Twist My Charm (13 page)

As we promenade left (which means walking in a circle back to our original position), Larry asks, “Are you wearing perfume or something?”

“Sort of,” I tell him. Like I'm really going to explain my bay leaf bath while I'm do-si-do-ing, which means facing your partner and then circling around him like a goofball until you're facing him again. How is this entertainment? This dance must have been invented to ruin kids' lives.

“I like it,” he says as we link arms and swing around in a circle. “It smells earthy.”

Earthy? Well, if Larry were my boyfriend, I certainly would not appreciate that compliment. Then again, what else could he say? I don't smell like daffodils or an ocean breeze or lavender air freshener.

I think about how fun this could have been on an ordinary day, when Larry and I were ordinary friends. When we were
only
friends. If I had taken the bay leaf bath for any other reason, I might have told him all about it, and we would have laughed. But no, when love enters the picture, you can't be free and natural and tell the boy what you really think. Not when he's acting like this!

Ryder Landry is probably the only boy who knows how to act around a girl. He might be the one person on Earth who could make square dancing cool. But unfortunately, he's nowhere to be found. I didn't get to read any of the Lander websites this morning, but he's probably packing for his tour of Asia.

Nineteen hours later—at least that's what it feels like—Roberta says we're going to wrap up by bowing and curtsying to our partners. “Thanks, Cleo. That was fun,” Larry says. At least I think that's what he says. I'm running to the other side of the room and out the door as fast as I can. Samantha is close behind, pretending to hobble for the first couple of steps, then walking normally once she's safely out of the Focus! room.

“Hey, is something going on with you and Larry?” she asks me.

Oh no! She's onto us! Her voice is trying to sound casual, but this is Samantha, after all. There's always more to it.

“It's a long story,” I say, still walking ahead of her.

“There's something weird going on! I know it!” she shouts after me.

I want to talk to Samantha; I'd love to explain everything and try to be friends again, but today is not the day. Not until I've had a chance to put an end to the Cleo-Larry love story.

Because of the Bling Bling Summer Fling assembly yesterday, we have Recreational Wellness today. I usually don't like running around and sweating in front of other kids, but who cares anymore? At least it means school is almost over, and afterward I can finally go home and stop smelling like bay leaves and be far, far away from the loving eyes of Larry, the judging eyes of Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae, and the questioning eyes of Samantha.

I'm even a little relieved when Janet announces that today's game will be kickball. It's nowhere near as terrible as field hockey or doing push-ups or playing crab soccer. I'm actually not bad at kicking that red rubber ball. I've even gotten on base a couple of times.

And I'm a
lot
relieved when Janet puts Larry on the other team. Unfortunately, Madison is called to be on that team too, along with her Bling Bling pals Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae, and I find myself sitting on the bench next to Samantha, waiting to kick.

“I know what you guys are up to,” she says to me out of the blue. Sam can zero in on things that no one else notices, then shock you with a comment like that when you least expect it.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, only halfway between playing dumb and being dumb.

“Madison told me all about it at the art show.”

That's strange. If Madison said anything to Sam about the love potion, she would've told me about it…wouldn't she? Unless she was really embarrassed for telling our secret. Then she might not.

But I doubt she did.

Of course she didn't. No way. So I tell Sam, “She did not.”

“Yeah, she did. But she said it didn't work.” Sam gives me a shrug, like
What can you do?

I shrug back. Then, luckily, it's time for me to kick. The ball goes straight to Ronnie Cheseboro, who's playing first base, so I'm out. Lisa Lee, who's playing second base, squeals and cheers for her boyfriend. I don't really care whether I get on base or not; I'm just happy to be sitting back at the end of the line, far from Sam.

Until Sam gets tagged out too, and she's back next to me. “I didn't want to get on base anyway,” Samantha says. “Who wants more running?”

“Yeah, especially with your
bad ankle,
” I comment, but Sam doesn't have much reaction. She just sniffs slightly and jumps back in with another question.

“So what are you going to do next?”

“About what?” I'm still trying to play innocent, but I'm not sure how long I can pull it off.

“You know. What happened at the art show. Since it didn't work.”

“Well, we don't know
for sure
it didn't work. It maybe just didn't work like we hoped it would.”

