11 Birthdays

Chapter Fourteen

I switch off my alarm and stare up at the dark ceiling. I can barely make out the flowers painted on it. I can't wait to tell you what happened last night - Mom still got fired! Even though I have given her the right poster! I couldn't believe it when she told me. When I asked her why they were buying her, she just shrugged and said her boss didn't think she was "a good fit" for the company anymore.
        Mom comes in to see why I'm not up, and I give my story about being sick. Everything is going according to plan until she Sighs and says, "Mrs. Grayson down the street will have to take you to the doctor."
        Ugh! How could I have forgotten about this part? My mind races for some way to get out of it, but nothing comes. I'm nod weakly. Once she leaves, I wait a little while until I hear her car start in the driveway, followed quickly by Kylie slamming the back door. The less I have to talk to anyone, the less chance I have for messing up. It feels weird letting them go without telling them about the posters switcheroo, but since it didn't do any good - Mom's still going to get fired, and Kylie's still not gonna get the guy - I might as well not bother.
        So what do I do about the doctor? Maybe Leo can call my dad, pretending to be from the doctor's office. He can say the doctor had an emergency and I can come in tomorrow? Or maybe call Mrs. Grayson and pretend to be mom and tell her I don't have to go after all. I really hate lying. Consequences are no, it doesn't make me feel good.
        When I don't go downstairs for breakfast, Dad knocks on my door. "Come in," I call out weakly.
        The door opens and he walks in with a tall glass of orange juice and a muffin. He places them on my night table. "Happy birthday, sweetie! You must really not be feeling well if you're still in bed."
        I nod and glanced out the window. "I'm going to be in bed a lot today."
        When I look back, I see him sizing me up with his eyes. Then he says, "I know this is a hard day for you. But you didn't cancel your party tonight so you don't have to compete with Leo's, right?"
        Normally I would argue that this isn't about Leo, but what do you know, it actually IS! But I shake my head and cough a few times. "I just don't feel well, Dad."
        "Okay," he says, backing away and sneezing. "I'll be on the couch downstairs if you need anything. I'll come get you when Mrs. Grayson gets here."
        As he closes the door it occurs to me that I might not have to go to such elaborate lengths to get out of going to the doctor. Maybe all I have to do is appeal to Dad's soft-hearted nature. "Wait, Dad?" I call out.
        He comes back in. "That was fast."
        Now that he's here I'm not sure what to say. "Um, can I just ask one small favor?"
        "Sure, honey. It is your birthday after all."
        That's it! I can work with that! "Yes, right, it's my birthday, and well, it'd be really awful if I had to go to the doctor on my birthday. I mean, it's bad enough that I have to cancel my party and everything... Is there anyway I can go to the doctor tomorrow, instead? I'm sure I have what you have, you know, just a cold."
        "Hmm, it is Friday, so you'd have the whole weekend to recover."
        I hold my breath while he considers. This definitely isn't the right time to tell him we can still seem to exist for me lately. Finally he says, "Okay, I guess it's a reasonable request. I'll go tell the doctor we'll call tomorrow if you don't feel any better."
        I want to jump up and give him a hug, but I still need to be sick enough to spend the day in bed. "Thanks, Dad!"
        "Okay, okay." He smiles and heads for the door. "I won't bother you, just come get me if you need anything. Try to get some sleep. That's what I plan to do."
        "I will," I say, crossing my fingers under the covers.
        I stay in bed until I hear his footfalls on the stairs, then pushed aside the breakfast he brought me and throw on my clothes. I wrench open the bottom of my tooth-shaped piggy bank and pull out the crumpled bills I stashed in there over the years, compliments of the tooth fairy. Smoothing everything out on the bed, I count exactly forty-two dollars. That's a lot of teeth! I don't know what Leo has planned, but it never hurts to be prepared.
        I've just placed the piggy bank back on the Shelf when I hear a knock on the window. Leo's grinning face is framed in the glass. I hurry to open the window, and Leo swings one leg over the windsill and almost falls onto the floor.
        Picking leaves off his shirt he says, "Either that tree has gotten smaller or I've gotten bigger. Didn't you hear the branch crack? I thought I was a goner."
        I shake my head, glancing out at the tree. It doesn't look any different to me.
        "We'll how to go out a different way," he says. Then he sees the money spread out on my bed. "How much you got? I stopped at the bank and wiped out my savings account."
