What a Doll! (11 page)

“How about you, Lizzy?” Emmy's mom asked. “What were the high and low of your day?”

“Well, I know the low,” Lizzy said quickly. “The low is every morning when I wake up and look in the bathroom mirror at my crazy hair. My hairdresser tried to fix it, but it's just not right yet. I guess it'll just have to grow out.”

Emmy's mom nodded sympathetically. “That must be hard,” she said. “And it will grow back, honey. Too bad we can't say the same for you, dear,” she said with a grin to Emmy's dad.

“Very funny,” Emmy's dad said sarcastically. “So what are you two up to tonight? I seem to remember that not much slumber goes on at your slumber parties.” It was true. They usually would stay up quite late and Emmy's parents would have to shush them a few times.

“Crispy rice pizza, of course,” Emmy said, and she and Lizzy both giggled. Just hearing those words together was hilarious. Emmy had seen the recipe on the side of the cereal box and brought it to school that day to show Lizzy. You made a batch of regular crispy rice cereal treats, then pressed them onto a pizza pan. You melted more marshmallows, stirred in red food coloring, and spread that on top for sauce. Then you added coconut to look like cheese, and chocolate chips for the pizza topping. You sliced it up just like a pizza. She couldn't wait to make it. She was in such a good mood, she figured she'd even share the finished product with Sam. Then again, she didn't want her little brother to interfere with her perfectly good evening.

“Another one of your crazy concoctions?” Emmy's mom said. “Well, just be sure to clean up after yourselves.”

“We will,” Emmy reassured her mom. “Anyway, may we be excused?” She thought they'd go up to her room and brainstorm costumes. The costume party was only a week away, and they'd better get going with their ideas if they wanted their costumes to be any good.

“Sure,” Emmy's mom said, and Lizzy and Emmy went up to Emmy's room and closed the door. No sooner had they done so then Sam barged right in, wanting to be a part of things.

“Ever heard of knocking?” Emmy said to Sam.

“Sorry,” Sam said. “I wondered if you guys wanted to play zoo.”

“Not tonight,” Emmy said. “It's girls' night. And please don't barge in here again.”

Sam turned and left without a word.

“I hate it when he does that,” Emmy said to Lizzy. “I'm making a sign.” She went to her desk, took a piece of paper and a thick purple magic marker, and wrote NO LITTLE BROTHERS ALLOWED! in big block letters. Then she tore two pieces of tape off the roll, put the sign on her door, and closed it again.

“There,” she said. “We should be safe now.”

Lizzy laughed. “I don't mind,” she said. “But then again I don't know how annoying it can be to have a brother or sister.”

“It can be very annoying, I promise you,” Emmy said. “Now, let's make a list of costume possibilities. I have one. Bacon and eggs.”

Lizzy laughed again. “I love it,” she said as Emmy wrote it down. “Okay, here's another one. Paint can and paintbrush.” Emmy wrote that down, too.

Lizzy's face lit up. “Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy!” she said, referring to two dolls they used to play with when they were little. But the very thought of dolls freaked Emmy out and she tried to think of another idea quickly, even as she wrote that one down.

“I think dolls would be kind of creepy, actually,” Emmy said.

“Really? Why?” Lizzy asked.

“Oh, I don't know,” Emmy said. “The way clowns are creepy. I just think dolls are creepy.”

“Raggedy Ann and Andy would be easy costumes to make,” Lizzy said. She was obviously in love with the idea. “And we don't have much time before the party.”

“Hey, how about we start on the pizza?” Emmy asked suddenly, putting down her pencil and notebook. Maybe Lizzy would forget all about the doll costume idea.

The girls went downstairs and started getting set up for cooking. Emmy got the marshmallows, butter, and box of cereal out of the pantry and put a big pot on the stove. She turned the heat on low and added the marshmallows and butter.

“Can you stir this while I get out the other stuff?” she asked Lizzy. Lizzy smiled, took the wooden spoon, and began stirring. Emmy got out food coloring, coconut, and chocolate chips and set them on the kitchen counter for the next step. As she did so, though, she heard a familiar whine.

