by Julie Bowe
“No, I mean do you think the girls are mad,” Tom says. “Because you told on them to Ms. Stevens. ”
I bump my boot against the bar. “You know about that? ”
Tom shrugs again. “I might have heard a rumor.”
“Some of them might be a little mad,” I say, looking at the snow fort. “But it will all be good as soon as I do . . . something. ”
“What? ” Tom asks.
“A dare, ” I say. “A triple-dogger. They’re planning it now. ”
We’re quiet for a minute. I keep watching the girls. Tom tries a couple chin-ups.
“I could spy on them for you,” he finally says. “You know, do a little undercover surveillance?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
It makes me smile. “Thanks, but if you got caught they would probably take you prisoner. And then Jenna would make you talk. ”
Tom does a snort. “She doesn’t scare me anymore, ” he says. “Not much. ”
We keep talking and practicing chin-ups until the bell rings. Then I hurry to catch up with Stacey in the coatroom.
“What’s my dare? ” I whisper to her as we hang up our stuff.
“We didn’t pick one yet,” she whispers back. “Jenna and Brooke got into a fight over what the dare should be. Jenna said we should make you go down Ricochet Ridge backward, but Brooke said that was too easy and that we shouldn’t just rush into picking any old dare because planning it is half the fun. So she told us to all think of dares over the weekend and we’ll vote on the best one next week. ”
“I have to wait until next week? ” I say.
Stacey nods. “You know Brooke. She likes everything to be just so. ”
We head into the classroom. “But we could still go to Ricochet Ridge, even without a dare, ” I say. “After school, or maybe tomorrow? You could come to my house first and—”
“Um . . . I can’t, ” Stacey says.
“Oh,” I say. “Okay. We can just meet there if you want. ”
“No, I mean I can’t go sledding. At all. I’m going to Brooke’s after school. Actually, I’m spending the night. ”
“But you were at Brooke’s last night, ” I say.
“I know, but my mom has to work tomorrow and my grandma is busy, so staying at Brooke’s will be a big help to them. But we can go sledding on Sunday. Maybe Brooke will even want to come with us! Now that she knows you’re going to do a triple-dog dare I’m sure she won’t mind being seen with you. ”
Stacey’s eyes go bright like this is the best idea ever. She squeezes my arm before zooming to her desk, but I barely feel it.
Dear Stella,
Jenna tried to pick my dare today, but Brooke said it was too easy. And, actually, it was. I’ve gone down Ricochet Ridge backward Lots of times. Sometimes even on purpose. It’s scary, but it’s not triple-dog scary. Maybe going down standing up, Like Zane did, would be. But backward? I know that’s easy cheesy.
And Jenna knows it too.
Stacey went to Brooke’s after school. She’s even spending the night. She said it’s because her mom has to work this weekend.
But I know that’s not the whole story.
Stacey wants to go. That’s the part she’s not telling me.
Bye,
Ida
On Saturday morning I pull the fish filter out a tiny bit to peek at it.
Gunk city. I slide it back in. “Checking it is almost the same as cleaning it, right? ” I say to George.
George frowns.
I turn him around and sprinkle fish food in the tank. My fish swims up to nibble the flakes while I duck down to look through the glass. If I look at just the right angle, my fish looks huge.
I think about giving him a big name, like Godzilla or Goliath.
Tom Sanders told me yesterday that goldfish grow depending on how big their tanks are. The bigger the tank, the bigger the fish.
I think about how big my fish would grow if I kept him in the bathtub. Then I could name him Goliath for sure. But my mom and dad probably wouldn’t be in favor of that plan.
“I need a smaller name for you, ” I say, looking at my fish. “Because I think you’re stuck being small. ”
I think about small names, like mine. Ida. Only three letters.
My room is pretty small too. One rectangle bed. One square desk and dresser. One half-moon nightstand. One skinny monkey.
“Maybe people aren’t like fish, ” I say. “Maybe they can grow big even in a small space. ”
“Ida!” Mom calls from downstairs. “You ready? ”
“Almost! ” I call back.
When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought about was my triple-dog dare. And what I could do so the girls wouldn’t make it too smelly.
