Extraordinary

by Miriam Spitzer Franklin

  The last time we spoke was during a fight. But because of Anna, in fifth grade I did things I’d never tried before. Even though I was scared, even though things were tough, I had tried my best. And I hadn’t given up.

  Until now.

  Anna’s voice filled my head. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you know. You just have to do it on your own.

  Maybe I wasn’t such a failure after all.

  I’d finally cut off my hair to give to Locks of Love, even though I ended up with a lopsided haircut and mismatched shoes. I hadn’t become number one in Independent Reader, but I’d been top of the list for a while. I wasn’t fast enough to win a class race, but I’d learned to skate without falling down. I’d joined Girl Scouts when I wasn’t usually a joiner, and I’d learned how to bake cookies because of it. I’d finally stood up to Zach Turansky, and maybe it would stop him from making fun of someone else.

  And I’d gotten out there and made new friends . . . even though I thought I didn’t want them.

  I put the lid back on the box.

  Anna was still my cheerleader.

  Mom had said that Anna would want me to make new friends. As I scraped the pile of dirt back into the hole and flattened it with my shovel, I knew what she said was true.

  Tomorrow morning I would go to the Good Citizens party. I just had one stop to make along the way.

  I snapped off the flashlight. Then I walked back across the grass with the box in my arms, holding Anna close to my heart.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  December 16

  When I woke up the next morning, the sun was streaming through my blinds. The house was quiet. Too quiet. None of the usual back and forth chatter between my parents. No clanking of forks against plates or teakettle whistling. Through squinted eyes, I tried to make out the numbers on my alarm clock. 8:27. I tossed back my blankets and raced down the stairs.

  “Mom!” I yelled as I found her at the computer. “Do you know what time it is?”

  “It’s almost eight thirty.” My mom looked at me. “I thought you wanted to sleep late this morning.”

  “I did. But I changed my mind. Can you take me to the skating rink? They’re leaving school at 9:00, but we can meet them at the Ice Palace instead.”

  A smile spread across my mom’s face as she popped up from her chair. “Of course I can take you, Pansy. Now what would you like for breakfast?”

  “I’ll eat anything,” I said as I ran back up the stairs for the first time in weeks. “I’m starving!”

  ***

  As soon as I was dressed, I walked over to Andy’s. I didn’t know what he’d say when he saw me, but I couldn’t go to the party without talking to him first.

  I knocked on the door, my regular knock. KNOCK KNOCK knock tap.

  “Hi, Pansy,” Mrs. Liddell greeted me as she opened the door. She didn’t look surprised to see me, which meant only one thing: Mom had phoned to warn them I was coming. “Andy’ll be down in a minute.”

  “Can I see Anna first?” I asked her. “I haven’t talked to her since she got back from the hospital.”

  Mrs. Liddell smiled. “Of course. She’s still weak from her surgery,” she said as I followed her down the hall. “But yesterday she wanted to get out of her wheelchair, so I helped her take a walk around the house.”

  “Really? That’s great.” I peeked my head into Anna’s room where she was lying in her bed, watching TV. I blinked when I saw the rainbow-colored hat, remembering that her head had been shaved a few weeks ago. She looked paler and thinner than she had before. But when she glanced over at me, there was a sparkle in her eyes, like she knew exactly who I was. One side of her mouth turned up in a smile. A real smile, just for me.

  “Hi, Anna.” I sat on the chair next to her and reached for her hand. “I’m glad you’re home.”

  ***

  “Mom told me you were here,” Andy said a few minutes later. I’d been sitting with Anna, filling her in on everything that had happened since she went to the hospital. I looked over at Andy, who stood leaning against the doorway, his hands in his pockets.

  “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I said to Anna. Then I followed Andy out into the hall. We stopped in the entranceway. I turned to face him. “Your mom says you’re not coming to the Good Citizens party.”

  “Yeah.” Andy shrugged. “I’m not crazy about ice-skating.”