Sam looks thoughtful. “You and I know a lot about that.”

I nod.

“So what's next, then?” She's not being so pushy now; her voice sounds more interested and concerned.

“I don't know,” I say. “We really need to do another potion. But nothing has gone right yet, and the book's in Spanish, and our translations haven't been great, so we don't know which one might work.”

“I knew it!” Samantha shouts. Our teammates stare at her, so she lowers her voice. “You're making love potions!”

“You already knew that,” I say. I'm confused by her excitement.

She leans back with a proud look on her face. “Nope. I
thought
it was something like that, but I wasn't sure.”

“But Madison told you…” Then, before I even finish the sentence, I realize that the brilliantly focused Sam has tricked me. Why doesn't Focus! class teach you how to watch out for things like this? Learning how to spot craftiness would be way more helpful in life than putting together towering puzzles, and
much
better than square dancing!

Our team gets its third out and we have to run into the field. I'm way out in left field and Sam's in right, so we can't talk. Which is probably for the best, because I don't know what to say to her next anyway.

In the distance I hear Janet yell, “Ball!” and “Strike!” and people cheering, but I'm not paying much attention. I'm busy wondering how Samantha figured it out. She saw us do something at the art show, but how could her mind have gotten all the way to love potions? I have to talk to Madison and find out if she said something….

“Cleo!”

What's that?

Suddenly a bunch of voices are calling my name. “Cleo! Cleo!”

I look up, and the red kickball is high in the sky, coming right toward me. I don't even have to try to catch it; I just put my hands out and it lands right in them.

“All right!” my teammate Lonnie Cheseboro shouts from the pitcher's mound. “Third out! Awesome, Cleo!” It's definitely the nicest thing any Cheseboro has ever said to me.

I drop the ball as our team runs back to the kicking lineup. “The one time you ever catch a ball and it's got to be my greatest kick ever,” says Larry as we pass each other in the field. “But that's okay. I love you anyway!”

My heart drops through my body and down to my feet.

He loves me.

Larry loves me. He
said
it.

Something has to be done. Soon.

People on my team say “good job” and someone even pats me on the back, but I can't enjoy the glory. I need to deal with Samantha. I'm glad she didn't hear Larry's big old proclamation of love on the field, but I still need to figure out how much she knows and how she knows it.

She cuts me off before I can even start. “Sorry,” she says, “but I had to find out.”

“That wasn't right,” I tell her.

“I said I was sorry,” she repeats. “Listen. I want in.”

“In?”

“In. I want to try the love potion too.”

I'm not sure what to say. It would be a perfect way to get Sam to be my friend again…but the last time we did magic together, it had the exact opposite effect. We stopped being friends. We've barely talked to each other in the last month. I wouldn't want things to ever go that wrong again.

Since I don't know what to tell her—and I don't know how to get her laser focus off the idea—I kill time with questions.

“What do you need a love potion for?” I ask her. Of course I know—the name begins with an
L
and ends with a
Y
—but maybe she'll say it out loud and we can get it all out in the open.

“It's private,” she answers. No surprise there.

“So was my love potion,” I tell her. The shock of how she tricked me is wearing off, and now I'm getting a little mad.

“I'll tell you someday,” she says.

If she's not going to tell me it's for Larry, I try another route. “Is it for your mom?” Sam was smart enough to figure out our love potion; I wonder if she's realized how it's gone wrong between my dad and her mom.

“Ewww, no. I don't care about my mom's love life anymore.” The icked-out tone of her voice makes me believe her words.

“Then who?”

Sam gets stern. “I'll tell you later. So when can we meet?”

This is just like Samantha. I haven't even said yes, but she's already moved to the next step. So I try to be tough. “We're not meeting.”

“You said you have to make another potion. You know me. I'm smart. I'm fearless.” She pauses, raising an eyebrow. “You need me.”

I'm not sure we do. But then again, I'm not sure we don't.

“I speak Spanish,” she reminds me. Darn. That's true. That
could
help move things along.

“Let me talk to Madison about it first.”

Sam considers this. “Okay. Let me know by tomorrow.”

“I will,” I say, seriously disliking the idea of having to tell Madison how badly I just messed up. “But you cannot tell anyone else, okay?”

“Nunca. Nadie,”
she says.

