The Friendship Matchmaker (6 page)

By the time the bell rang, I’d almost forgotten that I was supposed to be training Tanya on our next target, Carla.

It’s okay
, I thought.
We’ll have all of lunchtime. Or maybe even half of lunch and the rest we could spend talking about our fantasy-book collections.

At lunchtime I gave Tanya all my tips on Carla. How she wanted to be a hairdresser and liked spending breaks doing braids and other nice things to people’s hair. I explained that Carla was very sweet and easy to talk to. She didn’t really like sports so there was no way Tanya would have to go through the basketball disaster again.

I’d slipped into my sister’s room that morning and taken one of her hair magazines. She had a pile because she was trying to decide how to do her hair for her senior prom. She was way older than me and had lots of amazing magazines. I stole things from her room a lot, and she screamed at me when she found out.

The plan was to walk past Carla at lunchtime, with Tanya holding the hair magazine. She had to make sure Carla noticed.

Carla was standing on a bench behind a girl named Ayshe, playing around with Ayshe’s hair. Tanya walked past them. I peeked around a corner within hearing distance.

Bingo. I was just
too
good.

Carla shrieked. “Wow! Tanya, is that the latest
Hair Catwalk Expo
magazine?! I’ve been saving all my allowance for that!”

Tanya looked at me and I waved my arms around, trying to get her to stop looking at me and focus on Carla.

“Um … yeah, it is …”

I tried to send mental messages to Tanya.
Be confident! Be confident!

“Can I
please
take a look? It’s, like, the best magazine in the world. Where did you get it?”

Tanya answered, just as we’d practiced.

“It’s my friend’s sister’s magazine. She’s a trainee hairdresser. She has them lying all around the house. She gave it to me because she knows I love hairstyles.”

It was a teeny-weeny white lie. My sister was not a trainee hairdresser. She was still in high school. And like I said, I stole the magazine from her room. But sometimes you had to bend the truth if it meant beating Emily—I mean, finding Tanya a true friend.

But Tanya sounded like she was reading a script. She needed to loosen up, the way she was with me. Why couldn’t she talk like that now?

Carla jumped off the bench, leaving Ayshe with wild hair all over the place. Tanya handed Carla the magazine. Carla grabbed Tanya’s hand, sat her down beside her, and started flipping through the magazine, pointing out hairstyles.

“Look at this one! It’s gorgeous! Ooh! Look at that one! Can you see how they’ve cut the back but left the front long? It’s so different!”

“Yeah!” Tanya said, trying to sound excited. “The hairstyles are really nice.”

Carla pressed the magazine to her chest and looked up at the sky. “One day I’ll have hairstyles in a magazine too!”

“Um … yeah … imagine how cool that would be …”

“What’s your dream?”

Tanya was prepared. “To, um, do hair for all the movie stars.”

“Me too!” Carla laughed. “Wow! So do you think we should do an updo for Ayshe or leave it down? The updo shows off her eyes. But the down is more casual for school. What do you think?”

This was definitely
big
progress. Carla was asking Tanya for her advice. She was acting like they were a hairdressing team.

“Um … we could try both and see what looks better …”

“
Great
thinking!” Carla cried.

She leaped up onto the bench and started back on Ayshe’s hair.

“Come on up,” she told Tanya. “You can try it too.”

A couple of moments later Emily and Bethany walked past. I couldn’t help but point out Tanya and Carla, who were standing side by side on the bench, both working on Ayshe’s
hair. I flashed Emily a triumphant grin. She walked up to me.

“Since when does Tanya like hairdressing? I may be new but even I can guess it hasn’t been her hobby for long.”

“Well, some people pick up hobbies quickly.”

Emily raised an eyebrow. “So you’re changing the way she looks and what she likes, just so she’ll make a friend.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

She raised an eyebrow again. “Hmm … nothing … See you around …”

Bethany and Emily walked off.

I was fuming. She was so stuck up. I
knew
what worked. And she was the new girl acting like I was some evil witch making people miserable!

Carla asked Tanya to sit next to her in class after lunch. She kept flipping through the magazine and asking Tanya what she thought about all the hairstyles.

Tanya had definitely won the toughest battle. Carla had invited her to sit next to her.
I was sure it was the beginning of an amazing friendship.

Meanwhile Bethany was still stuck like glue to Emily. Maybe Emily had missed the point. Emily was supposed to
find
Bethany a best friend, not
be
Bethany’s best friend.

I said bye to Tanya and Carla after school and hopped on the bus. It’d been a great day.

Tanya called me that night and we spoke for half an hour. At first she told me all about Carla and how she was trying her best to become a hairstyling fan. It sounded like things were going really well. Carla had swapped phone numbers with Tanya and said she wanted to get friendship bracelets made out of braided horse hair. She thought human hair would feel a little icky.

Then we started talking about school and how English was our favorite subject. We talked about how we didn’t really like Ms. Pria, but the librarian, Mr. Thomas, was the best teacher ever. I confided in Tanya that I wrote poetry and that my mom and dad liked to frame everything I wrote and hang
it in the hallway. Tanya said she wrote short stories and used to read them to her parents and that they would staple them together into little books.

Tanya came rushing up to me toward the end of recess on Friday.

“I can’t talk about hair for one second more!”

My heart sank. Being as smart as I am, I instantly knew Carla was now out of the picture and we were back to square one.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m so sorry, Lara. I know you’re trying really hard, but I can’t stand hanging out with Carla. Honestly, I’d rather be alone.”

“Don’t say that!” I cried. It was worse than swearing.

“Since the bell rang this morning she hasn’t stopped talking to me about the salon she plans
to open when she’s finished with school, and her favorite hairstyles, and which celebrity has the best color. I’m going crazy!”

