Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?

by Belle Payton

  The bracelet. The bracelet. Silver. Confirmation. Family heirloom.

  She repeated the words, trying desperately to call up an image.

  “So you’ll make them look nice?” Coach Jen asked. “Alex? Alex?”

  “What? Oh, yes, of course. I have great handwriting and these thick, colorful markers,” Alex said. “I’ll have them for you on Monday.”

  “Perfect,” Coach Jen said before returning to the cheerleaders.

  Alex finally pulled her phone from her pocket. Ava had been texting her.

  Check the inside of R’s gym locker door.

  ?????

  Alex texted back. She waited. Ava didn’t reply.

  She must be on the football field, Alex realized.

  Had Ava seen something? Alex was dying to know. She closed her eyes. She saw nothing.

  She wandered into the girls’ locker room. Walking up and down the aisles, she realized that the gray metal lockers all looked the same. She had no idea which was Rosa’s. Plus, they were all locked.

  Sweatshirts, shoes, and backpacks were piled on the floor and the wooden benches.

  Alex cleared some space and dropped onto a bench. Now what? She needed Rosa if she wanted to open her locker. She needed Ava to make the Power work. And she couldn’t check Sibyl’s site.

  She had no choice. She sat on the bench and worked on her homework.

  She heard their voices before she saw them. Lindsey’s high-pitched voice rose above them all. “You have to come in a costume, Carly. I’m serious. I will not let you in without one!”

  A costume! Alex thought, suddenly remembering that Halloween was only one day away. She was so not a last-minute girl. She needed to get moving on this, especially if she wasn’t going to follow her original plan.

  “Hey, Alex, you’re still here.” Emily sounded surprised.

  “Just waiting for Ava to finish,” Alex said, pushing her notebooks back into her backpack. “Rosa?”

  Rosa turned expectantly. She rummaged in a purple plaid backpack leaning against a locker.

  “This may sound weird, but can I look inside your locker?” Alex asked.

  “Did you have a vision?” Emily said excitedly.

  Alex shrugged. She wished she could’ve talked to Ava first. Maybe Ava’s text had nothing to do with the bracelet. That would be bad.

  “Sure.” Rosa twisted the dial. Right. Left. Right.

  Alex braced herself for major embarrassment.

  Then Rosa lifted the latch and pulled open the door. Rosa and Emily peered into the locker. But Alex looked at the inside of the door.

  “Your bracelet!” she cried. Her voice cracked with surprise.

  All the girls crowded around, staring in amazement at the delicate silver bracelet dangling from a piece of metal protruding from the door.

  Rosa’s squeal pierced the shocked silence. “You did it! You’re the best, Alex!”

  Alex felt her face flush. There was the bracelet. Exactly where Ava had said it was.

  A shiver traveled down her neck. She was excited and also a little afraid. Somehow, all that thinking about and focusing on the bracelet had worked. Ava had seen the bracelet.

  We have the Power! We truly have the Power!

  Alex wanted to dance. To jump. To scream.

  “Happy to help,” she said instead, as if she tracked down missing items all the time. Rosa fastened her bracelet onto her wrist, while Emily gave Alex a big hug.

  “That was amazing,” Lindsey said. “I am truly in awe.”

  Alex grinned. Even though she hadn’t lived in Ashland long, she knew impressing Lindsey was not easy. And with Lindsey came the rest of the girls. And a lot of the boys, too.

  “Tell us how you did it,” Annelise begged.

  “Um, I will later,” Alex promised. “I’ve got to meet Ava.” She headed out of the locker room. She knew it was best to escape before she had to explain.

  Because she had absolutely no idea how she and Ava had done it.

  Ava jogged the final postpractice lap, keeping pace with Owen. Owen was one of the fastest on the team. Ava never liked to be far behind. The Texas sun beat down onto her neck, even though it was almost November. Back in Massachusetts, the air would be crisp and the leaves would be orange. Oddly, she didn’t really miss it. Not the way she thought she would. She was getting used to the Texas heat.

  “Good work!” Coach Kenerson slapped each player a high five, as he called an end to the practice. “We go to double sessions tomorrow. Seven o’clock on the turf. Special teams, I’m working with you first.” He took a big swig from a bottle of iced tea. Ava eyed it longingly.

