by Jennie Brown
Ellie’s voice broke in. “My Mom wanted me to be a Monday like her so badly,” she said, reaching for the tissue tucked into her pajama pocket.
“Really?” I asked, not knowing what else to say, and forgetting for a moment that Ellie’s mother was a Monday just like me.
“Yeah, and she never realized that I noticed the way she would look at you, Poppy—even if your powers weren’t in yet.”
I was in too much shock to respond.
“Almost like, she wanted you as a daughter, a Monday just like her, and not me. A stupid mind-reading Thursday.”
I watched two tears trickle down Ellie’s cheek. That’s when I realized that all those years of vicious looks, nasty remarks, and all-around cruelty were because Ellie was jealous of me. Not because I was a loser, or not as rich as her, or anything like that. It was out of jealousy. How could a mother make her daughter feel that way?
Ellie’s face brightened a bit as she spoke. “Did you know that moms in Nova will, like, go out of their way to have a baby on a certain day of the week?”
Wow! “No,” I spoke honestly. That thought never crossed my mind. My parents loved me unconditionally, I knew that. But what Ellie said did make sense. People were crazy to have weekday powers. And then I suddenly remembered something Veronica had said over a year ago. “And I’ve heard that some moms will demand to send their own babies back if they’re born on a weekend!” she had said. Craziness!
“Yeah. I’ve heard my mom say stuff to my dad about me being a Thursday, too. It always made me feel like I was a failure or something,” Ellie continued through sniffles. She shook her head and then whispered, “That woman telling Larriby that we are going to fail just reminded me of that.” She paused. “Reminded me that I’m not quite good enough.”
The enormity of this moment hit me hard. As confident as Ellie acted on the outside, she was equally insecure on the inside. I had never, and would never know what it would be like to have a parent disapprove of me. Even if I were a powerless Saturday or Sunday, I knew for a fact that it wouldn’t matter to my parents. “I know that she loves you, Ellie, no matter what weekday you are,” I said, hoping to cheer her up, and took a seat on the bed next to her. “Just think of those poor Saturdays and Sundays who don’t have any powers at all—those are the ones to feel sorry for. But they get by.”
She nodded.
I continued. “Not to mention the rest of the world outside of Nova. They get by just fine.”
She chuckled. “I guess you’re right.”
“I mean, the mayor’s own son gets by through nose-picking,” I said, hoping to cheer her up.
It worked. We laughed together.
“You’re so nice, Poppy. Even after all I’ve done to you. Here you are, being so nice to me.”
Her lower lip quivered a little. She looked away and then back at me again. I knew what she wanted to say next. “I’m just really …” her tears began to fall harder. She turned toward me. Through sobs she made out, “Sorry. I’m so sorry, Poppy.” And before I knew what was happening, her two skinny arms were wrapped around me. I watched as a few of her tears dropped onto my silver flats.
Was this really happening? I had waited for the longest time for Ellie to apologize to me for all of the hurtful things she had done. But, it didn’t feel as good as I had hoped. Ellie was hurt, and it made me feel sad.
Some wetness formed in my own eyes as I thought back to the end of third grade, the day that we went from friends to not-so-friends. I invited my two best friends in the world, Celia and Veronica, to my house for a sleepover. I was super excited to have a night of pizza, s’mores, movies, and girl talk. None of us had even begun developing our weekday powers yet, so all the drama surrounding that was far from our minds then. Veronica and I waited and waited for Celia. But Celia never showed up that night.
It turned out that Ellie had told Celia that I didn’t want to be friends with her anymore because I thought she was lame. Of course, that was a total lie. Ellie actually invited Celia over to her house for a sleepover that night. Celia went and was sucked into a friendship with Ellie ever since.
And now I knew what started it all. Ellie was jealous that I was a Monday. For some reason she felt the need to get back at me for something I couldn’t even control. She stole one of my best friends. She treated me like dirt the last few years. And surprisingly enough, I wasn’t angry with her anymore. In fact, I felt bad for her. Ellie. The girl who now crushed me in a bear hug.
I looked to the clock over her shoulder. 2:10 p.m. “We need to get those guys and get in that office,” I said, scrunching my way out of the never-ending squeeze. “And prove to Headmistress Larriby and that other woman that we have plenty of potential and will not fail!”
Ellie wiped the final tears from her eyes, pinched her cheeks, put on some lip-gloss, and grabbed her purse. “You’re right, Poppy,” she said, squeezed my hand, and pulled me toward the door. “Let’s go find Pickle.”
“Um, Ellie,” I said, pointing at her pajamas. The Ellie I know wouldn’t be caught dead wearing those in public.
“Thanks, Poppy!” she said.
I laughed and tried to wrap my mind around what had just happened. I think Ellie and I could actually be friends.
Chapter Seventeen
I looked at the clock. Eight thirty sharp. I zipped my black hoodie up and over my orange necklace. It reminded me of my mom. Gosh, I missed her. If we were successful, I might see her sooner than later.
“Ellie, we have to get going.”
