Switched at Birthday

  My spine went rigid. “Me, a snob! I’m not a snob! She’s the snob!”

  Charlie laughed. “Come on, Scarlet. Lavender a snob? Be real.”

  Be real? How could anyone call me a snob?

  Charlie’s words rattled me. I was Scarlet now. I had her looks, her friends, her grace, her social power. What had I done with them?

  Not much. Certainly nothing good.

  “Scarlet” snubbing “Lavender.” That put us right back where we started.

  I hung up the phone and sank down on Scarlet’s bed. Charlie had given me a sudden realization, and it hurt.

  Inside, I was no better than Scarlet.

  It was Halloween. The night of the Spooktacular. And Lavender still refused to speak to me.

  She’d said Zoe was up to something. But what? I wondered if Lavender knew. And if she did, would she join in Zoe’s scheme? Here was her chance to take revenge on me. Would she take it?

  Or would she try to protect me, out of loyalty to her old self?

  It was hard to say.

  I wanted to be my old self again. I wanted to go to the dance with Charlie.

  But if Zoe told everyone at the dance what I did to Lavender, Charlie would hate me. So would Maybelle and John.

  Lavender already did.

  I wished I could erase that stupid dog joke from everyone’s memory. I never wanted to do or say anything mean again. To anyone.

  But I couldn’t erase it. And now it was coming back to haunt me.

  All I could do was brace myself for the worst.

  I dressed up as an alien. I covered my face in green makeup and wore a green wig with aluminum foil antennae. Rosemary helped me make the costume. She twisted the antennae just right and put perfect little silver beads on the ends.

  “You’re good at this, Rosemary,” I told her. She blinked that suspicious blink of hers. I felt like she could see right through me. It made me a little uncomfortable.

  “Will you help me with my costume now?” she asked. She was going to be a country music singer.

  “Sure,” I said. “I’ll poof up your hair, and you can use the uke as a guitar.”

  “And lots of makeup,” she added. “You know how to put on makeup, don’t you, Lav?”

  There was that blink again. The real Lav didn’t know an eye shadow from an iPhone. Was Rosemary onto us?

  I shrugged. There was nothing I could do about it, so I might as well have fun with my sister while I had one.

  “I’ll do your makeup,” I offered. “You’ll need lots of rouge, and maybe some false eyelashes.”

  She grinned and sat back to let me transform her into a country music diva. I had just finished teasing her hair when John arrived to pick me up. Rosemary twirled in front of him, showing off her costume, then ran off to go trick-or-treating.

  John was an alien too, but his costume was nicer than mine. He was more of a sleek rock-star alien, with a lightning bolt over his eye and gold spray in his hair. He’d taken a Spider-Man costume and dyed it silver, transforming it into alien skin. Next to him I looked like the Incredible Hulk Junior. But he didn’t seem to mind.

  John took my hand as we walked into the gym. The Social Committee had decorated it as a haunted house, with cobwebs, witches, and ghosts hanging from the walls and a short maze of spooky dioramas to walk through. The lights were dimmed by orange gels for an eerie effect.

  “Nice try,” John said as we looked around. “But I can still smell the dirty gym socks.”

  Where were Zoe and Kelsey? It seemed strange that they hadn’t arrived yet. Zoe liked to get an early start on her evil schemes.

  “Want something to drink?” John asked.

  I nodded. Maybe a drink would take my mind off my impending doom.

  We walked over to the refreshment area. There were slices of pizza, chips, and carrot sticks at one table, and cupcakes at another table. Mr. Brummel and Madame Geller served sodas and water at the drinks table.

  “Hello there, Lavender,” Mr. Brummel said.

  “Hi, Mr. Brummel. Bonjour, Madame Geller,” I said. “Comment ça va?”

  Madame Geller looked at me in surprise. “You are not in my French class, are you, dear?”

  Whoops. I’d forgotten for a second that Lavender didn’t speak French. “I picked up a few phrases from my friend Scarlet.”

  Mr. Brummel smiled. “That’s very nice to hear. Something to drink?”

  “Diet Coke, please,” I ordered.

  Now it was John’s turn to be surprised. “You never struck me as a Diet Coke type,” he said, asking for a root beer for himself.

