Don't Drink the Punch! (5 page)

Matilda was grinning beneath her bangs as Alice handed over a gold credit card. She moved behind the register. “You'll be happy you did it,” she said, tapping expertly at the keypad.

“Hmph,” said Alice, taking the money from Jess and Pria. “For a hundred dollars, it had better work.”

“Now, listen carefully,” said Matilda. “The potion needs fifteen minutes to take effect.” As she spoke, she carefully wrapped the bottle in packing paper and then placed it into a velvet drawstring bag. “That's assuming you get the proportions right, which I advise you to pay
attention to. Read the instructions I've included in the bag. You definitely do not want to mess up the dosage. After you administer the potion, you have to keep your beloved talking to you the whole time. Make sure he's making constant eye contact with you. Otherwise he'll fall for the wrong person!” She cackled.

Alice took the bag from Matilda with a small jerk and gestured with her chin to the rest of the girls to follow her out the door.

“Make sure you get the proportions right!” Matilda called after them.

“Yeah, okay, thanks, whatever,” said Alice, more to the other girls than to Matilda.

As the door closed, Kayla once again heard laughter. Nasty, mocking laughter.

CHAPTER 7

The days flew by, and school passed in a blur. Kayla immersed herself in her schoolwork, but she couldn't stop thinking about Matilda. Fairbridge Middle was a big school, a combination of the four elementary schools, so it was possible to go days without seeing a particular person. On Wednesday she caught a glimpse of Matilda in the hallway near the science classrooms. Kayla had been about to walk into Mr. Talbert's room when Matilda came slowly down the hall, lumbering side to side with her curious gait, seemingly oblivious to the crowds of kids pushing past her. Was that a paper airplane that someone had just thrown into her hair? But Matilda just kept on walking. Her thick bangs were brushed straight down over her face, and her small mouth was turned up slightly in a smile.
That isn't a friendly smile
, Kayla thought.
More like a grimace.

Kayla was so distracted in science that day that she could barely concentrate on the fact that she and Tom Butler had been assigned to be lab partners. Ordinarily, her heart would be pounding and her face flushed. But she just stared down at the Bunsen burner, seeing Matilda's face reflected in the narrow blue flame.

“Um, Earth to Kayla?” said Tom, giving her a little nudge with his elbow.

“Sorry,” she said, shaking herself from her thoughts. “Do you want to heat the zinc and alloy powders and I'll do the graphing, or the other way around?”

He put his chin in his hand and looked at her, as though studying a puzzling abstract painting. “Well, I suppose I
could
, but the alloy lab was
last
week. We might have more success if we do
today's
lab, which is about the law of conservation of mass.”

Kayla blew away a strand of hair and rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I'm a little distracted, I guess.”

“Ya think?” he said, but in a nice way.

“So, um, are you going to Alice's party Saturday night?” she asked, trying to sound casual as she poured out a beaker of vinegar.

“Not sure yet,” he said. “I hear they're predicting a big snowstorm. And I'm not a big party guy. I'll make it a game day decision, I guess.”

Tom pulled out a piece of graph paper and began drawing lines with his pencil and ruler.

“So . . . how about you?” he asked just as casually.

“What
about
me?”

“Are you going? To Alice's party?” Tom was a lefty, and as he drew the lines, his left elbow grazed Kayla's hand.

She felt an electric current race through her whole arm, and her heart rate quickened. Why did she have such a big crush on this goofy-looking guy? His ears stuck out. And those huge feet!

“Yeah, I'll be there,” she said with a grin. “You know Alice. She plans exciting parties. Never a dull moment when she's in the room.” She sighed. “I'm going over there Saturday afternoon to help her choose which one of her seventeen outfit options to wear.”

He grinned. “She's into clothes, I guess, huh.”

“You might say,” said Kayla. “But she's nice and stuff.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

They were silent for a minute.

“Maybe I'll tag along with my cousin,” he said.

“Cool,” she said, smiling shyly.

“Cool,” he replied.

Saturday afternoon, Kayla's mom dropped her off at the Graftons' house.

“Oh, by the way, when I talked to Alice's mom yesterday,” her mother began, as Kayla climbed into the backseat to get out.

Kayla stopped and looked back at her mother. “Oh. You talked to her? Not e-mailed?”

“No, I actually had a real conversation,” said her mother wryly. “She invited me to the party tonight. It seems that a lot of the parents will be there, having their own party upstairs. I didn't think I could possibly find a babysitter for your little brothers tonight, it being Valentine's Day and all. But as luck would have it, Taylor Haskins next door is grounded, so her mother said that Taylor would be delighted to babysit.”

Kayla swallowed. “That's great, Mom.” She cringed to think of all those parents hearing her mother's accent.

Her mother smiled. “Honey, I know you're embarrassed by me.”

