Jamie knew they’d been mad at her—they’d had good reason to be—so why had they decided to give her something so special?
Puzzled, Jamie sat down on Michaela’s bed. She put her hand on the pillow and, to her surprise, felt something hard and lumpy underneath. What’s this? she wondered, reaching under and pulling out a cloth pouch filled with…
Photographs! A faded picture of Michaela as a little girl, standing next to a tall, handsome, impish-looking man….
“Her father…” Jamie breathed.
For some reason, the fact that Michaela had lost her father around the same time Jamie had lost her mother had never really sunk in. But seeing this photograph, the obvious resemblance between father and daughter, brought it home for her as words never had. She held up another photo, of Tracy, Michaela, and Michaela’s father—the whole happy family standing on what looked like a ferry, with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
“She’s just like me,” Jamie whispered.
Suddenly, Jamie saw herself in Michaela’s place. What if it had been Jamie who had had to adjust to a new home, a new school, and a new parent? How would she have acted—and what would she have done if Michaela had treated her as Jamie had been treating Michaela, like the enemy? Jamie closed her eyes, deeply ashamed of herself.
Why hadn’t it occurred to her before that she and Michaela had something so deep in common? It was incredible—both of them with their treasured photos, their one link with their deceased parents, both of them struggling to adjust to their new lives.
Jamie had a vision of Michaela discovering her photographs, looking through them one by one. Would she have seen the similarities between Jamie’s mom and Jamie? Jamie hoped so.
No wonder Michaela had decided to make the collage. It was her way of saying, “We have so much in common. Why can’t we be friends, and sisters?” For Jamie had no doubt that Donna was telling the truth when she said the collage had been Michaela’s idea. Donna would never have given Jamie a birthday present when she was mad at her, nor would she have thought of something so original.
Jamie swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat.
She had misjudged Michaela. She knew now that what everyone had been telling her all along was true—it wasn’t Michaela who’d been ruining her life. Jamie had been doing that all by herself, by putting up a wall between her and her new sister!
Well, it was time for that wall to come tumbling down. Jamie sprang to her feet. She carefully put Michaela’s photos back into their pouch and replaced it where she’d found it. With one last glance at the poster of her past, Jamie went back to her room, determined to change her future, starting that very moment.
Jamie didn’t fall asleep until two o’clock in the morning. From the moment she discovered the pouch full of photos under Michaela’s pillow, she saw no one (she skipped dinner, not even feeling hungry), and by the time sleep finally overcame her, she had the beginnings of a plan.
The next morning, she was up early, before anyone else, and left the house quickly, her mouth stuffed with a doughnut. Now she was hungry!
She ran all the way to the Gates house. Laurie answered the door in her pajamas. “Whoa!” she said, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “You’re up early today. What’s up?”
“Come on in the kitchen, I’ll tell you,” Jamie said. There, over bagels and cream cheese, she told Laurie everything that had happened.
“I told you she was a great person!” Laurie exclaimed. “Oh, I’m so relieved you’re finally over it! It’s been impossible to talk to you lately.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Mmm. These are good. Got any more cream cheese?”
“Here,” Laurie offered. “Want some juice with that?”
“Mmph.” Jamie nodded affirmatively. Swallowing another mouthful of bagel, she said, “I want to throw Michaela a surprise party, to welcome her to town, okay?”
“Sounds great!” Laurie agreed.
“So here’s what we do. We get Coach to call a big pep rally on Thursday, supposedly because we’re playing West Side the next day, right?”
“Uh-huh…”
“And then when Michaela runs in, we all yell ‘Surprise,’ and unroll the signs, and stuff like that—and we need a big cake, of course, and the whole school will be there!”
“Cool! I can’t wait!” Laurie enthused. “Hey, Sam, Jeff, listen to this!”
Samantha and Jeff Gates had come into the kitchen. Still not able to face anybody, especially Jeff, Jamie concentrated on her food while Laurie told them all about her plan.
