“Never tell anyone you’re scared of butterflies,” I said.
“Ummm … not exactly,” said Ezra.
“Okay then. The moral is: Never be scared of butterflies in the first place because, come on, that’s just silly.”
Jude sighed. “The point is that you can’t force Cora not to play with Margot. You can’t control other people.”
“Well, that’s just not true at all,” I said. “Haven’t you ever heard of hypnosis?”
“You’re going to hypnotize Cora?” Jude raised his eyebrows.
“It’s an idea,” I said. “I’m full of ideas. They don’t call me the president of the Fix-It Friends for nothing.”
“Nobody calls you that,” Jude said. “Not one single person.”
“Just give Cora some space,” said Ezra. “Leave her alone for a few days.”
“Orrrrrrrrr,” I said, getting excited, “I could just try to be more fun! More fun than Margot.”
Jude and Ezra shook their heads.
But I ignored them. I mean, they’re smart and everything, but that doesn’t mean they’re always right.
Chapter 13
The next morning, as I ate my cereal, I said to my mom, “Instead of having my birthday at the House of Bounce, can we have it at Disneyland?”
Mom laughed. Then she looked at my face and said, “Oh, you’re serious?”
“Fine,” I sighed. “How about Las Vegas?”
Mom blinked slowly. “In Nevada?”
“I don’t know where it is!” I said, annoyed. “I just know you can win a lot of money there! I think you can maybe ride elephants, too. Can we take Cora?”
My mom put her hand on my forehead. “Are you feeling okay, honey?” she asked.
“Just because I want to ride an elephant and win a lot of money so my birthday can be special, you think I’m sick? It’s no wonder my friends don’t want to come here! We never do anything fun!” And I stormed into my room to get dressed for school.
Mom came into my room a minute later.
“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” she asked.
I did. I really did. My mom is a therapist, and her whole entire job is to listen to people talk about their problems and try to make them feel okay.
But Mom is always telling me how important it is to be kind, and I thought she’d be disappointed in me because Margot was new and homesick and I wasn’t being very kind to her. So I just shook my head.
“Anything I can do to help?” she asked.
I thought for a second. “Do you have any clothes with a lot of zippers that I could borrow?”
Mom poked around in the dustiest corner of her closet and found her old motorcycle jacket. It was black leather and covered with cool zippers.
“This used to be my all-time favorite.” She smiled. “I haven’t worn it since I was … oh, probably since I was a teenager.”
She slid the jacket onto my shoulders and rolled up the sleeves. “It’s a little big on you, but I think it looks kind of great.”
“KIND of great?” I asked, looking in the mirror. “It looks awesome. It looks Tough with a capital T. A not-silent T. Thanks, Mom!”
* * *
I skipped into my classroom. I didn’t hang my zip-tastic jacket on the wall hook. I decided to keep it on all day. I couldn’t wait for Margot and Cora to see it!
I sat down and turned to Wren, who was sharpening his pencil.
“Like my jacket?” I asked him.
“No comment,” he replied.
“I’ll take that as a yes!” I said. After all, I was an optimist.
But just then is when I stopped being an optimist. Because just then is when I heard giggling and saw Margot and Cora walking through the door, side by side.
At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Instead of a pleated dress or poofy skirt, Cora was wearing jeans. I didn’t think she even owned jeans! Her jacket was unzipped, and, underneath it, I could see she was wearing a T-shirt. A bright green T-shirt.
Margot was wearing the exact same one.
Well, not the exact same one. The four sparkly white letters on the front were different. Margot’s letters said GOGO and Cora’s said COCO.
I sat in my seat and did not move a muscle. My whole body felt frozen and stiff. I felt like I was in Antarctica for real and had been turned to ice.
Chapter 14
When I unfroze, I marched right over to Cora and hissed, “I need to talk to you!”
So we asked Miss Mabel if we could go to the bathroom. I stormed into the hallway with Cora behind me.
“Are you okay?” she asked. Her big brown eyes were worried. “What’s wrong?”
