Truth Without the Trimmings

by Diane Muldrow

  Amanda stood in the middle of Ms. Barlow’s crowded living room. She held a tray of artichoke dip surrounded by small pieces of toasted sourdough bread. “Artichoke dip?” she offered a man in a black suit.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” the man said. Amanda handed him a napkin, and he plucked a piece of bread from the tray.

  Amanda dashed away before the man could get some artichoke dip on his bread. She’d spotted Molly walking into the room with a newly filled punch bowl.

  “Molls,” she croaked in the scratchiest voice she could put on. “Molls, I have to talk to you.”

  Molly set the bowl on the table. “What’s wrong with your voice?” she asked. She hooked her hand onto Amanda’s arm and drew her into the kitchen. “What’s wrong, Manda?”

  Amanda pointed to her throat. “Can hardly talk,” she said in a scratchy whisper. “Throat really sore. Can’t swallow.”

  Peichi joined them, balancing an empty tray in her right hand. “Everyone loves these scallops! This is the third time I’ve refilled this tray! We’re going to run out.” Then she noticed the sick look on Amanda’s face. “Whoa—what’s the matter?”

  “Amanda’s throat is super sore,” Molly told her.

  “Didn’t I say you were going to get sick?” Peichi reminded Amanda. “You’d better go home. You’re going to make yourself sicker and get everyone else sick if you stay. And you don’t want to be sick for Christmas!”

  “You should totally go home,” Molly agreed.

  Amanda shook her head. “Too much work to do.”

  “We can handle it,” Peichi assured her. Just then, Shawn came in the kitchen.

  “What’s up, Chef Girls?” Shawn asked. “You guys need to get back out there. Natasha and I can’t handle it all by ourselves!”

  Molly shook her head. “Amanda has to go home. She’s sick.”

  Shawn looked at Amanda sympathetically. “That’s rotten, Manda! Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?”

  “No, I just want to go home to bed,” Amanda said sadly. It took all her acting skills to keep looking sick and sad when she wanted to shout for joy. Her plan was working! “Thanks for being so understanding, you guys.” She smiled weakly at her friends.

  Amanda took a step toward the closet for her coat. Molly suddenly reached out and clasped her wrist. “Wait! You can’t go! You’re not allowed to walk home alone at night,” Molly said. “I’ll call Mom or Dad to come get you.” She hurried into the kitchen to use the phone.

  Oh, no! thought Amanda. She hadn’t planned for this.

  For a moment, she really did feel sick!

  chapter 10

  Amanda sat in a chair at the kitchen table and checked the clock on stove. It was 7:45. Connor’s party had started at 5:00. All the kids had to be back from skating by now. The most awesome party of the entire holiday season—her best chance to hang out with Justin—was passing her by while she sat there.

  Suddenly the kitchen door swung open. “Okay, I’m going to try calling again,” Molly said, picking up the cordless phone and punching in the twins’ phone number. “Somebody’s still on the Internet!” she complained. “I can’t get through. And I tried Mom and Dad’s cell phone numbers, but no one picks up. Maybe Ms. Barlow can call you a car service now.”

  “No, I don’t want to bother her in the middle of the party.” She held her throat and slowly stood. “I can walk home alone. I’ll be fine. Really.”

  “I should go with you,” Molly said. She looked around the room with a worried expression. “But if we both leave there will be way too much work.”

  “I’ll be fine. Really,” Amanda assured her.

  “I guess it will be all right,” Molly gave in. “Call me as soon as you get home.”

  Amanda nodded and took a step toward the door. She held her hand up in a little wave, which Molly returned. It took all her self-control not to dash for the door. Instead, she forced herself to walk slowly to the hall closet and put on her coat.

  Molly stood, watching Amanda. Her eyes were filled with concern.

  Don’t look at me like that! thought Amanda. She felt so guilty.

  Finally, she made her way out the front door. It was a cold, clear night. Amanda breathed in the freezing air and was suddenly charged with new energy.

  Connor’s house was only three blocks away. Amanda headed there in a brisk half-run. By the time she arrived, she was breathless. The house was lit from within. Through the front window she could see kids working on the Christmas tree that reached all the way to the top of the ten-foot ceiling. Music and laughter floated out into the street.