  True, Lavender was more of a grape soda girl. But I was tired of worrying about what made Lavender Lavender and what made me me. We were all jumbled up together now. Merging. And changing. Everyone else would have to adjust to the blur.

  I shrugged. “It’s what I’m in the mood for.”

  Mr. Brummel poured us a root beer and a Diet Coke. “Have a magical night, kids!”

  “Do you want to dance?” John asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m not a great dancer.”

  “Me either,” he said. “I like to watch other people dance.”

  We watched the dancers. Some kids couldn’t see too well out of their masks and kept bumping into people. Dragons tripped over their tails and princesses stepped on other princesses’ trains.

  Maybelle waved from the dance floor. She wore a Heidi costume. Ian was Frankenstein.

  A few minutes later, Zoe arrived, dressed as a black cat. Kelsey was a pirate. They had masks on, but I would have known Zoe’s sneaky walk anywhere. They’d come together. No dates.

  Bad luck for me. Once Zoe spotted Ian with Maybelle, she’d probably get mad. And a mad Zoe was a mean Zoe.

  My night was about to be ruined.

  Charlie and I were about to go into the gym when I spied a black cat and a pirate tying a big, shaggy dog to the bike rack.

  “Zoe, what are you doing?” I asked.

  Zoe’s wicked grin looked even wickeder surrounded by kitty-cat whiskers. “Charlie, can Scarlet meet you inside? I need to talk to her for a second. Girl stuff.”

  Charlie frowned and let his hair fall forward over his face. He must have been annoyed. We’d just arrived at the dance and already there was girl stuff going on.

  “I’ll be right in,” I told him. He went inside. “What’s with the dog?” I asked Zoe. “Your date for the night?”

  “No.” A dark look crossed her face. “I’m going inside to find Ian in a minute. This is Twinkletoes, my neighbor’s dog.”

  “He doesn’t look like a Twinkletoes,” I said. “He looks more like a Grover. Or maybe a Bruno.”

  “The name fit him when he was a puppy,” Zoe said. “He grew out of it.”

  “He could be a Shaggy,” I said. “Or a Homer.”

  “Forget about his name,” Zoe snapped. “Twinkletoes is part of our plan.”

  “What plan?” I felt queasy. “The stink spray?”

  “Operation Lavender,” Pirate Kelsey said. “We’re entering Twinkletoes in the Costume Contest.”

  Every year at the Spooktacular Mr. Brummel awarded prizes for the best costumes. I couldn’t see what this had to do with “Operation Lavender.”

  “But … Twinkletoes doesn’t go to our school,” I said. “He’s not eligible for the contest. And he doesn’t have a costume.”

  “Yes, he does.” Zoe produced a cardboard sign with a ribbon attached. It said LAVENDER SCHMITZ. She hung the sign around Twinkletoes’s neck.

  “When Mr. Brummel asks us what Twink is supposed to be, we’ll say that this is Lavender — only she forgot her costume,” Zoe said. “Poor Lavender. She missed her regular appointment at Dottie’s Dog-Topia and this is the sad result. More hair than a French poodle.”

  “We’ll be sure to speak clearly into the mike so everyone will get the joke,” Kelsey said.

  “Lavender would have to be crazy to show her face at a dance again,” Zoe said. “Costu
me or no costume.”

  I boiled with rage, but tried to control myself. “What do you have against Lavender?” I demanded. “What has she ever done to you?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Zoe said. “All you have to do is look at her. She’s just … wrong.”

  That hurt. “What does that mean?” I really wanted to know. I’d felt that way before — that something about me seemed wrong to people like Zoe, on some gut level that no one could explain.

  “What, do you like her?” Kelsey said.

  “Yes,” I said. “I do like her. I like Lavender.”

  And it was true. I knew I was talking about myself, of course, but I’d never been able to say that out loud before: I liked myself.

  It felt good.

  At first they were silent. I could see the confusion working on their faces. Had their friend Scarlet just admitted that she liked Lavender Schmitz? It did not compute.

  “I think you like Lavender more than you like me,” Zoe said.

  Whoa — was Zoe … hurt? That caught me off guard.

