School Squad, page 7
Mr. Pembrook laughed. “Dr. Butterfield’s fine. He would be a lot better if he cut back on all the butter though.” He winked at Mom and me. Mom laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
I grabbed a handful of silverware and started setting the table. “Mr. Haim’s going to be the next Bachelor.”
“Does this mean we have to give up our feminist boycott and actually watch this season?” Mom asked.
Mr. Pembrook brought our plates to the table, all three at once, like a waiter. “I offered to take over his classes if Butterfield covered the honors classes, because, well… you know.” His eyes darted no-so-subtly toward me.
“Oh, Gavin,” Mom said, with a sad smile. “I know how much you want to teach honors.”
Mr. Pembrook smiled. “I’m sure Bea doesn’t want her mom’s boyfriend teaching her math.”
I also didn’t want my old math teacher calling himself my mom’s boyfriend or eating dinner at my house, but that hadn’t stopped him.
I sat down in my usual spot next to Mom, but then Mr. Pembrook sat down and I ended up in the middle. Anyone looking in the window would think we were a family.
Mom wrinkled her brow. “Can you get in trouble if Mr. Sellers finds out about…” Mom waved her hands around the table. “This?”
“That you’re the best vegan cook on this side of Mapleton?” Mr. Pembrook asked through a mouthful of bean burger.
Mom laughed like he was a comedian. “Gavin, you know what I mean.”
He smiled. “I told Mr. Sellers about us.”
I tried not to gag on my salad greens.
Mr. Pembrook speared a forkful of lettuce. “Mr. Sellers said it was fine as long as I didn’t teach any of Bea’s classes.”
I took a big bite of burger, which tasted like refried beans mashed with sweet potatoes, definitely not foods that are meant to be together. I had never been more relieved in my life to have my phone ring.
Mom shook her head at me. “Bea, no phone at the table.”
“But it’s Dad. He’s probably calling to see how the first day of school went,” I said.
“Okay, but be quick so your burger doesn’t get cold,” Mom said.
“Does it matter if a veggie burger gets cold?” I asked, then scraped my chair back.
Mr. Pembrook laughed. “Not really.”
Mom waved her hand at me. “Go ahead.”
I walked into the living room with my phone held up to my ear. “Hey, Dad.”
As soon as I sank into the couch, Mr. Pebbles leapt onto my lap and tucked himself in for a snuggle session.
“Hi, Bea! It’s Monica,” my future stepmom’s Splenda-sweet voice said.
I rolled my eyes at Mr. Pebbles. “Loved the proposal video.”
“Thank you,” Monica gushed. “Jimmy’s so good at surprises.”
I thought about how I was the last person to find out he was getting married. But I kept my voice even. “Oh, yeah. He’s the master of surprises.”
“Are you free next Saturday?” Monica asked.
“Yes,” I said, eager to finally see the new house, hoping my basement room wasn’t as depressing as it looked on FaceTime.
“Great!” Monica said. “We’re having a girls’ day. Peyton, Vivi, you, and me.”
“What about Dad?” I scanned my mental calendar and realized I hadn’t seen Dad since a couple of weeks before I left for camp.
Monica giggled. “Jimmy can’t come dress shopping with us! It’s bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the big day.”
“We’re going dress shopping?”
“We’re going to have the best day ever! We’re picking out bridesmaid dresses. Then we can do a special lunch,” Monica said. “The girls really want to get to know you better.”
For girls who were so eager to get to know me, I could count on one hand the combined number of words they had said to me the few times I had seen them.
Monica filled the silence. “I want you to be involved every step of the way. And we need to hustle because the wedding’s right around the corner.”
I forced out a happy tone. “Can’t wait! I have to go, though. It’s dinnertime.”
“I’ll pick you up next Saturday at nine,” Monica said. “Enjoy your dinner.”
Sometimes, I think it would be easier to have a mean stepmother—someone who didn’t want me in their life. But the sad thing was, Monica tried harder than Dad.
