“You’re not,” Joshua said seriously. “How can you get your best grades if you’re relaxing? Especially when none of your competition is relaxing.”
“Your competition?” Candace repeated. “You mean…your friends?”
Samantha, Rowan, and Joshua all laughed. “You’re so sweet, Candace,” Samantha said. “Of course we’re all friends. But we still compete for grades, right?”
“Right.” Candace felt a stab of pain in her belly. “You know what? I don’t feel so well,” she said.
“What’s wrong?” Brynn asked, her brow wrinkled in concern.
“Do you need a glass of water or something?” Rowan asked. “You look really pale.”
“No. No thanks.” Candace took a deep breath. “I think I’d better just go home.”
“But what about our history test on Friday?” Joshua asked. “We barely even got started studying.”
“I know. You guys should do it without me.” Candace stood up. It felt hard to get a breath. “I’m gonna go.”
“Don’t worry. You’re so good in history,” Samantha said. “You’ll be fine even without the study group.”
“Thanks.” Candace headed for the door. I might do fine on this test, she thought. But how am I going to survive the rest of the school year?
Spider plant. Spider plant, spider plant, spider plant. SPIDER PLANT!
chapter
TEN
“Hi, Candace!” Janine Serpe called, passing by in the hall on Friday morning.
“Hi,” Candace called back. She was glad to hear that her voice sounded normal, because she didn’t feel normal. She felt nervous and embarrassed. But most of all she felt hopeful. If her plan worked, it would solve her biggest problem.
“Good morning,” Brynn sang, appearing from behind her.
“Oh, hi!” Candace turned and smiled. “How’s debate going? Rowan and Joshua rave about you.”
“It’s a lot of work. I miss things like—like sleeping, for one thing. But it’s interesting, too.” Brynn spun the dial on her locker.
“I’m glad you decided to join,” Candace said. “It means I get to see you a lot more. At lunch and study group and everything. So listen, I have to ask you something,” Candace said in a rush. She couldn’t wait to get it out. As soon as Brynn said yes, everything would be better.
“Go ahead.” Brynn looked at her curiously.
“Well, you know how you’re really good in math?” Candace said. “I’m not. I hate math. Last year, my parents had to get me a tutor.”
“Okay,” Brynn said.
“So they paid the guy fifty dollars a week,” Candace went on. “And I didn’t learn anything. I just don’t get it. I’m not good at math.”
“Maybe he wasn’t a good tutor,” Brynn said.
“I think I’m just hopeless,” Candace admitted. “But I have to get an A in math. I have to.” The thought of having to bring home less than that made her belly contract.
Brynn sighed. “Everybody here wants to get As in all their classes. But somebody has to get the Bs and Cs, too. There’s nothing wrong with a B.”
“Tell that to my parents,” Candace said. “Or my brother. He’s great at math.”
“Well, you’re great in history, right?” Brynn said. “And English?”
“Yeah, I’m good at those subjects,” Candace agreed. “But it’s math that I’m worried about. So I have an idea. Instead of getting the tutor again, I’ll pay you the fifty dollars a week.”
Brynn’s eyes widened. “Wow. Um, I’m good at math, but I don’t know if I have time to tutor you. I mean, with all my homework and Debate Club…”
“No, I don’t want you to tutor me,” Candace said. “I’ll pay you fifty a week if you just let me copy your math homework every day.”
Brynn’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Just let me copy your work,” Candace said. “Homework is seventy percent of our grade, and then I can just study extra hard for the tests. I’ll have more study time if I don’t have to worry about the daily homework.”
“But…but that’s cheating,” Brynn said. “I can’t do that.”
“Just think about it, Brynn,” Candace begged, hot acid flooding her stomach. She knew she sounded desperate. But she had to make Brynn say yes. It was the only plan she’d been able to come up with. It was the only way she could hope to pass math.
“No,” Brynn said firmly. “I’m sorry, Candace. But no.” She shut her locker and walked away.
“I cannot believe my eyes,” Drew said on Monday. “That’s Brynn. In the library. At lunch. This is a very rare sighting.”
“I think you’re right,” Rosemary replied. She squinted at Brynn, pretending to study her. “But what is she doing? She’s far from her natural habitat. And she has no food.”
Brynn couldn’t help laughing at their fake hushed voices, the kind that announcers in nature shows used when they were talking about lions on the savanna or something.
“It’s called studying,” she told them. “You know, reading, taking notes, that kind of thing.”
“She speaks!” Drew cried, pretending to be surprised. He plopped himself down in the chair across the table from Brynn. Rosemary sat next to him, then grabbed Brynn’s notebook and pulled it over to look at it.
“Talking points,” she read. “Establish that history is in the eye of the beholder. Winner writes the history books. Next, establish laws of British colonies—” She broke off and looked up at Brynn. “Wow. Boring.”
“It’s the Boston Tea Party. I’m on the Royalist side for my practice debate this afternoon,” Brynn explained.
“Wow. Boring,” Rosemary said again. Drew cracked up.
