Laney was the first to reach the roof. She saw Jessie sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs that Oliver and Hyacinth had made with Uncle Arthur over the summer. Oliver and Hyacinth had had the idea of converting the roof to something more than a boring building rooftop. After several ideas, including a swimming pool, a dance party space, and a ball pit, they decided to create their own personal rooftop theater. With so many Vanderbeekers, going out to watch a movie in the theater was a rare occurrence. Movie tickets in New York City were expensive; for the whole family to go, it could cost almost a hundred and twenty dollars. And that was without popcorn.
With Uncle Arthur, Hyacinth and Oliver had designed a frame onto which they could slide a white bedsheet Hyacinth had sewn together like a giant pillowcase; that served as the screen. Then they had constructed ten Adirondack chairs. Hyacinth had painted them the colors of the rainbow. Now, whenever they wanted to watch a movie, Papa would borrow the projector from his job doing computer repair work and connect it to his laptop. Then Mama would make their favorite popcorn flavors: sea salt caramel, Parmesan herb, and white chocolate and cherry. The only unfortunate thing about the rooftop theater was not being able to go up there in bad weather.
Tonight, however, the Vanderbeekers weren’t on the roof to see a movie. They had business to take care of.
“What are you doing up here?” Jessie said when she saw her siblings.
“Family meeting,” Hyacinth announced.
Jessie nodded, then leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “I overheard Orlando and Miss Josie talking when I was coming up here. His mom contacted Miss Josie, and she wants Orlando to go back to Georgia and stay with his Aunt Tammy until she’s ready to take care of him again.”
“What?” exclaimed Isa, Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney.
“Yes,” Jessie said. “But Miss Josie said she and Mr. Jeet want to be his guardians.”
“He’s staying!” Laney said, jumping up and down.
“Shh!” Isa and Jessie said.
“That would be perfect,” Oliver said. “Miss Josie and Mr. Jeet would be the best guardians ever.”
“But he didn’t say yes,” Jessie said. “He’s going to think about it. Miss Josie asked him again to stay at least until the marathon.”
“Why would he want to leave all this?” Hyacinth said, gesturing at the city spread out around them.
“This is the best place in the whole entire world to live,” Isa said.
“He misses Georgia, though,” Oliver said. “He always talks about football and the warm weather.”
“And the food,” Laney added. “Biscuits and fried chicken and collard greens.”
The Vanderbeekers thought for a moment.
“Maybe we can make this place more like home to him,” Isa began.
“Let’s get him season tickets to the Knicks,” Oliver suggested. “He would have to live here to see all the games.”
“I think that’s what you want, Oliver,” Jessie said.
“He wants to make money,” Isa said, ignoring her brother. “Maybe we can find him a job.”
“Isn’t he too young to work?” Jessie asked.
“Benny works,” Laney said. Benny was Isa’s friend from school, and he worked at Castleman’s Bakery.
“That’s because it’s a family business,” Jessie explained. “When you’re working for your parents, you can start when you’re twelve.”
“Hmm,” Isa said, pulling out her phone. “Let me check the laws.” She opened up her internet browser and searched for labor laws in New York City. “It says here that he can get his working papers. He needs to go to the guidance counselor at school and get a form signed.”
Jessie took the phone from Isa and skimmed the information. “But it says here that you need the signature of a parent or guardian. He also needs a passport or a birth certificate.”
“Maybe Orlando can get a job where he doesn’t need working papers,” Isa said. “Like babysitting or dog walking.”
“He really likes animals,” Laney said, thinking about how good he was with their pets.
“Lots of people need dog walkers,” Hyacinth added.
“We could advertise at the cat café,” Isa said. “What do you think, Jessie?”
Jessie had been staring at the New York City skyline. “What?”
“About trying to get Orlando a job as a dog walker,” Hyacinth explained with infinite patience.
“Oh, sure,” Jessie said. “I can help him walk dogs.”
“Perfect,” Isa said. “Now, what else?”
The Vanderbeekers continued to brainstorm for another thirty minutes. Hyacinth was worried that Orlando didn’t like New York City’s brisk winters, so she put herself in charge of making Orlando lots of warm clothes. She was going to ask Herman Huxley for help because he was a great—and fast—knitter. Isa planned to enlist Allegra to help make posters advertising Orlando’s dog-walking services, and Oliver offered to look into football programs nearby. Laney was going to help decorate Orlando’s room and make sure he had as many cookies as he wanted and that he never went hungry.
“What about you, Jessie?” Hyacinth asked. “What do you want to do?”
When Jessie didn’t respond right away, Laney jumped in. “You probably don’t need to do anything extra. Papa always says that friendship is the best gift, and since you’re his best friend, you’re already giving him the best gift in the world.”
Jessie nodded, but Isa couldn’t help feeling that her twin didn’t believe a word Laney had just said.
Monday, October 21
Thirteen Days Until the New York City Marathon
Eight
On Monday morning, Oliver met Jimmy L and Angie, his best friends, outside school.
“Why did you want us here so early?” Jimmy L asked, shivering in the morning cold. None of them were ready to lug around their heavy winter coats yet, so they wore only hoodies. “It was torture waking up this morning.”
