Too Cool for This School (28 page)

I had never been so nervous for a sleepover before. Rachel, Lucia, Ava, and me. Just like old times, except Ava and I had barely been speaking. I wanted to change that. I wanted to be friends again.

Rachel arrived first, and she had a plate of cookies for us.

“Yum,” I said. “These look great.” Actually, they were multicolored and multitextured and looked totally weird.

“Mint gave me the recipe. They have gummy worms in them,” Rachel said.

Why would anybody want to eat cookies with gummy worms? But I didn’t ask that. “It’s cool that you keep in touch,” I said. It surprised me that I felt that way. But I did.

“Look at the picture she sent me of her new bookcase,” Rachel said.

I took Rachel’s phone and looked at the photo. Mint’s bookcase was actually a series of shelves that were cut to look like heartbeat lines. They looked super weird and barely practical.

“Her new dad made them for her,” Rachel said.

I was relieved that Clark was the kind of new dad who would build Mint heartbeat-line shelves.

Knock. Knock. Knock
.

I jumped a little. I was really excited but also nervous to see Ava. Except it wasn’t even Ava. It was Lucia. I burst out laughing when she walked through the door, because she wasn’t wearing a normal shirt. She was wearing one of Mint’s old shirts. It said
NORTH DAKOTANS CAN DANCE!

“You are so funny,” I said, giving her a hug.

“She dared me to do it,” Lucia said.

It did bug me a little bit that Lucia was taking dares from Mint, but I had to admit it was hilarious.

“She gave you a shirt to keep?” Rachel asked.

“She mailed it to me last week when I told her that Mr. Guzman’s class felt extremely vanilla without her,” Lucia said.

“Has she told you what’s going on with her and Jagger?” Rachel asked.

“They still totally like each other,” Lucia said. “They’re trying to make the long-distance thing work.”

That was crazy. There was no way that could last. “Let’s not talk about this in front of Ava,” I said. I was pretty sure she still had strong feelings for Jagger and his laughing styles.

Lucia and Rachel looked at each other with surprise.

“What?” I asked.

“Haven’t you heard?” Lucia asked.

“What?” I asked again.

“Ava is basically going out with Tuma,” Rachel said.

“No!” I said. “Tuma from our class?” There had to be a different Tuma.

“Yep,” Lucia said. “Turns out his parents have made him take viola lessons since he was five, so he and Ava have that in common.”

I could not imagine Tuma playing any instrument except the drums.

“Is she totally over Jagger?” I asked. Lucia talked to Ava a lot more than I did.

“Pretty much,” Lucia said. “Mr. Guzman actually asked her if she wanted to switch
Julie of the Wolves
parts and take Mint’s spot since she left, and Ava said no.”

“She turned down the chance to be in Jagger’s group?” I asked. That seemed unbelievable.

“She’s over him big-time,” Rachel said, nibbling on one of her gummy cookies.

Knock. Knock. Knock
.

It was Ava! As soon as I saw her standing on my porch, I was flooded by how much I’d missed her.

“Thanks for coming,” I said.

“Thanks for inviting me,” she said.

I really hoped she was being sincere.

Ava caught a glimpse of Lucia’s joke shirt and winced. I guess it was too soon to start making jokes about Mint.

“Put your stuff down in the living room,” I said, leading Ava to an area that was littered with pillows and blankets and several bowls of popcorn. Lucia and Rachel trailed us. But things felt a little awkward.

“Hey, Rachel,” Lucia said. “Let’s see what kind of ice cream they have in the freezer.”

“Good idea,” I agreed. “I bet we have at least three kinds. Plus some gelato.”

“Gelato!” Rachel cheered.

Rachel and Lucia left Ava and me alone in the living room. We needed to mend things. But neither one of us knew how. Luckily, Ava started.

“I’m not proud of what I did,” Ava said. “I really lost my mind.”

I nodded. “It’s almost blown over.”

Ava plopped down next to a pillow and began eating popcorn. I joined her.

“She was so weird,” Ava said. “I hated her. I’ve never hated anybody like that before.”

I wasn’t sure this was the best way to mend things.

“Most people want to be my friend,” Ava said. “Is it snobby for me to think that? Because I think it’s true. I think most people want that.”

I looked into her eyes. It was true. Most people at our school wanted to be Ava’s friend.

“Mint didn’t care,” Ava said. “In fact, I think she didn’t like me from the moment she met me.”

What was she talking about? Ava was the one who never gave Mint a chance. So I reminded her of that. “Um, the
way I remember it was that you thought she was weird and we needed to ditch her.”

Ava tilted her head upward and considered this. “Yeah. I guess that was the way it happened. Maybe I’m more of a snob than I realized.”

Would it help or hurt this situation for me to agree with Ava?

“How is she doing?” Ava asked. “Back in Alaska?”

“Really good,” I said, smoothing my hair and smiling. “She’s actually at a new school and she’s made a bunch of friends.”

“Does she hate me?” Ava asked.

I didn’t know how to answer that. “I think she’s over it.”

Ava nodded. “Good.”

We were both quiet. We ate some more popcorn.

