I hung up, mystified…still trying to comprehend Paula’s words. Jared refused her phone call? This was unheard of. Besides, STAN hadn’t officially started yet!
On Sunday, Uncle Jack picked us up for church in his SUV. I slid across the soft middle seat between Carrie and Stephie. The boys sat in the back.
Mom looked radiant as we rode to our church. Uncle Jack’s eyes twinkled with the usual mischief as he stopped at the first traffic light. But when I caught him watching Mom, I saw more than the playful sparkle in his eyes. This was serious.
Mark hollered from the backseat, right in my ear. “Tomorrow’s Columbus Day!”
“No school,” announced Carrie.
“Do you have off work?” I asked Mom.
“We all do, don’t we, Jack?” she said, nodding her head.
“Hey, that’s right, we do,” he said. “Let’s do something extra special together.”
“Like what?” Carrie asked.
“Like sleep in,” hooted Stan from the back.
“Boring,” Phil said.
“Yeah,” said Mark. “Let’s go hiking instead.”
“Good idea, isn’t it, dear?” Uncle Jack said, turning to look at Mom.
“We could pack our lunch and take it up Copper Mountain,” Mom said.
“On the gondola,” Uncle Jack said.
Not that. I just barely survived the sky ride last summer. Besides, those were the days when Danny and I were good friends. I didn’t want to relive that particular time in my life. Remembering would make me feel lousy about storming out of the Soda Straw last weekend. True, Danny had annoyed me with his never-ending preaching, but was that a good reason for me to freak out and totally demolish our friendship?
“I’d rather not go on the gondola again,” I told Mom.
“Aw, don’t be scared,” little Stephie said, holding my hand. “I’ll ride with you.”
Stan snickered behind me, and I whirled around.
“Keep quiet!” I snapped at him.
“What’s the matter, you a scaredy-cat?” he taunted.
“I’ve been on the sky ride twice now,” I said, remembering my father had said I’d gone with him when I was little.
“Well then, third time’s a charm,” Stan sneered.
I wanted to close his mouth permanently. Too late—the church was in sight. Uncle Jack pulled into the parking lot next to Andie’s family’s car. Mrs. Martinez was getting one of the twins out of his car seat. Chris, I thought it was.
Next thing I knew, Stan had hopped out of the van and was helping with little Chris. Talk about a splitzo schizoid. Stan was a prime example of it. If only Andie could see his nasty sneers and hear his snide remarks. But all she knew of him was this side of him—the Stan-to-the-rescue side.
Andie did some fast-talking and got her dad’s permission to sit with Stan in church—with all nine of us in the same pew. I was closely observing Andie and Stan when a terrible thought hit me. What if someday she ended up married to Stanley Patterson? She’d be my cousin! The cousin part was fine; it was the wife-of-Stan part that worried me.
Soft organ music filled the church as people filed in. Across the aisle, Kayla Miller sat with her twin sister. Someone ought to give her a crash course in being subtle, I thought as she proceeded to gawk at Stan and Andie.
Jared and his parents came in together. He looked straight ahead as he passed the Miller twins. Poor Paula. She was going to have a tough time talking to him today. I, however, was very impressed.
Breathing deeply, I reached for the hymnal. Mom looked absolutely angelic sitting next to Uncle Jack on the far end of the pew. Was she ready to give up being single for this man? I wondered if Daddy had any idea Mom was dating again. And not only dating again, but dating Uncle Jack—his former brother-in-law.
When the sermon began, I had a hard time paying attention. Zillions of someday thoughts raced through my mind. My cousin with my best friend? Unthinkable! My uncle with my mom? Positively weird! My first crush, Jared Wilkins, with me? Impossible!
When church was over, the only thing I could remember was the pastor’s text from Mark 9:50—“Be at peace with each other.” It just so happened to be one of the verses Danny had used to try to get me to patch things up with my cousin Stan two weeks ago. Was God trying to tell me something?