“Orlando needs our help,” Oliver said, and immediately his friends snapped to attention.
“Is he in trouble?” Angie asked.
“What do we need to do?” Jimmy L asked, suddenly awake.
“He might be going back to Georgia,” Oliver explained, “so we need to find reasons for him to stay. He talks about missing football, and since his high school doesn’t have a team, I thought we could talk to Coach Mendoza about ideas.”
Coach Mendoza had been their PE teacher for the last four years, and he was pretty much the coolest human being alive. Even Herman, who didn’t like sports, liked going to PE. Coach Mendoza made everyone feel good regardless of their athletic ability and was always shouting words of encouragement.
Oliver, Jimmy L, and Angie liked Coach Mendoza in particular not only because was he an awesome basketball player, but because he had been a Navy SEAL before becoming a teacher. If being an NBA basketball player didn’t work out for Oliver, he planned to follow in Coach Mendoza’s footsteps and become a Navy SEAL.
The group entered the school and jogged toward the gym. The hallways were absolutely deserted, with the exception of a few blurry-eyed teachers cradling cups of coffee. When Oliver opened the door to the gym, however, a blast of music hit their ears.
Inside, Coach Mendoza was leading a group of high schoolers in what looked like tryouts for a junior extreme sports reality show. The teenagers were booking it back and forth across the gymnasium, their sneakers sliding and squeaking against the ground so fast that they were a blur.
When Coach Mendoza saw his visitors, he smiled and turned down the music.
“Take five,” he yelled to the runners. A few of them dropped to the ground to catch their breath while another group dragged themselves toward the water fountains.
“What brings you here so early?” Coach Mendoza asked Oliver, Angie, and Jimmy L.
“We need your advice,” Oliver said. “Our friend Orlando Stewart goes to Powell with Jessie and Isa. He loves football, but their
school doesn’t have a team, and we thought you might have some ideas about a team he can play for.”
“I know Orlando,” Coach Mendoza said. “He was in my class last year. Big guy. Super nice. Hard worker.
“Yep,” Oliver, Angie, and Jimmy L said.
“He’s a natural athlete,” their coach continued. “So, football, huh? Has he played before?”
Oliver nodded. “He played down in Georgia, but he hasn’t played since he moved here. He’s running cross-country right now. Do you want to see a video of him playing? I can get one for you.”
“Cool, cool,” Coach Mendoza said. “Well, he’s got some options. There’s a team here called the Harlem Jets that participates in the citywide football league. The head coach is a buddy of mine. If you send me the video, I’ll pass it along. They’re already in the middle of their season, but sometimes kids drop out halfway through, so there might be spots.”
“Great!” Oliver said.
Coach Mendoza looked at his watch. “School doesn’t start for another half hour. Want to do some training with my high school team? Last year they placed first in their division. See if you like it; maybe you’ll want to join in a few years.”
“Of course we’re going to like it,” Angie said, dropping her backpack and peeling off her track pants to reveal basketball shorts underneath.
“Do we want to win a million dollars?” Jimmy L said, following Angie’s lead.
Oliver joined his friends on the court and did some quick jumping jacks and stretches; then Coach Mendoza called his players back onto the court.
“All right. Dribbling races!” Coach Mendoza called. His high schoolers groaned, but Oliver, Angie, and Jimmy L cheered. They loved dribbling races.
“I’ve got some new blood to get you guys moving,” Coach Mendoza said, pointing at his middle schoolers. “Let’s start easy. Go down the court with right-hand dribbles, then back with your left. After that, crossover moves, and then dribbling with two basketballs. Ready?”
“Ready!” yelled Oliver, Jimmy L, and Angie.
The high schoolers rolled their eyes at their enthusiasm but crouched at the starting line.
Coach Mendoza blew his whistle, and off they went.
* * *
Hyacinth didn’t like being early to school. Her ideal arrival time was three minutes before the bell rang. That was just long enough that the class wouldn’t leave for the classroom without her, but not too much time that she had to hang around feeling awkward if no one spoke to her.
Hyacinth had had the same two best school friends since kindergarten. She liked the familiarity and comfort of having two people she could hang out with at recess and lunch. She always got a little nervous talking to people she didn’t know very well (which was pretty much everyone else in her grade), so it was excellent to have two best friends handy. But over the summer, one of her friends had switched schools, and her other friend had moved to New Jersey.
As a result, it was no surprise that the school year had not gotten off to a good start. Hyacinth used to like school okay, but now, with no friends, she pretty much dreaded it. Her teacher had already called her parents twice about the need for Hyacinth to participate more in class.
Hyacinth couldn’t help that she felt comfortable only around her closest friends, which had now dwindled down to her siblings, Herman Huxley, and Orlando. Unfortunately, none of them was in her grade at school.
And now she was at school because Isa had an orchestra rehearsal and needed to drop Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney off early. This worked out great for Oliver, who wanted to see Coach Mendoza before school began, but not so great for Hyacinth. She tried to convince Jessie to walk her to school instead so she could arrive at her regular three-minutes-before-the-bell, but her sister had woken up so grouchy that Hyacinth didn’t want to ask for any favors.
