Auggie & Me (28 page)

No one would have ever guessed that Summer, Ximena, and I had become good friends. Or that just a few days before, we were having silent pillow fights and sharing secrets under the pink glow of the red chili lights in Ximena's bedroom.

The night before the gala, Mrs. Atanabi told us to take the day off and get some rest. She wanted us to make sure we had a nice healthy dinner and a good night's sleep. Then she gave us our costumes, which she had somehow managed to sew herself. We had already tried them on the week before, but I was so excited to come home and try mine on again, now that it had been fitted. The costume was inspired by this photo of the Liberty Belles:

So that afternoon, I went home from school with Maya and Lina, the way I used to in the old days before I started hanging out with Summer and Ximena all the time.

It was one of the first nice days in March, when you finally get a hint of spring after the long, crazy cold winter. Lina had the brainstorm to stop at Carvel on our way home, which felt like a very “springtime” thing to do, so we walked in the opposite direction up Amesfort toward the park. As we were walking, I told them how I had heard that Savanna was telling people that the only reason I got a part in Mrs. Atanabi's dance show was because I had been in a TV commercial when I was little.

“No one believes that,” Lina said sympathetically, kicking her soccer ball in front of her.

“That's awful!” said Maya, and it kind of made me happy that she got so mad about it. “I can't believe Savanna! She used to be so nice in lower school.”

“Savanna was never really that nice to me,” I answered.

“She
was
nice to me,” Maya insisted, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Now she's evil. That whole group is evil.”

I nodded. Then I shook my head. “Well, I don't know about
that.
”

“And now they've turned Ellie against us,” Maya said. “You know, Ellie barely even says hello to me anymore. Now she's evil, too.”

I scratched my nose. Maya had a way of being very black-and-white about things. “I guess.”

“I'm telling you, it's Ximena Chin's fault,” Maya continued. “It's only because of her. If she hadn't started this year, everything would be the same as it was. She's the bad influence.”

I knew that that was how Maya saw things. It was one of the reasons I never went into too much detail about the dance show I was in. She never really got that it was just me, Summer, and the dreaded
Ximena Chin.
And that was fine by me! I didn't want to have to defend my friendship with Ximena to Maya! I honestly don't think she would have understood.

“You know what I hate the most?” Maya said. “I hate that she's probably going to end up giving the fifth-grade commencement speech at graduation this year.”

“Well, she does have the best grades of anyone,” I answered, trying to sound as impartial as possible.

“I thought you had the best grades, Charlotte,” Lina said to me.

“No, Ximena does,” Maya interjected. She started counting off on her fingers. “Ximena. Charlotte. Simon. Me. And then either Auggie or Remo. Auggie's actually got better grades than Remo in math, but he didn't do that well in Spanish on his last few quizzes, and that's bringing his whole grade point average down.”

Maya always knew what everyone else got on their tests. She kept tabs on homework assignments, essay scores. You name it, if it had a grade attached to it, Maya would ask you about it. And she had an amazing way of remembering all those details, too.

“It's crazy how you can remember everybody's grades,” said Lina.

“It's a gift,” answered Maya, not even meaning to be funny.

“Hey, did you tell Charlotte about the note?” Lina asked her.

“What note?” I said. Like I mentioned, I was a little out of the loop with these guys because I hadn't hung around them that much these last few weeks.

“Oh, nothing,” said Maya.

“She wrote Ellie a note,” said Lina.

Maya looked up at me and frowned. “Telling her how I feel,” she added, peering at me over the rims of her glasses.

I immediately had a sinking feeling about this note.

“What did you write?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Just a note.”

Lina nudged her. “Let her read it!”

“She's going to tell me not to give it to her!” Maya answered, biting the end of her long, curly hair.

“At least
show
it to me?” I said, now really curious. “Come on, Maya!”

We had stopped at the intersection of Amesfort and 222nd Street to wait for the light to change.

“Fine,” Maya answered. “I'll show you.” She started digging into her coat pocket and pulled out a well-worn Uglydoll envelope with the word “Ellie” written on the outside in silver marker. “Okay. So, basically, I just wanted to let Ellie know how I feel about the way she's changed this year.”

She passed the envelope to me, and then nodded for me to open it and read the note inside.

Dear Ellie
,

I'm writing as one of your oldest friends to tell you that you've really been acting different lately, and I hope you snap out of it. I don't blame you. I blame it on the evil Ximena Chin, who is negatively influencing you! First she twisted Savanna's brain, and now she's turning you into a pretty zombie just like she is. I hope you stop being friends with her and remember all the good times we used to have. Remember Mr. Browne's November precept: “Have no friends not equal to yourself!” Can we please be friends again?

Your former
really good friend,
Maya

I folded the note up and put it back inside the envelope. She was looking at me expectantly.

“Is it stupid?” she asked me.

I handed the envelope back to her.

“No, it's not stupid,” I answered. “But as your friend, I'm telling you that I don't think you should give it to her.”

“I knew you would try to talk me out of it!” she said, annoyed and disappointed by my reaction.

“No, I'm not trying to talk you out of it!” I said. “You should give it to her if you
really
want to. I know you
mean
well, Maya.”

“I'm not trying to
mean
well,” she said angrily. “I'm just trying to be truthful!”

“I know,” I said.

