Best Frenemies (6 page)

“All right,” said Alice, scrambling to her feet. “I guess I better go.”

“Okay, well, listen.” Cassidy stood up and drew an invisible box around Alice. “This is your force field. Don't let Negative Nikki enter it. If you stay inside your force field, you're golden,” Cassidy said. “I'll see you tomorrow!”

“Don't forget to write!” Alice said, heading out the door, pointing at the notebook. Cassidy blew her a kiss.

Sometimes Alice wished the walk home to her house was slightly longer than just across the street. The air smelled like a wood-burning fire, and the setting sun was throwing gorgeous purple and orange light behind the clouds. It had turned out to be a great day. And now Alice got to eat lasagna!

“How was your day?” Alice's dad asked as the family sat down to a big, crunchy first-course salad. Alice
tucked one leg beneath her at the table and excitedly told them all about the cool discussion they had had in Mr. Nichols's class and how much fun she had with Cassidy.

“That sounds great!” said Mr. Kinney. “Do I dare say that you had fun and were learning at the same time?”

“Maybe!” said Alice.

“And you start reading
Island of the Blue Dolphins
tonight?” Mrs. Kinney asked. She had little ways of checking in on Alice's homework without actually standing over her daughter's shoulder.

Normally Alice didn't mind a question like this, but she instantly grew irritated. Her mom just
had
to remind her about her homework, bringing her down from her best-friend-and-lasagna high.

“Yes, I'll start reading the book,” Alice said testily. “After I have dinner. Is that all right with you?” Her red hair slipped from behind her ears, forming a curtain around her face. She felt like Nikki, who always seemed to use her dark hair like a wall.

“Uh, yes, Ms. Touchy,” her dad said, eyeing her. “Take it down a notch. Your mom was just asking.”

“As long as I know you're working and parent-teacher conferences are pleasant, I can sleep at night,” her mom said.

“Sorry,” Alice apologized. While she had had so much fun with Cassidy, she also knew that she should have gotten a jump on her homework already. Mr. Nichols expected a lot of input from the class on
Dolphins
after their discussion earlier today. She swallowed some milk to wash down her lasagna. “May I be excused? I guess I might as well get to work.”

“I'll save you some leftovers for later,” her mom promised as Alice grabbed her backpack and headed up to her room.
I just need to focus up and get everything done and everything will work out,
she told herself. She pulled the tall chair up to the drafting table and got to work.

After breezing through her math homework and polishing up her report on DNA for biology, Alice sat at her desk and cracked open
Island of the Blue Dolphins
. It was fine, but just a few pages in, she realized that the fall evening had cast a chill over the house, and she'd be much more comfortable under the covers in bed. And if she
were
under the covers in bed, all snuggly and warm, wouldn't it be a shame to have to get up and get
out
of bed in order to get ready for bed?

So, even though it was early, Alice put on her cuddliest pair of pajamas (flannel, decorated with cute drawings of purple wiener dogs on them), brushed
her teeth, washed her face, and said good night to her parents, who distractedly said good night back. They were lost in an epic Scrabble battle against each other in the living room (whoever won had to make—
and
clean up—dinner the next day).

Finally Alice climbed into bed with the book, feeling comfy and cozy. But just another few pages in, and she felt her eyelids getting heavy.

No!
she told herself, and sat up, pulling her white fluffy comforter down so that she wouldn't feel too likely to fall asleep.
Finish the chapter at least!
But her mom's lasagna and Mrs. Turner's cheesecake lingered in her tummy, making her feel content and sleepy and full.

You shouldn't have gone over to Cassidy's!
an annoying voice in her head told her.

Well, it's too late to think about that now,
she reasoned.
Plus, all work and no play is no good for anybody, right?
She read a few more pages before starting to feel sleepy again. Alice contemplated sitting on the floor in order to get up to page thirty-five, the way she was supposed to.
But it's so nice and warm in bed!
one of the annoying voices argued, but the voice slowly turned into a whisper. Alice drifted off to sleep, her book open to page eleven on her chest.

