Haley went over to her bed, but she kept talking. “How are Mom and Dad going to know what to get you if you don’t make a list?” she asked. I ignored her and she continued. “I know what I’m going to ask for.” She bent toward the paper and said out loud as she wrote, “Daddy back home.”
“That’s a dumb thing to put on your list,” I said from behind my paper. “You know you’re not going to get it.”
“It’s not dumb,” Haley said. “Dad said he would give me whatever I wanted!”
“That’s not what he meant,” I said.
From behind the paper I heard Haley start to sniffle. I figured she was just pretending to cry to get my attention. “But it’s the most important thing on my list,” she said. “It’s not fair. You got to live with Dad until you were eleven, but I’m only seven. I should get four more years!”
I had never thought about it that way, but Haley was right. I lowered my paper and looked over at her. She wiped her face with the back of her hand. Her eyes were glossy and her cheeks were flushed. She really was crying after all. Maybe it was harder to be Haley than I’d always thought.
“Come here,” I said to Haley.
Haley slid of her bed and came over to me. She snuggled up against me and I petted her head as though she were a dog. “Don’t cry,” I told her.
“I can’t help it,” she said. “I just want it to be like it was before.”
I knew exactly how she felt. It had taken me months to get used to Dad living somewhere else. “At least you get two sets of toys,” I reminded her.
Haley was quiet for a few seconds. She wrapped her arm around my waist and I hugged her back. Finally she pulled away and lifted her head. “Do you think I could ask for two Samantha dolls—one for Dad’s house and one for Mom’s?” she asked.
I didn’t know what to say. Two dolls cost a lot of money, but I wanted her to stop crying. “I guess you could put that on your list,” I said.
Haley got up to get the pad and pen. “Here,” she said. “You write it down.”
I sat up and balanced the pad in my lap. I wrote “Haley’s Birthday List” across the top of the page and then wrote “Two Samantha dolls” on the first line.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Some new music,” she said.
“New music,” I said as I wrote it down. “Check.”
Haley smiled. “Leg warmers,” she said.
“Leg warmers?”
“Yeah, to wear with my skirts instead of having to wear jeans.”
“Okay,” I said, and I added them to the list. “Leg warmers, check.”
“Some new clothes and books. Oh, and some clothes for Samantha, too.”
I wrote down everything that Haley said, even though her list got kind of long. She had stopped crying completely, so I thought it was okay to tell her she was asking for too much. “You’re not going to be able to get everything,” I told her.
“How come?”
“Because it costs too much,” I said.
“How do you know how much it costs?”
“I can just tell,” I said. “And anyway, we really have to save money for important things.”
“All right, I won’t ask for anything else,” Haley said. “Now it’s time to make your list.”
“I told you,” I said, “I’m not making a list.”
“Well, I want to show Mom mine,” Haley said. “Come on.” She pulled my arm.
Mom was in the living room. Haley ran up to her. “I made my list, Mom,” she said. “Give it to her, Sophie.”
I handed Haley’s list to Mom and she looked it over. “That’s some list,” Mom told her.
“Sophie said that I can’t have everything.”
“Why not?”
“Because we don’t have enough money,” Haley said.
“Sophie,” Mom said, and I knew I had made her mad. “You have to let me be the mom.”
“But what if we run out of money?” I said.
“Honestly, Sophie,” Mom said. “You need to stop worrying so much. Have I ever let anything bad happen to you?” I didn’t know what to say. After all, she had let Dad leave. I knew she couldn’t have done anything to stop it, but still . . . What if the same thing happened with money?
“Sophie still needs to make her list,” Haley said.
“No, she doesn’t,” Mom said. I wondered if that was my punishment.
“How come?” Haley asked.
“Because I already know what she’s getting,” Mom said.
“What?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Mom said.
I went back to my room to do my work, but it was hard to concentrate. I wasn’t sure Mom could take care of everything on her own, and I didn’t want to pressure her about money at all. But there were definitely things I wanted for my birthday. It wasn’t really fair for Haley to get things and not me. Besides, if Mom was going to get me something anyway, maybe I should tell her what I really wanted.
The phone rang and I knew it had to be Dad. He always called around the same time at night when he got home from work. Ever since we’d gotten back from Florida, I had been getting on the phone to say hello. Usually I even went with Haley to see him too.
“Sophie, it’s for you,” Mom called.
I was right. I thought maybe I would ask Dad about the money stuff, and I picked up the phone. “Daddy,” I said, purposely trying to sound like a baby. I was hoping I could trick him into thinking I was Haley.
“Sophie?” a voice said—a girl’s voice. I felt my face flush.
“Jessie?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s me,” she said. I could hardly believe it was her. I guess Liz wouldn’t write her a note to get out of working with me.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I didn’t want to call,” she said. “But we have to work on this stupid project. You know we’re supposed to have an outline of our report by Friday.”
“Did you even read the book?” I asked.
