The Secret Tree

by Natalie Standiford

  Isabelle had boys at her party. Not in the usual way boys go to kids’ parties, like when the Mean Boys came to my birthday party last year because Mom forced me to invite them, and then they popped all the balloons and started a food fight. This was different. This was a boy-girl party, the way Thea had boys at her birthday party last year and the boys and girls would disappear for a while and then come back looking flushed and guilty. That kind of boy-girl party.

  And Paz was there, perfectly at home. Like she belonged.

  “Let’s play Marco Polo,” Isabelle said. “Katie, you’re It.” She tied a bandanna over Katie’s eyes so she couldn’t see. Everyone swam into the deep end of the pool to get away from her.

  “Marco!” Katie called.

  “Polo!” everyone answered.

  Isabelle pulled Paz to her side and whispered to her.

  “Marco!” Katie paddled toward the deep end and just missed touching Lydia, who dodged her hands.

  “Polo!”

  Giggling, Isabelle and Paz climbed out of the pool and perched on the edge. Climbing out of the pool is against the rules in Marco Polo.

  “Marco!” Katie called.

  Paz and Isabelle leaned out over the water and yelled, “Polo!” When Katie swam toward their voices, her hands only touched cement. Paz and Isabelle tiptoed along the side of the pool, answering “Polo!” and running out of Katie’s reach.

  “Iz!” Lydia said. “What are you doing?”

  Isabelle put her finger to her lips. Lydia didn’t say another word, except “Polo.”

  Katie could have tagged Chris or Henry or Lydia, but she was only interested in going after Paz and Isabelle.

  “They’re cheating,” I muttered.

  “They are?” Raymond said. “I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on in that pool.”

  “You never played Marco Polo before?”

  Raymond shook his head. “Once I lived in a house that had a little pool, but the only game we played there was called Dunk the Dork. And I was always the Dork.”

  Isabelle and Paz kept teasing Katie. Lydia watched and never gave them away. At last Katie gave up and touched Henry on the shoulder. Now he was Marco. She ripped the bandanna off her head just as Paz and Isabelle sprang back into the pool.

  “Hey! Were you cheating?” Katie asked.

  “No,” Isabelle said. “You just couldn’t catch us.”

  Katie looked at Lydia for confirmation. “Iz is a great swimmer” was all Lydia had to say.

  “I wonder why nobody is telling on them,” I said.

  “Because it’s Isabelle’s party, and she’s the boss of it,” Raymond said.

  But then Martin said, “Iz, you are so cheating. Katie, take it from her brother: You can’t trust Isabelle.”

  Isabelle laughed this off, but Katie looked wounded. She watched Isabelle and followed after her like a puppy.

  Isabelle and Paz stayed in the pool while Henry was Marco. He tagged Isabelle, who then became Marco. Within two seconds she tagged Katie. “You’re It.”

  Once Katie was blindfolded, Isabelle beckoned to Paz, and they pulled their trick again. Katie tagged Lydia and yanked the blindfold off before Isabelle and Paz had a chance to get back into the water. I aimed my binoculars at Katie’s face and saw it: a stab of pain.

  The look of betrayal. It was becoming very familiar to me.

  “You were cheating. I knew it.” Katie dropped the blindfold in the water and climbed out of the pool.

  “Katie, where are you going?” Isabelle ran after her.

  “I don’t want to play anymore.” Katie walked fast to her chair, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the cement. “It’s no fun if you cheat.”

  Paz stayed in the pool and watched. She glanced at Lydia, who smiled and shrugged. Paz was so much more quiet and watchful than usual. Like this whole party was a game and she was trying to figure out what the real rules were.

  I put my binoculars down and looked at Raymond. He wasn’t watching the girls in the pool. He aimed his binoculars at the grill and the table. Isabelle’s mom was grilling hamburgers, and her dad was setting down plates. Isabelle’s dad passed by her mom on his way back into the kitchen and bumped her playfully with his hip. Raymond sighed.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “That sigh.”