I tried not to look too disappointed.

“I promise I will follow all your other advice, but don’t make me stay with Carla. She came to school this morning with colored mousse. She tried to convince me that it will look great if I have rainbow curls! I just lost it and told her I hate mousse, hairspray, and perms. She was really upset.”

“Okay, we’ll try someone else …”

I thought back to my list of possible best friends for Tanya. The next person was Lucy. Even though her parents owned a drug store and she had the best pencil case collection in our class, I didn’t think school supplies would be a problem anymore. Tanya seemed to have stopped sniffing rulers and paper clips.

“Let me think about how to pair you with Lucy … I think this calls for a Bungee Jump Friend attempt.”

Tanya looked terrified. “Huh?”

“It’s one of my best tricks. I save it for
special people. Instead of preparing you, I’ll throw you into a conversation with Lucy and you have to bounce right into it. So it’s up to you, okay? You don’t have to learn any lines by heart, like you did with Carla, or try to play professional basketball, like you did with Julie. Just be yourself and talk to Lucy.”

Tanya still looked terrified.

“It’s okay,” I said in the voice I used when I was helping pair off fifth-graders on their first day of school. “You’ll be fine. Just remember there are some topics you
don’t
want to mention. Do you want me to write them down for you? That way you can look at them when you’re with Lucy. In case you get stuck.”

“That would be fantastic.”

I sat down and took out a piece of paper from my purse. I carried it with me for moments just like these. That is what you do when you live to help others at any minute.

When I finished, I handed her the list. It was just a quick pick from my more detailed Manual, which no one was going to see until Harry Potter’s publishers accepted it.

TOPICS TO STAY AWAY FROM

1. Anything your parents talk about. For example, politics or bills or the environment.

2. Any health or medical problems you have (like itchy toes, warts, or lice).

3. What your parents think about you. For example, “My mom says I have a beautiful voice” or “My dad says I have the face of an angel.”

4. Talking about how you love a teacher.

5. Talking about how you love schoolwork.

6. If you hate any popular singers or actors, just keep it to yourself. Some people love their celebrities more than their families and will have a meltdown if you disagree.

When Tanya finished reading the list she looked up and said, “Most of this is what
we
actually talk about.”

I shrugged.

“Like how we don’t like Justin Bieber.
And how we love creative writing in English. And how our parents think we’ll be great writers one day.”

“I told you, home and school are different. If you want to survive school, you have to come as a new person. It’s fine for you to share that stuff with me. I’m the Friendship Matchmaker. I made the Rules, so I know the right time to bend them. And I would never bully you, so you’re safe with me. But we’re trying to find you a best friend. You won’t know what she’s really like until you’re close to her. So play it safe at first. Okay?”

Tanya smiled. “Okay, Lara. Whatever you say. You know what you’re doing. And honestly, I’m just so happy you chose to help
me
out of everybody.”

“It’s my duty, Tanya. I have a gift. I’d feel terrible if I didn’t use it. Okay, we’ll do Bungee Jump Friend at lunchtime. Try to relax and stay calm until then.”

“I want you to get into pairs for your next lesson,” Ms. Pria said.

I tried not to groan.

“I want you to design a project about the environment, because next Wednesday is our school’s Save the Planet Day.”

“Do we get the day off?” Jemma called out.

“No, Jemma, we obviously do not get the day off.”

There was a collective moan.

“I want to see some enthusiasm! You’ve all just returned from summer break. A day off should be the last thing on your mind. Naj and Edward, that better
not
be a jar with a grasshopper in it! Whatever it is, put it away right now. The pair who comes up with the best project in the class will get a prize.”

“What kind of prize?” Terry asked.

“Hand up next time, please, Terry. The prize will be a bag full of goodies.”

“What kind of goodies?” Kevin asked.

“What does it matter?” Ms. Pria snapped.

“Well, we have to decide if it’s worth doing a good job, don’t we?” Chris said.

“This project is not optional, Chris. And I’d really like to see something more than
a blank piece of paper with your name on it this time.”

“Can I hand in a blank piece of paper with my name
and
my partner’s name on it?”

The class laughed.

“Chris! You will have detention today during lunch. I’ve had just about enough of your back talk for one day!”

Chris grinned, as happy as if he’d just received a student of the year award.

Bethany raised her hand. “What does the project have to be about, Ms. Pria?”

“It must address recycling, reusing, or waste.”

Bethany squealed. She had the same look of joy you see on people’s faces when they win a game show on TV.

Of course, Chris couldn’t resist and yelled out, “What if we recycle Bethany? We could use her as a garbage can at the front of the school, and everybody can throw their empty cans and bottles at her. She’d love that!”

He started laughing hysterically at his own joke, and some of the other kids joined him.

Before Ms. Pria could scream at him or send
him to the principal’s office, Emily yelled out, “Chris, if there is anybody in this entire school who is the very definition of a garbage can it would be
you
. Nobody is interested in hearing your voice right now.”

Ms. Pria beamed at Emily. “Thank you, Emily. You took the words right out of my mouth. Chris, you will be spending lunchtime in detention all week.”

Chris was still looking shocked that Emily, who’d barely spoken to him since she’d started school, had just had the guts to tell him off in front of the entire class. People started giggling and laughing
at
Chris, although they stopped as soon as he locked his menacing eyes on theirs.

When the lunch bell rang, some of the kids went up to Emily and patted her on the back, winked, or smiled at her. I was furious. She was becoming even more popular! I was the one who usually told Chris off. Everybody looked to
me
to rescue them when he stepped out of line. And now here was Emily taking over!