“If I could take back what I did, I would,” Ava said. “I never feel that way about anything. But I feel that way about this.”

This made my heart melt a little. Because I knew I’d probably grown a little bit through the whole Mint experience, but I wasn’t sure Ava had. Until now.

“It was a mistake,” Ava said. “But you can’t undo your mistakes.”

It meant a lot to me to hear that Ava wanted to take back what she’d done.

“Are you still going to come to my concert?” Ava asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve got tickets.”

Ava smiled and reached toward my hand. She gave it a squeeze. “I overheard Leslie telling Robin that our school
parties are going to have a disco theme. That’s awesome. Did you come up with that?”

“Ava!” I said. “I can’t confirm anything related to our parties until we announce.”

She also said everybody was going dressed as a mood. Ava really was an expert at eavesdropping and snooping.

“Leslie is fierce and Robin is fun and you’re organic? How did you end up with that? If I had to pick a mood for you, I’d say you’re delightful or playful or organized.”

I shrugged. “I can’t confirm or deny any of this. But I will say that after researching online, the costume opportunities for organic aren’t as bad as you think.”

Ava smiled. “I’m dressing up as theatrical.”

I smiled back.

“Should we go get Lucia and Rachel before they eat their weight in gelato?”

“Yeah.” I smiled.

Awroo! Awroo! Awroo!

“Haven’t you changed Todd’s ringtone yet?” Ava asked. “We gave him a wolf howl as a joke.”

“I know,” I said. “But I kind of like it now.”

Ava rolled her eyes.

“Hi, Todd,” I said.

“I thought I’d check in with your slumber party,” he said. “Are you having a good time?”

“We’re having a great time!” I said, reaching over and pinching Ava.

“Ouch!” Ava said.

“Sounds like somebody is in pain,” Todd said.

“Hi, Todd!” Ava yelled.

“That was Ava,” I said.

“Is that going okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’m going to check on Rachel and Lucia,” Ava whispered as she hustled out of the living room.

“Bye, Ava,” I said, so that Todd would understand that we were alone now.

“Too bad it’s too cold to sleep outside on your trampoline. Jagger and I would totally crash your party again.”

“That’s sweet,” I said. “But you’ll have to wait until the warm months.”

Todd laughed and I couldn’t stop smiling. I loved making Todd laugh.

“What do you think you’ll be doing at lunch on Monday?” Todd asked.

His voice sounded really flirty and it made my stomach spin. “Eating,” I said.

“With me?” he asked.

“Is that what you want?” I teased.

“When two people are going out, they usually eat lunch together,” Todd said.

I was so excited. Todd was finally asking me to go out with him.

“Then we should sit at the same table for sure,” I said.

“Cool,” Todd said.

And I really agreed.

“Hey, can I ask you a favor?” Todd said. He sounded a little nervous.

“Yes,” I said. I had no idea what it could be.

“Since Mint left, we need a person to play the part of Miyax trying to escape the helicopter hunters,” he said. “Mr. Guzman said we won’t be penalized if we perform with just three people, but we’ve got all the props and stuff. What do you think?”

What did I think? “Of course I’ll be your Miyax,” I said.

“Maybe I could come over tomorrow and we could practice,” Todd suggested.

“I think you should,” I said.

“Then I will,” he said.

“You’re such a flirt!” I said.

“I only flirt with people I’m going out with,” he said.

And those were the sweetest words I had ever heard.

I am indebted to all my cool friends who have joined me in a bunch of life-changing adventures: Kristin Scheel, Joen Madonna, Maria Finn, Nina LaCour, Christopher Benz, Brandi Dougherty, Shelagh Fritz, Ulla Frederiksen, Fred Bueltmann, and Tracy Roberts. Memories of the bears, deep water hydrofit, the mountain lion, mini-cot, burrowing owl, baby goats, Alcatraz gardens, and Sam’s cake will remain with me forever. Many thanks to the übertalented Heather Daugherty and Vikki Sheatsley for making my book look überamazing. And many thanks to Sarah Evenson for giving me helpful information about squids and art. And many thanks also to Patrick Wolff for answering all my questions about cellos and cello cases and cello injuries. Thanks to Rachel Belnap for helping to spark my middle school imagination. Of course I am thankful again to my kind, amazing, beautiful,
and
hardworking agent, Sara Crowe. You are a bright light in my life always. Last but not least, I owe unending thanks to my husband, Brian Evenson, who enriches my life every day with his love and encouragement and quesadilla-making abilities.

KRISTEN TRACY
grew up in a small town in Idaho surrounded by cows. She did not think this was cool. And that’s why you won’t find any cows in this book. She is the acclaimed author of the middle-grade novels
Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus, The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter
, and
Bessica Lefter Bites Back
, as well as the young adult novels
Lost It, Crimes of the Sarahs, A Field Guide for Heartbreakers, Sharks & Boys
and
Death of a Kleptomaniac
. She lives with her husband, Brian Evenson, in Rhode Island in a tree-lined, cowless city, where she is very happy. Visit her online at
kristentracy.com
.