Between Us (9 page)

“Starting all over now isn't going to help. Or maybe it would. I don't know.” Hopelessness washed over Bailey.
She was going to be out of the running for MVP on day one! And she wanted to go to that concert with Olivia. They really needed a makeup birthday celebration.

She couldn't believe Oh had teamed up with Vivi, although it had made sense that she'd assumed Hannah and Bailey would be partners. Bailey was sure she and Olivia would have found a way to make the Glinda/Elphaba costume awesome, even with Bailey's tendency for what Oh would call craftastrophies and Olivia's own tendency to spill stuff.

“Maybe I should forget it. It would be worse to show up in some hideous falling-apart costume than wear regular clothes,” Bailey said. It felt like cement had been added to her blood. Her body was getting heavier and heavier. Just the thought of figuring out a new costume—and then making it—was exhausting.

“Who is this girl sitting in front of me?” her mother asked. “She looks like Bailey, but it can't
be
Bailey. Bailey's a genius at figuring out how to get things done.” She planted her hands on her hips. “You're her evil twin, aren't you?”

“Not funny, Mom. I can't—”

Bailey leaped to her feet, a fresh shower of sparkles pinging down on the floor. “Actually, that's perfect!”

“What is?”

Bailey didn't answer. Her mom had just given her inspiration for a new costume. If Bailey could pull it off, it would be perfect! Maybe even a win for the sixth grade!

1.
    
Confidence, confidence, confidence.

2.
    
Attitude, attitude, attitude.

3.
    
Face, face, face.

4.
    
Posture, posture, posture.

5.
    
Work it all over the place!

6.
    
(Relax!!)!!

Bailey stood in front of the bathroom mirror the next morning, a pair of scissors clenched in her sore fingers.
You can do this,
she told herself.
It's supposed to look messy.
She sucked in a breath, then cut a six-inch chunk of her hair.

Well, not her
hair
hair. The hair of the red wig she'd worn when she went as Merida from
Brave
for Halloween a few years before. She kept snipping until
she had it at collar length, then cut some bangs.
Not bad,
she decided.

“Dad, I need you to tie my tie,” she called as she stepped into the hall. He'd had one that was pretty close to what she'd needed—maroon with white stripes.

“Looks better on you than it does on me,” her dad said when he'd made the knot for her. “The sweater too. Good luck today!”

“Thanks!” Bailey's heart was beating a little faster than usual, and she hadn't even left the house. So much for the relax part of her list. She checked her backpack to make double sure that the copies she'd made were in there. Yep.

She stepped out into the sunlight. “You're going as Chucky?” Gus called from his driveway. “I thought you were supposed to be part of a pair.”

If he was too dumb to get who she was, Bailey wasn't going to explain it to him. She hoped no one at school would think she was that doll from that horror movie Gus loved. The only thing that was even a little the same was the red hair.

“Better be careful. I think Chucky went after his next-door neighbor first,” Bailey answered. She'd watched one of those movies with Gus once. Mainly because he had said she'd get too scared if she did. She hadn't
gotten scared at all.

“No, he didn't,” Gus told her. “First he went after the—”

“Got to go to school. Unlike you, I don't have a chauffeur.” Bailey turned and waved as she started across her lawn.

“Did you see Hannah's costume? It rocks,” Gus yelled after her.

Bailey spun around and strode over to him. “You saw it?”

“Yeah, I helped her and Tess with one little part,” he answered.

He helped Hannah? “You said you didn't have time to help me,” she accused.

“That's what you wanted the other day?” he said.

“Yeah. And you said no.” How could he turn her down and not Hannah? Bailey had known him a million times longer.

“We had some time when we were riding between the different dog washes,” Gus explained. “She told me what she was thinking, and it was pretty easy. I brought some stuff to the park on Sunday and worked it out between dogs.”

“Well, thanks for nothing,” Bailey said, then started away again, not bothering to wave this time.

“You're welcome!” Gus shouted after her.

He was such a pain. Hannah could have him.

Bailey walked to school by herself. Hannah had texted that she was going over to Tess's for a little while before school to finish up their costumes, and Olivia said part of her and Vivi's costume was big, so her mom was driving them.

She hesitated for a moment at the edge of the lawn in front of school. The judges for the costume contest were going to be stationed in the hallway between the principal's office and the cafeteria. Everyone who was entering had to walk down that “runway” before homeroom. The winners would be posted on the bulletin board outside the caf by lunch.

Would they even let her enter? Or would they tell her not to bother since she hadn't followed the rules and didn't have a partner?

