Picture Perfect #5 (4 page)

Ms. O'Hagan and the twins all glanced at one another and shrugged.

“But she was just here!” Gracie cried. How could this keep happening? Every time they were ready to go, somebody else disappeared.

“Maybe she went back inside,” Robert said.

“No, she went over to the Gerardis' house,” Jimmy put in. “I saw her.”

“Why would she do that?” Ms. O'Hagan asked.

“To pet their dog,” Gracie guessed. “She's always talking about your neighbors' puppy. Should I go get her?”

“Sure,” Ms. O'Hagan said. “You're the only one I trust to actually come back.”

Gracie climbed back out of the minivan and hurried over to the house next door, which meant going around a huge hedge and letting herself in the back gate. It felt completely wrong—she was trespassing!—but she knew that Mari did it all the time.

“Who's a good puppy? Who's the cutest girl? Who's the best, best, best dog in the world?” Mari's voice came from the corner of the backyard. Gracie went over and found her best friend on her knees, rubbing the belly of
an adorable little mutt.

“Um, Mar? We're trying to get on the road, remember?” Gracie said.

“I know, but I heard Miss Havisham crying and I had to come pet her,” Mari cooed. “Isn't she the sweetest dog ever? Yes, she is!” Mari kissed the dog's head. “Didn't I tell you they found the cutest one at the shelter?”

Gracie stared at her for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“What's so funny?” Mari asked.

“You! Your whole family,” Gracie said. “Every time we find one missing person, somebody else disappears! How do you ever get anywhere on time?”

Mari chewed on her lip, thinking. “I have no idea,” she finally said.

Gracie laughed and held out her hand to help Mari up. “The car is loaded, and we're the only ones not in it—I think. Let's go!”

“I'm going to wipe the floor with you,” Robert said four hours later. They were parked at a restaurant along the highway, eating lunch. “I rule.”

“You wish,” Mari replied, taking a bite of her burger. “I've always been faster than you.”

“That's just because you're younger,” Jon pointed
out. “You don't weigh as much, so you go faster down the slopes.”

“Nuh-uh,” Mari said. “It's because I'm better.”

“Gracie's probably a better skier than all of you,” Mr. O'Hagan put in. “She's taken lessons for years. Haven't you, Gracie?”

Gracie nodded. “We stay at the same ski place every Christmas, so I always use the same instructor. But I don't know if I'm better than anyone else.”

“Lessons are boring,” Jimmy said. “I just want to ski fast!”

Gracie glanced happily around the table. The O'Hagans were so much fun. Ever since they had—finally!—left their house, the whole family had been busy telling jokes, singing along with the radio, and laughing. When she and her parents went skiing, the car ride was always the most boring part, with nothing to do for hours except read or sleep. It was only when she saw the huge stone lodge come into view that she felt like the vacation had started. But today, with Mari's family, even the car ride felt like a vacation!

“We should finish eating and get back on the road,” Ms. O'Hagan said. “I want to have time to eat dinner and get settled tonight so we can hit the slopes bright and early in the morning.”

“My mom always says the same thing,” Gracie told her. She couldn't wait to get to the cabin and settle in.

“Race you to the car,” Jon said, taking off suddenly.

Robert and Jimmy leapt from the table and ran for the exit. Mari rolled her eyes. “They're so rude.”

Mr. and Ms. O'Hagan exchanged smiles. “You can go too, girls,” Ms. O'Hagan said.

To Gracie's surprise, Mari immediately got up. “Come on!” she said, pulling Gracie to her feet. “If we go out the side door, we'll still beat them because it's so much closer to where we parked.”

Mari was already rushing through the restaurant, so Gracie followed her, squeezing through the other tables on their way to the side door.

“Sorry!” she cried as she banged into a lady lifting a bite of salad to her mouth. “I'm so sorry.”

The lady didn't look too happy, but Gracie couldn't help grinning as she and Mari reached the door. This was fun!

They grasped the handle at the same time and pulled the door open together. Jon was just rounding the front corner of the restaurant, going slowly because both Robert and Jimmy were pulling on him.

“They're busy fighting with each other. We're totally going to win,” Mari said. She didn't slow down, though,
as she ran toward the minivan.

Gracie ran after her.

“Hey!” Robert bellowed. He must have caught sight of the girls. “That's cheating!”

“You never said what exit we had to use,” Gracie called back.

All three boys ran full speed toward them, but Mari's hand was already on the car. Gracie reached it a second later.

