“No. Yes. Maybe,” says Charlie.
“It wasn’t my idea. It has nothing to do with me,” I say, as if that will make any difference.
For a second my sister is silent, but it’s a furious kind of silence. Her face, if you could see it, would be turning red right now. Her ears, if you could see them, would have steam blowing out of them.
“Frank Black,” she seethes, “how do you always manage to spoil my day?”
Maybe it’s the outfit or the sleepless night or maybe even the effect of all the food coloring in Elizabeth’s cupcakes—Yeah, I snuck one too—but suddenly I feel a surge of fury coming on like a tidal wave and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“Spoil your day?” I yell. “You’ve been spoiling my life since the day I was born. It’s your fault we keep having to move. It’s your fault Mom and Dad don’t have regular jobs. It’s your fault I keep having to move away from any friend I ever make. It’s your fault I have to come to this stupid party and wear these stupid wings.”
For a moment, nobody says anything. Charlie is staring at me with his mouth open.
“You really think that?” asks Elizabeth.
“Are you going to move?” asks Charlie.
“Yes! You always ruin everything, Elizabeth.”
“Well then, I have just one thing to say to you,” says Elizabeth in a quiet sort of voice. “If you don’t call off this blind date garbage, I’ll spoil this whole party. And I’ll make it look as if it were your fault. And you know I can do it.”
The red heart decorations rustle in the air above us. On the other side of the hall, a door slams. Elizabeth is gone. Initially, I feel relieved, but then the enormity of what she just said hits me.
“Are you really going to move?” asks Charlie again.
“Right now, it could go either way,” I reply. “What were you thinking, Charlie? This could be ten times worse than the Bang and Bolt Routine. You don’t know what she’s capable of.”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I was only trying to help.”
“I know.” He sounds so pitiful. “You better call the blind date guy and tell him it’s off.”
“Wait a minute. What will it matter if he comes or not?” says Charlie. “She won’t know who he is, and he won’t be able to see her. A real blind date! Ha, ha!”
“It’s not funny, Charlie. Just call him right now.”
“I don’t think he carries a cell phone. Although he may have one of those communicators they use on the Starship Enterprise.” Charlie starts to laugh at his own joke, until he sees me glaring at him. “I guess I could try his home number.”
“If my sister ruins this party, life as we know it is over. It would be a disaster.”
“Really?” asks Charlie.
“ ’Fraid so, my friend, ’fraid so,” I say.
Mom appears, holding a large platter of miniature red JELL-O Cupids. Each one has been impaled through the heart with a single toothpick. “What do you think, boys? Too much?”
Charlie and I look at each other. “No, Mom, they’re great,” I say. “This is going to be a party no one will ever forget.”
Chapter Eleven
Have you ever felt as if you are the only person in the whole world who is not having a good time? As if the sun is out for everyone else but it’s raining on you? Well, that’s me right now. I’m standing as instructed, at the main entrance of the town hall, a tray of smoked salmon appetizers in one hand and my homemade Cupid’s bow in the other.
I tell you, Charlie and I have been robbed. Twenty dollars is not enough. Even a thousand would never compensate for the humiliation. But for now we seem to be blending into the background. The cheesy decorations, the paper hearts, and the lights make people stop in their tracks. Nobody in this town has ever seen anything like it before. If this party, as Dad said, is make or break for Mom, then so far it’s definitely make. I’m beginning to believe it might wipe out everything Mom and Dad said last night. This is the best party Mom has ever thrown by a million miles. The only problem Charlie and I have, apart from the way we look, is the blind date guy.
Hundreds of guests start to pour in, all the women wearing, well, you can guess what color, and all the men looking like penguins. The mayor’s son is here and he’s brought tons of friends. Some of them are only a few years older than me. I try not to move. Maybe they’ll think I’m a prop.
“Like the outfit, Frank,” says Mr. Polwarth, my principal. “Can you fly too?”
“I wish,” I reply.
And then he spots the food. “Don’t mind if I do,” he says and takes four.
Charlie appears, laden down with a vast tray of tiny cheese tarts.
“Any luck calling the blind date guy?” I ask.
“Well, no, not exactly. His mom said he’d already left.”
“Oh great,” I reply. “You think he’s here?”
“How should I know?” says Charlie. “We could try listening for an annoying laugh.”
We listen for a minute or two.
“There’s a ton of laughing,” I say. “And most of it is annoying.”
“I’m so sorry. I know this is all my fault,” says Charlie. “It was stupid, but I was just trying to help.”
“It’ll be fine,” I reply, trying to make him feel better. “I mean, don’t you think a couple of winged waiters can take on a nerd and an invisible girl? We could appetizer them to death.”
We both start to smile, and in seconds we’re laughing so hard that we can hardly stand up.
“Is that … salmon?” some lady says and takes about a dozen in a napkin.
“Take one,” I say, trying not to laugh. “Or six.”
She looks at me with a frown, as if she’s wondering whether or not to report me.
