Between Us (6 page)

Bailey reluctantly nodded.

“Doing something with you and Olivia wouldn't have any old memories connected to it. Hannah could just have fun,” her mother went on. “What do you say?”

“I don't really have a choice, do I?” Bailey muttered.

Her mother sighed. “I'm not going to force you,” she finally answered. “But I want you to try to put yourself in Hannah's place before you decide.”

1.
    
If it's something small, let it go.

2.
    
Talk to someone about it.

3.
    
Practice saying nice things in the mirror.

4.
    
Smile—faking a smile can actually make you feel happy (according to Dad, at least).

5.
    
Imagine something happy while she's being annoying.

6.
    
Remember that she's not TRYING to be annoying.

7.
    
Relax!!!!!!

“I'm proud of you, Bailey,” her mother said after they got in the car the next morning.

“Thanks,” Bailey mumbled. She and Olivia had talked last night. Bailey had admitted that Olivia was right about Hannah copying her. She'd also admitted
that now that she'd realized Hannah was doing it, it was completely annoying.

But they'd both still decided they had to invite Hannah to spend the day with them. They wouldn't be able to have any fun if they knew Hannah was home by herself, wishing she was with her dad.

Hannah was waiting on the sidewalk when they turned the corner onto her street. “Thanks for inviting me,” Hannah said to Bailey when she got in the car.

“Sure.” Bailey gave a smile that she hoped didn't look as fake as it felt. She didn't mention Hannah's father. She wasn't sure Hannah would want her to know it was his birthday too. She'd let Hannah bring it up. Or not.

It took only about forty-five seconds to get to Olivia's. Olivia was already waiting out front too. Bailey grinned when she saw her, a real grin. Yeah, Bailey was still a little disappointed that Hannah had to come today, but nothing could make Olivia's birthday less than great.

“First stop, Family Restaurant!” Bailey exclaimed.

“Where they have pancakes as big as your head. Seriously. As. Big. As. Your. Head,” Olivia added.

“We always go there on Oh's birthday,” Bailey told Hannah.

“It's a day of many traditions. They do all the best things from birthdays past,” Bailey's mom said.

“Some of them might seem a little dumb,” Olivia admitted. “But we still love them.”

“I bet they aren't dumb,” Hannah answered.

Bailey and Olivia looked at each other and laughed. “Oh, no. They are,” Bailey said. Then she and Olivia laughed some more.

“Don't worry. I'll have them seat me in the back room,” Bailey's mom announced as she pulled into the crowded parking lot. “Come get me when you're ready to go.”

“Come on!” Bailey cried. She, Olivia, and Hannah rushed into the restaurant. Bailey planted one hand on the hostess stand and with her other hand passed the hostess the note she'd written. “There are three of us.”

“Right this way,” the hostess said.

“Can we have the booth under the Elvis picture?” Olivia asked. The Family Restaurant was decorated with pictures of old stars, like Elvis and Lucille Ball. They'd sat under Elvis for all of Olivia's birthday celebrations.

“I don't see why not,” the hostess answered. She ushered them to the booth.

Bailey fingered the tear in the red vinyl of the seat. It had been there the first time they'd come here for Olivia's birthday breakfast, even though that was years ago. She loved how it was just the same.

After they ordered their drinks, it got really quiet at the table. Olivia and Bailey never had trouble coming up with stuff to talk about. But now Bailey felt really self-conscious sitting there with Hannah. She didn't want to say something and have Hannah go all parrot and repeat it. It would make Olivia crazy. Bailey too.

“Somebody say something!” Olivia finally burst out.

“Um, how's karate going?” Bailey asked.

“Good. I've found a sport where it doesn't matter if you break stuff,” Olivia answered. “You're
supposed
to break stuff.”

“Awesome!” Bailey said.

“So awesome!” Hannah breathed.

Bailey crumbled her napkin into a tight ball. Why couldn't Hannah at least chose a different word? It's not like there weren't synonyms for “awesome.” Her dad, the crossword puzzle fiend, could probably come up with twenty of them off the top of his head.

“Are you into karate?” Olivia asked.

“No,” Hannah admitted. “But it sounds awesome.”

Bailey noticed Olivia's jaw tighten before she gave Hannah a smile. Hannah was annoying her, but Olivia wasn't going to let it show. Neither was Bailey.

Silence fell again. Bailey's brain went blank. This
felt so weird. Like she and Olivia were in a play and Hannah was the audience. Maybe because Hannah didn't really join in. She just reacted.

