Odd Girl In (22 page)

She pulled a stopwatch out of her pocket and lifted it so we could read the zeroes. “And … begin.”

Parker and Nick dashed around, searching for twigs and grabbing the firewood. I just stood there, kicking at the dirt. If Ms. Success thought it was strange, she didn't say anything. She did, however, glance up sharply when Nick said a curse word.

“We've got plenty of wood but nothing to use as tinder!” he said. “The other teams must have taken it all.”

Parker groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “There's got to be something. Can we burn our shirts?”

Ms. Success cleared her throat loudly, and Parker jumped.

“I mean, uh, it'd be a tragedy, but if we had to—”

Nick shook his head. “They'd catch fire almost as slowly as the wood.”

I continued to stand off to the side by myself, arms crossed, watching my brothers struggle and feeling about two inches tall.

“We can burn leaves,” said Parker, pointing up. “We just have to get them out of the trees.”

“If that's the best we can do,” said Nick. “I'll search some more for twigs. You and Alex get the leaves.” For the
first time, he noticed my silence. “Okay, Alex? We need your help.”

But I couldn't. Not if I wanted to save Emily from my betrayal.

“I … I …” I shook my head and tears filled my eyes.

Nick put a hand on my arm. “What's wrong?”

“Are you sick?” asked Parker, joining us. “Do you need a doctor?”

Both of my brothers looked so concerned that my tears spilled over even more and splattered in the dirt. Ms. Success was watching me too, so Nick and Parker pulled me out of earshot.

And then I blurted everything about Emily, and Chloe, and Trevor. When I stopped confessing, I realized that all three of us were now sitting, Nick chewing on his knuckles and Parker massaging his scalp between his hands.

“Do you hate me?” I asked, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

Parker stopped rubbing. “Well, on a scale of one to ten …”

Nick elbowed him. “No, we don't hate you. We're your brothers. But we're sad that you'd try to trick us.”

Parker nodded, and I burst into fresh tears.

“I'm so, so sorry!” I threw my arms around Nick and then Parker. “I'm the worst person in the world!”

“Don't be silly,” said Parker as I left huge tearstains on
his shirt. “Although you may be the
soggiest
person in the world.”

I choked out a laugh and tried to compose myself.

“So what are we going to do?” asked Nick. “Do we take our sweet time so Chloe wins, or do we try and sweep this thing?”

I wrinkled my forehead. “Wait. You'd let us lose?”

Nick smiled sadly and shrugged. “If it means that much to you.”

“Woah!” cried Parker. “I totally don't agree with that. I want a thousand dollars.”

Nick gave him a look. “Even if it means Alex loses a friend?”

“She can buy a new one with her share of the money,” said Parker. “And Emily isn't a very good friend to begin with if she'd dump Alex for making a few mistakes.”

Nick opened his mouth to argue, but I stopped him.

“He's right. If I'm lucky, Emily will forgive me.” I squeezed Nick's hand. “But I'm not going to let you guys down.”

Nick squeezed back.

“Of course, it may not end up mattering,” I said, inspecting the forest around us. “Without tinder, we don't have a chance. We need something flammable…. And lots of it.”

And that was when my eyes fell on Parker.

I gasped and clapped a hand over my mouth, pointing at his hair.

“What?” he cried, covering his head. “Is it a flying fox?”

“No, your … your hair!” I sputtered. “It makes the perfect tinder!”

He backed away from me. “What?”

Nick's eyes lit up. “She's right! You have so much product in there that the alcohol alone would get this thing blazing!”

“You want me to cut off my hair?!” he shouted incredulously.

“It's for a good cause,” I said. “Don't you want to win a thousand dollars?”

“Not like this!” Parker patted his hair protectively.

“Your hair will grow back, Parker,” said Nick. “But this is a one-time chance for a
lot
of money.”

“But what would I spend it on?” whimpered Parker. “I won't need any more hair products if I'm bald!”

“We've been through a lot together, and we've sacrificed so much!” I said. “I'm about to lose one of the few friends I have; Nick tore up his leg…. Won't you take one for the team?”

