Even the Score (10 page)

Alex wanted to cry and scream all at the same time. How could football be more important to Ava than Alex?

She hurried downstairs to find her mom. She would set Ava straight.

She raced by the darkened family room, through the kitchen, and out into the garage.

“Argh!” her mother cried out, more to herself than to Alex.

“Everything okay?” Alex asked. Her mom held half of a ceramic vase in each hand. Unless her mom was trying out some sort of modern art, it seemed like the vase was broken.

“No, everything's not okay,” Mrs. Sackett said simply. She blew several stray strands of hair from her tired eyes. Sheets of bubble wrap puddled at her feet. “I'm moving too fast, and now I've broken this.”

“You should slow down,” Alex offered.

“There's no time. I need to ship this all out and then start on the next round of orders.”

“But it's good to have all the orders, right?” Alex tried to raise her mom's spirits. “You're a success!”

“Yes, it is. Very good. I just feel bad that I have no time for you or your sister or brother lately.”

“That's okay. We're fine.” Alex didn't feel fine, but she couldn't tell her mom right now. “Do you want me to help?”

“No, honey. I've got it. Do you mind if I say good night to you here and don't come upstairs for a kiss?”

“Sure.” Alex kissed her mom and trudged back to her bedroom. Her dad and Tommy were still out. She had no idea where Ava was, and she didn't feel like looking for her. Or talking with her.

She slid under her comforter, feeling very alone.

Ava considered the sky the next morning. Was this a Texas thing? It looked as if a child had colored it in with a yellow-green crayon instead of blue.

All the students' eyes stayed fixed on their phone screens or held that unfocused, early morning glaze as they moved from the bus into the front doors of the middle school. No one but her looked up.

Alex would probably know what it meant, but for some reason, she'd gotten a ride early from their dad. Today was high school game day, and they'd left before Ava had rolled out of bed. Without Alex's help, she hadn't bothered
dressing up at all for Owen. She'd thrown on a sweatshirt and jeans.

On the bus, Ava debated telling him she had another boyfriend. A guy from back home—that had worked for Alex, for a while, at least.

But as she entered the school and felt the little jewelry box in her pocket, she knew she should listen to Kylie. She had to stop playing games and be truthful.

Now.

Before tomorrow's football game.

She quickly spotted Owen's dark curly hair down the hall. She pushed her way forward, hoping to reach him before classes started.

“Watch it, Ava!” Alex stood before her, her lips pressed tightly into a grim line.

“Sorry, Al! Did I bump you?” Ava waved to Logan and Xander.

Alex glared at her.

“Hey, what's wrong?” Ava asked.

“Why do you care?”

“Huh?” Ava craned her neck, trying to keep Owen in sight.

“You have your team to stick with you.” Alex walked off without looking back.

Ava blinked. What did
that
mean? Was Alex
angry? About what? She couldn't recall them having a fight last night.

The bell rang, sending everyone, including Owen, scurrying to their first-period classes. She wouldn't see him again until fourth-period math, their first class together. But as soon as Ava entered Mrs. Vargas's room, the teacher passed out a pop quiz and announced there was to be no talking.

Another chance gone,
Ava realized, although slightly grateful for the quiz because Bridget, now wearing the kitten top from Spruce and a confused expression about Ava's transformation back to her comfy clothes, looked as if she had a lot to say.

Ava didn't want to explain her scheme to Bridget. Not yet.

Later, as she sat in Mrs. Hyde's office, listening to the learning specialist go over the answers to the quiz, Ava reviewed her options.

She hadn't been able to get to Owen after class. She was missing lunch to meet with Mrs. Hyde. But lunch was too public a place to give Owen back the bracelet anyhow. That left football practice. She had to find him outside the locker room. Talking to him in front of the other
guys would be humiliating for both of them.

During the final class of the day, she watched out the window as the sky changed to a greenish-gray and rain began to fall heavily. She knew her dad would be looking out a window in the high school, too, frustrated that his team would have to play in this weather.

The rain increased and the sky boomed with thunder as the school day came to an end. Mrs. Gusman came on the loudspeaker. “All after-school activities are canceled today due to the weather, with the exception of football. Football will have practice in the south gym.”

Figures,
Ava thought.
Coach K would never let us miss a day of training. At least I can still find Owen before the weekend.

She waited by the locker-room doors, searching for him as the other students filed out of the building onto buses and into waiting cars. She wondered if Alex was on the bus.

All the boys greeted her as they entered the locker room. She pretended she was in the hall answering important texts. Owen was the last to appear.

“Hi!” she called, intercepting him. Thankfully, he was alone. Her heart beat quickly.

“Hi.” His eyes moved toward her bare wrist.

Ava's phone buzzed, but she ignored it. She felt more nervous than she'd felt walking into Ashland Middle School on her first day. She stood awkwardly in front of him. Now what?

“Can you believe we're the only ones still in the school?” she asked, unsure how to begin.

“Crazy,” Owen agreed.

Her phone buzzed again and again. She glanced at the screen. Her dad. She'd read his texts later. She had to do this before she chickened out. She took a deep breath and reached into her pocket for the box.
Okay,
she told herself.
Here goes.

“Listen, I—” At that moment, a siren blared.

Ava startled. It didn't sound like the fire alarm.

“I wanted to—” she started again, but the siren blared again.

“All students still in the building report immediately to the office,” announced the principal over the crackling loudspeaker. “I repeat: All students proceed
immediately
to the office. This is
not
a drill.”

Ava stood frozen, her hand still wrapped around the little box. Boys streamed out of the locker room.

