Odessa Again (17 page)

“The letter
D,
” she whispered.

He tilted away from her, as if he were protecting himself from an incoming slap to the cheek. “Huh?”

“Just listen to me for once, Oliver. It’s the letter
D,
okay? The letter
D.
That’s the answer. I know you’re shy, but you have to raise your hand and say ‘The letter
D.
’ That’s all you have to do. I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you just say ‘the letter
D.
’ ”

She turned and ran back to join her class, taking the same seat, one row in front of Theo.

Ms. Banville started in with her instructions about not shouting out the answer, and Odessa watched Oliver. She knew that look. Pure panic spread across his face.

She glared at him.
The letter
D, she mouthed silently.

He shook his head slowly:
No
.

His shoulders slumped and he looked down at his feet, refusing to meet her gaze across the bleachers even though she sent him the strongest telepathic message she could:
Don’t wimp out. Do it. Raise your hand. Don’t be a toad. I wasn’t planning on giving you the money, but I will, I really will, if you just do it!

Finally, after answers of dreams and owls and bats, Ms. Banville called on Theo.

“Um, the letter
D
?” he said.

Oliver finally turned his eyes back to Odessa and shrugged.

Sorry,
he mouthed.

You should be sorry,
she thought.
After everything I went through for you—you blew it! I tried to help you, but you, Oliver Green-Light, are a helpless toad.

Sofia squeezed her knee again—
The boy you love is about to win!—
and again Odessa enjoyed basking in Theo’s brilliance, but she was mad at Oliver. Really mad.

Once a toad, always a toad.

On the bus home she sat next to him for what she’d decided would be the very last time.

Before she could say anything he blurted out, “I don’t know how you knew the answer, but however you found out, it isn’t fair. I don’t want to be a cheater. And anyway,” he said, his eyes welling up with tears, “I don’t want to be President for a Day. Maybe you do, but I don’t.”

“What! You don’t? What do you want then, Oliver? Really. What do you want?” She was almost shouting at him now.

“I just want to be normal. I just want my old life back,” he said, sniffling. “I just miss my old life.”

A hole ripped in the water tower inside her and she could feel her anger draining from her body.

Of course. There it was.

Oliver missed his old life.

Odessa missed her old life too.

She reached into her backpack and took out her sweatshirt. She handed it to her brother so he could wipe his tears.

“Don’t worry, O,” she said. “I’ll get you your old life back. I promise. I can fix this.” Then, if only to convince herself, she added: “I have the power.”

4 Hours

With Dad’s wedding only a few weeks away, Odessa didn’t have a lot of time to get her old life back.

But then she thought about how quickly things could change. One day Dad lived with them, the next he didn’t. Mom said, “We’re putting the house up for sale,” and suddenly it belonged to someone else. Mrs. Grisham showed them around the new house, and the next week they were moving in.

Change can happen quickly, and Odessa just needed to be quick about it.

To
re
something means
to
do
it
again.

Dad needed to
re
marry Mom, not some woman named Jennifer. Just because Jennifer was nice to Odessa and had sparkly eyelids and shimmery lips didn’t mean she needed to marry Dad. Odessa didn’t want to hurt Jennifer, she really didn’t.

Maybe
when
all
this
is
over,
Odessa thought,
I’ll find someone nice for Jennifer to marry.

But first things first. It was time to re-hyphenate her family.

She started with her lavender dress. It was so beautiful, so twirly and delicate. She hated to see it get ruined, but she had to do what she had to do.

It was a Saturday morning and she asked to try it on again. “It’s just that I love it so much,” she said.

Jennifer was in the kitchen making crepes, her specialty. They were delicious, covered in powdered sugar and chocolate. As Oliver carried his to the table, Odessa twirled right into him, slipping her hand under his plate and flattening it to her chest.

“Oliver!” she shouted.

He stared at her open-mouthed.

She shot him a look:
I’ve got this. This is all part of my plan.
But he didn’t understand. Oliver couldn’t read lips, and he wasn’t so great at reading looks either.

“I-didn’t-do-it-it’s-all-your-fault-you-knocked-into-me!”
he screamed.

Jennifer grabbed a kitchen towel, but it was no use. The chocolate was everywhere. The lavender dress turned a not-very-attractive maroon.

Dad stood there with his hands on his hips.

“I’m soooooo sorry.” Odessa tried sounding remorseful. “I didn’t want to ruin your wedding.”

