The Friendship Matchmaker Goes Undercover

  “Look, even if I wanted to invite her,” she said hurriedly, “I can’t. You should have mentioned it earlier. My grandma only paid for twenty people. It’s all pre-booked and the numbers have already been locked in. Nana will have a fit if I tell her to add another person. Honestly, Lara, there’s nothing I can do. I promise I would if I could.”

  “Okay, well . . . I can’t come, then.”

  “Lara Zany, that is horrible of you! I just told you the numbers are all organized. I’ve made up games around those numbers.”

  My stomach plunged. If Tanya didn’t go, and Emily didn’t go because Tanya wasn’t going, and I went . . . bottom line? I’d officially be the world’s worst best friend.

  There was only one choice.

  “Okay, fine, can Tanya take my place, then?”

  “What?”

  “I’m not feeling very good, anyway. Can you call her and invite her? But don’t mention that she’s going instead of me, or that this is all last-minute.”

  “Oh, come on!” Mandy wailed. “She’s such a dork! Have you seen those revolting clothes she wears? I’ve got standards with my friends, you know? How can I have Tanya at my party?”

  “Hey!” I snapped. “That’s not fair! Give Tanya a chance. She’s sweet and generous, and for your information, she’s actually a great bowler.”

  “Oh boy,” she groaned.

  I couldn’t help it. I threw out my last scrap of decency and said, “You owe me, Mandy. You know what I’m talking about.” I’d backed her into a corner and even though I felt rotten, it was too late now.

  “Oh fine, fine, I’ll call her now,” she said breezily. Her tone didn’t fool me. I knew I’d scared her.

  I’d probably caused her pain too. But I put that aside and reminded myself that Mandy was a bully. In other words, she had it coming.

  Half an hour later I got a call from Tanya. I answered and held the phone away from my ear, not wanting to be deafened by her excited squealing.

  “Mandy called me!” she cried. “Oh, my goodness, Lara! Mandy called me and invited me to her party today. Can you believe it? She said she’d been meaning to invite me but had forgotten to give me the invitation.”

  “Oh, that’s great, Tanya!”

  “I’m not sure I believe her . . . but it doesn’t matter! She’s invited me and I’m going.”

  I congratulated her. It all seemed silly but I had to play along. Then she suddenly cut her excited ranting short.

  “Oh, Lara, I’m so sorry . . . I’m so selfish. Look at me bragging about being invited when you weren’t.”

  I choked back a laugh. “Tanya, honestly, even if I wanted to go, which I don’t, I can’t make it. Mom and Dad are dragging my sister and me to look at kitchens with them today. They’re renovating ours.” I groaned. “I can’t imagine a more boring Saturday. But I have to go. They’re really big on all of us having our say.”

  Sometimes my lies—all told for purely noble reasons—were so good that even I half believed them. “So don’t feel bad for a second. Anyway, you know most of the other girls there. Don’t be shy and stand back from the group. Get into the conversations. Don’t let yourself be left out. Remember all the stuff we practiced? Bunjee Jump Friend? Conversation Openers?”

  “Yep, I remember.”

  “It would have been great if Emily was going but—”

  “Oh, but she is!”

  “What?”

  “When Mandy invited me I told her what Emily had done and she said she’d call Emily and let her know I’d been invited and that she could come along now too. I just got off the phone with Emily. She’s gone to the mall to get Mandy a present.”

  It was very tempting for me to roar, like maybe a lion or bear about to sink its teeth into a deer or baby elephant. I’d meddled to protect Tanya, and this is how things turn out? This was my reward? Now I was the one to be left out? I quickly got off the phone. (It wasn’t Tanya’s fault but I couldn’t trust myself to not take my anger out on her.) Whatever happened to Mandy’s sob story about set numbers and her nana paying?

  That manipulative, lying so-and-so.

  I sat on my bed, still and quiet, thinking about what I was going to do. Should I call her and demand an invite?

  I suddenly felt tired. First the disaster with Stephanie and Lila, now this. Why were all my plans backfiring?

