Odd Girl In

by Jo Whittemore

  I leaned against him. “It’s all right. I kind of deserved it.”

  “Hey!” Parker forced his way between us. “How come you let Nick get away with yelling and not me?”

  I put my arms around both my brothers. “Because Nick yells about once a year. You have it on your daily to–do list.”

  Parker scoffed. “Doubtful!”

  “You yelled at a ladybug this morning,” said Nick, steering us out of the alley.

  “That was because I stepped on it with bare feet.”

  “I also heard you yelling in the shower,” I said.

  “That was because someone wrote ‘diva detangler’ on my conditioner.”

  Nick and I exchanged a high-five.

  “Enjoy that,” said Parker. “Because neither of you can imagine the revenge I have in store.”

  I squinted thoughtfully. “Does it involve some sort of … yelling?”

  Nick laughed, and even Parker smiled.

  I could joke about revenge with Parker, but on Monday morning I was definitely worried about what Emily and Chloe might do. While I canvassed the building with flyers for the scrimmage, I had to simultaneously avoid their nefarious clutches. It wasn’t that I was unwilling to apologize to Emily or that I was afraid of Chloe, but knowing my luck, they’d joined forces to create a super-terror.

  Still, I knew I’d have to face both girls in PE, especially since we’d moved on to the presidential fitness challenge. That involved a lot more standing around, waiting to be tested … and a lot more time for the girls to plot a revenge much harsher than Parker’s yelling.

  Monday we were doing the rope climb, and since fate was feeling hilariously cruel, I was chosen to climb against Chloe.

  While we waited in line, however, she just nodded. “Hey, Alex.”

  “Heeey?” I let my greeting end as a question.

  “Problem?” she asked, smiling innocently.

  I blinked at her. “You don’t remember last Thursday? When we got in that big fight?”

  Chloe waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, I’m over that.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yep. I don’t have time for negative energy in my life. That includes backstabbers like you.” She smiled like she hadn’t just insulted me.

  “Uh, just because I’m not on your team doesn’t mean I’m stabbing you in the back,” I said.

  “Actually, I was talking about my feelings for Trevor,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “You know … how I told you I liked him and then you betrayed me by hooking him up with Emily?”

  “What? I would never!” I argued.

  The girls in front of us turned around, and I smiled, pointing at Chloe. “She was asking if I liked Lindsay Lohan.”

  Chloe waited for them to turn away before she said, “Emily couldn’t have possibly gotten him herself. The girl’s a nightmare. Monsters are afraid of finding her under the bed.”

  I shook my head. “She’s got it way more together than you do.”

  Chloe lifted a hand to block me out. “Whatever. Just know that your little plan backfired. Since everyone has full teams, Trevor doesn’t have a choice but to work with me. He and I are going to win and he’ll see that I’m the right girl for him.” She said the last words a little louder and smirked in Emily’s direction. “So I’m not upset. I just feel pity for you.” She tilted her head to one side and pouted her bottom lip.

  I rolled my eyes as we stepped up to the ropes. “You pity me?”

  She nodded. “You and your brothers don’t stand a chance. The scrawny one, what’s his name, Parker? He’ll be out after the first obstacle. And the cute but clueless one … Nick, right? He’ll probably spend most of his time figuring out his shoelaces.”

  If the teacher hadn’t been standing right there, I would have strangled Chloe with my climbing rope.

  “My brothers and I will do just fine,” I said, fixing her with a steely gaze.

  The teacher blew the whistle, and it was almost as if someone had put a springboard beneath Chloe and me. We both leapt up the rope and hurried our climb, rapidly bringing fist over fist. The inside of my legs burned from the coarseness of the rope, but I didn’t slow my pace.

  Unfortunately, Chloe still managed to inch ahead of me and ring the bell at the top about ten seconds before I could.