  She smoothed her hair and pulled a little jar of lip gloss out of her purse. After heading through the iron gate and up the front steps, Amanda rang the doorbell and waited. In a few moments, Connor opened the door. “Hey, Amanda. Come on in. Where’s Molly?”

  “Oh, Dish had a big job tonight, but they didn’t need me. Everything was under control, so I came over,” Amanda said with a big smile.

  “Cool,” he said. “I mean, it’s too bad they couldn’t make it, but I’m glad you could. There’s food on the table over there and ornaments are in the box by the tree. You can hang your coat in the closet over there.”

  “Thanks,” she said as Connor headed back to the tree. Looking around, the first thing Amanda saw was that her dress was way too fancy for this party. What a dummy, she scolded herself. She should have realized everyone would be dressed for skating. She suddenly wished she had a change of clothes.

  Omar was on his way to the food table. “Hi, Amanda,” he said. “Hey, you look really nice. But why are you all dressed up?”

  “I just came from a Dish job,” she said. “We had to cater this fancy party, so we had to serve the guests and everything. We had to look nice really nice like the other guests so we wouldn’t stand out.”

  “A career woman,” Omar said. “I’m impressed. Very cool.”

  Amanda smiled at him. “I’m going to hang up my coat. See ya,” she said, moving toward the coat closet. Now that she had an excuse prepared for why she was so dressed up, she felt a little better.

  She hung up her coat and stood in the hallway, looking around. It felt strange to be on her own. Most of the time her friends were around. At the very least, she always had Molly to talk to. Where’s Justin? she wondered.

  She went into the living room, where kids were decorating the beautiful tree. She dug into the ornament box and pulled out a pack of silver tinsel. Tearing open the top, she began pulling out the long, silver strands and laying them on the branches.

  All around her, kids talked to one another, joking and laughing. “It’s a beautiful tree,” she said to a girl beside her.

  The girl turned and nodded. “Yes, it is,” she agreed. Then she saw a friend of hers and walked away. Amanda sighed. Even trimming a tree wasn’t much fun when you felt all alone. At least it gave her something to do other than stand there and look uncomfortable.

  She spread the tinsel on the tree for another fifteen minutes. Then she spotted Justin! Her heartbeat sped up. He looked as cute as ever, wearing a bulky black knit sweater and baggy jeans. He noticed her and smiled. She waved and he headed in her direction.

  “Hey, Amanda!”

  “Hey!” she said, smiling. “How was the skating? I couldn’t make it to that part of the party.”

  “It was great,” he replied. “I love skating at night. We ruled the whole rink. And Connor’s mom makes the best hot chocolate. You should try some!”

  “Awesome!” Amanda said brightly. This was so great! Suddenly, everything she’d done to get here seemed totally worth it! “I love skating, too. I would have gone but Dish had a big job tonight. Luckily I was able to get out and—”

  “Hey! Justin, my man! Was skating ragin’ or what?” Chris Ratner held his hand out for a high-five.

  “It totally rocked!” Justin agreed, slapping Chris’s outstretched palm. “Did you see when Josh Cruse spun off into the wall?” Justin waved �
��bye” to Amanda over his shoulder as he and Chris walked away.

  A quick tap on her shoulder made Amanda turn.

  It was Angie.

  “So, you have a huge crush on Justin,” Angie said nastily. “You make it pretty obvious, don’t you?”

  Amanda could only stare at her. Angie had totally taken her by surprise. No one but her friends knew how she felt about Justin.

  There’s only one possible explanation, Amanda told herself. Shawn blabbed! “You’re crazy,” Amanda mumbled as she turned away from Angie.

  “Yeah, like I’m the crazy one,” Angie said as Amanda walked away. “At least I didn’t come to a skating party dressed for a prom.”

  Why had she ever thought this party was going to be so great? It might have been fun if Molly were with her. How could she have left them all to work at Ms. Barlow’s just to come to this party? What was she even thinking?

