Libby's Sweet Surprise

  The class spent the first fifteen minutes warming up their voices before they took their places on the risers. They could sit anywhere they wanted during those fifteen minutes.

  “Thanks,” Libby said.

  “Any more news about the jar since yesterday?” Sabrina asked.

  Libby sighed. “I read through Grandma Grace’s journal again before bed, wondering if I missed something about the jar and the poem. But I didn’t find anything. I think at dinner tonight, I’ll ask my aunt and uncle if they’ll take me to her house. I don’t want to sneak in and get in trouble.”

  “I understand,” Sabrina said. “It would have been fun to snoop through the house with you, though. Remember, you must think like a detective.”

  Libby furrowed her brow. “How do I do that?”

  “You have to put yourself in your great-grandma’s shoes. What I mean by that is, think like her, not like you.”

  “That’s not going to be very easy,” Libby said.

  “Detective work is definitely not easy,” Sabrina said. “Rewarding? Yes. But easy? No way.”

  “Great,” Libby muttered as the bell rang, letting them know class was about to start.

  * * *

  When Libby got home from school, there was a letter waiting for her, from Caitlin. She sat at the table and read it while having some biscuits and tea.

  Dear Libby,

  How are you? How’s the charm bracelet? Is it bringing you lots of luck? I hope so. You deserve it. I can’t wait to see what new charms are added when it’s my turn again.

  Things have been going really well here. Our play, Charlotte’s Web, is happening next weekend. I’ve had a blast being in the cast (hey, that rhymes) with my friends Esther and Tezra. We’ve already decided we’re going to try out for the spring play too. Not sure what it’s going to be yet, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll have fun whatever it is. We’re also on a Battle of the Books team together, and we just got the book list with sixteen wonderful books we have to read. We’re going to divide the list up so we don’t have to read all of the books, but between you and me, I might try to read all of them anyway. When we have the battles, and have to answer questions about the books, I want to be able to help my friends if they need it, you know?

  How’s it going at the new school? Hopefully by now you’ve made some new friends too. I know it can be hard. I really do. But, Libby, you have to know anyone would feel so lucky to call you friend. I sure do!

  Time to go help my mom make dinner. Please write to me and tell me how you are and what’s going on. I miss you like crazy!

  Your cabin 7 BFF,

  Caitlin

  She folded the letter and put it away. It made Libby happy to know that Caitlin was having fun with her new friends. But she couldn’t deny that she felt envious about it all too. She wanted friends like that. More than anything, that’s what she wanted.

  Rebecca used to be that kind of friend. No matter what they did together, they had a good time. Now when she thought of Rebecca, she thought of the awkwardness that had developed between them and the way she looked at Libby like she almost couldn’t stand her.

  Libby had been so excited to be reunited with her bestie when she’d returned from camp in August. But Rebecca hadn’t returned her calls for days. When they’d finally met up at their favorite café for some tea and cake, it seemed like every other word out of Rebecca’s mouth was a person’s name Libby had never heard before. She’d met a new group of kids while Libby had been gone over the summer, and while Libby understood the excitement, since she’d made new friends too, what she couldn’t understand was how Rebecca didn’t seem to want to talk about anything else.

  It got really annoying when Rebecca had gone on and on about this one boy, Seth, and his adorable dimples and beautiful blue eyes. When Libby’d tried to tell her about camp, Rebecca had shut her down fast, making some rude comment about how boring it must have been without any boys to flirt with. Libby had argued with her about how it hadn’t been boring at all, that she’d actually liked the fact that there weren’t any boys to worry about.

  Libby had gone home feeling as if a stranger had taken over Rebecca’s body. It felt like she hardly knew her anymore. Hoping it’d just been a weird, one-time thing, Libby had attempted a couple of other get-togethers, and both times were complete disasters. Rebecca had gotten bored in a matter of minutes and spent the rest of the time texting her new friends on her fancy smartphone and showing Libby photos of all of them.

