My Extra Best Friend (11 page)

“Oh,” I say, giving her mine.

“Thank you
soooo
much,” she replies. Then she glances at the note in my hand. “Catching up on your reading?” She blinks, all innocent, behind her glasses.

I squint. And crumple the note. “No,” I say, plunking it into her hand. “This is garbage too.”

Elizabeth’s eyes flash. She sucks in a sharp breath, like she’s getting ready to shoot poisoned words at me. But then she hesitates and lets the breath out again.

She turns around, clomps to Brooke’s backpack, and stuffs all the garbage away.

“These are great drawings, Ida,” Alex says, turning pages in my sketchbook as we walk with Jenna to the crafts cottage a little later. “You’re a good artist!”

“Told you so,” Jenna tells her. She looks at me. “Go on, Ida. Give Alex the tour.”

I smile and turn to a new page, happy to be away from Stacey’s frowns and Elizabeth’s poison glances. “That’s my mom and dad,” I say, pausing on a picture of a woman and a man with very white teeth. I even drew sparkles. Plus, musical
notes in the air. “My dad is an orthodontist,” I explain, “and my mom teaches piano.”

“They look nice,” Alex says.

“They are,” I reply, and flip to a new picture. But when I see which one it is, I quickly flip past it. “And that’s my house,” I say, pointing at the next page. “See the window? That’s my room.” I flip again. “This is my school. And that’s my whole class. See the guy with the ponytail? He’s our teacher, Mr. Crow.”

“
Was
our teacher,” Jenna corrects me. “We’ll be in fifth grade now.”

“Wait,” Alex says, flipping back. “You missed one.” She stops at the picture I skipped. “That looks like you, but who’s the other girl?”

Jenna glances over. Does a sniff. “No one,” she says.

“She must be someone to Ida,” Alex replies. “Look at the cool border she drew around her!”

I don’t look at the picture. I don’t need to. I have it memorized. Two girls with their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. Matching hair. Matching friendship bracelets. One with a bandage on her chin.

“The other girl is Elizabeth,” I mumble. “
Liz,
I mean. She didn’t have glasses back then. Or short hair. We were”—I glance at Jenna—“
she
was…in our class. But then she moved away.”

Alex nods. “You must be excited that she’s moving back!”

“Thrilled,” Jenna puts in.

“What happened to her chin?” Alex asks, pointing to the bandage I drew on Elizabeth’s face.

“Rollerblade accident,” I reply. “We sort of collided. She got a cut on her chin. I got a bruise on my butt that was shaped like a lightning bolt. It would have been a great show-and-tell if I could have shown anyone.”

Alex chuckles. “You two have been through a lot together, huh?”

I shrug.

Jenna takes my hand.

“Please pass the cheese
turds
.”

Joey points to a plastic bag that’s lying next to me, filled with little lumps of yellow cheese. You’re supposed to call the lumps cheese
curds,
but the boys never do.

I throw the bag at Joey. Not that I really need to. He’s sitting three butt scoots away. The other boys aren’t much farther behind.

Normally, I don’t sit within scooting distance of them unless a teacher makes me. But, normally, I don’t eat lunch with them on a raft. Alex and Connor rowed all of us out here after morning activities, plus our food. Mini bagels. Peanut butter. Grapes. Cheese curds. Punch. It’s all spread out like a picnic in the middle of the raft. We make a sloppy circle around it.

“Sheesh, Ida,” Joey says, nabbing the bag before it tumbles into the lake. “Work on your throw. No one likes soggy
turds
!”

The boys do a snort quartet.

Some of the girls glance over. I try to catch Stacey’s eye, but she looks away before I can. I’ve been trying to catch it since me and Jenna met up with her and the other girls after our morning activities.

But Stacey isn’t interested in having an eye conversation with me. She isn’t interested in having a mouth one either.

I nibble a mini bagel and try not to look at Elizabeth. But my eyes keep darting to her anyway.

She’s pulling off her clunky cowboy boots.

Now she’s peeling off her mismatched socks.

Now she’s dangling her feet in the water.

Picking up a grape.

Peeling off the skin.

I twitch a tiny smile because we always used to peel our grapes. Then we’d pretend they were slippery eyeballs and dare each other to eat them. Then we would. Which was gross. But also fun.

I take another nibble and glance again.

Stacey has scooted in next to her now. She starts peeling grapes too.

Talking with Elizabeth.

