Double Trouble (2 page)

Whew! That was my cue to escape. Muttering a quick “Bye,” I took off down the hall.

“COMING, CASSIE?”

I glanced up from stuffing my books into my messenger bag. Megan March was smiling at me from the doorway of our classroom, her books already neatly tucked away in her designer tote.

Slipping a stray pen in on top of my textbooks, I picked up my bag. “Coming.”

I fell into step beside her as we left the classroom. A couple of Megan's other friends scurried after us,
chattering at each other about tonight's homework assignment. Their names were Emily and Abby, though I mostly just thought of them as the minions. Not to their faces, of course—I wasn't a total cretin. They were nice enough, just sort of bland and interchangeable.

In any case, I wasn't interested in discussing homework. School was over for the day, and I wanted to think about something more interesting.

And as it happened, something more interesting was right in front of me. Brayden Diaz was swinging down the hall on his crutches, talking to a friend. And looking positively adorable, as always.

I tried not to stare. I wasn't sure exactly what I thought about Brayden just yet. Until I figured it out, nobody needed to know I had any thoughts about him at all.

“So what are you doing this weekend?” I asked Megan, carefully keeping my voice casual. I'd only been friends with her for a week or two and couldn't take anything for granted yet. Popularity was fragile
when you were the new kid. Not that Megan ever had to worry about that. She was practically Aura royalty—her mom was the mayor, her uncle the chief of police, and her whole family had lived in this town basically forever.

It didn't hurt that she was pretty and blond, with a sense of style rivaled only by my own. My gaze flicked down to her cute jeweled sandals, and I wondered if we were good enough friends yet for me to ask to borrow them.

“I'm not sure yet,” Megan said. “Football game tomorrow afternoon, obviously.”

“Obviously,” I echoed. Football was king in Aura, like most everywhere in Texas, and our middle school team, the Aura Armadillos, was undefeated. Although things were looking dicey now that the star quarterback was out for the rest of the season with a broken leg.

My gaze zipped forward. Brayden was high-fiving some of his friends from the football team, who'd been waiting for him at the far end of the hall. Brayden spent so much time with Biff, Brent,
and Buzz that everyone called the four of them the B Boys. I tried to pretend I wasn't watching as Brent smacked Brayden on the shoulder, then Brayden laughed and hit Buzz on the leg with one of his crutches. They were still goofing off as they disappeared around the corner.

I closed my eyes for a second, remembering Brayden's hand gripping mine as he writhed on the ground in pain after his leg had snapped in a bad tackle last weekend. It wasn't something I could forget, especially since I'd seen it twice: Once when it had happened, and once a few days
before
it had happened.

My eyes flew open as a nasty voice came from right behind me: “Wake up, Waters. You're blocking traffic.”

I glanced around just in time to see Gabe Campbell shoot me a poisonous glare as he stomped past, his battered cowboy boots clomping on the floor.

“Oops, looks like someone's still mad at you,” Megan commented.

I just nodded. Gabe's uncle was the reason Mom
had a job here in Aura. Sort of. Chuck Campbell had been on the force for years—and he'd been embezzling money from the town almost as long. After he was fired, he'd held a grudge against Mom for taking his job—and Gabe seemed to be holding a grudge against Cassie and me for the same reason.

Megan and I continued down the hall to her locker, still trailed by the minions. Lavender Adams was already there, leaning against the wall, picking at her fingernails.

She looked up when she heard us coming. “Hey,” she said to Megan.

Okay, technically she said it to all of us. But her hazel eyes barely registered me before settling on Megan and the minions. I tried not to let it bother me. Lavender hadn't accepted me into the group as quickly as Megan and the others had. Sometimes she almost felt like a friend, and other times? Well, not so much. But I wasn't too worried. Most people liked me once they got to know me, and I was sure Lavender was no exception.

“We were just talking about weekend plans,” I
told her with a friendly smile.

“Way to plan ahead, Cassie.” Lavender shrugged. “It's only Thursday; we still have a whole 'nother day of school to survive first.”

