As Michaela stepped forward, the clothespins on the sign were pulled, and the bottom half dropped down with its welcome message for her. At that very moment, four girls rolled a square table through the double doors. On the table was a huge cake reading “WELCOME MICHAELA—AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!”
Jamie’s jaw dropped. What in the world was going on? She turned around to look at the sign, only to find that it, too, read “WELCOME MICHAELA—AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!”
Jamie wheeled around to face Michaela, who seemed equally shocked. “I can’t believe this!” Jamie whispered. “This was supposed to be a surprise party for you!”
“What?” Michaela gasped. “But I planned this whole thing for your birthday!”
As both girls stood there dumbfounded, Coach McKean said, “It looks like we succeeded in surprising both of them, folks!”
The band had just finished playing “Willkommen,” the welcome song from the musical Cabaret, and now launched into “Happy Birthday.”
Michaela stared at Jamie, blinking back tears of joy. “You did this for me?” she asked. “But I thought—”
“I changed my mind,” Jamie said, laughing and crying at the same time. “I can’t believe you planned a surprise for me, too!”
Laurie came over and gave them both a hug, as best she could with her cast still on. “You guys have no idea how hard it was for everybody to keep both surprises secret!” she said. “Just now, Kim told me you were about to check out the sign, Jamie!”
Jamie gave Laurie a squeeze, then turned to hug Michaela. The crowd erupted in an ear-splitting roar as the two girls held each other.
Then Jamie broke it off and went up to the microphone. “I have to say something,” she shouted into the mike, holding up her hands for quiet. It took a long time, and she had to repeat it two or three times, but finally the crowd quieted down and the drums stopped thumping.
“I want to thank you all so much,” Jamie began. “And especially you, Michaela, for remembering my birthday.” She cleared her throat to keep from choking up, then continued. “I wrote something for tonight, something I really need to say, and I want all of you to hear it.”
As she fished out her note and wiped the tears from her eyes so she could read it, she saw her dad, with Tracy and Donna, framed in the double doors at the front of the gym.
Jamie smiled. All week, she’d thought she was putting one over on Michaela, while Michaela was doing the same to her. But Donna, her dad, and Tracy had known all along about both plans. What an acting job they’d done!
Jamie held her note up to the light and in a shaky voice began to read it. “Dear Michaela,” she said, “this isn’t easy for me to say, but I’m sorry for the rotten way I’ve treated you. From the moment you got here, I never gave you a chance. I didn’t want you here, and I made your life miserable on purpose. I thought having you for a sister would ruin my life, but I was wrong. I’ve come to find out that we have a lot in common. So I hope you’ll forgive me. And I promise that from now on, you can count on me to act like a true sister, and a friend.”
She folded up the letter and looked over at Michaela.
Michaela just nodded silently, and the two girls embraced again.
16
By the time they got home, the whole family fell into bed exhausted. The next morning, after the grown-ups left for work and Donna was safely aboard her school bus, Jamie and Michaela walked to school together. They talked the whole way, finally getting to know each other.
“I can’t believe you like that song, too!” Michaela said when Jamie started humming it.
“Oh, yeah, I have the CD,” Jamie said.
“Me, too! Do you like their latest song?”
“Uck, no.”
“Me neither!”
By the time they’d gone the six blocks, they’d found out half a dozen more things they had in common. They parted at the school entrance, off to their separate classrooms. Jamie watched Michaela go. A secret smile crept across her lips. There were still a couple of surprises up her sleeve.
But first, there was the big game. If they lost, it would be the last game Jamie would ever play as a Shark. The season would be over, and next year she’d be in high school. On the other hand, if they won, it could be the beginning of a monthlong playoff season.
Jamie had dreamed of making the play-offs ever since last year, when they’d fallen one game short of the division championship. Now it was within their grasp. All they had to do was beat their arch rivals—the West Side Gophers.
As Jamie went down the hall toward her first-period class, she noticed a poster on the wall, right next to the big one that read “GO SHARKS! BEAT WEST SIDE!”
