by Jen Calonita
“We loved it. I still love it,” Clare said, “but once we got here…Ava suddenly wanted to be someone else. More popular, I guess. She said robotics wasn’t cool. And I guess I wasn’t either.”
Poor Clare. What happened to her was awful…and yet sort of familiar. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” Clare looked suddenly sad. “Sixth grade was rough. Ava either ignored me or took shots at me for liking robotics, and I spent most of the year in this bathroom wishing I could do things differently….” She trailed off. “Anyway. I was in here a lot.” She looked around. “And you know what I always wished this room had?”
“A TV and a couch?” I joked. “Because then I’d never leave.”
Clare pulled away a piece of the peeling paint, revealing someone’s graffitied name underneath. “Someone to vent to.” Her face lit up. “I was at my cousin’s school for a volleyball game once, and their girls’ bathroom had a wall you could write notes to each other on.”
I looked at the faded pink paint that reminded me of a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and imagined a wall of Post-it notes. “That does sound pretty cool.”
“Yeah, people could leave messages for each other like ‘It gets better, I swear,’ and ‘No friend is worth crying over this much.’ ” She and I both stared at the wall, clearly seeing the same possibility. “Maybe if I had been staring at notes instead of peeling pink paint I would have stopped crying about Ava sooner and moved on.”
Move on. But I wasn’t ready to do that. I went over to the dripping faucet and gave it a quick turn to tighten it. The drip stopped. It was nice to see something could be easily fixed. “You know, if you like STEM, I’m in a club called Future City. Reagan and Jada are in it too. We design eco-friendly cities. You should join.”
Clare looked intrigued. “I didn’t know the school had a Future City club.”
“Yep! The first meeting should be in the next couple of weeks. You should come.” I looked in the mirror at my blotchy face and pressed the wet towel to my cheeks again.
“Maybe I will,” Clare said. “What about you and Laura? What are you going to do?”
“Try talking to her again.” Even if I had to go back in time to do it. “Laura has been my best friend for years. I’m not about to give up on us yet.”
Clare thought for a moment. “Then maybe you just need to remind her how good a friend you are. Get her to do something you both like.”
When was the last time we had fun together? We both loved the water. But I couldn’t go back to that day at the cabana when I threw her birthday party. Things went too wrong. I needed a day when things went right. Instinctively, I pulled out my phone. It was so hot, it hurt my fingers. Was the app making my phone run hot? What if it fried my phone? I looked for the familiar pink icon and counterclockwise arrow and started scrolling through pictures. I couldn’t quit now. I smiled. “I think I have an idea. Thanks for listening, Clare. And for your tip with the wet towel.” It had been a while since I had someone to really talk to.
Clare was staring at my phone. “No problem. Guess we’re both going to need late passes for math. Are you coming?”
“I’ll be right behind you,” I lied.
“Okay. I’ll tell Ms. Brandle you had ‘girl problems’ and you’re in the bathroom.” Clare grinned. “That will buy you ten minutes.”
I waited till I heard the door close.
It was time for another retake, which was a pretty cool name for an app, if I did say so myself. What if I somehow invented it and had no idea? I mean, was it impossible to think Future Me came back and put it on Present Me’s phone? If that were true, then this app needed a name, and Retake was a perfect one.
I scrolled through pictures searching for a water-related way back into Laura’s life. This reality was a bust. Mom and I were fighting, I had an ex-boyfriend I didn’t even remember, and Laura couldn’t stand me. The only good thing to come out of this was that Taryn and I were getting along again. I hated giving up our new relationship, but this wasn’t working. From the outside I’m sure my life looked perfect—I was popular, I had great clothes, lots of friends—but I didn’t want this. So where—or when—did I go to now?
