by Clare Hutton
“Sounds good,” Zoe said, looking over at Caitlin at the other end of the table. She was sitting a little separately from everyone else, and now she was staring down at her own lunch, her lips tight.
Most of these girls are really Natalia’s friends, she realized. Caitlin gets along with them fine, but they’d choose Natalia’s side if they had to choose. Natalia was so friendly; people flocked to her. Caitlin was a little more private. Zoe felt bad: Caitlin had been tactless, but she hadn’t meant to be mean. She shouldn’t have to sit by herself.
“You should talk to her,” she said softly to Natalia. “You’ve been friends for so long, and she was only trying to help.”
Natalia shook her head, her lips tight. Zoe and Emma exchanged a look.
“Well …” Emma said.
She trailed off as a loud, angry voice said: “You’re nothing like I thought you were!”
In the middle of the cafeteria, Charlotte and Malcolm were glaring at each other. A hush fell over the rest of the room as everyone turned to look at them curiously.
“Well, you’re nothing like I thought you’d be, either!” Malcolm—quiet, introverted Malcolm—shouted back. “If I had known how shallow and hyper you are, I never would have wanted to go out with you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Charlotte growled, her fists clenching. “Well, I think you’re boring! And selfish! I thought you were mysterious, but now I’ve realized that maybe you just don’t have anything to say!”
Malcolm yanked a woven bracelet off his wrist. “You can have your friendship bracelet back,” he said. “It looks tacky anyway.”
Charlotte grabbed the bracelet out of his hand. “I’d be really offended by that, if I thought you had any idea what looks good. If I had known what you were really like, I never would have asked you out.” Turning her back on him, she stormed away.
Malcolm stared after her for a moment, and then he stalked off in the opposite direction, toward the doors out of the cafeteria.
There were a few seconds of silence, and then a buzz of excited conversation burst out all over the cafeteria. Zoe pushed her sandwich out of the way and dropped her head down onto the table.
“It’s official,” she moaned. “I give terrible, terrible advice.” Rolling her head to the side, Zoe looked up at Emma. “Charlotte should have listened to you,” she said sadly. “You told her to get to know Malcolm as a friend before she made any kind of move. She could have found out whether or not she actually liked him before they started going out.”
“Actually, I think your advice was pretty good,” Emma said reassuringly. Zoe snorted. “No, listen. She wanted to know how to get Malcolm interested in her, right? Well, your suggestion worked perfectly. She made a big move and really got his attention, and then they went out for a couple weeks.”
“Yeah, it might have worked,” Zoe said glumly. “But it wasn’t very smart. I made them both miserable.” And I made Caitlin and Natalia miserable, too.
Closing her eyes, she pressed her cheek against the cool surface of the cafeteria table.
I am so bad at this.
By Friday afternoon, things between Caitlin and Natalia had, if anything, gotten worse. Neither one was speaking to the other, and Caitlin had started sitting at a different lunch table on the other side of the cafeteria, with some kids from the theater club. Natalia refused to talk to Caitlin at all, and Caitlin walked by both Natalia and Zoe in the halls without looking at them, her chin held high.
“I’m not sure why she’s ignoring me now, too,” Zoe said to Emma, annoyed, as they climbed onto the bus home together. Natalia was staying after school for a service club meeting, so they were able to talk openly about Caitlin and her, after keeping their mouths shut about their argument all day.
“She feels like you’re taking Natalia’s side,” Emma said, choosing a seat near the front of the bus, sitting down, and sliding over to make room for Zoe. “She feels like you’re blaming her, when it was Natalia who pushed and pushed until Caitlin had to give her an opinion.”
Zoe had noticed that Caitlin was still speaking to Emma. Apparently, Emma was allowed to stay neutral.
“Well, I have to be there for Natalia,” Zoe said, plopping down beside Emma. “She’s my sister. But I’m not taking anyone’s side.”
“I know that,” Emma said sympathetically. “But Caitlin’s feeling shut out.”
“Only by Natalia!” Zoe said indignantly. “I’m not shutting her out—she’s shutting me out!” Zoe sighed and leaned back in her seat. “I guess because she blames me for her fight with my sister. I feel awful.”