“Part of it,” Jessie said. I wondered if that was even true. I had always filled Jessie in on the books we were reading in school because she hated reading. I didn’t mind helping her back then. But now we weren’t even friends anymore and I didn’t want to do all the work.
“Did you at least read the chapter we’re supposed to do?”
“I didn’t get that far,” Jessie said. I didn’t know what to say. I could hear Jessie breathing loudly and impatiently on the other end of the phone. “Look,” she said finally. “I was really mad at you. You shouldn’t have danced with Madden Preston. You knew I liked him.”
“But it wasn’t like that,” I said. “I don’t even want a boyfriend. I didn’t even see him again until today on the street.”
“I know,” Jessie said.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Madden asked me about you the other day. He said he hadn’t seen you around in a while.”
Even though I didn’t want him to be my boyfriend, it sort of made me feel better to hear that he had asked about me. But I knew better than to say that to Jessie. “Did you tell him we’re not friends anymore?” I asked her.
“No,” Jessie said. “It’s none of his business.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said.
Jessie was quiet for a few seconds. Then she said, “You know you’re still the only one I ever showed my photo album to.”
I wondered if that meant we still were friends after all. I didn’t want to ask in case I was wrong, so I didn’t say anything at all.
“Sophie,” Jessie said, “are you still there?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“So,” she said, “will you do the outline?”
“The whole thing?” I asked.
“I told you I didn’t read that far in the book,” she said. “Besides, you know you’re better at these things. You’re the one who writes for the Victor paper.”
“So you’re not going to help at all?” I asked.
“No,
” Jessie said. “I just told you that.”
“We’re not friends anymore, are we?” I asked. But I knew I didn’t even have to ask her. Jessie had only mentioned the photo album to try to get her way. If we really had been friends, she would have come over so we could work on the outline together. Even if she hadn’t read the chapter, she would have offered to get my favorite black-and-white cookies from the deli and keep me company while I wrote it. I didn’t even wait for Jessie to answer me. “You have to do half of it at least,” I said. “Or else I’ll just ask Ms. Brisbin if I can work alone.”
“Sophie, please,” Jessie said. Something about the way Jessie said “please” made it sound like she needed me. The funny thing was that I didn’t feel like I needed her anymore. I remembered being at the dance a few months before. I was so afraid of losing Jessie that had I walked away from Madden and let her get her way. If she had asked me to write the outline back then, I would have said yes right away. I would have written it, and put both our names on it, and hoped it would make her want to be my friend. I was different now. I wasn’t so afraid anymore.
“No,” I said. “I mean it.”
“You know, this is exactly why we’re not friends anymore,” Jessie said hotly. “You only care about yourself.”
I pictured Jessie with a smirk on her face and her eyes narrowed. I knew she was wrong about me. I knew none of it was my fault. But she wouldn’t believe me if I told her. And I guess it didn’t really matter anyway. The only thing that mattered was that we weren’t friends anymore. I would miss her, but I was relieved, too. At least now it was over.
All of a sudden I didn’t even want to be on the phone with Jessie anymore. I decided that after we hung up I would call Marachel. It seemed funny and I started to smile a little to myself—the whole reason I’d started hanging out with Marachel to begin with was because Jessie hadn’t wanted to be with me. Now I wanted to hang up with Jessie so I could talk to Marachel. It wasn’t the same as a best friend, but it was a lot better than someone who doesn’t like you anymore. Maybe she’d want to make plans to see a movie over the weekend. Maybe Lily would want to come too. Maybe one day I’d feel as close to them as I used to feel to Jessie.
“I gotta go,” I told Jessie. “Tell me tomorrow what you want to do.” I heard her take a breath like she was going to say something back, but I hung up before she had a chance.
Nineteen
TWO WEEKS LATER Mom and Dad gave me my birthday present—my very own room. They hired someone to come in and build a wall where the dining room used to be. Mom pushed the dining room table against the wall in the living room. She said we could pull it out from the wall whenever we had company over for dinner.
It was ready four days before my actual birthday. I walked into my new room. My bed was in there, but there weren’t any sheets on it yet. There was a small dresser that looked like an antique, and matching end tables on either side of the bed. I ran my finger along the top of one of the end tables. Everything was so clean and bare. Mom came in behind me. “What do you think?” she asked.
I turned around and around. It was about half the size of the room I shared with Haley. I had to climb over the bed to get to the dresser. There was no carpeting on the floor. It was perfect.
“It must have cost so much money,” I said.
“Not so much,” Mom said.
I shook my head, knowing she was lying. “Mom,” I said, “they built a whole new wall. It had to be expensive.”
“You’re right that we have to be careful with money,” Mom said. “But it’s okay to spend on things that are important. Dad and I think you are old enough now that your privacy is important.”
“I love it,” I said. “I really love it.”
“I picked out the tables and the dresser at an antiques dealer upstate. They said if you didn’t like them, we could bring them back.”
“Oh, no,” I said. “They look great.”
“I’m so glad,” Mom said. I wondered if Haley would get a dog now that I had my own room. But maybe Haley didn’t even remember that she had wanted one. It hadn’t even been on her birthday list.
