“Bye, Mom,” Jenna said, closing her eyes and rolling over again.
“Bye, honey,” her mom said, getting up and closing the door behind her.
The phone rang about fifteen minutes later, and Jenna leapt out of bed to answer it. “Hey, Jen,” Nicole said. “Did you figure stuff out?”
“Yeah! I forgot that my mom is driving Matt, Steph, and Adam to my dad’s. She said she had some other stuff to do, too—which means that for a few hours, at least, I can come over!”
“Yay!” Nicole said. “I have to go to lunch, but I’ll see you tonight! What time can you come over?”
“I think seven or so,” Jenna replied. “See you then!”
“Bye!” Nicole said.
Jenna hung up the phone and traipsed down the stairs to the kitchen. She took the lid off her chicken noodle soup and dunked in the plastic spoon her mom had laid on top of the container. She was in a great mood—she couldn’t wait till Nicole’s party!
After eating, she decided to pick out what to wear. She dug through her closet for the better part of an hour, finally settling on a cute denim skirt and a yellow shirt that had a butterfly printed on the front. She checked her digital clock—it was only one fifteen. Six hours till party time . . .
grace> FRIDAY
Grace was on her way home from school when Lara caught up with her.
“Aren’t you coming to drama tonight?” Lara asked breathlessly.
“No,” Grace replied sadly. “My parents made me quit.”
“What?” Lara shrieked. “You can’t quit! You’re my best friend in drama club! It won’t be fun without you!”
Grace smiled. “You’ll still have fun,” she said.
“I guess that means that they found out, huh?”
“Yeah,” Grace admitted. “I told them I was staying after school to study. They spoke to one of my teachers and he told them the truth.” She looked closely at her friend. “The thing is . . .” she began, then paused.
“What is it, Grace?” Lara prompted. “You can tell me.”
“I got some really bad grades in English last year,” Grace said quietly. “My parents made me do all this reading over the summer, which I thought would make up for the bad grades. But they said I couldn’t join drama because they didn’t want me to fall behind in school again.” She took a deep breath. It felt good to tell Lara the truth.
“Maybe I could help you,” Lara suggested. “I’m not so good at math, but I’m good at English and history.”
“You’re not good at math?” Grace asked incredulously.
Lara laughed. “No way, Grace,” she said. “I’m terrible, in fact.”
“Wow,” Grace said. “I sort of thought you were good at everything.”
“So you have to quit the club right away?” Lara asked.
“Yeah. I have to go straight home.” Grace checked her watch. “In fact, I have to leave now. My mom is coming home early to make sure I’m sticking to my punishment.”
Lara sighed. “Okay, Grace. But I really do want to help you with English, if I can. If you’ll let me, or if you want me to.”
“I totally do,” Grace replied honestly. “It would be fun!”
“It really would,” Lara agreed. “Well, I’m really going to miss you today. Do you want to hang out over the weekend?”
“Grounded,” Grace reminded her.
“Right. Well, I’ll call you tomorrow anyway,” Lara promised. “Just to say hi.”
“Sounds good!”
“Talk to you then. Bye, Grace!”
“Bye, Lara. Have fun at drama club.”
Despite not being allowed to participate in drama club, Grace was feeling cheerier. Lara knew her secret—that she wasn’t a great reader—and it didn’t make any difference in their friendship at all. As much as she would miss drama, she knew that having a new friend was much, much more important in the end.
At home, Grace’s mom was in the kitchen cooking. As Grace slid into her chair at the kitchen table, her mom plopped a full plate of apple slices and peanut butter in front of her.
“Mom, did I ever tell you about Chelsea from camp?” Grace said, digging into her plate of food.
“If I’m remembering correctly, she’s the one who wasn’t that nice, right?” her mom asked. She pulled a juice glass down from the cupboard and filled it with milk, which she set in front of Grace before sitting down across from her.
“Yeah. I mean, sometimes she could be snobby, but she wasn’t that bad. Anyway, Julie, our counselor, posted this thing on the blog yesterday about Chelsea, and Julie said that Chelsea’s dad is really sick.”