        "You did?"
        He nod, the old sparkle back again. "I figured, why not? It'll just replace itself tomorrow!"
        "Good thinking! So how much do you have?"
        He holds up a wad of cash. "Three hundred dollars!"
        "Wow!" I've never seen that much money before. I reach out to touch it.
        "So how much do you?" he repeats.
        "Um, forty-two." Suddenly it doesn't seem impressive.
        He gathers it up and adds it to his stack. "That's okay, we have plenty."
        "Wait a sec! I do you have more! Well, it's not cash, but my parents gave me gift cards for my birthday."
        "Great!" he says. "Where are they?"
        I turn toward the nightstand and stop. "Oh, right, they're gone now. Never mind." I slip on my sneakers and turn to the door.
        But Leo doesn't move. "Does your mom still hide your presents under her bed?"
        "I guess so, but if we take them, they'll find out tonight."
        He shakes his head. "Not if you don't open your gifts tonight."
        He's right! I've only opened the gifts once since this started happening. I'll just put it off again.
        Five minutes later we're out the back door, gift cards securely in hand. Dad hasn't even twitched when we snuck past him. Still, we keep tip toeing until we're two houses down.
        "Close your eyes," Leo says. "I'll be back in a second."
        So I stand on the sidewalk, eyes closed. Just as I'm starting to feel stupid, he says, "Okay, open them."
        He's holding onto the handlebars of two electric scooters. He Grins and hands me a pink helmet. He plops a silver one on his head, and clicks the buckle closed. "Fully charged and ready to go. What do you think?"
        "I think you stole these from the Schwartz's garage across the street!"
        He shakes his head. "I borrowed them, there's a difference. I fully intend to bring them back before they can even notice they're missing."
        I'm not convinced.
        "Amanda, if this day is going to work at all, you're gonna to have to go with it. I know we'd never do stuff like this normally. But nothing's normal now, remember?"
        He's right, of course. For one day I can let go a little. Leo would never say it, but I can be as uptight as my mom. I climb onto my scooter, and strap on my helmet. "What are we waiting for, then?"
        He grins and hops on his own. "Follow me," he says, and takes off down the block.
        We wind in and out of the streets until we approach the center of town. I love the feeling of the warm breeze on my face and am sorry when Leo pulls up in front of the diner. I pull up next to him and switch off the motor.
        "First stop," he says, running his hands though his helmet-matted hair. "Breakfast!"
        I think of the untouched juice and muffin and my stomach growls. We leave the scooters outside and find a booth by the window so we can watch them while we eat. Not that there's much crime in Willow Falls, but still, they're not ours to lose.
        When the waitress comes, Leo orders pancakes with chocolate chips and strawberries, and omelet with sausage and peppers, French toast with powdered sugar and pecans, hot chocolate with whipped cream, orange juice, home fries, regular fries with gravy, and a bowl of chocolate pudding. "I'll just share his," I tell her, shaking my head and wonderment.
        "School off today or something?" she asks, reaching for our menus.
        Leo and I glance at each other. We hadn't talked about what to do if someone ask this this. Leo must have thought about it, though, because he quickly says, "We won a contest so we get to come in late."
        "Good for you," she says genuinely. "Only thing I ever won was a turkey at a Thanksgiving Parade. Pulled my back out lifting it and was in bed for a week." She heads towards the kitchen, shaking her head.
        "A contest?" I whisper.
        "Sure, why not?"
        "What kind of contest did we win, exactly?"
        Leo pauses to take a sip of his water. "Don't you remember? We guessed the amount of jelly beans in the fishbowl."
        "Hey, I never told her when we won the contest!"
        I have to admit that's true. After a glance to make sure our scooters are still there, I ask Leo, "So, what are we going to do today?"
        "The question is, what aren't we going to do?"
        A tingle of anticipation and nerves run through me. "Really?"
        He shakes his head. "Nah. We live in the most boring town in the world. I've just always wanted to say that."
        The waitress brings the juice and hot chocolate, along with two extra glasses. Being with Leo now makes me realized I never should have let a whole year go by. Thats 1/11th of my life that we missed spending together. My math teacher would be proud of my fraction ability.
        The waitress sets down the plates, and they cover most of the table. She turns to go when Leo stops her. "Ma'am?" he says. My heart sinks. Why can't he leave well enough alone?