That's Spanish. I wish I knew what it meant!

Back home after school, I wonder how to break the news to Madison that another person knows our secret. I sit in my room and listen to one of Ryder's best songs, “Understanding Misunderstanding.” There is so much going on in my life right now, and Ryder knows how hard it is to be a kid. That's what this song is all about.

They laugh at us, they say we're cute.

They don't understand, it's hard for me and you.

Life's not easy, we know that's true.

They don't understand, it's hard for me and you.

As I listen, I leaf through the potion book, looking at its illustrations and wondering which recipe to make next. I don't want to pick one, translate it, and then find out it doesn't fit the problem I have with me and Larry and Dad and Terri and Paige. Ryder keeps on singing:

We don't know what to do, we don't know how to do it.

Grown-ups don't understand, they just tell us how we blew it…

DING! There's a text message on my phone. It's from Madison.

Can you talk?

Sure,
I write back.
What about?

Call me.

Wow. I barely ever talk to Madison on the phone. Why would I ever talk to anyone on the phone when there's texting? But I dial her number and hear one ring. Madison answers right away. “I have something to tell you,” she says. “I've been meaning to for days, and when I saw you and Samantha talking at kickball, I realized…”

“I know,” I tell her.

“You know?”

“I know you didn't tell her everything, but she figured out most of it. Then she tricked me into telling her.”

Madison seems happy to finally tell the truth. Sam was grilling her mercilessly at the art show, and Madison only got away because her parents interrupted. “That was the first time I was ever happy to see my parents,” she says with a laugh. “But Sam probably would've broken me down if she'd had a few more minutes. She was like a squirrel with a nut.”

“Yep, she's like a dog with a bone,” I say, picturing her face on Toby's body. Sam's got her teeth in Toby's favorite pork chop–shaped chew toy, and she won't let go no matter how hard I pull at it.

“Listen, we know things can go wrong. This is all about making them right again,” says Madison. “Let's invite Sam over to my house after school this week, and she can help us pick a potion.”

“She does know Spanish,” I say.

“And if she wants to do a love potion because she likes Larry, that will solve
your
little problem,” Madison points out.

I'm liking this idea more and more. “Are you sure?”

“Sure,” she says, like it's no big deal.

Wow. I bet Samantha never expected she'd be invited to Madison Paddington's mansion…but then again, I never did either!

We say goodbye, and I put Ryder's song back on. The final triumphant lyrics of “Understanding Misunderstanding” put me in a better mood. With Ryder, anything seems possible:

One day they will trust us, we'll climb that hill…

They don't understand now, but…but someday they willlll­lllll­l!

M
adison does some quick planning, and a couple of texts later, everything's been arranged. The next day after school, Yvonne the au pair picks the three of us up in the Paddingtons' SUV, and we're off to Madison's.

Samantha is unusually quiet as we open the giant wooden front doors, walk over the marble floors in the entryway, climb the big curved steps to the second floor, and head down the wide hallway to Madison's bedroom. “This is the life,” Sam whispers to me. “I wish she had a brother!”

“Why? Do you like boys now?” I ask. I know the answer is yes, of course, and I know exactly who she likes, but I keep hoping I can get her to admit it.

“That's a personal question.” Things are never easy with Sam.

“Well, we're about to pick a love potion together, so why wouldn't I ask?” If she's doing a potion for herself and Larry, then I won't have to do a spell to get him to stop loving me! I can concentrate totally on Dad and Terri.

“Why? Is there someone you like?” she asks. “Larry?”

Ha! I knew if I set the trap, she'd mention him at some point. “No!” I tell her. “I mean, yeah, I
like
Larry, but as a friend.”

“What's wrong with him?”

“Nothing,” I say, and I mean it. “He's awesome. Why? Do
you
like him?”

Samantha doesn't reply immediately. This little pause might be my answer! I look closely at her face. Her mouth is about to open. She's about to tell me the truth. And the truth is…

“Here's my room!” Madison announces, opening her door. Darn it! Sam's attention becomes ultra-focused on the bedroom. She takes it all in, from floor to ceiling, from left to right. She probably feels like I did the first time I saw it—like she's stepped into a fairy tale.

