Ruby Reinvented (5 page)

There's a knock on the office door, and Mrs. Kearney opens it.

“Hello, Summer. You're right on time.” She turns to me.
“Ruby, this is Summer. Summer, this is Ruby. Summer will be showing you around today.”

“Oh, that is so nice, Bea,” Ellie says. “A student will give you the tour.”

“Yes, I think Summer will be much more interesting than me.” Mrs. Kearney laughs and then turns to Summer. “Go ahead and get started. We'll catch up.”

Ellie and Mrs. Kearney talk, and Summer opens the door for me. I follow her out of the office and back into the entryway. She totally looks like a Summer. Her windblown hair is dirty blond with lighter blond streaks, and she has a splash of freckles across her nose. She's wearing a pink skirt over purple tights with yellow polka dots, and on top of those she's wearing knee-high socks that don't match. A pair of flowered rubber boots cover her feet. I could never wear something like that, but she pulls the look off perfectly.

“Is your name Ruby or Bea? 'Cause Mrs. Kearney said Ruby, but your mom said Bea.”

“Oh, that's not my mom,” I say.

“Who is she, then?” Summer asks.

“My nanny,” I say.

Summer blinks but doesn't say anything. My face heats up. What if normal kids don't have nannies? Did I just blow it with her, talking about my nanny? I have to fix this immediately.

“I mean my nana. She's my nana.” The words spill out of my mouth.

“Oh, I have a nana too. She lives in New Jersey.”

I exhale.

“So how come your nana brought you and not your parents?”

“My parents couldn't bring me,” I say. My palms are getting sweaty, and I wipe them on my jeans.

“How come?” she asks.

I wasn't expecting this question. I can't tell her the truth, that my mom's the host of the number-one-rated TV show
America's Next Cover Model
and my dad's the most popular player in the major leagues, and by the way, did I mention that my mom is Celestine Cruz and my dad is Zack Miller and the only reason you'll want to be friends with me is to meet them?

“I don't have parents.” I have no idea why I say that. This conversation is happening too fast.

“What happened to them?”

“They died.”

What am I doing?
Why was that the first thing that popped into my head? Lines of sweat are dripping down the back of my neck, and I feel like my face will melt off any second.

“Oh.” Summer looks me right in the eyes. “I'm really sorry. I hope you're okay.”

“I'm—fine,” I stammer. “It was—it was a long time ago. I barely remember when it happened.” Which is probably because it never did happen.

She nods. “Well, I think you'll really like it here.”

“You do?” I ask, grateful that we're done talking about my parents, who apparently I don't have.

“Oh yeah. The kids are a lot of fun, and the teachers are really nice. I mean, math is still math and it's still really boring, but art and PE and drama are awesome.”

Summer leads me outside, and we walk on a path that winds between buildings. “So should I call you Ruby or Bea?”

I've never thought about that before. Only my family calls me Bea. But this is a new place. New friends. And now, I decide, a new name.

“My full name is Ruby, but I like to be known as Bea.”

“Okay, Bea.” Summer gives me a smile. “What do you want to see first?”

 6 

M
IDCOAST ACADEMY IS amazing.

Summer shows me the middle school classrooms, the gym, the theater, the art room, the garden, and the soccer fields. We meet some of her friends, and everyone is super sweet. Ellie and Mrs. Kearney are following us, but they're busy talking with each other.

“Summer,” Mrs. Kearney calls. “Why don't you take Ruby to the dorms and show her around?”

“Sure, Mrs. Kearney,” Summer says. “But she wants to be called Bea.”

“Okay then.” Mrs. Kearney smiles. “Take Bea to the dorms and show her around.”

I glance back at Ellie. She looks at me, eyebrows raised, but I see that her lips are curling into a small smile.

I follow Summer into a bigger building. This one doesn't look anything like the others we visited. It's more like a motel, complete with a lobby and a couple of vending machines.

Summer swipes a card next to a glass door and pulls it open. I follow her, and the door clicks shut behind us. We step into a long hallway with doors on each side, just like in those motels you find off the highway. I went to one once when my mom's manager booked her in the wrong place. I follow Summer up a flight of stairs, and then down another long hallway.

“So everyone who goes to the school lives here?” I look around at all the doors, each one decorated differently.

“Not everyone.” Summer bounces down the hall, which is pretty quiet since kids are in class. “But a lot of us. This is the middle school dorm. The girls are in one wing and the boys are in another. The high school dorm is in another building.”