Or scary.
Or embarrassing.
And that’s when I thought of a way to soften up Brooke. And the others too.
I grab my Christmas money and tuck it inside my bag.
A few minutes later, me and my mom are on our way to the mall.
“New outfit, then?” Mom asks as we drive along.
“Maybe, ” I say. “But first I want to buy some presents for my friends. ”
“But you already exchanged presents at school, ” Mom says.
“Yes, but I want to get them bonus presents,” I say, “because they are being so nice to me lately. ”
I reach over and turn up the volume on the radio. Sometimes you don’t feel like sharing all the details. Not even with your mother.
When we get inside the mall Mom asks, “Where to?”
“Let’s start with the Mish Mosh, ” I say.
Almost everyone likes the Mish Mosh because the clothes there are very stretchy and sparkly. Sparkly clothes are not always my favorite because of how they can also be itchy, but I know I will be able to find presents there that most of the girls will love.
We walk inside the Mish Mosh and music is playing even louder than it was in our car. There’s a jewelry bin near the door with a sign hanging above it that says Sale! “I want to start there, ” I tell Mom.
“Okay,” she says. “I’ll check out the clearance racks. ”
Mom heads to the back.
I head to the bin.
I start digging through all the earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings that are jumbled together.
“Can I help you find anything? ” I hear someone say.
I look up and see a saleslady standing by me. Actually, she’s more of a salesgirl. Just a little older than Jade. She’s chewing gum, which makes her dangly earrings jiggle and shimmer under the bright fluorescent lights.
“No, thank you, ” I say. “I’m just looking. ”
“Well, you let me know if you need any help, honey. ” She walks over to a table of T-shirts and starts refolding them.
I roll my eyes. When your grandma calls you honey it makes you feel special. But when a girl with dangly earrings and red streaked hair calls you that, it makes you feel like a baby.
I dig around in the bin and find a leopard print headband. “Brooke, ” I say to myself because it looks like something she would wear. I set it off to the side. I dig a little more and find a kitten charm bracelet, which makes me think of Jolene because she loves animals. “And these are for Jenna,” I say to myself, picking up a pair of ladybug barrettes. “She would love to wear bugs in her hair, even if they aren’t real. ”
Then I gasp and pull a pair of ice cream cone earrings from the bin. The same earrings I gave to Stacey for Christmas along with a jumbo box of Choco Chunks. I wrote Have a Sweet Holiday! on the tag.
Maybe I should buy this pair for me. It’s a silly idea because I don’t even have pierced ears. Still, I could look at them and think about how they match Stacey’s earrings. And how we could match too.
“Can we help you find anything, honey?” I hear someone say.
I look up and my mouth drops. “Brooke?” I say. “Stacey? ”
Stacey and Brooke hurry up to me.
“What are you doing
here? ” I ask.
“Duh,” Brooke says. “Shopping. And also this . . . ” She flicks back her long hair. “Ta-da! ”
Brooke’s earlobes are bright red. I see small diamonds sparkling right above her regular earrings.
“You got your ears double pierced! ” I say.
“Genius, ” Brooke replies.
“I had to come along and hold her hand, ” Stacey says, giggling.
Brooke giggles too. She clutches Stacey’s hand, like a drama queen. “I couldn’t have done it without my BFF! ”
They practically fall into the jewelry bin, laughing.
I practically fall in too. Not because I’m laughing. Because of what Brooke called Stacey.
BFF.
Best Friend Forever.
I bury the ice cream cone earrings and try to laugh along.
“I’m starved,” Brooke says when she comes up for air. “Who wants a cheesy pretzel? My treat.” She reaches into her jeans pocket and pulls out two twenty-dollar bills. She glances at the back of the store, where her mom is talking with my mom. “Compliments from my mother’s purse,” she whispers to us.
Stacey’s eyes go wide. “You took it? ”
Brooke shrugs. “She told me I could take some money for a treat. It’s not my fault she didn’t mention how much. ”
Brooke tucks the bills back into her pocket and squints at me. “You’re not going to tell on me, are you, Ida? ”
“Ida wouldn’t tell,” Stacey says, looking at me. “Would you? ”
“Of course not, ” I say.