“Huh!” Jeff said, smiling his cute crooked grin. “Hey, Jamie, what’s up with this? I thought you hated Michaela.”
“I did, kind of,” Jamie admitted. “I was being a jerk, okay? I’m over it now. End of story.”
“Hey, cool with me.” He shrugged. “Whatever. This is going to be great. Count me in!”
“Me, too!” said Samantha. “Does Donna know yet?”
“No, and I’m not going to tell her, because she hates my guts and isn’t speaking to me,” Jamie said.
“No prob,” Samantha said. “I’ll tell her.”
“Make sure she doesn’t open her big mouth and tell Michaela,” Jamie said. She smiled at the thought of Donna straining against all her instincts to keep the secret.
“Don’t worry about it,” Samantha assured her. “I’ll make her promise not to.”
“So it’s for Thursday night?” Jeff asked.
“Yup,” Jamie answered. “That is, if Coach says it’s okay.”
“Are you kidding?” Laurie asked. “She’s dying for you two to make friends! She’ll be thrilled!”
“You’ll ask her?” Jamie begged.
“Leave it to me,” Laurie said.
“I’ll make sure the signs get made right,” Jeff volunteered. “And I’ll ask Michaela to come with me to the pep rally. That way we can be sure she gets there after everyone else is ready.”
“Okay,” Jamie said, feeling happier than she’d felt in weeks. “This is good. This is super. Well, I’d better get going. I’ve got a whole lot of work to do. This is one party Michaela’s never going to forget!”
Before leaving the house, Jamie took all the money she’d been saving and stuffed it in her wallet. She was going to need a lot, she figured, to cover all she was going to buy.
Her first stop was the poster shop. Here she spent the next hour and a half looking through bin after bin of rolled-up posters, searching for exact matches for the ones she’d torn. She found four of the six, which, considering how old some of Michaela’s posters were, was pretty good.
The other two, Jamie decided, would have to be substituted for. She found one of Peppermill, although it wasn’t the same one Michaela had had. This one showed the band live, on tour. Jamie thought it was even better than the one it was replacing.
As for the antique Woodstock poster, Jamie knew there was no way to replace it. So she decided to ask the guy at the store about it.
“Oh, yeah, those go for lots of money if they’re in good condition,” he said. “You got one?”
“Not anymore,” Jamie said, frowning. Had Michaela’s been in good condition? She tried to remember. It seemed to Jamie that the poster had had a rip in the bottom left corner, but she wasn’t sure. At any rate, there was no way she could order another one with the amount of money she had.
Jamie sighed sadly. It hit her that in some ways what she had done could never be undone. She’d have to repay Michaela in spirit, not money.
“What could I get for less that would be sort of the same?” she asked the guy.
“Well, we have some of the Beatles from back then, and the Stones, and Bob Dylan. Do you like any of those?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie said. “It’s for a friend. I guess everybody likes the Beatles, though, right? Let me see that one.”
“I’ve got a bunch of different ones,” he told her. “Follow me.”
Jamie wound up picking a c
olorful poster from the Sgt. Pepper album. She’d noticed that Michaela had that CD. It wasn’t her Woodstock poster, but it would have to do. It was not rolled up like the others but mounted with a cardboard backing and covered with plastic. “How much?” she asked.
When the man told her, she gasped.
“Hey, that’s what these things cost,” the man said with a shrug. “The Woodstock one costs much more, if you can even get it.”
“How much altogether?” Jamie asked, nervously fingering her wad of bills.
Her first purchase took two-thirds of her money. But there was no way she could not get the posters—they were a payback, not a gift, and that had to come first and foremost.
Next stop was the dollar store. Here, Jamie bought a half-dozen small frames for photos. She smiled at the thought of going through Michaela’s pouch again, picking out just the right ones to frame.