“Girls win!” Mari yelled. She and Gracie slapped a high five. Mari's brothers all groaned in disappointment.

“It doesn't matter,” Robert said. “We'll have a rematch tomorrow, and I'll definitely win then.”

As soon as they were back on the highway, Gracie pulled out her notebook. She really did have to write a paper about this weekend for Mr. Ferrone, so she figured she should do a little along the way—she didn't want to forget any thoughts she had about her subject.

Gracie smiled. It was funny to think of herself as a “subject.” Well, herself and Mari. And Mari's family. This whole trip was going to be one long experiment, and it had already started. She had to get busy.

She flipped to a blank page and wrote:
Only Child vs. Multiple Children: A Case Study.
Then she underlined it. Now she was ready to make some notes. She thought
about what she'd noticed so far today. What were the differences between her family and Mari's?

Big Difference Number One: Only children have nobody to race with on family trips,
she wrote. She chewed on the end of her pen, listening to the twins act out an entire scene from some robot movie in the backseat.
Or to sing with, or play with. Only children don't have anyone to make them laugh during boring car rides.

“What are you writing?” Jimmy leaned over and tried to grab Gracie's notebook. “Let me see!”

“No. You'll rip it.” Gracie yanked the notebook away just as he got his fingers on the paper. There was a tearing sound, and Jimmy frowned.

“That was your fault, not mine,” he said. “You pulled it.”

Gracie opened her mouth to argue but stopped. He was right—it was her fault. “Sorry, I just don't want to lose my notes,” she said.

She wrote again.
Or to bother them, or fight with them.

“I can't believe you have to do homework in order to come on this trip,” Mari said. “I can help if you want. We came up with the sociology paper plan together, so it's only fair that I do half.”

“That's okay, I don't mind doing it,” Gracie told her.
“It's worth it to spend the whole weekend together.”

Mari nodded. “This will be the most time we've ever had to hang out. And maybe once your mom sees that you're okay being out of her sight, she'll let you come sleep over more often.”

“I can't even imagine that,” Gracie said honestly. “But I hope you're right! You and I are going to share a room, aren't we?”

“Obviously.” Mari laughed.

“Good, because there's something I need to tell you about,” Gracie said, lowering her voice. “Something you have to help me with. I'm too shy, and you're the opposite, so you'll know what to do.”

“This sounds interesting. What is it?” Mari asked.

Gracie shook her head. She couldn't blurt out that she had a crush on Alex Parker in front of Mari's brothers. They would never stop teasing her. “It's private.”

“Oh. Okay.” Mari yawned. “Then I'm going to take a nap until we get there. It's another two hours.”

“Sounds good.” Gracie rested her head against the window, but she knew there was no way she'd fall asleep. The twins were still doing their robot voices, and Jimmy was singing some little kid song in a high-pitched voice. About two minutes later, Mari began to snore. Gracie stared out the window at the dense
forest that had sprung up alongside the highway. She thought how much fun it would be to go exploring in the woods, and she tried to count the number of blue spruces mixed in among the greener trees.

When the car went over a huge bump, she jumped . . . and realized that she had been asleep. Counting trees must've made her nod off. The forest was even thicker around them now, and they had left the highway. The minivan was bumping down a narrow road in the middle of the woods, bouncing them all around as if they were on a carnival ride.

“Where are we?” Gracie asked.

“We're here!” Mari answered excitedly.

“We are?” Gracie peered out the window again, looking for the rest of the town. Usually ski resorts had bigger driveways than this, and smoother ones! Or maybe they weren't actually to the resort yet, and this little road was just the way there?

Ms. O'Hagan turned the minivan into a dirt pathway and stopped. Right away, Mari and all her brothers unbuckled their seat belts and began whooping and pushing to get out of the car. Gracie sat where she was, confused. Why had they stopped? There were still trees everywhere, they were on a dirt road, and there was
no sign of the town or a ski lodge.

“Don't be so lazy, Grazey,” Mari said. “Come on!”

“That doesn't really rhyme,” Gracie replied. She got up and climbed out of the minivan, not sure why they were getting out.

Next to the dirt driveway was a small wooden cabin. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, with a high, pointed roof and a bright red front door—a door that Mr. O'Hagan was unlocking while Jon and Robert crowded around him.

“What is this?” Gracie asked, baffled.

“It's the ski cabin,” Mari replied. “Isn't it great?”

“But . . . but where are the other buildings?” Gracie asked. “Is this part of the resort?” She glanced around, but all she saw were trees and a few other tiny houses scattered here and there along the dirt road.

