“So you know the cheese popcorn everyone got as a party favor from Chloe?” she went on. “I asked if he wanted something new to try with pudding.”
“Clever!” I said.
“He came over and realized that I live near the paintball course.”
“And, of course, you just love paintball,” I said, grinning.
“I do now,” she said. “It was so much fun, and look!” She rolled up her sleeve to reveal a purple bruise on her arm. “Trevor did that with a paintball.” With the way she smiled, anyone would have thought he’d tattooed his name there. “We’re going out again next Friday.”
“Awww. That’s great,” I said. “And will you serve pudding at the wedding?”
She smirked and rolled her sleeve down. “Funny. But we haven’t told anyone we’ve started dating yet just in case of you-know-who.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re not really scared of Chloe, are you? From what I hear about your power at school, she should be afraid of you.”
Emily drew herself up, looking offended. “I’m not scared of anybody, but if a girl like that gets upset, she can be dangerous. I think you know what I mean.” Emily gave me a pointed look.
“True.”
“And with me being the Champs assistant and him being a student, Chloe could say I’m favoring him or that my step-mom’s favoring him.”
“Got it,” I said, zipping my lips together. “I won’t say a thing.”
She smiled gratefully. “And while we’re on Chloe, have you talked to her at all?”
“Since I introduced her to sleepwear swimming?” I shook my head. “I don’t think she’ll be speaking to me again any time soon.”
But I was wrong.
During PE, when everyone lined up for badminton, Chloe chose a spot behind me.
“Hey,” she said with a forced smile.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“Well, I’m not in wet pajamas, so pretty good,” she said. “What about you? Been causing trouble?” She crossed her arms and glared at me. “Or is that something you save for parties?”
I groaned. “You really want to do this now?” When she didn’t answer, I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry you fell in the pool, but everything turned out okay.”
“Lucky for you,” she snapped. “The only reason I haven’t told everyone you pushed me—”
I held up my hands. “Wait. I didn’t push you.”
Her lip curled maliciously. “In my version of the story, you did.”
It was my turn to cross my arms. “And how many people have heard your version?”
“Nobody … yet. But only because I need you on my team to win the Champs Championship and to get Trevor.”
“Trevor?” I repeated.
“He agreed to join only if you would,” she said bitterly.
“Smart guy,” I said. “I’m not sure I’d want to be alone with you either.”
Anger sparked in Chloe’s eyes. “Trevor and I will be spending a lot of time together. So much, in fact, he won’t be able to help but fall for me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And have you been practicing an evil laugh to go with that plan of yours?”
She narrowed her eyes. “If you don’t help me win this contest, Alex, you’ll see just how evil I can get.”
Chapter 11
I didn’t have much time to focus on Chloe’s threat. I was too busy thinking about Mom’s note and keeping up with schoolwork, Champs, and the hockey boosters.
I even took the boosters to a high school match on Wednesday. Of course, I had to make it the girl’s team so they’d pay attention to the actual game, but they stayed in their seats even after they ran out of hot chocolate. And seeing how interested the boosters were gave me a great idea to have a hockey scrimmage to raise money for the Champs Championship.
That week’s Champs lessons were on confidence and goal-setting, and at the end of class on Thursday, Ms. Success made an announcement.
“As you all know and should be eagerly awaiting, the Champs Championship is two weekends from now.”
She paused while the class clapped and cheered.
“I’m hoping you’ll make your parents and me proud.” She continued, “But mainly me because I’ve got a documentary on the line.” She nodded to Emily, who handed out a stack of papers. “By the way, I need all of your parents to sign these filming waivers.”
While everyone read the paperwork, she walked up and down the aisles.
“Today you’ll sign up for teams, and no.” She held up a hand. “I can’t join you, but thank you for asking.”
She leaned against the window. “I’m an impartial judge, and I want all of my students to win. I can’t be bought with chocolates or fruit baskets. Mainly because I don’t like them, but also because they’re wrong.”
“Are gift certificates wrong?” someone asked.
The class laughed, and Ms. Success chuckled and wagged a finger. “Depends on the amount.” She turned to the rest of us. “Now, if all of you remember, to compete in the championship, you must first raise the money. On … your … own.”
She frowned to show she was serious. “The fund-raising is an opportunity to utilize all the skills you’ve learned in this class. It’s also the one time I will not accept money from your parents. You must earn this. Understood?”
We all nodded, and she clapped her hands together. “Then let’s assemble in teams of three.”
While everyone else scurried about, I kept my seat, uncertain of what to do. I needed a team obviously, but I wasn’t sure if I should suffer the pain of being with Chloe or try and force myself in with strangers. The only trouble was, everyone else seemed to have already established a group.
As I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself, a ball of paper flew through the air and hit me in the forehead. The speed and accuracy meant it could only have come from Nick, and I turned to stick my tongue out at him.
“Go sign us up!” he shouted, pointing to the line at the front of the class.
I raised my eyebrows and leaned closer, not sure if I’d heard correctly. “What?”
“Go sign Nick and me up!” said Parker. “We’re in the middle of a paper football game.”