By now we had crossed the street and arrived at Carvel, only to see how super-busy it was inside. The line at the counter went all the way to the door, and every single table was full—mostly with Beecher Prep kids.

“Everyone had the same idea as we did,” said Lina regretfully.

“It's too crowded,” I said. “Let's forget it.”

Maya gripped my arm. “Look, there's Ellie,” she said.

I followed her gaze and saw Ellie sitting with Ximena, Savanna, and Gretchen—plus Miles, Henry, and Amos—at a table in front of the birthday-cake counter, which was all the way on the other side of the shop.

“Let's just go,” I said, pulling Maya by the arm. Lina had already started kicking the ball down the block. But Maya stayed where she was.

“I'm going to give her my note,” she said slowly, her expression very serious. She held the note I had just returned to her in her left hand, and now she waved it like a tiny flag.

“Oh no, you're not,” I said quickly, pushing her hand down. “Not now at least.”

“Why not?”

Lina came back toward us. “Wait, you want to give her the note
now
?” she said incredulously. “In front of
everybody
?”

“Yes!” Maya answered stubbornly.

“No,” I said, closing my hand over the note. All I could think of is what a big fool she would make of herself if she did that. Ellie would open the note in front of everyone at her table, and they would get so mad at her for the things she said about Ximena and Savanna. Unforgivable things, really! But even worse, they would totally start laughing at her about this. “This is the kind of thing you would never live down, Maya,” I cautioned. “You will absolutely regret it. Don't do this.”

I could tell she was reconsidering. Her forehead was all scrunched up.

“You could give it to her some other time,” I continued, tugging on her coat sleeve the way Summer sometimes tugged on mine when she was talking. “When she's alone. You could even send it to her in the mail, if you want. But do
not
do it now in front of everyone. I'm begging you. Believe me, Maya. That would be a social catastrophe.”

I saw her rubbing her face. The thing with Maya is, she's never cared about popularity or social catastrophes. She's so good at keeping tabs on people's test scores and grades, but she doesn't have a clue how to read the social stuff. She gets the basics, of course—but in her black-and-white world, kids are either nice or evil. There's no in-between.

In some ways, that's always been one of the nicest things about her. She'll go up to anyone and just assume they're friends. Or she'll do something really nice for someone out of the blue, like giving Auggie Pullman an Uglydoll keychain, which she did just last week.

But in some ways, it's really bad because she has no defenses ready for when people
aren't
nice to her. She has no good comebacks. She just takes it all seriously. What's worse, though, is that she doesn't always get when people don't feel like talking to her. So she'll just keep chattering on or asking questions until the person walks away. It was Ellie who actually put it kind of perfectly a few months ago when we were griping about how annoying Maya could be sometimes:

“Maya makes it easy for people to be mean to her.”

And now Maya was about to make it
really
easy for Ellie to be mean to her—in front of a whole bunch of ice-cream-eating kids! Because, despite my words, despite my basically begging her not to do this, Maya Markowitz walked into the store, wove her way in and out of the crowd of people waiting in line, and marched to the back table where Ellie and that whole group of mighty girls was sitting.

Lina and I watched from the sidewalk outside the Carvel. There was a floor-to-ceiling window in the storefront, which was the perfect place to see events unfold. For a second, it felt like I was looking at one of those nature videos on PBS. I could almost hear a man with a British accent narrating the action.

Observe what happens as the young gazelle, which has just strayed from its herd
 . . .

I watched Maya say something to Ellie, and how everyone at that table stopped talking and looked up at Maya.

. . . comes to the attention of the lions, who haven't eaten in several days.

I saw her hand the envelope to Ellie, who seemed a bit confused.

“I can't watch,” said Lina, closing her eyes.

And now the lions, hungry for fresh meat, begin the hunt.

Pretty much everything I predicted would happen happened as I predicted. After giving Ellie the note in front of everyone at the table, Maya turned around and started walking away. Ellie and the Savanna group exchanged laughing looks, and before Maya had even reached the next table, Savanna, Ximena, and Gretchen got out of their chairs to huddle around Ellie as she opened the envelope. I could see their faces clearly as they read the note. Ximena gasped at one point, while Savanna obviously thought it was hilarious.

Maya kept walking across the room toward the exit, looking at me and Lina as she walked. Believe it or not, she was smiling at us. I could tell she was actually very happy. From her point of view, she was getting something off her chest that had really been bothering her, and, since she didn't give a hoot what the popular group thought about her, she didn't see herself as having anything to lose. The truth is, Maya was beyond their being able to hurt her. It was only Ellie she was mad at because Ellie had been her friend. But Maya really didn't care what those other girls thought about her, or that they might be laughing at her this very moment.

In a way, I have to admit: I admired Maya's bravery.

Having said that, I knew the last thing in the world I wanted right now was to be seen with her, so I started walking away from the window before she got back outside. I especially didn't want Ximena to see me there, waiting for Maya outside. I didn't want anyone to think I had anything to do with this kind of craziness.

Just like I had managed to stay neutral in a war among the boys, I wanted to stay neutral in what might have turned into a war among the girls.

Summer texted me later that afternoon.
Did u hear about what Maya did?

Yes
, I texted.

I'm with Ximena right now. We're at my place. She's really upset. Can you come over?