“What resort?” Mari replied, looking as confused as Gracie felt. “This is the cabin we rent every year.”

“Oh.” Gracie thought about it for a second. “When you said it was a ski cabin, I just figured it was one of those detached cabins that are part of a big ski lodge. You know, like hotel suites but in a private little building.”

“Nope, it's an actual cabin,” Mari said. “Wait till you see the bunk beds!”

Gracie's eyebrows shot up. “We're sleeping in a bunk bed?”

“Of course. How else would we fit everyone in one room?” Mari asked.

“There's only one room?” Gracie could hardly believe it.

“Well, no, my parents have their own room,” Mari replied. “But the rest of us are in one room, so . . . bunk beds! It's so cool. Come on in.” She took off toward the cabin, and Gracie stared after her in shock.

This was not the kind of ski weekend she'd been expecting.

It was even better!

“This one is ours,” Mari said, pointing to a bright purple bunk bed near the window. “The boys are afraid of it because it's a girl color.”

“I am not!” Jimmy protested. “I'm afraid of it because it's haunted.”

“Well, yeah, that's what Kat told him,” Mari admitted. “But Jon and Robert don't like the purple.”

“That's silly. It's the best one,” Gracie said, glancing around the room. It was the only room on the second floor, which meant it was basically the attic of the little cabin. The huge room had only two windows—one at the front of the house and one at the back. The walls were so slanted that there was barely enough room to sit up on the top bunks of the three bunk beds. But the purple one was placed right next to the front window, so whoever had the top bunk could look straight up at the stars at night. Since the other window was over the
stairwell, there was no way to put a bed under it. “The other two bunk beds are just against the wall, with no window.”

“Yeah, but at least they're not purple,” Jon said, though he frowned as if he'd never thought about the window part before.

Mari threw her duffel bag on the bottom bunk. “No take backs! This one is always mine.” She turned to Gracie. “You can have the top bunk, since you're the guest.”

“Don't you want it?” Gracie asked. “We're here for four nights. We can take turns.”

“That's okay. Kat let me have the top bunk for the past two years. I don't mind the bottom.” Mari grabbed the handle of Gracie's heavy suitcase and helped her drag it over from the stairs to the purple bunk bed. “You seem kind of freaked out by the cabin, so maybe the top bunk will make you like it more.”

Gracie felt her cheeks heat up. She hadn't realized that Mari had noticed her startled reaction. And she'd definitely never meant to hurt Mari's feelings. “I'm not freaked out! I was just surprised, because when we go on ski trips, we stay in a big lodge. You know, a hotel, with a restaurant and stuff. I never knew people got their own little houses for skiing. I guess I never really thought about it.”

“Me neither,” Mari said. “I didn't know you were expecting a fancy trip.”

“I'm sorry if I acted rude. I don't want a fancy trip!” Gracie insisted. “My parents always make me get all dressed up and spend two hours eating dinner in the hotel restaurant, and I have to play chess a lot because there's no other games. I think it's going to be a lot more fun here.”

“Well, yeah, we have more than chess. And there's no dressing up allowed.” Mari laughed.

“I call top bunk!” Robert yelled, throwing his duffel up onto one bed.

“Me too!” Jon added, grabbing the other top bunk.

“No fair,” Jimmy whined. “I always get stuck on the bottom.”

“Yeah, but look at it this way. You can switch between the bottom of Jon's and the bottom of Robert's,” Gracie told him. “That way you can kick both of their mattresses when they're trying to sleep.”

Jimmy's face lit up. “Awesome!”

Mari headed toward the stairs. “Let's go help Mom and Dad unpack the food and the skis.”

“Oh. Okay.” Gracie had been hoping that maybe they'd get a few minutes alone to talk—she still hadn't told Mari about her Alex Parker crush. But there would
be a chance later. They had four whole days!

For the next hour, all they did was haul in stuff from the minivan. Gracie had no idea where Mr. O'Hagan had fit so much food in that packed car, but there seemed to be a million different crates and bags full of cans, boxes, and bottles. “This seems like a lot for four days,” she told Ms. O'Hagan.

Mari's mom nodded. “It takes a lot to feed a family of seven. Believe it or not, we'll probably have to go shopping for more.”

One more thing to write in my paper for Mr. Ferrone,
Gracie thought, shoving a huge box of pancake mix into a kitchen cabinet. She'd never even considered how much more food a bunch of people would need! Maybe when they were finally unpacked, she and Mari could sneak away for some quiet time.