I scowled, realizing what they meant. “Go sign your own team up!”
Nick and Parker exchanged a puzzled look, and Nick waved me over.
“What’s with the attitude? You’re the only person on the team who isn’t busy so why can’t you do it?”
“On the team?” I repeated. “Wait … you want us to compete together?” I couldn’t help smiling.
“Well, yeah. It makes sense since all of our fates are intertwined,” said Parker.
“Very dramatic,” said Nick.
I was thrilled and flattered that my brothers wanted me on their team, but I didn’t dare give them the satisfaction of knowing it. “All right, all right.” I rolled my eyes and went to get in line for the sign-up sheet.
“Hey, Alex!” Chloe hurried toward me with Trevor right behind. “You don’t have to add our team. I already did. We’re going to kick so much butt!”
“Oh!” I looked from her to Trevor. She’d actually sucked him in. “You guys are on the same team, huh?”
Trevor nodded but didn’t look particularly thrilled.
“Well, I’m really sorry,” I said, mainly to Trevor. “But my brothers asked me to join them, and I couldn’t say no to my family.”
Trevor frowned but nodded. “I under—”
“You what?!” squeaked Chloe.
Once again, I was blessed with getting to watch her undergo a nuclear meltdown.
“But you and I already agreed to be teammates! Forget your brothers! I want to win, Alex!”
“I know you do,” I said. “But my brothers and I—”
“Can do something without one another for once,” she snapped. “You owe me this, Alex!”
Trevor had wisely shifted several feet away to inspect a pencil sharpener.
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nbsp; “I don’t owe you anything!” I said.
Chloe got within inches of my face. “In case you’ve already forgotten, I was the one who bragged about your leadership skills to Ms. Success!”
“Yeah, after you lied to her about what we’d been working on,” I shot back. “Don’t forget that I saved you.”
Chloe’s face turned bright red. “And I didn’t tell anyone when you pushed me in the pool!”
I gritted my teeth. “I didn’t push you, but I should have! You were acting crazy!”
“You were trying to steal—”
“I never tried to steal Trevor!” I shouted. “Emily did! And because she’s not a raving lunatic, she actually got him!”
I paused for breath, and it was then that I realized the entire class was watching us. The three biggest sets of eyes in the room belonged to Ms. Success, Trevor, and Emily.
Nick cleared his throat and scooted past me. “Maybe I should just sign us up then.”
Ms. Success pointed to Chloe and me, curling her finger inward. “Why don’t we talk in my office?”
With one final glare at me, Chloe stormed out the door. After an apologetic smile to the class, I started to follow, but Emily stopped me. Judging by the scowl on her face, this wouldn’t be a go-get-’em-tiger talk.
“How could you?” she hissed, her voice shaking with anger. “I asked you to keep one secret….”
I nodded vigorously. “I know, and I’m sorry. It just—”
She thrust a hand in my face to silence me. “You always have to have the last word, Alexis, but this time it’s my turn. Friendship over.”
Emily turned on her heel and walked away. And just like that I was back to being lonely Alex, the girl with no friends.
Except this time, it actually made me a little sad.
The bad thing about having a class with my brothers was that it gave them an extra chance to be nosy. After Ms. Success scolded us for our chump behavior and threatened to kick us out, I left the building to join Nick and Parker.
“You do know the goal is to make friends, right?” asked Parker.
Nick punched him. “I said ‘be supportive,’ not ‘be yourself.’”
“And anyway, I’m not the problem,” I said.
“I don’t know,” said Parker. “I’m pretty sure there were two girls back there trying to explode your head with their minds.”
I let out an exasperated grunt. “Don’t you have bigger things to worry about?”
“Like what?” Parker asked with a frown.
“Like this.” I licked my hand and then rubbed it in his hair.
“Augh!” Parker sprinted off to check his reflection in a nearby car window. But unfortunately, that was only one brother down.
“What did you do to make Emily so mad?” asked Nick.
I threw my hands in the air. “Why does everyone assume it’s my fault? Emily shouldn’t be keeping her stupid relationship with Trevor a secret in the first place.”
“Maybe not, but is that really your choice?” asked Nick.
“It was an accident,” I said. “But Emily’s such a drama queen that she doesn’t see it that way. It’s always about her and how things affect her.” The more I talked about it, the more worked up I was getting. I didn’t even see Chloe exit the building until she brushed past me.
I felt a momentary pang of guilt because she might have heard me mention Emily, but I quickly put it out of my mind and kept going. While we waited for Dad to show up, I rattled off a list of Emily’s faults until Nick finally put a hand over my mouth.
“You were done venting a while ago,” he said. “Now you’re being mean.”
I squirmed away. “I am not! I was just pointing out—”
“Good friends don’t,” he interrupted. “They make each other seem flawless.”
“And the way you’re describing Emily, she’s a pitchfork short of being the devil,” said Parker, rejoining us.
I frowned at him but didn’t say anything. I hated to admit it, but both he and Nick were right. Instead of just being upset about this one event, I was adding it to a pile of Emily’s other mistakes.
Nick noticed my silence and nudged me. “You and Emily are friends, right?”
