Time's Up (8 page)

“Is that okay, Mrs. Madden?” Katani asked. “I'll be really quick.”

“Of course, dear. Take your time.” Katani smiled at Avery's mom. Mrs. Madden was so nice, even smiling when Avery turned the radio up really loud.

As soon as she opened the door, Isabel could smell the chili cooking. Her mother was sitting on the sofa knitting,
like she had been for the last few days. Usually she would have been resting in her bedroom at this time. It made Isabel so happy to have her mother greet her when she walked through the door, she broke into a smile and ran to give her a hug. “How do you feel, Mama?”

She greeted Katani then turned to Isabel. “
Bien. Muy bien
.”

Isabel grinned with happiness. “What have you been doing?”

“Oh, just watching some talk shows while I work on this blanket,” her mother said, shaking her head. “It's unbelievable, all these crazy people on TV! But I need background noise while I'm knitting.”

“Just a minute, Mama. Mrs. Madden is waiting outside. I have to go get the knitting needles I borrowed from Katani. Be right back.” Isabel dashed out of the room.

Katani was impressed by the neat, steady
click-clacking
of Mrs. Martinez's needles.
She knits even faster than me,
Katani thought, a little envious. “What are you making, Mrs. Martinez?” she asked, coming over to the couch to get a better look.

“Oh, it is just a baby blanket. Isabel has a new little cousin,” she replied with a weary smile. “Which reminds me. Thank you so much, Katani, for loaning Isabel those knitting needles. Mine are nearly always in use, as you see.”

“No problem,” Katani reassured her.

“Are you starting some new project that you need them back now?”

“Well…” Katani considered whether she should tell Mrs. Martinez about the contest and the impossible pile of knitting she had waiting for her at home. As she looked into Mrs. Martinez's kind brown eyes, she knew she could trust her.

“The thing is, I kind of do have a problem,” she said
in a low voice. “I promised to knit twenty scarves by this weekend for this contest I'm entering, and I haven't even started yet.”

“Oh, that is a problem,” Mrs. Martinez agreed, looking concerned. “Twenty scarves? That is a lot for a girl who also has to keep up with her schoolwork, family, and friends.” She gave Katani a knowing look.

“I know,” Katani said, looking down.

“But,” Mrs. Martinez continued, leaning in and speaking in a low voice as well, “I think I might be able to help you.”

“Really?”

“Well, I don't feel very well sometimes, but I do have two good hands here.” She smiled, and it dawned on Katani what she was proposing.

“You would do that? You would help me knit?” Katani asked incredulously.

“Of course!” Mrs. Martinez's smile was getting bigger. “To tell you the truth, Katani, I get tired of watching TV and letting everyone else do things for me all the time. It would make me very happy to be able to do something to help someone else.”

“It would be a huge help to me,” Katani agreed. All of a sudden she felt hopeful.

“I'm sure I could knit at least three by this weekend,” Mrs. Martinez offered.

“Thank you!” Katani exclaimed. Then her face darkened again. “Oh, but, Mrs. Martinez, if you could maybe not mention anything to Isabel…I'm trying to do this on my own. You know—a surprise for everyone.”

“Your secret is safe with me, Katani,” Mrs. Martinez reassured her. “You will bring me the yarn that you would like me to use and a sample scarf?”

“Yes, absolutely. I'll get it to you as soon as I can. I have the yarn in the car…but if I bring it in now, Avery and Isabel will see….”

“Don't worry, Katani. Just give it to me when you bring the sample.”

“Thank you so much!” Katani was glowing. Three scarves down, only seventeen to go!

Isabel rushed back in, holding the needles out. Katani and her mother suddenly got quiet, and she felt like she was interrupting something.
That's weird,
she thought briefly as she handed over the knitting needles.

Katani looked at her watch. “I better go,” she said, and started toward the door with the knitting needles. “Nice to see you, Mrs. Martinez. See you tomorrow, Izzy.”

M
aeve paced around her room, picking up a glass figurine, a stuffed bunny, and a picture of the BSG. She eyed her “crush alert” wall, starring a poster of Orlando. Betsy would be over in five minutes. It would be so strange to have
the
Betsy Fitzgerald right here in her bedroom!
I better straighten up,
she thought as she began anxiously shoveling things into her drawers. She didn't want Betsy thinking she was a total disaster.

Maeve was still worried that she was betraying Katani by having Betsy tutor her. But Katani could finish her work without help from anyone. That's the way she was. “But that is not the way I am,” Maeve said out loud. Still, she knew Katani well enough to know that she would be, if not angry, at least hurt. How could she understand Maeve really needed help when she never did?

The idea of an angry Katani made Maeve even more nervous. She should have talked this through with the BSG. Now it was too late. Betsy would be here any second.

Just then the doorbell rang. Maeve rushed downstairs
and opened the door to find Betsy standing there with a worn leather briefcase.

“Hi, Betsy,” Maeve said. “You look so…so professional.”

“Thanks.” Betsy shrugged. “It's my mom's. My files don't fit in my backpack. I have to keep all this tutoring stuff straight.”