The O'Hagans were still talking as constantly as they had been all day—and singing, and laughing. Gracie was never entirely sure who was talking to whom, and Jimmy seemed mostly to be talking to himself about nothing. The twins generally talked in funny voices and crazy accents, and Mari just kept telling Gracie about all their past trips to the cabin and who had banged their head on which counter, who had broken their arm on the stairs, and where she'd hidden to win the
best game of hide-and-seek ever. Gracie had a hard time following her stories because of all the other noise.

It was a little overwhelming. She couldn't wait to get upstairs and just hang for a while on their bunk bed.

But as soon as the car was emptied, Mr. O'Hagan pulled out the hugest pot Gracie had ever seen. “I'll start the chili while you guys wax the skis to get ready for tomorrow,” he announced.

Everybody groaned, and Gracie groaned right along with them. Wax their skis? Were they such serious skiers that they needed to do that every time? She usually only waxed hers at the beginning of the winter, the first time she went skiing. But she knew the O'Hagans had gone skiing closer to home last month. Maybe they just liked to go faster on the slopes?

“But I'm tired,” Jimmy protested.

“Me too. We've been working forever,” Mari agreed.

“Tell you what. Whoever finishes their skis fastest gets first turn in the bathroom for showers tonight,” Ms. O'Hagan said.

Mari and her brothers sprang into action, but Gracie stood still, startled by the idea that they all had to share the same bathroom. She'd known it was a small cabin—just the combination living room/kitchen and Mari's parents' room downstairs—but the bathroom situation
hadn't occurred to her. She always had her own bathroom when she went on vacation with her parents.

“There's only that one bathroom?” she asked. It was a small one, right at the bottom of the stairs.

“Yup, we all have to share,” Mari said, furiously waxing.

By the time she started to wax the skis they'd loaned her, there was no way Gracie could finish fastest. She wasn't sure why it was so important to be allowed to use the bathroom first anyway. Maybe so the first person could get to sleep earlier? That didn't matter to her. So she took her time and waxed the same way she always did, just like she cleaned her clarinet the same way all the time.

She finished last.

“Why didn't you do it faster?” Jimmy asked.

Gracie shrugged. “I wanted to do it right.”

Robert and Jon laughed at her, and Jimmy rolled his eyes. But Mari looked upset. “Sorry, Gracie. You can have my turn if you want.”

“No thanks,” Gracie said. “I don't mind waiting.”

“Chili time!” Mari's dad called.

Robert and Jon bolted for the kitchen, with Jimmy and Mari close behind. Gracie didn't know why they
were in such a hurry, but she ran along with them. The table wasn't set—there was just a stack of paper bowls on the counter next to the huge pot of chili and a platter of cornbread. It smelled delicious.

“Double bowl, everyone,” Ms. O'Hagan said. “I don't want to be cleaning chili sauce off the table later.”

Robert ladled some chili into a bowl and then grabbed four pieces of cornbread. Jon did the same thing. So did Jimmy. And Mari. By the time Gracie filled her bowl, there were only six pieces of cornbread left. Gracie took two.

“Don't worry about us, sweetie, we ate it while we were baking it,” Ms. O'Hagan told her.

“Okay.” Gracie took two more pieces and turned toward the table. There was no room for her.

“We can sit on the floor,” Mari said, getting up. She carried her bowl over to the fireplace and plopped down in front of it.

“Careful not to spill on the rug!” Ms. O'Hagan called.

Gracie happily sat next to Mari. At home, she was never allowed to eat anywhere but at the table. “It's like a picnic,” she joked.

“Indoor picnic,” Mari agreed. “Isn't the chili good?”

Gracie took a bite. “It's amazing.” The cornbread was even better. As soon as she had tasted it, she
understood why Mari and her brothers had taken so much of it.

“We always have this on our first night,” Mari said. “It's an O'Hagan tradition.”

“I love it,” Gracie replied. She loved everything about it, in fact. Dinner with her parents was always so quiet, but the O'Hagans spent the entire meal telling stories and laughing loudly. Gracie still couldn't tell who was supposed to be listening when everyone was busy speaking, but finally she decided that nobody cared if anyone else was paying attention. They all just talked over one another. Gracie was so busy listening to their jokes that she didn't even notice when Jimmy grabbed her last piece of cornbread.

“Hey! Give it back,” Mari cried, reaching for his hand. “That's Gracie's.”