She made it to the jewelry store with a few bills left in her pocket. Weeks ago, she’d strolled by the store window and stared longingly at the sports pendants. Softballs, basketballs, soccer balls, on gold chains. She’d even mentioned to her dad that she’d like to have a volleyball pendant for her birthday. He hadn’t seemed to pay much attention at the time. Probably thinking about Tracy and asking her to marry him, Jamie thought. Oh, well.
“Can you make up a volleyball pendant?” she asked the woman inside the shop.
“Sure, we make those ourselves,” the woman answered with a pleasant smile. “Of course, it’ll take a week or so….”
“A week? No, that’s no good—I need it by Thursday!”
“Oh. I see.” The woman thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose we could put a rush on it. Would you like real diamonds in the volleyball, or zirconium?”
“Zirconium, I guess,” Jamie replied. “Are the ones in the window real diamonds?”
“No, those are zirconium.”
“Great. Zirconium, then,” Jamie said, relieved. The ones in the window looked real enough to fool her.
Then the woman told her how much the pendant would be.
For the second time that day, Jamie gasped when she heard the price. “Oh! But I don’t have that much!”
“I see,” the woman said, her smile vanishing.
“Um, could I get it with a fake gold chain?”
“Yes, that would lower the price considerably,” the woman said.
Jamie heaved a sigh of relief as she handed over the rest of her money. Her shopping mission was successfully completed. Now to head home and get busy on the hard part.
Before going into the house, Jamie peeked through the living room windows. Michaela and Donna were in the living room, playing checkers. Thinking fast, Jamie headed for the garage. There, she stowed her purchases behind some boxes, where no one would find them until she could get them up to her room unnoticed. Then she doubled back and came in through the front door.
“Hi,” she said as she passed the two girls.
Michaela froze, staring down at the checkerboard. Making sure Michaela wasn’t watching, Donna looked up at Jamie and threw her a quick wink.
Good, Jamie thought. Samantha’s already told her. Jamie headed up to her room without trying to make any further conversation. As far as she was concerned, the less that was said between now and Thursday night, the better.
She closed the door behind her, sat down at her desk, and took out some of her best stationery. Picking up a pen, she started to write a letter of apology to Michaela. She thought over all that had gone wrong between them, taking responsibility for everything. It was hard to write the words down, because putting them on paper meant she had to face the truth head-on.
But as hard as it was to write it down, it was going to be ten times harder to read her apology out loud, in front of everybody.
Still, no matter how much it hurt, Jamie was determined to do it. It was the only way to really put the past behind her and make a new start.
15
The next few days went by quickly. Jamie was busy making sure everything was being taken care of. There were all the arrangements to be made, people to be invited, and permissions to be acquired. Jamie had to sneak Michaela’s photos out of her room so she could frame them. She had to get cardboard backing to mount the posters she’d bought—and she had to clean out her closet to make room for everything that needed to be hidden away.
In addition to all that, Michaela had to be kept in the dark. This was the hardest part, because Michaela was naturally curious—a couple of days ago, Jamie would have called her nosy—and she kept wandering around when Jamie was whispering on the phone. On those occasions, Michaela would give her a nasty look. Jamie figured Michaela thought she was gossiping about her.
Jamie didn’t try to explain. It was better that Michaela believed Jamie was still her enemy. That way, Thursday night would come as a total shock to her.
Jamie smiled at the thought. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Michaela’s face when she found out what Jamie had really been up to.
Her dad and Tracy already knew—once Donna was clued in, it was only a matter of time before she told them—so they left Jamie alone. It was a huge relief to Jamie when her dad gave her a secret smile at dinner.
In fact, Jamie was feeling fantastic. As bad as she’d felt before, she really appreciated walking around happy for a change. It became a huge effort for her to pretend to be grouchy whenever Michaela was around.
By Tuesday afternoon, the posters were up all over school: “SHARKS PEP RALLY THURSDAY NIGHT AT EIGHT—BE THERE OR BE SHARK FOOD!” “COACH MCKEAN WANTS YOU!” with a picture of Molly McKean shouting something. “SHARPEN THE SHARKS’ TEETH THURSDAY NIGHT!” and so on. Everybody was talking about the pep rally.
