Three's Company, Mallory!

by Laurie Friedman

  I just shrug. I’m not going to say anything on the subject of clouds—or on any other subject.

  While Mary Ann and Chloe Jennifer talk about the difference between stratus clouds and cirrus clouds, I slow down.

  When they get a few feet ahead of me, Mary Ann turns around and gives me a what-are-you-doing? look. “Mallory, aren’t you coming?” she asks.

  “There’s not enough room on the sidewalk for three people to walk together,” I say to Mary Ann, like I’m explaining something obvious.

  Mary Ann looks down at the sidewalk, and then she looks at me again. I don’t know if her look means she thinks there is enough room for three people to walk together on the sidewalk or if it means she doesn’t like that I’m not walking with them. What I do know is that if I want Mary Ann to be my best friend again, I have to continue Operation Three’s a Crowd.

  At lunch, that’s exactly what I do.

  When Chloe Jennifer sits down between Mary Ann and me, which is where she’s been sitting every day since she got to Fern Falls Elementary, I open my lunch bag and take out my Oreos.

  Mary Ann smiles when she sees them. She loves Oreos as much as I do, and I always share mine with her.

  But today, I don’t share my Oreos with anybody. I put my stack of cookies out on a napkin in front of me. Then, when I’m done eating my sandwich and apple, I pick up a cookie and take apart the two sides. “Mmmm,” I say as I take a bite.

  Mary Ann smiles at me. “I’m ready for my cookies too,” she says.

  I look over at Chloe Jennifer. Then I look back at Mary Ann. “Sorry,” I say. “I don’t have enough for all three of us, and I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out.”

  I don’t like not sharing my cookies, but I have to make a point. I have to get Mary Ann to realize that three people can’t be best friends.

  Mary Ann wrinkles her nose like something smells funny, and it’s not just the cafeteria’s fish sticks. I shrug and take another bite.

  Mary Ann looks at me like she’d really like a cookie. I’d really like Mary Ann to be my best friend again.

  After school, I keep Operation Three’s a Crowd going.

  “Do you want to study our spelling words together?” Chloe Jennifer asks Mary Ann and me when we’re almost home.

  Mary Ann says that would be great. I don’t like what I’m about to say, but I don’t feel like I have a choice. I tell them they can do it together without me. “Studying spelling words is easier with two people than with three people,” I say.

  Mary Ann gives me a we-always-study-our-spelling-words-together look. But before she can say anything else, I wave good-bye and walk into my house.

  When I get inside, I go to my room and close my door.

  “Day One of Operation Three’s a Crowd was a success,” I tell Cheeseburger.

  Well, it was mostly a success.

  Part of me feels like this is the only way I can get Mary Ann to remember how much fun we used to have when it was just the two of us, so that she’ll want to be my best friend again. But another part of me misses doing things like talking about science tests and sharing Oreos and studying spelling words.

  I rub the fur behind Cheeseburger’s ears. “I hope this plan won’t take too long to work,” I tell my cat.

  The next morning, I put Operation Three’s a Crowd back into action.

  I don’t walk with Mary Ann and Chloe Jennifer on the way to school.

  I don’t offer to help them when they’re trying to decide what kind of cake Chloe Jennifer is going to have at her birthday party.

  And I tell them I don’t want to play Chinese jump rope after school, even though they remind me that it takes three people to play it.

  I keep my plan going all week.

  Even though Mary Ann hasn’t said anything yet, I can tell she knows something is different. I know Mary Ann better than anybody, and I know that soon she’ll say we need to talk.

  When we talk, I know she’ll say something like, Mallory, things have been really, really, really weird between us since Chloe Jennifer moved to Wish Pond Road. It’s too hard for three people to be best friends. Let’s just keep things the way they’ve always been.

  Then we’ll hug and pinky swear to always be lifelong best friends. Things will be just like they used to be. Thinking about it makes me smile.

  I just hope I don’t have to wait too long for Mary Ann to say she wants to have this talk, because it’s not much fun doing everything alone.

  The good news is that I don’t have to wait long at all.

  Thursday after school, Mary Ann calls me to see if she can come over. “We need to talk,” she says.