Stacey smiles and turns to Brooke. “See? ” she says. “Like I told you. Ida’s not a tattletale. ”
“Except for at school, ” Brooke says.
My eyes start to sting, so I glance away.
Stacey sees me blinking and quickly grabs Brooke’s arm. “Must. Have. Pretzel. Now!” she says, tugging Brooke away from me.
Brooke laughs and glances back. “I suppose you can have one too, ” she says to me. “As a reward for not tattling again.”
“Um . . . thanks,” I reply. “But I’ve still got some shopping to do. ” I pretend to be very interested in a snowflake necklace I pull from the bin.
“What are you shopping for? ” Stacey asks.
“New clothes maybe, ” I reply.
“Oooo, ” Brooke says. “That’s my specialty. I’ll help. ”
“But . . .” I say, thinking about the kind of clothes Brooke might choose for me. The extra-sparkly kind. “I wouldn’t want you to starve or anything. ”
Brooke pulls a pair of sparkly silver earrings from the bin. “Let’s start with an accessory,” she says, ignoring me. “We’ll build the outfit from there. That’s a trick I learned from listening to Jade and her friends. ” Brooke holds the earrings up to a rack of hoodies with lots of sparkles decorating them.
“But Brooke, that’s silly,” Stacey says. “Remember? Ida can’t wear earrings. ”
Brooke does a dramatic sigh. “Oh, that’s right. Ida can’t get her ears pierced until she’s... what? Twenty? ”
“Close, ” I mumble.
Brooke is just about to toss the earrings back into the bin, but then she stops and studies them like a math problem. A moment later her eyes brighten and her mouth curls up at the corners. “Of course, ” she says to herself. “That’s it.”
“What’s it? ” Stacey asks.
Brooke tosses the earrings back into the bin and flicks her hair. “Just an idea,” she says. “A very excellent idea. But you’ll have to wait until Monday to find out! ”
Mom looks a little shaky on the drive home. Probably from all the coffee she drank with Brooke’s mom while Stacey and Brooke helped me shop at the Mish Mosh.
I’m a little shaky too, only not from coffee. I spent all of my money on a new outfit that I didn’t choose. I even had to borrow extra from Mom, which means I couldn’t buy any bonus presents for the girls.
“I can’t wait to see what you picked out, ” Mom says as we pull into our driveway.
“Mmm-hmm, ” I say back.
Dad is on the porch, taking down Christmas lights. He looks up as we get out of the car. “How’d it go? ”
I hold up my bag. “Ta-da. ”
Dad gives me a thumbs-up.
I head into the house.
Dear Stella,
I saw Stacey and Brooke at the mall today. They helped me pick out a new outfit. Only Brooke did most of the picking. That’s one of her talents. I got a bright orange shirt covered with sparkly X’s and O’s. A skirt with purple fringe. Striped Leggings. And a pair of clunky black shoes with big silver buckles. They make me feel Like a pilgrim.
But I don’t mind the outfit as much as the other stuff. Stuff Like Stacey and Brooke talking about the movie they watched Last night that I didn’t see. And comparing nail polish that I’m not wearing. And making jokes that I don’t understand. And, most of all, Listening to Brooke call Stacey “BFF” at Least ten times, Like it’s her new name or something. And Stacey acting Like it’s completely normal for Brooke to be calling her that.
Brooke is keeping a secret from us until Monday. That’s another one of her talents. Keeping secrets. Especially when it drives other people crazy.
Bye,
Ida
Chapter 14
Jenna doesn’t notice that I’m wearing a new outfit when I get to the bus stop on Monday morning because she’s too busy peeking inside the snack container she’s holding. Today is the day we have to bring our shapes snack to school.
Quinn doesn’t notice because he’s wrestling with his invisible friends again.
Besides, my sparkly shirt and most of my skirt are hidden under my same old jacket. My pilgrim shoes are in my backpack. So really, you can only see my striped leggings.
Rachel studies my legs for a minute. “What happened to your pants? ” she asks.