  “Nothing. Isabelle’s parents seem nice, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “But Isabelle’s not. What are you watching the parents for, anyway? That’s the boring part.”

  “Not to me,” Raymond said.

  “Are you hungry?” I passed him a bag of chips.

  “Thanks.” He ripped open the bag and ate the chips with one hand while holding his binoculars with the other.

  When it was time to eat, Katie tried to sit next to Isabelle, but Isabelle shook her head and said that the seat was saved for Paz. Katie started to sit on Paz’s other side, but Lydia slid into that spot before Katie could claim it. There were no seats left except at the other end of the table with the boys, who were too busy gobbling hamburgers to pay attention to her.

  By the end of dinner, when it started to get dark, Paz’s face was glowing. She was happy, I could tell. Isabelle paid attention to her the whole time, and everyone else did too, because Isabelle led the way. Everyone except Katie, who drooped as the party went on.

  “Look how much fun Paz is having,” I said to Raymond. My voice felt raggedy. We hadn’t talked in a while.

  “Yeah.” Raymond’s binoculars were pointed at me.

  “You’re not watching the party,” I said.

  “I’m watching you watch the party.”

  “But how can you see me when the binoculars are so close?” I asked

  “I can see one part of your face at a time. I can see your mouth twitch up or down, or your eyes get wide or squinty.”

  “But why would you want to see that?” I put my binoculars down.

  “You’re watching Paz, and I’m watching you. I’m watching you watch Paz. The more you watch her, the sadder you get.”

  “Because look at her!” I waved my binoculars at the pool. “Isabelle really likes her, and Paz really likes that Isabelle likes her. And I’m not there. And Paz doesn’t care. She’s having fun without me. We never have fun together anymore.”

  “So what?” Raymond was still staring at me super close-up through the binoculars. It made me nervous.

  “Would you please put those down?” I said. “I can’t talk to you like that.”

  He put them down. “So what if you never have fun with Paz anymore? She’s not the only person in the world. I mean, don’t you ever have fun with anyone else?”

  He fluttered his short blond eyelashes, and I knew he was talking about himself. And I realized I did have fun with him. I was having fun with him that very afternoon, even though I was also in terrible jealous pain over Paz.

  But I didn’t say it. And I’ll always regret that.

  The back door slid open, and Melina appeared. “Hey, guys.” Her eyes found Martin, Thea, and Kip. Martin headed straight over to her.

  “Hey, Melina! Sit down a minute. Want a burger?”

  “I came to pick up Paz,” Melina said. “Paz, Mami wants you home right now.”

  “What? But the party just started!” Paz whined.

  “Stay here and go for a swim, Melina,” Martin said.

  “I can’t,” Melina told him. “Come on, Paz, we have to go. Walk back with us, Thea?”

  This was a test. Melina was really asking Thea, “Who do you like best, me or Kip?”

  Through my binoculars, I saw Kip tug on the end of Thea’s ponytail. “I think I’ll stay here and go for a swim,” she said.

  “Come on, Melina,” Paz said. “Let’s stay.”

  “We can’t.” Melina frowned. “Mami’s waiting. Kip, walk back with us?”

  “I’m going to stay too,” Kip said.

  I zoomed in on Melina’s face. She looked
like she was about to cry. She had to babysit her little brothers and sisters instead of having fun with her friends. But that wasn’t the only problem. Kip and Thea were standing close together — like they were a team. Like they didn’t want to be apart, and not even Melina could make Thea pull away from him.

  “Fine,” Melina said. “Paz, we’re leaving.”

  She walked back into the house without waiting for Paz. Paz pouted, but she knew her parents would get mad at her if she dawdled. So she got to her feet, said good-bye to everyone, and followed Melina through the sliding door.

  The party was breaking up anyway. Lydia’s mom stopped by to take her home, and then a man stopped by to pick up Chris and Henry. Thea and Kip went inside the house with Martin. Isabelle’s parents cleared the table and put away the food. Isabelle and Katie sat by the pool and dangled their feet in the water as it got dark.

  “What’s taking your dad so long?” Isabelle asked. “Do you think he forgot to pick you up?”

