to mention that horrible trash can disaster,” she added with an embarrassed laugh.
“I don’t get it,” Maria said, going inside and turning on a light. “You weren’t nearly that scared when you managed to clock seventy miles an hour the other day.”
Charlie whistled sharply to Jessie, and then followed the dog into the house “What’s even weirder is that my wrist is actually still warm,” she said, batting at the front door to close it. But it was stuck to the wall and wouldn’t budge. “What the—?” Charlie gave it a little tug. It wiggled, but she couldn’t get it to swing shut. She peered behind it, and to her dismay she saw that the door handle was embedded in the wall—it had broken through the drywall. Charlie’s eyes widened, and she looked down. The little stopper on the floor was decimated.
“Oh no!” Charlie exclaimed. “Look, Maria.”
Maria came to the door. “Whoa,” she said. “How’d you do that? Should we check the device? Maybe something will show up on it.”
Charlie held down the two buttons, and the pie chart graph appeared. The once gray elephant graphic was lit up in bright silver, black, and red.
“Wow,” said Maria. “Full color—does that mean your strength ability is working?”
“Looks that way,” said Charlie, scratching her head. “But why did strength turn on instead of speed? Isn’t the natural instinct of an animal to run when it’s scared?” She pulled out her phone and took a photo of the damage, then texted it to Mac so he could see what had happened, along with a selfie of her and Maria with looks of mock horror on their faces.
“Wow,” he texted back, with a selfie of himself looking bored. Charlie showed Maria.
“Hmm,” she said, frowning a bit at his reaction.
Charlie examined the wall, growing serious. “What am I going to do about this hole?” She tugged the door gently as pieces of drywall broke off and dropped to the floor. “Yikes.”
With another tug the handle came loose, and she closed the door. “I’m not sure what to tell my dad when he gets home,” said Charlie. She and Maria went to the kitchen to clean up the garbage so she wouldn’t have even more to explain, and then checked the bedrooms to make sure neither of the cats had escaped during the confusion with the front door standing open. She found them both curled on Andy’s bed, having slept through all the excitement. Apparently their flight responses hadn’t been triggered either.
The girls returned to the front door, but before they could come up with a plan to magically fix the gaping hole in the wall, they heard the garage door open.
“That’s my dad, I bet,” said Charlie, pulling her sweatshirt sleeve down over the bracelet. “Maybe you should go.”
“I’ll stay if you want,” said Maria. “I can help take the blame. It’s partly my fault—I scared you.”
“It’s okay. Unless . . . do you maybe want to stay overnight? I mean, I know you didn’t bring your stuff. . . .”
“I’d love to!” Maria said. She pulled out her phone to text her mom.
“Awesome,” said Charlie as her father walked into the house.
“Hey, Peanut,” he called out in a weary voice. “You’re still awake?”
“Hi, Dad,” said Charlie, going to greet him and pulling Maria along with her. “This is my friend Maria.”
Dr. Wilde’s tired eyes lit up, and he smiled warmly. “Hi, Maria,” he said. “I’m glad you could keep Charlie company tonight.”
“Hi, Mr. Wilde,” Maria said with a little wave. Then she read his ID, which was clipped and hanging unevenly on his jacket pocket. “Wait . . . you’re a doctor too?” She turned to Charlie. “So both your parents are doctors? Cool!”
“Yeah, technically he’s also Dr. Wilde,” Charlie explained. “But my mom’s the real kind.” She flashed her dad a playful grin, as if they’d made that joke before. “Confusing, I know.”
“That’s for sure,” said Charlie’s dad. “I’m the doctor you definitely don’t want to call when you almost break your leg. You’re fine just calling me Mr. Wilde. Or Dr. Wilde Two. Or Mr. Dr. Wilde. Or Charles. Or . . .” He stopped. “I think that’s all I’ve got. Take your pick.”
“Mr. Dr. Wilde is funny,” said Maria, grinning.
Charlie reached out and took her father’s briefcase and helped him out of his jacket, suddenly growing nervous now that she had to explain the hole in the wall. “How was class? Can I get you some ice cream or anything?” she asked a little too sweetly
.
“Class was— Hold on. Ice cream?” He eyed her suspiciously. “Why? What happened?”
Charlie bit her lip as she hung the jacket in the closet. “Um, I kind of have to show you something,” she said guiltily.
Dr. Wilde gave her a guarded look. “All right,” he said. He glanced at Maria, who hung back, eyes wide.
