Holly's Heart Collection Two (8 page)

I’ll bet you do,
I thought.

“Tell us some tricks you’ve played,” Amy-Liz said.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the hand-in-warm-water trick,” Christiana said.

Everyone nodded, laughing.

“And there’s the greased toilet seat,” she said.

“We did that last year on choir tour,” Andie piped up, glancing at me.

Christiana was all too eager to go on. And on.

Leaning against the kitchen bar, I decided it was time to divert the conversation away from Christiana’s neck of the woods. “Did you hear? Mandee Trent’s coming to Denver—one week from tonight.”

“I already bought my ticket,” Joy said.

“Me too,” Shauna said.

“She sings like an angel,” Amy-Liz said.

Andie spoke. “I heard she’s dating some guy in her band.”

Amy-Liz stood up and sauntered around, pretending to play the sax. “Wouldn’t it be cool to travel together all over the country?”

“How romantic,” I said, keeping my eyes on Christiana.

“What sort of professional training does she have?” Miss Austria asked, tilting her head.

I wanted to say,
Who needs training when you can sing like an angel?
but I stifled my thoughts and watched the reactions of the others.

Andie described Miss Trent’s vocal training to a T. For Christiana’s sake. As always.

Mom saved the day by announcing supper. We gathered around the dining room table where brightly colored name cards decorated each place setting. I spotted Andie’s name beside Christiana’s. Even my own mother was watching out for Christiana. Not for me.

Soon we were seated. “Let’s pray,” Mom said, and she began. First a special blessing on the birthday girl, then a joyful thanks to the Lord for “Holly’s friends, each one of them,” and last a food blessing. Everyone joined in with “amen” at the end. All but Christiana.

“Andie, start the buns and the chips around,” I said.

Mom took the girls’ soda orders and left the room while Andie began describing sloppy joes in great detail to Christiana. When she finished with the ingredients, she said, “My mom makes them every Monday night.”

“Sometimes my mother sneaks leftovers into the hamburger mix,” Amy-Liz complained. “It’s disgusting.”

“That’s nothing,” Joy said. “My mom uses ground turkey for our sloppy joes.”

“Eeew!” the girls squealed.

After supper, Mom brought out the cake. The girls sang the birthday song while I contemplated my wish. Birthday wishes are supposed to be special. Very special.

Mom lit the candles. “Happy birthday, Holly-Heart.”

I closed my eyes, wishing for the day when I would be number one again with Andie. Taking a deep breath, I blew out my candles. All but one.

“Don’t worry, Holly,” Andie said, eyeing the lone candle. “Today’s not your real birthday, is it?”

I didn’t know how to take her remark. I hoped she was being kind. But she sounded a bit catty. Anyway, my wish would never come true now. Thanks to one lousy candle.

For the gift opening, we converged on the living room and sat on the floor. I observed Christiana, noticing her shining eyes as she glanced at my gifts lined up on the sofa. She held hers tightly, fingering the pink bow in the center. Did she think her gift was more wonderful than all the rest?

I opened hers last, and soon discovered it was from both her
and
Andie. The gift was a jewelry box, which meant it probably wasn’t Andie’s idea at all. And by the sound of the Mozart tune, I was sure Christiana had chosen it.

To make things worse, when the beautician showed up, Christiana suddenly developed a headache. Andie turned on her friendly charm and arranged for her mom to pick them up.

“Why can’t you stay?” I cornered Andie, pleading with her.

“It’s Christiana’s first day here, and I’m her host,” she reminded me rather coldly. “She probably has jet lag. It’s two o’clock in the morning in Austria right now, you know.” And with that comment, she flounced off to get their jackets.

We started the facials without them. Andie and Christiana sat in the living room, whispering and giggling while they waited for their ride. I sat in the kitchen with the rest of the girls while Joy smeared Andie’s cucumber mask on my face. After it dried, I cracked it twice on purpose thinking about Christiana. She had to be so perfect. Every word, every gesture…

It was so disgusting. Besides that, she had Andie wrapped around her little finger.

Could my friendship with Andie survive five more weeks of this freak show?

SECOND-BEST FRIEND

Chapter 11

When Andie’s mother arrived, I was polite. I thanked the girls for the birthday present and said good-bye. But in my heart I was crushed.

Passing through the dining room, I saw it: a huge black spider hidden in the crevice of a chair. I froze. I’d sat in that very spot tonight!

Inching my way past it, I gulped. Then I ran to the kitchen to get a broom.

“What’s that for?” Joy asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Stay right where you are.”

That brought all the girls running.

“Don’t anybody move,” I said as they huddled behind me, squealing.
Bam!
I came down hard on the monstrous insect. The girls leaned in, staring—holding their mouths.

“It’s not dead!” Amy-Liz cried.

“Whack it again,” Shauna screamed.

I raised the broom over my head, preparing for the kill.

“What kind of spider is it?” Joy asked.

“Indestructible,” Amy-Liz said.

With broom poised, I inched closer, poking the spider with the wooden handle. The ugly creature didn’t move.

“It’s fake,” I said.

That rotten girl,
I thought of Christiana.

“Hey, good joke,” Amy-Liz said. Joy and Shauna agreed.

I snatched up the lifelike critter and flung it at them. Screams filled the house, and Mom came running.