The next day, Columbus Day, Uncle Jack took everyone to Copper Mountain. Everyone except Stan, who decided to stay home and sleep in…and me. Mom let me skip the gondola ride and go shopping with Andie instead. I’d saved up over $170 worth of baby-sitting money and wanted to get a jump-start on Christmas shopping.
Andie and I hit every Columbus Day sale imaginable. Even the donut shop had a two-for-one special. By late afternoon we were exhausted. Lugging our purchases, we hopped off the bus near my house. That’s when I saw a white flag stuck in our front yard.
Andie spied it, too. “What’s that for?” she asked.
“Beats me.” I squinted to see as we came closer.
A slight breeze made it ripple as Andie ran onto the lawn, stretching the homemade banner out. “What’s ‘J. P.’s claim’ mean?”
“Must be one of Uncle Jack’s tricks,” I said, wondering what he was up to. “Let’s go inside and find out.”
Everyone was downstairs in the family room, watching a video in the dark. “Come look,” Mom said, motioning Andie and me over to the sectional. “This is Copper Mountain in the fall.” The aspens were like gold against the dark evergreens.
Stephie bounced up and down. “Watch this,” she said. “Here’s what you missed today, Holly-Heart.”
I watched as Stephie hurried into the gondola with Carrie.
“Uncle Jack took this from inside our gondola,” Mom said, narrating. “Here’s where Stephie and Carrie wave and giggle back at us.”
I watched as the cable went over the first set of terminals, making the car sway high over the treetops. The girls’ expressions changed quickly at that point.
“That’s the part I hate most,” I whispered to Andie.
“That?” Andie laughed. “The swinging and swaying’s the best part of the ride for me. The wilder, the better.”
The camera shifted to another gondola, behind the cameraman. There sat Mark and Phil clowning around, making faces as Uncle Jack used his zoom lens to get a close-up of the younger boys.
“Is Stan here?” Andie whispered.
I shrugged. “He’s probably still at home.”
When the video was finished, Uncle Jack rewound it. Then the doorbell rang, and Carrie and Stephie ran to get it. Mom kept telling us over and over how beautiful the autumn was in the high country. Every time she said it, it was like she wanted to say something else. Something more important than the seasons changing. Her face glowed with excitement as she turned the lights on.
Just then Carrie and Stephie came racing back downstairs.
“Who was at the door?” Mom asked, leaning her head against the sectional.
“Our neighbor,” said Carrie. “He wants to know what the flag’s all about in our yard.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “Andie and I saw it, too.”
“Uncle Jack put it there,” Carrie declared. “Just like Columbus.”
“What for?” I asked.
Uncle Jack walked across the room and grabbed a pool stick from the rack on the wall. “I’m staking my claim on Susan Meredith and her family.” He stood in the middle of the family room with the pool stick in his right fist.
Stan wandered down the steps just then. “What’s going on?” He stared at his father.
“Welcome, son,” said Uncle Jack in a deeper voice than usual. “You are about to witness a significant moment.”
Stan sat down in the chair across from me. What crazy antic did Uncle Jack have up his sleeve today? Slouching there in his chair, Stan looked disinterested.
Uncle Jack cleared his throat. “Just as Christopher Columbus staked his claim on the newly discovered land, bringing gifts to the natives, I, Jack Patterson, d
o press my flag into the soil of Susan Meredith’s heart.”
Mom applauded the silly speech. Was this for real?
Then Uncle Jack pulled a square box from his shirt. “And now…a gift for the number-one native.”
Mom giggled as he approached her, kneeling at her side. “She already said she’d be my wife,” he told all of us. “So this will make our engagement official.”
Stephie and Carrie squeezed in to see. I was sure he was giving Mom a ring, but then, you never know with Uncle Jack.
Mom opened the velvety lid. “Jack,” she whispered, “it’s beautiful!”
I slid over next to her, curious. It was beautiful. More than that, it was expensive. I could tell by the size of the diamond.
Uncle Jack took Mom’s left hand in his and gently slipped the ring onto her fourth finger. He got up off his knees and playfully pulled Mom to her feet. “Ta-da!” he said with a grand flourish, spinning her around. “Susan, we shall wed and live happily ever after.”