Partner or not, she
had
come as a pair. Bailey straightened her shoulders, walked straight to her locker, dumped her stuff, except for the copies she'd made, then walked directly to the end of the runway. There was already a line of kids stretching around the corner.

“Bruce Banner! Hulk! Nice!” she exclaimed when she got in line behind two sixth-grade boys. Encouraging people in her grade was part of her MVP strategy. She
would have said it anyway. It was a cool idea.

“What about us?” Bailey heard Olivia call.

Two girls dressed in all green inched out of the line ahead of her and slowly turned around. When they did, Bailey saw they were Oh and Vivi. They had their faces painted green too. Their heads poked through two holes cut in a large peapod, made out of what Bailey thought was plywood covered with some kind of shiny green cloth. Two stuffed pea heads were attached on either side of their faces. They were perfectly sewn, of course.

“Peas in a pod!” Bailey cried. “Excellent! You look amazing!”

“You look—”

Olivia was interrupted by the sound of wheels on linoleum. Bailey turned around and saw Hannah and Tess roller-skating towards the line, hand in hand. Blinking lights flashed in their wheels, and on their jerseys, helmets, and knee pads. The lights had to be Gus's contribution. He was good with electrical stuff.

Tess's jersey said
THE PRIM REAPER
and Hannah's said
THE GLITTERATOR
. The names were spelled out in sequins and fake jewels. Hannah's work, for sure. Bailey could hear kids repeating the names and laughing. She forced herself to clap. “Love the eye, Hannah!” she called. One of Hannah's eyes had been covered in black makeup.
“And the teeth, Tess!” Three of Tess's teeth had been blacked out.

She noticed the line moving forward, so she turned around and moved up too. Olivia and Vivi were just turning the corner to start down the runway. Three more teams, then it was Bailey's turn.

Confidence, attitude, face, posture, work it, relax. Confidence, attitude, face, posture, work it, relax.
She silently chanted the words until she was up. Then she strode around the corner with what she hoped was a cocky smile on her face. Kids who weren't competing or who had already finished lined both sides of the hall leading to the judges' table.

Bailey turned to the left and handed one of the flyers she'd made to the closest girl. “Fred Weasley. Co-proprietor, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Come by the shop, love,” she said in her best British accent. She handed another girl one of the copies. Bailey had created an ad for a blowout sale at the fictional joke shop on the computer.

She took a few steps, then turned to the right. She shook the hand of a boy who had to be in the eighth grade, because that was demonstrating attitude with a capital
A
. “George Weasley, mate. Come by the shop.”
She handed him a flyer, and he grinned at her. Yes, grinned!

She took a few more steps, then turned to the left again. “Fred Weasley, friends. Come to the shop. Why are you worrying about You-Know-Who? You should be worrying about U-No-Poo—the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation?” she called, quoting the sign in front of the Weasleys' shop. It had been in
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
.

She kept going, being the first part of her pair—Fred—whenever she was facing left, and the second part of her pair—George—when she was facing right. Her mom had given her the idea when she'd pretended she was talking to Bailey's evil twin. Bailey had realized if she dressed as identical twins, she only needed one costume. And the Weasley twins didn't even need sparkles. No glue necessary.

Principal Lopez laughed when Bailey handed her a flyer. Bailey thought that was a good sign. At least she hadn't gotten kicked out of the competition!

Bailey edged closer to the scoreboard outside the cafeteria. Everyone was checking it out before they went in to lunch. She stood on her toes and was able to see who
had won first place—a team of seventh graders.

She spotted Penelope right at the front of the crowd. “Did sixth grade win anything, Pen?” she called.

Penelope looked over her shoulder and gave Bailey a thumbs-up. “Your cousin and Tess came in second. That's twenty-five points for our grade! And you! You got a special award—Most Original. That gives us ten more points. So we're in second place.”

“Woo!” Bailey cried. She'd contributed ten points by herself. She'd call that valuable!

She gave out the last of her Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes flyers as she walked into the cafeteria for lunch. The tables had been rearranged, leaving a large empty space in the center of the room.

She found Tess and Olivia and sat down. “Hi, there, Most Original,” Olivia said with a smile.

Bailey smiled back. “And here's to you, Miss Second Place.” She bowed toward Tess, then said, “I wonder what the first challenge will be.” Each lunch period during Spirit Week, there would be challenges where the grades could earn points. They weren't announced in advance, so there was no way to prepare.

“If it involves knocking somebody down, I'm ready,” Tess answered, slapping one of her knee pads.

“Yeah, I'm sure that's it,” Olivia teased. “And the next challenge will be who can stop a wound from spurting blood the fastest.”

Bailey cracked up. It felt like it had been forever since she'd laughed with her friends.

