Nobody's Perfect (10 page)

Truly disgusting
, Megan thought to herself.
Absolutely repulsive.

Megan whirled about when she felt Matt tap her shoulder.

“What are you doing in my room?” he demanded.

“I'm cleaning out your closet,” Megan replied, trying to sound as helpful as possible even though she was still pinching her nose.

“You're throwing out my shoes!” Matt exclaimed.

“No, I'm not,” said Megan. “They're right there.” She pointed at the tattered sneakers heaped on top of one another. She reached for a container of foot powder on the floor beside Matt's bureau and sprinkled it over the mass of shoes. “You should air them out,” Megan continued, trying to sound helpful. “Your shoes are too stinky.”

“Leave my shoes alone,” Matt cried. He seized the foot powder container from her hands and tossed it on top of the bureau.

“But I need your shoe boxes!” Megan protested.

“Not another diorama,” Matt said with a groan.

“No, this time it's a science fair,” Megan replied.

“I like my shoes in boxes,” Matt insisted.

“You're so ridiculous,” Megan argued. “Nobody keeps shoes in their boxes. You're supposed to get rid of the boxes. Besides, this is for
science
.”

“What are you doing?” Matt asked.

“We're making a maze for a hamster to run in,” said Megan.

“Cool!” said Matt, without any more argument. “You can have the boxes if I get to watch.”

“Not a problem.”

“Who are you making the maze with?” Matt asked.

“Alexis,” said Megan, not thinking anything of it.

“Alexis!” said Matt. “You mean the new girl who's not very nice?”

“She's nice enough,” said Megan.

“You said she was
mean
before,” said Matt.

“So I was wrong,” said Megan. “Anyway, she's my science fair partner.”

“Wait, wait!” Matt cried. “I've got it! The best science fair project in the world! We'll lock you and the mean girl in the same room! See which one survives!”

“Funny, funny,” said Megan. She applied herself to counting shoe boxes. She had three. She flung one last pair of sneakers onto the pile and seized the empty box.

“Hey!” Matt protested.

“That's all,” said Megan. “Only four boxes. We're hooking them together to build our maze.”

“Why don't you use a packing box that already has compartments for all the jars and glasses?” Matt suggested. “That way you can use the compartments to make corridors and rooms. And you can leave my shoe boxes alone.”

Megan hesitated. The packing box idea was a good one.
But it's not the idea that Alexis and I came up with
, she resolved.

“Because Alexis and I are using shoe boxes!” she declared. With that, she scooped up her boxes and headed downstairs.

•  •  •

“So,” said Matt, “the mysterious Alexis!”

“What's that supposed to mean?” asked Alexis. She was standing on the doorstep with four shoe boxes and a small hamster cage.

“Nothing,” said Matt. “I'll get Megan.” He left the door open for Alexis to step inside as he thundered upstairs, taking two steps at a time. Alexis stepped into the hall and peeked at the doorways to the left and right. A moment later Megan and Matt were charging downstairs together in a wild romp, like puppies in a field.

“I win!” said Megan when she landed in the front hall after jumping the last three steps.

“Only by a nose,” said Matt.

“That's my brother,” Megan said to Alexis, pointing at her brother.

“We met,” said Alexis. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Matt said back.

“We're working in the dining room,” Megan urged, tugging on Alexis's sleeve. “You brought Zippity?”

“Is that the hamster?” asked Matt.

“Looks like one,” said Alexis, holding up the cage.

“Is it dead or is it asleep?” asked Matt, eyeing the chunky fuzz ball inside the cage.

“He likes to
sleep
,” said Megan. “Just like
you
.” She pushed Matt so that he would get out of their way, and led Alexis into the dining room so they could get to work on their project.

•  •  •

It took a lot to surprise Megan's mother, so she hardly reacted at all when she entered the dining room to find Megan and another girl kneeling on the dining room chairs, huddled over the table, assembling and reassembling shoe boxes in various patterns. Lainee wasn't even particularly surprised by the hamster cage on the table, although she wasn't happy about it either.