Ellie threw her hand in my face to show me two bare fingernails. “I have two more to go. Be a little patient, Poppy. The boys aren’t going anywhere without me … us … I mean.” I caught the eye roll.
Unlike some charm bracelet, Pickle wasn’t some inanimate object that could be replaced if never found. I needed to get to her. Sure, it had only been like a week, but those last few days must have been the worst of Pickle’s furry little life. Be there soon, I thought, wishing that dogs could read minds too.
Ellie took her time brushing the nail polish over the last two fingernails. She might have been taking this whole mysterious detective thing a little too far. I mean, sure, the black outfits we had on were exactly what we needed to blend in and stuff, but black nail polish? Did she need to go that far?
Thump, thump, thump. Three knocks at the door startled me, and Ellie almost dropped the bottle of polish to the ground. We both threw robes over our semi-camouflage outfits.
Headmistress Larriby stood in the doorway with both hands on her bulging hip. “Awwww, another day went by, and you didn’t find your silly little treasures. Too bad.”
Her lips curled down into a fake pouty face.
She turned to leave, and then spun back around to us, forgetting something. “Good luck, ladies. You’ll need it!” She smirked, giving us the strangest looking evil eye I had ever seen, and then she did one of those finger wiggle wave things. But her fingers looked like fat sausages fluttering in our direction.
If you forgot about the whole stealing and hiding of our stuff situation, Headmistress Larriby was actually quite comical, and not nearly as scary as people made her out to be—even when she announced to Logan, Sam, Ellie and I at dinner tonight that we had a new deadline to her challenge. Little did she know what we had in our possession. Four important numbers—thanks to Ellie and her non-mind reading power.
Mrs. Larriby shot me an irritated stare. “Lights out in five,” she said. The door crashed behind her.
Ellie threw a few accessories into her black purse. She came prepared for anything.
“Now aren’t you glad it took me a while to finish these?” she asked sarcastically, pushing the finished manicured hand in my face.
“Yes,” I admitted. Normally, I’d cringe at the thought of being late for anything. But if we didn’t answer the door when clothes-too-tight Larriby showed up, then we would have been in deep trouble. I guess being late was wort
h it in this case.
“You can tell that lady, like, totally hates kids, so why wouldn’t she want us to leave early?” Ellie asked, tossing her pullover over her head.
“I think you said it. She hates kids. And I’m sure she wants to make our summers as miserable as possible.”
“I guess.”
“And,” it suddenly dawned on me, “maybe she doesn’t like the fact that someone could actually beat her at this little game of hers.”
Ellie blinked at me. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes urged me to go on. At least she was actually letting me tell her instead of simply reading my mind.
“She’s checking up on us. She’s nervous that we might actually win. You know,” I did the best Headmistress Larriby voice I could, “not once has anyone been able to go home early, and I intend to keep it that way.”
Ellie laughed. “That was a pretty good imitation.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“If the whole Monday thing doesn’t work out for you, you could totally do impersonations,” she said, grinning.
“Ha. Ha. Ha.” I said, emphasizing each ha.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get the guys.”
The four of us huddled outside the library and discussed our strategy one more time. “So, all you have to do is disappear, punch in the combo, and then signal for us to come over,” Sam said to Logan. “And then your part is done.”
“Piece of cake,” Logan said confidently, as usual.
It was hard for me to look at Sam without laughing. Like Ellie and her painted fingernails, he had gone all out for this whole reconnaissance mission. His precisely painted face matched his camouflage outfit. His strange hunting hobby paid off. This rebel of a redhead, glasses-wearing, clarinet-playing, deer-hunting Wednesday continued to surprise me.
Logan nodded, closed his eyes, and vanished into thin air. Just like that. He really was a good Friday, and he definitely didn’t need to be here this summer. But I was glad that he was here.
“Do you think our stuff might actually be in the school?” Ellie asked.
It would be easy to hide a bracelet, soccer ball, and a clarinet. But was it even possible to keep a barking, whining dog hidden without anyone knowing? “There’s no way she hid our stuff in this building,” I whispered. “But there might be a clue in her office that could lead us to where it all is.”
We were standing outside of the library, next to the staircase, so we had a direct view of Headmistress Larriby’s office. Even though I couldn’t see Logan, I could see the numbers on the outside lock light up as he pressed them. Seven lit up. Then seven again.
Thump. Thump. The sound of footsteps came from above us. Gosh. Couldn’t we catch a break?
“Quick, over here,” I said, pulling Ellie along. We crouched down underneath the winding staircase and listened as Mr. Grimeley shuffled through the upstairs foyer. If he noticed those lit-up numbers once he got downstairs, then he would be on to us. I could practically hear my heart beating in my chest.
My eyes looked over at the key lock. The light from the keypad was practically blinding in the darkness, and Mr. Grimeley would definitely see it once he reached the bottom.
“Sam, you have to do something with that light! Grimeley’s gonna see.”
We could all hear Grimeley’s shuffles move down the stairs. It was only a matter of time…
“But I have to get a little closer, it’s just too far to reach,” he whispered.
