The Sleepover (19 page)

The even worse idea was punching back when Anthony hit him. Of course everyone would believe Anthony when he said Jake had started the whole thing. Principal Wexman is
best friends with Anthony's mom. She's even his godmother, or so he claims.

Funny how one small incident (well, not small. It was a fistfight, which was pretty unheard of at our school) could determine Jake's entire reputation from there on out. Poor Jake. He must have been so hurt when no one wanted to hear his side of the story.

Jake uses his toe to give the swing another push and says, “I mean, I'd never hit anyone in my whole entire life. And I haven't since. But after the thing with Anthony, I guess people saw me a certain way. It was better than getting picked on, especially since I was the new kid, so I just sort of let people think what they wanted to think. And, I mean, I do love to skateboard and play guitar and dress how I do—except when my mom makes me wear this stuff for church.” Jake gestures to his corduroys. “So, um, yeah. I went along with it. It was easier.”

“Oh,” I say. I can't really think of what else to add. We rock on the swing quietly for a minute, and then I ask, “But, um, don't you miss having friends?”

“I have friends,” Jake says with a laugh. “Geez.”

“Oh. I usually see you alone.”

“I like being alone. It's quiet.”

Jake Ribano isn't anything like I thought he was.

His foot drags along the ground, and he stares at his hands.
I feel like I should probably find something to say, because the silence is sort of awkward, but the problem is, I can't think of anything. It's like my mind is totally blank.

“Um, except . . . ,” Jake starts. I glance at him, but he's still staring at his hands in his lap.

“Yeah?” I ask. My heart starts to thump in an uncomfortable way against my rib cage. Is this how like
like
feels?

“Well, I mean, I was just . . .” Jake takes a deep breath, but I can't stop holding mine. He rubs his hands on his corduroys as if they're sweaty, which obviously can't be the case because we're sitting outside and it's pretty cool today. “I was just gonna say that I don't always like to be alone. Sometimes it's kind of nice to have someone to talk to, you know?”

I do. I do know. But is Jake trying to say he wants to have me to talk to? Um, I think maybe he is.

I happen to glance down at Jake's hands, and they're still resting on his pant legs. His legs that are right next to my legs. Where my hands are. Jake follows my eyes to the same spot where our hands are inches apart.

I'm lots of things. I'm smart. I think I'm decently funny and, even though I can admit there are prettier girls in my class, I don't think I'm hideous or anything. Maybe not even with one eyebrow. One thing I'm not, though, is brave. Or at least, I've never been all that brave. I've never tried riding a roller coaster or swimming in the deep end or eating Brussels
sprouts. But riding a dirt bike wasn't so scary today, even when I wiped out. Sneaking into school was superscary, but it turned out fine. It was even sort of, well, fun.

Maybe I am brave, and it just took everything that happened this morning to prove it to myself.

I decide I have to (have to) test out this theory before I regret it forever.

I exhale a breath and at the same second move my hand over ever so slightly so that the edge of my pinky finger is right up against the edge of Jake's. I almost jump when our skin touches, but I force myself still. Every single part of me is focused on the tiny spot where our fingers line up. Jake doesn't move, and he doesn't say anything.

I take another deep breath, trying to be quiet about it, and move my pinky again, locking it around Jake's. I steal a sideways glance at him from underneath my eyelashes and see he has a tiny smile on his face. He shocks me by squeezing my finger, and I shock myself by squeezing back. My heart squeezes too.

Forget last night.
Today
is epic.

“You guys! Mrs. G.'s home! We just heard her voice upstairs. And no, we haven't figured out where Anna Marie is.” Paige's head sticks out the door, and she blinks a few times when she spots Jake and me sitting so close. Luckily, she proves herself the best kind of friend when she resists
commenting. I make a mental note to do something extra-nice for her in thanks.

In a way this is good because I wasn't sure how to talk to Jake all regular and normal now that I'm kind of holding his hand, and Anna Marie's mom being home probably saves me a whole bunch of awkward. Jake untangles his finger from mine and stands, but when he does, he gives me this grin that lets me know he's happy I came outside with him.