“They’re delicious,” I add. “Why not eat them while they’re hot?”
“Are they hot?” asks Charlie when she’s gone.
“No,” I reply.
And we both start to laugh all over again.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I say.
Even though Charlie looks pretty dorky dressed up in the wings and everything, I realize he’s the best friend I’ve ever had. In fact, Morningvale Circle is probably the best place, with the best people, that I’ve ever lived. And to think, by the time Smelly Vincent stops being smelly, I may be long gone. I like it here. I just don’t understand why Elizabeth would want to leave all this behind.
“We’d better unload some of this food before Mom sees us,” I say.
“See you later, and don’t panic,” says Charlie before he disappears into the crowd.
All I can hope for now is that I bump into the blind date guy before Elizabeth does. I start to search the place systematically for a single, lonely Star Trek fan.
“Salmon bites anyone?” I say. “Any more salmon bites?”
And then the cheesy music stops and a crackly voice comes over the loudspeaker. The mayor himself is onstage.
“Welcome. I hope you’re having a great time,” he shouts into a microphone. “Will the owner of the blue Ford Fiesta please return to the vehicle? You’re blocking the fire exit. And there’s no discount on parking tickets for guests, even if it is my birthday!”
The crowd chuckles politely.
“Also, I have a guy up here looking for an Elizabeth. He says he’s her blind date and that he’ll be waiting for her at the chocolate fountain. Boy, I’ll tell you, romance is really in the air tonight.”
In the brief space before the music starts up again, a truly horrific laugh booms out from the loudspeakers. It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It doesn’t even sound human.
I scan the crowd and lock eyes with Charlie. In military style, I signal for him to man the fountain. I have to move quickly to stop Elizabeth before she does something I can’t fix. At the cocktail bar, there’s no one except the principal with a glass in each hand. The buffet is packed, three people deep, but it all looks normal. The coatroom looks fine too, with
all the coats behaving as coats should. And on the stage, the mayor is sitting on a mock throne that Mom made from a chair she found in a thrift store. Everything is normal—too normal.
Suddenly all the lights dim. A feeling of pure horror envelops me. At the back of the hall, an enormous pink meringue, the one that my mother decorated with candles and glitter, has just appeared. All the candles are burning, but it’s floating in midair. Without warning, it starts to bob along at head height, and I realize with a shudder that it’s heading toward the stage.
Some people move out of the way when they see me coming, but most people just stand there. By the time I reach it, the cake is only a few feet away from the stage. A familiar song starts to play, but I can’t quite place it. I see my mother put her arm around the mayor. They have no idea what’s coming.
“Noooooooooooooooooooo!” I cry as I dive for my sister’s legs.
“Aaaarrgghh!” screams a voice from above.
Only it’s not my sister. It’s an older woman, an invisible older woman, her legs in nylon stockings and her feet in sensible shoes. And I realize with sudden, hideous clarity that I’ve just floored the mayor’s mother. The meringue, her meringue, the meringue she’s made specially for her son’s birthday, flies up in the air, flips twice, and slowly starts its descent. As everyone watches the cake in freefall, I suddenly recognize the song that’s been playing the whole time. Of course, it’s “Happy Birthday.”
I’m spending some quality time with myself in the parking lot. I am now the loser kid who shoves senior citizens to the ground and ruins birthday surprises. The cake went everywhere: on the walls, on the guests, and, of course, on the mayor. He was so covered in cream that he looked like a pink version of the Abominable Snowman. Although everyone wanted to call for an ambulance, luckily the mayor’s mother wasn’t injured. She was more upset about her cake.
“Fifteen egg whites,” she kept repeating. “Fifteen egg whites, without a hint of yolk …”
I see Charlie coming out to look for me and I duck behind a car.
“Are you hiding from me?” he shouts. “Because if you are, you should think about taking off your wings. I can see you a mile away.”
“No,” I reply. “I was just tying my shoelace.”
“Listen, it could have happened to anybody,” says Charlie.
“Yeah right.”
“It was an easy mistake to make. And guess what? I found the blind date guy. He had so much chocolate from the fountain that he felt sick and had to go home. So everything’s going to be okay, right?”
I don’t respond. You have to admire the guy; he just doesn’t give up.
“Your dad looks really cool tonight,” he says. “You should have told me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Could you just leave me alone now, please?”
Charlie’s mouth drops open. “Why are you being so mean? I thought we were friends.”
“Not for much longer,” I say under my breath. Charlie overhears me and turns and walks away. It’s for the best in the long run. When we leave here, at least he won’t like me enough to miss me.
If this party is make or break, then it’s definitely break. And ironically, Elizabeth had nothing to do with it. I broke it single-handedly. I wonder how long we’ll stay here. A week or a couple more days … maybe we’ll pack up and leave tonight just like Dad said.
The back door of the town hall flies open and a laughing couple comes out for a breath of fresh air. It’s the principal and some lady. He spots me.
