My New Best Friend (5 page)

"I just got here!" Jenna says back.

"No time to argue, kiddo," Mr. Drews says. "I need to drop off some paperwork with our insurance guy, pick up Rachel from dance, and then get Jade. She's babysitting while Mom and I are at a meeting tonight." Jade is Brooke Morgan's older sister. She babysits for half the kids in town.

"
Another
meeting?" Jenna says.

"Yep," Mr. Drews replies, shifting the pizza. "It's a busy time for meetings. C'mon, let's go!"

"I want to show Stacey my new leotard," Jenna grumbles.

"Show her at dance class," Mr. Drews replies.

"I want to show her
now!
" Jenna snaps.

Mr. Drews sighs. "Fine," he says. "Stacey, why don't you ask your mom if you can come over, and then I'll take you home after our meeting."

Jenna grins.

"What about Ida?" Stacey asks.

"Yes, of course, Ida, too," Mr. Drews says, checking his watch.

"I can't," I mumble. "I have to get my hair trimmed."

"Oh, well," Jenna says. "Too bad." She slides out of the booth.

Mr. Drews hands the pizza to Jenna and pulls a thick envelope from his back pocket. "Take the pizza to the car while I run these papers next door," he says to Jenna. "Then I'll get Rachel." A moment later he's heading down the sidewalk.

"Tell your mom, Stacey," Jenna says, "then meet me outside." She marches out the door with the pizza.

"I'm sorry, Ida. I don't know what just happened!" Stacey says.

"You
told
her," I say. "About our club!"

"I know," Stacey says. "But I didn't tell her much."

"It was enough!"

"Don't worry, Ida," Stacey says. "Jenna will be so busy talking about dance, she'll forget all about the club." She snags her backpack and slips out of the booth.

I just shake my head. "I've known Jenna for a long time," I say. "She never forgets anything."

The door jingles again and my mom walks in. She gives me a wave and then starts talking to Kelli.

"I better go," Stacey says. "Don't forget to ask your mom about this weekend. Oh, and be sure to plug in the mermaid early tonight. She's going to need extra power to make our plan happen!"

I nod.

"Great!" Stacey says, smiling. "See you tomorrow, Ida!"

"Great," I say back. "See you tomorrow."

Even though I plan to ask my mom right away if Stacey can spend the weekend with us, I don't. Part of me decides it's a bad idea to ask her at the Purdee Good, in case she mentions the plan to Kelli. Another part of me decides it's not a good idea to ask her while I'm getting my hair trimmed in case I fidget and end up with crooked bangs. And by the time we're driving home, a third part of me decides it will be better to ask her after I figure out exactly what I'm going to say.

When we get home I go straight to my bedroom. I pull off my backpack and drop it on the floor. The mermaid clunks inside.

"George," I say, turning to my bed. "I need to practice something on you."

George gives me his
this-can't-be-good
look.

I pick up George and set him on my desk chair. I put his monkey paws on the edge of my desk, like he's playing a piano. "Pretend you're Mom," I tell him. "Play something hard so you're only half listening."

I study George's paws and imagine I hear music coming out of my desk.

"Hi, Mom," I say, giving George a wave. "I'm sorry to interrupt your practicing, but I have a very small question to ask you that only requires a quick answer, such as yes."

I pause. George shifts a little on the chair.

"Stacey's mom has to work this weekend and her grandmother is going to be ... um ... elsewhere. So we thought—I mean...
I
thought—it would make a lot of sense if Stacey stayed with us. For the weekend. Which would be very helpful to everyone involved."

I pause for a moment, thinking. Then I cup my hand around George's ear. "Ask if it's okay with Stacey's mom," I whisper to him.

I listen for a moment and then I do a very casual laugh. "Well, of course it's probably okay with her. I mean, they see each other every day and so
it for sure must have come up in their conversation. Probably several times." I do the laugh again.

One of George's paws slips off the desk. I put it back. He gives me a look that I wasn't expecting.

"Um ... yes ... I think it's okay with Stacey's dad," I say. "I mean, I
know
it is because he wants Stacey to make lots of friends and so he will be happy if she skips a weekend with him to stay with me."

