Twist My Charm

by Toni Gallagher

  Finally, on Sunday night, I text Madison and tell her I haven’t gotten even one baby step closer to finding a potion that could reverse the charm we put on Dad. And by the time Monday morning rolls around, I’m exhausted—and actually happy to be going back to school.

  —

  I’m happy, that is, until I get there. As soon as Dad parks by the curb in the parking lot, I’m ready to run for Kevin’s classroom. Then Sam and her mom pull up right behind us.

  Dad looks in the rearview mirror. “Is that Samantha?”

  Of course it is, but I don’t want Dad seeing Paige, so I say, “I don’t think so,” and open my door to jump out. “You’d better go, Dad. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do!” I take a few steps toward the school, but his car doesn’t pull away.

  Instead, the driver’s side door opens. Dad is getting out! I watch helplessly as he walks over to Sam’s car and starts talking to Paige through her open window. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but it doesn’t matter. Why are they talking at all? How often has this been happening? Is this the first time they’ve talked since the art show?

  Suddenly Sam is standing next to me. As if she heard my thoughts, she says, “I think my mom and your dad talked over the weekend.”

  I stare into the parking lot at Dad leaning over Paige’s car. It’s easy to imagine what they’re saying: “You’re so handsome, Bradley.” “You look so pretty today, Paige.” “I like you.” “I like you more.” “Let’s kiss.” “Not here, where the kids can see.” “Later, then.” “Okay.” “You’re so cute.” “I really like you.” “Not as much as I like you.”

  Argh! How can this be happening? The love potion recipe said it was foolproof, and it was. I’m the fool, and I proved it worked—the wrong way, with the wrong people.

  I turn to Samantha to start up a conversation—a conversation that friends might have, not sisters—but she’s already gone. She’s a dot across the courtyard, heading toward Kevin’s classroom.

  It’s a happy announcement when we hear that instead of Recreational Wellness this afternoon, there’s going to be an assembly. I love school assemblies; they’re great for napping. No matter what the topic is—William Shakespeare’s birthday, not talking to strangers, how to prepare for an earthquake—it’s almost impossible not to snooze. If the lights are down and the speaker has a calm, mellow voice, my eyes droop and close immediately. Once, in fourth grade, I guess I even snored, because my friend Jane Anne had to jab me with her elbow so I’d wake up. I wonder if that’s why she didn’t want to be my friend the next year.

  I hope Madison doesn’t mind a little snoring, because I’m settling into a chair in the auditorium, getting comfy. She’s beside me, but she’s sitting up straight, all alert and excited. A second later, I realize why.

  This is no ordinary assembly.

  “Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime!” An old-timey song blasts through the room. Brightly colored lights flash on and off, and all the kids begin hollering and cheering. The song changes to a slow one: “Because it’s summer, summertime is here…”

  Madison leans over to me and whispers, though she really should yell because the music changes to the type of old rock song my dad might like: “Hot time, summer in the city…”

  “This is the summer assembly,” Madison says.

  Duh, I think, but I say, “Yeah, I got that idea. What’s so big about it?”

  Before she can answer me, our principal, Frederick, walks onto the stage. He usually wears a tie, or at least a professional-looking sweater, but today he’s in board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt! He’s also wearing flip-flops and sunglasses and has a triangle of white on his nose like he’s afraid of sunburn. “Only two weeks of school left!” he shouts into a microphone. “So it’s time to begin the countdown!”

  “Countdown to what?” I ask Madison. She starts to answer, but Frederick’s voice booms through the auditorium.

  “The countdown to…”

  “THE BLING BLING SUMMER FLING!” yells everyone in the audience but me. I look around in shock. Sometimes I forget it’s still my first year at Friendship Community School, but this definitely reminds me.

  “What is—” I start to ask Madison, but she points toward the front and says, “You’ll see.”

