My New Best Friend (8 page)

No one says a word.

Jenna's jaw tightens. Everyone stays quiet.

Finally, Jenna pries two more leaves from her fist. She tosses all three leaves at me.

"Thanks," I say. I stick two of the leaves in my barrettes. I give the third one to Stacey.

Stacey smiles.

Brooke gasps. "Ida shared a leaf! That's another good deed!"

"Yeah!" Randi says. "Give her another leaf!"

Jenna clenches her fists so tight her knuckles whiten up like marbles in a sweat sock. "No!" she shouts.

"Why not?" Stacey asks, sticking the leaf I gave her into her hair.

"Because this is
my
club and I make the rules!" Jenna yanks the leaf back out of Stacey's hair and jabs it into mine.

Then she drops like a rock onto the grass. "Take your turn, Brooke," she says.

But even Brooke isn't much interested in
earning leaves anymore. She, Meeka, Jolene, and Randi can only come up with three good deeds among them.

"I say Ida should get the special prize," Randi offers. She sticks her leaf to her scabby elbow.

Everyone turns to Jenna, waiting for her answer. Jenna frowns, but she opens her backpack. She pulls out half a bag of cookies. Vanilla.

"Here," she says, tossing the cookies onto my lap.

"
That's
the special prize?" Randi says. "They don't even have sprinkles!"

Jenna's face is so burning hot now that it boils up some tears. "Maybe my mother is too busy to bake, and my father doesn't have much experience shopping for cookies!" she yells. Then she grabs her backpack and marches away.

We all just sit there for a minute, watching her go.

"She forgot her clipboard," Stacey says quietly.

I open the cookie bag and pass the crumbs around.

"I'm going to walk to Stacey's house after school so we can get her stuff for the weekend," I tell Mom the next morning. "And then we'll walk here."

"If you want, I can drive you there before my four o'clock piano lesson," Mom offers.

"Um ... no thanks," I say. "We need to ... um ... get some exercise."

Mom grins. "Sounds good," she says.

I pick up my backpack and Jenna's clipboard and hurry out the door.

A few minutes later, Jenna marches up to the bus stop like usual.

"Here," I say, holding out her clipboard. "You forgot this yesterday."

She takes the clipboard from me. "I don't even
need it anymore," she says. "I've got the whole dance memorized."

"What dance?" Quinn asks.

"For the parents show on Greek Day," Jenna says. "My club is doing it."

"What club?" Tess asks.

"The Do-Good Nymphs," Jenna replies, shaking back her green braids. She's wearing her nymph fish shirt again. "Everyone's in it. Even Ida."

"Even me!" Rachel adds. "You're only in the dance, Rachel," Jenna says. "
Not
my club."

Rachel ducks her head.

I give her shoulder a nudge. "Lucky you," I whisper.

"Me, Rusty, and Zane are doing the Trojan War for the program," Quinn says.

"How can you do a whole war?" I ask.

"We're just doing the part where the Trojans get tricked into thinking a giant wooden horse is a present from the enemy army. But really, the army is hiding inside it. We're gonna make a horse-shaped piñata, fill it up with plastic army guys,
and bust it open!" Quinn takes a hard swing with an invisible bat.

Jenna huffs. "The Trojan War is a
legend,
not a myth."

Quinn shrugs. "Same diff. We still get to bust open a horse!"

The bus comes around the corner and Jenna steps up to the curb. Rachel tugs on my sleeve and hands me a sticky note with lots of scribbles on it. "There's no reason to worry," she says. "Everything will be fine."

Jenna rounds up all the nymphs before school to show us the dance she has memorized. Then, at recess, she shoos some second graders out of the pigpen so we can practice. "Randi, you stand over there and pretend to eat your children. Stacey, Meeka, Jolene, and Brooke, do the dance I showed you this morning. Ida, you stand in the middle and try not to get in the way."

Jenna makes us practice until the bell rings, which means I don't get any time with Stacey to talk about calling her dad tonight to tell him she's sick. At lunch, Jenna makes us eat quick and then patrol the lunchroom for food fights. During afternoon recess, we're back in the pigpen, practicing.

