by Belle Payton
CHAPTER
Sixteen
As soon as the Cahills had dropped Ava off, she raced inside and discovered with relief that no one was home yet. Moxy started running in circles around Ava the second she stepped into the house.
For twenty minutes Ava sat on the floor, petting Moxy, who, pleasantly surprised to be given such attention, rolled onto her back with all four paws in the air, the better to allow Ava to stroke her tummy. Ava was lost in thought. She still couldn’t believe Charlie had shown up at Sal’s. Just as she’d finally decided she would break up with him once and for all. Was it a sign of some sort?
Ava was still sitting on the floor with Moxy when she heard a car door close quietly and Tommy’s voice saying thank you to Luke.
Moxy bounded to her feet, and the two of them went to meet him as he came in through the side door.
He tiptoed quietly into the room and looked warily around. “Hey, Ave,” he whispered. “Anyone else home yet?” He was dressed in very un-Tommy-like clothes: a dark shirt, a sport coat, and blue jeans.
Ava shook her head. “You better change out of those clothes, though, before they get here,” she said.
“Yep, and I should be lying down in my room anyway,” he said. “Come up and talk to me in a minute. I’ll tell you how it went.”
When Ava went upstairs, she found Tommy under the covers of his bed, propped up on his pillows. She went in and sat down.
“So, how was it?”
His dark eyes danced. “It was brilliant, Ave. We won the contest! We totally stole the show! The three of us—Jackson on drums, Harley on bass, and me—each had a solo improv, and we killed it.”
“Aw, Tommy, that’s so great,” said Ava. “But what are you going to say to Coach?”
“Nothing, I hope,” he said. “I’ll just say I’ve been home throwing up but now I feel better.”
Alex and Mrs. Sackett were the next to arrive home, followed soon after by Coach. Ava wasn’t in the mood to hear about Charlie from Alex, so she pretended to be asleep. She heard her parents go in to check on Tommy, and then she heard the murmur of his voice, sounding weak and sick. She heaved a sigh of relief. It looked like Tommy had gotten away with skipping out on the second half of the game.
“Well, it looks like you got away with it,” snapped Alex as she came into Ava’s room the next morning without even knocking. She dropped into Ava’s comfy chair and crossed her arms, eyeing her sister with extreme annoyance.
Ava was still in bed, but she’d been awake for a while. She closed her phone. “Got away with what?”
“Oh, brother,” snorted Alex. “With being on a date with a guy and having the other guy you’ve been going out with show up at the same exact time? Thanks to me, anyway. I covered for you, even though you were zero help in this whole thing, thank you very much.” She sat breathing heavily, her nostrils flaring.
“Al, it’s not like I asked for this date with Jack,” Ava pointed out. “May I remind you that you were the one who said yes, posing as me?”
“Okay, well, whatever,” said Alex. “I am totally and completely exhausted from all the excitement of these past few days.”
“I just texted Jack,” said Ava quietly. “I apologized for running out like that. Told him maybe we should stick to playing basketball together. He was pretty decent about it.”
“Wait. So you broke it off with Jack?”
“Well, it’s not like there was anything to break off,” Ava pointed out. “We weren’t actually dating. But now I’m conflicted about Charlie again. I don’t know what to think about the fact that he came all that way, just to see me.”
Alex shifted uncomfortably. “Hey, Ave. Have you been on his Buddybook page recently?”
“No. You know I don’t go on Buddybook nearly as often as you do.”
“I know. That’s why I’m mentioning this,” said Alex. “See, it looks to me like Charlie might kind of have a girlfriend. Remember Caroline Blatz from last year?”
“Caroline the volleyball star?”
Alex nodded.
Ava sat, contemplating. “She’s okay, I guess. Still, it’s weird. You finally decide you’re going to break up with someone, and then find out they were about to break up with you, and it feels, well, bad. But I’m glad for him.”
Alex watched Ava open her phone and send a text. Soon after, her phone buzzed, and then she sent another.
“Who’s it from?” Alex asked.