“I don’t know. Maybe?” I sighed. “If we are friends, I’m apparently not a very good one.”
“That’s all we’ve been trying to say,” said Parker.
I punched him in the shoulder.
“This is new for Alex,” said Nick, giving me a squeeze. “She’s working on it.”
I smiled gratefully at him and wondered if this was the time to mention Mom’s note. But before I could, Dad pulled up to the curb.
“How was Champs?” he asked as we climbed in.
“Ms. Success is exploiting us for her film career,” said Parker.
“I’ve made some new enemies,” I added.
“And I accidentally swallowed the eraser off my pencil,” said Nick.
Dad stared blankly at all of us. “But did the three of you learn anything?”
“I learned not to chew on my pencil,” Nick said.
Dad sighed. “Well, that was money well spent.”
“Speaking of money,” said Parker, “we need to work on coming up with our three hundred-dollar championship entry fee.”
Nick nodded. “My coach has some team laundry I could do that he’d pay me one hundred dollars for, so I’m all set with my share.”
“I’m impressed,” said Parker.
Nick waved him away. “It’s just laundry.”
“No, I’m impressed you could divide three hundred by three,” said Parker with a wicked grin.
“Wait,” said Dad. “So the three of you are on a team together?”
“Yep,” I said.
“By choice?” asked Dad.
“Of course,” said Nick with a laugh.
Dad beamed at all of us, and Parker groaned.
“Don’t get weird and sentimental, Dad.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, forcing a serious face. “Carry on.”
Parker gave a haughty sniff. “Well, I’ve thought of a few fund-raising ideas that harness the power of my intelligence.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“For a ten-dollar fee, people can give me their homework and I’ll—”
“False,” interrupted Dad. “You won’t be doing anyone else’s homework. In fact, I’m shocked you’d even consider it.”
“Why are you shocked?” asked Parker. “We haven’t learned about honesty in Champs yet.”
We all laughed.
“What other ideas did you have, Parker?” asked Nick.
“None.” Parker frowned. “All of mine involve slightly illegal efforts to aid my fellow man.”
“Huh?” asked Nick.
“All his ideas involve cheating,” I said. “I, on the other hand, have a perfectly legal idea. A hockey scrimmage, ten dollars per person to play. I talked to the manager of The Iceman, and he said I could rent one of the rinks for seventy-five dollars. If we can get two teams of twelve together, that’s a one hundred and sixty-five dollar profit.”
Parker rubbed his chin. “Not bad.”
“Yeah, that’s a clever idea,” said Nick.
I smiled and patted myself on the back. “I agree. Well done, Alex!”
“What does the winner get?” asked Dad.
“Get?” I stopped my self-congratulation and frowned. “I didn’t think of that. I don’t suppose they’d be happy just knowing they won?”
“Not unless you can buy pizza with happiness,” said Nick.
“You could try getting some sponsors,” said Dad. “You know, local businesses to donate something for being mentioned in your program.”
“Dad, this is a scrimmage,” I said. “There’s not going to be a program. If anything, it’ll be a torn-out piece of notebook paper with a grease stain on it.”
“You could make a banner, though,” said Nick. “And hang it on the boards.”
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“And mention the sponsors on flyers you use to advertise the scrimmage,” said Parker.
“A banner?” I repeated. “I could actually put something I learned in hockey boosters to use.”
Nick poked Parker. “So then it’s up to you to come up with the rest of the money.”
“Thirty-five dollars? No problem,” said Parker.
“And since your portion is less, you have to help Alex find sponsors for her scrimmage,” Nick continued.
Parker rolled his eyes. “Fine. We’ll hit the pavement this weekend. But if my running blisters reopen, I won’t be pleasant to live with.”
I nodded. “Just like any other day.”
Chapter 12
On Saturday, I was impressed to see Parker up and actually ready to go before noon. I was not impressed, however, to see him wearing our Champs shirt.
“Why are you dressed like that?” I asked as he left the bathroom.
“So businesses will find us more credible,” he said. “They’ll assume we’re with an organization, and they’ll be more likely to donate when they see our T-shirts.”
“Our T-shirts?” I asked. “I think we can get the same message across if just one of us sports the star.”
Parker crossed his arms. “But if I’m the only one in a Champs T-shirt, I’ll look like an idiot.”
“Yes,” I said, “but maybe people will take pity on us and give money toward getting you a better wardrobe.”
When he didn’t budge, I sighed and went to change. After I re-emerged, I headed downstairs to find him eating breakfast and studying a map.
“What’s that for?” I poured myself a bowl of cereal and joined him.
“I’m analyzing the businesses in the area near the rink,” he said. “We should start with them, since their proximity makes them most likely to help.”
“Uh-huh.” I read over his shoulder. “And what could … Drapes ’n’ More donate that a teenager would possibly want?”
He frowned at me. “Obviously we won’t ask all the businesses.”
“I don’t know,” I teased. “I think Toilet Town could make us a nice offer.”
Parker dropped his map. “Well, what do you suggest?”
“The places close to the rink were a good idea,” I admitted, “but the places popular with kids are better.”
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