  She gazed toward the bleachers where she’d left her now-lukewarm water bottle. She squinted into the sun. Alex, wearing a red eyelet sundress, stood on the bleachers. Her long hair fell past her shoulders, and her curls bounced as she waved eagerly to Ava.

  Ava jogged over. Her own hair was sweaty and plastered to her neck. Her jersey was streaked with dirt where Xander had tackled her onto the ground. We look like the before and after of a reality TV makeover show, Ava decided. She shrugged. She’d much rather be in her filthy jersey than the strappy sandals Alex wore, which, Ava knew for a fact, left painful indentations on her feet.

  “Why are you here?” Ava asked, reaching for her water bottle. Alex rarely watched practice.

  “Just tell me how,” Alex whispered. “How did you do it?”

  “Do what?” Ava took a big gulp. Gross. It was totally warm.

  Alex glanced around. The boys gathered their stuff and trudged, heads down, into the locker room. The sports bus would be here in ten minutes. When Alex seemed certain that no one was listening, she grabbed Ava by the shoulders. “It worked! We found the bracelet!”

  “Really?” Ava draped a towel around her neck and turned toward the girls’ locker room.

  “Ave, stop. Did you hear me? Isn’t it the best thing ever? We linked our minds and psychically found Rosa’s bracelet!” Alex put her hands together in a flurry of excited claps.

  “So the bracelet was in her locker?” Ava asked. She couldn’t believe how happy Alex looked. It was as if she’d found a winning lottery ticket.

  “Exactly where you told me it would be. Did you have a vision? I can’t believe we can seriously do this. I mean, I can believe it. I knew we had the Power!” Alex’s words came out at rapid-fire pace.

  Ava didn’t say anything. She began walking. Alex followed, beaming with happiness.

  “Lindsey and Emily and everyone were so impressed. No, not impressed. In awe. Stupefied. Astonished. Stunned.” Alex wrinkled her nose. “Wait. I can think of more synonyms.”

  “I get it,” Ava assured her.

  “I knew we were special,” Alex said.

  Ava cleared her throat several times. She took another swig of the horrible water to buy time.

  The truth was she’d stopped thinking about Rosa’s bracelet the minute she hopped off the toilet seat. But when she’d gone into the girls’ locker room to change for practice, the hair band she wore around her wrist caught on the tiny piece of metal jutting out from the slats on the inside of the locker. This happened a lot. Sometimes she didn’t feel it and then found the hair band hanging there days later.

  Then she thought about Rosa’s bracelet and thought that maybe that was where it was. But the cheerleaders hadn’t appeared in the locker room yet, so she’d texted Alex.

  It had been a logical hunch.

  It hadn’t been the Power, or whatever Alex was calling it.

  Alex, of all people, should appreciate how I used logic to solve the case of the missing bracelet, Ava thought. Her sister was the Queen of Logic. Except now, when she wanted to believe in this twin power thing.

  “So?” Alex pressed her.

  “It’s totally amazing,” Ava agreed. “I’m happy for Rosa. Listen, you should find Charlotte. I’m sure she’s waiting. I’ll meet you guys out front in a minute.” Before Alex could speak, Ava slipped into the locker
room.

  She leaned her back against the door, taking in the quiet, cavernous room. All the other girls who played sports had come and gone. Her heart beat loudly in the silence.

  She knew she should’ve been honest with Alex. But she hadn’t lied. Not really.

  Tonight I’ll tell her how I found the bracelet, Ava promised herself. It’ll be fine if Alex believes we’re special.

  At least for a little while.

  CHAPTER

  EIGHT

  “Bendel, then Bloomie’s, then Bergdorf and Barneys,” Charlotte was saying to Alex when Ava found them in front of the school.

  “What are you talking about?” Ava asked.

  “Charlotte’s ranking her favorite department stores in New York City,” Alex explained.

  “Oh.” Ava hadn’t heard of any of them. But right now, she’d rather talk shopping than psychic powers.

  “The stores all start with B,” Alex said to Charlotte.

  Ava smiled. This was Alex’s way of taking mental notes. She was big on memory tricks, such as remembering the first letter of something. Ava knew she’d find Alex on her computer tonight, researching each and every store.

