by Cari Simmons
I guess she’d rather hang out with her brothers than with me, Gracie thought. She was starting to wonder if she’d ever get to have that talk with Mari—or if Mari even cared.
Only Child vs. Multiple Children: A Case Study
Big Differences, continued:
— Multiple siblings compete more often (maybe?). Or is it that only children don’t compete because they never have to? ***Need to do more research about this because of what Juliana said.***
— Is there a physical difference in reflex speed because having siblings means people are always throwing things at you?
— Multiple siblings don’t mind spending all their time together. Only children don’t like being part of a crowd all the time.
“Or maybe that’s just me,” Gracie murmured, putting down her pen. She could hear the shouts and laughs of Mari and her brothers outside. It sounded like they were having a great time, and meanwhile she was all by herself, doing homework.
She sat up on her top bunk and peered through the window. The snow fort wasn’t that much bigger than it had been when she had come in an hour ago, but next to it stood the most gigantic snowman Gracie had ever seen. The thing was at least six feet tall, and the bottom part had to be four feet around. Its arms were made of two long, thick tree branches instead of regular little twigs, and the buttons on its chest looked as if they were made of tennis balls instead of lumps of coal. The eyes were two huge apples.
“This carrot is too small!” Jimmy’s voice reached her through the window glass. He sat on Jon’s shoulders with a whole carrot in his hands, trying to reach up to the snowman’s huge face to put its nose on. Jon was having trouble getting close enough to the snowman without knocking into it, and the ground was clearly slippery. Gracie gasped in alarm as he almost fell, taking Jimmy with him. But the other O’Hagans didn’t seem too worried. Mari had a huge grin on her face the whole time.
Finally Jimmy shoved the carrot into the snowman’s face, about two inches to the left of where it should be. He was right, it did look too small, and it was completely off-center . . . and it was hilarious.
Gracie burst out laughing. That snowman was awesome!
“Gracie? What are you doing in here all alone?” Mr. O’Hagan asked, sticking his head up into the bedroom. “Shouldn’t you be outside playing with everyone else?”
“I guess,” she said. Why was she in here? She hadn’t really gotten much done on her paper. She’d been too distracted by feeling upset at Mari, and meanwhile Mari was outside having a great time.
“Well, I’m about to call everyone in for dinner,” Ms. O’Hagan called from the kitchen. “So don’t bother getting all bundled up now, Gracie.”
“Okay. Thanks,” Gracie called back. She closed her notebook and moved over to the edge of the bed, waiting for Mari. Maybe now that Mari had gotten enough time to play with her brothers, she would finally feel like spending some time with her best friend. Maybe she’d finally be willing to just sit and talk. Maybe she would have thought that it wasn’t much fun without Gracie for this past hour.
Gracie felt a little disappointed, though. She hadn’t had much fun without Mari, either. It would have been great to help create that snow giant. Why hadn’t Mari come to get her when they switched from building the fort? Gracie was pretty sure she’d made it clear that she just didn’t want to work on the fort anymore. Mari should have known that Gracie loved snowmen.
Downstairs, she heard Jimmy, the twins, and Mari coming in and dumping all their coats, boots, hats, and gloves by the heater near the front door to dry. They all sounded happy and carefree, and Gracie wondered whether Mari had even cared that Gracie wasn’t with them.
She leaned over the bed and dropped her notebook, pen tucked inside, down into her open suitcase on the floor. Then she lay back on the top bunk and stared up at the darkening sky through the window. This morning had been fun, but she couldn’t help thinking that her ski trip with Mari wasn’t as amazing as she’d expected it to be.
“Hey, Gracie,” Mari said, coming upstairs. Her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair, and her eyes sparkled. “Did you see our snowman?”
“Yeah. He’s ginormous!” Gracie said. “I love him.”
“He’s the biggest one we’ve ever made,” Mari said, plopping down onto the lower bunk. “But I’m exhausted.”
“We can just hang out up here,” Gracie suggested. “All your brothers are downstairs.”