I gulp. "I mean ... what I
meant
to say was..."

George's paw slips off my desk again. A moment later the rest of him slips off my chair and clunks to the floor.

I sigh and clunk to the floor, too.

Later, when my dad comes into my room to say good night, I'm ready. That's because when I plugged in the mermaid, she gave me the idea to ask
him
if Stacey can spend the weekend because he's much better at saying yes quickly than my mom is. Plus, he can tell my mom all about the plan and that will save me a lot of time.

I have the covers pulled up over my head when my dad sits down next to me.

"All ready for bed?" he asks.

"Mmm-hmm," I say from under my covers.

I hear him smile. "Need anything? Extra blanket? Glass of water? Oxygen?"

"Nope, I'm good," I say, even though a little air would be nice.

"Well, then, good night, Ida." He leans in to kiss the top of my covered head.

"Good night," I say back. "Oh, and Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering if it would be okay ... I mean ... I think it would be a good idea if ... if Stacey ... if she..."

"If she what?" Dad asks, pulling back my covers so he can see a corner of my face.

"If Stacey spends the weekend with us?"

"Oh," Dad says. He thinks for a moment. "I don't see why not, but you better check with Mom."

"I was thinking maybe
you
could check with her for me."

My dad leans in again and kisses the part of me he can see. "Better ask her yourself so you can work out the details," he says. "Sound good?"

I sigh. "Sounds good," I reply.

My dad gets up to leave, but then he stops. "Huh," he says, looking at the mermaid. "I thought Mom threw that night-light out years ago."

I sit up a little. "Why would she throw it out?"

"I bought it when you were two," he says. "You cried every time we plugged it in." He picks up the mermaid and studies her glowing grin. "Now I remember why."

He sets the mermaid down and heads for the door. "Sleep tight, Ida," he says.

"I'll try," I reply, glancing at the mermaid and ducking under my covers.

The next morning, I come up with a third plan. In this plan, I write a
note
to my mom explaining the whole Stacey situation.

Dear Mom,

How are you? I am fine. Oh, by the way, I think it would be a good idea for Stacey to spend the weekend with us. Her mom will be busy working. And her grandmother has other requirements. Also, we Could do our homework, which would be educational.

Yours truly,
Ida May

P.S. In addition, it WILL keep me out of your hair.

I read the note and smile. Then I pick up my backpack and walk downstairs to the piano. I set the note on the middle C key. Then I holler good-bye to my mom and hurry out the door.

Thankfully, Jenna isn't at the bus stop so I don't have to hear her brag about all the fun she had with Stacey yesterday.

As soon as I get to school I go to the broken water fountain and wait for Stacey. It isn't long before I see her coming down the hallway. She's wearing a big smile. And a pair of springy star antennae on top of her head.

I grin as Stacey walks up to me. "Where'd you get those?" I ask, pointing at the springy stars.

"From Grandma Tootie!" Stacey replies. She jiggles her head and the stars make wild orbits over her. "Actually, technically, I got them from the mermaid."

"The
mermaid?
"

Stacey nods and the stars bow. "After I got
home from Jenna's house I asked the mermaid to make something fun happen."

"Because you didn't have any fun at Jenna's house, right?"

"No, we had fun," Stacey says.

"Oh," I say back.

"I wanted something
extra
fun!"

"But the mermaid was with me, so how—," I start to say.

"All I had to do was think it, and she made it happen!"

"Wow," I say. "She really is getting more powerful."

Stacey nods again. "I have a pair for you, too!" She pulls another headband out of her backpack and holds it out to me. Even though springy stars are sort of second grade, I put them on because when your best friend is wearing a pair, you want to wear a pair, too.

I jiggle my head and the stars send springy signals to my brain, which loosens up my good news. "Guess what?" I say.

"What?" Stacey says back.

"Last night, I asked my dad if you can spend the weekend and he said it's okay with him!"

Stacey does an excited little jump, which makes her stars go crazy. "Your mom said it's okay, too, right?" she asks. She gives me a big, hopeful smile.

I think about the note I left on the piano. "Of course," I say. "She's completely in favor of the whole plan."

Stacey does the little jump again and I do the little jump, too, because it's easier to believe anything is true if you are jumping with your best friend.

