Odd Girl In

by Jo Whittemore

  The course judge smiled. “Yes, you can.”

  Before he’d even picked up the first beam, Parker and I knew exactly what Nick had in mind.

  He was going to build a ramp.

  “Brilliant!” cried Parker.

  “Woohoo!” I cheered.

  Nick moved like lightning to angle all four beams side by side, against the platform.

  “Time?” he asked Parker.

  “Five minutes.”

  Nick rubbed his hands together and backed up. “Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for takeoff.”

  He sprinted toward his makeshift ramp, running up the beams. But with nothing to hold them together, the pieces of wood started to shake. Just as Nick reached the top, one of the beams under his right foot separated from the others. Nick’s right side lurched downward as he started to fall, the entire inside of his leg scraping the next beam over.

  He screamed in pain and scrabbled against the remaining beams to reach the top.

  “Help him!” Parker leapt forward and took hold of one of Nick’s arms. I dug my fingers into the other and we pulled with all our might.

  Nick flopped onto the platform and rolled onto one side, clutching his leg.

  “Nick!” I dropped down next to him, but he turned away.

  “I’m good,” he said through clenched teeth. But when he pulled his hands off his leg, I could see an ugly, red abrasion that went from his thigh to his calf. “Time?” he croaked.

  “We’ve got three minutes,” said Parker. He licked his lips and swallowed. “But we can take it slow, Nick. We don’t have to win.”

  It was a big sacrifice for Parker to make, and my throat tightened as I nodded in agreement. “We can cross the finish line whenever you want.”

  Nick smiled at both of us. “Thanks, guys. But if we don’t win, how can I afford my crutches?”

  Parker and I laughed, and Nick reached up to grab his star. Then the three of us dangled our legs over the edge of the platform and dropped to the ground. When we emerged from the forest, it was to a cheering crowd … and a time of thirty-five minutes and fourteen seconds. After the first round, we were in the lead.

  Chapter 17

  Of course, the competition wasn’t over yet, but everyone knew it was between our team and Chloe’s.

  “You’re doing great!” said Dad, hugging the three of us and being extra careful with Nick. While he and my brothers went to have an EMT check Nick’s leg, I wandered over to Emily. She was chewing on a fingernail and staring into space, a frown causing her forehead to wrinkle.

  “What do you think?” I asked, holding my arms open. “Not too bad for an Energetic Evins.”

  Emily pulled herself back to the present and nodded.

  “Come on,” I nudged her. “You can’t break your vow of silence for a congratulations? Are you upset because we might beat Trevor?”

  Emily turned her face toward the sun before meeting my eyes. “Alexis, I got a phone call about ten minutes ago. From your mom.”

  My heart pounded as fast as it had in the obstacle course. “What? She … she called back? Did you talk to her?”

  Emily shook her head. “I thought about it, but let it go to voice mail.” She held out her cell phone. “Do you want to hear it?”

  I flinched as if she were offering me a writhing snake. The message I’d left Mom had been less than friendly. I doubted she had any kind words for me.

  “The message isn’t that bad,” said Emily.

  I raised my eyebrow, and she sighed. “Yes, I listened to it, okay? I only have so much self-control.”

  Without waiting for me to answer, Emily punched in the password for her voice mail and handed the phone to me. I hesitated before putting it to my ear.

  “… it’s Mother. How are you.” Mom’s voice had the same no-nonsense tone as always. “I was surprised to hear from you, and a little taken aback by the harshness of your words.” She paused. “Although I admit your anger may not be entirely unfounded. Please return my call so we can address our predicament.”

  Then she hung up.

  I kept the phone to my ear, listening to make sure there weren’t any other voice mails. There weren’t.

  “Well?” prompted Emily.

  “She’s the same old scientist,” I said, handing Emily her phone. “And I’m just a problem to solve.”

  My words sounded more bitter than I expected, and I wondered if my brothers’ loathing for Mom had started to influence me.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Emily.