Laughing.

Squealing and gobbling down eyeballs together.

“Ignore them. She’s just trying to punish you.”

I look over and see Jenna rearranging herself closer to me.

“Huh?” I say.

“Stacey’s mad because you’re not being all huggy-huggy with Liz, right?” Jenna asks in a low voice.

I nod.

“So now Stacey’s pretending to be friends with her just to make you mad. Don’t give in and she’ll give up. You and Stacey will be friends again. Nothing changes.”

I pick up my punch cup and take a sip.

“Am I right?” Jenna asks, reaching for one of my grapes and popping it into her mouth. She looks like she already knows the answer is
yes
.

“You’re one part right,” I reply.

Jenna stops chewing. “
One
part?”

I nod. “And
two
parts wrong.”

Jenna frowns.

“You’re right about Stacey being mad at me,” I explain. “But you’re wrong about her fake friending Elizabeth. Stacey never fakes friendship. She’s friending Elizabeth for real.”

Jenna grabs another grape and starts chewing again. “That’s only
one
wrong.”

“You’re also wrong about things not changing,” I continue. “Because they already have. Elizabeth is back even though I don’t want her to be. The other girls are her friends now. And no matter what, friendship changes things. Not always in the way you want.”

Jenna sniffs. “Very touching,” she says. “But
you’re
wrong about something too.”

“What?” I ask.

Jenna stands up and pops my last grape into her mouth. “You
do
want her back.” She checks her watch and turns to Alex and Connor. “Lunchtime is over.”

We clean up the raft and then row back to shore. I spend the rest of Tuesday keeping as far away from Elizabeth Evans as possible, just to prove that Jenna is wrong again.

The next morning Brooke glances up from stuffing candy into her pillowcase. It’s Wednesday, the day of our sneak-out. She zeros in on Jenna. “Who’s next on the trust fall schedule?”

Jenna looks up from refolding the clothes in her suitcase. She’s making us clean Chickadee extra-good today, since we outvoted her yesterday and didn’t clean up at all. She even got Stacey to put a pair of socks on her hands and pick dead flies off the windowsills. Plus, she sent Randi, Meeka, and Jolene outside with brooms to sweep cobwebs from the cabin walls. “Technically,
you,
since you skipped your turn.”

“I’m planning the whole sneak-out,” Brooke replies, adding a package of gum and a fistful of suckers to the pillowcase. “I’m not falling too.”

“Then Ida and Liz
butt
are tied for next tallest,” Jenna tells her.

Elizabeth stops rearranging the pinecone critters. She scowls at Jenna. “I’ve told you a million times. My name is
Liz.
”

Jenna rolls her eyes. “
Butt
ever.”

“One of you has to fall as soon as possible,” Brooke says to me and Elizabeth. “We need Alex to take us to the platform before it gets dark.”

“So the monster won’t get us?” Randi asks, coming inside again with Meeka and Jolene.

Brooke huffs. “I don’t care about that silly monster. All I care about is my plan.” She sets the pillowcase aside and scoots to the edge of her bunk, like she doesn’t want us to miss one word. “Jenna, you should be writing this down.”

Jenna grumbles and scoots her suitcase away. She isn’t in favor of Brooke’s sneak-out plan, but she
is
in favor of being organized. She climbs onto her bunk and pulls out her clipboard and a pen. “Go,” she says to Brooke.

Brooke clears her throat and begins again. “We’ll leave Chickadee at the
beep
of midnight. Jenna will set the alarm on her watch.”

Jenna makes a note on her clipboard.

“Everyone wear regular clothes to bed so we can leave quietly without waking up Alex.
Dark
clothes. And
no
flashlights, or someone might see them shining through the trees. Liz will keep watch by the cabin. The rest of us will go to the trust fall platform. Nat and Emillie are meeting us there.”

“Why can’t they just take us straight to the hideout?” I ask.

“Because that’s not how it’s done,” Brooke explains. “First, you meet up at a secret spot. Then, you go on a journey. Finally, you arrive at your destination.” She counts off each step on her fingers.

Elizabeth nods. Then she looks at me. “It’s called
drama,
Ida.”

I give her a squint. “You’re not even going with us. I call that
chicken
.”

I hear a muffled laugh and look over at Jenna. She gives me a thumbs-up.

Then I look at Stacey.

She gives me a frown.