  Soon after school started, they’d run into each other once at the park, and what used to be a fun and comfortable friendship now felt strange and uneasy.

  Was it possible to change that? Did she even want to any more?

  Of course I do, she thought.

  Just then, the telephone rang. Her aunt called from the other room, where she was sewing, “Can you get that, Libby?”

  Libby picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hello, may I speak to Libby, please?” It was the voice of an older woman, but Libby couldn’t quite place who it was.

  “This is she.”

  “Libby, this is Margaret, Grandma Grace’s friend. I have some news for you. I think I may have found the jar you’ve been looking for. I’m sorry that we missed it when you were here before.”

  Libby’s heartbeat quickened. “You really think you’ve found it? Wow. That’s … amazing.”

  “I believe so,” she said. “But I think you’re going to be quite surprised, because it’s not exactly what you expected to find. Are you able to come over on Saturday and see it for yourself?”

  “Yes,” Libby said. “Yes, I can do that.”

  “All right, good. I’ll see you then.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. Good-bye.”

  “Good-bye.”

  Libby hung up the phone feeling happy, but also confused. What had she meant when she’d said, “it’s not exactly what you expected?”

  Whatever it was, Libby couldn’t wait to find out. If only Saturday wasn’t four long days away.

  “I have some news,” Libby’s uncle said that night as the family finished up their dinner.

  “I hope it’s good news,” Aunt Jayne said.

  “Do either of you know what today is?” Uncle Oliver asked after he finished wiping his mouth with his napkin and put it on his empty plate.

  Aunt Jayne and Libby looked at each other. “Tuesday?” Libby replied.

  “Well, yes,” Uncle Oliver said. “That’s true. But it’s also December third, and you know what that means?”

  Libby felt silly that she had no clue what that meant. Had she forgotten someone’s birthday?

  “Oliver,” Aunt Jayne said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you please just tell us?”

  He laughed. “All right, all right, I’ll tell you. I thought you might remember, but I guess not. December third is the day we officially declare it the holiday season at Mr. Pemberton’s Olde Sweetshop. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember, and I’ve upheld that tradition since I’ve been in charge.”

  Libby’s face lit up. “Did you get out the boxes of holiday decorations today?”

  “I sure did,” Uncle Oliver said. “I have a few things I need help with, so I thought we’d all go over and finish up there in a bit.”

  “Are you going to decorate the front door like a big wrapped gift again?” Libby asked.

  “Yes, just like every year.” He scooted his chair back from the table. “But that’s not actually my news. My news is that because the holiday season is officially upon us, I’ve decided to run an ad in the newspaper over the next few weeks. And here’s the exciting part — you two are going to be a part of it!”

  Libby narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “We’re going to have our picture taken,” her uncle explained with a smile. “In front of our wonderful sweetshop. I want people to know our faces and be comfortable shopping with us. I’m thinking of it as an invita
tion, of sorts.” He cleared his throat and in a cheerful voice said, “Come one, come all, and join us this holiday season!”

  Libby did not like this idea. She didn’t want the world to know her family owned the sweetshop. Kids at school might treat her differently. They might assume if she became their friend, they could have all the candy they wanted. And of course, she really didn’t want Cedric to know her family owned the shop. Not yet, anyway. It had to be the perfect time to tell him. And she’d already decided that when he guessed her favorite candy, that would be the perfect time to tell him.

  “I think just the two of you should be in the photo,” Libby said. “Without me.”

  “That’s no fun,” her aunt said as she stood up and started clearing away the dishes. “It’s a family business, and you are a part of it. It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t in it.”

  “But, do you think it’s safe?” Libby asked, standing up to help with the dishes.

  “Yes, of course it’s safe,” Uncle Oliver said. “We won’t give out your name. And it won’t be too close up, because we want to get the entire storefront into the shot.”

