Two Steps Back (12 page)

The front doorbell rang, and they heard Tommy's friends arrive. Their mom yelled to them to come watch.

In the living room, Jackson, Harley, and Luke were wedged onto the couch alongside Tommy, and Coach was fiddling with the remote, setting up the TV to record.

“They just said it would be on after this commercial break,” said Mrs. Sackett. The two girls sat down in the chairs Coach had arranged side by side. Mrs. Sackett sat next to Coach on the love seat, holding his hand and beaming already.

Finally a commercial for a car dealership ended, and Marcy Maxon's smile flashed on the screen. “And next, we have our popular feature ‘Tomorrow's Reporters Today' for you. Here to share her story is a seventh grader from Ashland Middle School, Alex Sackett.”

“Hey, she just called me Alex!” said Alex. “Finally.”

Ava found Alex's hand and grabbed it, squeezing tight with excitement.

Alex's image flashed on-screen, and everyone cheered, quickly, and then hushed up to listen.

Ava marveled at how poised and photogenic Alex appeared. She really was a natural.

Alex introduced herself as an identical twin with an older brother, an artist mother, and a father whom most viewers would know as the head coach of the Ashland Tigers. In a voice-over, with Alex narrating, Ava saw footage of Coach coaching, a picture from Mrs. Sackett's website showing her holding up a large vase, Tommy standing in uniform on the sidelines, and a photo of herself in her football uniform. Back to Alex, who smiled charmingly at the camera and talked about her brother's “double life.”

The next shot showed the trio playing one of their jazziest pieces and then Alex introducing the other members of the group. Then, in a voice-over, she added, “And Harley has one especially ardent fan.” There was a shot of Luke holding out flowers and asking Harley to Homecoming.

Tommy whapped Luke over the head with a throw cushion, but everyone kept watching. Alex's voice asked, “And who do you think named the trio?” Next Ava appeared on-screen, suggesting her idea.

Finally Alex's voice said, “But what we're all really wondering is, how does the head coach of the Ashland football team feel about his only son potentially choosing music over football?” And then Coach delivered his little speech. Alex closed with, “This has been Alex Sackett for ‘Tomorrow's Reporters Today.' Back to you, Marcy!”

Almost immediately, the house phone began ringing, and Ava's cell phone began vibrating with multiple texts—she'd check those later. The high schoolers all let out a loud whoop and stood up from the couch in unison, high-fiving and hugging one another and then taking turns hugging Alex. Ava noticed that Alex remained cool and calm as she accepted a congratulatory hug from Luke. Maybe she really was over him already.

Finally it was Ava's turn to hug Alex. “You were fantastic,” she said to her sister. “I'm really proud to be your sister.” And she realized that all her resentment toward what Alex had done was gone. She meant what she said.

Later that night Alex came into Ava's room. Ava was sprawled on her bed, working on an essay for English. Alex carefully moved some of the papers out of the way and then plopped onto the bed. “Thanks again for rescuing my story,” she said to Ava. “I didn't think you'd show up.”

Ava shrugged. “I almost didn't. But when I got home, I found Coach working in the backyard, and I asked him to bring me. I knew he was dying to hear the performance, so I told him about how he could listen from offstage without being seen and causing a fuss.”

“I think Tommy was happy, don't you?”

Tommy suddenly loomed in the doorway. He seemed to be growing at the rate of an inch a week, Alex thought as she regarded him.

“Luke posted our new song just before the story aired, and it's already going viral!” he said. “And he says he's getting flooded with booking requests as far out as next spring!”

The girls looked at each other and in unison gave a big squeal of excitement.

Tommy moved into the room and gathered both girls into a bear hug, scattering Ava's papers all over the floor.

“By the way, Al,” said Tommy, as he released them and began gathering the papers, “sorry about the whole Luke thing. I had no clue you liked him, you big goof. If I'd known, I would have told you he liked Harley. And that she's a senior.”

“So Luke's into older women, not younger ones,” said Ava.

“Whatever. I'm totally over him,” said Alex, and she meant it. “I talked with Emily a little while ago, and she says Greg Fowler still hasn't worked up the nerve to ask her to Homecoming, even though everyone can see from a million miles away that he likes her.”

Ava and Tommy exchanged amused looks.

“So a bunch of us are all going together,” said Alex. “Which reminds me.” She stood up. “I have to go finish my to-do chart for Homecoming planning. I'm way behind because of the news story.”

She left. Tommy and Ava looked at each other.

“A ‘to-do chart'?” he repeated. “For a dance? Are you
sure
she's our sister?”

Ava smiled. “I'm sure.”

“Hey, Emily! Hey, Lindsey!” Alex Sackett waved at her two friends, who were weaving their way through the crowded hallway in her direction. “Wow, they look super excited about something!” Alex said to her twin sister, Ava, whose locker was right next to hers.