  Holding on with just one hand and coiling a leg around the rope, she smirked at me. “Like I said, you don’t stand a chance.” Then she loosened her grip just enough so that the rope whizzed through her fingers as she rapidly descended to the floor.

  “Please.” I positioned myself like she had and relaxed my grip. As soon as I started to drop, I felt the burn from the rope even worse than before, like I was sliding down a razor blade and peeling off my skin.

  When I reached the ground, I pressed my lips together and fought back a cry of pain. I didn’t dare glance at my hand or thighs, but I had a feeling they were probably the color and texture of tomato paste. The rest of the class was watching me and some were wincing in sympathy pain. Chloe alone was smiling.

  “May the best girl win,” I grunted at her. Then I sauntered off as casually as I could.

  Of course, Emily chose the one moment that I couldn’t run away to engage me in conversation.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, following me to the locker room.

  “I’m fine,” I said, forcing a smile.

  “You’re walking like you just climbed off a really fat horse.”

  I paused and faced her. “Emily, in ten seconds I’m going to black out from a severe rope burn. If you came to yell at me about Trevor some more, you might want to make it quick.”

  “Uh, no.” Emily stared down at her hands. “Actually, I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me and to say I’m sorry.”

  I collapsed on a bench from both surprise and pain. “What?”

  She shrugged sheepishly. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you and made you keep Trevor a secret. You’ve always been super nice where he’s involved.”

  Being the perfectionist that she was, I knew it took a lot for Emily to admit she’d done something wrong.

  “It’s okay,” I said with an encouraging smile. “But thanks.”

  “Sure.” Emily started twisting her hands back and forth.

  “Was there something else?” I asked.

  “Don’t be mad,” she said.

  “Uh-oh.”

  “But ever since you showed me that note from your mom, I’ve been thinking,” said Emily. “It stinks that you never got closure with her.”

  My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Okaaay.”

  She took a deep breath. “Well, my stepmom has connections everywhere, and she was able to get a phone number for your mom.”

  My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. “What?”

  “It’s her voice mail at the research base here in the States.” Emily lowered her eyes and handed me a piece of paper. “You don’t have to call, but I wanted you to have the option.”

  I stared at the number, thinking of the photo albums, Mom’s note, and my brothers. I reached out a hand to Emily.

  “Let me borrow your cell phone.”

  Her face lit up. “Really? You’re going to call her now?” Emily opened her locker and dug through her purse.

  “Now’s as good a time as any,” I said, taking a deep breath as she handed me the phone. My fingers trembled a little when I dialed, but as soon as the voice mail picked up, all my fear vanished.

  And it was replaced with anger.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said in my most sarcastic voice. “It’s your daughter. You know, the one you abandoned?”

  The smile on Emily’s face dropped in horror.

  “I just wanted you to know that Nick, Parker, Dad, and I are all doing fine,” I said.

  Emily tried to grab her phone but I twisted out of reach.

  “In fact, we’re doing so fine that we don’t need your stupid birthday money, we don’t need your stupid Christmas mone
y, and we don’t need you.”

  I snapped the phone shut and shoved it in Emily’s hands. She stared at it for a moment before silently putting it in her pocket.

  But that wasn’t the reaction I wanted.

  I wanted Emily to yell at me for being so rude after she went to all that trouble and for ruining my one chance to connect with my mother. I wanted her to storm off because I’d failed so miserably at bringing my family back together.

  Instead, Emily simply gave me a sad smile. “What happened, Alexis?”

  I dropped to the floor and hugged my knees to my chest. Then I cried. Emily sat beside me and listened as I told her everything. Soon she was crying too, and we put our arms around each other.

  We sat like that for several minutes until I started having trouble breathing. Finally, I raised my head and wiped my eyes.

  “Are you mad at me?” asked Emily.

  I shook my head.

  “Good,” she said. “Because I wouldn’t have forced that phone number on you if I’d known.”

  Despite my tears, I smiled. “Yes, you would have.”