  Chapter 16

  When you’ve had a boring weekend, Monday morning can feel like having salt poured into your wounds. Everybody’s sharing stories about their weekends—trips to the zoo or circus, baking cookies, or having a picnic in the park—but nothing’s worse than listening to other kids talking about a birthday party you didn’t go to.

  I was in the quad waiting for the bell to ring for assembly. Mandy’s party was the only topic of conversation among the seventh-grade girls, who were all crowded around the birthday girl, Tanya included.

  Tanya hadn’t realized I was close by. She was listening to the other girls squeal and carry on about what presents Mandy got, what the cake looked like, what games were played, what everybody wore, what happened at the makeover party. Tanya wasn’t saying much but still, she looked like one of them . . . like she belonged.

  I tried to catch Tanya’s attention but she was in her own world. I wasn’t about to walk up to the group and try to push myself in, so I waited off to the side and pretended to look for something in my bag.

  I was relieved when I spotted Emily. She walked toward me and I smiled.

  “Check this out!” she said and rolled up her sleeve. She had a huge scrape from her elbow to her wrist. She held it up and proudly examined it. “Dad took us to a new park for a bike ride yesterday. Daniel dared me to go down the hill. So I did.”

  “Bad fall, huh?”

  She hit me playfully. “Hey! Don’t you have any faith in me? I made it! Three times, in fact. That’s the problem with triplet brothers. You’ve got to do the same dare three times to prove yourself.”

  “So how did you get hurt?”

  “I tripped in the parking lot!” She roared with laughter. “There was tons of blood. My dad freaked, and I was bawling because it hurt so much. And all my brothers could do was laugh their heads off.” She grinned. “Of course, it was totally ridiculous when you think about it.” She suddenly stood on her tiptoes. “Hey, there’s Tanya.”

  “Yeah. She’s with Mandy,” I said bitterly.

  “Tanya!” Emily hollered. Tanya looked up in our direction and smiled. “Come over here!” Emily bellowed louder.

  Tanya skipped over and gave us both big hugs.

  “I can’t believe you got a strike on your first shot!” Tanya said to Emily. “That was so cool. Did you see the look on Mandy’s face?”

  Emily rolled her eyes but she was smiling too. “She probably thought I was doing it on purpose to take the attention away from her.”

  “Probably . . . ,” Tanya said with a light laugh. Then she smiled brightly. “It was such a fun party. The others let her win in the end,” Tanya said, turning to me to explain.

  Oh, so now you realize I’m here, I thought to myself as I managed a half smile. I had to play it cool. Even though I was burning on the inside listening to them talk about a party I should have been at too.

  “Luckily she wasn’t on my team,” Emily continued cheerfully. “I wouldn’t have played badly just so she could win.”

  Tanya smiled. “I might have,” she said. “I wouldn’t have the guts to beat her.”

  “Oh, come on, Tanya,” Emily scolded. “I can’t see why the others are so in love with her. She can be so mean. Donna got her a gift certificate, and she said that meant Donna was too lazy to think up a present herself.”

  “She was joking, though,” Tanya said. “She’s very generous. The party bags were amazing. Lip gloss and glitter cream. Did you get nail polish too?”

  Hello? I’m here too, you know!

  “Yeah. Hot pink. Those bags were the highlight of the party.” Emily turned to me.
br />   “Here, Lara,” she said, taking out a nail polish bottle from her bag. “You can have mine.”

  Oh, really, Emily Wong. You can’t buy your way out of this. “Thanks,” I said, “but you keep it. I’m a nail biter.” Then I started biting my pinkie nail, just to emphasize the point.

  “Okay,” Emily said with a casual shrug.

  “She said she’d e-mail us the photos of the makeup shoot,” Tanya said happily. “I can’t wait.”

  “The before-and-after photos are going to be so cool,” Emily said.

  On and on they went. In fact, when I announced I was going to the bathroom, they just nodded and kept right on talking. As if I didn’t exist.

