Callie's Sister

Chapter 23

Living in a small town like Kelnard, there are no privacy boundaries. A text must have gone around the school upon Callie's homecoming because as I walked down the hallway that Monday after we brought Callie home, a gush of whispers seemed to follow me. What I needed was for my two best friends to flank me on the either side and protect me. But they were too caught up in the upcoming Halloween dance to notice.

"So maybe we should go as meatballs and spaghetti," Jess offered as we sat at lunch. I was playing with my cafeteria mashed potatoes and only half-listening.

"That's gross," Lara countered. "And not that interesting. We could be Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf."

"Yeah, and which one of us gets to be Red and which one has to be the Wolf? I'm not going as a Wolf," Jess said. "How about peas and carrots?"

"What's with you and food?" Lara asked.

"I'm trying to find two equal things," Jess said. "So one of us doesn't need to be a Wolf."

As I made fork patterns in the mashed potatoes, I thought about my sister and her mashed potato brain. They were blathering on and on about Halloween and I really needed to talk about Callie. They had to know she came home—everyone else in school seemed to know. I looked up from the potatoes to find them staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're coming with us," Lara declared.

"Yeah, no, I really don't want to go," I said. I couldn't get my head around it. Getting dressed up and smiling and having fun. Not my thing these days.

"C'mon, Maddie, you've been so lame lately," Jess said. I glared at her. Did she think I wanted to be this lame? I looked over to Lara for a bailout, but she was as caught up in this as Jess.

"We've got to get Maddie out of those horrid clothes," Jess said.

"They're my same old clothes," I protested.

"Yeah, but they used to fit you and make sense. Now they just kind of hang. We've seen how you're skinnier these days, but no offense, it doesn't seem like you're even trying. What are you hiding underneath all those clothes?"

"Jess, get off her," Lara jumped in for me.

"I was just trying to help my girl," Jess said. "People are whispering, you know."

My face burned and I couldn't even meet her eyes. I hadn't really cared what I looked like, but maybe I should. Especially if people were talking about me behind my back.

"Come to the dance and we'll make you look hot," Lara said, giving me an encouraging smile. "Time to defrump Old Lady Knowles."

Old Lady Knowles? Is that what they thought about me? Was it my clothes or was this about Callie, too?

"We could be sexy M&M's," Jess said.

"How can you be a sexy M&M?" Lara asked. She shook her head and winked at me. "Stuff our bras and wear high heels," Jess countered.

"Who's going to see our stuffed bras under our hard candy shell?" Lara asked.

I looked across the cafeteria to where Cam was sitting with Jamie. His books were open across the table and he was writing something in his notebook. Jamie was peeking to see what he was doing. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, but he kept on reading and taking notes. Didn't she know you don't interrupt a guy when he's studying? Wait, she'd probably never dated a guy who studies, so maybe she didn't know. Okay, that was mean. Especially after all those nice meals she made for us. I just couldn't see what Cam saw in her. Besides the obvious. He seemed pretty annoyed at whatever she kept calling him about yesterday.

Jamie looked up and saw me watching them. A phony cheerleader smile lit her face and she popped up out of her seat and headed straight for me.

"Maddie," she said, all buddy-buddy. "How are you? How's Callie?"

I stared at her for a second before answering. Was she asking because she cared or so she could report back to everyone?

"Same." And stared at her some more.

"Oh," she said, unsure of what to say next. We looked at each other. Did people want me to describe everything in detail? I wasn't going to give away that kind of information about my sister. If Callie worked so hard to be perfect, did she want everyone to know she could even wipe her own drool? I couldn't make my sister better, but I could protect her.

"Thanks for asking," I said, ending the conversation. I turned to Jess and Lara and acted totally caught up in the Halloween discussion.

"Do we want to do a character-type thing or an object," I asked them, like it was my greatest interest in the world.

Jamie headed back to her table. I watched her walk. She didn't have her usual swagger. I felt a little badly about that. She had been nothing but nice to me. I just wasn't in the mood for high school b.s. and nosy gossips. She made some comment to Cam and flopped down next to him. He glared over at me and our eyes met. Whatever she said clearly irked him. Great. Now Cam was pissed.

"Callie's home?" Lara asked.

"Yeah, my mom's being a superhero," I said. "So what other thing could we be? What comes in threes?"

"How about gypsies?" Lara asked, totally getting my abrupt change of subject. "We could wear loose flow-y skirts. It would be really comfortable."

"If you want comfortable, why don't we go as slumber party guests?" I asked. "Nothing's more comfortable than pajamas."

"Could we make them sexy pajamas?" Jess asked.

"I don't see why not," I said. And it was decided. We were going to the party in our pajamas.

Cam looked over at me again, frustrated. I ignored him and tried to focus on going to a dance. It'd been a long time since I'd allowed myself something fun. The dance was Friday. Five days to convince myself it was okay to go. And to find something to wear.