How to Outfox Your Friends When You Don't Have a Clue

by Jess Keating

  “What’s up?” I asked. Already the weight on my shoulders felt lighter, and I was able to suck in a deep breath. Liv was inside. Ashley was outside. It was all fine.

  Better than fine.

  I grinned as Ashley handed me a small, silvery box tied tight with a blue ribbon.

  “What’s this?” I asked. I know that you’re probably supposed to expect presents on your birthday, but if Past Ana could see me actually getting a gift from Ashley, she would probably flip her biscuit.

  “What do you think it is?! It’s for your birthday! Open it!” Ashley said. Her smile was tight with excitement as she rubbed her hands together. The wind picked up, sending her hair cascading over her shoulders in a breezy wave.

  I tugged the thin blue ribbon around the box. It wasn’t heavy, which made me even more nervous. Carefully lifting the lid, I peeked inside and pulled out some of the icy-blue tissue paper.

  “The lady at the gift shop wrapped it,” she said, wringing her hands. “Hurry uuuppp!”

  Finally, I dug through the paper to find a teensy silver cord. A silver crocodile was attached to it, topped with a glittery green gemstone.

  “It’s beautiful!” I gaped. “Is it a necklace?” I gingerly lifted it out of the box. The silver sparkled in the midday autumn sun.

  “A bracelet,” she said. “I saw it in the zoo gift shop, and I knew I had to get it for you. I mean, it’s a crocodile and all. Don’t feel too special though.” She lifted her arm to show off a gold bracelet. A teensy gold shark glittered back at me. “I got one too. A shark, obviously.” She clicked her tongue.

  “I love it!” She helped me do up the teensy clasp. It was the perfect size, not too big and not extra dangly so I’d be getting it caught in everything. My heart squeezed with happiness.

  “We match,” Ashley said, lifting her eyebrows. “Never thought that would happen, huh? You have to admit, sharks are better, but—”

  My stomach dropped as the lighthearted look in Ashley’s eyes morphed into one of shock.

  “What?” I whirled around to follow her gaze, but it only took a nanosecond to see what had Ashley so surprised.

  My blood turned to ice.

  Liv was staring at us, her mouth dropped open.

  Chapter 15

  Night snakes are rear fanged, which means their fangs are located at the back of their mouths instead of the front.

  —Animal Wisdom

  Great. So not only are there snakes with nasty, obvious fangs, there are also snakes with secret, hidden fangs. There’s a surprise I don’t want to get, thankyouverymuch.

  Liv was ten feet away, but she was already stumbling back. Her fists were clenched, and her eyebrows were knit together in a harsh, dark line. “What the hell, Ana?” she spat. Her eyes darted back and forth from me to Ashley.

  I tried to open my mouth to speak, but the spazzy fear had already taken me over. Behind Liv, Bella was standing like she’d seen a ghost. Her mouth hung open in a tiny O, and her eyes were full of questions.

  Just keep it together.

  My thoughts whizzed around like a balloon with the air let out of it. This was a silly misunderstanding, and there was no way I could let it ruin everything. I just had to think of something that made perfect sense.

  “Liv! Hi!” I said, waving her over. Play it cool. “We were—”

  “No, I think I pretty much have it figured out. You guys match. Why did you lie to me, Ana? I asked you!” I could tell from the way Liv’s fingers clenched and unclenched that she was trying desperately not to cry in front of us. It was the same thing she had done when her goldfish died in fifth grade, and the same thing she had done when her mom convinced her to get a perm in second grade that made her look like a fuzzy Pomeranian.

  It made my heart ache. But she was the one who had been acting so weird and making me feel like our friendship was hanging by a thread!

  “I didn’t lie! I—”

  “Stop it!” She cut me off again, her voice getting higher and squeakier. “Is this why you told me not to show up until two o’clock? So I wouldn’t know you were best buddies with stupid Sneerer Ashley?! It’s probably why you sent Bella to talk with me! To keep me occupied?!”