I could not believe she didn’t already know. “You and Margot are wearing matching outfits! You changed your name to match hers!”
“Oh, this?” laughed Cora, looking down at her shirt. “Margot’s mom made it for me. I had to wear it. I didn’t want to be rude. But I didn’t think it would hurt your feelings. It’s just a T-shirt!”
“Ever since Margot got here, it’s been ‘Margot this’ and ‘Margot that’! And you’re acting different! You’re acting like her!”
“I’m just being nice to her because she’s new!” Cora protested. She was tugging on her curls, which is what she does when she gets nervous. “Miss Mabel told me to!”
“Yeah, but Miss Mabel didn’t tell you to ditch me!” I exclaimed. “She didn’t tell you to be an awful friend!”
My voice started to shake a little at the last part because I felt so sorry for myself.
“That’s a terrible thing to say!” said Cora. Her eyes filled up with tears. “You’re being so mean!”
“ME?” I saw Miss Mabel’s face peek out from the classroom, so I stopped shouting and started angry-whispering. “If I’m so mean, then maybe we just shouldn’t be friends anymore!”
I didn’t want to say it. I only said it because I wanted Cora to say, “What? No! Never! That would be the worst thing in the whole world! We’ll always be best friends!”
Instead she said, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we shouldn’t be friends anymore.”
Then she turned around and walked back into the classroom.
For a second, I just stood there in the hallway.
Then, all of a sudden, a big wave of sadness hit me. I felt like a sand castle getting smashed by a tsunami. I felt so terribly hurt and lonely, and I knew that in about two seconds, I would start to cry. So I ran as fast as I could to the bathroom. I locked myself in the stall, and I cried and cried for a long time.
I was in there for so long that Miss Mabel came in to check on me.
“Hey, lady,” she said, knocking on the stall I was in. “The rest of the class has gone off to music. Are you okay in there?”
I came out of the stall and walked over to the sink to splash some water on my face.
“I think life would be easier without friends,” I told Miss Mabel, “because they just hurt your feelings and make you feel bad.”
“You know what I think?” asked Miss Mabel. “I think sometimes friendships feel so simple, like the easiest thing in the world, and other times, they feel really, really hard.”
“This is one of those hard times,” I said, drying my face with a paper towel.
Miss Mabel was quiet for a minute. Then she said, “Hey, would you do me a favor? Mr. Aguta really needs some help with his kindergarten science classes this morning. They’re making scented playdough, and you know how much those little ones like to eat playdough.”
“They do,” I sniffed. “They really do.”
I spent all morning with the kindergartners. I looked at those happy five-year-old faces and thought, Life’s just easy-peasy for them. No backstabbing, no heartbreak.
“Enjoy it while you can, kids,” I said under my breath. “Enjoy it while you can.”
Chapter 15
By the time I was done helping Mr. Aguta, it was time for recess. I stood by the fence and watched Co
ra and Margot play hopscotch in their matching T-shirts, with matching smiles on their faces.
I figured Miss Tibbs would come over and tell me to “do something productive,” but Miss Tibbs was not paying the slightest bit of attention to me. She was doing something I had never seen her do before. She was talking on her phone—and smiling! Matthew Sawyer dropped a granola bar wrapper right next to her, and she didn’t even make him pick it up!
What is the world coming to? I thought.
Ezra and Jude walked up to me.
“Hey, are you okay?” asked Ezra.
“Some people have all the luck!” I complained. “Some people have been to Disneyland a billion times and have orange hair and their own rooms and adorable dogs and cool nicknames.”
“Play tag with us. Whatever kind you want,” said Jude.
“I don’t want to play tag!” I exclaimed. “What I want is a new best friend. If Cora has one, then I should, too—”
“Calm down, Ron—Veronica,” said Jude.
“Cora thinks she’s sooooooo special that I could never replace her. Ha! I can replace her in a second! There are plenty of kids exactly like Cora.”