Andie started clapping, and the rest of us joined in. “I’ve never been to a proposal of marriage,” she said.
“Me neither,” I said, laughing.
Carrie and Stephie joined hands with the engaged couple, and Mark and Phil ran around outside the circle, trying to tickle their father. Andie and I joined in the fun, making a circle of our own. Then my uncle reached over and gave me a bear hug, the kind that used to come frequently, before Daddy left. Mom held me close, too.
At last we sat down, deciding whether to celebrate by cooking cheeseburgers at home or by letting the Golden Arches do it. When I turned to look for Stan, he’d disappeared.
THE TROUBLE WITH WEDDINGS
Chapter 13
The next day after volleyball practice, I rushed home to record the day’s events in my STAN journal.
Week One, Day One: It’s totally shocking—Jared’s ignoring every girl in school! Even Paula Miller. I know because she came crying to me about it. Again! He’s being a real jerk in a new and improved sort of way. Amazing.
And…it was so weird the way he couldn’t wait to meet me at the library first thing this morning. I mean, he actually seemed eager to read the requirements of STAN and get on with signing the agreement. He’s actually following through with this!
After supper, Kayla called with more questions about my cousin. “Holly,” she pleaded, “will you please find out what’s going on between Andie and Stan?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“You said that before, but you didn’t call me back.”
“I’ve been busy,” I said, frustrated with her demands.
“Too busy to talk to your best friend…then call me right back?”
I sighed. “Like I said, I’ll see what I can find out.”
Hanging up, I wondered about Andie. Maybe I should give her a call. Nah, she’d just want to yak endlessly about Stan. On the other hand, I needed to talk to her about Jared and the secret pact she’d signed promising to help with my STAN plan.
Andie answered on the first ring.
“I didn’t see you much today,” I began. “Just thought I’d call and check on things.”
“Things are so cool,” she said. “Stan and I are talking a lot. It’s like a dream come true.”
“That’s nice,” I mumbled, even though it wasn’t nice at all. She was too far gone over Stan to see the light now.
“And I have you to thank, Holly.”
“Speaking of which,” I said, “remember our pact?”
“Sure do, and have I got a scheme for you.”
“Like what?”
“Tomorrow I’m mailing a letter to Jared inviting him to the Harvest Festival,” she said.
“That’s almost a month away, but sure, go for it.”
“Hmm, whoever heard of refusing your own mail,” she said, laughing, probably thinking that Jared would be very tempted to open anything from a girl.
“If you put your return address on it, he’ll know it’s from you. So that won’t work.”
“I’m one step ahead of you. No return address—how’s that?”
“Oh, I get it. When he opens the letter, he’ll have to read it, and then we’ll know he failed STAN.”
“What’s Stan got to do with Jared?” she asked.
Yikes! The code word just slipped out. “Uh, what did I just say?” I pretended not to know.
“You said something about failing Stan,” she said. “Please, don’t get him involved in this, Holly, or I’m out.”
“Don’t worry, my cousin’s not involved.” Suddenly, I remembered Kayla’s plea for information. “Uh, by the way, do you think Stan likes you?”
“Hope so. Why?”
“Just curious.”
“Hey, just think, if Stan and I get married someday, I’d not only be your best friend but your cousin. Is that cool or what?”
“Where do you come up with these ideas?” I asked, as if the thought had never crossed my mind.
“Never mind, I can tell you’re not in the mood.”
“Whatever.”
“Want me to spy on Jared tomorrow?” she asked.
“Sure, just don’t talk about it at school. Call me after volleyball, okay?”
“I’ll be at volleyball practice tomorrow. Stan asked me to wait around for him.”
I still couldn’t picture Andie and my cousin together. “Okay, see you then.” I hung up.
The Scrutiny Test Analyzing Nascence took most of my energy at school the next day. If I wasn’t spying on Jared—checking to see if he was either failing STAN by talking to or looking at girls—I was enduring Paula’s nonstop complaining about the sudden change in him.