Hannah rushed over to the table, Vivi right behind her. “I found out what the challenge is!” she exclaimed. “Josh, this seventh-grade boy who wants to be in my dog club, is on the student council, and he gave me a heads-up. Only a couple minutes heads-up, though. They're going to announce it in a sec.”

“Tell us, tell us,” Olivia begged.

Hannah knew someone on the student council? Hannah hadn't even been at the school that long! It wasn't really fair. Although Bailey had only been in the school two weeks longer. But she'd lived in town her whole life. Hannah shouldn't know people Bailey didn't know.

That was what you wanted to happen,
that little voice, that truly annoying little voice, in Bailey's head whispered.
You wanted her to meet people. You wanted her to make friends. And now you're mad because your plan worked!

“You know that game Taboo? Where you have to get
your partner to say a word without using a list of other words? Like if you got ‘blue' as your word, you wouldn't be able to say things like ‘water' or ‘sky,'” Hannah said. “It's going to be like that. We're going to compete with our partners from the costume contest.”

“I should win then,” Bailey joked. “Since my partner happens to share my brain.” Then it hit her. She wouldn't be able to compete. Her two-in-one costume idea had worked great, but she couldn't play the game by herself.

“Oh no! You're not going to be able to play!” Hannah cried.

“It's okay. Maybe I can be a timekeeper or something,” Bailey answered. That would be a good way to be valuable.

Hannah gave a little frown. “When I was talking to Josh, it sounded like all that was already organized by the student council. They're having teachers and administration do it.”

Bailey nodded. “I'll be your cheering section, then.” She had to try really hard to smile, but she did it.

If Hannah hadn't moved here, I would be Olivia's partner,
she couldn't help thinking.
Oh wouldn't have teamed up with Vivi, because she wouldn't have thought
I was going to be partners with Hannah.

And Bailey and Olivia would have triumphed at this challenge. They were BFFs. That meant they could pretty much read each other's minds.

1.
    
Smile when someone else wins.

2.
    
Congratulate the winner—still smiling.

3.
    
Listen to the winner describe the feeling of winning—still smiling.

4.
    
It's okay to have a tantrum—just not in public.

5.
    
It's okay to cry—just not in public.

“I need a ride to the drugstore,” Bailey called when she walked in her front door that afternoon.

“Words like
hello, hi, greetings,
” her father said. The restaurant where he worked was closed on Mondays, so he was home.

“Hello, hi, greetings,” Bailey obediently parroted. “Can you drive me to the drugstore, please,
por favor
?—” She tried to think of another way to say please, but
couldn't. “And I'm out,” she admitted.

“‘Would you oblige me, favor me, accommodate me with a ride?'” her father suggested, going into crossword-puzzle mode.

“So would you?” Bailey asked.

“It would be my pleasure,” he answered. She trailed him when he went to get his car keys off the hook in the kitchen, then followed him out to the car, walking so close she stepped on the heel of one of his shoes.

“A little impatient, are we?” he asked.

“I guess. I just need some stuff for tomorrow's costume competition,” Bailey told him.

“Not a staple gun!” he said in mock horror before he got in the car.

“No, the sixth graders have to dress like babies. The eighth graders have to dress like senior citizens, and the seventh graders are dressing like moms and dads,” she explained when she was settled in the seat next to him.

“Poor seventh graders.” Her dad gave a fake shudder as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Um, how do you feel about making a contribution to a sixth-grade victory?” Bailey asked when they pulled up in front of the drugstore a few minutes later.

“How much are we talking?” he replied.

“Enough for maybe twenty of those suckers shaped like pacifiers,” Bailey said. “We don't get judged on costumes tomorrow, but we get points depending on how many people participate. I wanted to give suckers to people who don't bother to dress up or who forget.”

Her dad handed her a twenty. “You can buy however much school spirit this will give you.”

“Thanks, blessings—” Bailey thought for a few seconds. “And I'm out again.”

“One thanks is plenty,” her father said.

Bailey almost skipped into the store. And she almost gave a cheer when she spotted the bag of brightly colored pacifier suckers. How valuable were they going to be tomorrow? Very, extremely, remarkably, exceedingly, greatly, and all the other ones she couldn't think of right now!

Bailey felt like she was walking through a bouncy house when she entered the school the next morning. She was so happy, she felt
springy
. She couldn't wait to start giving out the pacifier suckers.

“I have a surprise,” she announced to Olivia and Hannah. She opened her backpack and pulled out the bag of suckers. “These are for anyone who didn't dress up. We're going to rack up the participation points!”

“Brilliant!” Olivia exclaimed. She tightened the ties of her baby bonnet. It kept slipping off her head.

