“I said I’m working,” Julie said, and I knew that meant she didn’t want to see me.
“I need your help,” I said. “Can I come in? Please?”
I heard Julie moving toward the door. She opened it a crack and stuck her head out. “What?” she said.
“I need your help,” I said again.
“So you said,” Julie said. “Are you going to tell me why?”
“I need to go to the mall,” I said.
“You?”
“Well, I thought maybe the stores in the mall would want to help with Emily’s Run, but you know them better than I do,” I said. “Aunt Jean’s books on fund-raising said it’s easier to get money from companies when you have a personal connection to them.”
Julie opened her door wider. “All right,” she said. “Come in. What else does it say in Jean’s books?” Julie started calling Aunt Jean just Jean last year. It reminded me of how Jake now said “Gallagher.” I walked into her room. To myself, so softly that Julie couldn’t hear, I breathed a sigh of relief.
We made a list of all the stores at the mall she thought would be good to get donations from. I couldn’t believe how many stores she could remember off the top of her head.
I had asked Jake to come with us and he’d said he’d meet us in the food court of the mall on Saturday.
• • •
The next morning I was sitting with Julie at a table right by the pizza stand. It was too early for the pizza place to actually be open. The only food stand open was the one selling doughnuts. It was the second Saturday in a row that I had woken up early, but I didn’t care. Julie said it was better to get to the stores early before the crowds, otherwise the salespeople would be too busy helping customers to concentrate on Emily’s Run, which was officially set to be the Friday before Memorial Day weekend—just six weeks away. It was also the day before I was going to meet Sophie for the first time. She and her dad were going to be in San Francisco and come to Redwood City over the weekend. When I told Doriane that Sophie was coming, she couldn’t believe it. “That’s so cool,” she said. “My pen pal hasn’t written me back in months, so I stopped writing to her.”
“Jake doesn’t write to his pen pal anymore either, but Sophie and I still write each other all the time,” I said. Jake rolled his eyes. I knew he thought having a pen pal was dumb and old-fashioned. He always made fun of me for sending Sophie actual letters instead of e-mails. But Doriane didn’t seem to agree.
“You’re so lucky,” she said. Her voice sounded kind of sad, and I knew she wished her pen pal would visit her too. I didn’t care if Jake thought the whole thing was stupid. I was so excited to meet Sophie in person. It was coming up so soon, and that meant the jog-a-thon would be here even sooner. I imagined other kids were probably spending the weekend getting their parents and friends to sponsor them. Mr. Gallagher also said he would contact the high school to see whether we could use their track, since the high school bleachers were bigger. All the students who were participating were in charge of getting their own sponsors and helping get Super Sponsors signed up. I wondered if anyone else had thought to come to the mall.
I rubbed my eyes and looked around for Jake. “He’s late,” I said to Julie.
“Not really,” Julie said. “You were just in such a rush this morning that we got here early. I’m going to get a doughnut. Do you want one?”
I was still a little too tired to eat, so I shook my head. Julie got up to get her doughnut. I put my elbows on the table, leaned my head against my hands, and looked upward. There’s a skylight above the food court just like in Aunt Jean’s kitchen. There were clouds passing above us, but I knew it was probably fog and that the sun would come out soon.
The glass from the skylight was made up of a bunch of panels that came together in the shape of an upside-down V. The glass looked clean, and I wondered how they did that. Someone must have climbed up onto the roof to get it so clean. I wondered if there was an extra long squeegee that they could extend across to the glass. If they walked out on the glass, would they fall through? What if there was an earthquake while they were cleaning? I’d never thought about it before. But since you never know when an earthquake is coming, I knew there could be one right then, while I was sitting there under the skylight and Julie was off to the side buying her doughnut. We probably wouldn’t even have time to dive under the tables. We would just look at each other and scream, and the glass would come down and kill us both. That must have been what it was like for people in Mexico. They were just going about their day like it was any other day. They had no idea what was about to happen to them, and even if they’d known, they couldn’t have done anything to stop it. I squeezed my eyes shut. “Please don’t let there be an earthquake today,” I said to myself.