“Yeah, what happened to your pants?” Tess chimes in.
“I’m not wearing any, ” I say.
Rachel’s eyes go wide. “On purpose? ”
I nod. “I’m wearing a skirt, see? ” I pull up on my jacket so Rachel and Tess can see my purple fringe.
Rachel frowns. “But you always wear pants, ” she says.
“Not always, ” I reply. “Sometimes I wear skirts for parties and stuff. ”
“Are you going to a party? ” Tess asks.
I think about the girls meeting to vote on my triple-dog dare today. “Not exactly, ” I say.
“But what about recess? ” Rachel asks. “If you don’t got pants to wear, they make you stand by the wall. ”
Tess nods. “You can’t do anything fun by the wall. ”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “My snow pants are in my backpack. I won’t have to stand by the wall. ”
Tess and Rachel do big breaths of relief.
Jenna snaps her snack container shut. “Rachel, ” she says in her big-sister voice. “Stop being a pest. ”
“I’m not being a pest,” Rachel replies. “I’m just being worried about Ida. Like you are being worried about Mommy. ”
Jenna huffs. “You’re crazy. ”
“No, I am not,” Rachel says. “You are always saying worried stuff like, ‘Do you feel okay, Mommy?’ and ‘Do you want some 7UP, Mommy?’ and ‘Be quiet, Rachel, so Mommy can rest.’ That’s worried stuff. ”
“Yeah, ” Tess says. “Worried stuff. ”
Jenna huffs again and doesn’t say anything.
Stacey and Brooke squeal as soon as they see me. They unzip my jacket and pull off my backpack before I even make it to my coat hook.
When they see my sparkly shirt they squeal again.
“Is it picture day?” Randi asks as Brooke hangs up my jacket.
“Duh, ” Jenna says, shifting her snack container. “That was months ago. ”
“I got a new outfit, ” I say to Randi.
“That we picked out!” Brooke says, linking arms with Stacey.
“It’s perfect,” Jolene
says, looking me over. “You can borrow my scrunchy, which will make it even perfecter.” She pulls a purple scrunchy from her pocket and runs her fingers through my hair like a human hairbrush. It tugs a little, but I don’t mind. I’m just happy they’re all acting like I’m part of the group again.
Meeka unzips my backpack, yanking out my snow pants and snack container. Then she takes out my pilgrim shoes. She pulls off my snow boots and steers my feet into them.
Randi shakes her head. “We’re supposed to be planning Ida’s dare, not playing beauty queen. ”
“Later,” Brooke says. “Beauty can’t wait.” She snorts a laugh. So do the others. So do I.
When the bell rings they start to parade me into our classroom, but I pull back. “I have to get my shapes snack, ” I say. “And hang up my stuff. ”
“Well, hurry, ” Brooke says. “We want to show the new you to Mr. Crow. ”
Everyone heads inside without me. I hang my snow pants on my coat hook and shove my boots out of the way.
“You don’t like it, do you?” I hear someone say.
I look up and see Jenna watching me from our classroom doorway.
“Don’t like what? ” I ask.
“You know what, ” she says. “Why did you let them pick out clothes you don’t want? ”
I look down at my sparkly shirt, purple fringed skirt, and stripped leggings. I shift in my clunky black shoes. “I just thought if I let them choose the outfit, maybe they would forget about choosing a triple-dog dare. ”
Jenna huffs. “Like that would ever happen. Brooke lives for this stuff. Don’t you know? ”
I do know.
I shift some more.
Jenna turns and walks into the classroom.
I clunk along behind.
Everyone is huddled around Mr. Crow’s desk comparing the snacks they brought.
“I’ve got cheese cubes,” Meeka says, holding up a zipper bag of small yellow and white cubes.
“I brought saltines for squares, ” Zane adds.
“Cheese and crackers,” Mr. Crow says, leaning back in his chair. “One of my favorite snacks. ”
Stacey and Brooke show the cookies they baked. “They’re round, like circles, ” Stacey says.
“Plus, they have M&M’S, which are also round, ” Brooke says. “So we should definitely get extra credit. ”