  Several conflicting answers fought to reach my lips, but the only sound that came out was a frustrated grunt.

  “I don’t know,” I shook my head. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  Emily nodded, and I noticed that this time she didn’t try to influence me. I could have hugged her.

  “Well, my stepmom needs me to set up the third film so I should go,” said Emily. She smiled at me. “Good luck in the next round.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled back.

  I scanned the crowd for my brothers, but unfortunately, Chloe found me first.

  “It looks like we’re pretty evenly matched,” she said.

  “Yep!” I couldn’t resist a smug grin. “How’s that for a little friendly competition?”

  Chloe’s face darkened. “I don’t like it.”

  I sighed. “Of course you don’t. I guess you’ll just have to try harder at fire-making.”

  “Maybe,” she said in a soft, creepy voice. “But that’s not a guarantee, is it?”

  I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “What do you mean?”

  Chloe held up her cell phone, pressed a few buttons, and a second later I heard my voice coming from the speaker.

  “… Emily’s such a drama queen that she doesn’t see it that way. It’s always about her and how things affect her.”

  A chill went up my spine as I recalled the conversation. I’d had it with my brothers after Emily had gotten mad at me over Trevor.

  Chloe leaned close. “That’s Emily you’re talking about, isn’t it?”

  The recording continued as I went down my laundry list of Emily’s flaws, and I felt my cheeks getting warmer and warmer. Chloe stopped the recording and put her phone away.

  “You know what would be so sad?” She pouted her lower lip. “If Emily found out what her dearest friend thought of her.”

  I shook my head. “I was just mad….”

  “You know what would be sadder?” continued Chloe. “If Emily knew that the same friend had to be paid just to hang out with her.”

  Chloe meant, of course, the twenty bucks she’d given me at the slumber party. I stared at her, feeling the fury build inside me. I’d always known the girl was evil, but up until now, I’d never known the true extent of it.

  “What do you want?” I asked, my voice shaking with anger.

  “I want you to throw the fire-making challenge,” said Chloe.

  “What?!” I cried.

  “I’m this close to winning Trevor over,” she said, holding her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “If we take this competition, that’s a thousand dollars he and I will have to spend together.”

  “With Shelly,” I said.

  Chloe rolled her eyes. “I could give that fool a stack of Champs change and she’d leave happy.”

  “Well, forget it,” I said, turning to walk away.

  “You’re Emily’s only true friend,” Chloe said to my back. “Can you really hurt her like this?”

  I stopped and stared at the ground. Emily had cared about me so much that she’d tracked down my mom. As far as I knew, she’d never said a harsh thing against me, and she’d certainly never paid anyone to hang out with me.

  I was her only true friend. And she was one of mine. But she wouldn’t be for long if she knew the truth.

  I could hear Chloe breathing in my ear.

  “You don’t even have to do much,” she said. “Just play dumb, and if your brothers get the fire going too soo
n, maybe kick a little dirt on it. That’s all. And if you don’t get a fire going period, you won’t even have to feel guilty.”

  I stared straight ahead. “And you won’t say anything to Emily?”

  “Never, ever, ever,” she promised.

  When I didn’t respond right away, she gave me one last thing to think about.

  “Your brothers will forgive you if you don’t win,” she said. “Do you think Emily will forgive you if you do?”

  A harsh tweeting sound filled the air, and we glanced over to where Ms. Success was rounding everyone up. Without another word to Chloe, I hurried over to join my family.

  “Ladies and gentlemen!” bellowed Ms. Success. “We’ve had a wonderful first round of competition, with Teams Seven and Four in the lead.”

  Nick, Parker, and Dad cheered, but all I could muster was a weak clap.

  “But it’s our next round that will determine the champions of the Champs Championship!”

  “Try saying that ten times fast,” Parker whispered to me.

  I forced a smile.

  “We’ve got a designated fire area, so as I call the teams, you’ll follow me to the site and get … fired up!” She punched the air with her fist, and the crowd cheered. “Team One, bring the heat!”

