Twice As Nice (11 page)

I reached into my jeans pocket and handed her the haircut appointment card from Principal Pfeiffer's desk.

“Item number three from my list,” I said. “Mission accomplished.”

Lauren looked at it, then burst out laughing. “Wait until I show this to Bethany,” she hooted. “She'll die. So now it's just lifting that cookie from Starbucks and you're done.”

“I was thinking . . . how about if we call it quits now?” I said.

“Are you kidding me, Charlie? Bethany is coming to Starbucks to watch you. After that, she'll give us her final permission to have the Initiation Ceremony tonight.”

“Wait, I didn't know everything depended on her.”

“Well, technically it doesn't,” Lauren said. “But she is our sponsor and also the most popular Wave in the whole high school. So I think we should listen to her, don't you? Now come on, let's sit down. We don't want any of the guys to get suspicious.”

At the lunch table, I noticed that Brooke was putting three packets of hot sauce on her tacos. She took one bite and started waving her hand in front of her mouth to cool it down. She reached for a cup of water and chugged the whole thing down. Lauren was watching her carefully.

“Wow, I didn't know you liked your food so hot,” the General said to her.

Brooke had reached into the cup and pulled out an ice cube. She was holding it to her tongue.

“Ahhh don't” she tried to say. She looked over at Lauren, her eyes watering from the heat inside her mouth.

“Good girl, Brookie,” Lauren whispered to her. “Now you're done.”

“Me too?” I asked. I thought it couldn't hurt to try one more time.

“You're almost done,” Lauren giggled. “Trust me, the best is yet to come.”

I wished with all my might that I was done, but Lauren wasn't letting me off the hook. Starbucks lay ahead—and along with it, my first time ever committing an actual crime.

“Charlie, over here,” Lauren called out as I made my way across the crowded patio of Starbucks.

Finally, I saw Lauren, standing at the far end with Brooke and Jillian and Bethany. They were each happily sipping a blended drink. Dodging tables and chairs, I crossed the patio and approached their smiling little group. I wasn't smiling. In fact, I felt like throwing up.

“What took you so long to get here?” Lauren asked.

“I even left my last period early so I wouldn't miss this,” Bethany said. “And you come strolling in late. I should ding you for this.”

“Ding?” I repeated.

“It's a Waves thing. Three dings and you're on probation. Five dings and you're out. We have a strict moral code.”

Right, she would be the one to know about a strict moral code, this girl who is asking me to steal.

“Don't be such a grump, Bethany,” Lauren said. “We're here to celebrate, aren't we? This is the last initiation test before we all become Junior Waves.”

I looked at Jillian and Brooke. They didn't seem nearly as nervous as I was.

“Aren't you guys scared?” I asked them.

“Of what?” Jillian said. “Drinking a mocha blended? I do that every day.”

I looked at Lauren and before I could ask her, she answered the question she knew was on my mind.

“You're the only one who's been asked to take a cookie from Starbucks, Charlie. The other girls have finished their initiation assignments. Remember, Brooke had to do that thing at lunch?”

“Wait a minute,” I complained. “Brooke has to eat some hot sauce, and I have to steal? That's not fair! I already stole something off Principal Pfeiffer's desk. That should be enough!”

“Well,” Bethany said, “I explained to Lauren that you had farther to go to prove your loyalty, given what happened with Sean and Jared and everything. So we had to make your test a little tougher than Brooke's or Jillian's.”

“What about Lily? Is she doing this, too?” I asked.

“Oh no,” Lauren said. “All of Lily's assignments had to do with getting the T-shirts ready in time. That's why she's not here.”

“Does she know about this?”

“Charlie,” Lauren said, her voice sounding really impatient, “for your information, a president doesn't have to tell the members every little detail.”

Oh, so that explained it. I didn't think Lily was the kind of person who'd go along with a plan that involved stealing.

“Now come on, Charlie,” Bethany said, checking the time on her phone. “Get this over with. Just walk past the basket, slip a packaged cookie into your pocket, and then get in line and order a Frappuccino. No big deal. We've all done worse things.”