Summer stops at a door with a hot pink corkboard. There are Post-it notes tacked all over it, some with pictures of smiley faces, some with just writing. Summer puts her key in the lock and pushes the door open. Half of the room is an explosion of hot pink. There's a hot pink fuzzy rug, a hot pink beanbag chair, and a hot pink bedspread. Another hot pink corkboard hangs from the wall above the bed, this one ten times bigger than the one hanging on the door. It's
covered with postcards and photos. Posters of puppies and kittens hang on either side of the window, which faces out into a courtyard.

“This is my room. And your room, if you decide to go here.”

“Really?” I can't help but smile. “We'd be roommates?”

“Yep.” Summer kicks her boots off and bounces on her bed. “I had a roommate last semester but she left. She was really homesick. Want to jump?”

“On your bed?” I eyeball the twin bed and wonder if it would fit both of us.

“No, on your bed!” Summer laughs.

I glance over at the empty bed on the other side of the room. I carefully take my shoes off, put them by the side of the door. I climb onto the bed and lightly jump up and down.

Summer cracks up. “That's not jumping. Your feet are barely moving.”

I bounce a little harder and go a little higher. A giggle escapes my lips, and within seconds I'm laughing harder than I've laughed in months.

“Your hair looks so crazy right now!” Summer says. “It's standing straight up.”

“So is yours!” I laugh even harder when I try to picture Sophie jumping on a bed. As if Sophie would ever do
anything
to mess up her hair.

Summer stops jumping and flops down on the bed.
“That was fun. I guess we should keep going, though, or Mrs. Kearney will think we got lost or something.”

We head back downstairs, but instead of going out the main door, we go out a different one that leads into the courtyard I saw out Summer's window. Tables and chairs cover a stone patio, and benches sit underneath tall oak trees.

As we're about to go back to the main campus, a bunch of kids come pouring outside. They're led by a man with shaggy brown hair and a short beard. The man waves us over.

“Summer, why don't you introduce us to your new friend?”

“Sure, Mr. Desmond.” Summer takes me by the hand, and we take a few steps toward the group.

“This is Bea. She's visiting Midcoast today.” Summer then motions to the man. “This is Mr. Desmond, my science teacher. And these are the kids in my class.”

Everyone talks at once. They're all smiling and welcoming me. Some even shake my hand.

“Okay, okay,” Mr. Desmond says. “Let's give Bea some breathing room.”

I look down at the ground and smile. It feels weird to have everyone staring at me, but not bad weird like when I'm out with my parents.

“Well, Bea.” Mr. Desmond smiles at me. “I hope you're enjoying your tour, and maybe we'll see you here soon.”

“Yes, thank you. I hope so.” I'm still looking at the ground.

“Summer, we'll see you when you get back to class,” Mr. Desmond says to her.

“Okeydokey,” Summer says. “See you then.”

Some of the kids say stuff to her as they walk by. I notice a boy stops to talk to her for a longer time. She's whispering to him, and he's nodding, his light brown hair falling into his eyes. He smiles, and I notice that he has huge dimples just like Damon Gorman. My stomach flip-flops a little.

Nice teachers, a totally fun roommate, three ice cream shops nearby, a place where nobody knows who my parents are,
and
cute boys?

I must sign up immediately.

 7 

M
OM'S AND DAD'S faces appear on my ipad.

“So, tell us all about it.” Mom's grinning. A good sign.

I tell them about Summer and the campus and the dorms. They smile and nod, but I don't get the green light yet.

“Why don't you let us talk to Ellie?” Mom says.

The bathroom door that separates our rooms is open, and I can see that Ellie is going through her suitcase.

“Ellie!” Mom and Dad both cringe a little when I yell. “Can you come in here?”

Ellie stands behind me at the desk. I get up and let her sit in the chair so Mom and Dad can see her. Before I move behind her, I give her a pleading look with my eyes, praying she understands. I cross my fingers behind my back for extra luck.

“Hi, Ellie,” Dad says. “How's Maine?”

“It is cold.” Ellie pulls her sweater tighter. “But maybe not as cold as Siberia.”

Dad laughs. “What did you think of the school?”

I cross another set of fingers.

“It was very nice, Mr. Zack.”

“I did a little more research,” Mom says. “It seems Midcoast Academy has an excellent academic reputation. Everything I've read about it sounds great, but sometimes research doesn't tell the whole story. Did you get a good vibe, Ellie? I really hate being so far away for a decision like this.”