“More than good.”
“Cam,” a fully costumed Sam called out to me as the cheerleaders moved to the bleachers and the cross-country team took center court. “Want to go be Brooksy?” he asked, taking off the badger head and dropping it at my feet.
I did, but I couldn’t. “Can’t have two Brooksys together. Cosmic ramifications. Possible spontaneous combustion. Or worse,” I teased, “like having two Santa Clauses on the same Macy’s parade float or two Mickey Mouses in the same area of Disney World, dashing hopes and dreams. It just isn’t done. It’s practically sacrilegious.”
“You done?” he asked, giving me a blank stare, not seemingly amused by me at all.
He obviously wasn’t in a joking mood. “Why do you want me out there?” I asked.
“Because,” he said, shifting his weight onto his right side, “at the soccer game, I missed a landing on one on my backflips and twisted my ankle. I thought I was fine, but it’s acting up. Will you finish up for me?”
There was no way I was passing this up. I’d thought I was done being Brooksy after the volleyball championship game. This was like my last hurrah. “Yeah, I gave back the costume, but it’s probably just sitting in Coach’s office. I can check.”
He waved me off with his big furry paw. “There’s not enough time for that. Just use mine.” He unzipped the back of his Brooksy costume and shimmied out of it.
I did not want to step into that thing. He had sweat all over it. The costumes were the cheap kind; we didn’t have the air-conditioned ones they had at nice amusement parks. I didn’t have time to debate the issue. The volleyball team was up next, and if I didn’t want to miss it, it meant wearing Sam’s costume.
It was time to suck it up. I got in the suit and picked up the head. Gross, gross, gross. I took a deep breath and placed it on top.
“And let’s give it up for the Brooksvale volleyball team,” the principal called out, right as I finished changing. “Reigning state champions!”
My concern over sweat, smell, and mustiness evaporated as I ran out with the team, arms pumping into the air. I may not have had the gymnastic ability of the previous Brooksy, but I had an unrivaled amount of enthusiasm.
I ran around the team once and then attempted cartwheels. Cartwheels, in the loosest sense of the word. It was more like moving around while hunched over, and kicking a leg in the air, but it didn’t matter—the crowd was cheering.
I went over and tried to pick Grace up. I wanted to march her around the room, give her the full champion hurrah.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she said when I squatted and reached around her. “No way are you going to be able to do this. I have a better idea.”
Before I knew it, I was in the air, with the team holding me up!
“Brooksy!” they yelled.
“Rawrr, rawrr, rawrr, rawrr,” I said, bringing out my awful badger voice. “Go, Brooksvale!”
The whole team chanted with me.
When it was time for them to take their seats, they put me down so I could do my thing with the next group. I danced around, pretended to be in an imaginary match with the tennis team, putted around with the golf crew, and then it was time for soccer.
Marc and his team ran up, chanting “champions.” They had won the championship for their division as well.
I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t think twice: I ran over and gave a high five to each of them. Even to Todd, who’d talked crap about me. Even to Vern, who’d gone from friend to pretending I didn’t exist. Even to Marc, who’d broken my heart.
I was sick of being hurt, angry, and resentful. These guys were no longer my friends, but they didn’t need to take up my energy, either.
I moved from them to the people on the bleachers, where I orchestrated a wave and another “Brooksvale” chant. Everyone took part, and I got that rush I’d come to love every time I was in front of a crowd.
The rest of the pep rally flew by. I took off my Brooksy head as the principal was making his closing remarks, reminding everyone to be safe this weekend, no drinking, texting and driving—or mischief, seeing that it was also Halloween.
I looked up at the stands, at the rows of classmates and friends—new and old—and I couldn’t help but smile. The past couple of months had been full of surprises, not all wonderful, but, all things considered, senior year was shaping up to be a really good one.