“It’s nothing,” I said. But it was. Christiana had arrived only a few hours ago, and already she was messing up my life. Stealing the show at my party. Stealing my best friend…

Back in the kitchen, I checked my facial mask in one of the hand mirrors lying on the counter. An alien-green tint covered my face. Cucumber facial masks are supposed to look like that. But I got carried away and imagined that my eyes were green as emeralds, too.
Green with envy,
I thought.
Look at me! I’m just a green-eyed monster.
But I didn’t care.

Amy-Liz got brave and had her curly blond hair cut and styled. Joy and Shauna liked it so much they experimented with a new look, too.

Even without Andie, the make-over went pretty well. We made shy, sweet Joy look like a flirt with bright red, wet lipstick and tons of mascara. Shauna was grotesque with pale lips, dark eye shadow, and dark eyebrows. Amy-Liz went for the clown look with round circles of rouge on each cheek and on the tip of her nose. I wasn’t much of a sport and opted for a more natural look.

When the girls left for home, I helped Mom clean up.

“You didn’t have much fun tonight,” she said, wiping the kitchen counters.

“It was fun, I just…” What could I say? Turning fourteen wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. “I don’t know,” I said, twisting the lids on the foundation and cream blush. “Maybe it’s just when you look forward to something so long, you have a mental image of how it’ll turn out. Then when Christiana started telling her boring stories, I felt icky inside.”

“I understand, honey.” She gathered up the dirty napkins.

“Then Christiana said she was sick, which I seriously doubt, and Andie left, too.” It was hard recounting the miserable evening. I didn’t want to think about it. Writing my feelings secretly in my journal was much easier.

So I kissed Mom on the cheek and wiped my tears. “I’ll be upstairs for a while,” I said. “Thanks for everything.”

February 11 continued: The party was weird. It was mostly a welcoming party for Christiana! Ick!

Goofey goes in the kennel tomorrow. Poor thing. I’ll be broke by the end of the week. But I’ll use all my allowance next month for my missionary project and the sponsor child for sure.

A strange sensation rippled through my scalp, down my shoulders, and into my spine. I shivered and stopped writing. It felt like someone was reading over my shoulder.

Slowly looking up, I half expected to see an angel, or…maybe God himself. But then, why would God need to read my words when He already knew them?

At that moment, Bearie-O fell off the shelf, landing in my lap.

I stroked the top of his bald teddy head. The loving had worn it thin.

Bearie-O was symbolic of my friendship with Andie. Thinking back on the amazing bond we shared, I felt myself becoming even more jealous of Andie’s attention to Christiana. I grabbed my journal and counted out the days. Thirty-four to go! March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, was the day Christiana was scheduled to leave. I drew a giant smiley face over the date and wrote in big letters:
CHRISTIANA GO HOME!

Valentine’s Day, my true birthday, came at last. A giant red envelope was stuck to my locker at school. I spotted it as I pushed through the crowded hallway.

“Happy Valentine-birthday,” Jared said as I reached for his card.

I grinned back at him. “Thanks,” I said. “Is it for Valentine’s or my birthday?”

“Look inside,” he said slyly.

I tore the envelope open. A card with red and pink hearts wished me a Happy Valentine’s Day. The card behind it was homemade. Light pink construction paper, folded in quarters with pen and ink designs around the edges. The verse was without rhyme—free verse.

“This is incredible!” I said, referring to the homemade card and verse. “You’re good, Jared. Thanks!”

“Thank you…for being born, that is.” He bowed and rose with a grin.

I opened my locker, hiding my blushing face.

“Happy birthday!” I heard an all-too familiar voice. Andie’s. But I kept my face inside my locker.

Jared leaned next to me. “You’re being paged.”

“Is she with Christiana?” I muttered.

“Who else?” he teased.

Both girls came right up to my locker. “You look the same,” Andie commented. “Thought you were having a make-over.”

I dragged up a smile.

Jared saved the day. “You girls going to hear Mandee Trent Friday night?”

Andie pulled something out of her jeans pocket. “Two tickets say we’ll be there.” She held them up.

Christiana smiled—at Jared. “I am dying to see what everyone is talking about,” she chimed in, using one of Andie’s expressions.

“I guarantee you’ll enjoy yourself,” Jared said. “The church is taking a busload to Denver.”

Without missing a beat, Christiana said, “Oh, save us some seats, will you, Jared?” She flashed him a dazzling smile.

“Absolutely,” Jared said.

I felt uneasy. He seemed just a little too friendly with the Austrian beauty.

Later, Jared met me at lunch. “What’s going on with you and Andie?” he asked, sliding in beside me at the table.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I watched Andie and Christiana out of the corner of my eye.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Christiana, does it?” He was prying, and I didn’t like it.

“Let’s just say I’m sick of hearing about the Alps and Mozart’s birthplace and fakey headaches.”

Jared frowned. “Headaches?”

I told him about my birthday party and Christiana’s sudden illness.

“What’s so bad about a headache?” He grinned at me.

I sighed. “Maybe if you’d been there…”

Jared reached for his drink. “You’re jealous,” he said casually.

I sprinkled hot sauce on my tacos. “You could say that.”

“It doesn’t become you, Holly.”

“Don’t preach. You’ll start sounding like Danny.”

“I don’t care who I sound like,” he said. “Christiana probably isn’t a Christian. At least, I get that impression.”

“Well, if you’re so interested, why don’t you convert her?” I didn’t mean to sound so harsh; it just tumbled out. Maybe because Andie and Christiana were heading toward our table right then. “Excuse me,” I said, hopping up.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Jared leaped up, leaving his tray behind.