Lucky T (2 page)

"Oh God. I remember that Hal oween. You forced me into dressing up like that when I wanted to be a witch," Piper said with a laugh.

"Ugh, you and your witch phase," Carrie said. "I'm so glad you outgrew that."

Next up was the program for the fifth-grade play, Anne of Green Gables. Carrie opened to the cast list, a whoosh of giddiness rushing over her. How was it that after all this time, it was still so cool to see her name right there at the top? She ran her fingertips over the type, then down the list to Piper's name.

"Hey, Orphan Girl #2," Carrie said. "You still remember your one and only line?"

"Eh, it was something about you having fiery red hair," Piper replied.

"Wish we hadn't used my wig to mop up the Great Diet Coke Spil of 1999." Carrie giggled.

Under the program was a heavy sheet of white paper, folded in thirds like a letter. Carrie opened it and her heart nearly stopped.

"This is it," Carrie said, handing the letter to Piper.

Piper leaned back against a bunch of ordinary shirts that hung from the closet wall and read about Carrie's lucky T.

INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS Dear Carrie Ann, The air in Morocco is heavy and thick and full of spices. Walking through a crowded market district yesterday I almost got dizzy from all the colors and scents and sounds. I stumbled into a souvenir shop to take a breather from it all and met this crazy woman. You would have loved her. She had braids all over her head and her eyes were drawn out with makeup so she looked like a cat. We started talking and when she heard I had a daughter, she insisted I buy the enclosed for you. She swears it will bring you good luck. I don't know if that's true, but I hope it is. No one deserves good luck more than my best girl. And besides, I figured it might be BAD luck to pass it up. (I know it looks like something a tourist would wear--the shirt is pretty much the flag of Morocco, after all --but I swear the lady said the green bejeweled star is all hand-stitched!) I think of you every second when I'm on these adventures, wishing you were with me so you could see all the beauty there is in this world. One day we'll take a trip--just you and me--anywhere you want to go.

I'll see you soon, kiddo. In the meantime, wear this lucky T and remember that I'm thinking of you all the time.

Love and kisses, Dad As she finished reading, Piper gazed at Carrie, who suddenly seemed very sad.

"I remember when I first read this letter," Carrie said, taking the paper out of Piper's hands. "It was on the day it all changed. ..."

The Day It Al Changed: The Inciting Unlucky Moment Sloppy joe. Of all the things in the world Carrie could have spilled on her brand-new, pink Abercrombie hoodie, it had to be sloppy joe. Not only was it gloppy and mealy and a bizarre orangey brown that screamed, "I will never come out no matter how many times your mom washes me!" it also advertised to the world that she had dared to try to eat the sloppy joe at all . Something no sane person who had a life at this school would ever do.

Carrie rushed to her locker, holding her arm at an unnatural angle over her chest in an attempt to hide the stain. This had to be the worst day ever in the history of fifth graders. Not only had she missed the bus by five seconds, thereby giving Chris Beren and Greg McCaffrey ample time to laugh at her through the back window as it pulled away and left her in the dust, halfway on her run to school she had realized she'd forgotten the index cards for her oral book report this afternoon. She had been nervously awaiting the humiliation of English class and the inevitable detention all day, and now this. It was going to be bad enough telling Ms.

Russo she wasn't prepared for her report while everyone stared at her. But there was no way she could do it with this stain spread across on her chest.

She'd die first.

Carrie yanked open her locker and dropped to her knees to pul out the duffel bag that was wedged in the back. Inside was a big red T-shirt with a glittery green star on the front. A T-shirt that she had, in the weeks since it arrived, refused to wear. Just looking at it made her face flush with anger and hurt. Her father had left. Her father had left and all she got was this lousy T-shirt.

She hated the thing. He'd bestowed it upon her as if it was some kind of consolation prize. As if it would make everything okay. "You can't have a dad around, but hey! You've got this T-shirt!" How lame could he be? And it was supposed to be lucky? Please. As if anything her dad gave her could be lucky.

But at the same time she couldn't bring herself to throw it away. The thought of her dad in that shop in Morocco, of him telling some strange lady about her, of how he was psyched to send her something that might bring her luck--it made her heart swell . It was crazy, the number of emotions one stupid T-shirt could bring out of her. She was going schizo and she was only ten years old.