  “Me neither. But we’ve worked hard all these past months. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

  Andy kicked the carpet with his foot. “I’m not really up for a party.”

  I paused. Then I pulled my hands out of my pockets. “I wasn’t in the mood either. I was planning on staying home, just like you.”

  Andy looked up at me. “Why’d you change your mind?”

  I took a deep breath. “Because Anna wouldn’t have wanted me to miss it.”

  Andy didn’t say anything. He looked away from me, then he said, “You want to go in the backyard?”

  “Sure,” I said. We went out the back door, and I followed him up the ladder to the tree house. It had been a while since I’d hung out with him there. I was happy to see that everything was still the same. A couple of beanbag chairs lay scattered across the floor. Shelves were covered with piles of comic books and notebooks and LEGO, and a couple of crumpled snack bags littered the rickety table.

  “When Daniel comes over, do you come up here?” I asked him.

  “Sometimes. Mostly, though, I like to hang out here by myself.”

  Last time I’d been up here, autumn leaves had fluttered around us. Now bare tree limbs waved in the December wind. Andy turned and leaned against the large window. I stood next to him, and we both stared out at the tree branches for a long time.

  “I’m sorry we’ve been fighting,” I finally said.

  “Me too.” Andy turned from the window and picked up some LEGO bricks from the bookshelf.

  “I shouldn’t have said that Anna was a better athlete than you—I was just so angry at you for embarrassing me in front of everyone. You promised not to tell anyone about what happened at the park that day.”

  Andy shrugged. “I guess . . . I’m not sure exactly why I said it. It’s just . . . you’ve been acting so different this year.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I mean, what’s been with you the last few months? If you hate skating so much, why have you been doing all that practicing? And why’d you spend all that time reading boring books when you could have been doing something more fun?”

  “You mean like building Zeraclop City with you? Is that why you started working on it with Daniel? Because you were mad at me for being busy all the time?”

  Andy snapped some LEGOs together. “Something like that.”

  “But I already told you, remember? I was doing it for Anna.”

  He gave me a strange look, like he didn’t remember the conversation at all. “Anna?”

  “Yeah. I kept hoping the surgery would cure her, and when she woke up I needed to be the kind of friend she always wanted me to be. The kind of friend who wouldn’t let her down. I guess that sounds stupid, to think the surgery would change her back—”

  “No,” Andy said softly. “It doesn’t sound stupid at all.”

  I looked into his eyes, and that’s when I knew. I saw the same deep clouds in his eyes that I saw that day in Anna’s hospital room. Andy had been hoping for a miracle, too.

  “Is that why you never talked about it?” I asked him. “You didn’t want to jinx it?”

  Andy shrugged. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. It could have been really good . . . or it could have been really bad.”

  I nodded. “Mom tried to tell me about the risks. But I didn’t want to think about it.”

  “Yeah.”

  There was silence for a moment. Finally, Andy said, “But I still don’t get it. Why would you want to change? Anna liked you just the way you are.”

  “She used to. But then we got in that big fig
ht before she got sick. You know, about sleep-away camp.”

  “Oh yeah . . .” From the look in Andy’s eyes, I could see he’d suddenly remembered.

  “I was trying to make it up to her. I needed to be the kind of person who didn’t chicken out of things, someone who kept her promises.”

  “But what does sleep-away camp have to do with skating? Or Independent Reader?”

  “I told Anna we’d take lessons together last year, but I quit after the first time.”

  Andy shrugged. “Anna got over that pretty quickly. She loved to skate, and you hated it.”

  “Still, it was a broken promise, just like backing out of sleep-away camp. That’s why I joined Girl Scouts, you know. So I’d be ready to go on a camping trip next time she asked. And I cut my hair,” I said, running my hand over my hair, which now reached my shoulders, “because I promised we’d do it together.”

  Andy nodded, like he was finally starting to put the pieces together. Then he wrinkled up his eyebrows. “Still, what does Independent Reader have to do with any of that? Why were you reading books you didn’t even like?”