  Ava didn’t care. If she ever visited New York City, there was no way she was going shopping. She hated department stores.

  “My house is behind there.” Charlotte pointed toward the row of tall trees lining the long driveway leading down to the high school. “If we cut through the back, it’s a lot faster than walking to the road. And then we don’t have to go through the gate.”

  “What gate?” Ava asked, following Alex and Charlotte across the school’s front lawn.

  “The gate to our neighborhood,” Charlotte said.

  Ava shot Alex a meaningful look. There were only a few gated communities in Ashland, and they all had big, fancy houses. The Sacketts lived on a small road with no gate.

  “Are you going to Lindsey’s party tomorrow?” Alex asked as they rounded the tree trunks.

  “Are you?” Charlotte asked.

  “Definitely,” Alex said. “But I don’t have a costume yet, and that’s stressing me out.”

  “If I go—and I don’t know that I will—we could all be something together. The three of us,” Charlotte suggested. “Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Or the Three Bears.”

  “Count me out,” Ava said. “I’m not doing anything that cutesy.”

  “Okay, what if we’re East Coast baseball players?” Charlotte said. “The Yankees, the Mets, and the Red Sox. Those are the correct names, right?”

  “That wouldn’t be so bad,” Ava conceded.

  “That’s not dressing up enough. The whole point of Halloween is lots of makeup, a costume, maybe even a wig,” Alex protested. “Really go wild.”

  “My mom has a whole separate closet with all these crazy vintage clothes,” Charlotte offered. They were cutting through a huge backyard with a massive swing set, a stone fire pit, a gleaming basketball court with regulation hoop, and manicured, bright-green grass. “I bet we’ll find something in there.”

  “You live here?” Alex asked in awe, as they walked around to the sprawling front yard. The house was enormous. Two huge planters overflowing with purple flowers bordered an imposing dark-red front door.

  “Seems so,” Charlotte muttered. She jiggled a key in the lock and pushed open the door.

  An icy blast hit Ava as she stepped into the stone tiled foyer. The air-conditioning was on full force. She could hear the faint whirring of its motor in the silent house.

  “Wow! It’s so big,” Ava said, staring up at the tall ceilings and heavy iron chandelier. She didn’t say it was also so quiet and cold. “Where is everyone?”

  “Carmen went to pick up my little brother, Ben, at school. I think she took Harvey.” Charlotte dropped her backpack on an antique-looking bench. Two large cardboard boxes rested alongside it.

  “Who’re Carmen and Harvey?” Ava asked.

  Alex shot her a disapproving look.

  Ava shrugged. Charlotte didn’t have to answer if she didn’t want to.

  “Carmen is our babysitter. She’s really more for Ben—I’m too old for that. And Harvey is our dog,” Charlotte explained. “He’s freaked out by all the nature out here. He hates to pee on the grass. He’s used to sidewalks. Like me. I mean the sidewalks part, not the peeing part. He’s always looking for concrete.”

  “We have a dog too,” Alex said. “But Moxy loves to be outside. She falls asleep on the grass.”

  Ava wondered where Charlotte’s parents were—and why she didn’t mention them. But she didn’t ask. If she did, Alex would probably give her another death stare.

  “Want to see my room?” Charlotte led them up the stairs. Large boxes lined the hallways. Ava guessed they were still unpacking. Charlotte opened a door to an oversize bedroom, chicly decorated in black, white, and hot pink.

  “I love it!” Alex squealed. “Are all these perfumes yours?”

  Nearly fifty cut-glass bottles of various shapes, colors, and sizes crowded a sleek white vanity topped by an enormous mirror in an ornate hot-pink frame.

  Charlotte nodded. “I love scents. We once went on vacation to the south of France, and I got to design my own signature scent. Want to smell it?”

  “Please!” Alex positioned herself alongside Charlotte at the vanity. As Charlotte sprayed and dabbed perfume after perfume on the inside of her arm, different scents crowded the air. Floral. Citrus. Woodsy. One hung top of the other.

  Ava’s stomach churned. “I need air,” she squeaked.

  “Wait! Charlotte’s going to show us all her lip glosses. She has over one hundred! Her mom is a makeup executive. How cool is that?” Alex asked, her words running together.