The warning bell rang and Carrie's heart hit her throat. There was no choice. This was all she had to change into. She ran to the bathroom with the T-shirt clutched in her fist. Al she had to do was make it through the rest of the day. Then she could go home and have her nervous breakdown.

The Day It Al Changed: Lucky Moment #1

Okay, just tell her the truth. Tell her the truth and maybe she won't embarrass you to death, Carrie thought as Ms. Russo stepped to the front of the room. The woman was at least six feet tall, with short brown hair and broader shoulders than Mr. Latke, the former-US.-wrestler-gym teacher. There wasn't a more intimidating person on earth. You did not forget homework for Ms. Russo. It just didn't happen.

"Well, class, I hope you're all prepared for your oral book reports," she said, raising one eyebrow behind her glasses as she scanned the room.

Twenty fifth graders froze in place, afraid even to breathe in front of her.

Since the beginning of the year, no matter what, Carrie was always in the first group of kids picked to do oral reports or read aloud from books. Not only that, Ms. Russo only called on Carrie to answer the questions she didn't know the answers to, never the ones she did know. When it came to Ms.

Russo's class, Carrie never seemed to luck out.

I'm dead. I am so, so, so, so dead, Carrie thought.

And then the woman did the oddest thing. She smiled. "But only three of you will have time to present today because today is Lauren Dil on's birthday and her mother has sent us all cupcakes!"

Nineteen fifth graders all turned to look, slack-jawed, at Lauren Dil on, whose face went from its natural milky white to fire-engine red in less than ten seconds.

"And those three lucky students are . . ." Ms. Russo dipped her hand into the plastic top hat she always placed their names in for such butterfly-in-the-

stomach occasions. It read Congratulations! across the brim in silver letters. Carrie and her friends thought this was kind of a sick joke considering what it was used for.

Please don't say my name . . . please don't say my name. . .

Carrie didn't really think the silent begging was going to work since it never did, but there wasn't much else she could do.

Ms. Russo pulled out the first piece of paper and unfolded it. "Carlos Almeda."

Carlos groaned. Carrie's heart soared.

Please don't say my name . . . please don't say my name. . .

"Ashley Walters."

Ashley, A student that she was, sat up slightly taller and smiled.

"And . . ."

Please don't say my name . . . please don't--

"Micah Taylor!"

Carrie's eyes popped open. She hadn't even realized she'd scrunched them shut. This had to be some kind of miracle. No one was ever going to know she forgot her book report. There would be no public humiliation. No detention. She couldn't believe her luck.

The Day It Al Changed: Lucky Moment #2

Half an hour and three boring book reports later, the class gathered around Ms. Russo's desk to check out the cupcakes. They were chocolate with white icing and pretty yellow and pink flowers all over them.

"Ooh ... I want that one," Ashley Walters said, pointing out the cupcake in the back corner. The one with the huge pink flower on top.

"Definitely the best flower," Abby Simpson agreed with a little nod. Abby was an authority on all things in the world that were the best of their kind.

"Back to your seats, class," Ms. Russo said, clapping. "I'll hand out the cupcakes."

There was no question of who would get the cupcake with the big pink flower. Abby Simpson would get it. Abby Simpson got everything. Al the teachers loved her. Al the students loved her. Abby Simpson's life was perfect and everyone in the world seemed to silently agree that this was the way it should be and that they would help perpetuate this reality in any way possible.

Carrie didn't even bother to covet the big pink flower. It was Abby's, plain and simple.

She watched as Ms. Russo handed out the cupcakes, one by one, going up and down the aisles. She sat back slightly when Ms. Russo came to her.

When the cupcake was placed in front of her, her brown eyes widened.

It was the cupcake with the huge pink flower.

Carrie turned to look at Ashley. Ashley gaped at the cupcake, as did Carlos and Greg and Delores Mancini. The cupcake had not been given to Abby.

Their entire universe was askew.