  This actually made Libby feel better. “It won’t be completely obvious that it’s me, then?” she asked.

  “Right,” Uncle Oliver said. “But we’ll know it’s you, and our faithful customers will know it’s you, and it will remind them of our little store and how wonderful it is to shop there during the holidays. And for people not familiar with us, our smiling faces will encourage them to come and get to know us.”

  Libby considered all of this carefully, along with the fact that most kids didn’t sit down and read the newspaper like adults did. Chances were, Cedric wouldn’t see the ad, and if he did happen to see it, hopefully he wouldn’t recognize Libby.

  “All right,” Libby said. “If this is really what you want, I’ll go along with it.”

  “Wonderful,” Uncle Oliver said. “Thank you, love. And to show my appreciation, I’ll give you the weekend off from filling the jars. Getting your photo taken will be all the work you have to do. How’s that?”

  “Wonderful,” Libby said, trying to sound excited. She was pretty sure she’d done a lousy job, though.

  * * *

  The next day before school, Libby was at her locker when she heard Cedric behind her say, “I wore my lucky trousers today.”

  Libby turned around and looked at them. Then her eyes met his. “How come?”

  “I feel bad. About not showing up at the park. So I wore them because I hope that we can forget all of that and go back to walking our dogs together like nothing happened.”

  “Great,” Libby said.

  “Great?”

  “Yes. Things were feeling strange between us, and I didn’t like it.”

  “Me neither,” Cedric said as Libby closed the locker door, her books in hand. “I have lots of homework, but I should be able to go to the park on Saturday. What about you?”

  Libby bit her lip. She couldn’t tell him about the photo shoot. “I, uh, have to go see Margaret about the jar.”

  “Do I know who Margaret is?” Cedric asked as they began walking.

  “She’s the first friend of Grandma Grace’s that I went and visited. She rang yesterday and said she thinks she’s found the jar. She asked me to come and see her on Saturday, so she could show me.”

  “That’s exciting,” Cedric said. “But it won’t take all day. Let’s plan on meeting up after that. How about at four?”

  Uncle Oliver hadn’t told her what time the photo shoot was scheduled for. Hopefully it would be earlier in the day. “All right. But what if it takes longer than I expect?”

  “I’m going to give you my cell phone number so you can ring me,” Cedric said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

  “I don’t have a phone though,” Libby said. “Remember? Not until I’m thirteen.”

  “Well, write down my number anyway, and you can use Margaret’s phone if you have to.”

  Libby pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to Cedric. “Here, you can write it down.”

  When that was done, Cedric gave the paper back to her and said, “I still want to know your favorite candy.”

  “And I want you to guess,” Libby replied.

  “Can I have a hint? Like, is it chocolate or not?”

  “Not.”

  “Is it something strange, like Dracula teeth?” he asked.

  “Ew, no,” Libby said, stopping outside the door of her classroom. “But remember, what’s strange to one person isn’t to another. You know, like Rebecca’s favorite, chocolate frogs. I think they’re totally strange, but she loves them more than anything.”

  “Sweet bananas?” he asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Licorice toffee?”

  She shook her head and the bell rang. “Looks like your lucky trousers aren’t working very well today. Sorry.”

  “I’m going to figure it out,” Cedric said.

  “It’s probably going to take you a while,” Libby said before she turned around and left.

  Hopefully, a long while, she thought to herself.

  Saturday morning, Libby woke up and got herself ready. The photo shoot was scheduled for one o’clock, so she’d decided the day before that she would go and see Margaret in the morning. Margaret hadn’t given a specific time to stop by, so Libby figured any time was probably fine.

  While she ate her porridge, she told her aunt that she was going to go and visit Margaret again.

  “Are you sure it’s all right?” Aunt Jayne asked. “I mean, you aren’t making a pest out of yourself, are you?”

  “No,” Libby said. “She asked me to stop by and see her again. She likes having me over, I promise.”