“I thought maybe you were going to try to sell me something!”

“Oh, no!” Betsy looked shocked. “Just tutoring!”

They laughed, breaking the awkwardness between them. Then Maeve said, “Let's go to my room before my little brother comes out to spy on us.”

Upstairs, Betsy's eyes widened and she stood frozen in the doorway of Maeve's pink palace. “I love this!” she exclaimed. “It's so, um, wonderfully pink in here! You could open your own Think Pink!”

“No, being onstage is my dream.”

“I feel like I should put on my sunglasses. It's so dazzling!” Betsy pointed to the pink shelves of ribbons and trophies. “Did you win all those?”

Maeve nodded. “I've been taking dance practically my whole life.”

“You must be really good at it.”

“Better than math!” Maeve agreed, giggling.

“We better get started,” a suddenly nervous Betsy said. They'd agreed to spend the first half of the session on math and the second on the English paper.

As Betsy spread all her material out on Maeve's desk, Maeve noticed her tutor glance up at her “cute boy alert” wall.

“Who's your favorite?” Maeve asked.

“Definitely Orlando.”

“Really?” Maeve never would have guessed that about studious Betsy!

“I adore him,” Betsy admitted, blushing a little. “But back to tutoring.” Betsy was nothing if not focused. “We can start with your homework and go from there.”

Maeve smiled and opened her book. Step by step, Betsy went through the first problem so Maeve could actually follow it. Then she said, “Okay, why don't you start the next one. Don't worry if you forget something. I'm going to walk you through it.”

Maeve looked down at the swirl of numbers and then back up at Betsy. “I could show you a couple of dance moves if you want.”

“Really?” Betsy looked surprised. Then her eyes fell on her watch. “Maybe when we're done. But I'm not much of a dancer. Let's keep going. What would you do next here?”

When they got to problem number three, Maeve couldn't stop herself from asking, “Did you like Orlando better in
The Lord of the Rings
or
Pirates of the Caribbean
?”

“Oh
Pirates
, definitely.”

“Me too!”

The girls stared at the poster of Orlando with his moussed hair, black hoodie, and adorable grin.

“He's so cool, and those eyes,” Maeve gushed. “He always seems like he's staring right at me!”

“Maybe we should start on the English paper?” Betsy suggested.

Maeve sighed. “We could.”

“Okay.” Betsy pointed to Maeve's shelves beyond the poster. “Is that a Magic 8 Ball, by any chance?”

“Yes.” Maeve was afraid Betsy would think it was sort of silly.

“I had one too. I used to be obsessed!”

“I totally was!” Maeve practically shouted. She couldn't believe she had this in common with Betsy too. Orlando and the Magic 8 Ball. Who would have guessed?

“Don't tell anyone this, but I used to ask mine if I'd be the first woman president,” Betsy said. “I'd ask about once a day until I got the answer ‘Signs point to yes' or ‘Without a doubt.'”

“I asked if I'd win an Oscar for Best Actress!” Maeve exclaimed. “That's my number-one dream.” She smiled. “Should we ask it a question now?”

Betsy looked at her watch again. “Maeve, we have to get back to work. Time is flying, and we've barely gotten anything done!” Betsy straightened the piles of papers in front of them. “I haven't been very professional. I haven't even taught you anything yet!”

Maeve looked guiltily at her math homework. “Number three.”

Betsy frowned and tapped her pencil nervously. “Do you think we could move to the kitchen to study? I can't seem to concentrate with all this, um, pink in here.”

“That's funny. Pink totally relaxes me. In fact, I think I'd do much better in school if all the school walls were painted pink,” Maeve said. “But sure, we can move if you think it'd work out better.”

In the kitchen, the girls spread their papers and books out on the wooden table and got down to business. It was a great place to work. They went through Maeve's math homework until it really started to make sense. By the end, she was actually doing each problem on her own with Betsy's encouragement. Betsy was almost as good a tutor as Matt.

Maeve smiled when they finished. “You know, I actually hope the Crow calls on me tomorrow.”

“Mr. Sherman?” Betsy asked.

Maeve wrinkled her brows and flapped her arms until Betsy was laughing. “Okay, you're right! He does look like a crow.”

Next, they made a list of everything Maeve needed to do to organize her
Romeo and Juliet
project, including a visit to the library after school the next day. Betsy had seen the movie version, too. “It's really amazing that this play has been remade so many times,” Betsy said. “It never gets old.”

“It's so totally romantic. Love doesn't change!” Maeve swept her hand across her heart.

“Yes,” Betsy agreed. “Language changes, clothes change, hairdos change, but human nature doesn't. That's why Shakespeare's plays are done over and over again.”

“I could perform the Maeve version!” Maeve decided right then. “Do you think Ms. R would go for it?”

“She's pretty open. I bet she would. It might help to type out your idea now so you can present it to her on paper. Also, then you can just keep going when you go to write your version of the play. Just getting a couple sentences down always helps me.”