The Day It Al Changed: Lucky Moment #3

That afternoon Carrie walked out of math class after receiving a 100 percent grade on a pop quiz and was instantly grabbed by Piper. Piper's brown hair had been twisted up into five mini-buns that morning and they were all popping out and unraveling at random angles all over her head. The hair, along with the fact that she was wide-eyed and frantically jumping up and down, made her look like a mad scientist.

"Carrie! You got it! You got Anne!" Piper screeched, her braces flashing.

"I did!?" Carrie shouted, all her blood rushing to her head.

Each year in primary school one class in each grade got to put on a play for the rest of the school, and each year Carrie had hoped it would be her class. But year after year some other teacher's students had been chosen and Carrie had never gotten the chance even to step foot onstage. Whenever she had been ushered into the auditorium to watch another production, she had imagined herself up there, smiling under the lights, wearing some amazing costume, delivering her memorized lines perfectly. She had envied the kids who walked around with their dog-eared scripts and got to spend an hour after lunch each day rehearsing in the auditorium. It all seemed like so much fun. And Carrie always knew she could be a great actress if given the chance. Wasn't her mother always telling her how dramatic she was?

Now she was in middle school. And in middle school they put on only one play a year and everyone got to try out. The auditions last week had been intensely nerve-racking, but Carrie had done her best and had been dreaming about winning a role ever since. Something with a couple of lines, maybe. Maybe even something with a lot of lines.

But the lead? She never thought she would get the lead.

"You have to see!" Piper said, grabbing Carrie's hand and pulling her down the hal .

"The cast list isn't supposed to be posted til tomorrow," Carrie said as she dodged other students, her heart pounding a mile a minute.

"I know. But I was just coming back from gym and I saw it and your name is right on top," Piper replied. "Come on!"

Piper and Carrie ran together back down the crowded hal way to the auditorium where a klatch of people had already formed around the list on the door.

"Excuse me! Big star coming through!" Piper shouted, shoving people this way and that.

"Congratulations, Carrie," Melissa Staller said as they passed by.

"You're Anne!" Danielle Yung screeched, grabbing her up in a hug.

But Carrie didn't believe it until she saw it, right there in front of her eyes.

Anne Shirley Carrie Fitzgerald.

Piper was right. Carrie was a big star!

The Day It Al Changed: Lucky Moment #4

Carrie was still grinning when her bus pulled up to her stop that afternoon. It was a beautiful, blue-sky day in San Francisco, and from the top of her hil she could see the sun reflecting off the bay water and glinting against the Golden Gate Bridge. Why had she never noticed the perfect view before? Why had she never noticed how perfect everything was?

The door popped open and Carrie got out of her seat.

"Carrie! Wait!"

It was Abby Simpson. She walked up from the back of the bus, where she sat with her friends every single day. Her blond curls framed her angelic face as she blithely blew a big Hubba Bubba bubble that popped and went right back into her mouth instead of sticking all over her face. She was wearing those cool new strappy sandals that no one else's parents let them wear. And her toenails were painted hot pink with a Hel o Kitty sticker on each of the big toes.

"Here," she said to Carrie, holding out a small pink envelope. "Hope you can come," she added with a smile.

Stunned, Carrie took the envelope and stared at it.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Oh," Abby said. "Nice shirt."

Somehow Carrie turned and managed to step down from the bus without letting her quaking knees go out from under her. She couldn't believe what she was holding in her hand. As soon as the bus disappeared around the corner, Carrie tore into the pink envelope.

It read in swirly gold script: Abby's Having a Birthday Slumber Party and You're Invited! Carrie grinned. An invitation to one of Abby's parties! She had been waiting for this her entire life. Her moment had finally arrived.

"This is the best day ever!" Carrie said aloud, turning to run down the block. She couldn't wait to tell her mother about everything that had happened.

About the book report and the cupcake and the quiz and the play and the party. It was the luckiest day of her life.

Carrie paused at the foot of the steps that led up to her house, suddenly recalling the panicked rush she had left in that morning. Hadn't this started out as the unluckiest day ever? With the book report and the sloppy joe incident?

She looked down at the invite again and saw the green star on her chest glittering up at her. Her heart did a cartwheel. The T-shirt. Al the good stuff had started happening after she put on the T-shirt. Was it possible? Could it be that this T-shirt really was good luck?