I was about to stand up, but then I heard Mom and Mr. Pembrook laughing. I snuggled Mr. Pebbles tighter to avoid going back into the kitchen where my imitation burger on a fake bun and another potential stepparent were waiting for me.
MAISY
A few hours after I got home from school, my house was actually quiet for the first time since camp. Dad had two hip replacements on his surgery schedule, which meant he probably wouldn’t be home till midnight, and Grandma was at the gym watching Addy’s practice. I don’t know who was more obsessed with Addy qualifying for level ten, Addy or Grandma.
Grandma left me a frozen dinner of fried chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes. The picture on the box made the food look as good as KFC, but when I took the microwavable container out, the food was shriveled up and rock hard. At least when I was in charge of things, I made actual food for us.
I had already showered, laid out my clothes for the morning, and finished my homework. So I tucked myself into my loft bed with my laptop, my favorite cozy blanket, and a whole summer’s worth of Netflix to catch up on. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Mom. Lately, whenever I tried to relax, she popped up in my thoughts.
When she first went away, I Googled her rehab place. It supposedly had one of the highest success rates for its patients. But I couldn’t help wondering—what if Mom was in worse shape than the other people? What if she was going to be the person who brought their percentage down? What if she came home and tricked us into thinking she was better, and she really wasn’t? She had gotten really good at lying over the past couple of years.
My laptop pinged with a FaceTime request from Bea. I accepted it and my screen lit up with Bea’s face. She looked more like the old Bea from camp, in her beat-up Camp Amelia T-shirt and her freckles spattered all over her makeup-free face. But she had that stressed-out look that had been on her face since we got off the bus in Mapleton.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
Bea leaned into the screen so close that I could see up her nostrils. “Peyton and Vivi are following me on Instagram.”
“Those little jerks!” I scrunched up my face. “What were they thinking?”
Bea laughed. “I’m being crazy, aren’t I?”
“They are going to be related to you in a few months. I could see why they would follow you,” I said. “They’re probably trying to get to know you better.”
“That’s the problem!” Bea cried. “Now they’re going to know what a nerd I am. I posted three times last year and two of the posts were of Mr. Pebbles and the other one is from when Mom and I went to the… wait for it… Renaissance Fair.”
“I saw that post with your mom. It was cute,” I said.
“I was holding a giant turkey leg!” Bea shouted. “And Mom and I were dressed up in medieval dresses. Now they know I’m a total weirdo and a social reject.”
“You’ve never had sisters before. I could care less how popular Addy is. All I worry about is her stealing my clothes and having my back with Dad. We also have an agreement that she watches Pitch Perfect with me whenever I want, as long as I binge-watch old seasons of Degrassi with her,” I said.
“It’s different for you guys. You’re actually related. You have all this shared history,” Bea said.
I exhaled really hard. “Right now, it would be better if we didn’t have shared history. She thinks I’m the worst person in the world for not forgiving Mom.”
Bea smiled. “Addy never could stay mad for too long. You guys just have different personalities.”
“My personality has a lot more common sense than hers,” I said.
“At least you’ll have each other when your mom comes home,” Bea said.
“I guess,” I said.
Bea held up her phone. “Look how many friends Peyton has! And she got four hundred and twenty-three likes on her last post. Four hundred and twenty-three!”
“You need to put your phone down,” I said.
Bea groaned. “Just when things are on track with the M & Ms, there’s another group of pretty girls who won’t want to include me.”
My door swung open and Dad walked in with a big smile on his face.
“Gotta go,” I said. “My dad’s home. Seriously, put your phone away.” I snapped my laptop shut.
“Looks like someone’s enjoying her new room,” Dad said.
“That’s ’cause Addy’s not here. What’re you doing home so early?”
“My last surgery got canceled because the patient had a fever,” Dad said.
I threw off my blankets and climbed down from my bed.
“Grandma told me she left you dinner,” he said.