  I see, all right. Suddenly girls from the gymnastics squad are doing cartwheels and handsprings across the stage. Boys from the football team walk on with cheerleaders on their shoulders, and when the girls jump off and turn around, I can see the words BLING BLING spelled out in big letters on the back of each uniform. All around me kids are hooting and shouting; some are standing and dancing to the music. A few rows down I see even Samantha clapping, and she never lets anything school-related thrill her!

  I stop asking questions and watch the spectacle. Then something makes me want to turn away. Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae enter the stage from opposite sides, sort of singing, sort of rapping.

  “There’s a time of year that rocks for all

  It’s not spring or winter and never fall

  The time you love, unless you’re a fool

  Is the time we take a break from school.”

  Then Lisa Lee yells, “Summer!” and Kylie Mae replies, “Fling!” and they repeat it again and again. Everyone around me shouts along. It’d be easy enough to join in, but I’m dying to know what this Bling Bling Summer Fling thing is! I turn toward Madison for an answer—but she’s not there.

  I look at the row across the aisle. I look behind me. Did she need to go to the bathroom? It’s weird she wouldn’t have said so. Finally I turn toward the front of the auditorium—and that’s where I find her.

  Onstage. With Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae, looking like they belong together. All three of them do the next section of the rap, with coordinated dance and hand movements.

  Pointing at themselves, they shout, “When we say ‘summer,’ you say…”

  “FLING!” shouts the audience.

  “When we say ‘bling bling,’ you say…”

  “FLING!”

  The shouting goes back and forth until the background music ends. Madison, Lisa Lee, and Kylie Mae all smile and wave, and as they skip offstage, Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae put their arms around Madison, and they look like the happiest three friends in the world. Just like they once were.

  And by the looks of what just happened, they might be again.

  Frederick comes back out in his beach clothes, and though I’m probably the only kid who needs to know, he explains what the heck is going on. “Yes, students, in two short weeks it’ll be time for the Bling Bling Summer Fling, and this year we have planned the best one ever!”

  I want to pay attention and learn more, but every few seconds I turn to the empty seat next to mine. Where is Madison?

  “This year,” Frederick announces, “the Bling Bling is going to be at Hollywoodland Park.”

  I’ve heard some big cheers today, but the one that follows is the biggest yet. Kids are high-fiving, jumping out of their chairs, and screaming as if a talk show host just gave them a new car or a trip to Australia. I’m a little excited myself. I’ve heard of Hollywoodland Park. It has the tallest roller coasters, the slipperiest waterslides, and the fastest-spinning rides anywhere. And because it’s Hollywoodland, famous movie monsters and superheroes wander the park, and the bumper cars are Ferraris and Maseratis.

  A night there would definitely be cool. Especially with a friend like Madison.

  But why isn’t she back in her seat next to me?

  —

  When the assembly ends, everyone leaves the auditorium talking enthusiastically with friends and making plans for the big event. The auditorium is almost completely empty when someone shouts my name. But it’s not Madison. It’s Larry, with his backpack over his shoulder. “Come on, Cleo, it’s outdoor break. Meet me at the jungle gym!”

  Though I’d like to wait longer, I force myself to get up. I look around once more, then slowly make my way outside. Larry’s sitting on the pavem
ent alone except for Mono, his little carved monkey. I still don’t see Madison anywhere.

  “So. Now you know about the Bling Bling Summer Fling,” Larry says.

  “Not really,” I say, sitting down. “I get that it’s a trip to an amusement park. But what’s the big deal?”

  “Oh, it’s not really a big deal,” he says all casual, then raises his voice louder and louder with every word that follows. “Unless you think that the most awesome night in the history of the universe is not a big deal!”

  Larry’s trademark sarcasm.

  “So it’s not a big deal?” I ask.

  “No, it’s always cool. It’s just a little cooler for the popular kids.”

  Popular kids. Lisa Lee. Kylie Mae. Their boyfriends. Madison.

  “It’s been happening at Friendship Community forever, I guess,” Larry tells me. “Each year we do something different. Like the zoo. Or a carnival. Or a big party at a rich person’s house. It’s the last time to have a blast with your best friends before we all go our separate ways for the summer.”