  Ava stepped over to the window. It was covered by a sheet of brown craft paper. Someone had taken a red marker and drawn a pattern of rectangles on it. They looked amazingly like real bricks.

  “What’s this?” she asked Charlotte.

  “Keeping NYC in and Texas out,” Charlotte declared. She began to say something else and then grimaced.

  “You’re a great artist.” Ava stared at the fake wall, unsure what it meant exactly. The perfume cloud was making her eyes water. Ava peeled up the bottom flap of the paper, which hadn’t been taped securely to the sill. Could she open the window and get some air?

  Outside she spotted a thin, dark-haired boy shooting a basketball. Shooting it badly. The ball kept hitting the backboard. But that didn’t matter. Ava knew this was the perfect excuse. “Is that your brother? Can I go check out your backyard?” she asked.

  “Sure thing. Alex and I will be right out,” Charlotte promised.

  Ava couldn’t escape fast enough. She hurried down the stairs, said hello to a woman wiping the counter in the kitchen, who she assumed was Carmen, and headed out into the late afternoon sunlight. She took big gulps of fresh air.

  “Hey,” Ava said, approaching Ben. He looked about nine years old. She nabbed the basketball as it ricocheted off the backboard yet again. “Can I play too?”

  Ben shrugged. “Sure.”

  Ava aimed, then let the ball glide off her fingertips and swoosh through the hoop.

  Ben watched in openmouthed amazement. Then he grinned, and they began to play. Ava liked how easy it was with guys. Especially if you could throw a ball.

  She still couldn’t figure out Charlotte. All afternoon, she’d been so nice. The way she’d been earlier in the week when Ava had first met her. Ava wanted to ask her why she was so rude to Emily and Lindsey, but so far the time hadn’t seemed right. And maybe it didn’t matter.

  “You’re good,” Ben said as Ava sank another basket.

  “My big brother taught me,” she said. “Let me give you some tips. Your weight is too far back in your heels. Try it like this.”

  Ben mimicked her stance. He sent the ball toward the hoop. It bounced off the rim.

  “Closer!” Ava cried, going for the rebound. “Whoa!” She lost her balance and stumbled as a
blur of curly black fur streaked across the lawn and into the shrubs bordering the yard.

  “Harvey! Harvey!” Carmen stood by the back door, waving her arms. “He escaped again! Ben!”

  Ben took off after the dog. Ava hesitated, then hurried after both of them.

  Together they trampled through the bushes. Twigs scratched Ava’s shins. She kept going. She spotted Harvey’s black fur up ahead.

  Suddenly Harvey made an abrupt turn, circling the edge of the property. Ava and Ben twisted back through the bushes. Carmen stayed on the stone patio, yelling for the dog. Harvey didn’t seem to hear or care.

  “Go right. We’ll corner him!” Ben told Ava.

  Ava broke right. She felt as if she were on the football field running a play. But a dog was much harder to catch than a football. She had no idea where this ball of fur was heading.

  Harvey darted through the bushes once more and into the neighbor’s yard. Ava and Ben followed. Across another yard. Through another neighbor’s vegetable garden. Good-bye to that head of lettuce, Ava thought as she trampled more veggies than she dodged.

  Harvey ran faster.

  Ava kept up the chase. Ben struggled to keep close. The dog was still in sight.

  Closer . . . closer . . .

  Up ahead, she spotted a low stone wall. A big house rose beyond it. The largest Texas flag she’d ever seen flew from a pole in the yard. Harvey slowed as he approached the wall.

  Seizing the opportunity, Ava dove forward, arms outstretched, and grabbed Harvey’s fur. She pulled Harvey toward her, grasping the small dog around its middle.

  Touchdown! Ava thought.

  She and Harvey lay on the ground, both panting, both exhausted.

  “Harvey!” Ben cried. He slid beside Ava and scooped his dog into his arms.

  Harvey licked Ben’s nose.

  “You have one crazy dog,” Ava said.

  “He’s not crazy,” Ben protested, hugging his dog fiercely. “Everything here scares him. The grass, the trees, the other animals. He’s kind of like Charlotte.”

  Ava thought about this. Charlotte didn’t seem scared at all. Charlotte had bulldozed forward and taken down the popular kids. And she hadn’t even been in school a week!