The bus rattled along as they sat in gloomy silence for a few minutes. There were shouts and laughter coming from the other bus riders behind them, but Zoe was too discouraged to join in.
“You know,” Emma said eventually, “maybe there’s some way we can help to fix Caitlin and Natalia’s friendship.”
Zoe stared at her. “What are you talking about? What can we do?”
Emma’s mouth was quirking into a smile, and her eyes were shining as if she’d had the best idea ever. “We can do exactly what we’ve been doing all month. Come up with some good advice!”
Zoe frowned, crossing her arms. “I hate to remind you, Emma, but my advice was what got us into this mess. It turns out that my advice is bad.”
Emma shook her head. Her eyes narrowed with determination.
At the serious look on her cousin’s face now, Zoe got a sudden flashback to the beach vacation their families had taken together when they were five, and how Emma had convinced Natalia and Zoe that they needed to spend a big chunk of every day digging the deepest tunnel ever in the sand by the Atlantic Ocean. It didn’t matter if they wanted to swim or build sand castles instead: Emma had a mission, and they were enlisted whether they liked it or not. The tide had swept away all trace of their tunnel every single night, while they’d all slept with aching muscles and gritty sand beneath their nails. Zoe really hoped that this idea would turn out better.
“You give good advice,” Emma told her firmly. “It’s not your fault that things went wrong this time. I bet we’ve helped lots of people.”
Zoe sighed. “Fine. But if this goes wrong, too, I’m going to give up. I’ll take a solemn vow: No more trying to tell people how to fix their problems.”
“It’s not going to go wrong,” Emma said. “And, if it does, that won’t be your fault, either.”
“Okay,” Zoe said. Despite her show of reluctance, she felt a little spark of excitement deep in her chest. In her mind’s eye, sophisticated grown-up Zoe opened her studio door again and peeked out. Maybe her future as an artist/decorator/life-fixer wasn’t impossible after all. “How do we start?”
“Let’s see,” Emma said. “I’ll make up a letter about our problem, and we can pretend that we’re on the show and that it’s just something a stranger wrote, and answer it with our best advice. Dear Zoe and Emma, One of my favorite cousins and her best friend fought and they’re not even talking to each other anymore. My cousin kept asking for the friend’s opinion on her work when the friend didn’t want to give it. When she pushed, the friend ended up criticizing her, even though she didn’t mean to hurt her feelings.”
“She’s kind of blunt,” Zoe added.
Emma nodded. “Then they both said stuff that wasn’t very nice, and now each of them is acting like they hate the other one. But I know they want to be friends again. They just don’t know how to get over their hurt feelings.” She paused. “Is that everything?”
“I think so,” Zoe said.
“So.” Emma raised her eyebrows. “What’s your advice? What would you tell someone else who wrote in with this problem?”
“Okay.” Zoe thought. “I guess I’d say that her friends can’t get to be friends again unless they talk to each other.”
“Right.” Emma nodded. “I’d say that the person who wrote in should try to figure out a way to get her cousin and her cousin’s best friend to spend time together, prefe
rably without fighting.”
“Somewhere where they can’t ignore each other,” Zoe said. “And maybe in a sort of relaxed, fun place where they can really talk. Not just at school.”
“I know!” Emma said, excited. “A sleepover! They’d have lots of time to talk during a whole night spent together. And sleepovers are fun. If they’re not ready to talk, they could, like, bake brownies or watch movies or something until they feel closer and are able to talk to each other seriously. We could do it at my house; we’ve got plenty of room on the third floor. And no little brothers.”
“Neither one of them would come to a sleepover right now, though, not if they knew the other one was invited,” Zoe said. “Unless …” The bus was getting close to her stop. She wanted to convince Emma of her idea before she had to get off. “You could invite Caitlin over to spend the night and then also invite me and Natalia, but don’t let either of them know the other one is coming. That way they’d be there before they could start worrying about dealing with each other.”
The bus rattled its way to a halt at Zoe’s stop. As she grabbed her backpack and stood up, she looked at Emma. “What do you think? Should we do it?”
Emma grinned. “I think it’s really good advice. I’ll call Caitlin and invite her over for tomorrow night.”