This poster said “HALLOWEEN DANCE NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT.”
“Hi, Jamie,” came a familiar voice behind her.
Jamie’s heart did a quick flip-flop. She wheeled around, and there was Jeff Gates, smiling at her.
“Hi yourself,” she said, darting a quick smile at him before looking away. Had he seen her looking at the sign? Did he know she’d been thinking of him at that very moment? If he did, she’d just melt away and disappear.
“I thought what you did last night was fantastic,” he said.
“Oh. Thanks,” Jamie said. “It was nothing….”
“No, it wasn’t. That was really big of you.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I knew all along you’d come through in the end.”
Jamie gulped. “You did?”
“Sure. I kept telling Michaela to give you a little time and you’d come around.”
Jamie nodded, looking away, feeling his hand there on her shoulder.
“Um, listen,” he went on, suddenly sounding tentative. “If you’re not already going with somebody, do you want to go to the Halloween dance?”
“With you?” Jamie blurted out, flabbergasted.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, biting his lip. “I mean, you don’t have to if you—”
“Oh, no, I do! I mean, I will—I mean, sure!” Jamie said, her legs feeling a little rubbery. “I mean, what about Michaela?”
Jeff blinked. “What about Michaela? She’s going with Kevin Hicks.”
“Megan’s brother?” Jamie asked.
“Yeah. Apparently he likes her, and vice versa. So, do you want to go?”
“Um, yeah, sure!” Jamie said.
“Great. Well… I’d better get to class,” Jeff said. “See you at the game, huh?”
“Yeah. See you there.” Jamie waved as he backed away. She still couldn’t believe it—Jeff Gates had asked her out!
Four o’clock took forever to arrive. Finally, the Sharks made their way onto the court, doing warm-up stretches as they went. Across the net from them stood the West Side Gophers, in their red-and-gold uniforms.
They seemed confident, Jamie thought. Too confident. Well, they were about to be tested as they hadn’t been all year. Even in the locker room, Jamie had felt the electricity. The Sharks were ready—ready to take their game to a whole new level.
Outside, it was raining hard. The sound of the rain on the metal roof of the gym was deafening. Coach McKean had to shout to make herself heard in the pregame huddle.
“Sharks! This is our moment—play your game and you’ll never forget this night. Put your hands in here now.” They all put their hands together. “We’re a family. Let’s play like it!”
“GO SHARKS!!” the whole team yelled. The ref’s whistle blew. The game was on.
The Gophers had three really tall girls in the front line at the start of the match. The one opposite Jamie was at least six feet. Jamie crouched low. What she lacked in height, she was going to have to make up in leaping ability and sheer determination.
Michaela stood on Jamie’s left. At least she was as tall as her opposite number. On Jamie’s right, Megan Hicks gave away at least four inches to the girl facing her.
If you just looked at height, it appeared to be a mismatch. No wonder the Gophers seemed so confident of winning. With Lauri
e Gates, the Sharks’ tallest player, injured and unable to play, they probably thought this was going to be a walkover.
Height isn’t everything, Jamie told herself as Keisha served and the match began.
The Sharks were on fire right off the bat. Jamie could see the Gophers glancing at each other, fear creeping into their eyes as they realized this was not going to be an easy victory. By the time the Gophers got the serve, it was 6–0, Sharks. The rain pounding on the roof got heavier. Joined with the cheers of the frenzied crowd, the banging of the bass drum and the blaring of horns, it was enough to shake up even a team like the Gophers. They called a quick time-out to try and break the momentum. But the noise just got louder all around them. The band played the theme from Jaws faster and faster.
But the Gophers were no pushovers. They had not accumulated so many wins by being easily rattled. They came back strong, using their height advantage to crawl back into the match, finally tying the game at 13–13.
Jamie knew that the next two points would be crucial. Whoever won the first game would have a tremendous advantage. It was now or never. Time to shine.