  “I hope we don’t have to watch that movie again while we wait,” Nick said in a low voice as the crowd dispersed.

  “Nope. Looks like they’re loading up a different film reel,” said Parker.

  I smiled as convincingly as I could. “Let’s go see what’s playing.”

  “There’s not a sequel to My Fair Lady, is there?” asked Nick, following me.

  “No,” I said.

  “Good.”

  As it turned out, the only thing worse than Ms. Success faking a British accent was Ms. Success faking multiple British accents. And that was what she did for the next film, her one-woman version of Peter Pan.

  Thankfully, the fire-making took people a lot less time than the obstacle course did, and after only two hours, my brothers and I were up.

  Ms. Success led us to a forest clearing marked by a charred spot on the ground. She gestured to a stack of firewood. “All you have to do is keep a flame going long enough to break this string,” she said, pointing to a piece of twine tied between two posts a foot above the charred spot.

  She pulled a stopwatch out of her pocket and lifted it so we could read the zeroes. “And … begin.”

  Parker and Nick dashed around, searching for twigs and grabbing the firewood. I just stood there, kicking at the dirt. If Ms. Success thought it was strange, she didn’t say anything. She did, however, glance up sharply when Nick said a curse word.

  “We’ve got plenty of wood but nothing to use as tinder!” he said. “The other teams must have taken it all.”

  Parker groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “There’s got to be something. Can we burn our shirts?”

  Ms. Success cleared her throat loudly, and Parker jumped.

  “I mean, uh, it’d be a tragedy, but if we had to—”

  Nick shook his head. “They’d catch fire almost as slowly as the wood.”

  I continued to stand off to the side by myself, arms crossed, watching my brothers struggle and feeling about two inches tall.

  “We can burn leaves,” said Parker, pointing up. “We just have to get them out of the trees.”

  “If that’s the best we can do,” said Nick. “I’ll search some more for twigs. You and Alex get the leaves.” For the first time, he noticed my silence. “Okay, Alex? We need your help.”

  But I couldn’t. Not if I wanted to save Emily from my betrayal.

  “I … I …” I shook my head and tears filled my eyes.

  Nick put a hand on my arm. “What’s wrong?”

  “Are you sick?” asked Parker, joining us. “Do you need a doctor?”

  Both of my brothers looked so concerned that my tears spilled over even more and splattered in the dirt. Ms. Success was watching me too, so Nick and Parker pulled me out of earshot.

  And then I blurted everything about Emily, and Chloe, and Trevor. When I stopped confessing, I realized that all three of us were now sitting, Nick chewing on his knuckles and Parker massaging his scalp between his hands.

  “Do you hate me?” I asked, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

  Parker stopped rubbing. “Well, on a scale of one to ten …”

  Nick elbowed him. “No, we don’t hate you. We’re your brothers. But we’re sad that you’d try to trick us.”

  Parker nodded, and I burst into fresh tears.

  “I’m so, so sorry!” I threw my arms around Nick and then Parker. “I’m the worst person in the world!”

  “Don’t be silly,” said Parker as I left huge tearstains on his shirt. “Although you may be the soggiest person in the world.”

  I choked out a laugh and tried to compose myself.

  “So what are we going to do?” asked Nick. “Do we take our sweet time so Chloe wins, or do we try and sweep this thing?”

  I wrinkled my forehead. “Wait. You’d let us lose?”

  Nick smiled sadly and shrugged. “If it means that much to you.”

  “Woah!” cried Parker. “I totally don’t agree with that. I want a thousand dollars.”

  Nick gave him a look. “Even if it means Alex loses a friend?”

  “She can buy a new one with her share of the money,” said Parker. “And Emily isn’t a very good friend to begin with if she’d dump Alex for making a few mistakes.”

  Nick opened his mouth to argue, but I stopped him.

  “He’s right. If I’m lucky, Emily will forgive me.” I squeezed Nick’s hand. “But I’m not going to let you guys down.”

  Nick squeezed back.