“I like that shirt, Hannah,” Olivia told her. Last night, Bailey had mentioned that she'd been giving Hannah compliments as part of helping her deal with her parents' divorce. Olivia had clearly decided to join in.

For once, Hannah wasn't wearing something that looked like it was part of Bailey's wardrobe. That was a good sign.

“Thanks,” Hannah said. “It's new. My mom took me to the mall.” She turned to Bailey. “We got you one too! I forgot to bring it, but I'll give it to you when you drop me off.”

Seriously? Seriously!
Bailey took a long gulp of orange juice to keep herself from giving a screech of impatience. She couldn't make herself say thank you.

“Did you already do the history homework?” Olivia asked Hannah.

Bailey had also said that she'd been checking in with Hannah about schoolwork. Olivia had decided she would do that too.

“Not yet,” Hannah answered.

“Me neither,” Olivia said.

And then . . . silence.

“Oh, can you believe Spirit Week is almost here?” Bailey cried. “It's going to be so fun.”

“So fun,” Hannah agreed. She was repeating Bailey even more than usual. Was it because she was upset, thinking about her dad?

“So fun,” Olivia said. A little sarcasm had crept into her voice, but Bailey didn't think Hannah would have noticed.

And then . . . more silence. Way too much silence.

“Remember last year when—” Bailey started, then broke off. It wasn't polite to talk about stuff that had happened when Hannah wasn't around. Before she could think of another topic, the sound of people singing “Happy Birthday” started up.

Bailey grinned as a parade of waiters and waitresses headed towards their booth. Their waitress was in the lead, and she carried a plate of chocolate chip pancakes with eleven candles on them. The hostess had come through!

Bailey and Hannah joined in the singing. When the song wrapped, everyone in the place clapped as Olivia blew out the candles. “Woo!” Bailey cheered.

“Woo!” Hannah echoed.

“They're especially excellent with strawberry syrup,”
Bailey said when they each had a plate of the pancakes in front of them. She poured the syrup over her pancakes and offered the pitcher to Hannah. Hannah poured a few drops on her pancakes, then handed the pitcher to Olivia.

“Don't you like syrup?” Olivia asked Hannah.

“I'm not that much of a strawberry person,” she answered. “But it sounded good with chocolate chips, so I decided to try it,” she added quickly. She took a bite and nodded enthusiastically. “Good.”

“Want some more?” Olivia held out the pitcher.

“No!” Hannah said loudly. She lowered her voice. “I'm good.”

“Wait. You had strawberry cookies at my house,” Bailey said. She remembered because she'd made the star cookies especially for Hannah and Aunt Caitlin. “You said you loved them.”

“I like them sometimes,” Hannah answered. “Like those cookies and this syrup.”

Bailey looked at the three drops of strawberry syrup on Hannah's pancakes. She was lying. Again.

“You don't have to have it just because we're having it,” she burst out. “It's obvious you don't like it. Get maple, get blueberry, get something you actually want to eat.”

“I think it will be good with this kind of pancake,” Hannah answered, flushing. “These really are as big as your head,” she added softly.

“Yeah,” Bailey said.

“Yeah,” Olivia said.

Then they continued to eat. In silence.

“I know it's for little kids, but we always ride the train on Oh's birthday,” Bailey said when her mom pulled into the lot in front of the park.

“Every year we add in something we did the year before,” Olivia explained. “The train is what we did the first year we celebrated my birthday together.”

“Oh. Cool!” Hannah said.

They bought tickets at the snack shack, then got in line with a bunch of little kids with their parents. Bailey remembered how, the year before, she and Olivia had already been giggling hysterically at this point. But she had that feeling of being watched by an audience again, and it made her feel self-conscious and a little silly.

A cute teenage boy took their tickets. Did he think they were riding the train for serious? Did he think they didn't realize they were too old?

The little seats weren't big enough to hold all three of them. When Bailey slid on, her knees pressing hard
against the front of the car, Hannah sat next to her, so Olivia had to sit behind them. Bailey twisted around to smile at her friend. Olivia smiled back, but the smile looked a little fake. Was she feeling weird about being on the train too?

Bailey decided she wasn't going to let Hannah spoil this. When the train started up, Bailey and Olivia waved good-bye to the teenage boy. So did Hannah. Bailey and Olivia waved to every person they saw walking on the path that wound through the park, just the way they did every year. Hannah waved at everyone too.