  “Whoa, now,” Ashley said, taking a step back. She scoffed and turned to me expectantly, the fire in her eyes practically burning me. She held her hands up too, which didn’t help matters because her shark bracelet was still the only thing I could see.

  And I’m pretty sure it was the only thing Liv could see too.

  “Can we please talk?” I begged. I knew how awful it looked. How would I feel if I’d caught Leilani giving a friendship bracelet to Liv? It was bad enough they texted every waking moment. But it wasn’t like that! I was trying to save our friendship, not ruin it!

  “Why don’t you just admit it?!” Liv seethed. Her face was flushed, and her voice was as sharp as glass.

  My throat ached. In all the years we’d been best friends, I couldn’t remember a single time when she’d glared at me with such hate in her eyes. Not even when I ruined her favorite blue sweater by accidentally spilling fake blood on it at Halloween.

  Despite what I’d done, had so much changed between us in such a short time that she could seriously hate me?

  “You lied to me about not being friends with Ashley, and you let me go on and on about her when we talk, all the while sneaking around and hanging out together behind my back! And now this!” She lashed out, pointing at my bracelet. It felt like a chain, pulling me down into the ground, instead of a beautiful gift. “Why didn’t you tell me from the start?”

  “I tried,” I croaked. “But every time I did, something happened, and I didn’t want you to get upset, especially since things are sort of weird between us. And Leilani—” My throat was dry, with every little breath tearing at me from the inside.

  Please, please don’t do this.

  Liv shook her head. “I wonder why that is! And don’t even mention Leilani! I never lied to you about anything! It’s not my fault she’s a better friend than you are right now,” she snapped, glaring at Ashley. Then she dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small present wrapped in purple paper.

  She had gotten me a present.

  My heart squeezed, desperate to turn back time so this whole mess hadn’t happened.

  “It’s nothing special,” she said. Her lip was quivering, and I could tell she was doing everything she could to stop from crying. “It’s not some fancy documentary or a silver bracelet or anything some celebrity would want with their awesome new life,” she choked out, wiping her nose on her sleeve angrily, tossing the present at my feet. It landed with a clatter onto the dead, brown grass. As she turned her heel and started to stomp away, she nearly plowed into Bella.

  Tears stung in my eyes as I stood, staring after Liv and sniffling like an idiot. What the heck happened to us?! We were supposed to be friends! Liv and I had fought before, but this felt different. Friends didn’t run off when things got sucky.

  Friends listened to each other.

  They give each other a chance.

  Beside me, Ashley was shaking her head. “That was low, Ana,” she said bitterly. “You’re not going to have any friends if you keep treating them like that.”

  I wiped my eyes as I picked up Liv’s gift, tearing off the wrapping. An old picture—the two of us at my first-grade birthday party, beaming and hanging off each other wearing matching pink feather boas—stared back at me. A sob caught in my throat. How could two people who used to be so close end up so broken?

  “I’m so sorry, guys.” I sniffled. “I didn’t know what else to do, and everything’s been so bad since Liv got here. I…I’m sorry. I won’t put you in the middle like that again.”

  Bella sighed, shoulders slumped. “I don’t mind being in the middle,” she said. “That’s what friends are for. But lying to
us is pretty awful.”

  “I promise I won’t do it again,” I vowed. And honestly, I meant it.

  “You better not,” Ashley said. Her voice was tight, but I could tell by the way her face softened that she didn’t hate me. At least I hoped so.

  “Forgive me?” I asked.

  Ashley scoffed. “Oh, go get her,” she urged. “Yes, I forgive you. But standing here and snotting all over yourself isn’t going to fix anything, right?”

  Ashley was right. Apologizing again to both of them, I sucked in a breath and took off in a run.

  I had to catch up with her.

  I had to talk to her.

  I had to save us.

  “Liv!” I shouted. “Wait up!” I scrambled over the cobblestone, nearly twisting my ankle in the process. Leaping over an empty bench, I tried to take a shortcut through a mulched garden area to cut her off before she made it past the penguin exhibit. I couldn’t let our friendship break like this. I had to figure out a way to be friends with everyone—and a good friend too—without lying or losing anyone along the way.