“It’s okay,” Dad said. “We’ll just have to get you a new dress.”

“But it won’t be this one. And I’m supposed to wear this one.”

“It’s just a dress, Odessa.” Dad reached over and steadied his hand on the still-shaking Oliver. “And I guess this means Oliver doesn’t have to wear his lavender tie.”

That was Odessa’s next plan, to draw on Oliver’s tie in permanent marker. Now that wouldn’t work either.

Okay. Think big.

It took her the rest of the weekend to work up the courage, and then, finally, on Sunday afternoon, shortly before Dad was to drive her and Oliver back to Mom’s, Odessa started looking for the scissors.

If this had been the Green House she’d have known where the scissors were, and she wouldn’t have had to ask Jennifer. If she hadn’t had to do that, she might have gotten away with her plan. But she did have to ask. And so Jennifer must have wondered where Odessa had wandered off to with those scissors.

Oliver and Dad and Jennifer were doing a puzzle, a big one of underwater sea creatures. It looked as if it could take days to do, which was why Odessa figured she had some time to spare.

She pretended she was going to the room she shared with Oliver, but when she saw no one was looking, she snuck into Dad and Jennifer’s bedroom and closed the door. She found Jennifer’s wedding dress hanging in the closet in a white zippered bag.

Odessa planned to quickly snip the straps with the scissors, but when she took the dress out and laid it on the floor she decided that maybe the straps weren’t enough. What if Jennifer just pinned them?

She’d have to cut a hole in the middle. It wouldn’t be easy: there was some sort of hard, underwire thing, and also, the fabric was so beautiful, so delicate, sewn with little tiny beads. She ran it through her fingers, feeling regret,
compunction.
But she’d made her brother a promise. Promises were precious too.

She grabbed hold of the scissors. She picked up the dress and searched for its middle.

Just then she heard Jennifer’s voice.

“What is going on in here?” She was calm but angry. Yes, angry for sure. Jennifer was always so nice, so friendly: it was the first time Odessa had seen her angry. She looked like she’d maybe stopped breathing, but then she managed to shout out: “Glenn!”

Odessa could lie. Say she had no intention of ruining the dress, but there she sat with the scissors in one hand and the dress in the other. How could you not put two and two together?

Dad came running and froze in the doorway.

Odessa thought right then of a poem she’d loved when she was little about this kid who doesn’t understand money and ends up giving away a dollar in exchange for five pennies. His dad’s face turns red, and the kid thinks it’s because his dad is proud, but of course he’s not proud, he’s angry. And when Odessa saw her father’s red face she wondered if maybe he was the opposite of that dad in the poem—though he looked angry, maybe he was really proud.

Couldn’t he see that she was trying to save her family? That it didn’t matter about the dress, that what mattered was trying to do the right thing?

“Jennifer,” he said. “Can you give me a minute alone with my daughter?” He reached out and pulled her into a hug. He was a head taller than Jennifer, and he kissed her curly hair. He let her slip slowly from his grasp and she left the room.

He turned to face Odessa and crossed his arms. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see his reddening face.
Please, please, please be proud
.

He wasn’t.

“Your dress yesterday,” he said. “That wasn’t an accident.”

Like he’d been doing at the table, he was putting together the pieces of a puzzle. “And now this, Odessa. I hardly know what to say.”

“Dad,” she whispered.

“Quiet,” he snapped. “I’m talking.”

Dad never snapped. Odessa started to cry.

“This behavior is inexcusable. It’s mean and hurtful. You need to use your words, Odessa. I don’t know how many times we have to tell you that. You need to talk when you’re angry, not push or hit or act out like this.” He gestured to the dress and the scissors on the floor.

“It’s just … ,” she said, choking back tears. “It’s just …”

Dad came and sat next to her. His face had returned to normal Dad color. That was when Odessa found her words.

“It’s just that you’re supposed to love Mom.”

“Oh, sweetie,” he said, taking her chin in his hand and turning her to face him. “I do love Mom. I’ll always love Mom.”

“Then why are you
re
marrying Jennifer?”

“Because,” he sighed. “Things change.”

He said more, about two people growing apart, realizing you’re different from who you once were, and blah, blah, blah.

Odessa was not listening.

She’d heard what she needed to hear.
I’ll always love Mom.
When they talked about the divorce with Odessa and Oliver her parents said things like
We
still
care
about
each
other
and
We’ll always be in each other’s lives,
but this was the first time Odessa had heard him use the word
love
.