“Yeah, they’re helping make dinner. Mom is making mashed potatoes, so they all have to peel.” Mari used her feet to poke Gracie’s top mattress. “But she said I could have a pass so I could entertain my guest.” She said the last three words with a fake accent that sounded nothing like her mother, but it was funny.
“Your mom is so cool,” Gracie said. Even if Mari hadn’t noticed that Gracie wasn’t exactly having a lot of fun, her mother clearly had.
“Want to make a bunk bed tent?” Mari asked. “Here, grab my blanket.” She tossed one end of the blanket up to Gracie. “Tuck it under your mattress so it hangs down over my bunk.”
Gracie did, making sure the blanket was securely tucked in and that it covered every inch of the lower bunk, hanging like a wall over the open side. “Wait. Now I can’t get down,” she said, laughing. “I hung it over the ladder.”
“Climb down the side,” Mari told her.
Gracie lowered herself over the side, swinging her legs into the space between the two bunks. She landed on her butt on Mari’s bunk. “It’s dark in here.” The hanging blanket blocked the light from the room, the top bunk blocked the light from the window, and the other side was against the wall.
“It’s like my very own lair,” Mari hissed. She pulled out a flashlight and held it up under her chin to make herself look spooky.
“Why do you have a flashlight in your bed?” Gracie asked.
“Because we were making a bed tent and I knew it would be dark,” Mari said in her normal voice. “Duh!”
“I think it’s more like a wolf den than a lair. It’s too cozy and warm to be a lair,” Gracie commented. “It’s even got pillows. Lairs don’t have pillows.”
“Neither do wolf dens,” Mari pointed out.
“Maybe it’s a werewolf den, then. We use the pillows when we’re in our human form,” Gracie suggested.
“Okay, but if we’re werewolves, I still think we can call it a lair,” Mari argued, giggling. “Because werewolves are bad guys, and bad guys have lairs.”
“Be quiet!” Gracie said, grabbing Mari’s arm.
“What?” Mari asked.
“Shh,” Gracie hissed. “I heard something.”
“What? Where?” Mari whispered. She pointed the flashlight around the darkened bunk tent.
“I don’t know, it was like a . . . a sound of something moving.” Gracie listened for a moment. Whatever she’d thought she heard, it was quiet now. “Never mind.”
“Gaaaaahhhhhh!” Jimmy suddenly jerked the blanket off, yelling to scare them.
“Aaahhh! Jimmy!” Mari cried. “You jerk!” She leaped off the bed and ran after him.
Jimmy pranced around, staying just out of Mari’s reach. She kept trying to grab him, but Gracie didn’t move. She couldn’t. She was too horrified.
Jimmy was wearing her Hello Kitty underwear on his head.
CHAPTER 11
“Jimmy, get back here!” Mari yelled, making a grab for his arm. “This isn’t funny!”
Jimmy ducked under her arm and threw himself onto his bunk bed. Mari jumped toward him, but he rolled off and raced over to the twins’ bed.
“I think it’s funny,” Robert commented. He and Jon had come upstairs to see what the shouting was about.
Gracie still sat on the lower bunk of their bed, stunned. It was her underwear. On his head. For everyone to see.
“Gracie, help me!” Mari yelped.
That snapped Gracie out of her shock. She jumped up and ran straight for Jimmy as fast as she could.
He gave
a high-pitched fake scream and danced away toward the stairs.
“What’s on his head?” Jon asked.
“Nothing!” Gracie snapped.
“It’s Gracie’s undies!” Jimmy cried happily.
“Gross!” Robert said.
“Jimmy, stop! Give those back right now!” Gracie yelled, furious.
“Come and get them.” Jimmy laughed, running downstairs.
“You guys, catch him,” Mari told the twins.
Jon made a lame attempt to grab Jimmy as he rushed past, but Robert was laughing too hard to even try. Gracie’s cheeks felt like they were on fire, and angry tears stung her eyes. Why were they laughing? This was not funny.
Gracie ran after him, practically pushing both of the big boys out of the way. Mari followed her.
Downstairs, Jimmy ran to the other side of the kitchen table and hid behind his mother.
“What’s going on?” Ms. O’Hagan asked.
“Jimmy took Gracie’s underwear,” Mari complained. “He’s being such a pain!”
