11 Birthdays

Chapter Thirteen

I'm about to leave the courtyard and go to math class when Leo finally arrives. "What took you so long?"
"The guidance counselor seriously has it in for me," he says, plopping down on the grass next to me. "I went into her office to cancel our meeting for this afternoon and she made me sit and talk to her. I told her I was gonna be late for English, and she gave me this." He holds up a blue pass. "Looks like you're the only one actually cutting class!"
I snatch the paper from his hand and pretend to rip it up. He grabs for it, then says, "Go ahead. We're in this together."
I smooth it out and hand it back. "That's okay. Keep it." I want to ask him why he was seeing the guidance counselor in the first place, but there's something else I want to know even more. Twining a strand of grass around my finger, I ask, "Why did you say those things?" and brace myself for his answer.
He doesn't insult me by asking what things, which is really good because then I might have left. "I tried to explain last year." He yanks up his own piece of grass, shredding them as he goes. "But you wouldn't listen to me."
"I didn't want to be in the same room as you."
"Look, I don't blame you. What I said was horrible, but you've got to know I didn't mean it. What can I do to make it up to you?"
I think about that for a minute. "If I come up with something big enough, I'll let you know."
"Listen, Amanda, your my, I mean you were my best friend for my whole life. I don't even remember a time that you weren't right there next to me, since I was born. You were, you know, like my sister. And sometimes brothers say really mean things about their sisters, you know, to sound cool in front of their friends."
"But I'm NOT your sister!" The grass is wrapped so tight around my finger that the tip is turning purple.
"Duh, I know that. I knew right as it came out of my mouth that night I shouldn't have said those things. I know you have lots of friends other than me. I'm sure your party this year was great."
I open my mouth and then quickly think better of it. He doesn't need to know that only eight people showed up and that even Stephanie left in the middle. "And the part about not wanting to share our birthdays anymore? Did you really mean that?"
He shakes his head and looks miserable. "Of course not. I had a terrible time at my party - I mean parties - this year. It just wasn't the same."
I have to admit I feel a little shiver of pleasure hearing that he didn't have fun at his party. But mostly I feel relieved that he hadn't meant the things he said. "I still don't understand why you said that stuff in the first place. Why would you pick those guys over me? Everyone knows how obnoxious they are."
He squirms a little. "I can't really explain it. They were hanging out in my room and those guys never wanted to hang out with me before. I didn't want them to think my best friend was a girl."
"But why would they care? What's the difference if I'm a boy or a girl?"
He shrugs. "They think girls just sit around and have tea parties and play with stuff animals."
"What am I, five?"
He holds up his hands. "Hey, I don't think that. I'm just telling you what they said."
"Well, why didn't you come after me when I left the party?"
"I couldn't. I was too embarrassed. And then when my mom found out what happened, she was so mad at me she gave me the cold shoulder for a week. She said you were like the daughter she always wanted and wasn't able to have. She asks me about you all the time, but I can't even tell her anything. She misses you."
My eyes sting with tears. "I miss her, too. And I missed..." I can't bring myself to say "I miss YOU" but I think he knows because he holds out his hand and says, "Friends again?"
I take it and we shake. "Friends." Then we feel silly and quickly snatch our hands away. I glance at the door to the courtyard, just to make sure no one saw us. Still shut tight. Okay, first order of business down. Time for the next. "So, what was your reaction when you woke up that first time and realized it was our birthday again?"
"I thought it was a joke!"
I laugh. "Me too!"
"The first thing I heard when I woke up was my mom playing the guitar while my Dad sang 'Happy Birthday' to me. I was like, Very funny guys, my birthday was yesterday. But they just kept strumming and singing, and the phone rang and it was the football guy - who called himself Paul the Ball - confirming the party and before I knew it, we had that pop quiz again. I felt like a zombie, just going through the motions, scared to do anything differently from the day before."
"Me too!"
He continues. "I really, really wanted to tell you what was going on but I couldn't. I figured you'd never believe me. Plus, you know, you haven't spoken to me in a year."
"Yeah, there's that."