When Thursday evening rolled around, Jamie made sure she got to the gym first by bolting down her dinner and leaving the house at seven sharp.
“The rally doesn’t start till eight,” Michaela reminded her. “How come you’re leaving now?”
Jamie racked her brain for a quick excuse. “I’m meeting Kim Park there. We’re going to give a speech to psych up the team.”
Michaela’s curiosity seemed satisfied. “Oh,” she said. “Well, whatever.”
“Yeah,” Jamie said. She thinks I’m leaving to avoid going with her, she realized. Good. The surprise was still intact. Michaela was totally oblivious. It felt great for once to be one step ahead of Michaela, especially since it was something good.
By eight o’clock, the gym was packed solid. The school band played loudly and enthusiastically, if a little off-key. The cheerleaders, led by Tina Macaluso, were already going through their acrobatic chants as students, parents, and teachers filed inside.
On a platform in the center of the gym were chairs for Coach McKean, Principal Cerruti, and a few other teachers. Soon the team members would be standing in a row on a lower platform in front of the main one.
Jamie had inspected everything but the main banner—the one that read “GO SHARKS! BEAT WEST SIDE!” It was draped from a long rope and cleverly folded so that when clothespins on both ends were removed, the lower half would drop down from behind to say “WELCOME TO EAST SIDE, MICHAELA!”
Jamie went to give the sign one last look, but Kim Park waylaid her. “Jamie,” she said, grabbing her and dragging her toward the double doors at the front of the gym, “come on. I heard Michaela’s outside. Let’s go check.”
“But I wanted to check on the sign—” Jamie began.
“It’s fine; I checked it myself,” Kim said quickly. “Come on, we’ve got to get everybody ready for the surprise!”
When they got to the front doors, Michaela was nowhere to be seen. Jamie looked up at the clock, which said 8:15. As promised, Laurie and Jeff had seen to it that Michaela, who was coming with them, would arrive late.
“I thought you said she was here,” Jamie said.
“That’s what they told me….” Kim said, looking around.
Just then, Ms. Cerruti stepped to the microphone
and started making a speech. Afterward, it would be Coach McKean’s turn.
Too late to check the sign now, Jamie realized. The rally had officially started. Oh, well. She guessed she could trust Kim to make sure it was okay.
Jeff and Laurie came in with Michaela just as the principal was finishing her remarks. “And now, I give the stage over to our favorite coach, Molly McKean!”
There was a huge roar from the crowd. It shook the entire gym as the coach stepped to the microphone.
“First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming,” she said, stopping as the crowd cheered again. “With this kind of support, we’re going to be having an even bigger party soon!”
Again, the house was rocked. The roaring went on for a full two minutes before the coach could get another word out. “Well, I can see there’s no point in giving a long speech, so would the members of the Sharks just come on up here? Come on, everyone, let’s show ’em how we feel about them!”
The band launched into the school song, the cheerleaders went wild, and the members of the team, all in uniform, of course, ran up to the lower platform and arranged themselves in a line.
The coach introduced the team members one by one. Michaela was right next to Jamie, on her right. Jamie stepped forward and waved when her name was called. Then it was Michaela’s turn.
She stepped forward to acknowledge the crowd, but to her surprise, Coach McKean skipped her name and read out the next one. On and on she went, reading off the names until everyone else had been called. Jamie watched Michaela’s smile fade as she wondered why she’d been passed over.
Now came the moment Jamie had been living for all week. Coach McKean cleared her throat.
“Last but not least,” she said, “I want to introduce somebody to those of you who haven’t met her….”
Jamie saw Michaela start to smile again, relieved that she hadn’t been forgotten after all.
“… Someone who comes to us all the way from New York City and who has given our team a lift while Laurie Gates recovers from her injury—Michaela Gordon!”
Spike It! Page 7