“Look at me now,” Jimmy said in a teasing voice. He pulled the undies off his head and swung them around.
“Stop it right now. Give me those,” Gracie demanded. She stalked over to him, and he used his mom as a shield.
“Jimmy, give them back,” Ms. O’Hagan said as she continued to make dinner.
Jimmy made a dash for the front door, but Mari jumped in front of him, blocking his path. He tried to squirm around her. But Gracie refused to let him get away. She caught hold of Jimmy’s shirt and hung on, yanking him back to her until she could snatch the underwear out of his hands.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she said angrily. “How dare you?”
Jimmy burst into tears.
“Oh, great,” Mari muttered. “Now he’s going to have a tantrum.”
“She was mean to me!” Jimmy bawled, pointing at Gracie.
Am I supposed to feel bad for him? Gracie wondered. Because she didn’t. If anyone had been mean, it was him. She stomped past Jimmy, up the stairs, past the twins, and over to her open suitcase. The whole thing was a huge mess—her neatly folded clothes were shoved all over the place, her shoes were falling out of the special shoe pockets she kept them in, and her socks were spilling out onto the floor.
“Gracie?” Mari said from the top of the steps.
“He went through my whole bag.” Gracie groaned. “It’s all going to be wrinkled now.”
“It’s a good thing you keep all the dirty clothes in the outside compartment, though, or he might’ve been wearing those on his head,” Mari quipped.
Gracie knew Mari was trying to make her feel better, but it wasn’t working. “He shouldn’t have gone into my suitcase at all,” Gracie said. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“I know. But it’s not as bad as you think,” Mari told her. “I mean, it’s just my family. You don’t need to be embarrassed in front of us.”
“Gracie, come on downstairs, please?” Mr. O’Hagan called.
“Oooooo,” Robert and Jon said together. “Someone’s in trouble.”
“What? Me?” Gracie sputtered. “I’m in trouble?”
“No. Of course not, they’re just teasing,” Mari replied. “Come on.”
Gracie sighed and piled her socks back into the suitcase. Then she got up and followed Mari down to the kitchen. Jimmy had stopped crying, and now he sat at the table next to Mari’s mom, sulking.
“Gracie, honey, Jimmy has something to say to you,” Ms. O’Hagan said.
“Sorry,” Jimmy muttered, staring down at the table.
“For what?” Mr. O’Hagan prompted from the counter, where he was mashing potatoes.
Jimmy made a grumpy face. “I’m sorry for taking your underwear,” he said. “And for sticking it on my head and running around with it.”
“Jimmy, you can’t touch other people’s things,” Mari’s mom said, trying to sound stern. “And Gracie, you really have to put your suitcase away when you’re not using it. If you keep leaving it open, I’m not sure Jimmy can resist the temptation.”
Gracie’s mouth fell open. Did they think this was somehow her fault?
Ms. O’Hagan seemed to realize that Gracie wasn’t laughing along, and her expression grew more sympathetic. “It’s not a big deal, honey. Nobody’s laughing at you.”
“Can I go play now?” Jimmy asked impatiently.
“Go ahead,” Mr. O’Hagan said. “Just be good.”
“Come on, Gracie. Let’s go back to our tent,” Mari said. “I mean our lair.”
Gracie was too angry and embarrassed to want to go back to the bunk bed and pretend nothing had happened. “Actually, I have to call my parents,” she said stiffly.
“Oh. Okay.” Mari frowned.
Gracie felt a little bad for lying. She knew her parents wouldn’t be able to talk—they were out on their no-phones-allowed hike. But it was the only thing she could think of that would let her go off by herself.
She went upstairs and took her phone out of the open suitcase. Annoyed, she closed the suitcase and shoved it under the bed.
“Where are you going?” Mari asked as Gracie headed back downstairs.
“I’m going to go outside to call,” Gracie said. “It’s too loud in here.” She took her jacket off one of the hooks near the front door, stuck her feet into her snow boots, and went outside. There was a chair on the tiny porch, and even though it was covered in snow, Gracie plopped down on it.