  “Of course, it may not end up mattering,” I said, inspecting the forest around us. “Without tinder, we don’t have a chance. We need something flammable…. And lots of it.”

  And that was when my eyes fell on Parker.

  I gasped and clapped a hand over my mouth, pointing at his hair.

  “What?” he cried, covering his head. “Is it a flying fox?”

  “No, your … your hair!” I sputtered. “It makes the perfect tinder!”

  He backed away from me. “What?”

  Nick’s eyes lit up. “She’s right! You have so much product in there that the alcohol alone would get this thing blazing!”

  “You want me to cut off my hair?!” he shouted incredulously.

  “It’s for a good cause,” I said. “Don’t you want to win a thousand dollars?”

  “Not like this!” Parker patted his hair protectively.

  “Your hair will grow back, Parker,” said Nick. “But this is a one-time chance for a lot of money.”

  “But what would I spend it on?” whimpered Parker. “I won’t need any more hair products if I’m bald!”

  “We’ve been through a lot together, and we’ve sacrificed so much!” I said. “I’m about to lose one of the few friends I have; Nick tore up his leg…. Won’t you take one for the team?”

  Parker was quiet, and I could feel the seconds trickling away. Finally, he handed over his Swiss Army knife, the scissors jutting out.

  Nick clapped him on the shoulder, and I hugged him.

  The expression on Ms. Success’s face was priceless as she watched us playing barber on Parker instead of building a fire. Parker kept his eyes closed the whole time, refusing to watch his lovely locks leave him.

  When we felt confident we had enough, Nick struck the flint over it, and sparks settled into the hair, starting a small blaze.

  “It worked!” I cried.

  “It smells,” said Parker, wrinkling his nose.

  “Bring the twigs,” said Nick. “We need to keep the blaze going.”

  From the sidelines, I heard a “Huh!” and looked up to see Ms. Success shaking her head in amazement.

  We stoked the fire, coaxed the fire, and practically sang to the fire, until the string finally snap
ped.

  And while Ms. Success told us our time wasn’t the best, it was enough to squeeze past Chloe’s team for first place.

  “Yes!” shouted Nick, punching the air.

  Parker and I hugged and jumped up and down. I even allowed myself one tiny squeal.

  When we rejoined the crowd, the expressions on our faces said everything. Dad bear-hugged us each in turn, and Emily and Trevor ran over, followed closely by Chloe. Her eyes were burning holes through me, and I knew there was no stopping her.

  So I confessed to Emily before she could.

  “Emily,” I said, taking her hand, “when you got mad at me the other day, I said some mean things about you to make myself feel better.”

  She blinked and frowned. “Okay.”

  “And when we were first becoming friends, I had Chloe pay me twenty dollars to keep you entertained at her party.”

  Emily’s frown deepened. “You … you needed money to hang out with me?” Beside her, Chloe smirked and crossed her arms.

  “I’m sorry,” I told Emily. “I know what I did was wrong, but I’m new to this friendship thing. I mean, you’re my first real friend. I don’t want to lose you. And if you can ever forgive me, I promise I’ll try harder.”

  Emily’s entire face scrunched up and her fists clenched at her sides, but instead of yelling, she reached out and hugged me. “Oh, Alexis! Of course I forgive you!”

  “Oof!” was all I could reply as she squeezed the air out of me.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” Chloe grunted in disgust.

  I glared at her. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

  Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Oh, suddenly you’re the tough girl again?”

  “I’ve always been the tough girl,” I told her. “It doesn’t mean I can’t have weak moments.”

  Emily put an arm around me. “And when they happen, she has friends who can be tough for her.”

  Chloe backed off, shaking her head. “Whatever. You deserve each other.”

  “Yeah.” I smiled at Emily. “We definitely do.”

  No sooner had Chloe stepped away than someone shoved in to fill her place in the crowd.

  “Parker!” cried a pretty brunette girl. Her eyes were wide and she was taking in the former glory of his hair. “Parker, what happened?”