Charlie took his hand and pulled him to the front door, pointing at the wall.
“I’m really sorry, Dad,” said Charlie earnestly. “We were just goofing around in the dark and scaring each other, and I opened the door too hard and . . . this happened. I’ll fix it if you show me how.”
Dr. Wilde looked at the damage, then dropped to one knee and picked up the doorstop spring. He squished what was left of it between his fingers. It crumbled. He ran his hand over the hole in the drywall, wiping away the tiny loose bits, and then he looked at Charlie with a tired smile. “Well, I suppose the new house couldn’t stay perfect forever,” he said, “but I’d hoped it might make it longer than a couple of weeks.”
“I know,” said Charlie, cringing. “I’m sorry.”
He reached out to ruffle her hair, but his voice was strained. “Just take it easy next time, please.”
“It’s my fault,” Maria blurted out. “I scared her.”
Dr. Wilde straightened up. “It was an accident. And clearly the doorstopper was defective; otherwise it would have stopped the handle from hitting the wall. So that’s no one’s fault,” he said. He looked at Charlie. “We’ll fix it some weekend once things settle down at the college, okay, kiddo?”
“Yeah,” said Charlie. “Thanks, Dad.” She hesitated as he walked toward the kitchen. “Um, can Maria stay overnight?”
He stopped and looked back. “Did you ask Mom? It’s fine with me.”
“I haven’t seen Mom since Tuesday,” Charlie said with a tinge of accusation.
“You forgot how to text?” he asked sharply as he continued into the dining room. “She has a cell phone.”
“Okay, I’ll ask her,” Charlie said, trailing after him. “Sorry. Anyway, it’s fine with you, right?”
“Of course,” he said, picking up his briefcase from the table where Charlie had placed it. He headed in the direction of his study. “Glad to have you, Maria.”
“Thanks, Mr. Dr.,” Maria said meekly.
That drew a smile from Charlie’s dad.
The two scampered to Charlie’s bedroom and closed the door—gently.
CHAPTER 28
Best Friends
The girls awoke on Saturday morning to the sound of Maria’s phone ringing. It played the theme from Spider-Man, which meant it was Mac calling. Maria sat up and squinted as sunlight streamed in through the space between the shade and the window. She looked around, bewildered, before locating her phone and answering it.
“Hey,” she mumbled. “What’s up?”
“Where are you?” Mac spoke harshly, and loud enough for Charlie to hear.
“I’m at Charlie’s. I slept over. What’s—”
“Well, guess where I am?”
Maria pushed her mussed hair off her forehead. “I have no idea.”
“I texted you like five times.”
“I just woke up,” said Maria. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the movie theater lobby, waiting for you. The movie started five minutes ago.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “Crap,” she said. “I— What time is it?”
Mac’s voice was cold. “Five minutes after the movie started.”
“Sorry,” Maria said, cringing. She scrambled to her feet and began looking around for her things. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Forget it. It’s too late now.” Mac hung up.
Maria stared at her phone, quickly scanning the flurry of texts, and then called him back. He didn’t answer.
“What’s going on?” asked Charlie.
“Ugh,” Maria said, pulling her hair out of its ponytail and smoothing it down. “I totally forgot to meet Mac. He’s been waiting for me at the movie theater.”
“I’m sorry,” said Charlie, biting her lip. “He sounded mad from what I could hear. Want me to go with you?”
“Nah.” Maria grabbed Cringe 3 from Charlie’s desk and slipped into her shoes. “Well, maybe,” she said, grabbing a brush from Charlie’s dresser and redoing her ponytail. “Do you mind?”
“Of course not.” Charlie hopped out of bed and hurried to get ready, and soon the girls were on the move.
By the time they got there the movie was sold out, so they played video games in the lobby until it was over. “He’ll be the last one out,” Maria said. “We always stay through all the credits in case there’s an extra scene.”
Finally Mac rounded the corner of the theater, slam-dunking his half-full popcorn bucket into the garbage can before he saw the girls.
He frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” Maria said. “We tried to get tickets, but it was sold out.”
Mac folded his arms and looked from one girl to the other.
A boy across the lobby hooted at Mac. “Your girlfriend showed up after all!” he called.
Maria whirled around and stared down the boy. “Shut your pie hole, Mendez!” she shouted at him.
“Knock it off, Maria,” Mac said sharply.
“What? He was being gross.”