  It never worked. There was a pair in every trio. I didn’t need my old Friendship Matchmaker Manual with its chapter on trios to remind me that the 33.33 percent ratio was disappearing. And excuse me? Since when had Emily, Tanya, and I become a trio? Emily had been happy to fit herself in with Tanya and me when she was free at recess or lunch. But there were days she hung out with Bethany or Jemma and Claire. She could be friends with anybody, so why did she suddenly want to steal my best friend?

  When Ms. Pria said, “Find a partner for your class work,” Emily had no problem asking whoever was sitting closest to her. Tanya and I chose each other because we were best friends.

  So when did it change? Had we been a trio all along, only I hadn’t seen it? Or had Emily simply crept in and stolen my place as Tanya’s best friend? Or had she stolen Tanya? There was a difference.

  But either way, where did I stand now?

  Chapter 17

  It was sixth- and seventh-grade assembly on Friday morning. David got a merit award for excellent handwriting. He walked up onto the stage and collected it, a massive grin on his face, and we all clapped and cheered.

  Then Ms. Pria started rambling on about how everybody’s efforts were recognized but the awards each week were given to people who had tried especially hard. I switched off and looked around me. I noticed Majur sitting cross-legged, his elbow resting on his knee, a bored expression on his face as he stared at the ground. For once he fit in perfectly. Then suddenly Ms. Pria announced Majur’s name. I sat up straight, excited for him. But he didn’t even move. I don’t think he’d heard his name being called. Ms. Pria called his name out again.

  “She’s calling you,” the kids around him said. “Go on. You got an award.”

  Majur looked nervous and shy and slowly stood up. He dragged his heels toward the stage where Ms. Pria was standing with Mr. Smith, both of them beaming proudly at him. Ms. Pria moved closer to the microphone.

  “Majur is being awarded a merit certificate for his excellent reading this week. Everybody clap for him, please.”

  We all clapped and cheered and some kids whistled but I don’t think they were enthusiastic because it was Majur. Any chance to yell and carry on was better than sitting quietly while the teachers lectured us.

  Majur half smiled, half frowned. I think he was embarrassed and confused. He took the award and then quickly spun around. He obviously wanted to get out of the spotlight as soon as possible.

  After assembly, when we filed back to class, I went up to him and congratulated him. He laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “It’s just a piece of paper. Why celebration?”

  I smiled. “It shows you were chosen out of everyone in our class. It’s something good.”

  He grinned then and held up the certificate, examining it closely. “Excellent reading . . . hmm . . . back home if we had certificates it would be for staying alive.” He smiled sadly, and leaned closer toward me. “Or for hiding from the soldiers.” He lifted the certificate up in the air. “But I take excellent reading. It good.” He winked at me. “I like it very much.” And he walked away, his head held higher than usual.

  I didn’t even have time to process what Majur had said because Tanya appeared.

  “Can you give us the USB so we can upload the songs over recess? We should be able to finish it before our last lesson.”

  Oh no. I felt sick to my stomach.

  “Lara?” Tanya said slowly. “Don’t tell me . . .”

  “I’m so sorry! I just . . . forgot.”

  “But I reminded you on Wednesday night. And you forgot to bring it in yesterday. And it’s due today. You promised! You said you had it under control.”

  I felt awful. “I’m really, truly sorry.”

  She took a deep breath. “Yeah, fine,” she muttered and walked away.

  I had to hand it to Emily. When I told her I’d forgotten, she was totally cool, even though I knew she was angry with me. She just said we’d have to work on it at lunch. The problem was that we weren’t allowed to access YouTube at school. We begged the librarian but she wouldn’t back down. “Rules are rules, girls,” she sang.

  Which is why when Ms. Pria called on us to show our project during the last lesson, I shuffled behind Tanya and Emily, knowing that I didn’t deserve to stand beside them because I’d done nothing to help. Worse than that was the fact that there was no music. It was just a silent movie of photos, words, and information.

  “Put the volume up!” Jackson called out.

  “We can’t hear anything,” Stephanie said, confused.

  “There is no sound,” Tanya said quietly.

  “There’s nothing to hear,” Emily said, standing tall. “Use your imagination. Uh . . . that’s what Roald Dahl was all about. Imagination.”