Megan laughed. “All the more reason to think about something fun, right?” She clicked open her locker and checked her reflection in the mirror she'd stuck on the door. “Unfortunately I don't think I can do anything on Saturday. Mom's having some kind of dinner party for a bunch of boring town businesspeople, and I'm supposed to help her get ready.”

“Bummer,” I said. “I hope your mom doesn't have you scheduled for anything
next
Saturday, though. Because it's my birthday, and you're all invited to help me celebrate.”

“Your birthday? Really?” Megan glanced at me. “I didn't know that was coming up.”

I shrugged, not bothering to remind her that up until a week or so ago, she wouldn't have cared. “Yeah,” I said. “With the move and all, I haven't had a chance to make any plans.”

“I can fix that.” Lavender suddenly looked a lot friendlier. “Party time!”

I laughed and high-fived her. “Pretty much what I was thinking.”

“What kind of party are you having, Cassie?” one of the minions asked.

“I haven't thought about it yet. Any ideas?”

“Sure,” Lavender said immediately. “Boy-girl party, cool DJ. Finger food.”

“Dancing?” a minion said.

“Naturally,” Lavender replied.

Megan smiled. “Sounds like the perfect place to wear that cute new dress I got when we were shopping last week.”

“Totally,” Lavender agreed. She glanced at me. “Make sure to tell the DJ there should be lots of slow songs, right?”

The second minion giggled. “Perfect!”

Before I could say anything, Lavender suddenly frowned.

“Wait,” she said. “Don't you live over on Granite Street?” She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe you should
have the party somewhere else.”

Okay, obnoxious. But she had a point. Our new place in Aura was so tiny that Caitlyn and I had to share a bedroom, something we hadn't done since we were six. At first we'd both been horrified. I'm kind of type A when it comes to cleaning and organizing, while Cait's more like type P, for
pigsty
. But so far it had actually been okay. At least mostly.

“My cousin had her Sweet Sixteen at that big hotel in Six Oaks,” one of the minions said. “The ballroom there is really swank!”

Megan nodded, looking interested. “Did she get it catered?”

Yikes. This was getting out of control.

“Hang on,” I said. “Don't forget, it's my sister's birthday, too.”

“Your sister?” Lavender's nose wrinkled even more dramatically. I wanted to warn her that her face might freeze that way, but it didn't seem like the right moment.

“Yes, my
twin
sister, remember?” I shrugged. “Whatever we do, I have to run it by her.”

And call me crazy, but I had the feeling Caitlyn wasn't going to go for Lav's idea of a swanky slow-dance party. Not that it mattered. I definitely didn't have the funds to throw a party like that, and I doubted I'd be able to talk Mom into it either.

Lavender looked unimpressed. “Anyway,” she said, “what do you guys think about our chances against the Tigers tomorrow? You know, with Brayden out of commission . . .”

We were still talking about the football team a few minutes later when we headed for the exit. Lavender pushed open the heavy front door, letting a blast of AC out with a whoosh.

“Ugh,” I said as the late afternoon heat smacked me in the face. “Remind me to move to Alaska soon, okay?”

Megan laughed. “Funny, Cass.”

“I'm not joking,” I said, smirking to show that I was. At least sort of. “This kind of weather makes my hair go all kinky. It would only be tolerable if I had a pool.”

Lavender shrugged. “Megan has one.”

I wasn't surprised. Megan was totally the type of person whose house would have a pool. Probably a fancy one with a waterfall and a slide.

“Yeah.” Megan dug her lip gloss out of her purse. “Normally my parents would have shut it down for the winter by now. But my dad keeps saying they'll wait until it gets cold.”

“Hey, there's your sister, Cassie,” one of the minions said. “Maybe we should go talk to her about your party.”

“No,” I said quickly. I could only imagine how Cait would react to my friends bombarding her with their ideas. “I just remembered my mom wants us home early today. But don't worry, I'll talk to her. See you!”

I rushed off toward Caitlyn, who was waiting for me near the flagpole. I'd barely seen her all day. Aura Middle School was so small that the entire sixth grade was divided into only two sections—green and gold, named after the school colors. Megan, Emily, Abby, and I were in the gold section. So was Brayden. Cait was in green with her dorky friends,
along with Lavender and the other three B Boys.