  “Hm. I suppose she does, then. But don’t stay too long. We have to decide what to wear for the photo shoot. We don’t want our outfits to clash, you know.”

  “Right,” Libby agreed. “But we also don’t want to be matchy-matchy. That would look ridiculous.”

  “Yes,” her aunt said. “We want to complement each other.” She chuckled. “I suppose we could have used this photo shoot as an excuse to go shopping. I didn’t even think of that.”

  One thing about Aunt Jayne: she loved shopping, especially for clothes.

  “You know, we have a few hours,” Aunt Jayne said as she eyed the clock. “We could go shopping now. You could visit Margaret another day.”

  Libby groaned as she got up and took her bowl to the sink. “But I don’t want to go shopping. It’s bad enough I have to spend part of my Saturday getting my picture taken. Last Saturday I worked at the shop all day. Can’t I please have this morning to do what I want to do?”

  Aunt Jayne rubbed Libby’s back and said, “Yes. You can. I’m sorry, I didn’t know shopping for new clothes was such a chore. Most girls your age love to shop.”

  “Yes, but that’s when they’re shopping because they want to, not because they have to buy something for a silly advertisement.”

  Her aunt clucked her tongue. “Now, now, it’s not silly. It’s actually very smart, what your uncle is doing. The month of December is our biggest month of the year, we have to do what we can to make it as successful as possible.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

  “It’s all right. You go along and see Margaret and have a lovely time. Be back here by eleven-thirty, please.”

  “I will,” Libby said. “See you then.”

  It was a chilly December day, and the gray, cloudy sky looked like it might open up and pour any second. Libby decided she better grab an umbrella, just in case. She ran back inside and got one from the hall closet and then went on her way to Margaret’s cottage.

  As she walked, she decided she needed to remember something from camp to keep her mind occupied. She was so curious about what Margaret had waiting for her, she could hardly stand it.

  Libby took the bracelet off of one wrist and clasped it onto the other
.

  She smiled as she remembered the night they snuck out of Cabin 7 so they could play a joke on the Cabin 2 girls.

  Cabin 2 seemed to be filled with girls who thought they were better than everyone else. If there was a way for them to set themselves apart from the crowd, they found it. It seemed like they wanted to be noticed. All the time.

  They developed a special language that only the girls in Cabin 2 knew. And one girl in Cabin 2 had brought along special pink bandanas for her cabin mates. Each of the girls wore a bandana proudly, either around the neck or on the head or like an armband.

  During the second week of camp, someone had gone around to each cabin during the night and put plastic wrap across every doorway. Girls opened the doors and walked right into the stuff, squealing as they did because it surprised them so much.

  Although every cabin had been included in the prank, when the girls in Cabin 2 came out for the first time that morning, someone saw the plastic wrap and took it down. It was so totally obvious to the girls in the other cabins that the Cabin 2 girls knew to look for the plastic wrap.

  There was lots of finger pointing, but no one ever came forward and admitted to the prank. Still, the girls in Cabin 7 had decided to get back at the girls in Cabin 2. So, one night they snuck out and covered the porch of Cabin 2 with lots of shaving cream and hair conditioner. The hope was that when the Cabin 2 girls walked out the next morning, they would slip and slide like they were trying to walk across an ice rink.

  Libby could remember trying not to laugh as she worked alongside Mia, Caitlin, and Hannah. They’d promised each other, over and over again, that they would stay as quiet as possible. It was just so funny, sneaking out in the dark, and covering the porch with slimy stuff.

  When Libby arrived at Margaret’s cottage, she had a smile on her face. She didn’t know what she’d find waiting for her when she went through that purple door, but one thing she knew for sure — whatever it was, she could be glad that she wouldn’t run into plastic wrap or slip and slide across shaving cream.

  “Good morning, Libby,” Margaret said when she opened the door. She glanced up at the sky and added, “Looks like a storm is brewing, doesn’t it? Please, come in.”