“I don’t need you to stand up for me. Sheesh. Ignore that jerk.”
Charlie shrank back a little and pretended to look at the display of Jujyfruits and licorice whips inside the snack case.
“Excuse me?” said Maria. “I’ll stand up for my friends whenever I feel like it.”
Mac snorted. “Or maybe you’ll just stand them up and forget that you go to the ten-o’clock movie every Saturday morning with your best friend.”
“I said I was sorry,” Maria said. Her voice softened. “I am, really.” She put her hand on his arm, but he stepped back, out of reach. “Come on,” she pleaded. “Let’s go get a slice from Barro’s. It’s my turn to pay.”
Mac’s face went through a barrage of emotions. He looked like he didn’t often turn down a free slice of pizza.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and pointed toward Charlie. “Is she coming?”
Charlie looked up expectantly, and then dropped her gaze again when she realized Mac didn’t seem excited about the prospect. She wasn’t sure why he was mad at her—she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Of course she’s coming,” Maria said. “Let’s go.” She grabbed Mac’s arm with one hand and linked her other arm with Charlie’s. “We’ve got to hurry and get there before all the tables are gone.”
Mac went along with her, halfheartedly at first, then pulling from Maria’s grasp once more but keeping up. “If they run out of tables, maybe Supergirl here can rip off a piece of the wall and make a new one.” He looked sideways at Charlie.
Charlie grinned at him. “The problem is, we’d have to watch a scary movie first and then run around in the dark like idiots.”
“Huh?” asked Mac. He seemed annoyed again, and Charlie realized she probably shouldn’t have said anything.
But Maria didn’t notice. She giggled and said, “If only you could activate the powers on command, all our problems would be solved.”
“Not quite,” Mac muttered.
“What?” asked Maria.
“Never mind,” said Mac.
The next Monday at soccer practice Charlie didn’t even bother trying to activate the bracelet. It was too frustrating when it wouldn’t turn on, and it just began feeling like a waste of time. Besides, Charlie wanted to focus on improving her scoring skills since the team would be playing against other schools soon—their first game was on Thursday. Charlie wanted to be a starter, not sit on the bench, and the next few days of practice would help Coach Candy decide the lineup. So Charlie became intent on doing the best she could . . . without the bracelet’s help.
Of course Kell
y got in the way sometimes. Ever since their collision on the field, Charlie had largely ignored her, both on the field and backstage. And Kelly kept her distance for the most part as well—especially recently. Both were nice when they were together, but it was clear that they would never be best friends—not like Charlie and Maria. And Mac, of course.
Coach divided up the team to scrimmage, and Maria and Charlie were on the blue team together this time. Kelly was on the opposing side wearing red, and after she’d been noticeably quiet at school during the day, she was burning up the field.
“Kelly’s playing really hot today,” Charlie remarked to Maria as they walked back to their positions after she scored another goal.
“Yeah, she’s doing great,” said Maria. “She was acting pretty loco in the locker room earlier, though. Had a screaming fight on the phone with her mom. It wasn’t pretty.”
“Hmm,” said Charlie. Part of her wished she’d witnessed it, but then she felt bad—screaming fights with parents were never fun. And she’d had enough tension with her own parents lately to feel sympathy, even for Kelly. “I’m kind of glad I missed that.” She moved to her spot as left forward. Coach blew the whistle, and Charlie’s team took the ball.
The red team’s forwards and halfbacks attacked Charlie’s team’s advancing line in layers. Their fullbacks, including Kelly, moved up to try and gain control in case the ball went flying. Charlie stayed with her line, edging toward the middle of the field a bit more as the center forward wove around the opposition.
When the ball broke loose, Charlie dug in her cleats and went after it, dodging around the other players. One of the forwards on the red team, a tough, muscular girl named Vanessa, charged toward the ball as well. Charlie had gotten tangled up with Vanessa a few times during scrimmages, and they’d had some good-natured complaining to do about each other, but they kept it friendly. Now, with the stakes high for the forwards who all coveted the four starting spots, Vanessa had a determined look on her face.
Charlie’s face matched it. Vanessa was bigger, but Charlie was a tiny bit more agile, so the race was on for the loose ball. But then, out of nowhere, Kelly rushed in and captured it. The two forwards tripped over each other and scrambled to their feet just in time to watch Kelly take the ball straight down the center and pass it off to a red-shirted halfback, who took it all the way to the goal and scored.