And that’s when I spotted it: a picture of Laura and me on the bus, on our way to Aquatopia. Sure, Dougie Hoffman had photobombed the shot with half his head, but this was clearly a picture of Laura and me having fun together. On way to Aquatopia! I had written. I had hashtagged the picture #bffmermaids. The photo was from our spring sixth-grade trip to an indoor water park. I remember Laura and I looked forward to that trip all year. Laura had been so busy with the sixth-grade play that we hadn’t hung out in weeks. But that day, we sat next to each other on the bus and spent the whole ride singing and talking about all the rides we wanted to go on. We were going to spend the whole day together.
Except…
Laura had been kind of focused on finding a way to go on a ride with Jake. Even though they hadn’t hung out, she was sure the water park would be a great way to get him to notice her. She made us follow him onto Paradise Plunge, which was a water slide with a sixty-foot drop and had an almost ninety-minute wait time. I didn’t want to waste time on line when there was so much else to do, but Laura begged me. “We’re right behind him!” she’d said. “He has to talk to me.” And he did, which made Laura happy, till she got to the front of the line and he chivalrously offered to let her go first…and she panicked. I teamed up with Jake and tried to convince her to go on, but it wound up backfiring. Laura got embarrassed and said I had made a scene. We argued, neither of us went on the slide, and we spent the rest of the afternoon not talking to each other.
Okay, so the day wasn’t perfect, but the field trip was the perfect chance to spend time with Laura. This time I would convince her to skip Paradise Plunge, stop worrying about Jake, and just enjoy going on the rest of the rides together. I’d tell her that she and Jake would talk when the time was right. Laura wouldn’t get embarrassed, we wouldn’t fight, and she’d see that I was the best friend ever.
Okay, Retake app, let’s do this. My finger hovered over the back arrow button under the Aquatopia photo. I had no idea if saying the words out loud did anything, but it felt important. “I wish I could do this moment over and prove to Laura how awesome our friendship is.” Then I clicked the button.
There was a bright camera flash, and then the bathroom surrounding me was gone.
“Zoe! Wake up! We’re almost there!”
When I opened my eyes, I was sitting on a crowded school bus wearing my bathing suit cover-up. Laura was seated next to me. Yesssssss.
I sighed contently. “Killer bees, it worked.”
Laura stared at me. “Killer what?”
“Killer bees,” I explained. “It’s something you say now.” Oh wait. She didn’t say that yet, and maybe she never would because as of this moment, we hadn’t had that awful sleepover at her house yet. She wasn’t hanging out with the drama queens. Laura was on the field trip with me, and we were still best friends. I couldn’t help but smile. So far so good.
“Nothing. I’m just excited.”
Someone threw a ball over the seat we were sitting in, and a boy a few rows in front of us caught it. One of the chaperones started yelling at him from the front of the bus.
“Sixth graders, I expect more from you!” said Mr. Bowen, our assistant principal. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes left of this bus ride. Let’s try not to break a window.” I had to strain to hear him over all the laughing and talking.
“Dude! Fifteen minutes till we finally get to experience the awesomeness of Paradise Plunge!” Dougie crowed. He had on a Sharks lacrosse pinnie and was wearing goggles that matted his long black hair, which was pulled into a ponytail.
“Technically, it will be longer than fifteen minutes, but whatever,” said Jake. He raised a fist in solidarity. “Paradise Plunge
!” A group of boys cheered.
“That ride is going to be epic!” Ava said from a seat a few rows behind me. Hyacinth let out a “Whoop-whoop.” The two of them were wearing teal headbands. Behind them, Steph and Sarah were buried in their phones. One had on a teal scrunchie, the other a teal T-shirt. Marisol was directly behind them. She had on teal earrings.
Dougie lifted the goggles, which left rings around his brown eyes, and stared at us.
“Hey,” I said, since things were kind of awkward with the staring and all.
He burped loudly and turned back in his seat.
Laura shuddered. “Ugh, he is such a Neanderthal.” She turned to me. I could just make out the faded outline of the henna tattoo on her arm that she had gotten at the sixth-grade play wrap party. Sarah had gotten one too. It was the first time I remembered feeling like Laura was drifting away, even if she wasn’t hanging out with the drama queens outside play practice yet. “Do you think we should go on Paradise Plunge with the boys?” she whispered.
