Best Friend Next Door (21 page)

“Yeah, baby news,” I say, wriggling out of my sleeping bag. After Emme and my talk last night, I’m feeling better about this new baby.

Claire grins and holds out her phone. “Your dad is waiting for your call.”

I take the phone and stare down at it.

“Do you want privacy?” Claire asks. “Emme and I can step out for a minute.”

“No, that’s okay. Actually, please stay in here.”

As the phone is ringing, I can barely breathe. But it’s not like before, when I was upset. This time it’s because I’m excited.

“Claire?” my dad says into the phone. “Is Hannah awake?”

“It’s me, Dad,” I say. As soon as I hear his voice, I can’t stop smiling.

“Hey, honey!” my dad says. “Margo had the baby around midnight. He’s healthy and they’re both doing great. I’d put Margo on except she’s sleeping.”

“What’s his name?” Emme whispers, tugging on my hand.

“Shhh,” Claire says.

“What’s his name?” I ask my dad.

“Thank you,” Emme says, falling back on her bed.

“Spencer,” my dad says. “Spencer Strafel. All he needs now is a middle name.”

“Spencer,” I tell Emme.

“So cute!” she says, sitting up again.

“Shhh,” Claire says. “Seriously.”

“What does he look like?” I ask.

My dad groans and says, “To us, he’s adorable. He barely has any hair. Honestly, he looks a little like an alien. I guess you predicted that one.”

I have to laugh.

“As soon as we hang up, I’ll text a picture to Claire’s phone.”

“Okay,” I say. “Good-bye!”

“Hannah?” my dad asks. “I love you. I’ll see you later this morning, okay?”

“I love you, too. Now good-bye. Send a picture.”

We hang up and a second later a text appears on Claire’s phone.

“Can I look at it?” I ask.

“Of course!” Claire says.

Emme scrambles over and we both study the screen.

“He’s so small,” Emme coos.

“Not that small,” Claire says. “He was eight and a half pounds.”

I look at the picture of Spencer’s face. He’s wearing a striped hat pulled low over his forehead. Actually he doesn’t look at all like an alien. He has a tiny baby nose and pink lips and his eyes are open. His expression looks confused, like
who am I and what am I doing here?
It makes me want to give him a kiss and tell him everything will be okay.

“Congratulations on becoming a sister, Hannah,” Emme says.

I’m about to say
former only child
, but instead I just say, “Thanks.”

They’re both staring at me and grinning, so I say, “What about cat news?”

“Yeah, how’s Butterball?” Emme asks.

“So much better,” Claire says. “We just talked to Dr. Morris and he went in early to check on him. His vitals are good and he’s even drinking water. He’s going to be okay. We can visit him anytime this morning.”

Emme exhales slowly. I snuggle back into my sleeping bag.

Once Claire leaves, Emme asks, “What if we made a mistake and brought catnip to your brother and a rattle to Butterball?”

“Or diapers to Butterball!” I say.

“And a collar with a little bell for Spencer!” Emme says.

I start laughing, and Emme laughs along with me. Pretty soon, we’re laughing so hard our eyes are watering and we’re rolling around on her bedroom floor.

P
eople hospital or animal hospital first?” Mom J says at breakfast.

“People hospital!” Hannah and I shout at the same time.

Mom C made us a huge breakfast. Blueberry pancakes, sausages, grapefruit cut in half, even some of the applesauce that Mom J and I canned in the fall. Hannah and I both have our plates piled high. We picked at the stir-fry last night and didn’t even have dessert, so we’re crazy hungry now.

Hannah’s uncle had to go to work this morning, so Mom J and Mom C are driving Hannah to the hospital. My moms said they could arrange for Hannah’s dad to meet her in the lobby and bring her up to see Margo and Spencer, in case she wanted family time, but she said she wanted me to come with her. We’re in this together, after all. I’m so excited about being a bonus sister. Plus, I’ve never seen a nine-hour-old baby before!

Once we’re done eating, we clear our plates and then Mom J comes out of the bathroom with her downstairs thermometer (yes, she has now purchased one to keep upstairs as well).