“Hey, Katie,” Jake said. “Earth to Katie.” I opened my eyes and there he was, standing right in front of me, with Doriane. Even though I hadn’t invited her, I wasn’t really surprised to see her. “You know you were just talking in your sleep,” Jake said.
“I was not,” I said.
“Oh, yeah? Then how come your lips were moving just now when you were sitting by yourself with your eyes closed? Just ask Doriane—she saw it too.”
I looked over at Doriane, who shrugged. “I really wasn’t paying attention,” she said. I stood up from the table.
Julie walked back over to us with a half-eaten doughnut in her hand. “Anyone want the rest of this?” she asked.
“I’ll take it,” Jake said. He was about to take a bite, but then seemed to think better of it. “Doriane, you want it?” Doriane shook her head. Jake opened his mouth wide and shoved most of the doughnut into it.
“That’s rude,” I said.
“What?” Jake asked. It was hard to understand him because his mouth was full, but I knew what he was trying to say.
“What if I’d wanted some?” I wasn’t even in the mood for doughnuts, so I guess it was stupid to make a big deal out of it. I just wanted Jake to think of me, too.
“Sorry,” Jake said. He held out the rest of the doughnut. It was the tiniest bite in the world.
“Never mind,” I said.
“Suit yourself,” Jake said, and he popped the last morsel into his mouth.
I turned and saw Julie looking at me funny, almost like she felt sorry for me. I couldn’t be sure, though, because Julie never feels sorry for me, but I decided not to ask her about it. I really wanted to get out of the food court anyway. I felt better when we walked into the main part of the mall where the stores were. There weren’t many windows, but there were a lot of doorways to go to in case the ground started to shake. I stopped being mad at Jake and started getting excited again.
We had talked about what we needed to ask the people who worked in the stores. Of course the first thing was to ask the stores to be Super Sponsors. But sponsoring the track team could cost a lot of money, and Julie said that probably not every store would want to do that. So we thought of other things people from the stores could do. Julie said she would ask the salespeople she knew to sponsor her individually. Then Doriane said we should also ask them to put the sponsor sheets on their counters in case customers wanted to be sponsors too. We’d made up special packets for the stores that wanted to be Super Sponsors, and we had a lot of extra individual sponsor sheets with us as well. Julie was in charge of everything we did at the mall. She led us out of the food court and toward the stores so we could get started.
It was almost like we were ducklings and Julie was the mother duck. Julie walked in front, and we all followed behind her. I was behind Julie, and Jake and Doriane were behind me. Waddle, waddle, waddle, I thought. I turned around to make sure they were keeping up with us and saw Jake put his arm around Doriane’s shoulder. I tried not to care and turned to catch up with Julie.
Our first stop was Julie’s favorite store, Sally’s Shack, which really isn’t a shack at all. The mannequins in the windows all had on little black skirts and different tops. I recognized Julie’s new
skirt. Inside, the store looked like a disco. There was even a disco ball hanging from the ceiling and music playing in the background. Sally, the owner, was actually there, and she knows Julie well because Julie’s in there practically every weekend. She came up and gave Julie a hug. “Sweetheart,” she said, “I’m so glad you stopped by. There’s a sweater that just came in that would look perfect with your new skirt!”
I knew Julie probably wanted to see the sweater, but she didn’t show it. “I’m actually not here to shop today,” she said. “I’m here with my sister, Katie, and her friends, and they have something they want to ask you.”
I stepped out from behind Julie and shook Sally’s hand, strong and firm. Sally pulled her hand away and shook it out. “That’s some handshake,” she said, smiling.
I hoped I hadn’t gripped her too hard. I took a deep breath and started. “You know about the Mexican earthquake,” I said.
Sally nodded. I went through the whole story. Jake stepped forward and interrupted me a couple times, but Doriane stayed quiet, as usual. She twirled her hair around her finger so tightly that the tip turned red. It didn’t matter. By the time we were through, Sally had become our first official Super Sponsor of the day. Julie thanked Sally, and Sally hugged her again. Then she said, “I need to hug your adorable sister too!” She hugged me and said she hoped I would come back to her store again soon.