  Amanda’s stomach churned. She was having such a miserable time that she was actually starting to feel sick. The only thing to do now was to get out of there—and fast! If she hurried straight home, she could be in bed by the time Molly got back. She rushed to the coat closet, grabbed her coat, and pulled it on as she went toward the door.

  As she yanked open the door, she stood face to face with a girl entering the party.

  It was Molly!

  chapter 11

  Both twins jumped back in surprise.

  “I thought you were sick!” Molly cried.

  Peichi, Natasha, and Shawn hurried up the front steps behind Molly. Together, the four girls stepped into the front hall and faced Amanda.

  “I can’t believe you pretended to be sick to get out of helping with Dish,” Shawn said coldly. Angie waved from the living room and Shawn, turning her back on Amanda, hurried off to join her.

  Amanda opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. After all, what could she say?

  Peichi stepped up to Amanda. Her mouth had dropped open in surprise. She just shook her head, as if she were too shocked to speak. Then she passed Amanda, saying nothing. Amanda turned to Natasha, but she only turned her head away and followed Peichi.

  Amanda and Molly stood together by the door. “Why aren’t you still over at Ms. Barlow’s?” Amanda dared to ask.

  “Once we were done setting up the main dishes, Ms. Barlow said she didn’t need us anymore,” Molly explained. “She said her cleaning lady was coming tomorrow and she’d clean up.”

  “Oh,” Amanda said. “I wonder why she didn’t tell us that in the beginning.”

  “Don’t change the subject!” Molly said angrily. “I thought you were sick. What are you doing here?”

  Amanda’s eyes filled with tears. Molly looked so angry and disappointed in her.

  Molly whirled around and flung the door open. “Where are you going?” Amanda asked as Molly stomped down the front steps. “Molly, come back!”

  She ran down the steps after her. “Wait!” she called, but Molly kept going. “Molly, please,” Amanda shouted after her.

  Molly stopped and turned toward Amanda. “You are so selfish, Amanda!” she shouted. “Do you even have any idea how selfish you are? It’s disgusting. All you care about is yourself and your clothes! No one else even matters to you! And you know what? You’ve always been selfish. But ever since you were in that stupid play, it’s been completely unbearable!”

  “Don’t shout, Molly,” Amanda said. “We’re out in the street. It’s embarrassing.”

  “Embarrassing?” Molly continued shouting. “Do you want to know what’s embarrassing? Having you as a sister embarrasses me!” She hurried on down the street.

  Amanda ran to keep up with her. “Try to understand,” she pleaded. “I worked extra hard in the beginning of the party so that it would be fair when I left early.”

  “Fair?” Molly yelled. “Only you would think that way. That’s not how it works, Amanda! You don’t just get to decide when you work in a business. We all do it together. Everybody else wanted to go to Connor’s party, but we knew we had to do the job. Why do you think you’re more special than the rest of us? Not to mention that you got everyone into the catering job without even asking! I’m stuck with you as my sister, but I don’t even know why everyone else puts up with it. Actually, Shawn seems pretty sick of you, too. So I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

  Amanda stopped, stung. “Molly—” she began. “Molly, that was really mean. Would you just talk to me for a minute?”

  Molly wouldn’t even turn around to look at her.

  When they arrived home, the house was dark. Amanda found a note on the refrigerator. “Dad and I have gone to the movies. Matthew is at the Baders’ house. Hope everything went okay with the party! Love, Mom.”

  Thank goodness, Amanda thought. If her parents were home, they would want to know why the girls were fighting. Amanda heard Molly going upstairs and went to follow her up. Before she reached the top landing, she heard the bathroom door slam.

  With a sigh, Amanda continued on to their bedroom and threw herself on her bed. Was it all true? Was she really that selfish? Did she really embarrass Molly? Was it her fault that Shawn didn’t hang out with them very much anymore?

  A high-pitched shriek made Amanda sit upright. It was Molly! Amanda bolted off the bed and ran to the bathroom.

  “Molly! What’s wrong? Open the door!” Amanda yelled, pounding on the door.

  The door slowly swung open. Molly stood holding a pretty journal. She looked stunned and upset.

  “What?” Amanda asked.