  And you know what?

  It might have actually worked if my left shoelace hadn’t come untied.

  Instead of sailing over the bench gracefully, my lace caught in one of the teensy slots between the wood. My shoe stayed put, but the yank from the stuck lace was enough to turn my attempt at a Superman impression into more of a clumsy flamingo. I toppled to the ground, landing on my wrist.

  Cra-a-a-c-k!

  The sick crunch seemed to echo through me. Had I broken the bench? Stars popped in my vision, and my head felt like it weighed as much as an elephant. I was going to throw up. I tried to shove myself up from my face-plant position to turn back and look, but my arm wouldn’t cooperate. A sharp, icy pain shot through me.

  “Oww!” I fumbled on my elbow. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Wrists shouldn’t feel like this.

  “Hey, loser!” Daz yelled from beside the hyenas. He was standing next to Kevin with an armful of presents. Concern clouded his face as he realized that I wasn’t fooling around. The panicked, terrified look on my face probably tipped him off.

  “Are you okay? Mom! Come ’ere!” he yelped, rushing over to me. Behind me, Ashley rounded the corner where I’d just become the worst stuntwoman in history.

  Daz, Mom, and Ashley all knelt beside me, while Kevin stood a few feet away. Mom’s face was white, but she spoke fast. “Okay, hun. Where does it hurt?” Her lips squished together as she gingerly pulled up my sleeve to inspect my wrist. I’d seen her make the same face when she was inspecting the fox for injuries. Was I broken like him? I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.

  My stomach turned as I saw how angry and swollen my wrist looked already.

  Ouch, ouch, ouch.

  “It hurts!” I hissed, hardly able to find enough air through the pain to speak.

  “Oh, man!” Daz said, his eyes widening. “Should I call 911?”

  I looked back to Mom. If she thought I would be all right, then I knew I would be.

  My heart skipped with fear when she frowned at him. “No, but I’m going to take Ana to the emergency room right away. I need you to stay here with Dad and help out, okay? Kevin, please go inside and ask the staff for some ice from the freezer.” She turned back to me, gripping me gently on my shoulder. I blinked away tears as people from the party and zoo visitors started to notice us. They milled about aimlessly, trying not to stare. I could practically hear the confused thoughts.

  There’s that girl whose best friend ditched her.

  She deserved it, I bet. For being such a liar.

  I quaked under the pain, leaning back into my mother with a whimper. I didn’t care that everyone could see me crying, because it felt like so much more than my wrist was hurting.

  “It’s okay. I think you’ve got a broken wrist. We’ll get you fixed up, I promise.” The way she looked deep into my eyes to reassure me made my throat tight. “Sit tight and try to think happy thoughts until we can get some painkillers into you.”

  Settling into her arms, I did my best not to cry anymore, but all of my happy thoughts seemed to skitter away on the wind like the dead leaves on the ground beside me. I’d wrecked my friendship. Wrecked my wrist.

  And I’d only been thirteen for a few hours.

  Chapter 16

  When it is in danger, the short-horned lizard will make capillaries around its eyes explode, shooting predators with its own blood to startle them.

  —Animal Wisdom

  Well, that’s the world’s strangest party trick right there.

  Go figure that the one time I have to go to the hospital for something serious, it’s on my bleeping birthday.

  And of course, when I got there I looked like I’d been dragged through a pig pen, with tears streaming down my face and matted hair from my leap of idiocy from that bench in the zoo. And yes, everything with Liv seemed to crash onto me at exactly the same time as my wrist broke, so not only was I in actual bone-hurty pain, but I also had that horrible heart pain that even the best medication in the world can’t fix.

  To top it all off, I ended up getting the hot doctor at the emergency room. No way that I could get an old doctor with gray hair who looks like a grandpa, so I could feel somewhat better about myself.

  No.

  I had to get the guy that looked like a Ken doll, with perfect hair that lit up in an auburn wave under those horrible fluorescent lights.