“Hi,” I said when I reached my sister. “Where's the nerd patrol?”

She frowned slightly. “If you mean Liam and Bianca, they already left.”

Oops. So much for starting our birthday party discussion on the right foot. Still, with only a little over a week to make plans, I couldn't wait for a better moment. Besides, Cait wasn't the type to hold a grudge.

“I've been thinking about our birthday,” I said as we started walking.

She brightened. “Me, too. Liam told me there's a new minigolf place in Six Oaks. Should we go there? We could each invite a few friends, maybe get pizza after.”

“Minigolf and pizza?” I shrugged. “That'd be perfect if we were turning eight, not twelve. We only have one more year until we're officially teenagers, right? It's time to stop with the baby parties and do something fun. Maybe at night, with dancing. My friends are totally willing to help us plan it.”

“Are you kidding?” Caitlyn said. “Mom isn't going to let us have some teenagery dance party. I mean, have you met her?”

I frowned. “She owes us one. She made us move here, remember? I'm sure she'll be reasonable.”

Cait was starting to get a stubborn expression that I didn't like. “Well, I don't want that kind of party,” she said. “We're not teenagers yet. Why rush it?”

I rolled my eyes. Why hadn't I predicted this? Oh, wait—I had. Caitlyn and I used to have a ton in common, but over the past few years she'd turned into someone I barely recognized. Even those stupid visions we'd both started having showed how different we've become—all of Cait's seemed to show good stuff happening to people, while mine showed bad or horrible or unpleasant stuff. Totally unfair, right?

“Whatever,” I said. “It's way too hot to argue about it. We'll deal with it later.”

“Fine,” she replied.

We trudged the rest of the way home in silence. As she opened the front door, Caitlyn glanced at me.

“It's not that I don't want to have a party,” she said. “I just think we need to talk about the details a little more.”

“Okay.” This was a little more promising. I could work with this. “Maybe we can compromise. The first thing is to figure out where to have the party.” My eyes swept the place as I stepped inside. The house was so small that I could hear the squeak of the shower turning off down the hall. “Definitely not here.”

“Why not?” Cait looked around, too. “It's not like we're inviting the whole school, right? I'm okay with keeping the guest list small.”

Just then Mom emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, one towel wrapped around her body and another around her head. “What are you girls talking about?” she asked.

“Our birthday,” Cait said.

“Coming up next weekend, or did you forget?” I added, “That doesn't give us much time to plan the party, but—”

“Are you sure you want a party this year?” Mom
interrupted. She fiddled with the edge of her towel, not really looking at either of us. “I was thinking the three of us could go out for a nice dinner. Or maybe cook something here at home. We haven't had brisket in a while.”

I shook my head. “No way! You only turn twelve once, right?”

“I can't believe you two are almost twelve already. It seems like just yesterday you were learning to walk.” Mom shook her head, looking kind of wistful, which so wasn't like her. She's hardly the sappy, sentimental type. She's not the twitchy type either, though she was acting a little that way right now.

Caitlyn stepped over and put an arm around her shoulders. “Oh, Mom, we . . .”

Her voice trailed off. Suddenly she sort of stiffened, and her eyes went all weird and distant. Uh-oh. I instantly guessed what that meant. She was having a vision!

“C'mon, Cait, leave her alone,” I said, yanking her away from Mom.

As soon as they weren't touching anymore, Cait's face cleared. She still looked a little confused, though.

Luckily Mom didn't seem to notice as she checked her watch. “We'll have to talk more about your birthday later. I need to get dressed for work or I'll be late.”

She disappeared back down the hallway, toward her room. I stared at Caitlyn. “Let me guess,” I said. “Vision?”

“Uh-huh.” Cait blinked a few times, then took a deep breath. “Caught me by surprise. Tell you in a sec.”

I knew how she felt. It always took a few seconds to go back to normal again after a vision. If you could call someone who saw the future
normal
.