Truth or Dare (22 page)

“But for short I'm calling them Amy and Aggie,” I informed her as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue. I mean, I wanted to thank my aunt, but I didn't want her to think I'd gone all crystal crazy in gratitude.

Also, I starting thinking that Aunt Shelby would drive me nuts asking for constant updates on the cats. So I
decided it was time to ask Dad for a cell phone again. At least that way I could send her photos. And anyway, it was probably time.

On Monday I stuffed the blue agate into my jeans pocket. At lunch I squeezed it as I walked into the computer lab.

Marley pushed her bangs out of her eyes as she looked up at me. “Hey,” she said. “So you finally came back. We were wondering if you'd ever show.”

I blinked. “Really? Why didn't you just invite me, then?”

“You were waiting for an invitation? Like in a seashell or something?” She snorted. “Oh, whatever. Pull up a chair.”

I did. Every day at lunch. Pretty soon I got decent at Phantom. Decent enough to do a victory dance a couple of times, although I was nowhere near as obnoxious about it as Marley.

The weeks passed. Nothing changed very much, except that I lost my superpowers.

Oh, but this happened: I had my first kiss. On Halloween, Marley, Ruby, Graydon, Ben, Jake, and I went ironic trick-or-treating. We didn't wear costumes like little kids, but we all spray-painted our hair crazy colors and wore our clothes backward. When our bags were full and we'd eaten ridiculous amounts of candy, Marley invited us over to watch a scary movie.

Just as we got to her front door, Graydon poked me on the shoulder. “Can we talk a second?” he said.

“Sure,” I replied. “What's up?”

“Remember that thing you asked me?”

I stared at his green hair, how it clashed with his orange eyebrows. “No. What thing?”

“In the diner that time.”

“Oh. Right.”

“You still—?” He looked at his sneakers, which were on the wrong feet.

“Sure,” I said quickly, my heart banging.

We waited for everyone to go inside. He climbed a step so he could be as tall as me. Then he leaned toward me and we kissed.

His lips tasted like Snickers. Mine probably tasted like 3 Musketeers.

The whole thing lasted maybe three seconds. And we both pulled away at exactly the same time, then stood there, grinning at each other.

“Well, that was unprecedented,” he said.

♥  ♥  ♥

And also this: A few Friday afternoons after that, Marley and I were in the diner with practically the entire seventh grade. We were sipping our milk shakes, talking about the HiberNation trilogy, when my phone rang. By
then I'd gotten used to the fact that I had a phone again and that Dad and Aunt Shelby were calling me all the time. But when I realized the caller was Val, I was kind of shocked. I mean, I hadn't seen or heard from her in a couple of months. I didn't even know how she had my number.

She said she was calling to invite me over for dinner. That very night.

My first reaction was,
Yay! Val's cooking!

My second reaction:
Oh, but Abi.

We weren't enemies. But we weren't friends. Maybe things would change sometime in the future, but right now we said hi when we passed in the hall and that was it. So the thought of sitting in Abi's kitchen, listening to her tell her mom about her day at school—

“Oh, that's really nice of you,” I told Val. “I'd love to come. Although could we please make it some other time? I'm not feeling so great today.”

“You're not?” I could hear her shift into concerned-mom mode. “What's wrong, Lia? What are your symptoms? Do you have a fever?”

“No, no. I just, you know, have my period and I'm really tired, so I think I'll hang out at home tonight. But thanks!”

Across the table, Marley slurped her milk shake loudly.

As soon as I hung up with Val, Marley said, “Hmm. Still lying about the period thing, I see.”

“It was just a little fib,” I insisted. “A white lie.”

“Dude, I'm teasing. Chill, okay?”

Still, I felt weird after that call. Even just thinking about Val and Abi and all the real lying I'd done this year made my stomach hurt. In fact, it started to hurt so much I couldn't even finish my milk shake. Finally I got up to use the bathroom.

And guess what.

Wait, really?
I thought. I hadn't had any symptoms; I was totally unprepared. A million times I'd imagined how it would happen (if it ever did)—and in every version I came up with, it was always at school, where Mrs. Garcia would say comforting things and give me a Tylenol and a pad and let me hang out on her cot for the rest of the day. And maybe call Dad to say something like,
Lia is a bit under the weather, nothing serious, but it's
that time
, so please treat her with special understanding. Oh, and I'd advise unlimited chocolate.

