Going Wild (15 page)

T
he girls awoke on Saturday morning to the sound of Maria's phone ringing. It played the theme from
Spider-Man
, which meant it was Mac calling. Maria sat up and squinted as sunlight streamed in through the space between the shade and the window. She looked around, bewildered, before locating her phone and answering it.

“Hey,” she mumbled. “What's up?”

“Where are you?” Mac spoke harshly, and loud enough for Charlie to hear.

“I'm at Charlie's. I slept over. What's—”

“Well, guess where I am?”

Maria pushed her mussed hair off her forehead. “I have no idea.”

“I texted you like five times.”

“I just woke up,” said Maria. “Where are you?”

“I'm in the movie theater lobby, waiting for you. The movie started five minutes ago.”

Maria's eyes widened. “Crap,” she said. “I— What time is it?”

Mac's voice was cold. “Five minutes after the movie started.”

“Sorry,” Maria said, cringing. She scrambled to her feet and began looking around for her things. “I'll be there as soon as I can.”

“Forget it. It's too late now.” Mac hung up.

Maria stared at her phone, quickly scanning the flurry of texts, and then called him back. He didn't answer.

“What's going on?” asked Charlie.

“Ugh,” Maria said, pulling her hair out of its ponytail and smoothing it down. “I totally forgot to meet Mac. He's been waiting for me at the movie theater.”

“I'm sorry,” said Charlie, biting her lip. “He sounded mad from what I could hear. Want me to go with you?”

“Nah.” Maria grabbed
Cringe 3
from Charlie's desk and slipped into her shoes. “Well, maybe,” she said, grabbing a brush from Charlie's dresser and redoing her ponytail. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not.” Charlie hopped out of bed and hurried to get ready, and soon the girls were on the move.

By the time they got there the movie was sold out, so they played video games in the lobby until it was over. “He'll be the last one out,” Maria said. “We always stay through all the credits in case there's an extra scene.”

Finally Mac rounded the corner of the theater, slam-dunking his half-full popcorn bucket into the garbage can before he saw the girls.

He frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” Maria said. “We tried to get tickets, but it was sold out.”

Mac folded his arms and looked from one girl to the other.

A boy across the lobby hooted at Mac. “Your girlfriend showed up after all!” he called.

Maria whirled around and stared down the boy. “Shut your pie hole, Mendez!” she shouted at him.

“Knock it off, Maria,” Mac said sharply.

“What? He was being gross.”

“I don't need you to stand up for me. Sheesh. Ignore that jerk.”

Charlie shrank back a little and pretended to look at the display of Jujyfruits and licorice whips inside the snack case.

“Excuse me?” said Maria. “I'll stand up for my friends whenever I feel like it.”

Mac snorted. “Or maybe you'll just stand them up and forget that you go to the ten-o'clock movie every Saturday morning with your best friend.”

“I said I was sorry,” Maria said. Her voice softened. “I am, really.” She put her hand on his arm, but he stepped back, out of reach. “Come on,” she pleaded. “Let's go get a slice from Barro's. It's my turn to pay.”

Mac's face went through a barrage of emotions. He looked like he didn't often turn down a free slice of pizza.

“I don't know.” He shrugged and pointed toward Charlie. “Is she coming?”

Charlie looked up expectantly, and then dropped her gaze again when she realized Mac didn't seem excited about the prospect. She wasn't sure why he was mad at her—she hadn't done anything wrong.

“Of course she's coming,” Maria said. “Let's go.” She grabbed Mac's arm with one hand and linked her other arm with Charlie's. “We've got to hurry and get there before all the tables are gone.”

Mac went along with her, halfheartedly at first, then pulling from Maria's grasp once more but keeping up. “If they run out of tables, maybe Supergirl here can rip off a piece of the wall and make a new one.” He looked sideways at Charlie.

Charlie grinned at him. “The problem is, we'd have to watch a scary movie first and then run around in the dark like idiots.”

