Too Good to Be True (11 page)

When I finished talking, Chloe's friends looked at her like they were waiting to see what she would say. I waited too. Her response surprised me. “It's OK,” she said. “I've gotten to know Matt better. I'm not really into him anymore anyway.”

I don't know why, maybe it was not having talked to her for so long or just knowing she understood, but I could tell I was about to cry. I tried to blink back my tears.

Chloe was sweet. “I get it,” she said. “Thanks for apologizing.” Then she gave me a hug. It made me cry more. The other girls looked at each other like they weren't sure what to say.

Chloe's friend Samantha wrapped an arm around me. “It's OK,” she said, but I couldn't stop crying. Tears were rolling down my cheeks.

Chloe's friend Alex shook her head. “You have to stop crying,” she said. “The last thing you want on performance night is puffy eyes.”
Mya, this other girl, was nodding like she had the same thought.

That made me laugh. I probably looked like a crazy person, crying one minute and laughing the next. But I didn't care. It was the first time I've laughed in a long time, and it felt good.

Today during lunch, I went up to Emily and asked her if we could talk. There were some things I had to say to her. I told her that I didn't understand how she could tell everyone my secret and that I thought we were friends. Then I told her that I talked to Chloe yesterday and that she forgave me for what happened.

But Emily just shrugged her shoulders and said she really didn't know what I was talking about, that she never told anybody anything. Then she said she had to go.

It's fine. If she wants to pretend like it never happened, that's her business.

Brynn was definitely right on this one.

My hair is in a bun. My makeup bag is packed. My fingers are crossed.

I hope tonight goes well.

Tonight was amazing in so many ways. I'm not even sure where to start. When I arrived in the dressing room, everyone was excited. All the older girls were helping the younger girls put the finishing touches on their makeup. One of the straps on my costume was crooked, so Mady adjusted it and safety-pinned it to the inside of my costume to make sure it didn't move during the show. “You doing OK?” she asked. I nodded and she smiled in a big-sisterly way.

Chloe helped me finish my makeup. While she was putting on my lipstick, she told me she never even really liked Emily. “From day one,”
she said in a low voice, “she thought she was better than anyone on the team, and we've all been here a lot longer than she has.” Surprisingly, I didn't care so much how Chloe felt about Emily, I was just happy to feel like part of the team again.

Once we were all dressed, Ms. Baumann gave us what she called our final dancing orders. She said they're like marching orders if you're in the army and that we should perform tonight as seriously as if we were but also have fun.

Then she sent us to the area on the side of the stage where we would be waiting before our opening number. I peeked through the curtains. The auditorium was packed. It was standing room only. Then I heard the music start and saw the stage lights go on. It was showtime.

The opening dance was the scariest. It was a group dance, and as everyone on the team crossed the stage and took our places, I was conscious of every part of my body. All of Ms. Baumann's orders played like a loop in my head.
Shoulders back. Toes pointed. Arms extended.
There was so much to remember, but once the music started, I relaxed into it.

At intermission, we changed costumes backstage. “No talking!” Ms. Baumann barked at us. “And hurry!” Even though Ms. Baumann had everything organized, the area backstage was tiny. There were costumes and dancers everywhere. I don't know how we all managed to find what we needed and get changed, but we did.

The second half of the show flew by. The second dance I was in included the leaps I worked so hard on. I don't know if it was the energy of performing onstage or the happiness I was feeling about being on good terms with the team again, but when I leapt, I felt like I was soaring.

Then, before I knew it, it was time for the finale.

When we finished our last dance, the auditorium was thundering with applause. The show was such a success! The audience cheered and clapped for a long time when we went back onstage for our final bows.

When the curtain finally closed, everyone on the team was hugging and high-fiving. Ms. Baumann told us what a great job we had done and how proud she was. The team captains gave her a huge bouquet of flowers. I've never seen her
so happy or excited. Everyone was that excited. It felt great to be part of something so impressive, especially after putting in so much hard work.

Then, suddenly, the night was over. Sort of. One more thing happened that made my night. As I was packing up to go home, Billy and Brynn came backstage.

“Congratulations!” Brynn said. She hugged me. “You did an amazing job.”

I hugged her back. I know it wasn't easy for her to say that. It was really sweet.

And Billy gave me flowers. Pink roses. “For you,” he said as he handed them to me.

I must have looked a little too excited because he added, “They're friendship roses.” I knew he didn't want me to misinterpret their meaning. I wanted to cry. Not because he gave me flowers or because they were pink, but because the two of them had both come to see me dance.

As great as everything that happened tonight felt—the show, the applause, the praise from Ms. Baumann, being a real part of the team—none of it could come close to the feeling of knowing that Billy and Brynn and I are all friends again.

—Leo Tolstoy

We always have Thanksgiving at Gaga's house, but this year, Dad said he wanted to start a new tradition and have it at the diner. Gaga agreed, but only because Dad said he would use all of her favorite recipes. As it turned out, Gaga was waiting outside the diner early this morning when Dad, May, and I showed up to start cooking. She told Dad she wanted to be his “sous-chef,” which I know meant she wanted to keep an eye on how he was doing things. But Dad was a good sport and said he was happy to have the extra help in the kitchen.