“So, what do you think?” Julie asked me when we’d walked out of the store.
“She’s so nice,” I said.
“You see,” Julie said. “Shopping’s not so bad.”
We did the same thing at every store we went to. I was proud of Julie because she knew how to talk to the people in the stores and get them to listen. The other thing I learned was that shopping was hard work. I never thought of walking through the mall as good exercise, but my feet were killing me by the end. Maybe that’s how Julie stays so skinny without ever doing sports. The people in the stores seemed pretty impressed. Most of them said they would mention it to their bosses. Julie kept a list of who said what, and who made what promise, and if there was anyone she could call back. I was disappointed that people weren’t agreeing right away to sponsor us, like Sally did, but Julie had said this was how it would go. Four salespeople filled out sponsor forms and said they would sponsor Julie individually. Eight stores let us leave sponsor sheets on the counters in case customers wanted to get involved. The last store we went to, a place just called Shop! also agreed to be a Super Sponsor. As we walked out of the mall, I knew, overall, that the day had been a success. We headed home to ask our parents if their companies would be Super Sponsors too.
Nine
MOM WAS WAITING for us when Julie and I got home. We opened the door and she didn’t look at me. She didn’t even say hello. “You’ve been gone for hours,” she said to Julie.
“I was helping Katie,” Julie said.
“You have a test on Tuesday, Julie,” Mom said firmly. “You’re not going to leave this house again before school on Monday.”
“Except to babysit Sascha tomorrow, right?” Julie said. Mom was silent. “Except for that, right, Mom?” Julie said. Her voice was too high all of a sudden and I knew she was about to cry.
“You shouldn’t have left today if you had something to do tomorrow,” Mom said.
“But, Mom,” Julie said. “I can’t just not show up. Sascha’s parents will never let me babysit again!”
“Then you should’ve figured out your priorities ahead of time,” Mom said. Julie turned and ran up the stairs. I heard her heavy footsteps as she ran down the hall, and then the slam of her door.
I turned to Mom. Of course she didn’t care about the important thing I was doing for school. That was a priority too, wasn’t it? More important than a stupid test Julie would do badly on no matter how hard she studied. “You know we were working on the jog-a-thon,” I said. “It’s really important.”
“It’s not more important than Julie’s actual schoolwork,” Mom said.
“Yes, it is,” I said. “Raising money for kids who were hurt is more important than math or anything else at school.”
“I’m the parent; you’re the child,” Mom said. “I know best.”
“You don’t even care about what I’m doing,” I shouted. “You’re just mad you found out about the jog-a-thon from Aunt Jean and I didn’t tell you myself. You get all upset that I tell Aunt Jean things but then when I tell you what we were doing all you care about is Julie’s dumb homework!” I thundered up the stairs just like Julie had a few seconds earlier and slammed my door as hard as I could.
• • •
Dad knocked on my door a little while later. I knew it had to be him. Julie was still shut up in her room and of course Mom didn’t care enough to check on me. “Come in,” I said.
“What’s all this ruckus?” Dad said.
“She hates me,” I told Dad.
“Who?” Dad said.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” I said. “Mom!”
“She doesn’t hate you,” he said gently. “She loves you.”
“She’s mad at me,” I said. “Just because I told Aunt Jean about the jog-a-thon first.” I wished for the thousandth time that Aunt Jean were my mother, but I didn’t say that out loud.
“Now you’re being silly,” Dad said.
“I am not,” I said. The problem with Dad was he never stood up for me and told Mom she was wrong. All he ever did was sometimes try to change the subject. “Why should I tell her things instead of Aunt Jean if she’s not going to care anyway? I bet she won’t even end up coming to the jog-a-thon.”
“Of course she’ll be there,” Dad said.
“Wanna bet?” I asked him. “She didn’t even come to the talent show last fall. Remember? She always makes some excuse about Julie’s schoolwork.”