Chapter 32
The bell rang after the pep rally, and everyone filed out, ready to start the weekend. As I headed to Coach’s office to drop off Sam’s Brooksy costume, I noticed Lissi leaning against the wall, looking over photos on her camera. She hadn’t used her phone like most of us; she had an actual professional camera.
Since she’d joined yearbook, we hadn’t spoken. All our communications had been through email, each of us working separately. I knew that needed to change. I took a deep breath. If I could be nice to Marc, I could be nice to Lissi. It was time to push history aside, or at least try to.
“Get any good shots?” I asked as I walked over to her.
“Cam!” She looked surprised that I was talking to her, which would have shocked no one. “Um, yeah. Here, look.” She pulled up a photo and held out the camera. It was me moments ago at the rally, holding the Brooksy head and peering out at the crowd. It sounded corny, but I was seriously beaming. My smile was huge, and I looked like I could take on anything. “It’s a great picture of you.”
“You took this?” I asked her.
Lissi nodded. “I grabbed a bunch, thought I might get some usable ones for the yearbook.” She swiped through about a dozen photos from the rally. “There’s a lot more.”
“These are really good,” I said.
“Ya think?” She gave me a small, cautious smile.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I took some at the bonfire, too. I made a yearbook mock-up page with some of the best ones, if you want to see it,” she said.
I couldn’t believe what I was about to say, but the words came out anyway. “That would be great. Maybe one day next week we can go over all the yearbook stuff together, pick some photos, and work on layout? I mean, if you want.”
She nodded. “I do. I’d like that.”
“Me too,” I said, and the thing was—I think I actually meant it.
Chapter 33
“Thanks for the ride,” I told my mom as I jumped out of the car at Gretchen Haskin’s house for the Halloween party.
“Terri’s giving you a ride home?” she asked.
“Yep,” I assured her. My sister and I had decided to hit a few houses in our neighborhood for trick-or-treating before we each met up with our friends. I was really trying to make an effort to spend more time with Jemma, who was currently in the back seat wearing a Batman costume, popping a mini Snickers in her mouth.
“Don’t eat all the candy,” I warned her.
Jemma eyed my Alvin and the Chipmunks getup. “I’m saving your life. Chipmunks shouldn’t eat chocolate. It’s poison.”
“I’ll risk it,” I told her.
“I’ll try to save you some. No promises. I need my energy. I have a city to save.”
I laughed. “Have fun tonight.”
“You too.”
I said my goodbyes and headed into Gretchen’s to find my fellow rodents.
I couldn’t find them, but I did spot Darth Vader, or rather Luke in a Darth Vader costume.
“Hey there,” I said. “Everything still set for Tuesday?”
He put his hands in front of him, pretending to strangle something. “For the eighty-seventh time, yes. The room is set: Terri will have her art show.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” I’d been bugging him a lot about it. “I just still can’t believe your aunt and uncle are letting us have it. It’s a big ask. How’d you convince them?”
“I used the Force,” he informed me, taking out his lightsaber and holding it in the air.
“Whatever works,” I told him.
“Huh?” Terri asked, joinin
g us, wrapping her arms around me. I squeezed her back.
“I sense something…,” Luke said, quoting a Vader line.
“Yeah, you sense the coolest Chipmunk in the house—no offense, Cam.”
“None taken.” I pointed to my costume. “I’m pretty sure Alvin is the cool one. But don’t worry, Theodore tries hard.”
“Do or do not,” Luke said. “There is no try.”
Terri looked at him like he was speaking Greek. “What?”
“He’s quoting Star Wars,” I explained to her.
“How do you know?” Terri asked.
I gave her the same look she had given Luke. “I don’t just watch rom-coms. Besides, we all saw Star Wars together.”
“Right. I sort of remember that,” she said.
“But poor Luke here picked the wrong Jedi. What about your namesake?”
“Just wanted to emulate my father.”
Terri groaned. “I don’t know how much of this I’m going to be able to take.”