We link arms and bob down the hallway together. As soon as we turn the corner to our classroom I stop bobbing. "Uh-oh," I say.

Stacey stops, too. "What's wrong?" she asks.

I point down the hallway. "Henna Jenna. She's up to something."

Jenna is standing outside our classroom, holding a lumpy plastic bag and talking with the other girls from our class—Meeka, Jolene, Randi, and Brooke.

Stacey studies Jenna's bag. She shrugs. "Maybe she brought brownies for the class," she offers.

"In a
bag?
" I shake my head. "It's something else."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Stacey says, pulling on my arm.

I pull back. "Let's not," I say. "Let's ... find another way to the classroom. A
secret
way."

Stacey raises her eyebrows. "Ida, our classroom is at the end of the hall. There's no other way to get there except
this
way!" She starts tugging on my arm again.

"We could go outside and ... and..."

"And what? Climb in a window?"

"Okay," I say.

Stacey laughs and her stars clap like baby hands.

I sigh. "I know climbing in the window isn't going to work unless the mermaid gives us wings like the goddess Nike. But if we go down there, Jenna will suck us into whatever's inside that bag."

Stacey takes my arm and pulls me toward Jenna and the other girls. "Don't worry, Ida," she says. "The mermaid will take care of everything."

Halfway down the hall, I see Jenna taking T-shirts out of the lumpy plastic bag and handing them to the other girls. They slip them on over their regular shirts. Each shirt has do-good nymphs written on it in big swirly letters. There's also a drawing of a girl with pointy ears and leaves stuck in her long wavy hair. It's a good drawing, but it still feels like bad news to me.

Jenna pulls out another shirt and lets the bag float to the floor. I see she's wearing one of the shirts, too. "Hi, Stacey!" she calls to us. "Congratulations! You're the newest member of the Do-Good Nymphs!"

"The
Who
-good
what?
" I ask, walking up to the group with Stacey.

"The
Do
-Good
Nymphs,
" Jenna says back. "My new
club.
" She holds the shirt out to Stacey. "put it on!"

Stacey takes off her backpack and springy stars. She sets them down and slips on the shirt.

"What's a nymph?" Brooke asks, studying the drawing on everyone's shirt. Except mine.

Jenna gives Brooke a look. "Don't you listen when Mr. Crow reads us myths?"

"Yes," Brooke replies. "What's a nymph?"

Jenna rolls her eyes. "Nymphs are biological creatures that the gods invented."

"Don't you mean
myth
ological creatures?" I ask.

Jenna darts a look at me. "That, too."

"Like fairies?" Jolene asks.

"And mermaids?" Meeka adds.

I feel a zing in my brain when Meeka mentions
mermaids,
but I don't think it's from my springy stars.

"They're
better
than fairies and mermaids," Jenna says. "
Tougher.
They take care of trees and rivers and stuff.
And
they do good deeds to people. In my club, any nymph who does a good deed gets a reward."

"What kind of reward?" Jolene asks.

Jenna lifts her chin and grins. "A leaf," she replies.

"A
leaf
?" we all say together.

Jenna nods. "The nymph who collects the most leaves wins a prize."

Brooke's eyes go glinty, like a crow's. "What kind of prize?" she asks.

"A special one," Jenna says. "I'll decide."

Everyone starts talking at once about the new club. Jenna listens and smiles.

I think about yesterday when Jenna showed up at the purdee Good during our secret mermaid meeting.

I give Jenna a squint. "How did you get the idea to start a new
club?
" I ask.

Jenna glances at me. "I'm always coming up with new ideas," she says. Then she turns to the others. "So, how do you like your club shirts?" she asks. "I made my mom go out and buy them last night after she got home from ... after she got home. I had to stay up until ten making them."

Stacey glances at me. "Ida, put your nymph shirt on!"

I look at the empty bag lying on the floor. "Um ... there seems to be a shortage," I reply.

Stacey looks at the bag, too. Then she looks at Jenna. "Where's Ida's shirt?" she asks.

Jenna shrugs. "They came three to a package and my mom only bought two packages."

"Didn't you tell her you needed
seven
shirts?" Stacey asks.