“Hey, Mom,” Haley called from the other room. “Can we order dinner now?”
Mom kissed my cheek. “I’ll come in later and help you make the bed,” she said.
I stood in the center of the room and turned around and around until I was dizzy, and then I flopped onto the bed. I watched the room still spinning. Everything I saw was all mine—the walls, the floor, the bed, the end tables, the dresser.
Even though Mom had said she would help me make the bed, I wanted to fix my room up as soon as possible, so I didn’t wait for her. I stood up and went to the hall closet to get fresh sheets. I stretched them out across the bed, folded the sides, tucked them under, and pulled my comforter onto the bed and arranged the pillows. Then I ran back down the hall to my old room to get some of my stuff. I lined up my books on top of the dresser and put my important papers in one of the end tables, like my letters from Dad and Katie. I tacked my To Kill a Mockingbird book report up on the bulletin board above my dresser. Ms. Brisbin had written “Outstanding Work A+” across the top in big red letters. Mom had called Ms. Brisbin to talk to her about the changes in our family and had told her I’d be more comfortable working alone. I couldn’t believe I had gotten an A+ even though I’d done the report all by myself. It looked perfect pinned up on the bulletin board. Just then, I heard Mom calling me. “Sophie, dinner!” she said.
I knew I had to thank Dad for my new room too, so when we finished dinner, I took the cordless phone into my new room to call him. He answered after the first ring.
“Guess where I am?” I said.
“South America,” Dad said.
“Dad,” I said, “be serious. Guess.”
“I know where you are,” he said. “What do you think?”
“It’s the greatest. It’s the absolute most impeccable present I’ve ever gotten,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” Dad said.
“Thank you. I was just about to say thank you.”
“I have one more surprise for you, if you want it.”
“What?”
“Well, since you and I missed out on so much time together, I thought you might want to come with me on my next business trip. I have to go to San Francisco for a deposition, but it should take only half a day. You can hang out in the hotel while I’m there and we can stay over the weekend.”
“Just you and me?”
“Just you and me,” he said. “If you want to come.”
“I think I do,” I said. “I really think I do.”
“Good,” Dad said. “I’ll get the tickets in the morning.”
I looked around my new room. Things change and you get used to them. I was getting used to my new room already.
The next day I left school a little late, and when I walked by the corner, Madden Preston and his friends were already there, talking to Jessie and Lindsay. I didn’t slow down to talk to them, but I didn’t put my head down and start to walk faster to get away from them either. “Hey, Sophie!” Madden called. I looked up. Jessie wouldn’t meet my eyes, but Madden was smiling right at me.
“Hey,” I said.
“How are you?” he asked.
“I’m great,” I told him, and then I started laughing because I realized it was true.
“Cool,” Madden said. “So I’ll see you around, right?”
“See you around,” I said.
When I got home, I realized I had been so busy with my new room I’d forgotten to write to Katie to tell her I was going to California. I pulled a piece of stationery out of my desk. I didn’t have much time to write because I had to change and meet Marachel and Lily in Central Park to go skating, but I wrote her a quick letter.
Dear Katie,
My birthday is next week and I’m going to be twelve. I already got two presents, even though I’m still eleven years old right now. The first one is a new room that I
don’t have to share with Haley. And the second one is the one I really have to tell you about. . . . My dad is taking me to San Francisco in May, so I will get to meet you in person! I really can’t wait to see you!
Well, I’ve got to go now because I’m going skating tonight in Central Park. I’ll get you a souvenir from the rink so you can have something from New York.
Sincerely,
Sophie
sincerely,
Katie
For Lindsay Aaronson & Amy Bressler, my very first readers
One
THE WHOLE REASON I had the idea was because I was writing a letter to Sophie. Last fall, my social studies teacher, Mrs. Katz, signed our class up for something called Pen Pals Across America. All of our names were entered into a big database, and we were each matched up with a pen pal who lived in another state. I was matched up with Sophie Turner from New York City. I went there once with my parents and Julie, my sister, and it was great. There are about a million stores and restaurants crammed into the city and there are always things to do. We stayed in a hotel on Fifth Avenue, which is a pretty famous street, and everything we needed was right there when we walked out the door. It’s the same for Sophie. All she has to do is cross two streets and she’s at school. I think the people who live in New York City probably don’t ever have to leave, unless they want to visit someone who lives somewhere else.
My family lives all the way across the country in Redwood City, California, which as far as I can tell is nothing like New York. For one thing, most people in New York live in apartments, not houses. Also, in Redwood City we need to drive most places. School is only half a mile away. Sometimes Dad drives us, but Julie and I walk most days. Still, it’s a much longer walk than the walk Sophie has to her school. And if we need to go to the supermarket or library or even to my best friend Jake’s house, we need to drive there. There also aren’t any skyscrapers in Redwood City like there are in New York. Even in downtown Redwood City, most of the buildings are only about two or three stories high.
Sincerely Page 13