  Katie shrugged. “I don’t know. He’ll be here soon, I guess.”

  “He’s always late picking you up,” Isabelle said. “Ever notice that?”

  “He’s really busy,” Katie said.

  A few minutes later a tall man appeared and waved to Katie. “Okay, honey, let’s go.”

  She got up and gathered her things. “Thanks for the party, Isabelle. See you at the pool tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” Isabelle waved good-bye to Katie but didn’t get up from the pool.

  “I’d better get home too,” I said. I stuffed my things in my backpack and started down the tree house ladder. Raymond scampered down behind me.

  We walked down Bailey Street. It was a quiet night. Up ahead of us, Katie and her father turned the corner.

  I didn’t have to say anything to Raymond. I didn’t even have to look at him. We both had the same thought at the same time.

  We slowed down and followed Katie home.

  She walked a few blocks with her father carrying her tote bag. They didn’t talk much. They stopped in front of a low, brick house, dark except for the front porch light, and walked inside.

  Raymond and I stopped and watched. A light went on in the living room. Katie’s father sat down in a chair and flicked on the TV. We could see its cold blue light on his face. Upstairs, a window lit up. Katie crossed the room. She stopped in front of a small bowl where a lone goldfish swam. She talked to the fish and sprinkled food into the bowl. Then she took the bowl to the window and gazed out past the treetops, into the sky.

  I looked at Raymond. Raymond looked at me.

  “It’s her,” he whispered. “No one loves me except my goldfish.”

  I woke up the next morning wondering about my aura. If it was getting blue on the Fourth of July, what color was it now? How much bluer could blue get?

  I wish I had the guts to run away.

  Run away from what? I wasn’t sure, but I understood the feeling.

  I pulled open the drawer of my night table and took out my harmonica. It gleamed silvery and shiny in the morning sun.

  Raymond had said he didn’t have any money. He’d been caught stealing pictures from people’s garages, including mine. And he’d admitted stealing Paz’s ID.

  I had to face facts: He’d probably stolen this harmonica for me.

  I played “You Are My Sunshine” one last time. Then I got dressed, put the harmonica in my pocket, and went outside.

  Old Donna was parked in Mr. Gorelick’s driveway, ready for her weekly wash, but Mr. Gorelick was not around. The garage door gaped open.

  I sneaked over there and set the harmonica on top of a workbench.

  Good-bye, harmonica. Thanks for the memories.

  I went into our garage and put my roller skates on and skated up to the dead-end part of our street to practice. Nobody else was out but I could hear Hugo and Robbie fighting inside the Calderons’ house.

  The Mean Boys rolled up on their bikes, popping wheelies. “You have to move,” Troy told me. “This is our Extreme Bike Stunt Practice Area.”

  “I was here first,” I protested.

  “Two against one,” David said.

  “Paz will be out in a minute,” I lied. “Then it will be two against two. And since I was here first, I get to stay.”

  Troy cupped his ear as if he couldn’t hear me. “Did you hear a noise, David? Like a mosquito buzzing?”

  “Yeah,” David said. “Buzz, buzz, zzzz … but I couldn’t understand a word.”

  I rolled my eyes and kept on skating. They started jumping the sidewalk and spinning out as if I wasn’t there.

  Hugo and Robbie tumbled out of the house, rolling on the grass, fighting over a toy car. Lennie came out with them and sat on the curb. She chomped on some gum and blew a big, green bubble.

  “Hey, Lennie,” I said. “Curse anybody lately?”

  “Ha-ha.”

  “Where’s Paz?” Troy asked. “I thought you said she was coming out to skate.”

  “Inside,” Lennie said. “She’s afraid to come out.”

  “Whoa, because of us?” David crowed. “She’s scared of us?”

  “Not you,” Lennie said. “Minty.”

  Troy flashed me a sizing-up look. “Did Minty gain some kind of superpower I don’t know about?”

  “Yeah. I can read minds.” I leaned close to give him the full effect of my evil grin. “I know all your secrets.”

