My New Best Friend

by Julie Bowe

  I glance up and see dark, curly hair. Then I see Stacey's face whip a look back at me and it doesn't look one bit happy.

  "Oh ... I-Ida. It's ... um ... you," she says, like she's already mostly forgotten who I am.

  "Um ... yeah," I say back. Then I hurry past her and toss my stuff onto a coat hook and go to my desk and duck behind its lid.

  When Mr. Crow makes me put my desk top down, I study the New Jersey scar on the back of Zane's head and wish that I could fly there. And no matter how hard I try to keep my eyes glued to the math problems Mr. Crow is writing on the chalkboard, they keep slipping to the side and stealing looks at Stacey's stone-still face.

  I spend recess in the fourth stall of the girls' bathroom because I know I won't run into Stacey there. When I see her in the hall I walk the other way. I eat lunch with the boys.

  When Mr. Crow asks us to write a paragraph using three of our spelling words, I write something else instead.

  Stacey,

  I'm sorry I've been avoiding you lately. And I'm sorry I yelled at you.

  Please don't be mad forever because that's a really Long time.

  I.

  I read what I wrote and then glance at Stacey.

  She stiffens up, so I know she sees me glancing.

  She doesn't glance back.

  I stuff the note inside my pocket.

  When it's time to go home, I grab my backpack and hurry to the bus. I find an empty seat near the back and slump in. I look out the window and see Stacey walking to the corner. She stands there, looking down the street, waiting for her dad to come and take her away for the weekend.

  Two green braids plop into the seat in front of me. They are attached to the back of Jenna Drews's head. I glance at Stacey again. Then I look at Jenna.

  I lean over the back of her seat. "Look," I say. "I'm sorry about the other day. I didn't plan to sneak away from your house. And I really would have liked to help paint the box even if I'm not that crazy about wearing it. And I wasn't trying to be mean when I called you Henna Jenna. Okay, maybe I was. A little. But I didn't mean for other kids to start teasing you, too."

  Red spots appear on Jenna's neck. They spread up to her cheeks. And ears.

  I glance out the window again. I see Stacey wave at a car that's driving down the street. It pulls up to the curb and Stacey hurries toward it.

  I turn back to Jenna. "I need you to do something for me," I say.

  Jenna turns toward me and squints. "What?"

  I pull the note out of my pocket. "Give this to Stacey for me? Please? Before she leaves?"

  I look out the window. So does Jenna. Stacey tosses her school stuff into the back of her dad's car. Then she opens the front door and climbs in.

  I gulp and turn back to Jenna. "I'll pay you back," I say quickly. "Anything you want. I promise."

  Jenna huffs. "You can't pay me back," she says. "Good deeds don't work that way."

  She grabs the note and barges off the bus.

  Chapter 18

  I wake up early the next morning, even though it's Saturday. I'm still thinking about what happened after school yesterday. Stacey's car pulling away from the curb. Jenna running down the sidewalk, waving and yelling. The car's brake lights coming on and Jenna shoving the note through the open window. The car driving away and Jenna running back to the bus. Red face. Green braids flying.

  I'm thinking about the sticky note Rachel pressed into my hand when we got off the bus. This time, there weren't any pretend words scribbled on it. Instead it had a drawing of a stick-dad and a stick-mom with capital O mouths and shout lines coming out of them.

  It was just a little drawing, but it felt big in my hand and made me wonder if Rachel could use a break from all those sticky notes. And if maybe Jenna could, too.

  And then I started thinking about what Jenna said. About not being able to pay back a good deed. And that's why it takes me half the day to ask my parents if I can call Jenna and invite her to sleep over. I have to be sure I'm not doing it to pay her back.

  Dad turns off the garden hose. Mom looks up from her hedge trimmers.

  "You want Jenna to sleep over?" Mom asks.

  I nod. "And Rachel, too, if she wants."

  Mom glances at Dad. He glances back. "Well, of course, you can invite them," Mom says. "I'm just a little surprised. I didn't think Jenna was one of your best friends."

  "She's not," I say. "But you don't have to be best friends to sleep over."

  My mom gives me half a smile.

  So does my dad.

  I head for the phone.