She looked dorky. Completely dorky. Was that how Bailey and Olivia looked? Bailey's arm suddenly felt heavy. Her hand too. It felt like a strain to wave so hard.

“It's her birthday!” Bailey yelled, pointing back at Olivia. “Say happy birthday to her!”

A little boy and his parents all yelled “Happy birthday,” and Bailey felt a little bit of the goofy pleasure that had made her and Olivia laugh all through the ride last year. But only a little bit.

Then Hannah pointed at Olivia and shouted “It's her birthday!” to a couple of teenagers. They stared back blankly, like they were trying to figure out if Hannah was talking to them, and if she was, then why.

Bailey let herself sink down a little in the seat, her
knees coming up almost high enough to hide her face. She was so ready to get off.

“What now?” Hannah asked when the little train pulled into the station.

“We go to a movie at the Gem,” Bailey answered as she climbed out of the seat. “We can walk over there. We have some time before it starts. Want to look at the book table?” she asked Olivia.

“Of course,” Olivia said. “The library has a table of books for a dime each. Sometimes it has good stuff,” she explained to Hannah. They were always having to explain things to Hannah.

“What movie are we seeing?” Hannah asked as they cut through the park.

“We don't know,” Bailey admitted. “My dad looked up the times. He told me when the first one started, but that's it.”

“We always go to the Gem, so it doesn't matter. Whatever's there, that's what we go to,” Olivia explained.

Hannah looked back and forth between Bailey and Olivia, her forehead crinkling. Then she gave a smile that looked like something she'd do in an acting exercise, forced and fake. “Oh. Cool.”

“The Gem is always fun,” Bailey told her. “It always has these old cartoons, like from the sixties, first.”

“And it has these great bird murals up on the front, and a real curtain in front of the screen. It's kind of old-timey,” Olivia added.

“Oh. Cool,” Hannah said. She kept saying that, but she didn't sound very excited.

Doesn't matter,
Bailey told herself.
It's Olivia's birthday. Who cares what Hannah thinks?
Although maybe it was kind of silly to go see a movie when it might turn out to be something really bad that you had no interest in seeing in the first place. For the past two years they'd had good luck, though. They'd added going to a movie on Olivia's ninth birthday.

“Then after that, bowling,” Olivia told her. “We even use the bumpers like we did the first time.”

We probably look really stupid too,
Bailey thought.

“Oh. Cool,” Hannah said.

Bailey looked at her watch. She'd never wanted Olivia's birthday to end, but today it had barely started and she was already wishing she could go home.

When she looked up, she caught Olivia checking the time on her cell.

By the time Bailey finally got home, she was exhausted. She went straight to her room and flopped down on the bed, letting her head hang over the edge. She let
out a long, long,
long
, loooong sigh.

Having fun on Olivia's birthday had actually felt like work. Bailey had started counting the times Hannah said “Oh. Cool.”
Eleven.
It turned out to be eleven. One for every year of Olivia's life.

Olivia's birthday was usually one of Bailey's favorite days of the year. And Hannah had ruined it. She hadn't done it on purpose, but she'd still completely ruined it.

1.
    
Take a bubble bath.

2.
    
Listen to music.

3.
    
Watch baby animal videos.

4.
    
Make a list of things you love.

5.
    
Watch a funny movie.

6.
    
Clean out your closet.

7.
    
Read a sad book to make you feel better about your life.

8.
    
Have a Cheerwine.

Bailey needed to talk to Olivia. When a girl's world felt like it had started spinning the wrong way, she needed to talk to her best friend.

But Olivia was gone all day Sunday. She and
her family went to Asheville to visit Olivia's great-grandmother, since she always wanted to give Olivia her birthday present in person.

Olivia was at school on Monday, but so was Hannah. Hannah was the thing Bailey needed to talk to Olivia about! So even though she saw Olivia, it didn't count as actual Olivia time.

And today Olivia had to buy a new gi before karate class, because her little sister, Rose, had colored all over her old one with a felt-tip marker.

So the only thing she could do was pick something from her list of things to do to cheer up after a bad day. She wasn't sure any of them would work after a whole bunch of bad days, though, and that's what Bailey had had. She'd been miserable pretty much since Olivia had given Hannah the lip-gloss test to prove that what Hannah really wanted was Bailey's life.

Bailey decided to go for cleaning her closet first. Having an extremely well-organized closet always made her feel good. As she headed to her room, she tried to decide if she should group her shirts by sleeve length. Right now they were grouped by color, from lightest to darkest. Possibly she could still keep each color together, but within that color, put the shirts with the same sleeve length together, from shortest to longest.