So today, my entire extended family, the ladies from Gaga's Happiness Movement, and Mr. Sherman all packed around a long table in
the diner for Thanksgiving lunch. Dad cooked all of Gaga's traditional recipes, with her help, plus a few things he added to the menu, including crawfish beignets and lobster pie.

When I saw what he was cooking, I said, “Dad, those foods bring back some bad memories for me.”

But Dad laughed and told me not to worry. “Today I'm the cooker, not the eater,” he said. I felt kind of bad when he said that, and I told him he should eat too. Dad patted his belly (which has definitely gotten bigger since he opened a restaurant) and told me he doesn't have a problem in that department.

One of the things I always like best about Thanksgiving is that everyone is usually in a pretty good mood. But today, everyone was particularly happy.

The ladies from the Happiness Movement were happy, but I guess they always are.

Mr. Sherman, who seems happy whenever he's around Gaga, looked especially happy.

Even my uncles, Dusty and Drew, were happy. They said it was because we were all
together as a family. Truthfully, I think they were just glad they were going home after lunch to watch football, which is something that never happened when lunch was at Gaga's house because she always made everyone stay for a family Scrabble tournament.

My cousins (with the exception of Harry) were happy because Dad said we could hang out in his office until lunch was ready. It's a cool place to hang out, so we sat in there for a long time, just eating Tootsie Rolls and talking.

My mom and her sisters were happy. They all had on matching turkey sweaters that Gaga had knitted for them. You wouldn't catch me dead in one of those sweaters, but they seemed to like them. They were smiling and taking group pictures with Gaga, who looked happier than anybody. Kind of strangely happy.

“Do you think she's been smoking something?” my cousin Harry asked me.

I'd kind of been wondering the same thing myself. She's a founding member of the Happiness Movement, so happy is to be expected, but she was way beyond happy. She was giddy,
laughing and talking and taking pictures and hugging everyone. Something seemed different about Gaga. And after lunch, I found out what that something was.

When we were all done eating (what I'm sure was the largest and most delicious Thanksgiving lunch in the state of Alabama), Gaga tapped her spoon on her glass to get everyone's attention. “I'd like to make a toast,” she said. Then she talked for a long time about the meaning of life and happiness.

It felt more like a speech than a toast, but then Gaga raised her glass and said, “Life is all in how you look at things. You can view your glass as half empty or half full or, better yet, all the way full.”

Then she looked at Mr. Sherman, who was sitting next to her. “I have wonderful news. Willy has asked me to marry him, and I said yes!”

I thought my mom was going to pass out. Everyone looked shocked.

“That's disgusting,” my cousin Amanda whispered to me.

But Gaga assured everyone that she was
exceedingly happy about this development, and Mr. Sherman, who said we should all call him Willy, said he was happy too.

So everyone got up and started hugging Gaga. We all gave Willy nice, firm handshakes, and my uncles patted him on the back and wished him well.

While everyone was crowded around Gaga looking at the ring on her finger, which she'd kept hidden in her pocket until she'd made her announcement, I saw my Uncle Dusty look at my Uncle Drew, roll his eyes, and make finger circles around the side of his head like Gaga was a crazy lady and he couldn't imagine what was next.

I couldn't either. I thought about how I felt when I started eighth grade. I was so convinced there was an old me and a new me. I wanted to believe that if I stayed positive everything would be great. I had so much to be happy about—an amazing boyfriend, a great best friend, making the dance team.

Things seemed almost too good to be true.

Then I kissed Matt, told Emily, she told
everyone else, and everything fell apart with Billy and Brynn and the girls on the team. One day my life seemed great, and the next day it was a disaster. I think part of the problem was that I got so wrapped up in how cool it was to be around the older girls on the team and Emily that I guess I kind of forgot how to be me.

Things are better now. They're not perfect. But they're mostly good. Brynn and I are friends again. Billy and I seem to be getting back to normal too. Part of me wishes he was still my boyfriend, but another part of me is just relieved we're friends. And I feel like part of the dance team again, and the show was amazing.

Being friends with Emily didn't turn out the way I thought it would, but at least now I know she's not someone I can trust.

And then there's Matt. I don't know if I should put him in the good or the bad category. I'm never sure about Matt. I guess he falls somewhere in between.

And maybe that's what life is like. There are times when life is good and times when it can be horrible. The good phase might last a day or a
week or a month or, if you're lucky, maybe longer. But at some point, there's going to be some bad sprinkled in. And when there is, I think Gaga actually had it right.

It's all in how you look at things.

Laurie Friedman was on the gymnastics team in middle school and high school, but her real passion was and still is for dance. She identifies with April Sinclair not only in her love of dance but also in her small-town Southern roots, her questions about karma, and her adolescent confusion over two boys she liked for different reasons.

Laurie Friedman has written more than thirty books for young readers, including
Can You Say Catastrophe?
, the first book in The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair series. She is also the author of the award-winning Mallory series as well as many picture books, including
I'm Not Afraid of this Haunted House
;
Love, Ruby Valentine
;
Thanksgiving Rules
; and
Back to School Rules
. She lives in Miami with her family. You can find Laurie B. Friedman on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, or at
www.lauriebfriedman.com
.