  She smiled back. “Okay, you’re right. But I would have taken you to an amusement park first to put you in a better mood.”

  I actually laughed out loud. As strange as it seemed, I felt comforted by Emily’s presence for once, not weirded out. It was nice to have someone outside the family to share my darkest secrets with, someone who could feel with me and not be embarrassed. It was nice to have someone watching out for me, not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

  It was nice to have a true friend.

  Girls were filing in from the gym, stopping to check on me, but thankfully I could blame my tears on the rope burns.

  I spent the entire walk home that afternoon debating whether or not I should share what I’d done with my brothers. Would they be happy I told her off? Or angry that I didn’t talk to them first?

  My thoughts were put on hold when I spotted a strange truck in our driveway, carrying at least twenty large canvas bags. I quickened my pace to get a closer look as a man emerged from the house, followed by Nick and Parker. The man waved when he saw me, and I realized it was Nick’s football coach.

  I waved back and watched as Nick and Parker helped the man pull the bags off the truck and toss them onto the driveway. The drawstring on one of the bags was loose, and when it shifted open, I saw a rubberized name and number written on a jersey.

  Then I remembered what Nick had told us several days before: “My coach has some team laundry I could do….”

  I sighed and rolled up my sleeves. If Nick could help me get a pizza party for my portion of the fund-raiser, I could at least scrub a jersey or two.

  But smelly guy socks were out of the question.

  Chapter 14

  Never underestimate the power of persuasion,” Ms. Success told us Thursday night. “Girls,” she said as she pointed around the room, “with this skill, you can get a boy to pay your way at the movies. Boys, with this skill, you can get free M&M’s at the concession stand.”

  Trevor frowned at me. “Sounds better to be the girl.”

  “I think Emily has a wig you can borrow,” I whispered back.

  “We already know a person’s name is the most important thing about them.” Ms. Success jerked her head toward Parker, daring him to correct her. “But this can also be said of their emotions. Appeal to someone’s feelings, and you can easily win them over.”

  She pointed to a sentence she’d written on the board, and we all chanted, “Open hearts lead to open wallets.”

  For the next half hour, Ms. Success lectured on persuasive techniques, and when she was finished, Emily walked around the room and handed each of us blue drawstring pouches.

  “You should each be receiving twenty pieces of Champs change.” Ms. Success raised her voice to be heard among the clinking of coins. “Your task for the remainder of class is to collect the most Champs change from your classmates, using the power of persuasion.”

  I opened my pouch and poured out a handful of gold coins with a star on one side and Ms. Success’s grinning face on the other.

  “Huh,” I said. “That’s odd.”

  Trevor snorted. “You think it’s odd that Ms. Success would put herself on money?”

  “No, I think it’s odd that she couldn’t get the government to put her on actual money,” I said with a smirk.

  “Don’t think I didn’t try,” said Ms. Success from directly behind me.

  I cringed and twisted around, smiling up at her apologetically. Ms. Success ignored me and addressed the class.

  “Don’t take this lightly, folks. Because whoever collects the most money wins this.” She held out a rolled-up piece of paper tied with ribbon.

  People shifted forward in their seats, trying to see what was inside.

  “This beauty,” she said with a smile, “contains a list of the obstacles in the Champs Championship.”

  Instantly, the volume in the classroom increased, and even I couldn’t help getting a little excited. Up until now, nobody had had a chance of knowing the challenges since Ms. Success changed them every year.

  As soon as she gave the okay, people jumped out of their seats and started bargaining with one another for Champs change. I started to get up too, but when I pushed away from the table I saw that Trevor had a gigantic gash across one knee.

  “Ouch. What happened?” I asked.

  “Well, it turns out I can only jump four cars with my bike,” he said, rubbing the wound.

  My eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Nah.” He grinned. “Chloe and I started training last weekend for the championship.”

  I dropped back onto my seat. “You’ve been training? How? We don’t even know what the obstacles are.”