“Huh?” asked Mac. He seemed annoyed again, and Charlie realized she probably shouldn't have said anything.

But Maria didn't notice. She giggled and said, “If only you could activate the powers on command, all our problems would be solved.”

“Not quite,” Mac muttered.

“What?” asked Maria.

“Never mind,” said Mac.

The next Monday at soccer practice Charlie didn't even bother trying to activate the bracelet. It was too frustrating when it wouldn't turn on, and it just began feeling like a waste of time. Besides,
Charlie wanted to focus on improving her scoring skills since the team would be playing against other schools soon—their first game was on Thursday. Charlie wanted to be a starter, not sit on the bench, and the next few days of practice would help Coach Candy decide the lineup. So Charlie became intent on doing the best she could . . . without the bracelet's help.

Of course Kelly got in the way sometimes. Ever since their collision on the field, Charlie had largely ignored her, both on the field and backstage. And Kelly kept her distance for the most part as well—especially recently. Both were nice when they were together, but it was clear that they would never be best friends—not like Charlie and Maria. And Mac, of course.

Coach divided up the team to scrimmage, and Maria and Charlie were on the blue team together this time. Kelly was on the opposing side wearing red, and after she'd been noticeably quiet at school during the day, she was burning up the field.

“Kelly's playing really hot today,” Charlie remarked to Maria as they walked back to their positions after she scored another goal.

“Yeah, she's doing great,” said Maria. “She was acting pretty
loco
in the locker room earlier, though. Had a screaming fight on the phone with her mom. It wasn't pretty.”

“Hmm,” said Charlie. Part of her wished she'd witnessed it, but then she felt bad—screaming fights with parents were never fun. And she'd had enough tension with her own parents lately to feel sympathy, even for Kelly. “I'm kind of glad I missed that.”
She moved to her spot as left forward. Coach blew the whistle, and Charlie's team took the ball.

The red team's forwards and halfbacks attacked Charlie's team's advancing line in layers. Their fullbacks, including Kelly, moved up to try and gain control in case the ball went flying. Charlie stayed with her line, edging toward the middle of the field a bit more as the center forward wove around the opposition.

When the ball broke loose, Charlie dug in her cleats and went after it, dodging around the other players. One of the forwards on the red team, a tough, muscular girl named Vanessa, charged toward the ball as well. Charlie had gotten tangled up with Vanessa a few times during scrimmages, and they'd had some good-natured complaining to do about each other, but they kept it friendly. Now, with the stakes high for the forwards who all coveted the four starting spots, Vanessa had a determined look on her face.

Charlie's face matched it. Vanessa was bigger, but Charlie was a tiny bit more agile, so the race was on for the loose ball. But then, out of nowhere, Kelly rushed in and captured it. The two forwards tripped over each other and scrambled to their feet just in time to watch Kelly take the ball straight down the center and pass it off to a red-shirted halfback, who took it all the way to the goal and scored.

Vanessa cheered her team on, and Charlie went back to her position, disappointed and breathing hard.

The next time Charlie had possession, Vanessa was there again.
Simultaneously they connected with the ball, sending it soaring straight up. They jockeyed for position under it, but Charlie knew Vanessa's height would win out this time. Vanessa leaped up to head the flying ball, but she mistimed her jump and came down on top of Charlie, who caught the girl. Immediately Charlie realized that her bracelet had activated, so she dropped Vanessa and fell to the ground, both of them sprawling over the grass. Charlie flopped to her back, the wind knocked out of her. She lay there for a second, seeing stars and feeling the bracelet burning on her wrist. The ball rolled out of bounds.

When Charlie could breathe, she got to her feet. “You okay, Vanessa?” Charlie asked, holding out a hand but being careful not to yank the girl to her feet.

“I'm good,” Vanessa said. She hopped up and down, keeping her game face on.

“Blue team's ball!” Coach hollered.