  “Great!” I say into the phone. I can hardly wait for her to get here!

  “Operation Three’s a Crowd worked!” I say to Cheeseburger.

  When Mary Ann gets to my house, I hook my arm through hers. I practically drag her to my bedroom.

  Mary Ann starts talking the minute she sits down on my bed. “Mallory, we have a problem.”

  “I agree,” I tell her.

  “It’s Chloe Jennifer,” says Mary Ann.

  I nod.

  Mary Ann looks like what she’s about to say next is important.

  I know this is the part where Mary Ann is going to say that it’s too hard for three people to be best friends and that we should just go back to how things were before Chloe Jennifer got here.

  I lean toward Mary Ann. I don’t want to miss a word she’s about to say.

  Mary Ann clears her throat. “The problem is that Chloe Jennifer thinks you don’t like her. You haven’t exactly been acting like you want to hang out with her. And that’s not OK. We all live on the same street, and she’s really nice.” Mary Ann shrugs, like it’s as simple as that. “We should all be friends.”

  She pauses, and I can tell she expects me to say something now. I take a deep breath. But the truth is, I have no idea what to say. This talk is not going the way I expected at all.

  Mary Ann and I just sit on my bed for a long time, not saying anything to each other.

  Finally, Mary Ann breaks the silence. “Mallory, why don’t we have a sleepover at your house this weekend?”

  I let out a huge sigh of relief. “Sure,” I say. We have sleepovers almost every weekend, and lots of times we have them at my house. This will be a perfect chance to start acting like best friends again. My plan must have worked after all!

  “Great!” says Mary Ann. “I think you should invite Chloe Jennifer. That will show her that you like her. What do you think?”

  What I think is that Mary Ann is the one who needs to do some thinking! “Why can’t it just be the two of us?” I ask. “Since we’re best friends …”

  Mary Ann shakes her head like we’re practicing a really easy spelling word and I keep getting it wrong. “Mallory, of course we’re best friends. But we can be friends with other people too. You know what I mean?”

  I nod like I get it, but I don’t. We’ve always had other friends, but never other friends who go everywhere we go and do everything we do.

  Mary Ann smiles. “Great!”

  Then she raises her right hand and holds up her pinky. “Pinky swear that you’ll invite Chloe Jennifer to our sleepover this weekend and show her that you like her.”

  I look at Mary Ann, but I don’t move.

  She didn’t say anything about how I didn’t do stuff with her this week. Not one word about how she missed walking to school or sharing my cookies or studying our spelling words or playing together. Everything she’s said since she came over has been about Chloe Jennifer.

  I reach across my bed and pull Cheeseburger into my lap. Operation Three’s a Crowd has only made things worse.

  Mary Ann gives me a time-to-start-pinky-swearing look. Slowly, I raise my right arm and hook my pinky around Mary Ann’s.

  When I do, she grins.

  But only one of us is smiling.

  It’s not New Year’s Eve, but I make a resolution anyway. I’m going to
try to be friends with Chloe Jennifer.

  When I invited her to the sleepover, she gave me a big hug and told me how excited she is to come. Mary Ann was right about one thing … Chloe Jennifer is really nice. Maybe the three of us being friends won’t be so bad.

  Plus, I don’t see how I can NOT be friends with Chloe Jennifer. If Mary Ann is friends with her and I’m not, that means they would just be friends with each other. I don’t want Mary Ann to decide that she’s having so much fun being friends with Chloe Jennifer that she doesn’t even miss being friends with me.

  Just thinking about that makes me realize how much I DON’T want that to happen.

  What I do want is to make this sleepover extra amazing. I have lots of fun stuff planned for tonight.

  As soon as I hear the doorbell, I race down the hall to answer it. When I open the door, Mary Ann and Chloe Jennifer are standing there with their sleeping bags and backpacks.

  “Welcome to the world’s greatest slumber party!” I say. I hand each of them a copy of the schedule I wrote out.

  We head to my room, but before I can show Chloe Jennifer where to put her stuff, Mary Ann says, “Just leave it anywhere on the floor.”

  While Chloe Jennifer puts her stuff in the corner, Mary Ann dumps her sleeping bag and backpack in the middle of the room. Then she shoves the schedule I made in her back pocket. She doesn’t even bother to look at it.