I won't lie, I feel pretty glow-y myself.

Except when I realize we really do have to face the music for real this time and confess everything to Mrs. Guerrero. Suddenly not so glow-y after all.

We enter the basement to find Veronica already waiting at the bottom of the stairs. We're like criminals heading off to the firing squad as we trudge slowly up the steps and push open the door. A clattering from the kitchen lets us know just where Mrs. Guerrero is, so we turn in that direction, still walking single file.

I'm in front. Clearly, I didn't think this one through. But here I am, so I might as well get it over with. Seeing as how I'm newly brave and all.

But I don't feel brave one little bit.

I take a deep breath and step through the doorway and into the warm kitchen.

Mrs. Guerrero is sliding a tray of ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls
into the oven. If my stomach hadn't turned to cement, I'm sure it would be rumbling.

“Hey, girls! I was just about to wake you up. Oh, and hello, Jake. I didn't realize you were over. Would you like to join us for a late breakfast?”

She's so sweet and bubbly, just like Anna Marie, that it makes me hurt all over. I can't imagine what her expression will look like when we break our news.

“Um, sure,” Jake mumbles.

Paige stands straight. “Uh, Mrs. G., we sort of have to talk to you about something. It might . . . It might be good if you sat down.”

“Oh now, whatever it is, don't stress. Honestly, you all look like the world is about to end. Don't worry. There's nothing so precious down in that basement that it can't be replaced.”

Except her daughter. My insides feel all mushy, like the guts of a pumpkin. I squeeze my eyes shut for a second and then squeak out, “Actually, it's about Anna Marie.”

Mrs. Guerrero's face relaxes even more. “Oh well, in that case, let's get her in here for this. Bug? Anna Marie? C'mere please!” she calls.

I want to tell her she can yell all she wants, but no one will answer.

That is until we hear, “Coming!” from the hallway.

A
nna Marie enters the kitchen, a giant grin on her face.

“You guys are lucky you got your butts up here when you did. I was this close to borrowing Max's air horn and heading down to wake you myself. Oh man, Megs. That eyebrow in the sunlight. Yeesh. Should have stuck with Truth!”

We all stare at her. Next to me, Paige's jaw falls open. Veronica's head is cocked, and Jake's forehead wrinkles up.

Anna Marie swipes at her cheek. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

I open and close my mouth a few times. I'm in such shock, I can't form a word. Paige isn't much better, but at least she manages to sputter something that sounds like English. “Wha—? How? I don't—”

Veronica clears her throat and darts a glance at Mrs. Guerrero, who is bent over a new batch of cinnamon rolls.
“Maybe we should talk to Anna Marie in the basement.” She doesn't win any points for subtlety, but she has an excellent point.

I don't know why, I don't know how, but Anna Marie is right here in front of us, acting perfectly normal and not at all traumatized. So, clearly, explanations are necessary, but we don't need to let Mrs. Guerrero know anything was ever out of the ordinary. No sense getting in trouble at this point. However, we have to relocate fast because I cannot wait one more second for this to be explained.

“We'll be right back, Mom,” Anna Marie says, looking at us like we've gone off the deep end but playing along perfectly.

“Where were you?” I blurt out the second we close the door behind us.

As soon as we get to the bottom of the stairs, she turns to us. “What do you mean, where was I? I left you a note taped right to the mirror. Nobody used the bathroom when they woke up? Wow. That's, like, the first thing I have to do the minute I get out of bed.”

I blink rapidly. I should be following this conversation, but it's as if it's happening underwater. Finally I piece together what Anna Marie is saying. “You left us a note?”

Anna Marie nods. “Yup. Taped to the mirror in the bathroom. You really didn't see it?”

Veronica has a hand on her hip. “Must have been too busy gaping at the baby ducklings.”

Anna Marie snort-laughs. “Oh man. We were such idiots last night. We have to return those little guys before we get busted.”