Charlie jogged a few steps to make sure everything was working properly. The bracelet stayed warm. She gave it a quick click and looked at the screen, seeing the elephant lit up. Only the strength ability was activated.

Charlie took a spot on the field near where the ball had gone out of bounds and waited for her teammate to throw it in. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kelly step up behind her.

The ball flew over their heads. They both turned to run toward it, Kelly pushing off Charlie to get a head start. With only her
strength activated, not speed, Charlie had to hustle to catch up to Kelly and get in front of her, but by some miracle she pulled it off. She started toward the goal, almost no opposition in front of her. But Kelly was on her heels, trying with all her might—and almost succeeding—to get the ball away from Charlie.

Charlie passed to the teammate on her right and faked left as the red team's halfbacks caught up with them. With a look of consternation, Kelly realized how far she'd strayed from her position. She abandoned her efforts, letting her teammates do their job, and turned to jog back toward the goal to protect it with the other fullbacks.

As the blue team drew close, Charlie's teammate flipped the ball back to Charlie. Seeing her shot, Charlie pulled her leg back and punted the ball as hard as she could toward the goal. The ball screamed toward it . . . heading straight for Kelly. Kelly didn't see it coming until she looked up at the last second. The ball struck her hard in the side of her face, knocking her off her feet, and ricocheted directly into the goal.

Which meant that Kelly had accidentally scored against her own team.

Everyone was silent for a split second, trying to comprehend what had just happened, and then several of Charlie's teammates began cheering for the goal. Some of the girls on Kelly's team exploded in anger, while others ran to make sure Kelly was okay.

“Oh, crud,” Charlie whispered. She put her hand in the air,
claiming fault—though, in truth, if Kelly had watched where she was going, she might have dodged the hit in time. Thankfully Kelly soon rose to her feet, her cheek an angry shade of red. She was furious. Charlie glanced at Maria with a look of relief once she saw that Kelly wasn't seriously hurt.

As Coach declared the blue team victorious and called an end to practice, Charlie ran over to Kelly to apologize, but the girl was surrounded.

Not wanting to fight her way through the crowd, Charlie headed to the locker room instead to change first. Maria caught up with her, and they walked together.

“Chuck, you need to be careful,” Maria murmured. “Did you notice the bracelet had activated? That was a really intense kick.”

“I know,” Charlie said. “I wasn't aiming for Kelly—she just got in the way.”

Maria shot her a sympathetic smile, and the two parted in the sea of players. They'd have to talk later.

Charlie started to get dressed amid the chatter. Some of the girls were imitating Kelly and the way she got bowled over when the ball hit her. Charlie frowned and hurried to pack up her things, wanting to get out of there before Kelly came in and heard her teammates making fun of her. Sure, Charlie didn't really like Kelly all that much, but she didn't want people to be mean to her either.

When Charlie was ready, she grabbed her backpack and phone and slipped through the locker room, then paused at the door,
feeling like she should tell them all to lay off. But she changed her mind. She was still really new here. She didn't want people to turn on her, too. Besides, a tiny part of Charlie thought Kelly could use a bit of ridicule to take her down a notch. She turned to go.

As she went out the door and toward the path that led to home, she saw Kelly coming in from the field. Kelly glowered at her.

Charlie slowed, feeling guilty. “Are you okay?” she asked, trying not to stare at the giant red blotch on Kelly's cheek. “I'm sorry—I didn't mean to hit you with the ball.”

Kelly's eyebrows twitched. And while her mouth remained in its angry pout, her other features softened the tiniest bit. She turned her head away. “I'm fine,” she said with a cool smile.

“Good. Because we're on the same team from here on out.”

“Whether we like it or not,” Kelly said, and even though she still wore a smile, she didn't seem happy. She hesitated, then kept going to the locker room.

Charlie watched her for a moment, then turned away and walked home.

E
ver since Saturday morning at the movies, Mac had been acting a little strange. But he seemed as excited as always when the three of them were talking secretly about the bracelet and its powers. Charlie couldn't quite figure out what was going on with him.