“No way,” I said, thinking fast. “Not after what happened to Peter Plover.”
“What happened to him wasn’t that bad.” Laura shifted uncomfortably.
“He livestreamed his ride down Paradise Plunge. Puke in the tube and all.” Once Peter was inside the tube, a door closed around him, and the three-second countdown completely freaked him out. Halfway down the tube, still streaming with his phone in a waterproof pouch, he puked all over the slide. They had to clear the slide area for two hours to clean it up. “I heard Pukey Pete is going to private school next year because this year was such torture.” Laura’s eyes were wide.
Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating, but I needed to really get the point across.
“Okay, that’s really bad, but what if I get on line in front of Jake and say I’m scared to go on Paradise Plunge? Then he can talk me through it and we’ll have a moment.” Laura had a dreamy look on her face.
Time for some tough love. “Unless you chicken out and don’t go down the slide. Then you’ll worry Jake and his friends will call you the new Pukey Pete. We cannot let that happen.” Laura’s look of joy was quickly replaced with one of terror.
“Did you say Pukey Pete?” Dougie turned around again. “Are you going to throw up on Paradise Plunge?”
“Nope. Why would we want to go on that ride?” I answered for us. “I hear people lose their swim shorts on it all the time.” Dougie’s eyes widened, and he went back to his conversation.
Laura started to giggle. “That’s not true, is it?”
I shrugged and started chuckling. “Who knows? But it sounded good! I just don’t think you should go on a ride where you’ll probably bail last-minute—no offense.”
Laura pulled at her blond hair and sighed. “You know me so well.”
Yeah, and I’d also already lived this day once before already. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t find other ways to get you in front of Jake so he can see how awesome you are.”
“Like how?” Laura’s face flushed.
She was probably wondering how I knew about boys and being cool all of a sudden. “Let me think for a moment.”
“I will too,” she said, and put her earbuds in. She immediately started humming a show tune.
I needed advice, but from who? It’s not like anyone besides me knew this day already happened once before. I needed to talk to someone who’d gone on this trip and survived without fighting with their best friend.
I needed Taryn.
I pulled out my phone, which seemed to only be getting warmer, and texted her.
Me: Hey. On way to Aquatopia. You in class?
Taryn: At lunch. What do you want?
Things were back to normal with Taryn at least.
Me: I need advice.
Taryn: YOU need MY advice?
Me: Yes!!!
Taryn: Seriously? OK. I’m just surprised. Usually the only one you listen to is Laura.
I remembered Taryn saying this to me the night we went for hibachi too. Could that be why Taryn and I didn’t talk much anymore? Did she really think I only listened to Laura? I looked at my best friend, who was humming a show tune I didn’t know.
Me: Not true! This is actually about Laura.
Taryn: Ahhh. That’s why you want to talk to me. You can’t talk to her!
I didn’t want Taryn thinking that. The one thing I’d learned from my first retake was that being honest with Taryn brought us closer together.
Me: No, I always need you! You’re my sister. I miss talking to you and I could use your help here.
Taryn: Really?
Me: Yes. Really!
Taryn didn’t answer right away, but hopefully, pouring my heart out would help her see that I missed us as much as I missed Laura. I stared at my phone, waiting for the text bubbles to appear. Finally, they did.
Taryn: Okay! I’m all ears. (Till lunch is over.)
Me: Yay! So I told Laura not to go on the Paradise Plunge slide because she’s going to freak out, but she wants to impress Jake and I want to help her do that. What do I tell her to do?
Me: Because you know I have zero experience with boys.
Taryn: She doesn’t either, you know.
Me: So what do I tell her???
Taryn: If she’s scared, tell her to skip the Plunge and follow Jake onto the lazy river instead. They can float around talking to each other without being interrupted or having to plunge down a death slide.
Me: Wow. That’s a good idea.