“What’s that for?” I ask, dodging her as she’s coming toward my ear.

“I want to make sure you’re both healthy,” she says. “Newborns are very susceptible to colds.”

“Good idea,” Hannah says. “We also have to wash our hands a lot.”

As Hannah offers her ear to Mom J, I realize how much she sounds like a big sister all of a sudden.

We’re both fever-free (as if I didn’t know that) so I go up to my room to get dressed and Hannah runs to her house for fresh clothes. My moms recently told me that we’re going to Captiva Island for spring break to visit friends, but Greeley is actually feeling like my home now. I pull on a pair of jeans and the long-sleeve orange shirt that Mom J got me at the Gap and then glance in the mirror. I love the blue streak in my hair. I can’t wait to go back to school on Monday and see what people say about it.

When I get downstairs, Hannah is in the kitchen. She’s wearing the exact same long-sleeve orange shirt that I am.

“No way!” I say. “No. Way.”

Hannah looks over at me. “No way! When did you get it?”

“Wednesday,” I say. “At the mall.”

“Me too!” she says.

We both crack up. What a totally Og Twins occurrence. It reminds me of that first day we met, how we both had on the same tie-dye tank top. I actually tried mine on recently and it was too small.

On the way to the hospital, Hannah is chewing her nails and tapping one foot against the car floor. That’s what she does when she’s nervous. I keep trying to distract her, but it’s not working.

“I’ve got a good palindrome,” I say.
“As I pee, sir, I see Pisa.”

“Thanks a lot,” Hannah says, groaning. “That just made me want to pee.”

“Now you’re turning into me!”

We pull into the circular driveway in front of Greeley Memorial Hospital. My moms drop us off, and then they drive to a deli to get sandwiches for Hannah’s parents.

We step into the elevator and Hannah pushes 10. Mom C told us that that’s the baby floor.

On the ride up, I say to Hannah, “Have you decided?”

Hannah knows exactly what I’m taking about. “The way I see it,” she says, “there are three or four palindrome boys’ names. There’s Bob, of course.”

“But that doesn’t sound like a baby,” I say. “That sounds like a fifty-year-old fisherman.”

Hannah nods. We’re now passing the third floor. We have seven more floors to decide.

“What about Izzi?” Hannah asks. “Or Natan.”

“Pretty good,” I say. Now fifth floor. Now sixth floor. I know Hannah wants to have this figured out before she sees Spencer. “What about Otto?”

“Otto,” Hannah says. “Spencer Otto Strafel.”

We’re just coming up to nine. “His initials would be S.O.S.”

“Which is cool,” Hannah says.

“And
also
happens to be a palindrome,” I add.

The elevator dings at ten.

“That’s perfect,” Hannah says as the doors open.

We step off the elevator and walk down the hall, arm in arm, to meet Hannah’s little brother and give him his middle name.

A
huge thanks to my kid advisory crew: Miles Rideout, Equem Roël, Remy Roël, and Laura Jayne Grant.

Thanks to the adults, too: Jonas Rideout, David Levithan, Jodi Reamer, Anne Dalton, Kelly O’Neill Levy, Deb Grant, Melanie Levy Fagelson, Maxine Roël, Myrna Gunning, Barbara Stretchberry, Kristi Thom, and Adriane Frye.

Thanks to The JCC in Manhattan for letting me watch swim team practice.

Thanks to Stephanie Rath, the original best friend next door.

And a special thanks to Leif Rideout, who really wanted me to write a book about pandas.

CAROLYN MACKLER
is the Printz Honor–winning author of many books for young adults, including
The Future of Us
(written with Jay Asher) and
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
. She was born in Manhattan, where she still lives with her family.

For more about Carolyn, visit
www.carolynmackler.com.

Copyright © 2015 by Carolyn Mackler

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014947740

First edition, June 2015

Cover photography © 2015 by Michael Frost

Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi & Mary Claire Cruz

e-ISBN 978-0-545-70947-7

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