“Charlie. I just texted him and apologized for being weird at Sal’s and said how good it was to see him. And then he texted me and said one of the reasons he wanted to sit and talk with me last night was that he wanted me to know he’d sort of started going out with Caroline. And I texted back and said I knew, and it’s cool. So we’re cool.”
“So you just went from having two boyfriends to zero boyfriends—and you’re happy about it?” Alex asked, shaking her head. “I just don’t understand how we can be sisters, let alone identical twins.”
Ava grinned. “It’s a wonder.”
CHAPTER
Seventeen
The next day Ava joined her parents and Alex on the sidelines after her game. Flushed and sweaty, she was exhilarated by the win over the Titans.
“Nice game, Fourteen,” said Coach, whacking her affectionately on her padded shoulder.
She grinned happily. “It was a tough one, but I thought we played pretty well.”
“And you caught a thirteen-yard pass!” exclaimed Mrs. Sackett.
“Wait. Was she a wide receiver today?” asked Alex. “I somehow missed that.”
Ava and Coach exchanged a bemused look.
“Yes, honey, she played wide receiver for almost a full quarter and did really well,” said Mrs. Sackett.
“Well, congrats!” said Alex.
“Here comes Mr. Kelly,” said Mrs. Sackett under her breath.
Ava didn’t like the look in Mr. Kelly’s eyes. She knew he didn’t approve of her dad’s coaching tactics, and now that she was playing wide receiver, she knew he also resented her taking playing time away from his nephew. He always acted nice around her dad, but Ava didn’t buy it.
“Great game, young lady!” said Mr. Kelly as he joined the Sacketts. He raised his hat briefly as he nodded to Mrs. Sackett. “Y’all just cleaned their plow today!”
“Um, thanks?” Ava ventured, not sure if he’d meant it as a compliment.
“Howdy, Coach.”
“Doug,” Coach said with a nod.
“Say, how’s that son of yours? I noticed he wasn’t on the sidelines for the second half of the game last night.”
“Oh, he’s just fine,” said Coach. “Tom got sick during the game. It was a sudden onset kind of thing. I sent him home to bed, but luckily, it seems like it was just a twelve-hour bug.”
Mr. Kelly pushed his half-glasses down his nose and fixed Coach with a beady stare. An uneasy sensation shot up and down Ava’s spine; she had a feeling Mr. Kelly was enjoying himself.
“You don’t say,” he said. “Well, I heard from Gladys Pike that there was a big band competition over at Eastern High last night. And she says your son was in that competition. And that he plum won it. Now isn’t that the darnedest thing? Wonder how on earth she’d think she’d seen that son of yours, when you’re standing right here, tellin’ me he took ill.”
With a triumphant smile, Mr. Kelly crossed his arms across his burly chest and looked at Coach innocently.
Ava felt her heart plummet into her cleats. She heard Alex, next to her, give a little gasp of surprise. Her mother looked at Coach.
Coach’s expression did not change, though. He merely nodded at Mr. Kelly and said, “Well, that Gladys Pike surely is a staunch supporter of the arts. Glad she enjoyed the concert. And now we Sacketts need to get this one home. Good to see you, Doug.”
And Ava felt his guiding hand on her back, propelling her toward the parking lot. Alex and Mrs. Sackett followed them.
They rode home in silence.
> When they got to their house, Coach walked in ahead of them and took the stairs three at a time. Ava heard the door to Tommy’s room open and close, and the murmuring of voices.
“Do you girls know anything about this?” asked Mrs. Sackett.
“Mom! No! Of course not!” said Alex quickly. “Mr. Kelly was just making trouble. Tommy went home from the game. He was sick. Right, Ave?”
Ava didn’t say anything. She just stared down at her feet.
Mrs. Sackett gave Ava a long look. “Go upstairs, Ava,” she said quietly. “We’ll discuss this later.”
Ava ran upstairs and quickly showered. As she turned off the water, she heard Tommy and Coach’s voices much louder. They were arguing. She couldn’t make out the words, but of course, she didn’t need to. She quickly threw on clothes and went to see Alex.