“I want to help!” Sam was suddenly standing in the kitchen. His expression was part hurt, part angry.

“I told you it was girls' night,” Emmy told him.

“It's okay,” Lizzy said. “He can help.”

“No, he can't,” Emmy said. After everything she and Lizzy had been through, she just wanted some alone time with her best friend. Was that too much to ask? “He'll mess everything up.” Sam turned and left without a fight.

By then the marshmallow and butter had melted together. Emmy poured in the dry cereal as Lizzy stirred hard, and then they poured the hot mixture onto a pizza pan. They used their hands to press the mixture down until it looked like a pizza crust. Emmy forgot all about her annoying little brother.

“Okay, now for the best part,” Emmy said, “The sauce. We melt more marshmallows and butter together with red food coloring. Want to stir again?”

“Yup,” Lizzy said. It really was just like old times.

The mixture looked totally gross, like blood. Lizzy stirred it quickly so it wouldn't burn.

“Ow!” she said suddenly.

“What?” Emmy said, looking at her. Lizzy was grimacing and holding her neck.

“What's the matter?” Emmy asked again.

“I suddenly got a really bad cramp in my neck,” Lizzy said. Emmy could tell she was in real pain.

“Weird,” Emmy said sympathetically.

“I know,” Lizzy said. “I've never had a cramp like this before.”

Suddenly they heard a voice behind them. Both girls practically jumped out of their skin. But it was just Sam again. So annoying!

“What's the matter?” he asked.

Emmy turned around to see what he wanted. He was holding something in his hands. Something that looked a little too familiar to Emmy. The doll! And he was gripping it in a way that looked like he was trying to rip its head off. Which, Emmy remembered, he was once very fond of doing to her Barbie dolls.

Everything began to move in slow motion for Emmy. She could feel her heart beat in her ears. She rushed over to Sam and pulled him out of the room so Lizzy wouldn't see what was in his hands or hear the horror in her voice. “Where did you get that?” she hissed, grabbing the doll from Sam's grip. She was so terrified that she almost felt as if she were outside her own body, watching this all happen. She examined the doll carefully. A few stitches were loose around the doll's neck, but thank goodness nothing worse.

“In the garbage,” Sam replied. “It's perfectly good,” he added. “Why did you throw it away?”

“It's none of your business,” she said, stuffing the doll quickly into her pocket before she went back to the kitchen. “Are you okay?” she asked Lizzy.

“Yeah, the cramp went away,” Lizzy said, no longer clutching her own neck.

“That's good,” Emmy said, both relieved and totally freaked out.

“What was that about?” Lizzy asked, as she absent­mindedly continued to stir the sauce mixture.

“Nothing,” Emmy said, trying not to sound as scared as she was. “Just be glad you don't have a little brother.”

Emmy heard footsteps behind them and she spun around and glared at Sam, who had dared to return to the kitchen. “Get out of here,” Emmy scolded. What a horrifyingly close call. She couldn't even imagine the scene if Sam had actually been successful in ripping the head off, though of course that wouldn't have been as easy to do as it was on a Barbie doll. “And stay away from my stuff,” she added.

“I wasn't even in your stuff! I found it in the garbage!” Sam retorted.

“Okay. Please just leave us alone,” Emmy said, calming down a bit. She had to hold it together in front of Lizzy. Lizzy would wonder why Emmy was coming undone the way she was. Sam left the room.

The doll is safe in my pocket,
Emmy told herself.
As long as I keep it in my pocket nothing else bad can happen.
She was beginning to breathe normally.

“So what now?” Lizzy asked Emmy.

“What do you mean?” Emmy replied. What
was
she going to do? Clearly she hadn't broken the spell on the doll. How would she ever get rid of that doll once and for all?

“What's the next step?” Lizzy asked. It was then that Emmy realized Lizzy was talking about the recipe and wasn't going to press her any more about what had just happened.