The Gophers were serving. Jamie, in the front line again, took the pass from the receiver and set Michaela up perfectly. Michaela leaped high into the air, her long arm windmilling so fast it was a blur, and sent the ball smashing into the midst of the hapless defenders.
“Yes!” Michaela cried as Jamie gave her double high fives. Jamie knew that a week ago, she would have tried to spike that ball herself instead of passing to Michaela. She’d matured, and she’d helped her team in the process.
Now it was time for Jamie to serve. She over-handed it, sending a hard slam into the far left corner. The defender, unable to handle it, let it fall, hoping it would land out of bounds long. But the shot hit the tape, right in the corner of the court! It was 14–13, Sharks.
Jamie took the ball to serve for the game. She blew out several deep breaths.
Then she saw a flash of light. Lightning outside. Jamie leaped into the air and hit the ball just as the inevitable thunder clapped.
Everyone in the gym yelled at once. The noise obviously threw the Gophers off guard, because they reacted a split second late. Jamie’s serve was aimed right at the center of their back line, but three Gopher players converged on it. None hit it square, and the ball skittered away, hitting the ground.
Game, Sharks!
“No fair!” one of the Gophers complained to the referee. “The thunder distracted us!”
“Game over!” the ref responded. “Can’t help the weather.”
The Gophers were furious now, and Jamie thought she detected a hint of frustration creeping into their expressions as they took the court for game two.
Good. If they were frustrated, they were in big trouble. Sharks have killer instinct, Jamie told herself.
“Let’s goooo!!” she screamed to her teammates, leading them onto the floor.
In the second game, Michaela overpowered the Gophers with several hard spikes, and the Sharks took a 7–1 lead with a 5–0 run. And no sooner did the Gophers get the ball back than Michaela robbed them of it again.
“Hey, that’s my sister!” Jamie shouted with a big grin after Michaela dove for the ball and made an almost impossible shot to win back the serve. “I taught her everything she knows!”
Michaela laughed as she took the ball from Jamie and went to serve. “You’re sure it’s my turn, now?” she asked jokingly.
“Do your thing, girl,” Jamie told her.
Michaela hit a hard serve that began another five-point run for the Sharks. The thunder had faded now, but the Sharks were still raining winners on the hapless Gophers, who now looked totally demoralized. They called a time-out, down 12–4.
“Don’t let up now, Sharks,” Coach McKean urged them. “We’ve got to put them away!”
The Gophers staged a rally, taking the next three points. But once the Sharks got the serve back, there was no stopping them. It was Jamie serving again now—serving for the match, the division title, the trip to the play-offs. For everything.
She could feel the power surging through her, tired as she was. There was an extra something behind her serves, making the Gophers scramble to recover, making it easy for Michaela to smash a pair of devastating winners.
On the final point, the fans stood up, yelling at the top of their lungs, stomping on the bleachers. Jamie served, and once again, Michaela was set up to spike the return.
This time, though, the defender was ready, and she had help. Two Gophers rose to block the spike, sending it screaming back at Jamie!
Jamie dove, her arms outstretched. She saved the ball, then hit the floor hard, chin first. She saw stars, and the room seemed to spin around for a moment. Then her vision returned to normal, and she saw all her teammates standing over her. And when they saw that she was okay, they broke into big smiles.
“We did it!” Kim Park screamed. “We won! We’re in the play-offs!”
Jamie rose to her feet, still a little dazed, supported by the arms of her teammates.
“Michaela hit the big winner!” Megan Hicks told her.
“You saved the day, Bonner!” Coach McKean said. “You get the game ball!”
Jamie took it, and suddenly she was overcome with emotion. “No,” she said, “this ball is for Michaela. She’s the one who brought us together. Without her, we would never had made it.”
She held the ball out to Michaela, who took it, her eyes welling up with tears. “It’s ours,” she told Jamie. “Ours.”
The gym went wild. The Sharks shook hands with the disconsolate Gophers, who would be going home and sitting out the play-offs.
For the East Side Middle School Sharks, the real volleyball season was about to begin.