“
That's
an interesting look!” Alice was so busy trying to cram in the last several pages of her
Island of the Blue Dolphins
reading assignment that she didn't even see Cassidy sidle up next to her at the bus stop. She looked adorable as usual, in a black kilt with a white dress shirt that looked like she had borrowed from David and a cheetah-print T-shirt layered over that. Alice, meanwhile, was wearing navy sweatpants, a soft-gray T-shirt, a long purple cardigan, and gym shoes.

“Ugh,” she said, putting a finger in her book for a moment. “I fell asleep last night before I could finish my homework, and I'm trying to use every spare second I have to finish up,” she explained. “So this was the first thing I could grab to wear without having to think.”

“That stinks,” Cassidy said. “I mean about the homework, not your ‘outfit,'” she explained, grinning and making quotation marks with her fingers. Alice
stuck her tongue out at her. “No, seriously, you look fine. Comfy chic. But do you want me to leave you alone so you can read? I can write funny encouraging things in the notebook while we wait.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Alice said, picking her book back up. She hated to turn down quality time with Cassidy, but if she didn't get to work, she'd fall behind and be the victim of one of Mr. Nichols's pop quizzes he was always threatening. So far they had been safe, but Alice didn't want to find out today if he was just bluffing. She read as fast as she could, feeling better as she spied Cassidy scribbling away in the notebook out of the corner of her eye.
Island of the Blue Dolphins
was fine, but one of Cassidy's entries would be infinitely more fun to read—a treat for getting through the homework.

After the bus arrived, Alice huddled over her paperback on the window side of the bus bench. Cassie leaned over and chatted with Tess Sawyer about some posters that had gone up the day before, advertising the school musical.

“Do you think they'd let us audition?” asked Cassidy.

“I don't see why not,” said Tess. “I didn't read anything on the poster about auditions being limited to any particular classes. Do you think you'll try out?”

“Oh,
maybe
,” Cassidy said in a coy voice. “I don't like attention that much.”

“Girl, please!” Tess said. “Were you or were you not the girl singing ‘Let It Go' in the locker room at the top of your voice yesterday after gym?”

“I can't help it if it's got great acoustics!” Cassidy said, and she and Tess laughed. Alice, meanwhile, tried to keep her ears shut and her mind on her reading.

“All done?” Cassidy asked as they exited the bus once they got to school. Alice had temporarily put the book away so she wouldn't trip on the way in, although falling on her face and going to the nurse's
would
be a good way to avoid a pop quiz.

“Almost there,” Alice said. “I'll get the rest done in homeroom.”

“Okay, well, take this for when you're done,” Cassidy said, slipping the notebook into Alice's backpack. “I'll see you at lunch. Good luck!” Alice flashed a grateful smile to Cassidy, whose big brown eyes were warm and understanding.

Just five pages to go,
Alice told herself once she got to homeroom, but as the class filled up, she had a hard time concentrating. It was like everyone in the class had taken energy pills, aside from Alice (and of course Nikki, who was gloomily examining her hair for split ends).

“Guys, I've decided we need to come up with a name for ourselves,” Christy Gillespie announced to the room before the bell rang. “My sister and I got into a fight last night because she said that I'm on dork patrol. I think she was just jealous because my parents like that I'm in honors. But it got me thinking . . . why not have a name for ourselves, like we're a team? Like Geek Squad or something.”

“I don't think we're geeks,” said Aaron Woolsey thoughtfully. “Geeks make me think of people who wear glasses. And none of us wear glasses, except for Todd.” Todd proudly took off his specs, breathed on them, and polished them with a corner of his plaid shirt.

“The Brainy Bunch?” suggested Ashley Dawson.

“That's the way we became the Brainy Bunch!” a few of the girls sang to the tune of
The Brady Bunch
theme song before laughing.

The class went back and forth until Alice couldn't take it anymore. The answer was so obvious. She put her book pages-down on her desk and said, “Guys. We're the Nerd Herd.”

“Nerd Herd!” Christy clapped her hands with glee. “That's it!”