  It was a risky thing to say — too close to the truth — but worth it to see Troy’s nervous shudder.

  “Paz thinks you’re mad at her, Mint,” Lennie said. The boys, instantly bored, headed off. “And she’s barely speaking to me — thanks for telling on me.”

  “I am mad at her. And I warned you I’d tell. Is the curse still on?”

  “Still on. Paz has a headache.” Lennie wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully. “And lately I’ve been thinking: What if her tongue swelled up so she couldn’t talk?”

  “That’s harsh.” I felt sorry for Paz, even though I was mad at her. I couldn’t help it. A voodoo curse is a terrible thing.

  Melina marched out of the house. “Minty Mortimer, would you please give your sister a message for me?”

  “Sure, Melina.”

  “Tell her I want my T-shirt back. The one she borrowed from me last spring, with the big, blue heart on it. It’s my favorite T-shirt, and she’s had it too long.”

  “Okay.”

  “Tell her to give it to you, and you can give it to me,” Melina said. “Since I never want to speak to her or see her lying face again.” She whirled around, hair flying, and marched back into the house. Paz dodged her and limped outside, holding her aching forehead.

  “How was Isabelle’s party?” I asked, as if I didn’t know.

  “Okay,” Paz said.

  “I thought you said it was the best party you’ve ever been to,” Lennie said.

  “I thought you were going to keep that to your bat-brained self,” Paz said.

  “Did you see what just happened?” I said. “Melina and Thea are in a terrible fight.”

  “I know,” Paz said. “Melina says she’ll never forgive Thea.”

  “Their friendship is over.” Lennie dragged a finger across her throat as if she were slicing it with a knife. “Kaput.”

  Suddenly, I felt weighed down with sadness, heavy as a drenched shirt. Melina was mad at Thea, I was mad at Paz, Lennie was mad at Paz too, and Paz was mad at Lennie. It was all too much. It had to stop.

  “We can’t let Thea and Melina’s friendship die,” I said. “I know why they’re fighting, and it’s a silly reason.”

  “I know why they’re fighting too,” Paz said. “Thea knew Melina liked Kip, but she stole him anyway — right out from under her. Your sister is a bad friend.” She crossed her arms and glared at me as if I were a bad friend too.

  “Excuse me, but you’re the one who’s going to parties without me,” I snapped. “And making new friends and leaving me all alone at the pool.” />
  Lennie popped a bubble, impressed. “You left Minty all alone at the pool?”

  “Well, I —” Paz stammered. “Isabelle wanted to leave, and —”

  Lennie peeled a bit of green gum off her cheek. “That’s cold.”

  “I have a plan to make Thea and Melina friends again by the time school starts,” I said. This plan had just popped into my head. “But I’ll need your help.”

  Paz turned a wary eye on me. “Is this a trick? Some clever way to get revenge on me?”

  “No! I’m not that clever.”

  “Okay. What’s the plan?”

  “I call it —” I fumbled for a good name, and came up with: “Operation Annoy Our Sisters. Part One: Annoy Thea. Part Two: Annoy Melina.”

  “Ooh,” Lennie said. “I like it.”

  “Think about it,” I said. “What does Thea do for Melina that no one else will do?”

  “Um … steal the boys Melina likes?” Paz said.

  “No. One thing they have in common is they’re both big sisters. What does Melina do when you get on her nerves?” I asked.

  “She runs to Thea to whine about it,” Paz replied.

  “Exactly. That’s what Thea does too. Sometimes she complains to Mom and Dad when I annoy her, but they don’t want to hear about it. The only person who understands is Melina.”

  “So?”

  “So I’ll be as annoying as possible. I’ll drive Thea so crazy she’ll have talk to Melina — she won’t be able to help herself. And if you do the same thing, Melina will have to forgive Thea.”

  “Even if it doesn’t work,” Lennie said, “it sounds like fun.”

  “Hmmm …” Paz thought it over. “I have another idea. Part Three: an extra element that will make your plan work even better. But I’ll have to recruit Isabelle.”

  “Isabelle?” I did not like the sound of this at all.