  “Where’s everybody going?” As far as I know, I’m not going anywhere. My idea of summer vacation would be Madison’s awesome pool and backyard.

  “Well, everybody goes somewhere different. Like, I’m going to computer camp, then science camp, and then my family will probably go to Europe or something.”

  “So you’re not home at all, all summer?”

  “No. Hardly anybody is.”

  “What does Madison do?”

  “Oh, she doesn’t go to any dorky camps like I do. I think she always goes to Hawaii.”

  “All summer?” I ask. Why hasn’t Madison ever mentioned this before?

  “I think so. Her parents have a big, huge house there, and they share it with Lisa Lee’s family. Kylie Mae goes too. At least I’m pretty sure they all went last summer, because at the beginning of the school year they were all real tan and wore matching flowery dresses on the first day.”

  Lisa Lee, Kylie Mae, and Madison—spending the whole summer together? No wonder this Bling Bling Summer Fling is so important! It’s your last chance to hang out with your friends…unless those friends are going to Hawaii with you! And if Madison spends three months back with her old friends—the friends she just rapped with onstage!—I may never get her back.

  “Hey, did you see me in the big show?”

  I look up and Madison is walking toward us. She remembers us, thank goodness.

  “Yeah, you were great,” says Larry. “Like old times.”

  Madison climbs onto the jungle gym and hangs upside down. “I couldn’t resist. How many years have I done that song with them?”

  “Ever since I can remember,” Larry tells her.

  “YOU WERE REALLY GOOD!” I say—way too loud, way too excited. “THE SUMMER FLING SOUNDS REALLY COOL!” Calm down, Cleo, I tell myself. Don’t scare Madison away before she even leaves for Hawaii!

  “We usually call it the Bling Bling,” she tells me. “But, oh, right, you wouldn’t know. It’s your first one. You’re gonna love it.”

  I sure hope so.

  Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae stroll across the courtyard with Ronnie and Lonnie. “That was awesome, Madison!” Lisa Lee shouts. “You’ll have to come to the Bling Bling with us, and we’ll have the funnest time ever!”

  Madison smiles and waves. She looks happy.

  Too happy.

  As they walk away, Larry jumps up. “What are they talking about?” he says to us. “We’re the funnest people in the world!”

  “Don’t you mean ‘most fun,’ smarty-pants?” Madison asks.

  “No, I mean we’re refugees from the planet Fun, and we’re called Funnes. So we’re the Funnes people in the world. We’re actually the only Funnes people on Earth.”

  Madison and I started hearing Larry’s bizarre stories when we were in the Healthyland play together. At first he seemed like what my dad would call a “goofball,” but now we love when he talks like this.

  “So are we from outer space, or are we regular people?” I ask.

  “Well, to Earthlings we’re from outer space, but we’re regular people on planet Fun.” Larry’s hands plunge into his backpack and he pulls out a tube made of paper with a pointy cone at the top, wrapped around a little plastic canister poking out the bottom. “Actually, we got here in this rocket ship!”

  I look at Madison and we both shake our heads. Then we just lean back on the grass to enjoy the show.

  Larry stands in front of us like he’s doing stand-up comedy or a magic show. “Before we left planet Fun, we had to fill our rocket ship with fuel.” He pulls a bottle of water out of his backpack and pours it into the canister at the bottom of his “rocket.”

  “Here on Earth, they call it water. These silly people drink it. Some of them even bathe in it.”

  “Though you’re not one of them,” I joke. He and Madison laugh.

  “No, I am not. I would not bathe in the precious fuel of planet Fun. On our planet, water powers everything. If only these stupid Earth humans would learn how to run cars and planes on water like we do.”

  “Yes, we’re brilliant,” Madison says.

  “Hey, we were brilliant enough to get to Earth,” Larry says, dropping a little white tablet—it looks a lot like the mint Kevin dropped into the soda bottle—into the canister. He puts the top on and puts the rocket on the ground so it’s facing toward the sky.

