The Banana Split Affair (5 page)

It wasn’t until she walked out into the hall on her way to first-period English that Susan got her first taste of what being Christine Pratt was like. So many students waved or called “hello” that she felt like a celebrity. The faces of Chris’s friends and acquaintances passed by in a blur, most of them belonging to students she didn’t know and had never even noticed before. But many were those of the school’s leaders: Sally Linder, class president. Ralph Maxwell, head of the debating team. Fred Davis, captain of the football team. The kind of people who were only vaguely aware that Susan Pratt existed. And that was only because she happened to be the twin sister of the popular Christine Pratt.

The new Chris simply smiled and waved back. She wasn’t certain of most people’s names, and she wasn’t about to risk ruining things by making mistakes. But one thing was for sure: She
loved
getting so much attention, and from so many important kids, too! It was a far cry from being her usual self, staying close to the lockers that lined the crowded halls and avoiding eye contact with anyone but her closest friends. She found herself standing up straighter and wearing a constant smile. This was fun!

As she turned down a corridor, she heard someone calling her.

“Chris! Chris! Hey, wait up!”

Susan turned around and saw Richard Collier running after her. Her smile immediately started to fade. Richard was one boy she knew only too well. He was one of Chris’s regulars, and Susan had never been able to understand what her sister saw in him. But she put on her biggest smile and braced herself. Like it or not, she would have to flirt with Richard. After all, the real Chris certainly would.

“Hiya, Chris! What’s the rush? Or are you trying to compete with your sister for the Goody Two Shoes Award by being on time for class?”

Susan’s mouth dropped open. She could feel her cheeks burning. She had never particularly
liked
Richard, but she had never known him to be cruel. Was this what Richard Collier was
really
like? Then what on earth did Chris
see
in him? Especially when she had her choice of practically every boy at school?

But she knew she couldn’t let on, as hurt and disgusted as she was. Instead, Susan forced herself to continue smiling. “Don’t be such a meanie,” she said in her best Chris voice. She stroked her hair in the nervous habit that her twin always used. “Just because my sister happens to be a better student than either you or me ...”

“Aw, forget it. I don’t want to talk about your sister. I want to talk about Friday night.”

“What about Friday night?”

“Don’t tell me my best girl has forgotten about the party at Slade’s already?” He draped his arm around her casually. It was all Susan could do to keep from pulling away.

“Actually,” she said in the most teasing voice she could manage, “I have such a busy social calendar that I can’t remember
what’s
on for Friday night. Maybe you’d better refresh my memory.”

“Goodness, girl, are you losing your mind? I told you you’ve been studying too much lately.”

As she eyed the tall, wiry boy with slick black hair and a gaunt face, Susan wondered once again what Chris saw in him. She also knew she had no desire to go to a party or anywhere else with him. Especially at the house of someone named Slade whom she had never heard of.

“Funny you should say that,” she said, purposely dropping a textbook on the floor and escaping from his grasp to pick it up. “My mom’s really been cracking down lately about me going out so much. She wants me to put in more time studying.”

“Even on the weekends? Come on, babe. You’ll destroy me!”

“Why don’t you call me, Richard? I’ve got to run or I’ll be late for my first-period class. We’re having a test,” she lied.

“Okay. I’ll call you tonight. Right after dinner. But you’d better say yes to Slade’s blast! The whole gang’s counting on you!”

Susan was relieved when she reached the safety of the English classroom. Ms. Long was generally a kind teacher, but she was known for lighting into students who weren’t lucky enough to be her favorites. Susan had already studied
An American Tragedy
in her English class the previous year, so she felt confident that she would be well prepared for any class discussion or even a surprise quiz.

She checked her notes to see which seat was Chris’s. As she sat down, the girl next to her gave her a big smile and a friendly “hello.” Susan surmised she was a friend of Chris’s, but she had no idea who she was. It was just as well that her unexpected—and unwanted—encounter with Richard Collier had left her no time to chat with any of the other students before class got started.