  An hour later the doorbell rings. There stands Jenna and Rachel with their backpacks and sleeping bags. Mrs. Drews is standing with them.

  "Hello, Ida," Mrs. Drews says. "Long time no see."

  "Actually, I saw you a couple weeks ago at Brooke's birthday party. Only you might not have seen me. I was wearing an outhouse."

  "Ah, yes," Mrs. Drews replies. "That was only two weeks ago? It seems longer." Her voice trails off.

  "Hi, Paula," Mom says, walking up behind me.

  "Hello, Abby," Mrs. Drews replies. "Thanks for inviting the girls. I've been so busy lately, it will be nice for Paul and me to have a little down time."

  "No need to thank me, Paula," Mom says. "It was Ida's idea."

  Mrs. Drews looks at me. "Well, then. Thank you, Ida."

  "You're welcome," I say back.

  Mom convinces Mrs. Drews to stay for a cup of coffee. I lead Jenna and Rachel upstairs to my room. "What do you want to do?" I ask.

  "Let's play princess!" Rachel says. She opens up her backpack and pulls out an alligator hand puppet, glittery crown, plastic dagger, and about a mile of purple netting. She drapes the netting over my desk. "This can be our castle," she says. Then she sticks George into the alligator's mouth and shoves him halfway under my bed. "And that's the dragon's lair." She puts on the crown and picks up the dagger. "Ready?" she asks.

  I glance at Jenna. She glances back. "Okay," we say at the same time.

  After we help Rachel rescue George from the dragon, three poisonous pencils, and a monkey-eating shoe, we go downstairs. Mrs. Drews is gone and a pan of brownies is cooling on the cupboard. We give my mom a hand eating half of them.

  "You can take some home tomorrow for a treat," Mom says to Jenna and Rachel. "Your mom mentioned how busy things have been lately, so I'll put together a spinach lasagna, too."

  Even though spinach lasagna doesn't sound like much of a treat to me, it must be better than whatever Mr. Drews has been bringing home from the bait shop because Jenna and Rachel give my mom a couple of big smiles.

  Later, Rachel is snoring softly in a sleeping bag by my bed when me and Jenna trudge upstairs from watching a movie. I take out my barrettes and climb into bed while Jenna sits down on her sleeping bag and unbraids her hair. It's all wavy, like it was for Brooke's party. It makes her head look different. In fact, all of her looks different. Maybe it's her Tinker Bell pajamas, or her fluffy sleeping bag, or the purple glow from my desk lamp that's draped with princess netting. Whatever it is, some of Jenna's hard edges look rubbed off.

  "What are you looking at?" Jenna asks.

  "Oh ... um ... nothing," I reply. "You just look ... different."

  Jenna sets down her hair bands and gives me a squint. "Different?"

  "Yeah," I say. "I think it's ... um ... your hair. It's not so green anymore."

  Jenna lifts a strand of her hair and studies it for a moment. "Really?" she says.

  "Really," I say back. "I think it's fading."

  Jenna studies another strand. And another. Then she gives me half a smile. "I think you're right."

  I give Jenna half a smile back, partly because that's the polite thing to do and partly because this is the first time Jenna Drews has ever said I was right about anything.

  Jenna crawls inside her sleeping bag. We both stare up at the ceiling for a while.

  "Ida?" Jenna says. "Can you keep a secret?"

  I think
about the secrets I've been keeping lately. Evil mermaid spells. Stacey skipping a weekend with her dad. Sneaking around in my attic. "Usually," I say.

  Jenna rolls over onto her side and looks up at me. "My dad isn't taking time off from work. He lost his job. So my mom had to get one. Two, actually. She keeps telling me not to worry. That it's just a little bump in the road and that things will be back to normal soon. Then, at night, I hear them arguing, like things are a lot bumpier than they're telling me."

  Jenna rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling again. Her face looks stone still, but her eyes look soft and wet like clay.

  Suddenly, I want to say, "Guess what? I have a secret, too. There's a shrine in my attic with an evil mermaid and everything. Want to see?"

  But instead I just look back at the ceiling. "I won't tell," I finally say.

  "Thanks," Jenna says back.