  “Watch out!” he warns us and steps back. And sure enough, a second later there’s a small POP! sound and his rocket flies into the air, fizzy water spraying from the bottom of it. It doesn’t shoot up far enough to get us to another planet—it’s not even far enough to get to the top of the jungle gym—but it’s still a pretty good trick.

  Madison and I cheer. “I think that was…chemistry!” I say.

  “It’s a reaction, an attraction!” Madison sings, jumping up to dance.

  I join in. “Put us together and there’s plenty of action!”

  Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae look at us across the schoolyard with their usual sourpuss faces, but then they smile. The next thing I know, they’re laughing and pointing at Larry. Then they shout for Ronnie and Lonnie to come over and look too.

  I notice what they’re seeing at the same time Larry does. Some of the water splattered on him and it looks like he peed his pants. We all know he didn’t, but that’s probably not the story Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae will tell their friends.

  Larry’s face turns red as he puts one hand over the front of his pants and runs toward his backpack and his carved monkey. He scoops them up with his other hand and scurries toward the school. “Gotta run, see ya later!” he shouts as he goes. “Cleo, will you pick up the rest of my stuff?”

  Madison looks at me and sighs. “Sometimes Larry makes it really hard to stand up for him.” Then she shouts across the courtyard to Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae. “Be nice!”

  They roll their eyes and nod. After that they walk toward the basketball court holding hands with Ronnie and Lonnie, so hopefully Larry won’t have to suffer anything else from them.

  I stand up to gather the pieces of Larry’s rocket. I pick up the canister and its top, then the tube made of light cardboard. It had Scotch tape holding it closed, but the force of the launch—or the crash back to Earth—tore it open. Inside, there’s writing on the paper.

  What I read is the last thing in the world I expected. Specific directions to planet Fun would have been less surprising.

  “What is it?” Madison asks.

  I show her.

  It’s a note. Written in red crayon, in messy cursive writing, is one question with two answers.

  Do you like me? Yes or no. Check one.

  There are boxes next to YES and NO.

  Madison reads it, then looks at me, her eyes wide with shock.

  “That’s for you,” she says. “Larry told you to pick it up.”

  We look at each other. Neither of us knows what to say.

  “No,” I sputter, sh
aking my head in disbelief. “That’s crazy pants.”

  “Crazy pants pulled way up high with a belt.”

  “Larry…likes…me?” It’s so crazy pants, I can barely get the words out.

  “He likes you likes you. Boyfriend-girlfriend likes you.”

  “But I don’t want him to boyfriend-girlfriend like me. I’m only eleven!”

  Madison looks at me seriously. “I don’t think you have a choice.”

  “Ewww!” As soon as I make the noise, I feel bad. It’s the kind of “ewww” Lisa Lee or Kylie Mae would say when they look at Larry…or me. “I mean, I like Larry,” I try to explain to Madison, “but I don’t…”

  I don’t have to finish the sentence. Madison understands.

  “Maybe it’s a joke,” I say. I don’t really think it is, but right now I’m looking for any other explanation.

  “You think it’s a joke?” Madison asks.

  “It’s gotta be, right?”

  “I don’t know.”

  I have to say the truth. “Doesn’t seem like a joke.”

  Madison agrees. She looks at the note again. DO YOU LIKE ME? YES OR NO. CHECK ONE. “I know. Seems real.”

  “Really real.”

  “Really real but really strange.”

  We sit in silence for a few seconds. This is way wrong. Larry is supposed to like Samantha—not me—so we can all be one big happy family of friends. Larry liking me ruins everything.

  The bell rings that it’s time to go back to class, and as we jump to our feet, it hits me. “Oh my gosh, Madison! This is love potion real.”

  Madison looks at me in shock. We head toward the school, talking as fast as we’re walking. “Larry drank the lemonade?” she asks.

  “There’s no other explanation. I must have been the first person he talked to after he drank it!”

  “What do we do, then?”