  “OK,” says Mary Ann. “We always bake cookies when we have a sleepover.” She takes Chloe Jennifer’s arm. “Let’s go to the kitchen.”

  I follow my friends down the hall, but I don’t like how Mary Ann is acting. This sleepover is at my house.

  When we get to the kitchen, Mom is already there.

  “Your junior chefs have arrived!” Mary Ann says to Mom. She starts pointing to cabinets and drawers, telling Chloe Jennifer where we keep everything.

  “You are certainly a helpful junior chef, Mary Ann,” Mom laughs.

  I don’t see anything funny about this. Maybe Mary Ann knows where we keep everything in my kitchen, but it doesn’t mean she’s the one who gets to show Chloe Jennifer.

  Mom helps us mix the dough. When we’re done, Mary Ann gives Chloe Jennifer a spoon. “Since you’re the guest, you get to put the dough on the cookie sheets.”

  I give Mary Ann a who-made-you-the-boss? look. But Mary Ann doesn’t pay any attention.

  Once the cookies are in the oven, Mary Ann says, “Time to get the lemonade and popcorn ready. We’re going to watch a movie now.”

  I wrinkle my nose. I love the smell of cookies baking, but I don’t like how Mary Ann is acting like this is her sleepover.

  We watch a movie and have popcorn and lemonade and cookies. When the movie is over, I put my copy of the schedule on the table so Mary Ann and Chloe Jennifer can see it.

  “Now it’s time to go to the wish pond,” I say. “Joey said he would meet us outside and teach us some skateboard tricks.”

  Mary Ann pretend-yawns like that’s the most boring idea she’s heard in a long time. “Why don’t we go to your room and make up a dance?” She looks at Chloe Jennifer. “Since we’re both dancers, I’ll bet we could come up with something really good. That’ll be so much fun!”

  I give Mary Ann a since-I’m-not-a-dancer-that-doesn’t-sound-like-fun-to-me look.

  “I don’t know,” says Chloe Jennifer. “Mallory might not want to do that.”

  I’m a little surprised to hear her say that. It’s kind of like she’s a mind-reader and she can guess what I’m thinking but not saying.

  But Mary Ann is already heading toward my room. “We’ll teach Mallory what to do,” she says over her shoulder.

  Chloe Jennifer looks at me. “Is that OK?” she asks.

  I shrug like it’s fine, but it’s not. I spent a lot of time planning this sleepover. I really don’t like how Mary Ann is taking over.

  By the time Chloe Jennifer and I get to my room, Mary Ann is already looking through the pile of CDs on my desk. “First, we need to find some good music for our dance,” she says. She picks up a CD case and points to one of the songs listed on the back. “What do you think of this one?” she asks Chloe Jennifer, like her opinion is the only one in this room that counts.

  “I guess it’s OK,” she says. She looks at me like she wants to make sure I like the song too.

  I lean over Mary Ann’s shoulder to see which song she’s talking about. “I don’t like that song,” I say. I cross my arms across my chest. “And I don’t want to dance to it.”

  Mary Ann looks at me and snaps her fingers like I just gave her a great idea. “Mallory, since you don’t like this song and you don’t really know how to dance, Chloe Jennifer and I will do the dance and you can be our stylist.”

  Before I can say if I want to do that or not, Mary Ann says, “We’re going to need costumes.” She starts looking though my costume box and takes out the matching cheerleader costumes we wore last Halloween.

  She hands one of them to Chloe Jennifer. “We can both be cheerleaders. Since we look alike, we should dress alike too. This will be the coolest dance ever! We’re going to have so much fun!”

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Does Mary Ann really think I will have fun being the stylist while she and Chloe Jennifer do a look-alike cheerleader dance that doesn’t include me?

  Chloe Jennifer starts putting on the cheerleader costume, but she looks like she’s not sure if she should be excited about this plan either.

  When Mary Ann and Chloe Jennifer both have their costumes on, Mary Ann looks at their reflection in the mirror. “We have a problem,” she says.

  For the first time today, I agree with Mary Ann. We definitely have a problem!