Oliver ran off with his friends to the gym, so Hyacinth dropped Laney off in the kindergarten classroom, then dragged her feet down the hallway into the brightly lit cafeteria, which was where kids in first through fifth grades had to wait until school started. Given that she was forty-five minutes early, she was surprised to see she was not the first person to arrive. Dozens of kids were already there, clustered around the serving area. Hyacinth peeked around the crowd and saw that they were getting breakfast. She’d had no idea you could get breakfast at school.
Having eaten at home, Hyacinth headed toward one of the empty tables assigned to the third graders and sat down. She wished she had brought her knitting needles; she really needed to work on the quilt if she wanted to give it to Orlando by the day of the marathon. Instead, she took out a book and buried her head in it, hoping no one would notice her.
A few minutes later, a girl in her class named Maria sat across from her. Hyacinth peeked at her from behind her book. Maria wore her hair in pigtails and had glasses with thick red plastic frames perched on her nose. Her tray held french toast sticks, fruit, and a glass of orange juice.
“Hi, Hyacinth!” said Maria with a smile.
Hyacinth unburied her face from her book.
“Are you hungry?” Maria asked. “I got extra french toast sticks if you want one.”
Hyacinth glanced at Maria’s plate and shook her head. “I already ate.”
Maria shrugged, then went back to her food. “Okay.”
Hyacinth stared at the words in her book, but she wasn’t reading them. She was thinking about what she could say to Maria. She wanted to ask why Maria ate breakfast at school instead of home and whether the french toast sticks were good. But before she could get the courage to look up from her book and say something, three more people from her class sat at the table. Maria started chatting with them, and pretty soon Hyacinth was back to being invisible.
Hyacinth didn’t know why no one else in her family had problems talking to people. She thought longingly of Laney, who felt completely comfortable chatting with strangers on the subway, and Orlando, who had been living in Harlem for only a year and a half and already had tons of friends. He could talk to random people on the street and it didn’t make him anxious at all.
Hyacinth wanted to be more like that. Could Orlando help her? Maybe he could teach her to be more like him. And maybe, if he knew how much she needed him, he would stay here forever and never go back to Georgia.
Nine
Jessie couldn’t avoid Orlando at school. They shared most of their classes, which until today had been great. Now it was awkward. Orlando acted as if nothing had happened over the weekend, and he talked to her and joked around during class like he always did. Jessie, on the other hand, felt as if a rock were lodged in her throat. She knew Orlando needed her support, but she had so many feelings, and when she tried to say something to him, the words felt stuck.
In biology class, they sat at their lab table, listening to Ms. Brown talk about plant cells. After her lecture, she passed out worksheets that they had to complete in pairs.
Orlando’s eyes lit up. “I love worksheets,” he said, pulling a pen from his backpack and inching his stool closer to Jessie’s.
Jessie rolled her eyes. “It’s unnatural to enjoy doing worksheets.”
“Nah,” Orlando said. “Worksheets are awesome.” He rubbed his hands together. “This one is fun. We need to draw organelles from plant cells and animal cells. I could do this in my sleep.”
Jessie busied herself getting a pencil from her pencil case. What was wrong with him? Wasn’t he traumatized by what had happened with his mom? While her best friend seemed thrilled to draw organelles, she agonized over whether he would still be here in two weeks.
“Plant cells have chloroplasts, a cell wall, and only one vacuole,” Orlando said. “I’ll draw the plant cells, you can do the animal cells. You should label everything, since you have better handwriting.” He slid the worksheet between them so they could both access it.
Jessie glanced at the worksheet and started drawing in the animal-cell organelles. She got so involved in penciling in the blob
s to look like mitochondria that she temporarily forgot about Orlando’s situation.
“Maybe our science fair project should have something to do with cells,” Jessie mused as she shaded in the mitochondria. “Like, I wonder if we can freeze cells without them being damaged.”
There was a pause before Orlando said, “That’s a good idea.”
And suddenly, the weight of the weekend crashed back down on Jessie. She put down her pencil.
“Are you going to be here for the science fair?” she asked, trying to keep her voice even. “Or are you going back to Georgia?”
Orlando didn’t look up from his drawing. “I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?” Jessie demanded.
Orlando looked up at her. “I don’t know,” he said with more snap in his voice than usual. “I have to think about it.”
“What’s going on with your mom? How come I’ve never met her? Why does she keep leaving you?”
Orlando put down his pen and glanced around. “Jessie, do we have to do this now?”
“Didn’t Miss Josie say you could stay with her permanently?” Jessie continued, not able to let herself stop.
“She did—” Orlando began. “Wait, how did you know that?”
Jessie fumbled with her pencil, which rolled off the table and onto the floor. “Didn’t she say it during dinner?”
Orlando stared at her. “No, she didn’t.”
Having retrieved the pencil, Jessie stood up and bumped her head against the lab table. “Ouch! Okay, fine. I overheard you last night when I was going to the REP. And personally, I think it would be a great idea for you to stay here—”
The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found Page 5