“Come on,” Dad said, trying to change the subject, “let’s go walk Mooner. I think I hear her whining.”
“I don’t feel like it,” I told him. “I just want to be alone.”
“Okay, honey,” Dad said. He left me alone and I climbed into bed. I tried to imagine Mom coming to the jog-a-thon and cheering me on, but it’s hard to picture something you know is impossible. So I just lay down on my bed and looked up at the ceiling—just plaster and paint and no skylight. There was no way I would be showered with broken glass if there was an earthquake while I was sleeping.
Ten
JULIE WAS YELLING in the kitchen. I could hear her as I came downstairs to get a glass of orange juice, and I stopped in the hall just outside the kitchen. I could tell she was crying and it didn’t seem right to go in there even though I really was thirsty. “You made an appointment with the Stanford nerd without even asking me,” Julie said. “I can’t believe you!” She had to be talking to Mom, but who was the Stanford nerd? It wasn’t like Julie to make fun of someone like that. It must be someone she really hated. And then I remembered: Stanford. Mom’s new and improved tutor.
Sure enough, Mom spoke next. “Julie,” she said calmly, “don’t call her that. That’s a really terrible thing to say. Besides, you haven’t even met her. You don’t know a thing about her.”
“But I know you,” Julie said. “I know the kind of person you’d pick out. She’ll have glasses and wear loafers and button-down shirts, and be the smartest and most boring person in the entire world. You always like people best that are the exact opposite of me.”
“Oh, Julie, really,” Mom said. “You know that’s not true.”
“It’s totally true,” Julie insisted. “You don’t like me. You don’t care about me. You don’t care that I had things I was supposed to do today. Otherwise you wouldn’t go around making plans for me like that.”
“I’m your mother,” Mom said. Mom thinks being a mother is a good enough reason for anything. I’ll never say anything like that to my kids.
“You just can’t accept that I’m stupid, can you?” Julie said. “You’ll never accept me for who I am.”
“You are not stupid,” Mom said firmly. “You can do anything you put your mind to.”
“You see. You can’t accept it. And now you’re ruining my life!” Julie cried. “You’re going to make me lose my clients. Mrs. Watts is never going to trust me to keep a job again.”
“Julie, you need to calm down,” Mom said. “I spoke to Denise Watts myself. She’s going to a friend’s for lunch and she’s only going to be gone for a few hours. She said it was fine for Katie to babysit this time.”
Mom had come into my room that morning to tell me I had to babysit for Sascha Watts. I didn’t think she should have made plans for me either without asking first. What if I’d had something important to do? I didn’t really want to spend a whole day chasing after a three-year-old. But I didn’t want to mess things up for Julie anymore than they already were, so I told Mom I would go. Mrs. Watts was going to pick me up in a few minutes and drop Sascha and me back over at their house.
The kitchen had become quiet. I swallowed, still feeling thirsty. My throat was dry because I hadn’t had anything to drink at all yet, so I walked into the kitchen. Julie was at the table with her head in her hands. Mooner was next to her whining softly. She always cries when Julie is crying. “You all set?” Mom said to me as though everything were normal.
“I just wanted some juice,” I said. Mom opened the refrigerator and I sat down next to Julie. I would have put my arm on her shoulder, but I don’t think she would have liked that. I wanted to tell her that I was going to be the best babysitter I could be, so she shouldn’t worry that Mrs. Watts would stop calling her. Instead I just sat there and drank the orange juice Mom gave me.
“Mrs. Watts will be here any second,” Mom said.
“I guess I’ll wait outside,” I told her.
Ten minutes later I was in the front seat of Mrs. Watts’s car. The inside smelled funny, sort of like baby powder. I looked over at Sascha in the backseat. She was in a car seat that looked like a booster chair—the kind they make for kids who are too big for baby car seats but too small for just wearing a seat belt. Sascha saw me look at her and turned away. It was going to be a long day. I sighed. I didn’t mean to, but it just came out. Then I felt my cheeks turning red.
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