Taryn: I know. I’m brilliant. Also, you should go on the Plunge without Laura. It’s terrifying in the best possible way and you love that stuff.
Me: True, but today is about me and Laura.
Taryn: Even though she’s trying to ditch you for a boy?
Me: I just want her to be happy.
Taryn: Very Hallmark.
Taryn: Look, you’re a good friend, but it can’t always be all about what Laura wants. If YOU want to go on the ride, go. If not, don’t. Just don’t waste your day doing everything for Laura. You’ve been dying to go on this trip.
She had a point. I hadn’t really thought about what I wanted. Maybe that was the problem. Did I want to go on the ride? Not really. I wanted to go in the wave pool and on a four-person tube and the Venus Slydetrap, which everyone said reminded them of a toilet bowl because the raft went around and around, then dropped down what looked like a drain. Laura and I were so busy fighting the first time, I missed half the rides. Fun. Concentrate on having fun, I reminded myself.
Me: Thx for your help!
Taryn: NP. Now go away. I only have ten minutes left to eat my burrito.
The lazy river would be much better for Laura and Jake to have time together. And after she talked to Jake, she’d be so happy, we’d spend the rest of the day going on rides having the best time together. This plan was perfect.
I pulled out one of Laura’s earphones.
“Here’s what we’re going to do: We’ll wait for Jake to go on the lazy river and follow him on. You can float up next to him, and he will be so mesmerized by everything you have to say, he’ll keep going around and around the river just to chat with you. And you don’t have to worry about a sixty-foot plunge at all.”
“The lazy river,” Laura repeated, a small smile forming on her lips. “Why didn’t I think of that? You’re brilliant!”
Actually, Taryn was brilliant, but Laura didn’t need to know that. “I truly am.”
Laura held up her phone. “Let’s take a selfie! I’ll call it on way to Aquatopia with bestie!” I leaned into the picture’s frame, and she snapped the shot.
“Bestie.” I breathed a sigh of relief. We had a new photo of us looking happy. We had a plan to find Jake that would avoid Laura being embarrassed. And we had plenty of time now to go on fun rides and ju
st catch up about everything and anything. Laura wouldn’t even need to go looking for the drama queens. I smiled at the thought.
When we stepped off the bus, I was surprised to find Reagan and Jada waiting. I forgot we hung out with them the first time, but that was okay. I could still make this all work.
“What should we go on first?” Jada asked as we walked into the lobby. Her cinch bag was almost bigger than she was. “I want to go on that group tube ride. And that toilet bowl thing.”
“Me too! The only big ride I got on last time was the Constrictor, but I haven’t done the toilet bowl yet.”
Jada looked at me strangely. “You’ve been here before?”
Oops. “No. I meant Taryn liked the Constrictor when she came.” Good save.
“Reagan!” I saw her mom waving her down. She had a clipboard with names on it. Jada and Reagan headed over.
“This is going to be great, don’t you think?” I said to Laura, getting excited now.
“Not if we’re stuck in Reagan and Jada’s group,” she mumbled.
“What do you mean? We like hanging out with them.” Didn’t we?
“Yes, but…” Laura bit her lip. “Since we are doing this Jake thing, I don’t think being in their group is the best idea.”
“Why?” I asked, watching kids stream into the lobby.
“They don’t talk about boys at all. They’re not going to want to follow Jake around.”
But today wasn’t just about Jake. It was about us too. I couldn’t say that, though, so I just stood there and listened like a good best friend.
Laura pulled me into the gift shop in the lobby so no one could hear us. The two of us stood near the candy counter. “It’s just that…” She eyed me hopefully. “I wasn’t going to mention this, but Sarah and the other girls from the play have room for two more in their chaperone group. What if we switched?”
“I don’t think we can do that,” I said. Which was true.
“Maybe we can! And if we did, then we’d definitely bump into Jake because Ava is friends with him.” She squealed. “What do you think? Can we switch? I wanted to ask you earlier, but my mom said to leave it alone.”