  I must fall asleep for a while because when I open my eyes again someone has turned off my desk lamp and Jenna is snoring softly next to Rachel.

  I creep out of my room and tiptoe up the attic steps. I turn on the light and walk over to the mermaid. I plug her in. Then I pick her up and look her right in the evil eye.

  "I just wanted you to know that I don't think you're so powerful anymore."

  Her glow warms my hand, but when I set her down it hardly tingles at all.

  I pick up all the plastic spiders and doll body parts and toss them onto a shelf. I crumple up the foil and throw it away. Then I carry the jar of purple water to the bathroom and dump it out. I put away the roll of toilet paper.

  I go back to the attic and unplug the mermaid. I set her on a shelf with all the other stuff. Then I take out her lightbulb. Just to be sure.

  I creep down the attic steps, but I don't go back to bed.

  I tiptoe into my parents' bedroom instead.

  I poke the lump that is closest to me. It groans and rolls over. So I walk around the bed and poke the other lump. Harder.

  My mom shoots up like her hips are springs.

  "I-Ida?" she says. "W-what is it? Is something wrong?"

  "No," I say. "I just wanted to remind you about something."

  My mom looks at the clock on her nightstand. The one, five, nine changes to a two, zero, zero. She lets her head fall back onto her pillow. I wait while she rubs her eyes. "What?" she finally asks.

  "I'm nine, you know."

  Mom cracks an eye at me. "I know."

  "Which means I'm getting pretty big now. So you should probably start telling me about big things."

  "What big things, Ida?"

  "I want to know about any bumpy roads we might be experiencing. The ones that cause a lot of fighting."

  My mom nudges herself up onto an elbow. She studies me through half-closed eyes. "Ida, no one is experiencing bumpy roads and no one is fighting," she says.

  "Some people are," I say.

  "Who?" Mom asks.

  I fidget a little, remembering my promise. "Well, obviously, someone is. Somewhere. But if there was any bumpiness in our family you would tell me, right?"

  My mom is quiet for a moment. Then she says, "Yes, Ida. I would tell you."

  "Okay, then," I say. "That's all for now."

  I start to walk away. Then I stop and turn around. "Me and Stacey play in our attic sometimes. I thought you should know."

  Mom smiles. "Thanks for telling me."

  "You're welcome."

  Chapter 19

  When Dad and I get back from driving Jenna, Rachel, a spinach lasagna, and a bunch of brownies home the next day, there's a bike in my yard. And a surprise on my porch.

  Stacey.

  "I'm done being grounded," she says after my dad goes inside.

  "I see that," I say back.

  "I'm sorry I was avoiding you on Friday. I was afraid you were still mad at me."

  "You were avoiding me?" I say. "I was avoiding you. I thought you were mad after I yelled at you and everything."

  Stacey smiles a little. "I wasn't mad. I was just ... upset. Because I knew you were right about telling the truth to my dad. Which I did."

  "You did?"

  Stacey nods. "When we were driving to his place I told him that our program hadn't really been canceled and that I was sorry I had lied and that I hoped he could still come. And then I told him I was afraid to invite Tanya because it might make Kelli sad to see how happy he is with her. And then I told him I was tired of not telling Kelli the truth about everything that's going on with Tanya, and with my brother, Jake, almost never being around."

  "Wow, you said all that?"

  Stacey nods. "It was hard, but I did it."

  "What did he say?"

  "Nothing, at first," Stacey replies. "When we got to his apartment he called Kelli and they talked for a long time. When he got off the phone, he gave me a hug and told me I didn't have to keep secrets from her anymore."

  Stacey is quiet for a moment. Then she says, "Ida? I'm sorry about all the lies. I know the mermaid can't make things happen."

  "That's okay," I say.

  After Stacey bikes home, I go upstairs to get ready for the program. And that's when I find another surprise.

  A bright orange leotard is sitting on George's lap.

  So is a note.

  Ida,

  Some mountains have volcanoes hidden inside (I know because I researched it). The real Mount Ida doesn't, but you can still wear my orange leotard and pretend you are lava inside your costume. If you want.

  Jenna

  P.S. Thank you for inviting us to sleep over. We had a good time.