  “Not specifically,” said Trevor. He raised an eyebrow. “But if you give me all of your fake money, I’ll let you in on a secret.”

  I sized him up for a moment before handing over my bag of Champs change. “Deal.”

  He looked around and leaned toward me. “It’s supposed to be modeled after the Sandhurst Military Skills competition at West Point,” he whispered.

  “Sandhurst?” I repeated, opening my notebook. “How do you spell it?”

  Trevor held up a colored sheet of paper and studied it. “Let’s see. S-a-n-d …”

  I stopped writing when I saw the paper, and Trevor grinned. “Ms. Success had a stack of these on her desk.”

  I snatched the page from him and read:

  Parents, a reminder that this Sunday is the Champs Championship and a wonderful opportunity to see your child shine! Our obstacle course will prove to be a challenge, as it is modeled after West Point’s own Sandhurst …

  “Hey!” I lowered the paper. “You tricked me!”

  I reached for my Champs change, but Trevor was already pouring the coins into his own bag. “Thanks for the contribution. Now I can buy some M&M’s at the concession stand.”

  I sighed and pulled back my hand. “You earned it, I suppose. But have you really been training?”

  “Yep,” he said. “I mean, we didn’t know about Sandhurst until now, but most obstacle courses are the same.”

  I frowned. “When are you going to have time for fund-raising?”

  “Already done,” he said, rubbing his palms together. “Chloe’s been saving her babysitting money so all I had to do was mow a few lawns to keep from feeling guilty, and we jumped right into training.”

  “Oh. Well, good for you.” I slumped on my stool, feeling more than a little discouraged. I’d been so proud of my hockey scrimmage, the prizes we’d earned, and the money we’d gotten from laundry, but apparently we were still behind. Chloe was already winning.

  Trevor must have noticed that I was feeling dejected because he bumped my shoulder with his own. “Cheer up. We still haven’t gotten the fire-making down.”

  If it was possible, I slouched even lower. To my complete and utter dismay, Chloe chose t
hat moment to saunter over, shaking a bulging bag of Champs change.

  “I think I’ll come sit with the best and brightest.” She smiled at Trevor, then glanced my way. “Oh. And Alex.”

  I kept quiet even though her snub wasn’t wasted on me. It was, however, wasted on Trevor.

  “Hey, Chloe!” he said. “Wow, that’s a lot of money.”

  She smiled and dropped the bag on the table with a thunk. “I’ve got social skills, something a few people in this class lack.” Her eyes flitted to me. “All I have to do is say hello, and people practically throw money at me.”

  “Oh, like a street performer?” I couldn’t help asking. “What’s your talent? Playing a fiddle with your feet?”

  Chloe’s smile wavered a little, but she simply turned her back to me. “Do you still have your Champs change?” she asked Trevor.

  “And Alex’s.” He grinned apologetically at me and handed his bag to Chloe.

  “Then I’m going to go collect our list of obstacles.” She squeezed his arm and winked at me. “And my talent is winning. You should try it some time.”

  When Dad pulled up to the curb after class, I leapt into the front seat before the car was even in park.

  “We need flint,” I told him. “And lots of wood.”

  He glanced past me to my brothers. “Should I be concerned?”

  “It’s for Champs,” I said. “Nick, Parker, and I need to practice making fires.”

  “Isn’t that what got you into trouble in the first place?” asked Dad.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think they’re going to let me bring a Flaming #2 to the contest,” I said. “We need to start a fire from scratch.”

  “I can do that,” said Nick.

  I frowned at him. “Without putting wet socks in the microwave.”

  “Oh.” Nick shook his head. “Then never mind.”

  “Practicing wouldn’t be a bad idea,” said Parker. “We can at least be prepared for one of the challenges.”

  “All right,” said Dad, putting the car in gear. “What do you plan to use for tinder?”

  My brothers and I looked at one another.

  “Huh?”