  And he smelled like peaches.

  Are you surprised?

  “A little bird told me that it’s your thirteenth birthday,” he said. He checked his chart. “Ana Jane Wright.” He stretched out his hand to shake my non-broken one. I cringed at the movement, unable to find any words. So much more than my wrist felt broken.

  “I’m Dr. Carriso,” he introduced himself. “I’m going to make sure that you get out of here unscathed and back to normal, okay?”

  I nodded glumly. Normal hasn’t ever been my thing, but it wasn’t worth mentioning. Especially since my version of normal would never be the same again with Liv so angry at me.

  “We were at her birthday party,” Mom said, giving me a sympathetic look. With everyone still at the party, Mom thought it would be best if Dad stayed and supervised with Grandpa, while the two of us came here. That meant I was not only missing hanging out with my friends, but also that I wouldn’t get to blow out the candles on my own cake with everyone.

  Dr. Carriso gave me a warm smile. “Not the best way to ring in your thirteenth year, is it? Mind if I take this off? We can’t have you wearing any jewelry for the X-ray, I’m afraid. We can give it to your mom for safekeeping.” He started to lift my sleeve, revealing the silver crocodile bracelet Ashley had given me. A grim thought rang out inside of me, telling me this was probably punishment for accepting it in the first place.

  As he led me to the X-ray machine, a prickly fear swept over me. “Is this going to hurt?” I asked. For the first time, I thought about how the animals at Safe Haven felt, feeling hurt and wondering if they were going to be okay. It wasn’t a nice feeling at all.

  He shook his head. “Definitely not. You’re a real trooper for handling the pain so well already. The X-ray takes a picture for us. It doesn’t hurt at all. I promise.”

  I swallowed down my fear as he and Mom stepped out of the room while the picture was taken. A few moments later, I was staring at the inside of my arm.

  “Well, the good news is, everything is going to be perfectly all right,” he said to Mom. His dimples were starting to remind me of Kevin. What would Kevin say about what had happened with Liv? I hadn’t even gotten to spend any time with him at my party, and now he was probably already on his way to visit his brother.

  “It’s definitely broken.” He turned to me.

  “That’s the good news?” I asked grimly.
“What’s the bad news then?” The realization fell over me like a damp, sticky spiderweb. I knew darn well what happened when you broke a limb. I was going to be like that little squirrel I saw at the center. Only not nearly as cute. “I’m going to have to wear a cast, aren’t I?”

  “I’m afraid so,” he said. He began preparing the materials. “But don’t be too scared. It doesn’t hurt, and you only have to keep it on for six weeks.”

  I slumped against the hard white pillow on the examination bed. “Six weeks?! That’s forever!”

  Why did I jump over that stupid bench?!

  “It will fly by,” Mom cut in. “Think of how fast time has flown since you started school! It will be off before you know it!”

  I knew she was doing her best to make me feel better, but all I could think was that I was going to be stuck with this eyesore of a cast for ages. Six weeks might as well be six years.

  “And just think,” Dr. Carriso said. “When you break a bone, it often grows back even stronger than it was.”

  I chewed on this as he began the process of casting my wrist. If bones grew back stronger when you broke them, what else did? Did friendships become stronger after they broke too?

  When the cast was finished, I felt like I was dragging around an extra hundred pounds. I couldn’t help but think about what Mr. Nicholson had said about influences, and how they can change how we act or what we do. I mean, if I hadn’t chased after Liv, my wrist would have still been fine. But I had to, because things had gone so wrong. So my friendship with Liv actually influenced me to do something colossally dumb, like make a flying leap over that bench. But on the other hand (maybe one without a cast), if Liv had been normal, I wouldn’t have felt like I had to hide the truth from her. All of the examples we talked about in class seemed to be all good influences. But what about bad ones? Can a good influence make a bad thing happen? It was all so confusing.

  I watched as he secured the last section, wrapping the thick plaster covering around my thumb. A teensy feeling of relief buoyed me: at least it was my left hand, and not my writing hand or my doodling hand.