Just as Chris had told her, the class was discussing the theme of An
American Tragedy.
The book was one of Susan’s favorites, and she sat up straight and listened intently to the discussion. When Ms. Long asked about the meaning of the novel, Susan’s hand automatically shot up.

“Now, there’s a hand I don’t have the pleasure of seeing too often,” Ms. Long remarked. “I guess someone has finally caught up with the assignment! Christine, what words of wisdom have
you
got to share with us about the meaning of the book?”

Susan blanched, then took a deep breath. She could feel everyone’s eyes upon her, and she immediately realized that the class was just as surprised as Ms. Long that the usually quiet and uninterested Chris Pratt was about to answer a question.

“Dreiser felt it was a myth that anyone could rise in American society. When poor Clyde tried to make a better life for himself, he ended up being tricked by circumstance. He was a victim. You could even say that the price he had to pay for trying to step out of his social class was his life.”

“That’s very good, Chris. I’m glad you got so much out of the book. It seems to mean a great deal to you. I must say I’m as pleased as I am surprised.” Ms. Long’s eyes traveled around the classroom. “Does anyone have anything to add to Christine’s comment?”

Susan was taken aback by Ms. Long’s reaction. Susan-as-Susan was always raising her hand and giving good answers to questions in almost all her classes. But the English teacher had acted as if she were amazed that Susan-as-Chris had anything at all to say. That she was even capable of understanding the books the class was reading.

It must be harder for Chris than I realized, she thought as the class discussion continued around her. I guess a lot of times she doesn’t know the answers to things that are being talked about in class. I wonder if she feels bad about that. And I wonder if she’s always worried about getting called on and maybe embarrassing herself in front of everybody.

Before she had too much time to think about her sister’s feeling as a C student, a new difficulty came up. The girl sitting next to her, the one who had acted so friendly when she came into the classroom, slipped her a folded piece of loose-leaf paper while Ms. Long was writing on the blackboard.

“Dear Chris,” the note read. “Three guesses who FINALLY asked Carla out!!!”

Susan swallowed hard. She had no idea who
Carla
was, let alone the name of any boys who might have asked her out. What could she do? Make up names? Ask for an explanation? Neither would do. Her twin sister was obviously very familiar with all the details of this Carla’s social life,

She thought for a few seconds. And then,
inspiration!
Making sure she imitated Chris’s handwriting as best she could, she scribbled at the bottom of the note, “You’re kidding! FINALLY!!!” and handed it back to her neighbor. The girl glanced at it, then looked over at Susan. She rolled her eyes and grinned knowingly. Susan copied her reaction, trying to look as amazed as she possibly could.

During the rest of the period, Susan waited in dread for the girl to pass her another note. Fortunately, Ms. Long started to wander around the classroom as she lead the discussion, so there was no chance for writing any more secret messages. Susan decided not to answer any more questions, as tempting as it was.
She
knew the answer but would
Chris?
Better not to take a chance. She was beginning to realize that while she, Susan, tried not to be noticed in social situations, Chris did the exact same thing in school. How odd that she had never thought of that before!

If the Banana Split Affair is supposed to teach me about Chris’s life, she thought at the end of the period as she gathered up her books and hurried out of the classroom with a quick wave in the strange girl’s direction, it’s already starting to do the job!

Her next class was gym. That was easy. Following Chris’s instructions, she went to the auditorium and sat in the dark, watching a hygiene film. She sat at the end of the row, and the girl sitting next to her didn’t appear to be a friend of Chris’s. Susan felt she could breathe freely for the first time that day.

Trigonometry was a bit more difficult. Every time the math teacher, Mr. James, asked a question, especially one that was especially hard, Susan-as-Chris could feel his eyes upon her. She looked everywhere but at him— out the window, in her purse, in the textbook. She got away without being called on once. It was a good thing, too, since all that talk about tangents and cosines made her head throb. It was as if she were hearing a different language. At the end of the period, she rushed out, hoping Mr. James would just assume she was having a bad day. She would have to talk to Chris about this one. Two weeks of looking as if she weren’t paying attention would be no easy feat. And it wouldn’t exactly help Chris in the long run, either!

