11 Birthdays Read online

  My heart skips a beat.

  Angelina continues. “I gave Amanda an apple seed from Leo’s great-great-grandfather’s tree, and Leo one from Amanda’s great-great-grandfather’s tree. As long as you kept them close, they should have protected you.”

  “But my plant is still growing fine,” Leo says. “They’re about a foot tall, right, Amanda?”

  I don’t answer.

  Leo waves his hand in front of my face. “Amanda? Tell her how good those plants are. Maybe all we need to do is water them or something and we can end this.”

  I want to climb under the table and hide. “Um, well, mine isn’t doing so good right now.”

  “What do you mean?” he asks.

  “Um, I sort of threw it out the window last year after our fight and it broke.”

  Leo gapes at me. Angelina exhales loudly. “Interesting,” she says, tilting her head. “Very interesting. I should have considered that prospect.”

  Leo groans and rests his head in his hands.

  “I’m afraid now that adding the apple seed enchantment might have made things worse,” Angelina says. “Everything might hinge on that, and now, well, it seems we’re in a bit of a pickle.”

  The three of us sit there like that for a while. Leo with his head in his hands, Angelina looking sad and regretful, and me picking at a piece of loose brown paint on the picnic table. I break the silence. “If it matters, the flowerpot could still be down there. No one ever goes into those bushes.”

  Leo pops his head up and looks at Angelina hopefully. She shrugs. “It’s worth a try.” She stands up and heads back to the bus. We hurry after her. “Take your things,” she says, pointing to our backpacks. “We’ll meet again at five p.m., outside Amanda’s window.”

  “What do we do until then?” Leo asks, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

  “Do what comes naturally,” she says, then starts the bus and pulls away.

  I face Leo. “What does that mean?”

  He shakes his head. “Maybe it means we shouldn’t worry about the enchantment, and just do what we’d normally do.”

  “I don’t know what that is anymore.”

  “Me neither,” he says as we run up the front steps. “And I’m not looking forward to walking into first period a half an hour late.”

  But when we turn the doorknob to our history class, Ms. Gottlieb is still writing on the board. We’ve only missed a minute of class. With a confused glance at each other, we hurry to our seats just as she turns around. The class groans when they read the words, POP QUIZ.

  Maybe Angelina isn’t so bad after all. That woman has some skills.

  For the rest of the morning I think about her suggestion to do what comes naturally, and about how this whole experience has changed me. On my first eleventh birthday I still felt bad for the crying Bee Boy, but would I have gone so far as to draw up a periodic table for him? I doubt it. Even though I know now that it’s not going to help me break the enchantment, I get my hall pass at lunch and present him with his science project. This one wasn’t one of my better efforts since I only had a few minutes to do it, but he takes it anyway. After school I pass Leo coming out of the guidance office. But this time that kid Vinnie is with him, and they’re laughing! Whatever he did this time must have worked.

  At the end of the hall I stop. In one direction is the gymnastics tryouts. In the other is the marching band auditions. I tell myself, Do what comes naturally. What would I have done if all this hadn’t happened? I make my choice.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  As I push open the door to the auditorium, the swell of music fills my ears. I smile. If all of this hadn’t happened, I would be trying out for the gymnastics team right now. But it did happen. And that’s why I’m here.

  I give the musical director, Mr. Paster, my name and he assigns me a number. I join the others waiting to audition. The candidates fill up the first three rows of seats. Mr. Paster introduces himself to those of us who are new and tells us the results will be posted on Monday. Monday seems like an impossible dream. Will I ever see a Monday again?

  It takes a while to get to my turn, and I enjoy listening to the others play their instruments. When my name is called I stand up a bit unsteadily and take the drumsticks that the kid before me thrusts into my hands. I roll them between my fingers as I swing the strap of the snare drum over my neck. I’ve never played a drum that wasn’t attached to a set before, and doubt floods through me.

  “Please begin,” Mr. Paster says.

  I nervously straighten the sheet music that is attached to the drum by a little metal stand. Then I close my eyes and pretend I’m back in the basement of that music store, just me, Leo, and the Larrys. I hear the sharp snaps of the drumsticks as they land on the surface of the drum and my feet itch to move. I can see why this is the drum for marching. I refrain from marching across the stage, though, and instead open my eyes and focus on following along with the sheet music. When I finish the last bar I’m almost sad to stop.

  “Thank you, Amanda,” Mr. Paster says, making a mark in his notebook. I reluctantly hand the sticks over to the next person. I glance at my watch. Stephanie’s mom should be here right about now. If I miss my ride home, I’m going to be late meeting Angelina and Leo. I run by the gym door just as Stephanie and Ruby emerge from it, sweaty and excited.

  “Amanda!” Stephanie shouts when she sees me. “Where were you? You missed the tryouts!”

  “No, I didn’t,” I reply. “I just tried out for the marching band instead.”

  Her eyes grow wide. “You did?”

  Ruby laughs. “Good choice!”

  Stephanie steps in front of her to block her from me. “It’s not going to be as much fun being on the team without you.”

  “So you made it?” I ask, trying to act as surprised as I can after doing this so many times.

  She nods and can’t help the grin spreading across her face. Ruby pops up with, “I made it, too!”

  “I knew you would,” I reply. “You’re really good.”

  Ruby doesn’t answer right away, as though she’s waiting for the punch line. But I just smile. She gives me a tentative smile in return.

  Stephanie’s mom drops me off with about ten minutes to spare. I tiptoe past Dad asleep on the couch, and leave my bag by the stairs so he’ll know I’m home if he wakes up before I’m back. I don’t want him to worry about not being able to find me ever again.

  I slip out the back door as quietly as I can and run around to the side of the house. Angelina and Leo are already there. Leo is holding up two halves of my broken alarm clock. “Tough morning, eh?”

  “Oops, let me take that,” I say, turning slightly red. Angelina is on her hands and knees, digging through the overgrowth. She’s not afraid to get dirty, that one.

  “How were tryouts?” Leo asks as we wait for Angelina to resurface. “Make the team again?”

  I shake my head. “But I might have made the marching band.”

  He grins. “Good job!”

  “Thanks. I mean, for getting me to play the other day, it really —”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Got it!” Angelina crawls back out and holds up a big mound of dirt with a foot-tall plant sticking out of it. “This thing is hardy! It fell out of the pot when you threw it, but it took root in the soil. All we have to do is re-pot it and you two should be on your way to Saturday!”

  “Will they ever grow apples?” Leo asks.

  She shakes her head. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not an apple tree.”

  “Does it have to be a real pot?” I ask, concerned that we don’t have one.

  She shakes her head again. “As long as it’s big enough to support it.” She places the plant in my cupped hands. “Try not to throw anything else out the window, okay, dear?”

  “So what happens now?” Leo asks.

  “You celebrate your birthday, you make your toast, and we cross our fingers.”

  “Will we see y