She felt like crying. Every time she started to enjoy this trip, one of the O’Hagans ruined it. Even if Mari had told her to keep her suitcase under the bed the other day, that didn’t change the fact that Jimmy shouldn’t have gone through her stuff.
Gracie glanced down at the phone in her hand. She’d better try to call her parents, just in case Mari or her parents were watching her. She could leave a message. She dialed and waited for voicemail to pick up.
“Gracie? Is everything okay?” Her mother answered the call.
“Mom?” she said in surprise. “I thought you weren’t supposed to have your phone with you.”
“I’m not,” Ms. Hardwick said. “I’m being a rebel.”
“Wow,” Gracie replied. She had never seen her mother do anything against the rules, ever. “I wasn’t expecting you to pick up.”
“Then why did you call?” her mom asked. “I thought it was an emergency.”
“Yikes! No, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Gracie said quickly. “I thought I would get your voicemail. Oh, no, are you going to get in trouble because of me?”
“I don’t care. It’s outrageous to tell people whether they’re allowed to talk or not,” Ms. Hardwick said. “What were you calling for, sweetie?”
“Um, I wanted to tell you what happened,” Gracie said, although she hadn’t really been planning on describing Jimmy’s behavior in a voicemail. “It was so embarrassing.”
“Hang on,” her mother whispered. “They’re looking at me.”
“Wait, what?” Gracie asked. “Are you hiding or something?”
“Sort of,” Ms. Hardwick replied, still whispering. “I’m using my earpiece, and I have my hair over it so the hiking guides can’t see. I probably look like I’m talking to myself.”
“I can’t believe you’re sneaking around like this,” Gracie said, laughing in spite of herself. “It’s not like you.”
“I guess not. But I have simply had enough of this place and its crazy rules,” her mom replied. “I can’t imagine what your father was thinking, bringing us here.”
“He was probably thinking you’d be thrilled to find a place with so many rules,” Gracie told her. “You love rules.”
“Well . . .” Ms. Hardwick was quiet for a moment. “My rules make sense.”
“The spa must think their rules make sense too,” Gracie said. “I bet they’re trying to keep you focused on doing healthy things like hiking and yoga, and they don’t want your phone or your music to distract you.”
“Ma
ybe. But that’s not my idea of a nice vacation,” her mother said. “You really think Dad expected me to like this?”
“Yeah,” Gracie said. “I’m kind of shocked that you don’t.”
“Oh, no, they see me!” Ms. Hardwick cried. “I’m busted! I’ll call you tomorrow, sweetie.” She hung up.
Gracie sighed and stuck the phone in her jacket pocket. It had been nice to talk to Mom, but they hadn’t discussed Gracie’s problems at all. She still felt embarrassed just thinking about Jimmy and the underwear. She still hadn’t gotten to talk to Mari about her feelings for Alex Parker. And she still had to face whatever dinner-eating contest the O’Hagans were sure to come up with tonight.
I can’t spend the rest of the trip sulking, though, Gracie thought. Even little Jimmy got over his bad mood pretty quickly. She stood up and went over to the front door. She and Mari could still find time to talk. Maybe tomorrow the other O’Hagans would want some time to themselves. And Gracie always felt better after skiing or sledding. Tomorrow would be a better day than today.
Everything would be fine.
CHAPTER 12
“It’s raining, it’s pouring, Gracie is snoring!” Jimmy sang the next morning.
“I am not,” Gracie murmured, forcing her eyelids to open. She usually didn’t sleep late in the morning, but as soon as she looked around the room, she knew she was the last one up. Jon and Robert’s beds were empty, and so was Mari’s bunk. One glance at the window next to her showed her why she hadn’t woken up—it was gray and rainy out. “Yuck. It looks like it’s nighttime, it’s so dark.”
“I told you it was raining,” Jimmy said.
Gracie thought about pointing out that it was only a song, not the weather report. But she was too tired. She sat up and yawned.
“Pancakes are gone, sorry,” Robert announced, coming upstairs. He didn’t sound sorry at all.
“What? All of them?” Gracie asked.
Robert shrugged. “Jon’s a pig.”
“You ate as much as I did,” Jon said. “They were gooood.” He rubbed his stomach.