Like Carrot Juice on a Cupcake (11 page)

but
Ainsley
has a crush on
Adam
!”

Everyone turned and stared at Ainsley.

“You have a crush on Adam?” Katie said.

Ainsley’s face flushed pink

and her mouth dropped open.

Then she said,
“What?”

“Eleanor said you have a crush on Adam,” Ben said.

I wanted to cry out, “No, I didn’t!”

But everyone had heard me!

“How did Eleanor—” Ainsley said.

“I never—” Ainsley said.

Then she narrowed her eyes

and turned and
glared
at Pearl

and said, “You
told
her? That was a
secret
!”

“I’m so sorry!” Pearl said.

Then Pearl turned to
me

and gave me a look she’d never, ever

given me before.

That look said,

How
could
you?

and

I was wrong to
ever
trust you
.

My heart ripped in pieces.

“I didn’t mean—” I started to say.

“I was just joking!” I tried to tell everyone.

But nobody listened.

Because Adam and Nicholas were

walking into the room.

“What happened?” Adam asked,

when everyone stared at him.

And that’s when Ainsley started crying

and ran from the room.

Pearl ran after her.

And I covered my face with my hands.

I
hated
that I hadn’t kept that secret.

My whole body felt sweaty.

And I kept thinking,

over and over,

I am going to throw up.

I really am.

I froze there

for two seconds.

Then I ran out of the room, too.

I had to follow Pearl and Ainsley.

I
had
to apologize.

I figured they’d probably be in the bathroom.

So I ran there first.

A kindergartner was standing on a step stool,

washing her hands.

I rushed past her

and checked all of the stalls.

They were empty,

except the one farthest from the door.

I looked under the door of that stall

and saw two pairs of feet:

Pearl’s sneakers

and Ainsley’s glittery flats.

I felt a tiny bit of relief,

seeing those four feet together.

Maybe Ainsley won’t hate Pearl forever

because of me
, I thought.

Then I banged on the door.

“It’s Eleanor!” I said loudly,

so they’d be sure to hear me.

“I’m
so
sorry!

I am
so
,
so
sorry!”

I heard a sniffle.

Then I heard someone whisper something.

It sounded like “oh away.”

Then Pearl called through the door,

“Ainsley wants you to go away.

I
want you to go away.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the face.

Then
I
started crying.

My best friend,

Pearl,

wanted me to go away.

And it was all my fault.

“I didn’t mean to do it!” I said

in a high and shaky voice.

I squeezed my eyes shut

and tried to
think

about how I could fix this.

“I’ll keep taking it back,” I said.

“I’ll tell everyone I didn’t mean it.

I’ll put up posters

saying Ainsley barely even
knows
Adam.”

That made Ainsley cry
louder
.

“I want to move back to Orlando!” she wailed.

“Eleanor, you
have
to go away!” Pearl yelled.

And so I turned to run away.

I saw then

that the kindergartner was still on her stool,

with water still gushing out of the faucet.

She was staring at me with huge eyes

through the mirror.

“You’re wasting water!” I told her,

in a voice that was much too mean.

Which was
another
bad thing I did!

Because I was upset!

She turned off the water, quick,

and I finally ran from there.

I didn’t even bother going back to class.

I went straight to the school nurse instead.

I needed her to send me
home
.

I did not have to lie to the nurse.

Because I was actually feeling terrible.

“My stomach hurts,” I told her. “My head, too.

And I just want to go to sleep.”

“Which side of your stomach hurts?” she asked.

“The whole thing,” I said.

She took my temperature then

and called my mom.

“Eleanor doesn’t have a fever,” she said.

“But she doesn’t feel good. Or look good, either.

I think she’s coming down with something.”

Then the nurse listened for a second

and said, “I’ll let her know.”

She hung up the phone and told me,

“Your mom will be here very soon.

Why don’t you go to your cubby

and gather what you need.”

I felt a little lighter then.

I was going home!

The hallway was empty

because everyone else was in class.

I felt relieved, not seeing anybody.

But that didn’t last long.

Because

after I got to my cubby

and started gathering everything I thought I’d need,

I noticed some pale pink fabric

wadded up

in a back corner.

My heart fell then.

I knew exactly what that fabric was.

It was the sparkly sweatshirt Ainsley had given me,

so very nicely.

The one her mom had made.

I lifted it slowly out of my cubby

and unwadded it.

It had been so neat and smooth and new

when Ainsley gave it to me.

Now it was wrinkled

and covered with greasy cookie crumbs

and marked up

all over