  Each second of the ten-minute slide show was torture. Most of the class looked bored and restless, wiggling in their seats or resting their heads on their desk.

  Then Ms. Pria covered up a yawn.

  That was my lowest point.

  When it was over, Bethany clapped enthusiastically, followed by Jemma and Claire. The rest of the class didn’t bother.

  “That was wonderful, girls,” Ms. Pria said sweetly.

  I wasn’t an idiot. I knew she was doing that “positive reinforcement” thing teachers do so you don’t go home and tell your parents you want to quit school and join a circus.

  “It really was a great effort. The research was excellent!”

  “Thanks, Ms. Pria,” Emily and Tanya said.

  “Yeah, thanks,” I mumbled.

  “Maybe some music next time. Then it will be perfect.”

  I stared down at the floor not daring to meet Tanya’s eyes.

  “In fact, if you add some music to it I’d love to put it on the school website,” Ms. Pria said. “What do you think?”

  Tanya and Emily beamed. “Okay, sure!” they said.

  “That would be great,” I said softly.

  “Sorry again,” I said to Emily and Tanya after class.

  “It’s fine,” Tanya said bluntly.

  “Yeah, it’s cool,” Emily said.

  “I’ll do the music over the weekend,” I said. “I promise.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Tanya said. “Emily said it won’t take her long to do. It’s probably better if we do it because we have the file anyway and we’ll know where to add it.”

  “But then I won’t have done anything on it,” I said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Tanya said. “You’re so busy anyway. We understand. We’ll still put your name in the credits.”

  Somehow that made it even worse.

  Tanya seemed to have forgiven me by the end of the day. She wasn’t angry. Well, maybe that’s not true. She was probably just too excited about Ms. Pria’s offer to put the trailer on the school website to pay me much attention. For the rest of the day Tanya and Emily spent every spare moment talking about the songs and music they were going to use. I wanted to interrupt and make my own suggestions, but I didn’t dare. Not after the way I’d messed everything up.

  That weekend I moped. Tanya didn’t message or call. And it hurt.

  I’d been Tanya’s best friend. And in that short space of time I’d learned more about her than I ever had about my own sister. I knew Ta
nya watched The Sound of Music at least twice a month. That she couldn’t drink out of a can except with a straw. That her favorite snack was barbecue-flavored chips between sliced white bread. That she hadn’t given up trying to get her parents back together.

  I knew we were drifting apart. But I didn’t know how to stop it.

  Chapter 18

  The next week was nonstop. Suddenly I was overloaded with unofficial Friendship Intervention Mediation Session (FIMS) requests. Mediation Sessions, Bungee Jump Friend, and on and on it went. Kids would e-mail my online account and book me for the next day. Or slip me a note on my way to class and ask to see me. I was swamped. Not to mention that I had to get each person to sign a confidentiality contract. (I promise not to tell anybody that Lara unofficially helped me.)

  The weird part about it all is that I was dishing out friendship advice when my own best friend was pulling away from me.

  Unlike the past few weeks, when I’d had to make up excuses to not hang out with Tanya at recess and lunch, now she didn’t seem to mind that I was on “library duty” or was “art room lunchtime monitor.”

  “Oh. That’s too bad,” she’d say. But then she’d quickly get over her disappointment when Emily offered to hang out with her. They’d link arms and head out to the playground.

  I felt torn between wanting to be with my best friend and wanting to do what I lived for: helping others. I didn’t want to lose my best friend. Why couldn’t I have it both ways?

  So I decided I’d test the waters. See how Tanya would react if I mentioned going back to being Potts County Middle School’s Official Friendship Matchmaker.

  “Have you noticed how upset Keisha looks?” I said casually as we stood in line at assembly. “She’s standing near the water fountain.”

  “Yeah, she doesn’t look too happy,” Tanya said. “She’s in Mr. Russo’s eighth-grade class, right?”

  I nodded. “Caitlyn’s been spreading rumors about her.”

  “What kind?” Tanya said, shocked.

  “She’s been saying Keisha’s in love with Joe Marchetta.”