“Oh no!” Grace’s mom said, looking at her.
“Yeah. So we—all of us bunkmates, I mean—want to do something nice for her. I don’t really know what to do, though.”
“Well, whatever you decide on, I’m sure she’ll appreciate it. That’s a really sweet idea, and I’m sure you’ll come up with something great, Grace,” her mom replied. She watched Grace eat for a moment. “Honey, I thought a lot about what happened last night.”
Grace took a sip of her milk. “Me too, Mom,” she said. “I’m really sorry for lying to you and to Dad. I just thought I could do it all.”
“That’s you, Grace,” her mom said. “You can do it all, when you put your mind to it.”
Grace picked up a slice of apple and popped it into her mouth. “This is really good,” she said, with her mouth full.
“Your dad and I talked about it, and we’ve decided that you can stay in drama club,” Grace’s mom said.
Grace was shocked—so shocked, in fact, that she coughed and then nearly choked on her apple. For once, though, she wasn’t joking around or trying to be dramatic. She was really that surprised! She swallowed quickly. “What?” she asked. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. You’ll have to keep your B average, like we talked about, and if at the end of the semester you don’t have a B average, you’ll have to quit the club. But we really are proud of you for the hard work you’ve been doing so far this year. I know you can keep it up.”
Grace couldn’t believe how happy she was. “Oh, Mom, you won’t regret this!” she cried. “Thank you!”
“You’re still grounded for the week, with the exception of school and drama club,” her mom went on. “And I am going to ask you to do some extra chores this weekend, which I’m sure you won’t mind since you’ll be here anyway,” she said, winking.
Grace laughed. “I’d do anything to stay in drama club, Mom,” she replied happily. “What do I have to do?”
“Well, the attic needs some cleaning out,” her mom said, holding up one finger. She raised another finger. “And you’ll do the dishes, and I’d like you to help me with the laundry on Saturday,” she finished, holding three fingers in the air. “Think you can handle that, practice your drama club stuff, and do your homework?”
“Definitely, Mom,” Grace said. She smiled. “My friend Lara is in drama club, and she said she’d help me with English. We can even study during our breaks!”
“That sounds great, Grace,” her mom said. She smiled. “I’m still upset with you for lying to us, Grace,” she went on. “But I know how important drama club is to you, and I don’t think it will help you to take it away. Especially considering how much it motivated you to work hard.”
“I’ll keep working hard,” Grace promised. She swallowed the rest of her milk and finished her last bite of apple.
Posted by: Grace
Subject: Drama club!
Hey, guys!
Crazy news!
My parents found out that I was lying to them about drama club, and they got really mad, but then this morning Mom told me that she was going to let me stay in it! She said she thought a lot about it and she is still mad at me for lying, and I’m grounded and have to do a bunch of chores and stuff, but I can stay in it!
And Lara offered to help me with some of my English homework. She’s so smart, and she’s so cool, I bet she
won’t mind. And now I won’t feel like I’m lying to her anymore.
I read some more of The Pinballs today. It’s so good!
Talk to you later!
Love, Grace
chapter ELEVEN
Jenna> FRIDAY
Jenna pounded on Nicole’s front door at exactly seven fifteen, according to the Swatch watch her dad had bought her at the mall the weekend before. She was sweaty from running all the way to Nicole’s house, and also, she supposed, a little nervous. While she waited for Nicole to answer the door, she glanced behind her, almost expecting to see her mom’s car pulling into Nicole’s driveway. This has to work, she thought frantically. Because it’s my only chance.
Nicole swung the door open and pulled Jenna inside. “Hey!” she said. “I am so glad you could come!”
“Thanks!” Jenna said. “I can only stay till about nine or so. My mom could get back from my dad’s any time after that.”
“No problem,” Nicole said. “There’s a pizza coming in ten minutes, and we’ve got chips and soda. Everyone’s downstairs.”
“Awesome!” Jenna replied.