At lunch on Tuesday, Maria glanced over her shoulder at Kelly's table, then leaned toward Charlie, who sat across from her. “Did you see the bruise you gave her?”

“Yeah,” said Charlie. “How could I miss it?”

Mac squinted at Charlie. “You gave her that? How?”

“Hit her with the ball when my strength kicked in. Not on purpose. She got in the way.”

“Wow,” said Mac. “Bet she was mad.”

“No kidding,” said Charlie.

“I wonder why your strength turned on in the first place,” said Maria. “Was it another one of those weird glitches like Friday night?”

“I don't think so,” said Charlie. “Vanessa fell on me, and that turned it on.”

“Weird glitches?” asked Mac. He gave Maria an accusing look.

“Sorry. Forgot to tell you about that part.” Maria filled him in on the things that he didn't know had happened at Charlie's house with the scary movie, and then in a quieter voice she explained to Mac how they'd expected the speed power to kick in, but the strength power had turned on for some reason.

“That's strange,” said Mac. “Did you look at the bracelet at all?”

“Yeah,” said Charlie. “The elephant was lit up—in color. It was pretty cool. I'll have to show you the next time it's activated. It's back to normal now.” She shoved up her sleeve and held out her arm to show him.

He scooted his chair back a few inches and leaned away. “That's okay,” he said, looking around. “I've seen that.”

Charlie's eyes narrowed. “Ooh-kay,” she said. She pushed her sleeve over the bracelet and sat back.

Maria didn't seem to notice. “You should have seen the wall at Charlie's house, though,” she said, shaking her head.

“I saw the photo.”

“And the doorstop—holy smokes. She obliterated it.”

Mac stopped scanning the cafeteria and looked at her. “Guess you had to be there,” he said, a little too lightly.

Maria picked up on his tone this time. She frowned. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” said Mac. “I . . . I gotta go work on a thing. Meeting a friend. Later.”

Mac left with his tray. Maria watched him catch up to a group of guys. “See? He's doing it again.”

Charlie shrugged. “I don't know what's up with him. But starting tomorrow I'm going to help out with the set for the musical during lunch. The show is Friday night, and we're not even close to being ready. We could use some more help—do you want to come?”

“I don't know,” said Maria dubiously. “Isn't Mr. Anderson kind of nuts?”

Charlie grinned. “A little, but building the set is really fun, and he's not around much. When I started here,” she confided, “I picked theater class as an elective because my mom thought it would be good to help me make friends.” She grimaced. “But it sounded easy, so I went along with it.”

Maria laughed. “Moms,” she said, shaking her head.

“I know. But it turns out theater class is way better than I expected it would be.” Her face began to light up as she talked. “We get to use tools without any adults hovering over us making us nervous. And Sara, the stage manager, is really cool—she asks my opinion about the set even though I'm new.”

“Sara Cortez? I know her. She's nice.”

Charlie nodded and went on. “Mr. Anderson has a lot going on with the actors and musicians, so he leaves us alone and has us figure out how to do stuff on our own. He's in the building if we need him, obviously, but he keeps telling us it's
our
production, so
we're in charge, not him.” She pondered for a moment, trying to pinpoint what it was she liked so much about that. “He trusts us,” she said finally. “So . . . do you wanna come help?”

Maria gave a small smile. “Sure,” she said. “I guess if Mac is going to keep ditching me, anything sounds better than sitting here alone.”

The next day Charlie and Maria met up before lunch and walked together past the cafeteria building on their way to the auditorium. As they crossed the courtyard, they ran into Mac.

“Hey,” he said. “So you're working on the set?”

“Like I told you this morning,” said Maria, a bit coolly.

“Okay, well, I was just making sure,” said Mac, looking down. He kicked a rock off the sidewalk into the stones nearby. “Have fun.” He started toward the cafeteria.

Maria watched him go, her face troubled.