Having a project made her feel a tiny bit better, and she eagerly flung open her closet door, ready to get to work. But what she saw inside made her slam the closet shut again. Polka dots. Her closet was filled with clothes with polka dots—organized by the background color, not the dot color.

She couldn't stand to look at anything dotted right now. Polka dots made her think of Hannah, and thinking of Hannah could not possibly cheer her up.

Okay, it was time for cute animal videos. Bailey hurried over to her desk and powered up her computer and then jumped straight to the Emergency Cuteness YouTube channel she'd made for herself. She clicked on the first one. It showed the fluffiest calico kitten with the biggest eyes curling up next to an extremely shaggy sheepdog for a nap.

So, so cute! Except the kitten made Bailey think of Kitty City, which made her think of Hannah getting all blotchy. She probably didn't even like kittens!

Bailey headed into the kitchen and grabbed a Cheerwine from the fridge, then put it back. Now when she thought of Cheerwine, she thought of the day at the mall when she and Olivia had explained to Hannah what the drink was.

Even when Hannah was blocks away, she was
ruining stuff Bailey loved!

Bailey thought about taking a bath. That couldn't possibly make her think of Hannah, but then she caught sight of the kitchen clock and realized it was late enough for Olivia to be done with karate class.

yo, oh. What do you know?
Bailey texted.

just out of karate,
she texted back.

Boing! The perfect plan appeared in Bailey's head. Olivia's karate dojo was right on Main Street. She'd be walking home. Bailey would surprise her by showing up, and they could walk partway home together. They wouldn't have a lot of time. They'd both have to be home for dinner. But they could have a little time to talk, face-to-face.

don't walk + text,
Bailey advised.

Olivia could be a little accident-prone.

k. l8r,
Olivia answered.

Bailey spun around and broke into a trot. She reached Main Street just in time to see Olivia coming out of karate in her spotless, for now, white gi. The outfit was so cool-looking it always made Bailey want to take karate. Except she didn't like hitting stuff.

Olivia started down the street away from Bailey—the opposite direction from her house. What was she doing? Maybe she had an errand to do before she went
home, Bailey decided. “Oli—”

Bailey only got half the name out before Olivia headed into Gianni's. That was why she had headed the wrong way. She probably wanted something to drink. Bailey would get something too.

What? Bailey skidded to a stop in front of Gianni's big front window. Olivia was sitting at one of the tall tables with Vivi and Tess. They were all laughing.

It felt like her lungs had been ironed flat. Bailey couldn't get any air in. She had to get away from there. She couldn't let them see her. That would be humiliating. If they'd wanted her with them, they would have texted her.

But before she could move away from the window, Vivi spotted her. She leaned over and knocked on the glass. Then they all waved, smiling. “Come in!” Olivia mouthed.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe they hadn't planned to meet up without her. Maybe Vivi and Tess were already at Gianni's and Olivia came in after karate and saw them. Just the way Bailey was seeing them now.

Yeah, that made sense. Bailey's lungs filled with wonderful air. She waved back to her friends and joined them inside.

“I'm sorry!” Olivia immediately exclaimed.

“Sorry for what?” Bailey asked.

Olivia flushed and didn't answer. “Sorry we didn't invite you,” Tess said. She flipped her finger against the wheel of her skateboard and set it spinning. The board was propped up against her stool.

“Me too,” Vivi added.

“It's my fault,” Olivia admitted. “I asked them to meet me. I had to talk to someone about, you know, how we went out for my birthday and . . .”

She didn't finish, so Bailey finished for her. “And Hannah ruined it.”

Olivia nodded.

“Almost all she ever does is agree with something you said, Bails. It's sketchy,” Tess said.

“It
is
strange,” Vivi agreed. “It's like she's tofu. She doesn't have any flavor of her own. It's almost like she'd just sit there saying nothing and doing nothing if you weren't around for her to copy.”

“I would have told you we were meeting up,” Olivia said. “But I thought your mom would have made you invite Hannah.”

“She might have,” Bailey admitted. She was still trying to take in the fact that her friends had left her out.

“Well, you're here now!” Olivia patted the chair next
to her. “Sit down!”

Before Bailey could, her phone rang. She checked the screen. “My mom,” she told her friends.

“Where are you?” her mother demanded as soon as Bailey answered. “I just called your grandmother's and you aren't there.”

“I'm at Gianni's with Olivia and Tess and Vivi,” Bailey explained.