“It’s just not like Jared,” she whined.
“He does seem different, doesn’t he?” I said.
Even Billy Hill noticed. “Something’s up with Jared,” I overheard him say to Amy-Liz on the way to math. “He’s acting strange.”
By the end of the week, the whole school was buzzing with rumors about Jared Wilkins. One rumor had him suffering side effects from some medication he was on for a rare disease.
He was waiting at my locker Friday after school. “Hey, Holly-Heart.”
It was the first I’d seen him smile all week. “This is pure torture, isn’t it?” I said.
“You’d be surprised.” He grinned. “I’ve never had so much fun getting slammed with rumors and jokes and other nonsense.”
“Want to call the whole thing off?”
“No chance,” he said.
His response made me terribly nervous. I mean, what if he did pass the test?
Danny walked past my locker just then. I turned away, trying to avoid him. “I’ve got to do something about Danny,” I muttered into my locker, feeling a little twinge of sadness for the way things had ended between us.
“Like what?” Jared asked.
“I don’t know. He looks so depressed. Maybe I should talk to him. I mean, we were such good friends before….”
“Has he called you?”
I shook my head. “I walked out on him.”
“You two could talk things out and still be…uh, friends, couldn’t you?”
Was Jared for real? I expected him to say something else. Something like, “Forget Danny, you’ve got me.” But he hadn’t. Instead, he handed me an envelope.
“Oh, before I forget,” he said, “could you give this to Andie for me? I recognized her handwriting.”
I stared at the letter addressed to Jared. Turning it over, I saw the address written in Andie’s best cursive. This was the letter she’d sent to test him. Part of the STAN plan I’d concocted.
“You’re right. It’s Andie’s writing.”
The envelope was unopened!
THE TROUBLE WITH WEDDINGS
Chapter 14
Tuesday after lunch, I stopped off at my locker with Andie. A note stuck out of one of the vents at the top.
Andie leaned close to see. “Who’s it from?” she asked.
The note turned out to be from Danny, asking when we could talk. “This is just great,” I said, refolding it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Danny, that’s what.” I opened my locker and peered at the mirror attached to the door. “I’m a jerk,” I said, fluffing my hair with my fingers. “Danny wasn’t so bad.”
“Hey, do you like being preached at, and I mean constantly?” She banged her locker shut. “Remember how controlling he was? Think it over, Holly. You’re better off without him.”
“Maybe,” I said, heading for fifth period. But I wasn’t absolutely sure. It was crazy, but I still liked Danny. Or maybe it was admiration. I mean, how many walking memory chips does a girl get to meet in one lifetime?
After school Danny was waiting near the doors to the gym as I hurried in for volleyball practice.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Get my note?”
I nodded.
“When can we talk?”
“What about?” I asked.
His eyes were sober. “You and me.”
“Uh, I’ve got volleyball now,” I said. “Miss Tucker makes us run extra laps if we’re late.”
“Later then?”
“I can’t hang around after school today. Mom and I are going shopping for her wedding next month.”
“Your mother’s getting remarried?” He seemed to brighten. “When?”
“Thanksgiving Day,” I said. “And we’re all dressing like pilgrims.”
We laughed at my dumb joke.
“Can I call you later tonight?” His eyes had sort of a pleading quality.
“Sure,” I said. Just then Stan rushed past us, his whistle hanging from his neck. He shot me a strange look. “Talk to you later, Danny,” I said, dashing off to the girls’ locker room. Changing clothes at record speed, I made it back upstairs before Stan’s whistle blew, signaling the start of practice.
Stan scowled, not only at me, but at all the girls. Good. At last even Kayla was seeing his grumpy side. If only Andie were here.
Halfway through practice, Jared showed up. He sat in his usual place, high in the bleachers. This STAN thing was getting out of hand. Boys were starting to ridicule him. Certain girls were avoiding him; others were vying for his attention more than ever. Like Paula Miller, for instance.
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