  Molly held the book out to her. “This,” she said simply. “It’s Natasha’s journal. She must have dropped it when she was changing her outfit earlier. It must have fallen out of her bag. I found it lying open on the floor.”

  “Oh, wow,” Amanda said. “You didn’t read it, did you?”

  Molly nodded. “I only read the page that was open. I didn’t realize what it was at first. Amanda…would you do me a favor? Please?”

  “Sure. What?” Amanda was eager to do something for Molly—anything to smooth things over.

  “Would you read this?”

  “I can’t!” Amanda gasped. “It isn’t right!”

  “Please,” Molly pleaded. “Just read the same page I read. I need to talk to you about it. I can’t handle it by myself. This is really serious.”

  Amanda took the journal from Molly and slowly began to read the last page.

  I acted like such a jerk today. Peichi’s new neighbors must think I’m a total nutcase. I was rude to Molly, too. She was only trying to be nice. But how can I ever explain to my friends what’s really bothering me? It’s something I just don’t know how to talk about. And my mom would freak out if she knew I was talking about it.

  But I can’t stand living a lie anymore. In some ways, I want to tell them the truth, but I’m afraid. They might think differently of me if they knew. I just want to fit in and be like other kids. Why do I have to be different!? It’s not fair! Keeping this secret is driving me crazy.

  Amanda looked up when she’d finished reading. “Oh, wow,” she said, exhaling. Amanda didn’t even realize she had been holding her breath. “What do you think she’s hiding from us?” she asked.

  Molly threw her arms wide. “I have no idea! It sounds awful, though. I feel so sorry for her. What should we do?”

  “What can we do?” Amanda questioned. “It’s not like we can just go up to Natasha and say, ‘We read your journal. What’s the big secret that’s driving you insane?’ ”

  “I know. She’d hate us for reading her journal,” Molly agreed.

  “Listen, Molly. I’m really, really, really sorry about what I did,” Amanda began. “I told myself it wasn’t that big a deal, that I’d make it up to you by working hard—but lying to you and the others was rotten.”

  “It was super-rotten,” Molly agreed. “I was so worried about you walking home at night and feeling so sick. I was only going to Connor’s party to tell him I couldn’t stay. I wo
uldn’t have had fun at the party until I knew you were okay.”

  “Thanks,” Amanda said. “Are you still mad at me?”

  “Yes!” Molly said. “I haven’t forgiven you. I feel like I can’t even trust you, Amanda. I still can’t believe you would lie to me. You’re my twin.”

  Tears stung Amanda’s eyes. “I know, Molly. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Amanda sighed and rolled over in bed. The room was dark, but she could hear Molly breathing deeply as she slept. It was a comforting sound, really. It reminded her how lucky she felt to be a twin—especially to be Molly’s twin.

  Amelia and Amanda. Molly and Mandy. They could have called themselves those names. But they had made their names sound different to help people tell them apart. Right now, though, Amanda didn’t want to be apart from Molly. She was truly sorry she’d done anything to hurt their closeness. Molly had calmed down some. She wasn’t as angry as she had been. But her anger was replaced by something even worse.

  Betrayal and distrust.

  Amanda pulled her knees to her chest and sat there in the dark, thinking. She was lucky not only to have Molly, but also Shawn and Peichi. Even Natasha was becoming a close friend. How could she have taken their friendships for granted like that?

  Throwing back her covers, Amanda got out of bed. Silently, she padded her way downstairs to the computer. She turned it on and logged on to the Internet.

  To: happyface, qtpie490, BrooklynNatasha

  From: Mooretimes2

  Date: 12/17, 1:56 AM

  Re: Sincerely, Xtremely, Sorry

  Hi! Amanda here. Wait! Don’t turn off your computer until you read what I have to say. Please!

  If I were you, I’d hate me, too. Please don’t hate me, though. Lying to you guys tonight was a terrible thing. Friends don’t lie to one another. You can’t trust a person who lies to you. I want you all to be able to trust me like I trust you. I really want to make this up to you guys. Please forgive me and give me another chance. You won’t be sorry.

  Love,

  Amanda ☹