“You did it again, Kinney.” Aaron extended his palm for a high five. He began a chant. “Nerd Herd! Nerd
Herd! Nerd Herd!” Everyone in the room gathered steam as Alice tried not to blush. It was so silly, but she had to admit she was having fun. The only person who seemed like she wasn't in on it, of course, was Nikki, whose nose was now deep in her math textbook. She was acting like she was wearing invisible earplugs.

“All right, simmer,” said Ms. Garrity, allowing herself to crack a small smile as she entered the room.

Alice had a few short minutes to spare before the bell rang, and so she scanned, as quickly as she could, the last few pages of the last chapter of the reading assignment. She sent up a quick prayer that this wouldn't be the day that Mr. Nichols decided to quiz them all on the assignment. She hid a yawn behind her fist: not only was she
not
totally one hundred percent sure what she was reading, but she was exhausted too from all the morning cramming.

After homeroom wrapped up (Ms. Garrity confirmed that, indeed, the school musical was coming and that students were encouraged to try out), Alice lingered a second to write a quick note to Cassidy. She opened it up and was touched to see an encouraging collage Cassidy had put together the night before. She had cut out words like “inspiration” and “determination” from some magazines, along with a photo of a cute boy
giving the thumbs-up sign and a picture of a sandwich in a panini press (which Cassidy had explained by writing next to it, “I know you're going to
crush
your class today! Get it? Let me know if you don't.”)

The only way it could have meant more to Alice was if it had summed up the reading from the night before. Alice decided to take a quick second and write a reply back to Cassidy before class.

Thanks for the note! Here's hoping I don't totally flunk the quiz, or, even better, that there is no quiz. I think I got the reading done okay, but we were pretty distracted in homeroom deciding that we're going to call ourselves the Nerd Herd. I mean, how cheesy is that? But it's fun. Of course you can guess who
did not
want to have anything to do with it. She who must not be named. (Her name is Nikki, in case you couldn't guess!) It's not like we're excluding her. It's like she'd rather be anywhere else! It must be exactly like what goes on after ballet. Okay, I gotta jam across the hall. Nerd Herd out.

Alice got up and tucked the notebook next to her copy of
Dolphins
in her panda bag.
Oh well,
Alice thought.
Here goes nothing.

Both the good news and bad news seemed to be that Alice wasn't the only one who hadn't quite gotten the reading done for Mr. Nichols's class. After the promising discussion the day before, the students were quiet and unwilling to talk.

“So what do you guys think so far?” he asked, walking around to the windows and spraying one of the many plants in his classroom with a mister.

Silence.

“How does it compare to the first couple of chapters of
To Kill a Mockingbird?
”

More silence.

“Hello?” Mr. Nichols said, spritzing the back of Aaron's neck a little bit. “Are you guys there?”

Aaron smiled and wiped the back of his neck off. “It's fine. I don't know, I'm still getting into it. It's just . . .
different
.”

“Anything else?” Mr. Nichols asked to the still-silent room. He might as well have been asking his plants. “I'm going to start calling on you guys if you don't start answering questions,” Mr. Nichols warned.

More silence.

Alice stared down at her nails, which she had painted green with blue tips during one of her hangout
sessions with Cassidy. The blue was starting to chip away.
Please, oh please,
Alice issued forth a silent wish.
Not me.

“So what did you guys think about Karana's father advising everyone to avoid making friends with the Aleuts?” Mr. Nichols asked the group. “I want to hear from . . . Alice.” His name fell on her head like a ton of bricks.
Arg.

“Um,” Alice said. “Well.” She
knew
what Mr. Nichols was talking about. Her brain just seemed much more disorganized than usual, though. So much for sounding somewhat intelligent today.

“What kind of mentality does it create?” He tried rephrasing.

Alice silently scolded herself for reading so fast and not taking her time the way she usually did. Usually when she read for class she circled words that stood out to her, wrote notes in the margins, dog-eared pages that looked important. Now, in her mind's eye, the pages of the reading chapters flew by, the words a blur.