Alex was sitting on her bed, her eyes wide, clutching her pillow closely. “Ave! Did you know about it?” she asked in a whisper.
Ava nodded. “Yeah. It was really important to him, Al. But wow, I feel terrible. Lying can really get you into big trouble. It’s not worth it.”
Alex nodded. “Even if you don’t get caught. That’s why I confessed to Coach Jen about trading places. I couldn’t take the guilt. Tommy did get caught, and it sounds way worse than if he’d just gone and told Coach the truth.”
They heard Tommy’s door open, and the shouting grew louder. Then they heard feet stomping down the stairs, and the front door slammed.
“I think that was Tommy!” whispered Alex.
Ava just nodded. “This is bad, Al,” she said.
CHAPTER
Eighteen
Ava lay awake past midnight that night, thinking about everything that had happened. Tommy hadn’t returned. She could hear her parents in their room talking. She lay awake, listening to the night sounds outside. Then at last, at about 12:20 in the morning, she heard the kitchen door open and knew Tommy was finally home. There was a cathunk of the refrigerator door being opened. Cathunk as it closed. Dishes, silverware clanking. In her parents’ room, the talking had stopped. Were they asleep? Or listening to the sounds of Tommy making himself a midnight snack?
She thought about going to see her brother but then changed her mind. She heard his footsteps coming up the stairs. The door of his room closed. Then the house was quiet.
Sunday morning Ava woke up early, but Tommy’s room was empty, his bed a rumpled heap of sheets. She headed down to the kitchen, but it was empty too. Her mother had left a note on the kitchen table saying she was out for a long run. Through the window over the sink, Ava could see Coach outside in the backyard, hammering something on the battered old door of the shed.
She texted Tommy.
Where are you?
He did not reply for a full five minutes. Then:
I’m practicing. At the church.
Ava ate a quick bowl of cereal and went outside to see Coach.
“Morning,” he said shortly, without pausing in his hammering. He had added a crosspiece of wood to the back of the door of the shed and was hammering it into place. In his baggy, faded jeans and black, faded-to-gray T-shirt, Ava thought her dad looked like a teenager. He could be Tommy’s twin, at least from the back.
She sat on an overturned bucket and watched her dad finish his task. When at last he began picking up his tools, she said, “Hey, Coach? Want to go for a walk with me?”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Sure, honey. Where to?”
“Just . . . not far. I want to show you something.”
He held her gaze for a moment, as though sizing up her earnestness, and said, “Let me put these tools away. I’ll meet you in front in five.”
They set off in silence, Ava leading the way down the block. It was early enough that they didn’t meet any neighbors, and only one vehicle passed them, a beat-up old pickup truck stacked high with fat sacks of grain. Ava didn’t know what Tommy had told Coach about his concert and his scheme. Did Coach know she had been Tommy’s accomplice? Was he angry with her, too? Knowing Tommy, he would have told Coach only whatever was absolutely necessary, but knowing Coach, he had gotten to the truth by asking just the right perceptive questions. She kept quiet.
A few blocks later Ava saw the church, a pretty little building with weather-beaten white siding and a simple steeple. The sign out front said that the next service was at noon, and it was just past nine.
As they drew closer, Ava could hear some very unchurchlike music: jazzy, syncopated rhythms and an upbeat melody. Next to her, Coach stopped and stood still. Ava looked up at him. He had the strangest mixture of emotions playing across his face—like the toy kaleidoscope she had owned and loved as a little kid. You twisted it and wild colors and patterns morphed and emerged and changed into other patterns. Passing across her father’s face, one after another, Ava could see anger change to pride, then exasperation, then admiration, then weary resignation as he stood listening to Tommy play.
“Coach?” she asked softly, squeezing his hand a little. “Do you want to go inside?”
He looked down at her, startled, as though he’d forgotten she was there. “Yes,” he said, and the two of them climbed the front stairs and entered the church through the heavy wooden double doors.