  “This isn’t about who likes who more.” I trod carefully, not wanting to upset her, but not wanting to back down either. “All I said was that I like Lavender. I like you too.” A white lie, but I had to protect myself.

  “No.” Zoe’s face hardened. “This is a loyalty test, Scarlet. Are you on my side, or Lavender’s?”

  “Why do I have to take sides? I can like more than one person at a time.”

  “Not with me you can’t.” Zoe patted Twinkletoes. “And so, the test. We’re pranking Lavender tonight. Are you in?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Fine.” Zoe’s voice cracked. “You made your choice, and now I know where I stand with you. Operation Lavender is now Operation Lavender and Scarlet. While we’re pranking Lavender, I’ll remind everyone in school that you started this whole Dog-Topia joke. See how your friend Lavender likes that. By the end of the night, you won’t have a friend in the world. Not even me.”

  “You and your new best friend Lavender can be outcast losers together,” Kelsey said. “Except she probably won’t want to talk to you.”

  Zoe laughed. “Snubbed by Lavender. That’s about as low as you can get.”

  “I’ll live,” I said.

  “You would have pranked Lavender in a second … before,” Zoe said. “Before you changed.”

  Was that true? Would Scarlet really have done something so mean to me … more than once?

  “Scarlet?” Zoe said. “Last chance to save yourself from utter social annihilation.”

  “Don’t do this, Zoe,” I pleaded. “This is your last chance. To save yourself.”

  “Save myself! I’m not in any danger….”

  She didn’t get it. She thought people liked meanness. I had to believe she was wrong.

  I guessed we were going to find out.

  “I’ve got to go,” I said. “Charlie’s waiting.” I went inside to find him.

  “You’ll be sorry!” Zoe called after me. “Don’t come crying to us when all of Falls Road Middle School turns its back on you!”

  The gym was dark, the music loud, and lots of kids were dancing. Maybelle shimmied in the middle of the dance floor, waving her hands at a giant Frankenstein’s monster.

  Who was the monster? I moved in for a closer look. Frankenstein took Maybelle by the hand and twirled her around. Then, hot and sweaty, he pulled off his rubber mask and revealed his true identity.

  Ian Colburn!

  Ian Colburn? Dancing with Maybelle? Good for her!

  My heart rose with joy. Maybelle had been crushing on Ian for a long time. Why hadn’t she told me he’d asked her to the Spooktacular?

  Then I remembered that Maybelle thought I was Scarlet. There was no reason for her to confide in me.

  I felt sad. And then I felt worried.

  Because Ian was supposed to be Zoe’s date. At least, that was what Zoe seemed to think.

  I heard the gym door open behind me and turned to see Zoe and Kelsey come in. Zoe’s eyes went straight to Maybelle and Ian. Maybe I imagined it, but I could have sworn that, just for a second, they welled up with tears.

  “Ian asked me to the dance, you know,” Zoe informed me. “I said no.”

  “He’s a big idiot,” Kelsey added.

  “Yeah, typical soccer player,” Zoe sniffed. “All feet and no brains.”

  The DJ played a new song. Ian twirled Maybelle again, ready for another dance. He liked her. Anybody could see that.

  I felt happy for Maybelle, but I felt something else too.

  “You’re lying,” I said to Zoe. “Ian never asked you to the dance. No one asked you. No one asked either of you, did they?”

  Zoe’s eyes flashed. But this wasn’t her usual glimmer of evil. It was a spark of pain. And there they were again: the tears. My words had hit their target. I couldn’t help feeling a jolt of satisfaction.

  “When did you get so mean, Scarlet?” Zoe asked.

  “Mean?” I asked. “Me?”

  “Yeah, you.”

  Well, not me, really. Scarlet. Zoe’s best friend. Scarlet was the one Zoe thought was mean.

  I wasn’t mean to anyone. Everyone else was mean to me.

  All I did was tell the truth in a sharply pointed way. That was what I’d always done. No one had ever minded before. In fact, they’d never paid much attention to what I said when I was Lavender.

  But now that Zoe mentioned it, maybe I was a little mean sometimes. I’d almost made my mother cry on my birthday, hadn’t I?