Maybe she had, but I hadn't.

Quickly, I walked past the basket that held the cookies. I was so nervous, I felt like my mouth was filled with cotton. Then, in one swift move, I picked one up and slipped it in my pocket. I was literally shaking by the time I got to the front of the line.

“What'll you have, honey?” the man behind the counter asked me.

“One Frappuccino.” My voice sounded shaky to me. I wondered if it sounded that way to him, too.

“Want anything to eat with that?”

I shook my head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lauren and the girls giggling and nodding. Quickly, I looked away from them. Out of the window, I saw a black-and-white police car cruising by. I started to really panic.

“So what do we have again?” Jake asked, snapping my attention back. “Just one Frappuccino?”

I felt a hand grab my shoulder from the back. I wheeled around so fast, it made me dizzy. I honestly thought I was going to faint. This was it. The moment I had been dreading. I knew what I did was wrong, and now I was going to have to pay for it. Why, oh why, did I do it?

It wasn't the police, though. It was Spencer, grinning at me with both of his deep darling dimples showing. I was never so glad to see a friendly face.

“They told me I'd find you here,” he said. “Looks like I arrived just in time.”

Oh no! Did he know, too? “In time for wh-wh-what?” I stammered.

“To buy you a Starbucks,” he grinned.

“Why?”

“Because you gave me your lunch. And because I think us guys who love cold pizza need to stick together.”

“Come on, kids. You're holding up the line,” Jake said, a little irritated now. “What do you have?”

“One Frappuccino,” Spencer said.

“And a chocolate-chip cookie,” I added, quickly pulling the cookie out of my pocket, hoping no one noticed. Suddenly, I felt so light and free I wanted to dance or sing or shout.

Spencer reached into his wallet and pulled out a ten dollar bill, enough money to pay for both the drink AND the cookie.

Let me just say this now—and you can go ahead and think I'm crazy if you want to. But I actually believe that Spencer's arrival right at that very moment was a sign. I don't know from whom or from what. But I do know that he arrived just in time to stop me from doing something that I knew was wrong. Maybe if he hadn't come, I wouldn't have stolen the cookie, anyway. I hope that's true. But he did come, and was I ever glad to see him.

Lauren wasn't.

When I went back to the girls, Lauren glared at me and said, “He ruined everything.”

“It wasn't my fault he showed up,” I said. “I didn't ask him to.”

“What matters is if Charlie finishes her initiation,” Jillian said. “Did she, Lauren?”

Lauren looked at Bethany, who just shrugged.

“You're the president,” she said. “Presidents have to make tough decisions.”

By the time Lauren made her decision, I had already joined Spencer at a table on the patio, and we were sharing the best chocolate-chip cookie I'd ever had.

“I've decided to let you in,” Lauren's text had said. “Meet on the beach at sunset.”

Spencer watched my face as I popped the last bit of cookie into my mouth and read the text. I broke out into a big smile.

“Looks like you got some good news,” he said, and waited for me to say something. But I just nodded and changed the subject.

I was relieved. I guess Lauren thought I had proved my loyalty. Now I wouldn't have to do any more of those horrible initiation assignments. I could just look forward to the ceremony on the beach, where we'd be sworn in as sisters forever, and my life as a Junior Wave would begin for real.

When I got home, Sammie was lying on her bed, flipping through some pictures on her phone.

“How's it going with Sara and the makeover?” I asked as I slipped off my school clothes and changed into a pair of clean jeans.

“Why'd you bring that up?” she asked without looking up.

“Because I assume those are the pictures you're looking at. Am I right?”

She looked up from her phone long enough to give me a crabby look.

“How come you get to ask all the questions?” she said. “I've got one for you. Why won't you tell me what's going on with you?”

“Nothing's going on.”

“Fine, then nothing's going on with Sara, either.”

“Sammie,” my dad called from the kitchen. “Come set the table. And help GoGo with dinner.”