  I thought about it for a minute. Being top in Independent Reader wasn’t a broken promise I’d made to Anna. It didn’t really have anything to do with Anna at all. Had I really been doing it just for myself? “I—I thought I could do it, that’s all. Anna would have liked that I was trying so hard and that I didn’t quit.”

  “I guess.” Andy paused then shook his head, looking totally confused again. “But—but the whole thing doesn’t make any sense! If you were doing it because you wanted Anna to forgive you, then you were wasting your time. She wasn’t mad at you anymore. She would have come home, and things would have been just like they always had.”

  “What are you talking about? If she forgave me, I’ll never know it.”

  Andy shook his head. “No, she really did forgive you. Don’t you remember the letter?”

  My heart skipped a beat. “What letter?”

  “You know, the one she wrote from camp.”

  “Andy!” I faced him, my hands on my hips. “You never said anything about a letter.”

  “Yes, I did. She asked me for your address because she forgot to bring it with her.”

  “She never wrote to me from camp.”

  “Well, she got sick. Like, the day after I got her letter. I guess she never had a chance to write to you.”

  I couldn’t believe it. Andy had forgotten to tell me that Anna had forgiven me? Was it really true, or was he getting the facts mixed up?

  “You never told me about any letter,” I said again.

  “Come on,” he said, motioning to me. “I’ll show it to you.”

  I followed him down the ladder and raced up the stairs of his house. I’d been wondering all this time . . . and there’d been a letter? He opened his desk drawer and dug around for a few minutes. Finally, he pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.

  For a moment, I just stared at the envelope. I stared at Anna’s neat rounded letters, the funny face she’d drawn on a balloon, the address written in purple and green.

  “Go ahead,” Andy said. “Read it.”

  I pulled out the letter and began to read, hearing Anna’s voice in my head.

  Dear Andy,

  This camp is AWESOME. It really is! We’ve done all kinds of exciting things. We hiked through this cave and our feet got all wet and we got completely covered in mud. We swim in the lake with little fish every day. We’ve gone canoeing (two people fell out, but not me!) and we even went rock climbing. But the best thing we’ve done so far is tubing on the river. It’s so fun and waaay better than going on the log ride at Carowinds!

  The food is even pretty good for camp food. We have stuff like pizza and baked ziti. And we have desserts like cake and pie and watermelon every single night.

  If you finished the second book in the Dark and Spooky Castle series, DON’T tell me what happened! I just finished the first book and I can’t wait to read the next one when I get back. So, if you haven’t finished it, you better hurry up and read.

  Pansy should have come with me. Because we would have had a blast together!

  Gotta go help in the kitchen. I have cooking duty tonight, and we’re making apple pie.

  Your amazing twin, Anna

  P.S. I forgot Pansy’s address. So if you see her, will you tell her we’re still best friends 4ever?

  I read the letter all the way through, twice. Then I looked up at Andy.

  “I thought you knew,” Andy said. “I mean, did you really think she’d stay mad at you?”

  I felt a smile tugging on the corners of my mouth. Anna wouldn’t have been surprised that Andy forgot to tell me, so I knew I couldn’t be, either.

  “You can keep it if you want,” he said.

  I shook my head and looked down at Anna’s words. “It’s your letter, Andy.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t really keep stuff, you know, the way girls do.”

  This time my face broke out in a great big smile. “Thanks,” I said, hugging the envelope to my chest. “I guess I’ll keep it. Payback, since you never gave me her message.”

  Andy shrugged. “I’d forgotten all about the fight. I figured you had, too.”

  I rolled my eyes. Boys. No sense getting mad at Andy for thinking like a boy. Then I remembered the skating party. “Hey, I’m just going to run home, and then Mom’s going to take me to the rink. We can pick you up on the way, if you want.”

  Andy pushed up his glasses, shifting from one foot to the other. “Like you said, I’m not much of a skater.”

  “I didn’t mean it! I was just getting back at you because you told everyone that dogs almost pulled me into the duck pond.”