“Oh.” She laughed in a way that she hoped sounded completely casual. “We spread the red stuff on the pizza to look like sauce. Wanna do it?”

“Sure.” Lizzy smiled. Emmy watched her friend use a rubber spatula to scrape the red mixture out of the pot and onto the pizza, where she spread it around evenly to look like a pizza with sauce on it. She couldn't take her eyes off the red gooey stuff as she thought about what might have happened if Sam had actually beheaded the doll. Her stomach turned. It was all Emmy could do to keep herself from getting sick.

Once Lizzy was finished spreading the sauce, Emmy sprinkled shredded coconut on the pizza to look like shredded cheese. She tried hard to act like everything was normal, and tried to put out of her mind the thought of what could have happened.

“Let's do the chocolate chips together,” Lizzy suggested. They were really in a groove, Emmy thought. They were working together just like old times. It was going to be okay. Emmy just had to calm down and not think about what could have happened. They pressed the chocolate chips into the pizza and admired their creation.

“I know!” Lizzy said suddenly. “Do you have any gummy fish? We can use them for anchovies.”

Emmy grinned. What a brilliant idea. She was starting to breathe a little more normally now. “I'll go check,” she said. Emmy's mom usually didn't keep much candy in the house, but she did have a sweet tooth for the little red gummy fish. Emmy went into the pantry where Lizzy couldn't see her.

Once in the pantry Emmy pulled the doll out of her pocket and stared at it. It was eerie how similar its hair looked to Lizzy's actual hair. The makeup was totally smudged and dirty, but still evident. Luckily Lizzy had been able to wipe the makeup off her own face, but what on earth would she have thought if she had seen the doll? She would have had a lot of questions about why Emmy was carrying around a freaky doll, that was for certain. Emmy felt flooded with relief that Lizzy was clueless about what had just happened.

Emmy shoved the doll back into her pocket. It was the only safe place for now.

“Emmy?” Lizzy called from the kitchen. “What are you doing in there?”

Emmy took a deep breath and grabbed a small plastic bag full of the gummy fish. She stepped out of the closet, holding them up triumphantly.

“Just getting the anchovies!” She giggled. “Come on, let's add them to the pizza.” They went to work arranging them.

The finished product looked colorful, sugary, and awesome. Emmy took a pizza cutter out of the utensil drawer and started slicing it just like a real pizza. It was still a little warm. She handed the first slice to Lizzy, who took a big bite.

“Mmm,” Lizzy said appreciatively. “You have to try it.”

Emmy picked up her slice and took a bite. As the sticky sweetness filled her mouth, she thought of how sour this night could have become.
But it didn't,
she reminded herself, forcing a smile at Lizzy.
I got to the doll in time. It didn't.

CHAPTER 12

Later that night Emmy lay in her bed in the dark as Lizzy lay on the floor in her sleeping bag. With the exception of the doll, all seemed right with the world to Emmy. Here was her best friend, lying in her bedroom like she had a million times before.

“I've been thinking,” Lizzy began.

Oh no,
Emmy thought. Then she reassured herself.
Lizzy knows nothing about the doll.
She had put the doll in her night-table drawer while Lizzy was in the bathroom getting ready for bed.

“I really think we should be Raggedy Ann and Andy for the costume party,” Lizzy continued. “The costumes would be really easy to make, and I could wear a wig made of red yarn.”

Emmy paused. Just the idea of yarn hair on Lizzy made her skin crawl. “I just think it's kind of babyish,” Emmy said. She knew that would make the idea a lot less attractive to Lizzy.

“I guess you're right,” Lizzy said. “Okay, but we really have to think of something great.”

“We will,” Emmy assured her friend. “For sure.”

Emmy listened as Lizzy began to fall asleep. She lay there thinking of how much she'd hurt Lizzy. Yes, Lizzy had hurt her too, but now Emmy was overcome with guilt at the havoc she'd wreaked in Lizzy's life. A broken leg! Crazy hair! And more, of course. She had to get rid of that doll as soon as Lizzy left in the morning. And she had to make sure that the spell was no longer on it.