“Where does that go?” she asks, pointing at the shuttered doors leading to the patio. Madison opens them and we all walk onto the balcony overlooking the yard and pool. The greens and blues below us are so bright, they look like they've been run through some kind of filter on the computer.

“Oh, wow, we should've gone swimming!” Samantha groans. She has a nice pool at her condo building, but not like Madison's. There may not be
actual
diamonds sparkling on top of the crystal-blue water down there, but it sure looks like it!

“Next time,” says Madison. “Let's go inside; we've got a lot to do.”

Sam and I walk back in together, Samantha mouthing
Next time
with a smile.

We settle on Madison's clean wood floor. I open my backpack and pull out
POCIÓNES FANTÁSTICOS.
I hand it to Samantha, who doesn't look very impressed. “Wow, this is
ancient,
” she says. “Why are you using this weird old book when your uncle sent you a love potion?”

“That's what
I
keep asking!” Madison says.

I groan. “Because he hasn't told me how it works. Sam, we had
instructions
for the voodoo doll, and that was a big, fat mess.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she says, “but…”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I'm not even going to let you try to convince me. I haven't used the love potion yet, and I won't. Not until I know how it works.”

Samantha looks at Madison and lets out a whistle. “Okay, then.” She rolls her eyes a little like I'm being silly, but I can't let her change my mind. I nod my head once, firmly, and Samantha looks down to open the book.

I can't believe my tough act worked! Yay!

Sam opens the book to a random yellowed page and reads for a moment. Now she looks interested, and she seems to understand what she's seeing. “Ooh,” she says, looking at one potion. I lean over to see what it is, but she turns the page.

“Ahhh,” she says, looking at the next one. Other sounds follow:
hmmm, ohhhh,
a chuckle,
huhhh,
and a snort.

I can't stand it anymore! “Stop making noises and tell us which one we should do!”

“Okay, I have a couple of ideas…,” Samantha begins. But that's when an intercom buzzes and Yvonne's voice fills Madison's room.

“Maddy, your cookies are ready. But I need to prepare for our homework session tonight, so you'll have to come get them yourself.”

Madison looks at us and sighs a little. Then she shrugs, stands up, and says, “I'll be right back.”

As soon as she's gone, Samantha leans in to me. “I think normally the cookies
come to her
!”

“Yeah,” I say. “Their chef sometimes brings us snacks up here.”

“Their
chef
?” Sam seems in shock. “This,” she says, gesturing around the room, “is not our lives.”

I agree.

“But, I mean, it will
never
be our lives,” Sam says.

“It's nice to visit, though!” I say, smiling.

“Yeah, I guess.” Sam looks like she has deeper thoughts on her mind. “Listen, you're new here. You don't know LA. I know Madison seems nice and all right now, but girls like her never stick with girls like us. We're fun to have around for a while because we're interesting and different, but when you live a life like this, Cleo, you're living in another world. We
do not
fit in.”

“I don't know why not,” I tell her. “I was picturing spending the whole summer out at the pool with cookies and fresh lemonade and—”

“Well, that's not going to happen.” Samantha's voice doesn't sound mean—just…truthful. “Everyone knows Madison goes to Hawaii all summer, and her
best friends
Lisa Lee and Kylie Mae go too.”

“Yeah, but she doesn't like them so much right now—” I start to say.

“I don't know. They all looked pretty happy onstage the other day.”

Samantha's right. At the Bling Bling assembly, Madison, Lisa Lee, and Kylie Mae looked…
perfect
together. Ryder Landry says there's
Only One
special person to love. I wonder if there's only a certain number of important friends too. Am I one of Madison's?

Samantha's still talking. “We might as well have as much fun as possible until the Bling Bling Summer Fling, because after that, it's summer. And when it's summer, Madison's going to say ‘
Adios,
Cleo.' You know what that means?”

I glare at her. “Yes, I know what
adios
means.”

Madison walks into the room, and I'm happy to have a reason to shut up. I don't want these days of fresh-baked cookies and freezing-cold milk on silver trays to end. Not only because Madison's got an au pair and an awesome house and a fantastic pool, but because I
like
Madison. I like having more than one friend! I don't want to lose another one. Like Jane Anne. Like Samantha.

Sam jumps to her feet, grabs a cookie, and chomps into it. “Oh my gosh, they're still warm!” With her mouth full, she adds, “Deee-licious!”