“Come on!” Owen called, nudging her into motion. He darted toward the office, as the siren continued to blare. Ava's phone rang and rang, blending in with the siren.

“What's happening?” she cried, hurrying alongside him.

“Tornado!” Owen explained. “A tornado is coming! That's the siren.”

“W-what?” Ava said, shouting above the noise.

Her phone wouldn't stop buzzing and ringing. Texts from her father. He and Tommy were leaving the high school. Mrs. Sackett was already on her way to pick up her and Alex.

Alex?
Was Alex still in the school? Where? Ava thought only the football team was left.

Ava pushed into the crowded office. Mrs. Gusman and Coach K were taking attendance. They explained that if anyone's parents couldn't get there in time, they would all go to the school's safe room together to wait out the tornado. The other kids, mostly the boys on the team with her, seemed calm. They'd all grown up with tornado drills.

But she hadn't.

All she could picture was Dorothy in her flying house spinning in the sky. She whipped her
neck around, searching for Alex. The safe room would only feel safe with her twin by her side. Alex was always good in a crisis.

But Alex wasn't here. Where was she?

At that moment, her mom raced through the doors. No clay in her hair. No longer wearing the sweats she'd been working in all week. Clad in a rain slicker and high-top rain boots, her mom wore a determined look that Ava knew meant business.

Ava's mom pushed her way toward Mrs. Gusman. “I'm signing out Ava and Alex Sackett.”

Over her mom's shoulder, Ava spied Alex standing in the hall alongside Ms. Palmer.

“We need to go now,” Mrs. Sackett said, leading them toward the parking lot. The rain had slowed, and the air was hot and sticky.

“But look over there.” Ava pointed to a patch of sunlit sky in the distance. Maybe her mom was overreacting. After all, she'd grown up in Massachusetts. Tornadoes were foreign to them. Ava scanned the gray sky. No funnel, just heavy clouds and a slight drizzle.

“Hurry up, Ava!” Mrs. Sackett prodded, as Alex climbed into the front seat.

As they exited the lot, a line of cars streamed
in to pick up the waiting students. Every other parent had the same sense of urgency.

“A tornado touched down in Stirling. That's about a half hour away,” their mom reported. “The radio says more are coming.”

She stepped on the gas.

Alex chewed her thumbnail as Mrs. Sackett wove through the suburban Texas streets toward home. The sky grew increasingly dark and the winds picked up. The single patch of sunlight disappeared. Strangely, the rain stopped completely.

Ava kept asking her questions about tornadoes from the backseat, but Alex pretended to be too busy watching the swirling debris lifting from the curb to respond. She
had
watched a lot of disaster shows on the Geography Channel, but right now she didn't feel like talking.

She was still angry and hurt. Her mind stayed on the scoreboard controversy.

Ms. Palmer hadn't known about the petition until Alex had told her, but that didn't mean that the football players wouldn't give it to the
principal. Or ask for Logan to replace her.

And Ava still hadn't said anything to her about it. That meant she was hiding something. Had she signed it?

“Oh my!” Mrs. Sackett hit the brakes as a flattened cardboard box flew across the road and bounced off the windshield.

“Mom, keep driving!” Alex said. “We're much safer at home than out here on the open road.”

“I know.” Her mom picked up speed, her eyes tracking the lawn signs and garbage bags tumbling about. The wind rattled the windows of the car.

“Tommy just texted.” Ava poked her head forward. “He and Daddy are almost at Saragaso Way.”

“I wish they were with us,” Mrs. Sackett said quietly.

Alex turned on the radio. The announcers on the local stations sounded serious as they tracked the storm. They all agreed: The tornado was heading toward Ashland!

“Please, turn down the volume. They're freaking me out.” Ava twirled a pen in her fingers. “Will we make it home?”

“Sure,” Mrs. Sackett said, her voice wavering slightly.

Alex made a list in her head. Lists always calmed her. They gave life order. She calculated the distance they had to drive and the speed of the wind. But then there were other variables—temperature and pressure systems and other things the weather forecasters always said. It was like one of those hard math word problems, and the numbers didn't add up.

She realized with a shudder that she couldn't make order out of a tornado.

All she could do was hope and pray that they made it home before it touched down.

Ava let out a whoop as their car pulled into the driveway only seconds behind Coach's. Everyone tumbled out and sprinted into the house, the wind whipping their hair into knots.

“Tommy, make sure all the windows are locked and shut the shades,” Mrs. Sackett commanded above the roar of the wind. “And then everyone stay far away from the windows in case they shatter.”

Ava reached down to calm Moxy, who circled her, panting and whimpering. “Moxy's not happy.”

“She's a smart dog,” Coach said, helping Tommy secure the house.

“Put Moxy on a leash to keep her close,” Mrs.
Sackett instructed, then ran into the kitchen. She returned with flashlights. “Everyone into the bathroom. Now!”

“The bathroom? All of us?” Alex asked. The downstairs bathroom off the kitchen was tiny.

“Yes,” her mom said. “I've read up on this. A small interior room with no windows is the safest spot.”

“One sec. I'm going upstairs,” Tommy announced as the branches of the tree alongside the house scraped loudly against the siding. “Got to save my keyboard.”

“Oh, no! We're all staying downstairs together.” Coach Sackett grabbed the back of Tommy's shirt and pulled him into the bathroom. The lights in the house flickered.

“We're not going to fit,” Ava complained.

“You and Alex squeeze in the tub,” Mrs. Sackett said. “Bring Moxy, too. Be right back!”

“Laura!” their dad called as the lights went out.