At just that moment, who should pass by but Camille, dribbling a basketball.
“Hiya,” she said in her low, raspy voice.
“Eureka!” I shrieked.
Camille would be the perfect new BFF. She was exactly like her twin sister—only completely different!
I ran over to Camille and threw my arms around her.
Jude and Ezra just shook their heads and walked off.
“Cama Lama Ding Dong!” I squealed.
Camille looked around her and then she said, “Oh. You’re talking to me?”
I laughed loudly. “Of course, silly! Don’t you like your nickname?”
“A nickname’s usually shorter than the real name,” said Camille.
“Okay, Camelia Bedelia!” I said as I slung my arm around her shoulder.
“That’s still way longer,” she said.
“You’re so funny!” I cackled. “So what should we play today?”
“I’m just shooting hoops,” she said. “I know it’s not really your thing.”
“GREAT!” I said very loudly so Margot and Cora could hear me. “I just LOVE shooting hoops!”
I took a few steps back and opened my arms wide. “I’m open! Pass it!”
So she passed me the ball. And I kicked it back to her. I thought I did a pretty good job.
“Um, Veronica?” she said. “You don’t kick a basketball.”
“Sorry Camill-eon.” I laughed loudly. “Get it? Like the lizard?”
I looked over to the spot where Cora and Margot were, but they were not paying any attention to me. Not at all! So I grabbed Camille’s hand and dragged her over closer to them.
“Let’s play tag instead!” Margot and Cora were still not looking at me, so I shouted, “I KNOW A NEW GAME. IT’S CALLED BFF TAG! FOR BEST FRIENDS ONLY! SO IT’S GREAT FOR ME AND YOU, MY BEST FRIEND, RIGHT … CACA?”
Camille shook me off.
“Caca?” she said. “What kind of a nickname is that?”
“Cora is Coco, so I thought—”
“I don’t know what’s going on with you and Cora, but this is too weird for me. I’m not just a Cora substitute, you know!”
And then, to my amazement, she ran off.
To my greater amazement, Margot and Cora walked over to me then.
“Veronica, I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Margot said. “I’m really not trying to steal your BFF.”
“Yes, Cora is my BFF,” I said, “but only if those letters stand for ‘Baddest Friend Forever.’ So you can steal her all you want. Because she and I broke up.”
Cora gasped. This made me furious! She learned that sound effect from me!
“Good!” Cora said.
“Great!” I said back.
“Okay, I think everyone should just cool down down down,” Margot said.
“I have never been so happy to not be friends with someone in my whole life!” growled Cora.
“Me too!” I shouted. “Now I don’t have to pretend to like the terrible clothes you make.”
She gasped again. “And now I don’t have to pretend to like your horrible singing, which sounds like a cat crying!”
Then it was my turn to gasp. My heart was racing a million miles a minute, and I felt kind of dizzy.
“Cora Klein,” I growled at her. “I hate you!”
I was so furious that I stamped my foot as hard as I could. But instead of stomping the ground, my foot stomped on something slippery—the granola bar wrapper that Miss Tibbs hadn’t made Matthew Sawyer pick up. Before I knew what was happening, I was falling forward. My hands shot out in front of me, and that’s when I felt an awful, terrible pain in my left wrist.
I must have screamed really loudly, because a whole bunch of kids crowded around me, including Jude and Ezra. Then Miss Tibbs pushed through and looked at my wrist.
“It may be broken,” she said. “We’ll go to the nurse’s office, and I’ll call your parents.”
Chapter 16
“Ronny, honey!” said Mom as she rushed into the nurse’s office. I didn’t even care that she was calling me by my dumb nickname because I was so relieved to see her.
We took a taxi to the hospital, and that’s when I knew it was serious; Mom never lets us take taxis.
Dad was already waiting for us in the emergency room, and they both stayed by my side when the doctor examined me.
Guess what?
I did break my wrist. Well, I fractured it.