Zoe started walking backward down the bus aisle, giving Emma a thumbs-up. “I’ll tell Natalia. Operation Secret Sleepover is officially launched!”
When Zoe told Natalia about sleeping over at Emma’s on Saturday, Natalia seemed pleased, but a little subdued. Over dinner, Mateo and Tomás kept darting concerned looks at Natalia as she picked at her food.
“Come on, guys!” Zoe said enthusiastically, trying to cheer them up, and also to get them to leave Natalia alone. “Let’s watch a movie!”
Tomás and Mateo followed her to the living room willingly enough, but they kept peeking back at Natalia, as if they were hoping she’d suddenly come up with a fun new game, instead of just sitting dismally at the kitchen table, picking at her nails.
Looking at their glum little faces gazing longingly back at Natalia, Zoe thought wryly: Apparently, I’m the less fun big sister.
Later that night, Natalia kept on being just as quiet as they both got ready for bed.
Teeth brushed and pajamas on, Zoe climbed into her bed and looked over at Natalia. Natalia was lying on her back, eyes closed, her long dark hair spreading out across the pillow. “Well, good night,” Zoe said at last.
“Good night,” Natalia said softly.
“Sleep tight,” Zoe said.
Natalia didn’t answer, and with a sigh Zoe reached over and turned off the light.
She stared up through the darkness toward the ceiling. It would be great if Emma’s and her plan worked. She didn’t like it when Natalia was sad.
A loud sniff came from the other bed. Zoe sat up. “Nat? Are you okay?”
Natalia sniffed again, then said in a wobbly voice, “I miss Caitlin.”
“Yeah, I know you do,” Zoe said sympathetically, hoping that Natalia would keep talking. It was easier to talk about feelings in the dark sometimes, when you didn’t have to look the other person in the eye.
She could see the shadowy shape of her sister as she sat up on the next bed, looking lumpy because of all the blankets wrapped around her. “I know I overreacted at first,” Natalia confessed in a low voice.
Zoe felt a spark of hope again. Natalia’s anger toward Caitlin was clearly softening. “Well, why don’t you make up with her?” Maybe the slumber party tomorrow could be a fun celebration of Natalia and Caitlin’s renewed friendship, instead of an attempt to get them back together.
Natalia huffed, a sharp, exasperated exhalation. “I do miss her, a lot. But … it’s like, Caitlin’s just always so sure she’s right, and she doesn’t worry about anyone else’s point of view. I wanted her opinion, but it wasn’t fair of her to tell me I shouldn’t even enter the contest because my drawing was so bad. That was just mean. And it wasn’t that bad, right?”
“No,” Zoe said honestly. “I don’t think you would have won with your original drawing, but I bet most of the other entries won’t be much better.”
“And then her apology was basically an insult! She was like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry that you’re so sensitive, you big baby’!” Natalia’s voice was rising; it sounded like she was getting angry again at the memory.
“That’s not exactly what she said,” Zoe said.
“Well, it pretty much was. That’s what she meant, anyway,” Natalia answered.
Zoe flopped down and rearranged the covers so they were up to her chin. Their room was chilly at night. “It’s not all Caitlin’s fault, either. I feel really guilty,” she said. “I told her to just tell you the truth and not to worry about hurting your feelings.”
“And that’s another thing,” Natalia said. “I can’t believe she actually wrote in to your show about how bad my design was. Like, my art was an emergency she needed advice on.”
“That wasn’t what the letter said,” Zoe protested.
“Anyway, I don’t think it was your fault,” Natalia told her. “I mean, the advice to tell me the truth wasn’t bad advice. Once I realized how much work my design needed, you and I worked together and made it way better. But Caitlin made her own choice about how to tell me what she thought, and how to act when I got upset. And she wasn’t nice about it.”
“Well …” Zoe said slowly, “I think you said some stuff you didn’t mean, too.”
“Caitlin was meaner, though,” Natalia said. She sounded tired and defensive. “And then I saw that she’d neatened up the work I did on our project, too. She’s always got to be in charge.” She lay down and rolled over with her back to Zoe. “Anyway, good night.”