Ava grinned and slammed her locker closed before the clutter inside could spill out. “Whatever it is, I'm sure it's important, like a sale on make-up,” she joked, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder. She was already thinking about her first-period Spanish class, and wondering if she had her homework with her. Had she left it at home?

“Don't joke. It probably has to do with Homecoming!” said Alex.

Emily Campbell and Lindsey Davis stopped on either side of Ava and linked arms with her.

“Ava! Just the girl we wanted to see!” said Emily breathlessly.

Alex frowned.

This sudden attention alarmed Ava, but she tried to make a joke out of it. “Uh, hi guys. I realize that Alex and I are identical twins and all, but she's the twin you want to see,” she said.

“What? No! I mean, no offense, Alex,” said Lindsey, barely glancing at Alex. “But actually, it's you we were coming to find, Ava, because we want to make sure you're signing up for the big game.”

“What big game?” asked the twins at the exact same time.

“The Powder Puff football game?” prompted Emily, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. And Ava noticed that even though Alex had also asked, Emily still addressed her response to Ava.

“Powder what?” asked Ava. This did not sound like something she'd be interested in.

“I know what it is,” Alex jumped in. “It's a flag football game, and it's all girls,” she said. “We talked about it in student government on Monday. Next Wednesday, the seventh grade girls play one game and the eighth grade girls play another. Then the winning seventh and eighth grade teams play each other at the big pep rally on Friday. It's a Homecoming thing they do every year to raise money for the local soup kitchen.”

Ava could see where this was going. No wonder Emily and Lindsey were interested in her, not Alex. Alex was not known for her athletic prowess, whereas Ava was the one and only girl on the Ashland Middle School football team.

“Do they have to call it ‘Powder Puff?'' asked Ava, wrinkling her nose. “That sounds so last century.”

Lindsey laughed. “It's just the traditional name for it. But trust me: it's a serious game. We always raise a ton of money.”

“And it won't interfere with your football,” Emily added quickly. “We only have one practice, this Sunday afternoon.”

“This is going to be so fun!” Alex chimed in brightly. “For once I'll get to be on the same team as my twin!” Ava knew that tone of her sister's—Alex was feeling left out.

Ava noticed that Emily and Lindsey exchanged a quick look, just a flick of their eyes. She also noticed that Alex didn't seem to have noticed.

“Well, ha-ha,” said Emily, “you probably will be,” she said to Alex. “Coach Jen appointed Lindz and me to pick one team, and Rosa and Annelise are picking the other.”

“We're not the captains or anything,” Lindsey added quickly.

“And after people sign up, we flip a coin to see who gets first pick,” continued Emily. “Then we just take turns choosing until everyone is on a team. We're getting together tonight to choose the teams and they'll be posted tomorrow morning.”

Ava gulped. Would Alex's friends be loyal to Alex and choose Alex, or would they be more interested in choosing talent? Ava thought she knew the answer, and she didn't think Alex was going to be very happy about it.

“The signup sheets are outside the gym,” said Emily to Ava. “Don't forget!”

“I won't,” said Ava.

“I won't either!” added Alex. But Emily and Lindsey were already hurrying away.

Alex turned to Ava and frowned. “Should we sign up now? The first bell hasn't rung yet.”

Ava shrugged. “I guess.”

They found the signup sheets just where Emily had said they'd be. The seventh grade sheet already had fourteen names on it. Ava smiled when she saw that her friend Kylie McClaire had signed up. Kylie had hated football when Ava first met her, but after spending a few of the high school games in the bleachers next to Ava, she now liked it almost as much as Ava did. Ava liked to think it was all thanks to her influence that Kylie now wanted to play on the Powder Puff team.

Ava scrawled her name just below Alex's neatly-penned name.

“Are you sure you have time for this?” asked Alex, pursing her lips. “You know you need to keep your grades up.”

Ava scowled at her sister. “Thanks for your concern. I think I can handle one Sunday practice and a couple of Powder Puff games without flunking out,” she said irritably. But deep down, she knew her sister had a point. She had been diagnosed with ADHD at the beginning of the school year, and she'd been working extra hard to keep her grades up ever since. She had a big science test on Monday that she really needed to do well on, because she was in danger of getting a C. That could land her on academic probation and jeopardize her ability to play on the AMS football team—the real football team.

But she had a plan. Today was only Thursday. Her tutor, Luke, was making a special visit to her house tonight to help her with test-taking strategies. She'd study all weekend and then ace the science test on Monday.

Dinner that night at the Sackett house was quiet. Alex had set places at the table for her brother, Tommy, and for her dad, but they were late coming back from practice. The twins' father was the coach of the high school football team, the Ashland Tigers, and Tommy was the third-string quarterback.