“Too late!” Jimmy shoved the entire piece of bread into his mouth, his eyes bugging out. Gracie felt a stab of annoyance that he had stolen her cornbread, but his face was so funny as he struggled to chew the whole huge thing. She burst out laughing.

“Serves you right if you choke on that,” Robert said.

“Here, Gracie, you can have mine,” Mr. O'Hagan put in, handing over his cornbread. “I'm on a diet anyway.”

“You ate seven pieces before we served dinner,” Ms.
O'Hagan commented.

“That's why I don't mind if Gracie has this one,” he replied.

Gracie smiled. “Thanks.”

“I'm done,” Robert said. “Maybe I'll head on into the bathroom since I get to use it first.”

“No way. First comes cleanup,” Ms. O'Hagan told him.

Robert made a face, but he picked up his paper bowl and dropped it into the garbage can. “Okay, I've cleaned up!”

“Nice try,” Mari said.

“Robert and Jon, you're on pot-washing duty. Jimmy and Gracie, you two can dry. Mari, you put everything away,” Mr. O'Hagan said.

“Isn't there a dishwasher?” Gracie asked, surprised.

“There is, but it's so old that it barely works,” Mari said. “Anyway, it's fun doing the dishes.”

Gracie couldn't believe that was true, but after a few minutes, she understood. The twins narrated their dishwashing like it was a soccer game or something, and somehow they both ended up covered in suds and water. Every time a pot was finally rinsed, they gave it to Jimmy and watched him try to hold it while Gracie dried it. Jimmy's hands were too small to keep a good
hold on the slippery pots, so he kept dropping them and Gracie kept trying to catch them, which made everyone laugh. Then Mari had to climb up on the counters in order to reach the cabinets where the pots were stored, and they all cheered her on as she balanced herself in ridiculous positions. By the time they were done, Gracie's sides hurt from laughing.

“Now you can use the bathroom,” Mr. O'Hagan told Robert.

Robert gave a whoop and ran upstairs to grab his stuff before disappearing into the bathroom. He didn't come back out for half an hour.

“What's he doing in there?” Gracie asked Mari as they rooted through their bags for their pajamas.

“Showering takes him forever since he decided to grow his hair long. He wanted to impress Emily Lopez at school.” Mari rolled her eyes.

Jon went next, and his hair was just as long because the twins always did everything together, including growing their hair. It took him a really long time to finish in the bathroom. When it was Mari's turn to go in, Gracie decided to call her parents. She would definitely have time to talk before her turn. She opened her suitcase again and got out her cell phone, then climbed up to the top bunk to call.

“Gracie? Is everything going all right?” her mom asked the second she picked up the phone. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah! It's great,” Gracie said. “The cabin is small, but Mari's family is so much fun.”

“That's nice,” Ms. Hardwick replied.

“There's only one bathroom, so I'm waiting for my turn to get ready for bed,” Gracie went on.

“Great,” her mother said.

Great? Really?
Gracie thought. One shared bathroom was the kind of thing that would usually make her mother start to freak out. She would imagine what a mess the bathroom must be, and wonder where they could possibly hang all the towels, and worry that there wouldn't be enough hot water for everyone. But instead all she had to say was “Great”?

“And we ate chili on the living-room floor,” Gracie added, just to see how her mom would react.

“That sounds lovely,” Ms. Hardwick replied.

“Mom? Is something wrong?” Gracie asked in alarm. “You're not acting like yourself.”

“Hmm? No, I'm fine, sweetie. I'm just a little frazzled.”

“Why?”

“Well, your dad brought me to this place in Maine, it's called the Green Valley Wellness Spa,” Ms. Hardwick
said. “It's a health spa, not the kind of spa where you get massages and sit in a hot tub.”

“Oh.” Gracie wasn't sure why that would make her mother feel frazzled. “That's nice, isn't it?”

“Yes, it was a lovely idea,” Ms. Hardwick said. “But when we got here, I unpacked and started my walk around the place. You know, the way I always do when we arrive at a hotel.”

“Right,” Gracie said. At the beginning of any vacation, her mom liked to figure out where everything was and how long it took to get there. She said it made it easier to plan activities for the rest of the stay, because you knew what to expect.

“They wouldn't let me,” Ms. Hardwick said.

“What?”

“They said it's against the rules to walk around at night. Apparently they believe people should be sleeping.” Her mother sounded annoyed. “They're very strict.”

“So what are you going to do?” Gracie asked.