Charlie felt a pang of pity for both of them. “Wait,” she called after Mac. “We could use more help if you want to come along.”

Mac stopped and turned back to the girls. He studied them for a second and then shrugged. “I mean, if you really need help, I suppose I could.”

“Come on,” said Charlie, and Mac caught up with them.

Charlie tracked down Mr. Anderson to let him know she'd brought friends, and he was very glad to have the extra help. Since Charlie knew what was going on with the set, he let her give them
their jobs, and he disappeared to work with a few of the actors.

Charlie showed Mac and Maria the construction area backstage, which was opposite the side where Kelly usually hung out with a few of her adoring stagehands when she wasn't rehearsing. Charlie pointed out two towering pillars that were lying on their sides.

“I painted them yesterday during class,” Charlie said to Maria and Mac. “Now we just need you to do the black trim, and then carefully carry these guys onstage and set them up on the movable platform.”

“Aren't they heavy?” asked Maria.

“Nope,” said Charlie. “They're made of Styrofoam, so they're light. There should be tape marking the spots where they go.” She turned and pointed. “Black paint and brushes are right there on the worktable, and the trim parts that need paint are marked on the diagram next to the pillars. Any questions?”

Maria shook her head. “I think we've got it.”

Mac, looking like he might be regretting his decision to help, picked up the brushes and paint, and he and Maria got started.

Charlie heard a loud thump, followed by arguing on the other side of the stage. “I'll be right back,” she said. She went to investigate and found the kitchen set piece in disarray. Kelly was red faced—and not just from the bruise—and arguing with Sara. A few set changers stood off to the side, eyeing the argument but having a quiet discussion of their own.

Charlie had seen Kelly tangle with Sara before, and she didn't want any part of it. She started backing away, but Sara saw her. “Charlie, come over here. What do you think about this? Kelly—who does
not
do any set changes—thinks that the kitchen should be brought on and off the stage in pieces during scene changes. Some of the set changers and I think it'll take way too much time to do it that way, and it'll sound like a herd of elephants to have that many crew pulling off the table, chairs, cupboards, and all the dish props and appliances too.”

“What did Mr. Anderson say?” asked Charlie.

“He told me to handle it,” said Sara. She eyed Kelly and lifted her chin.

Charlie blew out a breath and studied the bulky set. She refused to look at Kelly, though she could feel the girl's eyes practically boring a hole through her skull. Somehow Charlie doubted that Kelly had forgiven her for hitting her with the ball. She hoped that stage makeup would cover the bruise for the show, or Kelly might explode.

“Why do you think we need to tear it down each time, Kelly?” Charlie asked carefully.

“Because it's too heavy to push it onstage, even on wheels,” said Kelly. “These set people were just running through a scene change, and they made such a racket trying to push it that I could hear them from the seats. I don't want my audience listening to a bunch of grunting, sweaty cows.”

The set changers stopped whispering and stared at Kelly.

“Hey,” Charlie said quietly. “You wouldn't have a show without us. Maybe if you want it to go well you should try appreciating all the work people are doing just so you can sing your solo.”

“Maybe all you should appreciate that it's thanks to me and the rest of the cast that you even have something to do,” Kelly said.

Charlie frowned. “Are you serious?”

Kelly sniffed haughtily and looked away, folding her arms. “Nobody asked you anyway,” she muttered.

“I asked her,” said Sara.

Charlie shot Sara a strained look, then went back to Kelly. “I think you should let the stage manager make the call on set changes.”

She turned and walked over to the set pieces. When assembled, it looked like a real little kitchen perched atop a 10-by-12 platform on wheels. There were walls on two sides with cabinets attached and painted cardboard appliances in place. A hefty dining table with six chairs filled out the rest of the space.

The platform was large and took up a lot of the backstage area, but it also held items that would be difficult to move individually.