The two girls headed for the basement, where a movie was playing on the TV and a dozen kids were sitting in front of it eating chips and drinking soda.
“Look who’s here!” Nicole announced. Everyone swiveled around to see Jenna and say hello.
“Hey, guys,” Jenna said.
She and Nicole sat down to watch the movie. After a few minutes, Nicole’s mom called down the stairs that the pizza was there, and Nicole went upstairs to get it. She brought back three pizza boxes, and everyone dug in, then went back to watching the movie.
After about half an hour of movie-watching, Jenna was starting to get pretty bored. She didn’t know what the big deal was about Nicole’s parties. So what if there were boys there? No one was even talking. What this party needs is a fun party prank, she thought. Even though she had promised not to pull them anymore, of course. Something needed to happen in order to liven things up. She didn’t say anything, though, just kept watching the movie and chewing absentmindedly on slice after slice of pizza. She wouldn’t have had time to pull anything really great, anyway, so she let herself get swept up in the action on screen.
When the movie ended, Jenna realized that she must have been at Nicole’s for two hours, and checked her watch. It was nine thirty. “Oh no!” she exclaimed.
“What’s wrong?” a boy named Bobby said.
“I have to go home! My mom might be back already. She’s going to kill me if she finds out that I snuck out!”
“You’d better hurry,” Nicole said. “Do you want my mom to drive you?”
“No, she might tell my mom. I’ll just run,” Jenna said. She stood up. “Bye, everybody.” She ran up the stairs and out the front door, jogging through the neighborhood toward her house.
She couldn’t believe it. She had risked getting into serious trouble—and for what? A lame party that wasn’t even worth the effort. She could sit and watch movies (and eat pizza, too, for that matter) at her father’s any time she wanted! But there was no way to turn back time, and so Jenna just continued to run as fast as she could, heart pounding all the way. Please don’t let Mom be home, she thought. She knew it was a long shot, but it was the only chance she had.
She crossed her fingers as she ran. Just for good measure. She hoped it would help.
When she got to her house, her heart sank—her mom’s SUV was in the driveway, and the lights were on downstairs. She walked slowly up the pathway to her front door, dreading opening it. She slowly pushed the door open.
“Jenna?” her mom called from the kitchen.
“Yeah?” Jenna replied tentatively.
“Oh, thank God,” Jenna’s mom said, rushing into the living room. “I was so worried about you! I was about to call 911!”
“I’m okay,” Jenna said quietly. She looked down at the floor, and then up at her mom.
The look on her mother’s face changed from worry to confusion. “In that case, Jen, where have you been?” she asked pointedly.
“Um . . .” Jenna said, stalling for time.
“I mean it, young lady,” her mom said, crossing her arms. “Where have you been? I was worried sick.”
Jenna looked at the floor again and pretended to be interested in her shoes. “I went to Nicole’s,” she said quickly. “She was having a party.” She looked at her mom out of the corner of her eye, and watched her mom’s face turn red with anger.
“So you were only pretending to be sick,” her mom said quietly.
“Yes,” Jenna admitted. She looked her mother in the eye. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“You pretended to be sick so that you wouldn’t have to go to your dad’s, and so that you could sneak out and go to the party,” her mom repeated.
“Yes.”
“You’ve never been so grounded in your life,” her mom said.
Jenna sighed. “Mom, this isn’t fair, having to go to Dad’s every weekend. I never get to do anything I want to do!”
“So you’re missing out on your social life?” Jenna’s mother asked angrily. “Jenna, this divorce isn’t easy for any of us. And I can appreciate that it’s rough on you kids—probably in ways your dad and I don’t realize. But you are lucky to have two parents who love you so much. You are lucky to have a dad who wants to see you, and who looks forward to seeing you so much that he puts away his entire weekend for you and your brothers and sister.” She shook her head. “You’re lucky to have a dad who loves you so much,” she finished.