“I gotta go,” she said, putting her phone back into the side pocket of her purse and zipping it up. We both keep our phones zipped up in the side pockets of our bags so they're out of nosy Ryan's sight. He thinks it's a riot to read our texts and make fun of them. He believes texts should just be for making plans: “meet you at seven,” that kind of thing. So when we say “love you” or “can't wait to see you” or “sleep tight,” he thinks it's hilarious.

After Sammie left, I glanced out the window and saw Lauren and Brooke arriving at the club. Lily was following behind them, carrying what looked like a laundry bag stuffed with clothes. I saw her walk out toward the beach, while Lauren and Brooke stayed behind talking to each other. From their body language, I could tell something was wrong. In twenty seconds, there was an urgent knock at my bedroom door. When I opened it, Brooke was crying and Lauren looked furious.

“Charlie,” Brooke said tearfully. “I need to borrow your charger. My phone's dead.”

“A certain somebody forgot to charge her phone,” Lauren said. “I wonder who.”

I went to my dresser and took the charger out of the plug in the wall.

“Here,” I said, handing it to Brooke. “Problem solved.”

Brooke looked at the charger and burst into more tears.

“This is for the old model,” she said. “It won't work on my phone.”

“I didn't think anyone still had an old phone like yours,” Lauren said to me.

“I'm getting a new one for my birthday.” That wasn't true. In fact, my dad had already made it clear that if I wanted a new phone, I was going to have to babysit and earn the money myself.

“What's the big deal, Brooke?” I asked, stepping aside so they could come in. “We don't need to talk on the phone during the ceremony.”

“I need the phone to play the song,” she said. “Our song. I stayed up half the night listening to a million songs, and I finally picked the perfect one that describes us. It's called “We Are the Champions” by this old band named King.”

“Queen,” I said. “The band is called Queen.”

Brooke's eyes grew wide. “You know the song?”

“Sure. It's on the playlist that Sammie and I listen to before every tournament. It gets us psyched up to win.”

“So do you have it on your phone?” Lauren asked.

“Yup.”

Brooke threw her arms around me.

“While you two are hugging it out, maybe Charlie can get out her phone.” Lauren sighed. “Nevermind. I'll get it.”

“In my bag, on the dresser. Zipper pocket—”

“I know . . . the side zipper pocket.” Lauren finished my sentence before I could. “Where you and Sammie hide your phones so Ryan can't get them. We've been best friends for almost two months, Charlie. I know everything about you.”

Actually, she didn't know everything. I hide my phone in the left-side zipper pocket. Sammie hides hers in the right side. But this was no time to get into details. We had an initiation ceremony to attend.

Lauren grabbed my phone and we headed out to the beach. Lily and Jillian were waiting for us at the end of the jetty. The sky was starting to turn a darker shade of blue, which meant that we only had a few minutes before sunset. We got started right away.

“I brought us low-fat chocolate mocha Frappuccinos,” Jillian said proudly, pulling five bottles out of a Starbucks bag and setting them down in a circle. “You won't believe this, but I actually called Neela for a suggestion, and she told me this is what the ancient Aztec people used in their ceremonies.”

“Wow, I didn't know they had Starbucks back then,” Brooke said.

“They didn't. At least, I don't think they did,” Jillian answered. “But Neela said they had cacao beans, which is what you make chocolate from. And when the Aztecs celebrated, they brought the kings cacao beans as special gifts. So that's why I picked the chocolate Frappuccinos and not the caramel ones.”

I thought it was very sweet that Jillian had done that much research. And that Brooke had stayed up late looking for just the right song. Everyone was taking this very seriously.

Next, Lily opened the laundry bag and pulled out five white shirts that belonged to her dad. She handed each of us one. Her dad is very tall, so the shirts looked like dresses on us. Then she reached into the bag and pulled out a whole bunch of bright orange flowers.

“These are marigolds,” she said. “Neela helped me pick them especially for tonight.”

She reached into the bag and pulled out five turquoise headbands.

“I thought we could each put one of these in our hair,” she said, “and tuck a few marigolds into it. Then our heads will be covered with turquoise and orange, the colors of the Junior Waves.”

We slipped the headbands on, and arranged the flowers in each other's hair.