“Actually, I’ve never really thought about history this way before,” Brynn said. “I always just memorized what the teachers told me. I never thought about whether all that stuff was true or not, or whether other people might think of it differently. It was only when I started figuring out how to debate that I realized there are two sides to every issue.”
“Okay, so Debate Club has changed your life?” Rosemary asked.
“Well, yes,” Brynn admitted. “It’s made my life a lot more filled with studying and a lot less filled with fun. I spent the entire weekend reading everything I could find on the Boston Tea Party.”
“Then you’re due for a break,” Drew said. “Come have lunch with us.”
Brynn glanced back and forth between them. “Did you come to the library just to find me?” she asked, touched.
“Of course. We haven’t seen you in days,” Drew said.
“We were planning to kidnap you from the popular table, but then you didn’t even show up in the caf,” Rosemary added. “This was the only other place we could think of.”
“So here we are, and here you are,” Drew said. “And we’re all hungry and so we should eat.” He grabbed Brynn’s backpack. “Let’s go. The lunch line is going to close in ten minutes.”
“I can’t.” Brynn ran her hand through her hair, frustrated. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, come on,” Rosemary said. “Look, we know you probably feel weird around us because you quit Drama League.”
That’s true, Brynn thought. But mostly I feel weird around you because I’m trying not to be a drama geek like the two of you.
“That’s why we wanted to find you,” Drew said. His voice was more serious than Brynn had ever heard it. “We just wanted to tell you that we’re still your friends.”
“Yeah. So you don’t want to be in the play, so what?” Rosemary said. “We can still hang out. You can still eat lunch with us.”
Brynn felt terrible. Rosemary and Drew were so cool. They didn’t even care that she had completely messed up the play by quitting. They didn’t care that she had ignored them and eaten lunch with Candace’s friends for the past week. And they really didn’t care if everybody else thought of them as freaky, geeky drama nerds.
“I would love to have lunch with you guys,” she said truthfully. “But
I can’t. After school today is my first debate ever. And you know how competitive all the kids in the club are—they’re all going to be super prepared. I have to be ready.”
“You are ready,” Drew told her. “You said you spent the entire weekend studying.”
“Yup. No TV. No bike riding. No listening to music. Nothing but the Boston Tea Party,” Brynn confirmed. “I mean, besides my regular homework.”
“So you’re ready.” Rosemary stood up.
“No. I’m not. Joshua and Rowan can rattle off facts without even thinking,” Brynn said. “I still have to look at my notes. You can’t be a good debater if you’re busy trying to find where you wrote some obscure fact. I have to memorize all of it.” She paused and gulped in a breath. Her stomach had butterflies just thinking about the debate today. She felt seriously unprepared—even though she’d never spent so much time preparing for anything in her life!
I wonder if this is how Candace feels about math class, she thought. She still couldn’t believe her friend had asked her to cheat like that. Candace must be having a really hard time.
Brynn looked back down at her pages and pages of debate notes. It definitely is hard to fit in at this school, she thought.
“Brynn! You were amazing!” Joshua cried at the end of the practice debate after school that day. He raised his hand for a high five.
Just like Drew, Brynn thought as she slapped his hand with hers. But he’s not nearly as funny as Drew.
“Yeah, you really were.” Rowan didn’t sound as enthusiastic. She had been on the team that lost to Brynn and Joshua. “I can’t believe that was your first debate ever.”
She actually sounded suspicious. Brynn had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. At Wilton, people probably would lie about their experience—that way they would look smarter in a debate. “I spent all weekend studying,” Brynn said. “Plus, I guess it was beginner’s luck.”
Rowan nodded.
“Congratulations, Brynn,” Ms. McAdorey put in, reaching out to shake her hand. “With you on board, I have a feeling this debate season is going to be a winner!”
“Thanks,” Brynn said.
Everyone was smiling and congratulating her. When people acted like that after she’d given a great performance in a play, Brynn felt on top of the world. But now, all she felt was relief that the debate was over with. She’d been seriously nervous about it, and while it was going on, all she could think about was trying not to mess up.
I might be good at this, she thought. But I definitely don’t love it. Not like I love acting. Could she really spend her time at this school without ever standing under the stage lights? Without losing herself in a part? Without doing the thing she loved most?
Valerie logged on to the camp blog and gave a long, low groan. There were dozens of messages between Gaby and Chelsea. She decided to read the last ones first. That would probably give her the deets, and she wouldn’t have to plow through the G & C tirades.
With another groan, Valerie clicked on the last message from Chelsea.
Posted by: Chelsea
Subject: Don’t Even Bother
I SO EXTREMELY QUIT!!!!!
Oh great, Val thought. Oh, so extremely great. Although in a way, it might actually be easier to run the activity night without Chelsea. Just because without Chelsea, there wouldn’t be so much Chelsea/Gaby battling.
Feeling a tiny bit better after this realization, she clicked on Gaby’s last message.
Posted by: Gaby
Subject: You Know What?
I SO QUIT!!!!
Val shoved her desk chair away from the monitor so hard that the chair slammed into her bed. She almost got dumped onto the floor. It definitely would not be easier to do the activity night without Gaby and Chelsea. It wasn’t even close to being a one person job.