Parker was quiet, and I could feel the seconds trickling away. Finally, he handed over his Swiss Army knife, the scissors jutting out.

Nick clapped him on the shoulder, and I hugged him.

The expression on Ms. Success's face was priceless as she watched us playing barber on Parker instead of building a fire. Parker kept his eyes closed the whole time, refusing to watch his lovely locks leave him.

When we felt confident we had enough, Nick struck the flint over it, and sparks settled into the hair, starting a small blaze.

“It worked!” I cried.

“It smells,” said Parker, wrinkling his nose.

“Bring the twigs,” said Nick. “We need to keep the blaze going.”

From the sidelines, I heard a “Huh!” and looked up to see Ms. Success shaking her head in amazement.

We stoked the fire, coaxed the fire, and practically sang to the fire, until the string finally snapped.

And while Ms. Success told us our time wasn't the best, it was enough to squeeze past Chloe's team for first place.

“Yes!” shouted Nick, punching the air.

Parker and I hugged and jumped up and down. I even allowed myself one tiny squeal.

When we rejoined the crowd, the expressions on our faces said everything. Dad bear-hugged us each in turn, and Emily and Trevor ran over, followed closely by Chloe. Her eyes were burning holes through me, and I knew there was no stopping her.

So I confessed to Emily before she could.

“Emily,” I said, taking her hand, “when you got mad at me the other day, I said some mean things about you to make myself feel better.”

She blinked and frowned. “Okay.”

“And when we were first becoming friends, I had Chloe pay me twenty dollars to keep you entertained at her party.”

Emily's frown deepened. “You … you needed money to hang out with me?” Beside her, Chloe smirked and crossed her arms.

“I'm sorry,” I told Emily. “I know what I did was wrong, but I'm new to this friendship thing. I mean, you're my first real friend. I don't want to lose you. And if you can ever forgive me, I promise I'll try harder.”

Emily's entire face scrunched up and her fists clenched at her sides, but instead of yelling, she reached out and hugged me. “Oh, Alexis! Of course I forgive you!”

“Oof!” was all I could reply as she squeezed the air out of me.

“You've got to be kidding.” Chloe grunted in disgust.

I glared at her. “Don't you have somewhere to be?”

Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Oh, suddenly you're the tough girl again?”

“I've always been the tough girl,” I told her. “It doesn't mean I can't have weak moments.”

Emily put an arm around me. “And when they happen, she has friends who can be tough
for
her.”

Chloe backed off, shaking her head. “Whatever. You deserve each other.”

“Yeah.” I smiled at Emily. “We definitely do.”

No sooner had Chloe stepped away than someone shoved in to fill her place in the crowd.

“Parker!” cried a pretty brunette girl. Her eyes were wide and she was taking in the former glory of his hair. “Parker, what happened?”

“Ashley?” my brother, pink-cheeked but pleased, pushed his way toward her. “What are you doing here?”

Ashley pointed to Nick. “Your brother told me …” She reached out to Parker and touched a short patch of hair. “How did this happen?”

Parker put his hand on hers. “We needed something to start the fire with.” He shrugged and grinned sheepishly. “And it's only hair.”

With a dramatic gasp and a lower lip quiver, Ashley threw her arms around Parker and kissed him.

“Aw,” said Emily.

“Ew,” said Nick and I.

A half hour later, Ms. Success presented my brothers and me with our championship check. We waved to the cheering crowd while Dad, beaming proudly, stood behind us.

As I felt the strength and comfort of my family's presence, I realized that I'd been handling the situation with Mom all wrong. I'd accused Emily of being self-absorbed, but when it came to my long-lost parent, I acted as if my attempts to reconnect with her only affected
me
. I couldn't ignore the feelings of my brothers or Dad anymore. Whatever problems we faced, we had to face them as a family.

Later, when the crowd dispersed and we were walking back to the car, I grabbed Dad's hand in one of mine and faced my brothers.

“What's up, Alex?” asked Nick.

After a deep, calming breath, I looked each member of my family in the eye. “We need to have another talk about Mom.”