        "Yeah?"
        "I know this sound strange, but what day is it today?"
        "It's Friday," she says tiredly. "The end of a long week."
        "So if today's Friday," he says, "what was yesterday?"
        Now she's started to look irritated. "What do you mean what was yesterday? Yesterday was Thursday."
        "You're sure?" Leo asks. "You don't need to think about it?"
        In response she slaps the bill down on the table and says, "Maybe you should hurry off to school. You need some learning in you if you don't know the days of the week at your age!"
        I glare at him. "Why, Leo, why?"
        His mouth already full of pancake, he says, "You said we need to ask people if everyday is Friday for them, too. I figured why not start with her?"
        "Because she can report us for cutting school."
        He points his fork at the omelet. "You're gonna want to try this. It's delicious."
        I sigh, and reach over for a piece. "At least with your mouth full you're less likely to get us in trouble."
        We plow through breakfast like we've never eaten before. We've certainly never eaten like THIS before. About halfway through, my stomach lurches. I pushed the plate towards Leo.
        As he opens his mouth to shovel in more pancakes, I gasp. He drops his fork with a clang against the side of his plate. "What is it?"
        "I just remembered --- when I stayed home last time Stephanie called! I should have called her this morning before school to let her know I wasn't coming. Now my dad's going to get the phone and come up to my room!"
        "What time did she call?"
        I shake my head. "I'm not sure. Soon, though. Probably between second and third period?"
        "Okay, let's not panic," he says, picking up the check the waitress had left on the table. He peels some bills off our stacked and tucked them under the check. Usually we'd be scrounging for quarters to pay for French fries. He sticks one more forkful in his mouth, then grabs both our helmets and slides out of the booth. I'm not sure if my stomach hurts from all the food or from the thought that my dad might go upstairs and find an empty bed.
        "Okay, I think I got it," he says once we're back at the scooters. "Where's Stephanie during second period?"
        I pause to think. "Gym class, I think."
        He looks at his watch. I recognize it as the one he got for our ninth birthday. It's waterproof and apparently it can tell time on the moon. "We have about 20 minutes before the end of second period. If we can get to the school on time, we can find her out on the field. C'mon, let's go."
        Before I have a chance to ask questions about this plan, Leo's halfway down the block. I hop on and take off after him. The scooter doesn't go very fast, and it's a little tricky staying on the sidewalks, but it's pretty fun. I can't believe we're actually going to school and cutting school at the same time. I wouldn't have thought that was possible. What if someone looks out the window and recognizes us? Leo must be thinking the same thing, because he makes a wide circle around the school, pulling up as close to the back field as possible. A group of kids in yellow-and-green gym outfits are jogging toward the back door, kicking a ball back and forth. I spot Stephanie walking next to Tracy. They're close enough that their words float back to me. They're arguing whether a hot dog counts as a meat or some yet-to-be-discovered substance. Not that I can imagine a situation where someone's life would hinge on a hot dog, except maybe one of those reality shows where you have to eat weird things or else you're voted off. Why am I thinking of hot dogs at a time like this?
        I turn off my scooter and run to Leo side. "They're starting to go in! What should we do?"
        Leo whips off his helmet and hands it to me. "I'll take care of it," he says. "Just stay low."
        He races off toward the back door of the gym and I ducked behind a bush. My heart racing, I peek out as far as a dare. I'm just in time to see Leo Paul stephani aside, leaving Tracy to go in alone.
        I can't hear him, and I can't imagine what he's telling her. As far as Stephanie knows, me oh and I haven't spoken in a year!
        After what seems like forever, he runs back and joins me behind the bush. "All taken care of," he says, tossing his helmet back on. "Ready to go?"
        "Um, aren't you going to tell me what you said to her?"
        "All I said was that I called you this morning to wish you a happy birthday and your mom told me you were home sick. Then I said that your mom said to tell your friends not to call until after school in case you're sleeping."
        I consider his story. "You know, you're pretty good at making up stories. You should be a writer."
        He smiles mysteriously. "Maybe I already am."
        "Meaning?"
        "C'mon, it's time for the next stop. You'll see when we get there."
        So once again I follow Leo blindly through town, the warm breeze whipping through my hair. The only people out and about are moms with young kids, and the occasional couple holding hands. Leo pulls up in front of the last place I expect - the Senior Citizen Community Center.