“Look at us.” Lily beamed. “We look so good!”

The sun was lower in the sky by then, and the sea breeze was getting stronger. A few gulls and pelicans circled overhead, like they usually do when twilight starts to fall. Lauren asked us to gather in a circle and sit down. She told us to just sit for a moment and listen to the waves crashing against the jetty. Then she turned the volume up on my phone, placed it in the center of the circle and played “We Are the Champions.” Lily, Brooke, and I knew the words and sang along. By the middle of the song, everyone knew the chorus and we sang together at the top of our lungs.

We are the champions

No time for losers

'Cause we are the champions of the world.

When the song ended, Jillian passed out the Frappuccinos and Lauren officially began the ceremony.

“We are gathered here to become Junior Wave sisters,” Lauren began. “We are going to take a pledge that we will share everything and be loyal to each other forever. Each of us must be tested. The test that I, your president, have created is called TRUTH and TRUST.”

“Uh-oh, it sounds hard,” Brooke said. “This isn't like school, is it?”

“You don't have to know anything special to pass this test,” Lauren answered.

“Phew,” Brooke whispered. “I thought it was going to be like geography questions or something.”

“The trust test will consist of two parts,” Lauren said. “In the truth part, you must share a secret with the group, something you have never shared with anyone. In the trust part, you must answer a question from the group. You must answer truthfully and honestly until the group is satisfied.”

Lauren reached down to pick up a piece of beach driftwood that she had brought with her.

“This is our talking stick,” she said. “When you have the stick, you must share. When I tell you to pass it, you must do so.”

Lauren held the talking stick out and gave it to Lily first.

“Lily March,” she said. “Will you please share your secret? You can trust us.”

Lily held the stick and squirmed a little bit. This wasn't easy.

“Any kind of secret?” she asked.

Lauren nodded. “Something you have never shared before.”

“Okay, here goes,” Lily said. “When I was born, I was very premature and weighed a pound and a half. They didn't think I was going to live. I had a twin brother, but he didn't live.”

“Wow, I didn't know that, Lilykins,” Brooke said.

“That's why they call it a secret,” Lauren said. “Thank you for sharing, Lily.”

Lily handed the stick to Brooke.

“Okay,” Brooke giggled. “My secret is . . . um . . . that I don't have any secrets.”

She passed the stick to Lauren, who wouldn't take it.

“Sorry, that doesn't cut it, Brooks. If you want to pass TRUTH and TRUST and be one of the Junior Wave sisters, you have to do better. Now, do you want to share a secret or not?”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes, Brooke. You do.”

“Okay, my dad isn't my real dad,” Brooke blurted out all of a sudden. “My real dad left my mom before I was born.”

No one said anything. She handed the stick back to Lauren like it was a hot potato. Next, it came to me. I wanted to trust these girls who meant so much to me. So I swallowed hard and told the truth.

“My dad lost his last job,” I said. “We had to move to the Sporty Forty because it was the only place we could afford to live.”

I thought I heard a couple of the girls gasp. Lily reached out and touched me gently on the arm.

“That was brave,” was all she said.

I handed the stick to Jillian.

“When my parents aren't home,” she said, “I used to go to their room and look at this book of photos of naked people. But I think they found out, because now it's gone.”

Jillian gave the stick to Lauren. “Now it's your turn, Madame President.”

Lauren held the stick. She closed her eyes and seemed to be reaching deep down for a secret. At last she spoke.

“One time, I stole an eye shadow from the makeup counter at Bloomingdales.”

“What color?” Brooke asked.

“It doesn't matter,” Lily whispered. “That's not the point.”

“Terra cotta bronze,” Lauren said softly, putting down the talking stick. “It didn't stay on, either.”

Everyone laughed. I was feeling so close to these girls. It's really powerful how sharing your innermost secrets can make you feel so connected to other people. Oddly, I thought of Sammie. This was exactly how she had described Truth Tellers. I remember her saying how “powerful and raw” the experience was. Sitting out there on the jetty with my friends, I was able to allow the powerful feeling of sharing to fill me with awe.