Luke lifted his lightsaber again and tapped Terri on her shoulders like he was knighting her. “Give yourself to the Dark Side. It is the only way you can save your friends.”
“I have officially entered Nerd Central,” she said.
Luke put his saber back in his belt. “I don’t know—I’m dressed as Darth Vader, and you’re a Chipmunk. You may want to rethink the nerd-factor thing.”
“He may have a point,” I said.
Terri put her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know, our costumes are cool. You have to be confident to pull off an ugly-ass costume like this when everyone else is a sexy doctor, fireman, or even zombie.”
She was right: Our costumes definitely didn’t fall into the sexy category. They were black leggings with giant T-shirts over them. Terri’s was a green one with a giant T on it (which she’d chosen for obvious reasons), Grace’s was blue with a big S, and mine was red with a big A. Grace and Terri also had chipmunk ears, while I had a red cap. That was pretty much our entire getup, other than Grace’s Simon glasses.
“Where’s Paisley?” Terri asked.
“She and one of her friends are trying to get drinks,” he said.
“Oooh, I want,” she said. Terri gestured toward me. “Come on, she’ll let us cut; we won’t have to wait as long.”
I shook my head. “You two go. I’m going to search for our missing chipmunk. I haven’t seen Grace yet.”
I circled the party a couple of times but I still couldn’t find her, and she wasn’t answering her texts.
As I checked my phone for the umpteenth time, I almost walked right into Avery. She was with Nikki and a cute guy. A really cute guy. He was five nine–ish, had gorgeous dark eyes, light brown skin, killer cheekbones, short dreads, and a tiny dimple when he smiled. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place from where.
“Sorry,” I said to Avery, “I wasn’t paying attention at all.” I took in her costume. And Nikki’s. “No! Really? You guys came as cheerleaders. This is your chance to dress up as anything, and you came as yourselves?”
“Right?” the guy agreed. “Major waste of Halloween.”
“It’s what happens when you wait until the last minute to figure out a costume,” Avery informed us.
“But you’re right,” Nikki teased, “we’re really missing out on the chance to be a cartoon rodent or…” She looked him over. “Who are you supposed to be again?”
“The Tenth Doctor.”
“Whatever that means,” Nikki said.
Avery laughed. “Someone’s not a Doctor Who fan.”
He slapped a hand over his heart. “You’re killing me.”
“Cam, this is my cousin Ty,” she said.
“The cousin from the movie!?” I asked. That’s why he looked familiar! He’d been in the Netflix movie Avery invited us over to see. She’d rewound and replayed the part he was in five times.
He lowered his head. “Guilty.”
“What?” I asked. “You were good. She had us all over to watch.”
“Avery, I had one line,” Ty said. “You made them all sit through it?”
“Yes! It was a great movie,” she declared, “and I’m your biggest fan. If you lived closer, I would have made you sit there while we watched it, too.” Avery turned to me. “Ty’s in town for my dad’s fiftieth birthday tomorrow.”
She patted his shoulder. “Sorry you had to give up a college party to be stuck back at a high school one.”
“Oh, you’re in college?” I asked. “Where do you go?”
“No,” Nikki said, holding her hands up in the air, silencing us. “No college talk. I finally got my Princeton application done, by the skin of my teeth, and I do not want to think about school. Any school, at all. Not this weekend. I need a break. Pleeeeassse.” Nikki was applying early action, and the deadline was tomorrow. She’d been majorly stressing out the past few days.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “How about movies—is that okay?”
Nikki nodded. “Acceptable.”
“Fine, will we be seeing you in anything else?” I asked Ty.
“Not on screen, but I am doing a musical at sch—the place that shall not be mentioned.”
“Oh yeah? What show?”
“I’m in Mary Poppins.”
“No way!” I shouted. “I love Mary Poppins. It was the first Broadway musical I ever saw. The only Broadway musical, actually. Who do you play?”
“Bert.”
I may have let out a small gasp. “He’s my favorite.”
“Mine too.”
“Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-ee,” I sang, channeling the chimney-sweep character.
“And that, my friends,” Nikki announced, “is my cue to go get a drink.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Are you saying my singing is scaring you away?”
She tapped the rim of my cap so that it covered my eyes. “That is exactly what I’m saying.”
Avery took Ty’s cup from him. “I’ll get us refills. Want anything, Cam?”
I shook my head.
“Okay, we’ll be right back.” Nikki led her to the drinks table.
“My singing was not that bad,” I protested once it was just me and Ty.
Ty winked. “I’m just glad you weren’t at auditions—you would have beat me out for the part.”
“I would’ve been stiff competition. Ya know, I’ve probably seen the original movie a hundred times.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” he said, leaning closer and whispering, “but I’ve still never seen it.”
“You what? No? No! You have to. Dick Van Dyke is amazing.”
He laughed. It was a nice laugh—deep, throaty. “I know, I know, I know.”
“Promise me you’ll watch the movie. It’s soooo good.”
“Promise.”
The familiar beat of Kevin Wayward started playing, and Terri hooted. I could see her arms raised in the air. I couldn’t let her do our moves alone.
“Ty, it was really nice to meet you, but I have an interpretive dance to do.”
I knew he probably had questions, but I didn’t have time to answer them. I wasn’t choosing a guy over my best friend.
“Don’t start without me!” I yelled as I made my way over to Terri. I lifted my arms to match hers. “We’re a chipmunk short. Where’s Simon?”
“Around.”
“We need to find her.” I grabbed Terri’s hand and took our interpretive dance on the road, roaming around trying to find Grace.
We discovered her in the corner of the room kissing Derrick Walker, who was dressed as Harry Potter.
I let out a gasp and threw my hand over my mouth. I hadn’t meant to interrupt, but they heard me. Both of them looked in our direction.
“Don’t mind us,” I said, pulling Terri away. “Go back to kissing the Boy Who Lived.”
“Wait,” Grace called out. “Hey,” she said, joining us.
“Why are you over here?” I asked her. “Go hang out with
Derrick.”
“That—that’s nothing,” she said.
Terri wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “It didn’t look like nothing.”
Grace chewed her lip. It was her tell. She was hiding something, something other than making out with Derrick at the party.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Whenever I mention Derrick, you get all weird. You’ve been doing it for weeks.”
“It’s just, it’s just … nothing.”
“Spill it,” I said.
“All right.” She looked so serious, but she still had the Simon glasses on. It made it hard to keep a straight face while looking at her.
“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” I said.
“Well … Promise you won’t get mad?” she asked.
That was never a good start. I had no idea what I was in store for now. Any laughter I was feeling disappeared with her last words. “Just tell us.”
“Okay.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Derrick and I are kind of serious. Pretty much since the beginning of the year. I was going to tell you,” she said quickly, before either Terri or I could interrupt. “It was just … you were so upset about Marc, I didn’t want to rub it in that I had a boyfriend. I thought I’d wait a little, and then you were really determined to find someone new, so I thought why not wait until you found him.” She paused slightly and opened her eyes to peek at me. “And then you met Spence, and I was going to say something, but oh God. Okay, don’t take this wrong. I didn’t think he was good for you, and I was worried that if you thought I had a boyfriend, you’d stay in the relationship longer.”
I felt numb. I just stared at her and the words kept tumbling from her mouth. “You were so set on having a boyfriend, and kept saying how not having one was the worst, so I thought it would be easier for you if I wasn’t part of a couple, either.”
I felt like she’d dropped a cement brick on my head. “You’ve had a boyfriend and didn’t tell us?”
“I wanted to.”
Terri looked like she was about to say something, but then stopped.
The crappy feeling that was overtaking my body multiplied. “You knew, too, didn’t you?” I asked her.
“Don’t blame her,” Grace said before Terri could answer. “I begged her not to tell.”
Finding Mr. Better-Than-You Page 17