“I brought something too!” Hannah opened her backpack and pulled out a wide, shallow plastic box. She opened it so they could see that the inside was divided into little sections, and each section held pink beads, blue beads, or beads with letters on them. The beads without the letters had tiny rattles and diapers glued on them—more of Hannah's DIY stuff, definitely. “They're to make baby bracelets. I already made some for us, and Tess, and Vivi, and a few other people.” She handed one to Bailey and one to Olivia.

“Oh, it's so adorable,” Olivia crooned. She held out her wrist. “Tie it on me.” Hannah did.

“They're really cute,” Bailey said. Her voice came out sounding kind of flat. “What a great idea,” she added, because it really was. She held out her wrist so Hannah could tie on her bracelet; then she tied on Hannah's for her.

“I got the idea from you,” Hannah said.

“Huh?” Bailey didn't get it.

“Not for the bracelets,” Hannah explained. “But to do something for people who didn't dress up. Your mom told my mom about the suckers, so I decided to do something too!”

Bailey couldn't believe her mother had done that. Her suckers were a way for her to get chosen MVP. But now that Hannah had brought something for the class too, they weren't special anymore.

If she was truthful, Hannah's bracelets were cooler than her suckers. Bailey knew for sure every girl was going to want one.

“Between the two of you, we're going to triumph.” Olivia gave a little clap. “We'll
have
to get more participation points than the other grades.”

Bailey managed to smile. That was the whole point. She'd wanted to help her class win. And at least her costume was better than Hannah's—not that they were getting points for best costume today, only points for each person who dressed up. Hannah had on a pale blue T-shirt with a yellow ducky appliqued on it. Bailey had borrowed her mom's baby-doll pajamas. They were too big, but she'd pinned the waist of the adorable little bloomers with the tiny ruffles on the legs, and it didn't matter that the top was oversized.

“Maddy!” Hannah called to one of her classmates. “You need to be wearing something baby for the competition.”

“I know!” she answered. “I had dance last night, and my mom said it was too late to go find something after.”

“Not a problem,” Hannah said. “I'll make you a bracelet.”

“Can you hold this?” Hannah held the plastic box out to Bailey without waiting for her to answer, then started picking the beads she needed to spell Maddy's name. Bailey hadn't even had the chance to offer a sucker.

Ash wandered over. “I love those bracelets.” She fingered the one on Hannah's wrist. “Will you make one for me?”

“Sorry. Sixth graders only,” Hannah said with a smile.

Ash gave an exaggerated pout, then smiled back. “We need some people like you in my grade.”

“Hey, Brian! You need something baby. Take one of these.” Olivia waved a boy in their grade over. She took one of the pacifiers out of the bag and tossed it to him.

“Nice.” He unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth as he wandered off.

Bailey hadn't been able to give it to him herself because she was holding Hannah's stupid box. And Olivia hadn't bothered to tell Brian that the sucker was from her. It wasn't fair.

Don't be a baby,
she told herself, as Penelope dragged a boy over and asked for bracelets for both of them.

Bailey gave a fist pump when she checked out the scoreboard at lunch. The sixth grade had gotten fifty points because they'd had the most people participate in the costume contest. She knew that win was partly due to her. And Hannah.

The important thing was that Bailey had helped. Yeah, it would be cool to be chosen MVP, and she still wanted that. But having the sixth grade win the whole Spirit Week competition—that would be awesome.

“I found out what the contest is going to be today, thanks to my student council source,” Hannah said when Bailey joined her friends at their lunch table.

“I love getting the inside scoop,” Olivia said. “You're the man, Hannah.”

“I'm so the man,” Hannah agreed with a laugh, something she never would have said when she first got to town. She really had gotten comfortable at the school and with Bailey's friends.

We're only getting the info a few minutes early,
Bailey thought.
It's not like she found out last night.
She shoved the thought away. Things with Hannah were getting better. They really were. For starters, she no longer felt like she was hanging out with a demented parrot. Hannah didn't just repeat Bailey's opinions anymore. And she was making new friends, the way
Bailey had hoped she would.

“It's Name That Tune,” Hannah told them.

Vivi groaned. “I'm gonna be so horrible at that.”

It was kind of true. Tess always got the names of books and movies and songs a little off. Like instead of
World War Z
, she would say
World Warz
.

“They're only going to have two people from each class play this time,” Hannah said.

“That's a relief. I wouldn't want to ruin it for our grade,” Vivi answered.

“How're they choosing?” Bailey asked.

Hannah shrugged. “I'm not sure.”

The principal stepped out into the middle of the room. When she announced the game, she got big cheers. Bailey bet everyone was going to want to play!