"So I told myself it was all a bad dream, but when it happened again on the third day, I started to get really scared. I seriously thought I was going crazy. Then you weren't in school and it was like fireworks went off in my head. I knew that this had to be happening to you, too, or else you'll be sitting in that class with me. And I finally knew I wasn't dreaming, I wasn't crazy. What was it like for you?"
I take a deep breath and tell him everything that happened. He laughs when I get to the part about swinging my arms pathetically at gymnastics tryouts. He mumbles "Sorry" when I tell him that Stephanie left to go to his party. I show him my healing blisters and explain that they're the reason I knew this was real. I tell him about Kylie and what I read in her diary, and about mom getting fired.
When I'm done he leans forward and intently and says, "We're like, we're... special or something. Like time is stopping for us."
"But why? Why? Is it something we did? Something we didn't do? Maybe everyone's stuck, but only the two of us realize it. Or maybe there are others, but we don't know about them and they don't know about us."
"I hadn't thought about others," he says, sitting back on his heels. "I guess it's possible. We should find out."
"Don't you think our first job should be to make it stop?"
"Who says we should make it stop?" He smiles crookedly, the old sparkle back in his eye. I missed that sparkle. Leo was definitely the leader when it came to anything sneaky.
"What do you mean?"
He jump up. "Think about it. You know how our parents - well, mostly your parents - are always saying that there are 'consequences for our actions'?" He does a pretty good imitation of my dad.
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, that rule doesn't apply to us anymore. We can do anything we want and the slate is wiped clean the next day."
"What slate?"
"It's an expression," he says, still excited. "It's like we get to do-over everyday!"
I think back to this morning, and how happy I was that no one in my family remembered they were mad at me. I begin to see where he's going with this. "Do you have a plan?"
He can barely contain himself and actually does a little hop and a skip. Good thing those guys he was trying so hard to impress can't see him now. "I have a few ideas," he says. "I want to check some things out first."
I shiver involuntarily. "Is it going to get us in trouble?"
"There's a good chance," he admits.
The bell rings. "Should we get back to class? Those consequences you talk about might be gone tomorrow? But if we cut school will still get in a lot of trouble today. I can't stand my parents being mad at me again, even if it just last a day. And if we get grounded, we can't do anything anyway."
"You're right." He picks up his backpack and hands me mine. We should start tomorrow. Don't give me more time to plan anyway. If you pretend you're sick again, can you get out of the house without being seen?"
"I think so. My dad pretty much slept all day. He will just think I'm sleeping, too." I pushed open the door to the hallway and we quickly blend in with the streams of kids coming out of the classrooms.
"I'll go to school like usual," Leo says, raising his voice over the commotion. "But I'll hand in a note saying I have a doctor's appointment and won't be back."
"Isn't that risky?"
"I don't have a choice. If I just cut, the school will call to find out where I am. My parents will be home all day, getting ready for my party, so they'd definitely answer the phone."
"I does having a hypnotist, a famous football player, a live band, and a giant lizard would take a lot of preparation."
He winces. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, the rock band send a replacement. Every night I've had to listen to Hop-along Wille and the Knee-slapping Five."
I stifle a laugh. "What kind of band is that?"
He shudders. "You don't want to know. And the giant lizard? Just a regular lizard with a weight problem. Believe me, I didn't ask for my party to be this big deal. My parents did it because they knew how hard this was on me. You know, having a party alone. So really, it's all your fault."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better," I told him as we reach the end of the hall, "you don't have to decorate my locker tomorrow."
He pretends to pout. "But then no one will see how creative I am."
The warning Bell Rings for the next period. I only have a minute now to get all the way across the school. "I've gotta run, so I'll see you tomorrow morning. And this time, use the branch, will ya?" I turn to go and discover a little crowd has formed a few feet away from us. A few of the kids are whispering and glancing our way.
"I guess our secrets out," Leo says. "People know we made up."
"But they don't know our real secret," I whisper.
"That's true. And by tomorrow, they'll forget they saw us!"
We give each other a high five and wave to the crowd before going our separate ways. Leo was right. This could actually be fun!