“Good idea.” Maeve opened her laptop and started typing her ideas for
Romeo and Juliet
, starring who else but Maeve and Orlando. It was her fantasy, right?

Sam walked into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and stared into the snack drawer.

“Sam,” Maeve reprimanded, “you're interrupting us!”

Sam ignored her and pulled out the peanut butter from the cabinet. “That's why people spend so much time reading history, you know,” he said.

“Why exactly is that?” Maeve asked, annoyed.

“History repeats itself. Like what you were talking about
before. What changes and what doesn't. But I didn't mean the love stuff.”

“You were spying on us!” Maeve yelled.

“I was just doing my homework in the dining room like Mom said to.” Sam turned to Betsy. “It's like the way armies attacked Russia in winter and they always got defeated, but they kept trying it, anyway.”

“That's so true,” Betsy said. “Wait, how old are you?”

“Eight.”

“He's read about every battle under the sun,” a proud Maeve told Betsy. “But I'm sure he doesn't know anything about
Romeo and Juliet
,” she added just to make sure her brother's head didn't get any more swelled.

“I know in the movie you watched they use guns instead of swords and there are skyscrapers instead of castles, but it's the same story that Shakespeare wrote in 1597. It's the archetypal love story.”

“How do you know
that
?” Maeve demanded of her brother, who sounded like he was suddenly forty years old.

“I read it after you rented the movie for the hundredth time.”

“I'm so impressed!” Betsy's eyes brightened. “When I was your age I memorized every capital of every state and country in the world. Ask me one.”

Brainiac meets brainiac, Maeve thought as Betsy and Sam quizzed each other. They were in heaven talking about how much they knew. Maeve hit the return button a few times and typed a note to herself:

 

Maeve's Note to Self:

• 1. arkitipal (sp???) love story—ask Char what that means tomorrow!
  
• 2. Okay, just because I'm not in the smart club, doesn't mean I don't know anything!
  
• 3. As annoying as he can be, Sam is a genius, which means I'm related to a genius, which I guess is cool enough for me!
  

A Very Important Date

Katani knitted in front of her computer, waiting for Charlotte to reply. Where was that girl? Actually, Katani really loved to knit. While she worked she tried to decide what she was going to write about for her English paper. She knew
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
inside and out, but she couldn't focus on the story. Every time a thought came to her, she started thinking about Whitney and Betsy, the deadlines for her math project (she didn't even want to think about Reggie), the English paper, the contest, and dropping off twenty scarves to Ms. Pink. She tried to figure out how many hours she would need each day to complete all her projects. Maybe there really weren't enough hours. She wondered if there was a way you could expand time.

Catching a dropped stitch, Katani was grateful that Mrs. Martinez was going to knit three of the scarves. Katani would have to do two scarves a night and then knit all night on Friday, all day on Saturday, and all morning Sunday if she was going to make the deadline. Katani called Isabel's mom after dinner to let her know that she would drop off the yarn tomorrow. Fortunately, Isabel hadn't answered the phone, and Katani knew that her secret was still safe with Mrs. Martinez.

Suddenly her computer made the familiar
ping
. There was an e-mail in her in-box. Finally.

Katani hadn't thought of it like that. What if it were the other way around? Would she have wanted to enter the contest no matter what? But it wasn't the other way around. Katani had found out about the contest on her own. Besides, Whitney already had her own business and fancy riding clothes. Katani felt a little guilty for thinking that way, but still…

Kelley ran into their room right then. “I finished the book!”

“What book?” Katani asked without looking up.

“
Learning to Knit and Purl for Beginners
! I'm ready for my lesson.” Kelley stood too close to Katani. “I'm not late for a very important date!”

Katani wanted to say no, but she knew this would only get Kelley upset and make everything worse. She counted slowly to ten, concentrating hard on her knitting. Then she sighed. She had to show Kelley how to knit. That was what her dad called doing the right thing.

“Okay,” Katani said. “I said I'd show you, so I'll show you. Come on, we'll try it on the yarn I'm using.”

“Why do you have so much of it?” Kelley asked, looking at the bag of pink mohair.

“I have to knit a lot of scarves, that's why,” Katani said. Twenty seemed impossible. “Now let's start.”

Kelley's stitches were loose and sloppy, but she caught on so quickly, Katani was astounded. “You really did read that book, didn't you?”

“Yes, I did,” a very serious Kelley answered. “Do you need help with your scarves? Because I could help you.”

Katani's mouth opened. Kelley was going to help
her
?

Chocolate Break

Charlotte needed a break from her paper. She took a chocolate Kiss from her desk drawer and checked her e-mail. Finally there was something from Sophie!

A date! Sophie thought Nick had asked her on a date. Charlotte wondered what she was supposed to do now.

The Aftermath

The next morning Katani was late for class. First she had to drop off the yarn and model scarf for Mrs. Martinez. Then she had to leave a note in Reggie's locker to apologize for being late to their library date.
Making myself late because I'm apologizing for being late—can it get much worse?
she thought hopelessly as she pushed the note through the vents on Reggie's locker before dashing away to homeroom.