“Well, come home. You know you're not supposed to go anywhere but your grandparents' without permission,” her mother told her.

“I have to go,” Bailey announced. “Have fun,” she forced herself to add. Tears stung her eyes as she headed to the door. She blinked them away. There was nothing to cry about. Her friends were still her friends.

Even though they were avoiding her.

“Sorry, Mom,” Bailey said as soon as she stepped into the house. “I just really wanted to see Olivia, and I thought I could catch her on her way out of karate.”

“Next time, ask first,” her mother said.

“I will.”

Bailey thought about trying something else on her list of how to cheer up after a hard day, but her day had been so hard, she was sure nothing would help. Then
she heard the yips, yaps, and woofs that meant Gus was nearby with his pack of hellhounds.

“Is it okay if I go meet up with Gus?” Bailey asked. When it looked like her mother was about to say no, Bailey quickly added, “We'll be right in the neighborhood.”

“Okay,” her mother said. “Be back for dinner.”

“I will, probably with Gus,” Bailey promised, then hurried back outside. She really needed to be with a friend right now. She didn't care if Gus spent the whole time talking about monster movies and telling fart jokes.

She quickly tracked him down. He was standing in front of the Averys' house. They were the ones who had Hans and Franz. George was probably trying to go pick up the wiener dogs, but it seemed like Bruce was having some kind of sit-down strike. When the massive Saint Bernard decided he didn't want to move, everybody had to wait.

“Hey!” she called over the dogs' enthusiastic greetings.

“You can walk one dog. One,” Gus told her. He handed her Ginger's leash. The reddish dog was the most obedient one in the pack. Then he stared at Bailey. “What's wrong with you? You look like you're about to puke.”

It was like the question smashed a wall inside her and all these words came spilling out. “None of my friends want to hang out with me even Oh because wherever I go Hannah goes and they all think she's so annoying because she copies me all the time and it's like she's tofu and I don't know what to do because Hannah's my cousin and I know it's a hard time for her but now she's making me as crazy as everyone else and—”

Gus held out his hand like a crossing guard stopping traffic. “I thought you just ate a bad hot dog or something. You can't talk about this—”

“I have to talk about it and I know you hate stupid girly drama but all my other friends are involved in the stupid girly drama which isn't stupid by the way it's my life and so you have to let me talk about it because—”

“Hannah, Bailey's coming with us!” Gus yelled.

What? Hannah?

“Great!” Hannah called back. She was crossing the Averys' front lawn with Hans and Franz. The volume of the dogs' barking went up, and Ginger flopped down onto her back as soon as Hannah joined them. “You want belly scratchies, huh?” Hannah asked.

She dropped to her knees on the sidewalk. Hans and Franz immediately started competing to see who could lick her face the most times, while Bruce dripped
drool on the top of her head.

Franz got jealous as Hannah started scratching Ginger, and he gave one of Ginger's back paws a little nip.
“Shhhpt!”
The shushing sound Hannah made got Franz's attention. She pointed at him. “None of that,” she told him, her voice low and calm. And Franz obeyed!

Bailey looked between her cousin and Gus. It felt like someone was working on her brain with a curling iron. She could hardly form a thought. Gus and Hannah were, what, friends now? She thought they'd only seen each other that one night at the party. “So do you guys do this a lot?” she managed to ask. “Walk the dogs together?”

“She's helped me out a few times. And she went to the shelter with me a couple days ago. Turns out Hannah's like the dog whisperer,” Gus told her.

“Actually, I think positive reinforcement is better than some of the Dog Whisperer's methods. I mean, he gets amazing results, but I think a few treats can make dogs learn almost as fast,” Hannah answered. It was like being around the dogs had flipped a switch in her, making her relaxed, without the need to look at Bailey before she opened her mouth.

“I'm with you,” Gus said to Hannah. “I always have
a pocketful of treats.” He glanced at the beagle near the front of his group. “I'm going to have problems with him if I don't get moving.”

“I, uh, I should get home. I told my mom I'd only be out for a couple minutes,” Bailey mumbled.

“We'll walk that way and drop you off,” Gus volunteered.

“Yeah! Let us walk you,” Hannah said eagerly.

“No, it's okay. I've got to go.”

If she stood there one more second, she'd start crying. She'd really, really needed to talk to a friend. But Hannah had taken over Gus, the way she'd taken over everything.

She hadn't just ruined Olivia's birthday, she was ruining Bailey's whole life!