All talk stops as we sit on the floor with the tray in the middle. For a few minutes, the only sounds are slurps, gulps, and the occasional
yum, num,
or
mmmm.
But when the cookies are gone, it's time to get down to business.

“So, did you pick a potion?” Madison asks, shoving the tray to the side and bringing
POCIÓNES FANTÁSTICOS
back between us.

“I found one I like,” Sam tells us. “But it's not really a potion. It's more like a charm.”

“That might be better,” I say. “Getting the right people to drink a potion is pretty tough.” And taking a bath in one isn't a blast either, though I don't say that out loud.

Samantha opens the book to a page titled
LLAMADA DE LA SIRENA.

“Isn't
llamada
like a phone call?” asks Madison.

“Sí, señorita,”
says Samantha. Then she reads us the charm.

“THE CALL OF THE SIREN.

In mythology, sailors who heard the song of the beautiful female sirens were mesmerized by their voices and would crash into the rocky coast. This siren's call will send your mesmerizing voice to the universe, and your bidding will be done. If there is someone you love, you may call that person to you. If there is someone you do not love, you may send that person away. Would you like to bring two perfect loves together? Just ask the universe with your unique and exquisite siren call.”

“Exquisite?” Madison asks.

“Exquisito,”
says Samantha. “That must be what it means.”

“Let's not worry too much about the adjectives,” I say, excited to hear the rest. “What do we have to
do
?”

“Well, lucky you, that's what's next,” Sam says, and keeps reading.

“First, you will take a seashell to a body of water, such as a river, lake, or ocean. The choice of water may be yours. As you scoop up some water with the shell, sing a verse of your favorite love song. The universe must hear your call, so your voice must be loud and strong with no
dudas.
”

Madison laughs. “Doo-doos?”

That's so dumb that I have to giggle too. “I'll definitely try not to have doo-doos while I'm singing.”

Sam looks up, realizing she didn't translate the word. “Oh, right! Ummm,
dudas
are…doubts. No doubts. No, um, hesitations.”

“Cool, no problem,” I say. I poke my finger back at the book. “What else, what else?”

Sam finds her place on the page and continues.

“Place the shell on a string and make a necklace. It may circle your neck, or the neck of the person for whom you make your wish. Wear it with pride, positivity, and happiness. When it falls off, your wish for yourself or another will come true.”

“Okay, that doesn't sound too bad,” says Madison.

“Hold your horses,” Sam tells her. “That's not the end.” She keeps reading.

“In exchange for the cleansing water you have taken from the earthly world, leave behind an offering. This offering should be an extension of the person for whom you are calling the universe. Be fearless, sweet sirens, and make your calls. The universe will listen. It has ear canals large.”

We laugh, and Sam realizes her translation mistake. “The universe has large ear canals,” she says, then finishes reading.

“However, a warning! Do not share your wishes with others. Your calls are for the ear canals of the universe only.”

Samantha looks up at us. “How does that sound?”

It sounds okay to me, I guess. Madison already knows what I want to do for Dad and Terri and Larry and Sam, but the universe can't be mad at me for sharing that stuff before I knew I shouldn't…right?

The good news is that we can ask the universe for pretty much anything, as long as we sing the right song, leave the right offering, and don't discuss it with other people. Still, this is going to be complicated for me. I wish this could be a project for Focus! class, because I've got a lot to accomplish in a short time, and I'm going to need to do a lot of the things Roberta teaches us: assess my situation, list my needs, budget my time, and follow through to reach my goals.

The thing is: I need to ask the universe for a
lot
of stuff.

First of all, Dad and Terri. It might be hard to explain to Dad why I want him to wear some ratty piece of string with a shell on it, but if I say it's important to me, he'll do it. Parents have to do those kinds of dumb things when they love their children.

Next up, Larry. He needs to like Samantha instead of me. So that means I need to get an “offering” from him, then get him to wear a necklace too. How do I do all that without him thinking that I
like
him? That one's going to take longer to figure out.

Finally, I decide that I'll wear a necklace too. I don't know if the
LLAMADA DE LA SIRENA
can guarantee that two friends stay together, but if Samantha's right, Madison might not be my friend much longer.