Twist My Charm (22 page)
Authors: Toni Gallagher
Uncle Arnie runs over to the bag. “Be careful with that, Bradley! There's some precious cargo in there!”
Precious cargo? I run over to it too. “What is it?” I ask. “Can I see, can I see?” I can't believe how wide awake I am now, considering how tired I was earlier!
“It's three-thirty in the morning, Cleo, and you've got school tomorrow,” Dad says.
“Not really! It's the last day!”
“Let me show Cleo one little thing, Bradley, and then we can all hit the hay.” And Dad really has no choice, since Uncle Arnie is already kneeling down and unzipping his duffel bag. He starts pulling stuff out and tossing it on the floor, not thinking about Toby and how interesting he finds things like flip-flops and socks. Sure enough, Toby bites into a pair of smiley-face boxer shorts and runs away.
Dad shouts at Toby, but Uncle Arnie tells him not to worry. “Those weren't my only jammy jams, Bradley.” He tosses a few more items on the floorâa squeezed-out tube of toothpaste; a raggedy stuffed animal that looks like Fuzzer, his cat at homeâand then he finally finds what he's looking for.
It's a rectangular wooden box, a little smaller and squarer than a shoe box. It's polished all shiny, but I can tell it's not new. There's gold trim around the edges and a metal lock on the front.
“A treasure chest?” I ask.
“It's a treasure chest, all right,” Uncle Arnie says. “And there's some very intriguing information inside. But it's too much to get into tonight.”
What? There's nothing else I want to do but hear more about this treasure chest! Tomorrow's the last day of school; we're not going to learn anything! It doesn't matter if I'm tired or not. I make all these arguments to Dad, but he's not listening. He tells Uncle Arnie to pick up the stuff he threw on the floor, and he tells me to go to bed.
I give Uncle Arnie a hug, then Dad. I want to stay up and talk to them until sunriseâto tell them all the things I've learned about friendship and the universe and last-ditch efforts, and then ask questions about the things I don't understand at all, like magic and love.
But I have to go to bed. There's one more day of school and a long summer ahead, and a treasure chest full of “intriguing information” sitting in the living room, and a party at Madison's with my friends, which may eventually include Lisa Lee and Kylie Maeâwho knows? Stranger things have happened.
No one knows that better than I do.
This book was an exciting challenge, and so much fun to write. As always, there are many people to thank for their help.
My
agent, Jen Rofé, who advised me to rewrite a wackadoodle first draft into something so much better
My
editor, Caroline Abbey, who made this second book experience unbelievably smooth and wonderful. Can they all be like this, please?
My
family, my friends, and my coworkers at
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,
for their enthusiasm and encouragement
And
Tim, my Canadian from Cambodia, for understanding when I spent so many late nights at coffeehouses instead of coming home
Brendan Holmes
No stranger to storytelling,
TONI GALLAGHER
earned a journalism degree from Northwestern University and has a successful career in reality TV. She began as a story editor on the early seasons of MTV's
The Real World
and was a producer on the beloved Disney Channel show
Bug Juice,
about real kids at summer camp. Currently she is executive producer of
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
on Bravo. Toni lives in Los Angeles and loves finding the magic in it. Visit her at
tonigallagherink.com
.