I groaned, picturing the TV dinner waiting for me in the microwave. “Please don’t make me eat it. It reminds me of the freeze-dried food they made us eat when that astronaut came to visit on career day.”
“Grandma’s working hard to take care of us. Come eat your dinner,” Dad said.
I followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen as slowly as possible.
“What’s all this?” I asked, as soon as I walked in the kitchen, waving my arms at the counters that were covered in grocery shopping bags.
Dad pulled on his King of the Grill apron. “Did you really think I was going to make you eat a TV dinner? My brother and I ate so many of those things growing up; I still gag whenever I see the cardboard box.”
“Thank God!” I said.
Dad rolled up his sleeves. “Wash your hands so you can help. You’re on salad duty.”
He pulled out a couple of packs of chicken cutlets. “I’m going to make enough for a couple of days so all you guys have to do is reheat them.”
“Thank you for saving me from Grandma’s ‘cooking.’”
I pulled out a bag of prewashed spring mix and smiled because Dad remembered it’s the only kind of lettuce I like. I opened the bag and dumped the lettuce mix into a big wooden salad bowl.
Dad cracked eggs into a glass bowl. “How was the first day of school?”
I dumped the carton of cherry tomatoes into a colander and ran water over them. “Okay, I guess.”
“Your first day of middle school was just okay?” Dad asked, beating the eggs. “Wasn’t it nice to have Bea hanging out with you and the other Skittles?”
I threw a dish towel at him. “Dad! You know we’re the M & Ms.”
He dipped a piece of chicken in the eggs, then into a plate filled with breadcrumbs. “Were the girls nice to Bea?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But since I came back from camp, I’ve been noticing all these things about the M & Ms that never bothered me before. Did you ever come back from being away and feel like you don’t even remember why you liked certain people in the first place?”
“Not really. But it’s different with guys. You play baseball, they play baseball, so you’re friends. I didn’t really think too much about it when I was a kid. Then in college and medical school, I was studying so much that I didn’t have time for a social life. I have work friends now, of course, but your mom’s really my best friend,” Dad said. “She’s the only one besides you girls I want to spend time with more than anything.”
“Is she still?” I asked, keeping my eyes down on the cucumber I was slicing. “Your best friend?”
Dad dropped the chicken in a skillet and the hot oil hissed and popped. “Of course she is. You don’t stop being best friends with someone just because they get sick.” He looked right at me. “Maisy, nobody’s perfect.”
I didn’t need my mom to be perfect. I just needed her to be herself again, but I was pretty certain she had forgotten how to be the old Mom.
CHAPTER TEN
BEA
A LIGHT BREEZE SWAYED THE TREE BRANCHES AS A REMINDER that fall was here, but it hadn’t stopped the girls from swimming.
“Come in,” Mia called from her perch on the unicorn float. She was wearing a simple black bathing suit that probably retailed for a hundred dollars. “My dad put the heater all the way up, so it feels like bathwater.”
Mom always worries about the heat bill. We get through the winter months by keeping the thermostat at sixty-six and extra quilts on our beds. Everything about Mia’s life was so easy compared to mine.
Maisy burrowed her arms deeper into her sweatshirt. “It’s too cold.”
“You’ll warm up as soon as you get in,” Madison called from the donut float where she was huddled with Chloe. Madison was wearing a black-and-white bikini top with neon yellow bottoms, and Chloe was wearing the neon yellow top with black-and-white bottoms.
Maisy jerked her head toward Madison and Chloe and whispered, “They’re becoming the same person.”
I pretended not to hear. I couldn’t risk getting caught gossiping about the M & Ms, not even the low-ranking ones.
The gate squeaked open and Clark walked in looking like he came from a Hollister photo shoot. Griffin trailed behind him wearing black bathing suit bottoms; the outline of every single bone from his clavicle to his rib cage was on display. Marshall had a stripe of thick white sunblock on the bridge of his nose and across both cheeks. He was wearing a long-sleeved rash guard and board shorts that came almost to his ankles. The tiny bit of skin that poked out was covered in angry-looking eczema.