“Just try it, Sam,” Ellie said, batting her long eyelashes.
And that was enough to prompt him on. He pointed his finger toward the glaring numbers.
Our heads snapped up, hearing Grimeley’s shuffles directly above us now. He would round the corner of the stairs and see the light at any second.
“Now,” Ellie said.
Sam reached his arm out again, and the light flickered on and off a few times.
Grimeley was one step from the bottom.
The light flickered on and off and back on again. Uh-Oh.
And just as we watched Grimeley’s pants-covered foot reach the floor, the light clicked off. For good.
“Phew!” We all sighed at once.
“Nice work, Sam,” Ellie said.
Sam poked his head out from behind the staircase. “He’s crossing right in front of Larriby’s office now,” he whispered.
“I just hope Logan can stay invis—”
And before I could even finish my sentence Logan reappeared to my right. “That was a close one, guys,” he said, and then looked at Sam. “Nice job, bud.”
Mr. Grimeley’s foot-shuffles got quieter and quieter until a door slammed and they were heard no more.
Sam totally saved our butts there, and Logan and his disappearing act was simply amazing. I found myself smiling at that last thought. Logan was pretty amazing all around.
But then I remembered what the boys told us about the conversation they overheard. Whoever was talking to Headmistress Larriby said that the “girls” would be the ones who ruin the whole challenge. It was obvious the guys had their powers under control—Ellie and I just needed to prove ours. Even though I had no idea what that meant.
“Let’s try this again.”
And just like that, Logan disappeared. This time 7-7-6-0 lit up without any interruptions.
Bzzz.
“We’re in.” Logan’s voice echoed through the foyer.
After making sure nobody was in sight, we tiptoed across the hall and into the office.
“Quick, shut the door,” Sam said to Ellie. He reached for the doorknob at the same time as she did and their hands touched. Sam totally planned that. The laugh flew out of my mouth before I could even stop it.
“Shhhh,” Logan said. But I could see the smile underneath the finger over his mouth.
As if we’d been an investigating team forever, we each knew enough to take a corner of the room. Headmistress Larriby’s office was just about the most organized one I had ever been in, so it didn’t take long to get through everything we could get our hands on. We looked through stacks of organized paper, dozens of files, and over thirty notepads.
After what seemed like twenty hours of searching, (I looked at the clock and it really had only been about five minutes) we took a break.
“Nothing.”
“This is ridiculous. There is nowhere else to look.” Sam sighed in frustration. “All this focus on this stupid office and we—”
“Guys! Over here!” Logan whisper-yelled.
We rushed to his corner of the room and looked down at the manila folder he had spread out. There were four clipped stacks of paper in all, and our individual names were on the front cover of each one.
“Give it here,” Ellie said, snatching at the sheet with her name attached to the top.
“Gheesh!” Logan exclaimed. “Impatient, much?”
She rolled her eyes.
I grabbed the one with my name and flipped through it. What was so important about these packets? The application to Power Academy that Wobble-Wible must have filled out was on top. Our personal item sheet was next, and then a card with personal information. My name, address, phone number, day, parents’ names, parents’ days, birthday, and time were on there as well. But then I noticed something strange.
“Guys! What’s this all about?” I said, flipping my card around and pointing to the fluorescent yellow color highlighting my birthday.
Ellie plopped down on a jumbo chair in the corner situated in front of a familiar-looking bookcase. “Hey! Mine’s highlighted too!” she exclaimed.
“And mine,” said Logan.
All eyes watched as Sam flipped to his information sheet. “Yep!”
We set our information cards next to one another. “Whoa! Do you guys see it?” Ellie shouted.
“Shhh.”
“Do you guys see it?” she whispered.
Of course we saw it. Even though the four of
us were born on different days — we were born in the same week at exactly the same time. 11:59 p.m. “What does this all mean?” I asked.
Sam picked up his camo hat and scratched his red poof of hair. “I have no idea.”
“Wait. I thought you were older than us?” Logan asked, flicking the hat out of Sam’s hand.
Typical boys.
Sam used the back of his hand to push up his glasses. “I skipped a grade,” he said nonchalantly, like it was something everyone did. Then he scooped his hat from the floor. So he was a genius too. Ha!
“There has to be something here, though,” I said, staring at the files in front of us. I could just sense it, and I was sure the other three could sense it as well. What were the chances the four of us were born in the same week, at the same time, and were here at Power Academy together? It seemed too strange to be a simple coincidence.
“I agree, but it’s not helping us find our stuff. That’s for sure,” Ellie said, reading my mind. For once, she made sense. We could try to figure out the connection all night, but that wouldn’t bring us any closer to finding Pickle and the other hidden items.
We stared at one another, not knowing where to look next.
“So, we’ve hit another dead end.” Sam sighed in exasperation.
“I guess we’re stuck here all summer after all,” Ellie said, slouching down in the corner chair. “Let’s just go find Larriby and tell her we give up. We’ll just ask for our stuff back, and demand that she tell us what’s up with those note cards,” she added.
Sam’s hand reached for the doorknob.