Later, Mr. Crow hands out shoe boxes and craft stuff so we can make pretend shrines. Mr. Crow told us
shrine
comes from a Latin word that means
box.
It's a place where gods and goddesses get worshipped by their fans. My shrine is for the god Ares because Mr. Crow also told us the Roman name for Ares is Mars and I figure any guy who gets a planet named after him deserves to get worshipped.

I'm busy gluing a cotton ball couch inside my shoe box so Ares will be comfortable when a note lands on my desk.

Did you remember to plug in the mermaid Cast night?

S.

I glance across the aisle at Stacey and her shrine for Athena, the goddess of wisdom. She gives me a sideways smile. I write my reply and toss it back.

Yep. Extra early. My dad hadn't even fallen asleep in front of the TV get.

I.

I squeeze a square of glue onto my shoe box floor and sprinkle glitter over it for a rug. Another note appears.

Meet me at the pigpen after School. Only don't let Jenna see you. She wanted me to come to her house this weekend to work on props for the dance, so I had to tell her I'm going to my dad's right after school and won't be back until late on Sunday.

S.

P.S. We are going to have so much fun!

As soon as I finish drawing Ares on a craft stick and propping him up on the couch, Mr. Crow tells us it's time to line up for music. "Why didn't you tell Jenna you're staying with me?" I whisper to Stacey as we get in line.

"Because she might mention it to her mom, and then it might get back to Kelli, and that might cause problems," Stacey whispers back.

"I thought the mermaid would make sure we don't have any problems," I say.

Before Stacey can answer, Jenna steps up to us. "Passing notes during class is against the rules," she says. "So is talking in line."

She hands a note to each of us.

Do-Good Nymphs Dance Practice
When: Monday, after school
Where: Jenna's House
Who: All Do-Good Nymphs
(Attendance is required!!!)

"Be sure to tell your parents you have to be there," Jenna tells us as we walk down the hall. "Oh, and Ida, you should come over to my house tomorrow so we can paint your box."

I gulp. "Um ... I can't," I say. "I'm going to ... be busy." I glance at Stacey.

"Doing what?" Jenna asks.

"Um ... helping my mom. With some hammering."

Jenna frowns. "Can't your dad help her with that?"

"Um ... no," I reply. "He's not allowed to hammer. It's a rule."

Jenna lifts her chin and I see it quiver a little. "Never mind," she says, pushing past us.

Stacey gives my arm a squeeze. "That was quick thinking, Ida!" she says. "Good thing the mermaid's helping us, huh?"

"Good thing," I reply.

When we get to Stacey's house after school, her Grandma Tootie is snoozing in front of the TV. We sneak into Stacey's bedroom and she calls her dad to tell him she's sick and needs to stay home. Then she calls Kelli and tells her she talked to her dad and he's going out of town, unexpectedly. Then she asks if she can spend the weekend with me instead. Five minutes later, we have all of Stacey's stuff packed up and we are heading for the door.

"Is that you, Stacey?" Grandma Tootie looks up from her recliner.

We stop and turn around. "Yep," Stacey says. "Dad called to tell me something came up this weekend, so Kelli said I can stay at Ida's instead."

"Your dad called? When?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Stacey replies.

"Huh," Grandma Tootie says. "I didn't hear the phone."

"Well, you were sleeping," Stacey says. "So I picked it up fast."

Stacey gives her grandma a smile.

I give my shoes the once-over.

Grandma Tootie picks up the remote and changes the channel on the TV. "Well, you girls have fun," she says.

"We will!" Stacey says back and yanks me out the door.

When we get to my house, my mom is teaching piano and my dad is still at work, so we grab a snack from the kitchen, dump Stacey's stuff in my bedroom, and head to the attic. That's because on the way here Stacey had the best idea ever.

We push boxes to one end of the attic to make a secret room. I unroll an old rug, and Stacey sets the wobbly piano bench on it. "This bench can be the shrine," she says. "We have to make it really nice so the mermaid will want to stay here
permanently.
"

We hurry downstairs to the kitchen for tape and aluminum foil. Then we go back and cover the bench with it. I find an old string of Christmas tree lights and hang it on the wall behind the bench/shrine. We find some fake spiders and doll
body parts and scatter them around because that's the kind of stuff evil mermaids like. Then we run to my room, partly because all those spiders and body parts creep us out and partly to get the mermaid. We set her on the shiny bench/shrine and plug her in. The whole place glows with her evilness so we know she likes it here.