  When Ben was mean to me, I was mean right back, at least at first.

  And now I’d practically made Zoe Carter, of all people, cry.

  I could be mean, just like everybody else.

  Including Scarlet.

  When she’d said she was sorry, I could tell she meant it.

  Zoe and Kelsey stood close together, watching the dancers in their costumes. They had their secrets too, private things that made them happy and sad. I didn’t particularly care to find out what they were. But the secrets were there.

  Underneath their Halloween costumes, everybody was hiding something.

  “You used to be my best friend, Scarlet,” Zoe said with a catch in her voice. “Now you avoid me. You don’t sit with me at lunch. You never text or call me. You abandoned me!”

  I stared at her. “I? Abandoned you?”

  “Everybody’s abandoned me!” Zoe cried.

  “What about me?” Kelsey said. “I’m your best friend too.”

  Zoe scowled. “I’m talking to Scarlet now.” Kelsey’s lip quivered.

  I didn’t like Zoe. But at that moment, on Halloween night, I glimpsed some fear. She was worried that as things changed, the new order wouldn’t have a place for her. After I saw that fear, I couldn’t hate her. I tried. I really did. I just couldn’t do it.

  “Get away from me, Scarlet,” Zoe said. “Go find your dumb date.”

  “Yeah,” Kelsey said. “We’ll see you later — when we totally ruin you.”

  “Don’t do it, you guys,” I said one last time. “I’m telling you — you’ll be sorry.”

  I wasn’t threatening them. I was warning them. I was trying to help them. Honest.

  Zoe couldn’t hurt me. Once I realized I didn’t need to be afraid of her, her power vanished.

  Poof. Almost like magic.

  She was just a girl like me.

  Charlie waved to me from the refreshment table. I started toward him, and as I got closer, I noticed something strange.

  A platter full of cupcakes frosted in a familiar pink icing.

  And decorating the table was a large pumpkin candle molded, naturally, of orange wax.

  Could that candle have possibly been made in Kalamazoo?

  I stopped short, dove through the mob of dancing kids, and grabbed Scarlet.

  “Lavender, hi!” she said. “Does this mean you forgive me?”

  “Quiet.” I dragged her to the cake table. “Look.”
r />   I picked up a cupcake and peeled back the paper. Underneath the frosting: devil’s food cake.

  I took a bite.

  “Taste this,” I said, shoving it into her mouth. “Taste familiar?”

  Scarlet’s eyes opened wide and she nodded. She mumbled something but I couldn’t understand her because her mouth was full.

  “What?” I asked.

  She swallowed the cake. “Are we friends?”

  “Yes,” I said. “We’re friends.”

  She smiled. I never was a big smiler, so I wasn’t used to seeing my mouth twisted into that formation. But it did a lot for my face.

  We shook on it. Friends.

  We faced the big pumpkin candle. The flame flickered and glowed.

  Scarlet tilted the candle. We ducked down to read the mark on the bottom.

  “It’s there,” she said.

  The stamp was faint. But I could just make out the words.

  MADE IN KALAMAZOO.

  I could hardly believe it. Finally! We had a chance to reverse this spell and go back to being ourselves again!

  “Please let it work,” I whispered. “Please, please let it work….” I turned to Scarlet and said, “This is it. You know what to do.”

  Scarlet nodded and took my hand. She closed her eyes. I closed mine.

  “On three,” I said. “Don’t forget to wish.”

  “I’m wishing harder than I ever wished for anything in my life,” she said.

  “One … two … three!”

  Together, we blew out the candle.

  I opened my eyes and blinked.

  I opened my eyes.

  “Lavender?” I asked.

  “Yes?” She stared at me.

  I touched her straw hula skirt. “Is that you in there?”

  Lavender touched the green paint on my face. “Yes.” There was defeat in her voice. She stood before me, tall, dark-blond, hazel-eyed … still in my body.

  “It didn’t work,” Lavender said.

  I felt the top of my head, the alien antennae, just to be sure. They were still stuck to my thick hair. I stared at my hand. Stubby fingers.

  Lavender was right. The candle hadn’t worked.

  “What are we going to do now?” I asked.