“Will I ever write again?” I asked the doctor in a whisper. He had wild, wispy white hair that stuck straight up, which reminded me of Albert Einstein. That made me think he was really smart and knew what he was doing.
“Aren’t you right-handed?” asked the doctor.
I nodded.
“Well, then, you can write now. The cast is only going on your left wrist.” He smiled. “You’ll need it on for four weeks or so. Then you’ll be as good as new. Plus, you can pick out the color you want your cast to be.”
They didn’t have turquoise, but they did have baby blue, which was the next best thing.
“You can have all your friends sign their names,” said the doctor. He thought this would cheer me up, but it just made me think of Cora.
My wrist was broken.
My friendship was broken.
It felt like everything was broken. Too broken for even me to fix it.
Chapter 17
It didn’t take long for me to find the silver lining to my broken wrist. I got to stay home from school! For four days!
The doctor said I could go back to school after a day, but I convinced Mom to let me stay home on Friday for an extra day. I told her my wrist hurt a lot, which was true. But what hurt even worse were my feelings. I did not want to see Cora Klein ever again. Or Margot. And I definitely didn’t want to see them hopscotching happily ever after together.
On those days home from school, I stayed at Nana and Nonno’s house. It’s my favorite thing to do because they spoil me rotten.
Nana made me alphabet soup and chocolate milk shakes every day.
Nonno taught me how to play games with an Italian deck of cards, which is much cooler than a regular deck. Instead of just hearts or spades, there are pictures of vicious snakes and stuff.
Nana even let me drink peppermint tea out of her special china cups from Italy.
“Your-a birthday’s-a comin’ up-a!” she said as we sipped. “Party-a time!”
“I may not have a party this year, Nana,” I said sadly.
“No?” she asked. “Why-a not?”
“Well, I can’t jump on the trampoline with this cast on, so I have to cancel the whole party. Plus, Minnie’s in Puerto Rico, and Cora’s…” I trailed off. “Cora’s gone, too.”
“Don’t-a worry, bella,” said Nana, hugging me so close that I could smell her nice
perfume and feel her pearls pressing into my forehead. “It’s-a gonna be O-a K-a.”
On Monday, after four fun days at home, Mom woke me up and told me to get dressed for school.
“Oh, but my wrist!” I protested. “I better take one more day off just to be sure I’m really recovered.”
Mom said, “Nice try, kiddo.” Then she pulled the covers all the way off me. “Hop to it!”
But I didn’t hop to it. I lay in my bottom bunk, moaning to myself.
Jude came in and said, “Are you throwing yourself a pity party?”
“Yes,” I said. “My birthday party’s canceled, so I might as well just have a pity party instead.” I moaned some more. “What am I going to do at recess? It’s going to be so terrible.”
Jude sighed and groaned and then he said, “Fine—Ezra and I will play with you. Happy now?”
“Not really,” I said. “Because you act like it’s just a huge favor.”
Jude sighed and groaned again and said in a funny voice, “Veronica Laverne Conti, won’t you please grant us the pleasure of your company today at recess? It would be an honor.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Was that your leprechaun voice?”
“Yeah,” said Jude. “Arnie taught it to me.”
“Ezra’s right. It is terrible.”
Jude threw a stuffed animal at me and laughed. I laughed, too. It felt better to have a plan for recess. Even if that plan involved my brother.
Chapter 18
When I walked into the classroom that morning, I saw that Miss Mabel had rearranged all the seats at all the tables. I was so relieved. Cora was in South America. Margot was in Europe. I was in Africa.
Wren had moved to Africa with me. I was happy that he was still sitting next to me. When you think of it, Wren is a relaxing person to be around. He is very predictable.
“Hi, Wren,” I said. “Anything exciting happen while I was gone?”
“Yes,” he replied.
I figured that was all he would say, but he kept talking. “Cora cried a lot the day you went to the hospital and so did Margot, and then the next day Miss Mabel changed all the tables. Also my dad decided not to be an accountant anymore, and instead he is going to be a pastry chef.”
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