Susan was relieved that it was finally time for lunch period. But her relief didn’t last long.

As she strolled into the school cafeteria, she spotted her twin sitting at a table full of Susan Pratt’s friends.

That left her only one alternative: to respond to Sally Linder, the junior class president, who was waving at her, trying to catch her attention.

“Chris! Hey, Chris! Over here!”

Susan’s stomach sank. She hesitated for a moment, then walked over to Sally’s table.

“Hi, Chris, I see you’re brown-bagging it today. Me, too. I’m on a diet.” Sally grimaced for effect. “How was your date with Tommy Turner yesterday?”

Susan-as-Chris sat down and unwrapped her sandwich. “Uh, it was great. Really fun.” She glanced around the table at the four other girls, who were watching her intently. Two or three of them looked vaguely familiar, but she had no idea of their names. She could feel herself growing warm. This was going to be tough. Maybe even the toughest thing she had to do so far

“Hey, Chris,” one of the other girls said, peering at her across the table, “you look different today. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but there’s something about you ...”

“Oh,” said Susan with a wave of her hand, hoping her cheeks weren’t turning
too
red, “it’s probably my hair. I tried something different with it. And I’m wearing my sister’s makeup.”

“Really? I didn’t even know your sister even wore any makeup,” Sally said offhandedly, turning to her plastic container of cottage cheese.

“Actually, Susan is prettier than I am,” she mumbled in her own defense. “She doesn’t need much makeup.”

“How can that be?” asked another of the nameless girls. “I thought you two were identical twins.”

“We are, but there are differences in coloring, the shape of our faces ...”

“Well, nothin’ against your sister, Chris, but I think you’re much prettier. Not to mention the fact that you dress a lot better.”

“But what’s more important is that you’re so much more bubbly,” another girl added. “Your sister is probably just as nice as you, and I’ve heard she’s really smart and all, but she just doesn’t come across the way you do ... you know, confident and friendly and interesting. The kind of person everyone wants to get to know. You can tell that Chris Pratt
likes
herself.”

Instead of feeling offended, Susan was taking mental notes. So
that
was what made Chris so popular! It had nothing to do with her looks after all. The secret was that Chris really liked herself. And that made people like her. Everyone thought Chris was nicer and more interesting than her twin sister—it was as simple as that. It made sense, of course, but somehow Susan had never thought of it in those terms.

The conversation drifted away from the Pratt twins and onto school politics, the new hamburger joint that had just opened near school, and speculation over who the new replacement cheerleader would be. Between eating and offering little or few comments, Susan was able to continue convincing everyone at the table that she was Chris. Still, when Sally glanced at the clock and noted that the period was almost over, Susan breathed a sigh of relief.

She made sure she ran into her sister on the way out of the cafeteria.

“Well,” she said to Chris as the two of them filed out together, “I managed to make it through the day so far. But I think lunch was the hardest. How about you? Did you get through lunch okay?”

“Just barely! I just kept my mouth shut as much as possible. You know, I feel kind of bad fooling our friends like that. Don’t you?”

Susan just grinned. “No, not at all! I think it’s terrific that we managed to trick them! After all, they know us the best, so they’re the hardest group to convince. If we fooled them, we can fool anybody!”

“I guess you’re right,” Chris finally agreed. “I feel like an actress who just made a theaterful of people believe she was Juliet. It was bad enough in class, but your friends were sitting six inches away from me!”

“Speaking of Juliet,” Susan said, biting her lip, “there’s still one more category of people we have to convince before we can say that we’ve been one hundred percent successful.”

“Who’s that?”

“The Romeos in our lives.”

“Oh, yeah, boys. I forgot about them. And I have your art class next period, right?”

Susan nodded. She was so concerned about the present that she forgot to mention her odd meeting with Richard Collier. “Right,” she said, “art is next. And your mission is to make Keith West fall madly in love with Susan Pratt. Even if she really is Christine Pratt.”