“I know,” Jenna said meekly. She moved her foot back and forth. “I love you and Dad, too.” She thought about Natalie, who never got to see her dad because he was a famous movie star who was always in California working on movies. And then she remembered Chelsea.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” she blubbered. “I just thought—”
“You just thought you’d get away with it,” Jenna’s mom said. “Well, you almost did, Jen. Are you glad you got to go to the party? Was it worth it? You had me scared to death.”
“Are you going to tell Dad?” Jenna asked softly.
Jenna’s mom sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “You lied to me, so this is between the two of us. On the other hand, you’re obviously feeling very frustrated. I know you wouldn’t have deceived me otherwise. So I think I am going to have to talk to him.”
“Okay,” Jenna said meekly. “You can tell him. It’s okay. You can punish me, too. You can ground me or give me extra chores or whatever. I deserve it.”
Jenna’s mother laughed softly. “You do deserve it, Jenna—but just because you lied to me and snuck out of the house, which made me incredibly worried. I guess I didn’t realize how much this was taking you away from your friends, and trust me, I know how important your friends are.” She shook her head. “Maybe I’ll talk to your dad about letting you guys all stay home one weekend a month, or something. Maybe he’d like to have you for Christmas, instead, and that can be the trade-off.”
“Really?” Jenna replied hopefully. “It isn’t that I don’t like going to Dad’s. It’s just . . . I want to see my friends. And eat something other than pizza,” she added.
Her mom laughed. “Really? What did you eat at Nicole’s?”
Jenna laughed too. “Pizza,” she admitted. “A bunch of it. The party was boring, too. It wasn’t at all what I thought. I thought it’d be worth it.”
“Come here, honey,” her mom said, holding out her arms. “This will all work out.”
Jenna walked toward her mom and wrapped her arms around her. They hugged for a moment, and then Jenna pulled back. “Mom?” she asked tentatively. “Would you take me to Dad’s tonight?”
“No,” her mom replied. “But I’ll take you tomorrow morning. Tonight, why don’t you and I watch a movie and eat some ice cream?”
“That sounds good,” Jenna said.
“I miss you guys when you’re gone, you know, Jen. And so does your fath
er.”
“I know,” Jenna said. She followed her mom into the kitchen. From the freezer, her mom took out a pint of mint fudge ripple and Jenna grabbed two clean spoons. As they walked to the TV room, Jenna said, “My friend Chelsea’s dad is really sick.”
Jenna’s mom looked sad. “Your friend from camp? How terrible.”
“Yeah,” Jenna replied. “I want to do something to help, but I don’t know what.”
“Did you e-mail her?”
Jenna settled into the couch and took the ice cream her mom handed her. “No,” she said. “She wouldn’t want that—she’d die if she thought anyone was feeling sorry for her.” She was thoughtful for a second. “It’s weird, that it didn’t make me want to spend time with Dad when I first heard about it. I just felt bad for Chelsea, I didn’t think about my own dad, who I’m lucky to have.”
Jenna’s mom smiled. “You’re really growing up, Jen,” she said. “I’m proud of you. I’m still mad at you for lying to me, skipping school, and sneaking out of the house, but you really are starting to grow up.” She picked up the remote. “Want to watch something R-rated?” she asked.
“Seriously?” Jenna replied, surprised.
“No, not seriously,” Jenna’s mom said, laughing. “How about Mean Girls, though? I think you can handle that.”
“Okay,” Jenna said. She snuggled up to her mom as she turned on the TV and pressed Play on the DVD player.
“I was going to watch it myself,” her mom confided. “But I’d much rather watch it with you.”
SATURDAY
Posted by: Natalie
Subject: two weeks down . . .
hey, everybody. two weeks of school down, thirty-four to go! i’m having a pretty good time, but i do miss you guys. boys are confusing, friendships are hard work . . . and don’t even get me started on how much more homework there is now that we are big old sixth-graders! i have been talking to simon on the phone, which is so cool. it’s nice that just because we’re not at camp doesn’t mean we can’t still get along just like we did then. minus the whole actually getting to see each other in person thing.
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