  At the bottom of the note there's a drawing of me, shooting out of a mountain. It makes me laugh. And then I laugh again because I'm pretty sure this is the first time Jenna Drews has ever made me laugh about anything.

  When Mom, Dad, and I get to the dance studio later, Mr. Crow and Miss Woo are standing in the entrance, greeting everyone as they arrive. Mr. Crow is wearing a toga and sandals. And very hairy legs. Miss Woo is wearing a toga and sandals, too, only it's a much better look on her. Trust me.

  I peek inside the studio and see chairs set up all around the edge. Painted cardboard pillars stand in each corner and a table full of Greek food—grapes, olives, cheese, crackers, and punch—is set up in front of the wall of mirrors.

  "Want to help hand out olive branches?" I hear someone say.

  I turn around and see Tom Sanders. He's wearing a shiny gold toga and holding a bunch of fake olive-branch crowns.

  "Sure," I say, taking some of the crowns. I give two to my parents. They put them on and head to the food table. I give more crowns to Jolene's family when they arrive. And Meeka's. And Randi's. Pretty soon the whole place is crawling with people who have leaves sticking out of their hair.

  I'm down to three crowns when Mr. and Mrs. Drews arrive with Rachel and Jenna. Rachel is wearing her blue tutu and carrying a lumpy plastic bag. Jenna is wearing her green leotard and vines. I see her glance at the bright orange leotard I'm wearing under my white hoodie. Even though her face is painted with bugs and butterflies, I can still see her grin.

  "Thanks, Ida," Mr. Drews says as I hand him and Mrs. Drews their crowns. "And thank your mom for the spinach lasagna. It was delicious."

  "You can thank her yourself," I say, looking toward the food table.

  "We'll do that," Mrs. Drews says, taking Mr. Drews's arm and heading inside.

  I feel a tug on my sleeve. "I want to wear a stick," Rachel says, eyeing my last olive-branch crown.

  "No, Rachel," Jenna says. "You're in the program. Those are only for the people who watch."

  "I gotta watch," Rachel says, holding up her wrist. Her frog's tongue ticks off the seconds.

  Jenna rolls her eyes. "That doesn't count."

  "It does, too," Rachel says, pointing to the numbers. "And so do I."

  She takes the crown from me and puts it on her head.

  "It's almost time to start," Mr. Crow tells us. "I want everyone to gather off stage until i
t's your turn to perform." He points to a room that's hooked to the studio. I see Mount Ida waiting inside.

  We all head to the room. I pull up my hoodie and slip on my box.

  "Where's Stacey?" Jenna asks, glancing around the room.

  I glance around, too. "Don't worry," I say. "She'll be here."

  "She better be," Jenna says.

  Mr. Crow walks to the center of the studio and greets everyone. "We'd like to begin our program with a poem written by Stacey Merriweather. Mr. Crow looks around. "Is Stacey here?"

  "Right here!" Stacey runs into the studio from outside. So do Kelli and Grandma Tootie. And a man with dark eyes and curly hair, just like Stacey's. And a woman who's holding his hand. And a bigger boy with spiky blond hair, like Kelli's.

  "Here, Jake," Stacey says, tossing the boy her jacket. "Hold this."

  "What am I? Your servant?" he asks.

  "Servant, brother, same thing," Stacey replies.

  Kelli laughs. So does Grandma Tootie. And Stacey's dad. And Tanya.

  Stacey hurries over to Mr. Crow.

  "Sorry I'm late," she says.

  "You're right on time," Mr. Crow replies. "Ready?"

  Stacey nods and unfolds a piece of paper. She smiles at her family. Then she starts reading.

  In ancient times when Earth was new,

  The goddess Gaia knew what to do.

  She made more gods right on the spot.

  Her husband, Sky, helped out a lot.

  The god Poseidon made men flee

  Each time his trident hit the sea.

  Athena with her shiny shield

  Made bad guys run and armies yield.

  The best at beauty was Aphrodite.

  The head god, Zeus, was strong and mighty.

  Strange Argus with his hundred eyes

  Kept watch for sneaky tricks and lies.

  As nymph or goddess, god or muse,