Maybe I can…negotiate a truce, Valerie thought. She decided the first thing she needed to do was figure out the cause of the latest fight. Sighing, she rolled her desk chair back over to her computer. She clicked on Chelsea’s first message.
Posted by: Chelsea
Subject: Fab news for the HAFH team!
You won’t believe what I’ve arranged for our activity night. I designed the coolest nametags for everyone. They are on braided cords that go around the person’s neck. I just finished making all fifty of them.
You two can thank me later!
That wasn’t too bad, Val thought. It wasn’t cool that Chelsea had just gone ahead and actually made the nametags without showing her and Gaby the design or anything, but…Chelsea was Chelsea. Valerie clicked on Gaby’s first message.
Posted by: Gaby
Subject: Uh…
Uh, Chelsea, sorry but your “coolest” nametags aren’t going to work. I’ve already got team T-shirts for everybody. The nametags would hang down and cover the team logos I came up with. I guess if you want to just do the little pin-on nametags, that could be okay.
Yikes, Val thought. Big, big yikes.
She was about to click open Chelsea’s reply when she got an IM from her. She clicked on the button to read the message.
Before she got Chelsea’s answer, Valerie was hit with an IM from Gaby. She opened it up in a new window.
<[GabyFaby]>: I just wanted to be sure that you know I’m not going to be at the activity night. I quit. You can thank Chelsea for that.
Before she could come up with a reply for Gaby, Chelsea’s reply to Valerie dinged onto her screen.
Valerie decided to try to reason with Gaby.
<[GabyFaby]>: Why are we even talking about this? What part of quit don’t you understand, Val?
Hopeless, Val thought. This is totally hopeless. I’m going to have to run the activity night alone. The scavenger hunt, the singdown, and the charades.
She swallowed so hard it hurt her throat. Would she be able to pull off the event all by herself?
chapter
ELEVEN
Candace walked slowly toward math class. She didn’t have her math homework done. She was going to have to turn it in to Mr. Merrill incomplete. Incomplete! She’d never done that before—not in any class.
Her stomach went volcano as she thought about that. She could feel it spewing what felt like lava. Or was it magma? She couldn’t remember. Was magma even a word? It was like her brains were dissolving. Pretty soon she wouldn’t just be going down in math. She’d be at the bottom of the class in everything. Her family would probably ask her to change her last name. They’d be embarrassed to be associated with her.
That sent a giant blast of lava—magma?—through her belly. Candace wrapped her arms across her stomach. The pressure didn’t help.
“Spider plant, spider plant, spider plant,” she muttered. That didn’t help either.
I feel bad enough to go to the nurse, she thought. Cool relief flooded through her. She really did feel bad enough to go to the nurse. No lie. And if she was at the nurse, she couldn’t be in math class.
Candace turned around and quickly started walking toward the nurse’s office. My stomach hurts, she mentally rehearsed. Or would “I have a stomachache” be better? Or “My stomach is a volcano and I don’t know exactly what’s erupting from it”?
She hadn’t figured out exactly the best thing to say by the time she reached the door to the nurse’s office. She hurried in anyway, hoping the right words would come to her. The first word out of her mouth was, “Brynn!”
Br
ynn was lying on one of the three cots in the nurse’s office. She lifted her head. “Hey,” she said, her voice flat.
Their last conversation rushed back to Candace. She and Brynn hadn’t spoken since the day Candace had offered to pay Brynn to do her math homework. Make that the day Candace had tried to bribe Brynn to cheat for her.
Candace’s face flushed, feeling nearly as hot as the lava—magma?—in her stomach. “So, um, what’s wrong with you?” she asked Brynn.
“Stomachache,” Brynn answered, staring up at the ceiling. “The nurse will be back in a minute.”
“She’ll be back in a minute?” Candace echoed. Would she ever stop doing that? Not that repeating things was her biggest problem at the moment. “I have a stomachache, too,” she added as she sat down on the cot next to Brynn. “I get them all the time. At least during school.”
“Just during school?” Brynn asked, turning her head to look at Candace.
“Yeah. I didn’t get one stomachache over the summer. Weird, huh?” Candace replied.
“Not so weird,” Brynn said.
“What do you mean?” Candace stretched out on the cot. It made her feel a little better.
Brynn raised her eyebrows. “You’re the smart one. Haven’t you figured it out?”
Candace just stared at her. She hadn’t figured it out, whatever Brynn was talking about. “I’m not smart,” she burst out. “I offered to pay you to do my homework. A smart person doesn’t have to do that.”
“I’m in your study group, remember?” Brynn asked. “I should know if you’re smart or not. And you are. You’re just having a hard time with one subject.”
“I’m just having a hard time with one subject. But my brother and my parents are good at everything. So I’m definitely not as smart as they are,” Candace explained.
“Well, somebody in your family has to be the dum-dum,” Brynn joked.
Her words felt like a punch in Candace’s stomach. Her already aching stomach.
Freaky Tuesday #17 Page 9