Anna Marie had left a note. A note none of us noticed. But that's not right. We just cleaned that bathroom. Well, okay, Veronica cleaned it, but surely, she would have noticed. I mean, maybe not, since it's Veronica we're talking about, but the rest of us were in there at different points in the morning, and one of us definitely would have—

Wait a minute.
I
was in there. I was in there first thing in the morning, and I'd done nothing
but
look in that mirror. That was where I'd stared at my missing eyebrow. I'd run to the bathroom the minute Paige had screamed at my face, the minute I'd jumped out of my sleeping bag, the minute—

No. Not the very minute. Because first I'd had to wait for the bathroom door to open. First I'd had to wait for the person in the bathroom before me to leave.

“Max!” I mutter. Paige hears me and catches on immediately.

“Max was in the bathroom when we woke up! And there was no note in sight when we got in there.”

Anna Marie rolls her eyes to heaven. “That kid, I swear. Well, at least you're just waking up, so you didn't have time to actually worry about me or anything.”

At this I slump down the wall at the base of the stairs
to sit on the floor. Veronica puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes as Anna Marie looks on, confused. Probably wondering when we've become good enough friends for her to comfort me.

“That's . . . not exactly the case,” Paige says, and Anna Marie's eyes grow wide. “We've had a, um, well, a bit of an adventure this morning. Mostly centered around trying to find you.”

Anna Marie studies Paige. “Trying to find me? Whoa. Okay, I need the whole story. Start at the beginning.”

“You first!” Jake and I speak the same words at the same time.

“Jinx,” I say with a grin. Jake smiles. I turn my attention to Anna Marie, who is glancing back and forth between us.

“Where were you?” I ask again.

Anna Marie smiles a satisfied smile. I'm glad to see her looking happy, but I'm dying for her to fill us in. “I was with my dad. So every year on my birthday we do this sunrise hike up to the top of Mount Ellis? But, we, um, we haven't really been seeing eye to eye about this wedding thing. No offense, Veronica.”

Veronica shrugs. “No big deal. Although my mom is a lot of fun. She's excellent at
Wheel of Fortune
. And she knits socks.”

Anna Marie looks skeptical about both of those things, but
she forces a smile and says, “It's not really about your mom. I'm sure she's great.” She addresses us all again. “So anyway, after we finally went to bed last night, I was just lying there in the dark, listening to Veronica snore and realizing it was so late—or early, I guess—that it was pretty close to the time I would have been getting up to hike with my dad. And suddenly I really wished I were doing that. I don't know if it was the hypnosis or what, but it seemed like the best idea ever. So, after a few more minutes, I went upstairs and woke up my mom and she called him to pick me up.”

All this time, this entire time, she was safe and sound with a parent. And her other parent knew exactly where she was. All. This. Time.

I want to bang my head on the floor.

“So you and your dad went hiking?” I ask, not because I don't know the answer, of course, but because I need to hear her say it a few times so I can process it.

“It was awesome. With the sun coming up on the trail and making everything sparkle. You should have seen it.”

Maybe we could have seen it if we hadn't been so busy breaking into the school and chasing hedgehog floats down hills. But no, that isn't fair. It isn't Anna Marie's fault we didn't get her note. And I'm genuinely happy for her. I know how much Anna Marie has missed her dad since he moved out. This is a good thing.

Veronica says, “My mom can also yodel.”

“No offense, Veronica, but that's not really helpful right now,” Anna Marie says. I can tell she's fighting back annoyance.

Veronica's shoulders slump, and she hangs her head. “Sorry,” she mutters.

I look at Veronica's dejected face, and I can't keep quiet. “Actually, Anna Marie, Veronica has been superhelpful all morning.”

“I have?” Veronica asks.

“Of course,” Paige says, picking right up for me and smiling at Veronica. A real, genuine smile. “You're the one who did most of the cleaning, even the duck poop in the bathroom. That was pretty awesome.”

“More important, you were the one who figured out about Max's YouTube account and how to break the hypnosis,” I add.

Anna Marie looks between Paige and me with a stunned expression, and Veronica beams. After a second or two Anna Marie takes a deep breath and faces Veronica. “I guess I owe you a thanks then.”