“Bea, you’re supposed to be the smart one.” Mia hopped off her unicorn float and glared at me. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
I felt my cheeks burn and my legs turn weak.
“They just got here,” hissed Maisy. “Give it a chance.”
“If anyone finds out Griffin and Marshall swam in my pool, no one will ever come over again,” Mia said.
I thought being invisible was the worst possible scenario, but having Mia Atwater look at me with revulsion was a new low.
Maisy walked over to the covered patio area where the guys were huddled around a big black suitcase. “What’s in the suitcase?”
“Cue the music,” Clark said.
Marshall unzipped the suitcase with a flourish and pulled out a Bluetooth speaker, and robotic techno filled the backyard.
Madeline and Meghan ran over to the guys. Mia stared at them for what seemed like an eternity, before she sighed and got out of the pool to investigate. Not surprisingly, Madison and Chloe were right at her heels.
Madeline squatted next to the black suitcase, trying to get a closer look, even though Marshall had zipped it back up. “Are you guys gonna do magic tricks for us?”
Madison squealed, “I love magic tricks!”
“Me too!” Chloe said.
Griffin wheeled the suitcase into the middle of Mia’s grotto and spun it around.
Madison grabbed Marshall’s arm. “Is there a rabbit in there?”
Clark shook his head and said, “No rabbit.” He pulled out pairs of giant goggles and passed them to Griffin and Marshall.
When the music built to a crescendo, the guys ceremoniously pulled down their goggles onto their faces in unison.
Marshall sounded like someone was holding his nose closed. “Always remember, safety first.”
The girls laughed, and not in a mean way either. Mia and Madeline leaned over to try to get a look inside the black suitcase, but Griffin swatted them away. “You don’t want to ruin the surprise,” he said.
The music hit another crescendo as Clark pulled a gigantic aluminum canister from the suitcase and plunked it on the ground.
A chorus of oohs and aahs filled the yard.
Griffin pulled out a giant silver bowl, like the one Mom uses for chopped salads, and Marshall pulled out a bag of sugar, a carton of heavy cream, and a bottle of vanilla extract.
“Omg! I think they’re making ice cream!” Madeline shouted.
“It’s like that new place that just opened up at the mall,” Mia said, with an air of authority.
“Nitro?” asked Maisy.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Mia nodded, as if it had been her idea all along to bring Clark, Griffin, and Marshall over to make us nitrous ice cream.
I snapped the scrunchie, which felt safe on my wrist.
“Where did you guys get the nitrous?” Madeline asked.
Clark winked. “Chem Club gets keys to the lab.”
“Nerd perks.” Griffin grinned.
The girls giggled.
Griffin poured a mountain of sugar into the bowl. Marshall opened a container of cream and poured some on top. Then Griffin added a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Clark pulled on thick industrial gloves, like the kind Mom wears when she cleans the gutters. He opened the nitrous container and smoke billowed out like we were in a haunted house.
Mia started narrating an Insta story. “We’re making nitro ice cream here in my backyard!” She held her phone over the bowl while Clark stirred. “Look at that consistency! It’s turning into ice cream!”
“Careful!” Maisy grabbed Mia’s hand. “Your hand’s gonna freeze off.”
“Safety first,” Griffin, Marshall, and Clark said in unison.
The girls laughed and Mia pulled her hand back.
“Can someone grab bowls?” Clark asked.
Madison and Chloe ran to the outdoor kitchen area and grabbed bowls and spoons.
Clark took an ice cream scoop from the suitcase and filled a bowl with ice cream. He had clearly figured out how things worked with the M & Ms because he handed the first bowl to Mia.
Mia passed her phone to Meghan so Meghan could film her. She didn’t even worry about getting Griffin and Marshall in the shot.
Mia took the first spoonful and blew smoke from her nose and mouth like a dragon while Meghan captured every second.