“Hey, look! A fallen angel in the parking lot,” he says.
The lady laughs and sways slightly. I pull off my wings and stuff them under my arm.
“What’s wrong, Frank? Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed to see your dad play? I wish I looked that good in a pair of plastic pants. What a fantastic party!”
Oh, great! The Spits are playing. First I trash the party and now Dad’s going to put the final nail in the coffin. I say good-bye, turn to head home, and trip on the curb.
“Where are you going?” asks Elizabeth. “Are you crying?”
“Where have you been?” I yell. I can feel the tears streaming down my face, even though I’m trying my best to hold them in.
“I’ve been around. Why?”
“You missed everything. Did you know we’re moving again? Tonight! It’s all been arranged.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
How can I explain? How can I tell her I was so scared she was going to ruin everything that I was the one who messed up big-time. Maybe I should start with what I heard our parents saying the night before.
“Dad said this one was make or break,” I tell her.
As Mr. Polwarth heads back in and the door swings open, the sound of Dad’s band comes blasting out from inside the hall.
“This one’s make or break, baby,” he croons. “Make or break my heart.”
They’re sounding typically atrocious. I try to ignore them.
“And he said if the party didn’t work out, we’d have to leave in the middle of the night.”
“We’re not going anywhere, Frank.”
“But isn’t that what you want? To move again?”
“Moving isn’t high on my agenda right now.”
“But what about the suitcase?”
“I just did that to freak you out.”
The next song starts. “How about leaving in the middle of the night, I know it’s crazy but it feels just right.”
“What did he just sing in there?” I ask Elizabeth.
“They have a whole new set of songs,” she says. “Don’t tell Dad I said so, but they all stink. Still, everyone’s loving the party. Mom has another ten bookings already.”
Suddenly I realize I have everything wrong. What I was hearing was Dad working out his set list for the band. I must look shocked. I must look overemotional. I am.
“You look like you need a hug, little brother,” says my sister.
I reach out for her and find her, amazingly enough. And then she gives me the biggest hug ever.
“I thought I’d lost everything,” I say. “My friend, my life, my house.”
“Enough,” she says, letting me go again. “The only thing you’ve lost is your mind.”
“In this case,” I admit, “I have to agree with you.”
“Frank,” she whispers. “Can you keep a secret? I met this guy. He’s really cute. And you’ll never guess what—he’s the mayor’s son….”
Elizabeth chats away, but I’m not really listening. All of a sudden my life seems to have fallen into place: Mom’s party is the talk of the town, Dad’s band seems to be really rocking, and for once even my sister is happy.
“… His grandmother has FD,” she’s saying. “So it doesn’t bother him at all. He thinks it’s kinda cool. And he’s been listening to my school radio show for months. He says he’s a huge fan. Can you believe it?”
I spot a pair of wings heading toward the bus stop.
“Hey, wait up!” I yell.
Charlie stops a few feet away but won’t look me in the eye.
“… He has some great playlist suggestions. He’s going to e-mail me some links.”
“Do you have change for the bus?” Charlie asks.
“It was all a mistake,” I say. “I thought because I’d ruined the party, we’d have to move again. But it was all just Dad’s crummy song titles.”
As if on cue, the door opens again and another blast of Dad’s band’s song comes out.
“Nobody will know,” he sings. “Oh nobody will know, oh nobody will know, how much I love you, now that you’re dead …”
“Cool track,” says Charlie. “I think they’re sounding pretty good.”
“You think so? Really?”
Charlie and I both start to laugh.
“Want to take the bus home?” he says. “We just missed the 46 but the 27 is due in …”
He stops midsentence and stares at the spot whe
re Elizabeth is standing.
“He’s tall but not too tall,” she is saying. “We’ve read all the same books and both love vampire movies. I’m not sure if I should play hard to get and make him wait, or if I should just go out with him on Tuesday…. What? What it is?”
In the dim glow of the streetlight, something incredible happens. With a shimmer, like a flash of sunlight streaming through the trees or the flicker of Christmas lights on the snow, my sister suddenly appears. And just as suddenly, she disappears again.
“What are you staring at?” she asks.
“Frank,” says Charlie, “she looks just like you.”
“Will you stop it,” she says. “You’re scaring me.”
“Elizabeth,” I say, “we both just saw you….”
“That’s impossible,” she says. “Isn’t it?”
Text copyright © 2010 by Beatrice Colin and Sara Pinto
Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Sara Pinto
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in the United States of America in June 2010
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in June 2011
www.bloomsburykids.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Colin, Beatrice.
My invisible sister / by Beatrice Colin & Sara Pinto.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Ten- year- old Frank’s thirteen- year- old sister Elizabeth, invisible since birth,
continually causes trouble, forcing the family to move again and again, but Frank wants
to stay put and decides to find a way to make her visible.
ISBN 978-1-59990-488-7 (hardcover)
[1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Moving, Household—Fiction. 3. Conduct of life—
My Invisible Sister Page 7