Charlie looked at Sara. “I'll ask my parents if I can work backstage for both shows if you want me to, so I can help the set changers push it.” She glanced at Kelly. “And none of us will be grunting.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “I doubt you'll make a difference,” she scoffed.

Charlie raised an eyebrow and said nothing, while Sara ignored Kelly completely. “That would be great, Charlie,” she said, and turned to the set changers. “Put it back together, and let's try this again.”

The set changers obeyed.

Charlie pulled out her phone and hesitated. “Will I get in trouble if Mr. Anderson sees me texting them?”

“
Pfft
. Not a chance,” said Sara.

Charlie sent off a quick text to her parents and turned off her phone again. “I'm sure it'll be okay.” She walked around the set piece as the other crew put things in place. “Has anyone thought about greasing up the wheels?”

One of the set changers spoke up, looking a little guilty. “I couldn't find that spray grease stuff.”

Charlie looked around and hollered, “Who has the WD-40?”

A girl whose name Charlie couldn't remember came over with it. Charlie got down on the floor and showed her where to spray. She could see more wheels under the center of the platform, but they were out of reach, so she hoped getting the outer ones done would be enough. They rocked the platform back and forth a little.

“Let's test it out,” Sara said. She called over the other set changers. “Okay, so in the kitchen scene, Kim—played by Kelly—and her family are all eating a meal. When we kill the lights, let's have
the actors exit stage left and crew enter stage right to push the platform off so we don't all run into each other.” Sara turned to Kelly, who stood observing the situation with arms folded across her chest. “Will that work for you to exit stage left after every kitchen scene?”

“I suppose.” Kelly watched for a moment, then walked away, the click of her shoes echoing across the stage.

“Good,” Sara said, seeming relieved that Kelly was gone. “Thanks, Charlie.”

Charlie smiled. “Sure.”

Sara clapped her hands to get the crew's attention. “Okay, crew, let's time this. I'll hold the curtain aside so the top of the set can clear it.”

Charlie, another girl, and two boys took their places along one end of the platform.

“It's too heavy,” warned one of the boys, who was a huge admirer of the queen, apparently despite her insults. “The wheels under the center of the platform are the ones that get jacked up so we can't get it going.”

“Let's just try this,” Charlie said. “You've got me now.” Knowing the bracelet wouldn't help, she hoped her regular strength was enough to get the thing rolling.

The boy snorted.

When Sara said “Go!” Charlie put all her weight into pushing. The blood rushed to her head. Her arms strained, and her hands
hurt from boring into the wooden frame. The platform leaned a few inches, but the wheels barely budged. After a minute the three gave up.

“Sheesh,” Charlie said under her breath. She felt her bracelet. It was stone-cold.
Big surprise
, she thought. She looked around and called Maria and Mac over, and told them what they were trying to do.

Mac dropped to all fours and peered under the platform. “Why didn't you oil the wheels in the center?”

“We can't reach them—the platform isn't high enough to get under there.”

Mac squinted. “I can do it.” Before anybody could protest, he grabbed the can of WD-40 and flattened himself to the floor, then began sliding under the platform, head turned to one side to fit.

Sara got down on her hands and knees and watched him. “Are you sure you should be doing that?” she called out.

“I'm fine,” Mac said. His legs and feet disappeared under the set piece.

After a minute Charlie and the others heard the telltale sound of the spray can, followed by a muffled shout, “There's your problem!” followed by a sudden coughing fit. “Yuck,” Mac muttered when he stopped coughing. “That stuff is lethal.”

“Don't breathe that junk, Mac,” said Maria, sounding worried. Charlie wondered why, but then remembered Mac's inhaler.

“Quiet, Maria,” Mac warned.

Charlie and Maria exchanged glances. Sara got down to look under the set piece. “Great job, Mac,” she said. “You can come on out now.”

“I'm coming,” said Mac. He coughed.

They waited.

Sara squinted. “Mac?”

“One second!” he called. “Oof.”

That didn't sound good. Charlie and Maria dropped to the floor too.