“It creates an us-versus-them mentality.'” Alice heard a know-it-all voice over her shoulder. She looked behind her, even though it was obvious who was talking. “It means that Karana is being encouraged to
look at the Aleuts not as individuals but as a group. A
herd
.” Nikki sneered. “I mean, it's obvious if you did the reading.”

“I did the reading,” Alice said defensively. Nikki rolled her eyes.

“Okay then,” said Mr. Nichols, looking confused, like
Something is going on here, and I don't know what it is, but I don't like it
. “Thanks, Nikki. Let's move on.”

“I wish somebody would leave
you
on an island,” Alice heard someone mutter. Todd Tian was looking sideways at Nikki, and everyone who heard snickered quietly. He was still mad, it seemed, about Nikki calling him out during the
To Kill a Mockingbird
discussion.

Alice felt a little proud that Todd had stuck up for her. The class was becoming a team after all, but when she snuck a look at Nikki, she saw her skin turning the same shade of pink as her hoodie, which was a deep blush. She felt a little bit bad for Nikki—until Nikki looked up, saw Alice glancing at her, and gave the most evil, narrow-eyed, force-field-penetrating look she'd ever seen in her life.
Yikes!

Mr. Nichols eventually gave up and made the last fifteen minutes of class quiet reading time.

Phew,
Alice wrote to Cassidy.

We didn't get quizzed, but I sure did fall on my face and look dumb in front of everyone. Can you guess who helped make me feel real good about it too?

In the cafeteria, where the chattering echoed off the ugly red-tiled floor and onto the even uglier white-tiled ceiling, it looked like the Nerd Herd was continuing the togetherness outside the classroom. Alice smiled and waved at a table where Aaron, Todd, Ashley, and even shy Nisha Pakoor were all sitting together. She would have taken her tray over there too if Cassidy hadn't saved a seat for her with Xia, April, and Evie.

“Boy, have I got a Nikki Wilcox story for
you
,” Alice said with a sigh, setting down her tray with its uninspiring veggie burger, which she suspected was just made up of old paper from the recycling bin. She had been in such a rush that morning, she'd forgotten to take her leftover lasagna.

“Hold on a sec,” Cassidy said. “Evie was just telling us about what her big sister had told her about the school musical.”

Evie leaned over the table and ran the heart locket on her necklace up and down its chain, whispering like she was letting them in on some big secret. “So anyway,
Carrie said it's a ton of fun. Mr. Shankman, the director, lets everyone sort of take control and come up with ideas for the costumes and sets and everything. And there's a big cast party after the last show, which she said was one of the best nights she ever had in middle school.” Evie's sister, Carrie, was in high school, and the girls were always hungry for any details of what middle school was like when she was younger—and what they had in store for them in high school.

“That sounds like so much fun,” Cassidy said. “I've always wanted to do more singing, but for some reason Madame Bernard doesn't appreciate my talent!”

“Ms. Turner, now is not the time to sing, now is the time to dance!” Xia shouted in a high voice, apparently calling back something hilarious from dance class that Alice had missed out on.

“I was trying to sing ‘Under the Sea' while we were doing this mermaid dance,” Cassidy explained.

“Oh my gosh, guess what,” Alice suddenly heard behind her. She turned to see Christy Gillespie from the Nerd Herd crouching down behind her chair, her perfectly shaped eyebrows arched high on her forehead.

“What's going on?” Alice asked, turning around and folding her arms over the plastic orange chair. The
girls she was sitting with wouldn't mind that much if she turned her attention away for a second or two. She could hear them behind her, now trying to figure out if cool Ms. Haynes had a boyfriend or not.

“I just went to use the bathroom and walked by the courtyard,” Christy said. “And who should I see out there, sitting by her lonesome, eating lunch solo beneath a sad little tree, but Nikki Wilcox!”

“Oh yeah,” Alice said, scanning the noisy lunchroom. “I guess she isn't in here.”

“And,” Christy said breathlessly, bouncing on the balls of her feet, which were clad in blue leopard-print slip-on sneakers, “not only was she eating by herself, but she was reading
Island of the Blue Dolphins
. Like, I get it, we're the Nerd Herd, but it's okay to not study for
one second
!”