  “Tiko, Bonsai, and Moochers.” Andy grinned. “Remember?”

  “How could I forget?” I giggled. “So, are you coming or not?”

  Andy hesitated a minute. Then he said, “Guess I better go get my gloves.”

  “Great. And Andy? I won’t tease you about not being coordinated if you promise not to tease me.”

  “It’s a deal.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  December 16

  It was almost ten o’clock when we pulled up in front of the rink. I spotted the Carvin County School bus in the parking lot and knew that my class was already inside. Pancakes flipped inside my stomach as I thought about tying up my skates and stepping onto the ice.

  “Do you want me to come in with you?” Mom asked. “I can help you with your skates.”

  I shook my head. “Mom, I’ve done it loads of times. I take lessons, remember?”

  Mom smiled. “Okay. Do you have your gloves? Warm socks? Jacket?”

  I held them up.

  “Well, have a great time!” Mom leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I’m so glad you decided to go.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Smith,” Andy said as he got out of the car.

  “Be there in a minute,” I said to Andy. He shut the door, and I watched him walk up to the entrance. Then I reached into my pocket. I pulled out my Best Friends necklace and dropped it into Mom’s hand.

  “It’s broken,” I told her. “Do you think you can fix it?”

  Mom looked down at the necklace, then closed her hand tight. “Pansy,” she said, looking back up at me, “this is one necklace I will find a way to fix.”

  I gave her a quick wave and got out of the car. A blast of cold air greeted me when I pushed open the doors to the rink. I joined Andy at the counter, and we both picked up our skates and walked over to a bench to put them on.

  As we were lacing our skates, I looked up to see the last person I wanted to see tying his boots.

  “Your friends were wondering where you were,” Zach said to us both.

  “Really?” I asked. “Who?”

  “You know, Madison, Emma, Daniel, Hannah.”

  “Oh.” I waited for Zach to say something rude. Instead, he finished tightening his skates and gave us a little wave before he to
ok off across the rink.

  You could almost call it a friendly wave.

  Andy and I exchanged looks. Had speaking up to him really worked? Was he going to stop being mean to me and Andy from now on? Had Zach really changed?

  Andy stood up on wobbly feet. “Ready?” he said, holding out a hand to me.

  I stopped thinking about Zach, focusing on what I had to do next. I pulled the top lace and it snapped off in my fingers. I groaned. “I’m going to have to get another pair. See you on the ice, okay?”

  Andy nodded and made his way to the entrance while I took off my skates and returned them to the counter. A few minutes later, my next pair laced, I got to my feet.

  It was now or never. I walked to the entrance to the rink and stepped onto the ice unsteadily. Immediately, I hugged the rail.

  What happened to all of those weeks of lessons? My ankles felt wobbly after being off the ice for a while, and it felt a lot like starting from scratch.

  Was I completely nuts? I should have stuck to my instincts. I never liked skating to begin with, and here I was, in front of my whole class, attempting to ice-skate when I’d just recovered from an ankle injury.

  Suddenly, I heard a voice in my mind. Come on, Pansy! My eyes snapped shut. I saw Anna’s sparkling eyes, her face lit up in a smile. You can do it! I took one hand off the rail, and I felt Anna’s hand in mine.

  I stood up taller, held my head up high, and steadied myself on my skates. I bent my knees and held one arm out, the way Trina had taught me. Then I opened my eyes and glanced down. No Anna beside me—only the cool air brushing against my cheeks. I blinked, the air stinging my eyes.

  “Pansy!” I heard my name again. “Hey, Pansy!”

  I looked across the rink and saw my friends—Madison, Emma, Daniel. Even Hannah was hanging against the edge. Andy had made his way over and was pulling himself along the rail. Madison waved both arms above her head. Her feet slipped out from beneath her, one, then the other, and she landed smack on her butt. Madison broke into a giggle, and everyone laughed along with her.

  A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth.

  You can do it, Pansy. A whisper, and this time it was my own voice I heard. “You can do it.”