I'd never even considered it could happen anywhere else, under any other circumstances. Probably this was payback for lying to Val.

I speed-dialed Aunt Shelby.

“Niecelet! Welcome to womanhood!” Her voice sounded all teary and wobbly.

“But what do I
do?
I'm stuck at the diner. It's Friday afternoon, so the entire
school
is here. I can't just walk out there like this!”

“Like what? Lia, it's not showing, is it?”

“No, but I'm wearing a
skirt
. What if something happens?”

I thought about fake Tanner, how he'd loaned me his towel. That was so nice of him, in a fake sort of way. Of course, in real life, your first period happened in a diner bathroom, not on a romantic beach.

“Aunt Shelby?” I squeaked. “Are you
there
?”

“Lia, don't panic.”

And I bet now she'll just tell me to squeeze an amethyst or something
, I thought.

But she surprised me.

“Is Marley there with you?” she asked.

“Yeah, back at our table. Why?”

“Text her. Tell her to come.”

“What for?”

“Just do it, buttercup. And call me tonight! I want to hear everything!”

So I texted Marley:
Pls meet me in bathrm.

She burst in immediately, wearing her backpack. “You okay? I need to leave for tutoring.”

I told her what happened. She unzipped her backpack,
handed me a pad, then took off her Chicago Cubs hoodie.

“Put this on,” she said. “It's so big it'll cover you. No one will notice anything.”

“Thanks.” I put on her hoodie, which practically reached my knees. Perfect! Lucky for me that Marley wore crazy-big clothes and that she just happened to have pads in her backpack!

Then it hit me:
Marley had pads in her backpack.

“Marley, why do you have . . . ?” I started. “I mean, does this mean . . . ? So you get your period?”

She nodded.

“Since when?”

“Last summer in Chicago.”

“You got your period
last summer
? You've had it this
entire year
?”

Marley shrugged. “Yeah.”

“And my aunt figured it out? That's why she told me to text you just now?”

“I guess.”

“How did she know?”

“No clue. I didn't tell her.”

“But you never—” I sputtered. “How come you didn't tell
me
?”

“Because we're friends. Right?”

I nodded. Yes, Marley and I were definitely friends. Best friends, in fact.

“And I didn't want you to feel left behind,” she said simply. “Now let's get out of here, okay?”

“But what if—”

“Lia, I promise it'll be fine. I'll walk in back of you. Just go!”

So we left the diner together, me in front and my best friend right behind me.

This book is a bit different for me, so I'm especially grateful to my wonderful editor, Alyson Heller, for allowing me to spread my wings.

Once again, deepest thanks to my agent, Jill Grinberg, for nurturing this book from conception to birth. Thanks to the whole expert team at Jill Grinberg Literary Management: Katelyn Detweiler, Cheryl Pientka, and Denise St. Pierre.

Thanks to all the inspired folks at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, including Fiona Simpson, Laura Lyn DiSiena, Jeanine Henderson, and Mandy Veloso. Special thanks to Mara Anastas for starting the conversation, and supporting this project all the way through!

Lizzy, Jamie, Tom, Aaron, and Morgan: thanks for the cat names!

Big hugs to Lizzy, Josh, Alex, and Dani. Lizzy, your feedback was infinitely helpful, as always. Mom, thanks for encouraging. And Chris, thanks for being my first reader, true love, and best friend.

Barbara Dee is the author of
The (Almost) Perfect Guide to Imperfect Boys
,
Trauma Queen
,
This Is Me From Now On
,
Solving Zoe
(Bank Street Best Children's Books) and
Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life
(Publishers Weekly starred review). Her next book,
Star-Crossed
, will be published by Aladdin/Simon & Schuster in spring 2017. Barbara is one of the founders and directors of the Chappaqua Children's Book Festival. She lives in Westchester County, New York, with her family, two naughty cats, and a rescue hound dog named Ripley. Barbara blogs at
Fromthemixedupfiles.com
. Read more about Barbara at
BarbaraDeeBooks.com
.

ALSO BY BARBARA DEE

This Is Me From Now On

Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life

Solving Zoe

Trauma Queen

The (Almost) Perfect Guide to Imperfect Boys

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ALADDIN

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First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2016

Text copyright © 2016 by Barbara Dee

Jacket illustration copyright © 2016 by Jeanine Henderson

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Book designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

The text of this book was set in Minion.

This book has been cataloged with the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4814-5968-6 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4814-5970-9 (eBook)