Zoe sighed again. But that’s how Caitlin is. Natalia had never minded Caitlin taking charge of a project before. It was obvious how much her sister missed Caitlin—and it was obvious that she wasn’t ready to forgive and forget and make friends again.
I really hope our slumber party idea works, she thought. I want my sister back to normal.
“This is going to be really fun,” Natalia said, hiking her overnight bag higher up onto her shoulder as she and Zoe walked up the path to Seaview House. “I’m just glad to take a break from all the drama and hang out with you and Emma.”
Uh-oh. Zoe took a firmer grip on her sleeping bag, looking down at it instead of Natalia. The idea behind Operation Secret Sleepover suddenly seemed less terrific now that Natalia and Caitlin were about to see each other and find out the truth. With a shaky breath, Zoe opened the door.
“Guys! You’re here!” Emma came running down the stairs, Caitlin trailing behind her.
“I didn’t know you both were coming.” Caitlin’s voice was flat.
“I didn’t know you were coming.” Natalia dropped her bag in the entryway and looked at Emma accusingly.
“Well … surprise!” Zoe broke in. “Emma and I wanted to get all four of us together, to remind everyone how much fun we have as a group.” She wasn’t going to let the others think this was all Emma’s idea. She tried to keep her voice light and cheerful, but she could feel her smile getting strained as Natalia and Caitlin both stared at her.
There was a long, tense silence.
“Maybe I should just go home,” Caitlin said uneasily.
“No!” Zoe said, alarmed. She tugged on Natalia’s arm, leading her farther into Seaview House. “Come on, let’s all try to have a nice time. It’s Emma’s sleepover and she wants all of us here.” Emma nodded fervently. “Give it a chance, please.”
Caitlin hesitated, then looked at Natalia again, her expression closed off.
“It’s fine,” Natalia said stiffly. “Stay.”
“Great!” Emma said immediately, clapping her hands. “Let’s take our stuff up to my room and then we can make pizzas and pick a movie, okay? Dad made his special pizza dough for us to use.”
“Sounds terrific!” Zoe said. She could h
ear that, just like Emma’s, her voice sounded fake and overly enthusiastic. But hey, she thought, at least we’re trying.
They dropped their stuff and started to set up.
“Wow,” Natalia commented, staring up at the ceiling. “You redecorated! This looks like Zoe’s influence, right?”
“Isn’t it great?” Emma said enthusiastically. “It feels like spring in here now.”
“It’s nice,” Caitlin agreed politely, not looking at Natalia.
Zoe unrolled her sleeping bag near the windows. Caitlin looked at Natalia, then looked away, while Natalia stared stonily in another direction. They both began to unroll their own bags on opposite sides of Zoe’s, as far from each other as they could get while still being in Emma’s room.
Emma and Zoe exchanged a glance. Were Caitlin and Natalia just going to ignore each other all night? They couldn’t get to be friends again if neither of them even wanted to look at the other one. She and Emma needed to make Natalia and Caitlin talk.
“Okay!” she said peppily. “How about those pizzas?”
Out in the kitchen, Uncle Brian and Aunt Amy were sipping glasses of wine and laying out bowls full of toppings for the pizzas: mozzarella cheese, onions, olives, mushrooms, peppers, crumbling pieces of sausage, and even pieces of pineapple. There were four individual-sized pizza crusts laid on the table, each in front of one of the four seats.
“I prebaked the crusts a little, so you can just do your toppings and then put them in the oven for twenty minutes each,” Uncle Brian said after he hugged the girls hello. “Remember to turn the oven off when you’re done.”
“We’re going to go down and join Grandma Stephenson for dinner if you four don’t need us,” Aunt Amy said, adding a couple bowls of sauce to the table. Once everything was set out, she and Uncle Brian headed downstairs, leaving the four girls alone together.
“Yum, pizza time!” Zoe said quickly, sitting down and pulling Emma into the chair beside her, leaving two empty seats next to each other for the others. “Here, Emma and I will take this bowl of sauce, and you guys can take the other one.” If we just distract them from remembering they’re mad at each other, Zoe thought, they’ll fall back to acting the way they usually do together. She spread a couple big spoonfuls of sauce across her crust and sprinkled mozzarella over it.