“Can we get the hamster cage off the dining room table?” Lainee announced, more as a command than a question.

“His name is Zippity,” said Megan. “Oh, and you remember Alexis.” She jerked her head toward the girl kneeling on the next chair.

It was Alexis's presence in the dining room that caught Lainee by surprise.
“Alexis,”
she said, almost singsong with wonder. She bobbed her head curiously and smiled politely, letting Megan know that she expected to hear the full story later.

“Alexis and I are doing a science fair project,” said Megan.

“A hamster maze, Mrs. Merrill,” Alexis explained. “With one purple room.”

“One purple room,” repeated Lainee. “Well, that doesn't surprise me.” She crossed her arms for a moment, watching the two girls at work, and decided it was probably the wrong time to make them clear the dining room table. Zippity was still asleep in his cage, but even so, a hamster was still a hamster. She tapped Megan to make sure she had her attention, and signed, “I'm going to need the table back in half an hour.”

“Okay, Mom,” said Megan. Megan had been applying masking tape to a pair of boxes. Alexis was using big shears to cut a hamster-size doorway.

“Be careful with those scissors,” added Lainee.

“Okay, Mrs. Merrill,” said Alexis.

Lainee eyed the bag of purple feathers resting on the sideboard. “Megan, I asked you twice already to put this bag of purple feathers away before it gets knocked over and we have purple feathers everywhere.”

“
Okay
, Mom! I'll take care of it,” Megan snapped, hoping her mother would drop the subject. She didn't want to mention the purple feathers or the invitations to the Positively Purple Party in front of Alexis.

Lainee lifted the hamster cage off the table with one finger. “And Zippity,” she said, eyeing the fuzz ball inside, “goes
off
the table.”

Megan scooped the cage out of her mother's hands and placed it on the carpet in the corner.

•  •  •

“Should we put purple feathers in the purple room?” Alexis asked after Lainee had left the dining room. She lifted the bag of feathers off the sideboard and studied the contents.

“That's an idea,” said Megan. “But then wouldn't we have to put red feathers in the red room and blue feathers in the blue room?”

“Forget I mentioned it,” said Alexis.

“Too much bother,” said Megan.

“Just an idea,” said Alexis. She dropped the bag back onto the sideboard, and Megan promptly forgot about the purple feathers altogether.

It took most of the half hour to assemble the boxes, get the doorways to line up, tape the boxes together, and paint the red, blue, and purple rooms. By that point, they agreed, it was time to quit. They would have to “run” Zippity through the maze in the morning.

“Come over tomorrow,” said Megan.

“I have ballet class on Saturday morning,” said Alexis, “but I could come over after that.”

“Sounds good.”

“Hopefully he'll be
awake
,” said Alexis, nudging Zippity's cage.

“Maybe we should feed him a lot of sugar and get him all wired,” said Megan. Both of them laughed. They lifted the hamster maze off the table and set it on its side against the dining room wall.

“I better call home for a ride,” said Alexis, spanking her hands clean.

“The telephone's in the kitchen,” said Megan. “Follow me.”

In the kitchen Megan's mom was tearing open a box of pasta and pouring it into a pot of boiling water. Lainee made eye contact with Megan while Alexis was on the telephone and rolled her eyes in a way that meant “Soooo—?”

In response, Megan clenched her jaw, cocked her head, and crossed her eyeballs in a way that meant “Can't explain now, Mom!”

Alexis replaced the telephone in its cradle and announced, “My dad's gonna drive by in about five minutes.”

“I'll wait outside with you,” Megan offered.

“You don't have to,” said Alexis.

“I don't mind,” said Megan. She tugged on Alexis's sleeve to lead her toward the front door.

“Bye, Alexis!” Lainee called from the stove. She was stirring the pasta with a big wooden spoon.

“Good-bye, Mrs. Merrill,” said Alexis.

The two girls left the room, and Megan's mother smiled.

•  •  •

Outside, it was not exactly dark yet, although the sun had set.