“No! Mom! No, I'm not. I—”

“It's okay, I don't mind,” she said. “It's a twelve-year-old's job to be embarrassed by her mother. But don't worry. I promise not to go downstairs. I'll pretend I don't even know you. Anyway, I'm just going to put in an appearance and leave as soon as possible. The moment Caroline Grafton remembered that I work in admissions at the Academy, she suddenly started being so much nicer to me.”

Kayla thought about what Matilda had said, about how Kayla's friends were thinking along those same lines. She put the thought out of her head. No, they were her friends. They liked her for who she was, not the school they thought her mother could get them into.

CHAPTER 8

Alice was in the kitchen with her mother when Kayla knocked and then let herself in through the side door a few seconds later.

“Hey, Kay,” said Alice, as Kayla stomped her boots and then placed them neatly along the wall next to the other boots.

“Alice, I want you to remove all these boots before the party and put them in the front hall closet,” said her mother.

Alice rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said.

“How are you, Kayley?” asked Mrs. Grafton, smiling at Kayla with her mouth but not her eyes.

Alice didn't correct her mother.
Maybe she didn't hear her mom say my name incorrectly
, Kayla thought.

“I'm fine, thanks,” said Kayla. Mrs. Grafton looked about ten years younger than Kayla's mother, but Kayla suspected it was because she spent a lot of time at the beauty parlor and the gym.

“Jess and Pria are up in my room, trying on clothes,” Alice said to Kayla. “Did you bring a bunch of outfits too?”

Kayla stared down at her outfit, which was visible through her open coat. She'd worn her black flippy skirt with the blue top that her cousin had just sent her. She loved the blue top. “I was going to wear this,” she said. “I brought a pair of black flats to wear. They're in my bag.”

“You look adorable, Kaitlin,” said Mrs. Grafton. “How creative of you to put that outfit together. I had a nice chat with your mother, by the way. She has a charming accent. And to work at the academy! In admissions, no less! What an exciting job that must be!”

“Yes, she likes it,” Kayla said. “This is a busy time of year for her, because all the applications for next year are in and they're reviewing them right now.”

“How nice. I am so looking forward to visiting with her tonight!” Mrs. Grafton stepped onto a footstool and pulled a huge punch bowl down from a high shelf in the cupboard. She handed it down to Alice, who set it
on the counter next to another large punch bowl. Kayla wondered why someone would own two large punch bowls. She was pretty sure her mom didn't own even one.

“Come upstairs,” Alice commanded Kayla, taking her by the sleeve and pulling her across the kitchen. Kayla followed Alice down the hallway, glancing left into the enormous dining room, which flowed into the L-shaped living room. The cleaning lady had obviously been there. The wood surfaces gleamed, the upholstered furniture looked fluffed up as though it had just arrived from the furniture store, and the throw pillows were placed perfectly.

“We're supposed to put the coats in there,” said Alice, pointing at the study across the hall.

Upstairs in Alice's bedroom, mounds of clothing were heaped on her canopied bed. More clothing had spilled onto the floor. Pria yelled hello from inside Alice's bathroom, where she and Jess were slathering green paste on their cheeks.

“We're doing facials!” called Pria. “Come join us!”

The bathroom was large enough for all four girls to fit comfortably. One wall was mirrored, and the long
counter included side-by-side sinks. Kayla pulled her thick hair back into a ponytail and then took the tube of facial stuff from Pria and began slathering it on her own face.

“What are you going to do about your hair, Kay?” asked Alice as she, too, began swirling the green paste onto her face.

“Nothing, I guess,” said Kayla. “I was thinking I'd just wear it down.”

Alice sighed. “You should try something different. You just have to put a little effort into it. You could be halfway decent-looking, you know, if you tried a little harder.”

“Thanks,” said Kayla. Why was it she always felt worse, not better, when Alice complimented her?

“Those green wafers that weird girl gave us
so
did not work,” said Jess crossly, looking at her green-masked face in the mirror. It was drying and starting to crack. “I am totally breaking out on my forehead.”

Kayla glanced at Jess's skin, which was as smooth as porcelain. She'd never once seen a breakout on her face.

“Has your mom finished making the punch yet?”
asked Pria. She leaned over the sink and began scrubbing off her dried mask.

“She's working on it now,” said Alice. “It'll be so cool if this potion works.”

“Did you read the instructions?” asked Kayla worriedly. “Matilda said to be careful with the proportions.”

Alice gave her a look. “What do you care, Kay? You didn't chip in for it, remember?”

Why wouldn't Alice just drop it? Kayla began to stammer. “I—I don't have a crush.”

“As if,” said Alice. “You totally like Tom. And with the hair day you appear to be having, it can't hurt to hand him a big glass of the punch, assuming he shows up tonight.”

Kayla looked at herself in the mirror. With her green face and untidy ponytail, and tendrils of hair spiking out around her face, she had to agree with Alice. Maybe she
should
get Tom to drink some.