From the back of the empty church, they stood still again and listened to Tommy play. He was so engrossed in his piece he didn’t seem to have heard them come in. But as they made their way down the side aisle toward the piano—a gleaming black baby grand—Tommy looked up, and the music stopped. He sat quietly, watching them approach, his face impassive.
Ava tugged on Coach’s shirt. “Should I leave you guys alone?” she whispered.
He looked down at her, nodded, and ruffled her hair.
She turned and headed back outside to sit on the front steps of the church. It faced east, and the warm, late morning sun glinted off the stained-glass windows.
After a few minutes, Coach emerged and stood next to her on the top of the stoop. They didn’t speak, but Ava could feel that he wasn’t too mad. Maybe not mad at all.
“Do you want to head home?” Coach asked her.
“Maybe in a little while,” said Ava.
Coach nodded. Ava knew he understood she wanted to stay behind to talk with Tommy. She watched her dad trot down the steps and turn toward their house, his long, lanky stride showing how much of an athlete he still was.
A few moments later the door opened behind her, and Tommy sat down next to her on the step. They sat in silence. Then she said, “How did it go?”
“As well as could be expected,” said Tommy. “I’m suspended for two games, but he had to do that, and I knew it—he can’t treat me differently from any of the other players. I told him I love football, but I also love music, and he accepted that.”
“That’s great,” said Ava.
“Yeah, I think he’s even a little proud of me. He’s not proud of the fact that I lied and that Mr. Kelly knows it. But he knows I won’t pull that again. After the season’s over, I’ll have a lot more time, obviously, to rehearse.”
“That’s awesome, Tommy,” said Ava. “You want to walk to the park and shoot around with me?”
“Nah, I’ve got a while before they start showing up for the next service here, so I’m going to keep practicing. But I’ll catch you later.”
Ava went to the park anyway, and saw Jack shooting around. She approached cautiously, because she wasn’t sure how things stood between them. When he saw her, he bounce-passed her the ball, and she drove in for a reverse layup.
“Lucky,” he said with a grin. “Get warmed up and I’ll whup you in one-on-one.”
Ava smiled back and started dribbling.
Jack won the first game, and Ava the second. They were just about to start the tiebreaker when Ava spotted Alex approaching, walking Moxy. When Moxy saw Ava, she tugged at the leash, and Alex dropped it, allowing Moxy to bound across the play area toward Ava.
Jack held the ball while Ava petted Moxy. He shook
his head as Alex approached. “I forget how much you two look alike,” he said. “Sometimes it’s really hard to tell you guys apart.”
“Good thing we don’t dress alike,” said Ava, shooting Alex a mischievous glance.
Alex smiled back. “Yeah, good thing.”
Ready for more
ALEX AND AVA?
Here’s a sneak peek at the next book in the It Takes Two series:
Even the Score
This is no big deal, Ava Sackett thought. Then she turned and sprinted away from the boys.
Her heart beat in rhythm with her feet. Thin lines of sweat trickled down her neck from the heat of the September Texas sun. Her fingertips tingled with anticipation. She sensed the coaches on the sidelines watching. Today is my big chance, she thought. A chance to show I can do more than kick a football.
She was now the official kicker of the Ashland Tiger Cubs. She was also the first girl in the history of Ashland Middle School to make the football team.
Not that any other girl had tried out.
She knew some boys in the halls had been whispering about her. They said that her being on the team was a pity thing or a special consideration, because her dad coached the high school team. Her twin sister Alex told her not to listen to them.
“You’re good at football. Really good. Better-than-most-boys good,” Alex insisted. And when Ava kicked the thirty-three-yard field goal at the game last Saturday, those boys finally stopped whispering.
“I’m going to try mixing things up,” Coach Kenerson announced at practice today. “Ava, you go in for Ethan at wide receiver.”
She couldn’t hold back her grin. Finally! A chance to be a part of the action.
Wide receivers needed to be superfast to catch the pass from the quarterback and then sprint down the field for a touchdown. Running wasn’t a problem for Ava. She’d always been fast. Her mom said she ran before she learned to walk. Ava flexed her fingers, readying herself for the catch.