“Look,” said Megan, nudging Alexis and pointing at the sky, “
purple!
”

She and Alexis were sitting on the front step, waiting for Alexis's dad to show up in his car. Alexis looked up at the sky and smiled. “I'm glad we're doing the purple,” she said.

“I'm glad we're doing the hamster,” said Megan. And she smiled too.

They were both quiet after that, although Megan clutched her knees to her chest and it was a while before she lost her little smile. She didn't know how to explain to her mom how things had gotten easier with Alexis, but it was funny to think that she had a hamster to thank.

“AAAAHHH-CHOO!”

Megan didn't hear Matt sneeze, but she could tell that he had by the way he gripped the dining room table and scrambled for his napkin. His hair rattled and his face scrunched as his head bounced forward. Megan saw her mom admonish Matt to turn away or sneeze into his sleeve, and she saw her dad say “Gesundheit!” So she knew it was a sneeze.

Typical
, thought Megan. She was in the middle of explaining her science fair project to her dad and she didn't like to be interrupted. She had already explained to her dad the whole story about the new girl at school who was really perfect—but really difficult—and how she, Megan, had got stuck doing her science fair project with the girl. She said, “Gesundheit, Matt” to acknowledge Matt's sneeze, and went back to her story. She was deep into the science fair project itself at this point. “And one room is red and one room is blue, but the nicest room is purple.”

“A purple room?” her dad asked, somewhat disbelieving.

“Aaaahhh-choo!”

It was Matt again.

“Gesundheit, Matt!” said her dad.

“Goodness gracious, Matt,” said Lainee. “Are you catching a cold?”

“If you're getting sick or something, could you not sneeze on me?” said Megan to Matt. “I've got a big weekend planned. I have to run the hamster through the maze—”

“A hamster through a maze?” her dad asked, still somewhat disbelieving.

“So I really don't want to catch Matt's cold!” Megan insisted.

“I've got a big weekend too,” said Matt, sniffling and wiping his nose. “This is my baseball tryout weekend! I can't afford to be sick!”

“It's probably just dust,” said Lainee. “You were perfectly fine earlier.”

“Right,” Megan said to her dad, “and we run the hamster through the maze, from room to room.”

“Hamster? What hamster?” asked David. He looked down the table at Lainee. “Nobody ever tells me anything.”

“That hamster,” said Megan, pointing to the hamster cage on the floor in the corner of the dining room. “His name is Zippity.”

“He belongs to the school,” Lainee announced with assurance.

Zippity was awake now—go figure—and taking a rather lazy trot on the rodent wheel.

“What's a hamster doing in the dining room?” asked David.

“Aaaahhh-choo!” said Matt.

“It's only temporary,” said Lainee.

“We have to return Zippity to school on Monday,” said Megan. “So it's really important that we run him through the maze tomorrow.”

“ ‘We?' Who's ‘we'?” asked David. “Lainee, would you pass the garlic bread, please?”

“Me and the difficult girl, Dad,” said Megan.

“I don't think you should call her the ‘difficult girl,' ” said David.

“Mom met her,” Megan protested. “Mom, tell Dad that it's true. Alexis is difficult!”

“I wouldn't say ‘difficult' necessarily,” said Lainee as she handed the basket of garlic bread down the table.

But just as the basket passed in front of Matt—“Aaaahhh-choo!”

Matt sneezed again, all over the garlic bread.

“Ick
,” said Megan, as her dad set the basket aside.

“I think you're definitely coming down with something,” Lainee said to Matt.

“Something disgusting,” said Megan.

“Megan, leave your brother alone,” said Lainee. She got up from her chair and stepped behind Matt so that she could place her hand on his forehead. “You don't feel warm,” she said.

“What's that on your neck?” asked Megan. She was pointing at Matt.

Matt tilted his head to one side and both his parents gasped. Tiny red welts dotted one side of his neck.

“What is it?” said Matt.

“I think it's hives,” said Lainee. “Pull up your shirt.” She was already tugging on his T-shirt.

“Mom!”
Matt protested.

“Don't ‘Mom!' me,” said Lainee. “I used to undress you all the time when you were a baby.”