“But if we don’t bring flashlights,” Meeka says,
brushing cobwebs off her shirt, “we’ll never find the platform.”

“Already thought of that,” Brooke replies. “All we have to do is mark the trees with glow-in-the-dark paint! I saw some in the crafts cottage. We’ll be just like Hansel and Gretel, following a trail of bread crumbs!”

“But the birds
ate
their bread crumbs,” Jolene points out.

Randi nods. “And a witch almost ate
them.
” She mounts her broom and does a wicked cackle.

“That’s why
my
plan is better,” Brooke says. “Birds don’t eat paint.” Her eyes hopscotch from girl to girl. “Someone has to go to Alex’s craft this morning and get it. The glow-in-the-dark paint, I mean. Any volunteers?”

“Not me,” Randi says, circling the room on her broomstick. “I’m playing kickball.”

Jenna nods in agreement.

So does Stacey.

“Meeka and I signed up for bird watching,” Jolene says.

“So did I,” Elizabeth puts in. “Tom too.”

“I’m going on a nature hike with Nat and
Emillie,” Brooke says. Then she barks a laugh. “
Not!
Actually, we’re going to hide in Hawk and text their friends!”

She throws me a look. “That means you have to get the paint, Ida. Thank you for volunteering.”

“But I didn’t—”

“It’s next to the glitter,” Brooke cuts in. “You can’t miss it.”

“But I don’t want to—”

“Wear something with big pockets so you can get a lot.”

I narrow my eyes. “I don’t think the trees want to get painted, Brooke. And I don’t want to steal for you.”

Someone clucks like a chicken. I whip a look at Elizabeth.

Brooke does an impatient sigh. “It’s not stealing if we don’t take it away from camp. And since when do trees care about how they look? They have branches, not brains. Besides, you’re not doing it for
me
. You’re doing it for all of us. Your
friends
. Remember?”

“Friends don’t make each other do things they don’t want to do,” Stacey puts in.

I blink, surprised she’s defending me.

Elizabeth nods and steps in next to Stacey. “You’re not the boss of us, Brooke. Not even Ida.”

I frown. What does she mean,
not
even
Ida? I’m more a part of the group than she is.

Brooke snorts. “I’m not
making
Ida get the paint. I’m
asking
her to get it.
Friends
help each other.”

Elizabeth links arms with Stacey. “That’s what we’re doing. Helping Ida.”

My stomach burns like I put hot sauce on my pancakes this morning instead of maple syrup. “Brooke isn’t bossing me. And I don’t need
your
help.” I step toward Elizabeth and punch my fists into my hips. “So
butt out,
Liz
butt
.”

A gasp circles the room. It’s the only time I’ve ever called anyone a name outside of my own head. I swallow hard and turn my face to agate.

Elizabeth steps toward me and narrows her eyes. “If you want me to butt out, then I’ll butt out…I
-duh.
” She gives my shoulder a jab.

More gasps.

My knees turn into springs.

I pounce.

Elizabeth hits the floor.

Her glasses fly.

I fall on top of her.

“Stop it, Ida!” Stacey shouts. “You’re acting crazy!” She pulls me off of Elizabeth.

I scramble to my feet and push Stacey away, tears brimming in my eyes. “She’s the one who’s crazy!” I shout. I glare at Elizabeth. She’s still sprawled on the floor, her eyes bright with tears too and her face as red as her cowboy boots. “You can’t come back here and act like everything is fine. Stuff
isn’t
fine. You moved away and never wrote to me. Do you know how sad that made me? It felt like my heart broke. I wish you never came back!”

Tears flood my eyes. All the girls’ faces swim around me. Wide-eyed. Mouths open. Like they’re looking at a monster.

Elizabeth gets up and stands boot to sneaker with me.

“Do you know how sad it made
me
to move? It felt like my
stomach
broke. It hurt so bad I had to go see a
doctor
. She made me write about the hurt
and mail it all away. I even had to send letters to my
dog,
Champ. Stupid, huh? But when I tried to send letters to you, my stomach hurt more than ever. Because it reminded me that I missed
you
more than anyone.”

Tears stream down her cheeks, but she doesn’t wipe them away. “I wrote lots of letters to you.
Tons.
They’re all inside my valentine volcano. I stuffed them in until the lava cork wouldn’t stay stuck. Then I stopped writing. Because I figured you had new friends by then and didn’t need an old friend like me. I was hoping I was wrong, but now I know it’s true.”