17
The ride home was like a dream, all of them in the minivan together, one big happy family celebrating a family triumph.
Before leaving the locker room, the team had agreed to get together Saturday night for a celebration at the local ice-cream parlor. They’d gone their separate ways in the rainy parking lot, each of them walking on air. This had been a victory they’d never forget.
But Jamie’s mind was on other things. She still had a couple of surprises up her sleeve, and it was almost time to spring them on Michaela.
When they got home, she ran upstairs to her room. She wanted to make sure everything was just as she’d left it that morning. You never knew.
When she was satisfied no one had tampered with her work, she opened the door and called, “Michaela, could you come up here for a minute?”
“Coming!” came the voice from downstairs. Michaela bounded up the steps with a big smile on her face. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Come on in here,” Jamie said.
“Okay,” Michaela said, passing Jamie and going into the bedroom. Then she stopped dead, gasping in surprise.
“My stuff!” she said, staring in wonder at what Jamie had done.
Michaela’s posters lined the walls, each of them beautifully mounted. On the shelf were her trophies, alongside Jamie’s—more than a dozen between them, including the volleyball from today’s match, signed by the whole team and Coach McKean.
The dresser top was lined with Michaela’s treasured photos, displayed in beautiful frames. Everywhere she looked, Michaela couldn’t believe what she saw.
“Welcome to your room,” Jamie said. “I mean our room. I mean, I’d like it if you’d come back,” Jamie said, looking Michaela in the eyes. “If you want to, that is.”
“Sure, but… what about Donna?” Michaela asked. “Won’t she be upset?”
Jamie shrugged, “She’s young. She’ll get over it,” she said. “Besides, we’ll both be very, very nice to her. In my case, that’s a big change, believe me.”
Michaela smiled and nodded. “She’s a great kid,” she said. “You’re lucky.”
“You mean we’re lucky,” Jamie corrected her. “Oh, wait, there’s something else.”<
br />
“Something else?”
Jamie went to the desk and picked up the little gift-wrapped box. “For my new sister.”
Michaela gulped. “Thanks,” she whispered, opening the box. “Oh, my—” She held up the volleyball pendant and stared at Jamie incredulously. “You got me this?”
“Uh-huh.”
“When?”
“After I acted like such a jerk over that collage you were making me.”
“Oh! That reminds me!” Michaela said. “Wait a second. Waitwaitwait….” She hurried across the hall into Donna’s room and then emerged carrying a large picture frame. “Here! This is from me and Donna. Happy birthday.”
Jamie took the frame and turned it to face her. There was the finished collage of her life, in all its triumphs and tragedies. It took Jamie’s breath away. At the bottom, where the caption said “Happy Family,” there was a drawing of the five of them, clearly done by Donna. It made Jamie want to weep.
“You didn’t leave anyplace on the wall for it,” Michaela said. “But you know what? I could rotate a couple of these posters every once in a while…. Yeah, let me take down this one.”
She reached up and took one down. “Here, give me that,” she said. Taking the framed collage from Jamie, she hung it in the poster’s place. “There. I think it looks good there. How about you?”
“I think it’s perfect,” Jamie said, hugging Michaela hard. “Welcome to the family, sis.”
Just then, Donna appeared in the doorway. “Hey!” she said, her blue eyes opening wide with surprise. “Can I join in, too?”
“Sure,” Jamie said. “We’ll make a sandwich!”
“Yay!” Donna said, slamming into both of them with her arms outstretched.
As they all hugged, Jamie looked up to see her dad and Tracy beaming at the scene from the hallway. “Come on in!” she called to them.
“Yeah,” Donna chimed in. “Can’t make a sandwich without the lettuce and tomato!”
They all shared a laugh. We really are a big, happy family, Jamie thought, amazed that it was true.
“Happy birthday, Jamie,” her dad said, beaming. “Tracy and I got you this.” He handed her a little box. Even before Jamie opened it, she knew what it was.
Spike It! Page 8