“Raise your hand if you want to represent your class,” Principal Lopez told them. Bailey thrust her hand into the air, along with almost everyone in the cafeteria. Bailey was amazed at how many sixth grade kids were wearing the baby bracelets.

“Hannah should be one of ours,” a girl Bailey didn't know called out. She had one of Hannah's bracelets on her wrist.

“Yeah, Hannah!” Penelope agreed. “We won the costume challenge today because of her.”

“And Daniel,” someone else yelled. “He knows every song ever.”

“Daniel, Daniel, Daniel!” a couple of kids began to chant.

When Hannah and Daniel stepped into the center of the room, everybody in the sixth grade cheered. Bailey made sure to cheer louder than anyone, even though it was so disappointing not to be able to play for the second day in a row!

Daniel might have known every song ever, but he didn't get the chance to prove it. Neither did the seventh or eighth graders. Hannah was fast on the buzzer. She beat the other kids all but a few times. And out of all the songs she gave titles for, she only got one wrong.

A different chant started up, slowly at first, then faster and faster, louder and louder. Instead of “Daniel, Daniel, Daniel,” it was “Hannah, Hannah, Hannah!”

“I still can't believe how awesome Hannah was,” Olivia said when she met up with Bailey at her locker after school. “The sixth grade won the day because of her.”

“Well, I brought those pacifiers,” Bailey muttered.

“Oh, right! That definitely helped too,” Olivia answered.

Helped
too
? Hannah wouldn't even have had the
idea to bring something for kids who didn't wear costumes if it wasn't for Bailey. And Bailey's mom blabbing to Aunt Caitlin.

“Maybe I should bring something for tomorrow,” Olivia said. “It's Summer Day. I could bring life jackets from the boat. And I bet we have extra pairs of sunglasses.”

“That would be great.” It's not like she could say that Olivia was stealing Bailey's idea—just like Hannah had. “You should bring your blow-up sea horse,” Bailey suggested, reminding herself again that, really, the most important thing was for her grade to win, not for her to be voted MVP.

“I should!” Olivia exclaimed. “I definitely will.”

“I'll text you a reminder,” Bailey said.

“Thanks, Bails,” Olivia answered. “So off to Emmy's, right? We have some celebrating to do. I already told Hannah.”

“What?”

“Hannah winning the lunch competition is definitely Emmy's worthy,” Olivia said. “Italian sodas all around.”

Bailey felt as if Olivia had just slapped her. Celebrations at Emmy's were
their
thing. Just theirs. It wasn't even something they did with Tess and Vivi.

“I'm not sure I can,” Bailey answered. What she
really didn't think she could do was sit at Emmy's with Olivia and Hannah. How could Olivia think it was okay? She'd even asked Hannah without checking with Bailey.

“Well, ask,” Olivia urged.

Bailey sent her mom a quick text and got a yes back. She decided that was a good thing. It was going to be bad enough to have Hannah glomming on to something that was supposed to be a Bailey-and-Olivia best-friend thing. But it would be even worse to be sitting at home, knowing that Hannah and Bailey were drinking celebratory Italian sodas at Emmy's without her.

“You ready to leave?” Hannah called as she headed down the hall towards them.

“Uh-huh. Congratulations again,” Bailey forced herself to say. It was the right thing to do.

“You're going to love Emmy's,” Olivia told her as they walked towards the exit. “They have about a million flavors of soda. Raspberry, blueberry, watermelon.”

Hannah crinkled up her nose. “Do they have any flavors that aren't fruit? I don't really like fruit drinks.”

“You said you loved the watermelon lemonade I made on the day you first got here!” Bailey protested. They stepped outside and started for downtown.

Hannah blushed. “I liked that you made it for me,”
she told Bailey. “Really.”

She was so fake. Such a liar. Why did Olivia want to hang around with her?

“No worries,” Olivia answered. “They have vanilla bean, and hazelnut, oooh, and butterscotch. I think I'm going to try that one today.”

“Seriously?” Bailey couldn't help bursting out.

Bailey always had blueberry and Hannah always had raspberry at their celebrations. Always.

“Yeah, I love blueberry, but I thought it would be fun to try something new. Butterscotch on sundaes is yummy, so it should be yummy to drink,” Olivia answered.

“Whatever,” Bailey mumbled under her breath, giving a shrug.

“I can't believe you knew that Bad Rabbits song in the competition, Hannah. I've never even heard of them. They were picking some really hard ones at the end,” Olivia said.

“It's cause my dad was stationed near Boston for a while, and the Bad Rabbits are from there,” Hannah answered. “They're great. They combine all these different styles. I'll send you links to some downloads if you want.”