"We should write her some fan mail," I say.

"Oooo ... good idea," Stacey says back. She dashes over to my dad's tool bench and grabs a jar of pens and pencils. "I'll get some paper from your room!" she says, heading for the door.

"Wait!" I say. "I have a better idea."

I take the jar and dump out the pens and pencils. "Fill this up with water in the bathroom," I say, handing her the empty jar. "And grab a roll of toilet paper. I'll get some markers."

Stacey gives me a puzzled look.

"Mermaids live in water, right?" I say.

Stacey nods.

"So, if you want to send a mermaid fan mail, the best way is with water."

Stacey still looks confused, but she flies out the door with the jar.

I run to my room and dig through my desk. I
find two purple markers that smell like sour grape gummy worms.

I head for the door. I stop and give George a smile.

George does not give me one back.

"Don't be jealous, George," I say. "Someday I'll build you a shrine, too."

George doesn't budge.

I take off for the attic, sniffing my markers the whole way.

Stacey sets the jar of water next to the mermaid and I hand her a marker. We tear off some toilet paper and get busy writing.

Dear Mermaid,

We built this shrine just for you.

It took almost 1 hour or 2.

Do you like it? We do!

-Stacey

Dear Mermaid,

We are gour biggest fans. Let us know if you need a new Light bulb or anything.

Ida

We crumple up our notes and drop them into the jar. Right away the water turns a very magical purple.

Stacey gasps. "The mermaid did that!"

I nod.

A minute later, our writing fades away and all that's left is the paper, floating like clouds in a magical purple sky.

When I wake up the next morning, I look over the edge of my bed. Stacey is still asleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. I lay back and think about all the fun we had last night. Building the shrine. Guarding the mermaid from wicked screwdrivers. Making her offerings of root beer and candy bars.

I push off my covers and tiptoe to my desk. I pick up a pencil and open my sketchbook. I flip past the drawings I did at the park and write
The Secret Mermaid Club
across the top of a new page. Then I draw two girls. I give one straight hair and one curly hair, but I give them both the same smile. Then I get out my colored pencils and start filling them in.

"What are you doing?"

I turn to see Stacey sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"I'm making a sign for the shrine," I say, coloring Stacey's eyes brown and mine blue. I hold it up to show her.

"Nice," Stacey says. "But aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Who?" I ask, studying the picture.

"The mermaid!" Stacey says, stretching.

"Oh, yeah," I say, turning back to my desk. Then I draw the mermaid, a little smaller and off to one side.

"I'm starving," Stacey says, crawling out from her sleeping bag.

"Me, too. Let's get some breakfast and then go back to the attic and start having more fun!"

Stacey crawls over the blankets that fell off my bed and heads out the door. I close my sketchbook and wade after her. I stop when I step on something squishy.

I look down and see George under my foot. I pick him up and unsquish his stomach. "Be careful, George," I say. "Or you'll get hurt."

I fluff up the blankets and set George on top, like he's king of the mountain.

My foot snags a corner of the mountain on the way out and George tumbles back to where he started.

Dad makes pancakes for breakfast with whipped-cream hair, strawberry eyes, and chocolate chip mouths.

"I'm going to bake cookies this morning," Mom says as we carry our plates to the sink. "Want to help?"

"No, thanks," I say. "We've got some important stuff to do ... um ... upstairs."

Me and Stacey take off for my bedroom, throw on some clothes, and head to the attic.

"Let's pretend the shrine is hidden in a deep, dark cave," Stacey says, finding a flashlight on the workbench. "And we're searching for it."

"Okay," I say. "We can draw a secret map on one of the boxes, and use it to find her!"

I grab the pens and pencils we dumped out of the jar last night and we start drawing.

Before long, we're crawling so deep into the cave we hardly even hear the doorbell when it rings. And a few minutes later, when my mom calls our names from downstairs, it's like she's a million miles away.

"Let's pretend we didn't hear her," Stacey says.