  “Our hair and makeup need to be the same if we’re going to look alike,” says Mary Ann. “Mallory, since you’re the stylist, that’s your job!”

  Mary Ann goes into the bathroom and brings back some of my purple eye shadow and pink lip gloss. She hands them to me and gives me a time-to-work-your-styling-magic look.

  Even though I usually love doing people’s hair and makeup, I don’t want to be the stylist today. But I feel like if I say so, Mary Ann is going to say I’m ruining the coolest dance ever.

  I open the container of eye shadow and start rubbing purple glitter shadow on Mary Ann’s lids. Then I put pink sparkle gloss on her lips.

  “Isn’t this fun?” says Mary Ann when I’m done with her makeup. I don’t say anything. Neither does Chloe Jennifer.

  I start to put the purple glitter shadow on Chloe Jennifer’s lids, but she stops me. “You don’t have to do my makeup,” she says.

  Mary Ann shakes her head. “Of course she does! We can’t do a look-alike dance if we don’t look alike. And it’s the stylist’s job to make sure we look alike.”

  Chloe Jennifer looks at me like she doesn’t like how Mary Ann is acting any more than I do.

  I’m trying to have a good attitude about this sleepover, but Mary Ann isn’t making it easy. I feel like she doesn’t care if I’m having fun or not.

  “OK, now we need to do our hair the same,” says Mary Ann. She opens one of my drawers and hands me a brush, some ponytail holders, and four red ribbons. “Mallory, can you give us both pigtails with ribbons?”

  I feel like Cinderella dressing her stepsisters for the ball. No one cared if she went to the ball, and no one cares if I’m part of this dance.

  I start brushing Mary Ann’s hair. I brush her hair into two high pigtails. When I’m done, I tie red ribbons around each one of her pigtails.

  “OK, now it’s Chloe Jennifer’s turn,” says Mary Ann.

  Chloe Jennifer sits in front of my mirror. She tries to smile, but if you ask me, it’s more of a pretend smile than a real smile.

  I make pigtails on each side of her head, and then I tie red ribbons around each one.

  When I’m done, Mary Ann sticks her face next to Chloe Jennifer’s in the mirror.

  Then she frowns. “We still don’t look exac
tly alike, because your pigtails are longer than mine,” she says to Chloe Jennifer.

  I shake my head and give Mary Ann a this-look-alike-thing-is-getting-old look.

  But Mary Ann isn’t paying attention to me. “We should trim Chloe Jennifer’s pigtails,” she says.

  Chloe Jennifer’s pretend-smile disappears.

  Mary Ann doesn’t seem to notice. She finds the scissors on my desk and hands them to me. “Mallory, just trim a little off each of Chloe Jennifer’s pigtails.”

  “I don’t think we need to do that,” says Chloe Jennifer.

  “I do,” says Mary Ann. “It’s the only way to really be look-alikes.”

  I put the scissors down on my dresser and cross my arms. “I don’t want to cut Chloe Jennifer’s hair,” I say.

  Mary Ann lets out a loud breath like this is taking way too long. She picks the scissors up and shoves them into my hand. “Start cutting!”

  I look at Mary Ann’s reflection in the mirror. Mary Ann can be bossy, but she’s never this bossy.

  She’s obsessed with being a look-alike with Chloe Jennifer. And I think I know why. I was right—three people can’t all be best friends. There can only be two best friends, and Mary Ann wants to be best friends with Chloe Jennifer. Not with me.

  “C’mon, Mallory!” says Mary Ann.

  I really can’t believe how Mary Ann is acting. It’s almost like she’s daring me to cut Chloe Jennifer’s hair. I keep staring at her in the mirror and give her a your-dare-doesn’t-scare-me look.

  Then I pick up Chloe Jennifer’s pigtail and start cutting.

  “Mallory, look what you did!” Mary Ann’s words are barely a whisper, but they sound scarier than if she had yelled at the tops of her lungs.

  I look down at the floor. There’s blonde hair everywhere.

  One minute, Mary Ann was telling me to hurry up and cut Chloe Jennifer’s hair so they could be look-alikes, and the next minute, the scissors in my hand cut off Chloe Jennifer’s whole pigtail.