Something Girl (7 page)

BOOK: Something Girl

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No
, I thought.
I’m the something girl. THE SOMETHING GIRL
.

But I was still lonely, and this made me think about my mom. What kind of bed was she lying in? Did the darkness feel strange to her? Then, for a second, I wondered about my dad. Was he feeling lonely? Was he sad? Was he sorry for what he’d done to me? Did he wish he could change it?

For a second I wished I could change it. For one sad, hurting moment, I wished with everything I was that I could change it.

But then I remembered it was my dad who’d done the beating up, not me. So he had to change it. He had to change himself.

A soft peace came into me again and I fell asleep. In the morning I woke up and looked around, totally clued out. I didn’t know where I was. Then I heard a knock, and Brenda poked her head through the door.

“Time to get up,” she said. “You’ve got school today.”

I got dressed and went out into the hall. Then I waited until I saw Helen come out of her room. I followed her around and copied everything she did. When she went to the kitchen, I walked in after her. When she poured herself some Shreddies, so did I. I even put on three teaspoons of sugar, like she did, and drank some orange juice. Then I followed her to the washroom and brushed my teeth next to her.

“Hey,” she grinned at me. “I’ve got a twin.”

I went really red and ducked my head. “Sorry,” I said.

Helen just laughed. “No prob,” she said. “I’ve always wanted a twin.”

By 8:20, the other girls had left for school. Brenda said she would give me a ride, so I sat in the living room and waited. It was getting late, but I didn’t want to complain. Then I heard a car horn honk outside.

Brenda came into the living room and smiled at me. “Why don’t you see who that is?” she asked.

I opened the front door and looked out. An old blue Ford was parked by the curb. Beside it stood Rick, grinning at me. Jujube was on the car roof, waving madly.

“Sophie,” she yelled. “C’mon, it’s the aliens. We’ve landed and we’re going to take you to outer space.”

She had a blue-and-green triangle pinned to her shirt. Rick was wearing one too. When I got to the car, Jujube handed me a third triangle and a safety pin, and I pinned it to my shirt.

“See?” Jujube grinned. “It did come true. Just like I said.”

“Yup,” I grinned at her. “Just like you said.”

Brenda handed me a bag lunch and I got into the front seat beside Rick. Jujube sat behind us, blabbing away. This was fine with me because I didn’t have a clue what to say.

I mean, Rick was
gorgeous
. He was just
so gorgeous
. For a second I wished Helen and the other girls could see me sitting beside him.

“Why don’t I drive you to school for the rest of the year?” asked Rick. “It’s only three more weeks and not that far out of my way.”

“Sure!” I said.

“All right then,” he grinned. “That’s settled. Now, where would you like to go — Venus or Mars?”

“Pluto,” I grinned back. “As long as we make it to school by nine. Or Ms. Lee will get on my case.”

“School it is, then,” said Rick. “Pluto will have to wait for another day.” He started the car and we drove down the street.

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