11 Birthdays Read online

  Dad spent a lot of time burning CDs of movie theme songs, but they’re not really danceable. Everyone’s mostly standing around eating chips and M&M’S. After what feels like an eternity of making small talk, I glance up at the clock. It’s almost 8:00, and half the people aren’t here. Only three of the boys I invited have shown up. Dad was supposed to organize the games, but he’s sitting down on the couch, a glazed expression on his pale face. Kylie disappeared long ago.

  I pull Stephanie aside and whisper, “Where is everyone?”

  She looks around the room uneasily. “I’m not sure.” I have the feeling she knows more than she’s saying. I squeeze her arm. Hard.

  “Okay, okay. I think they went to Leo’s party instead.” I release my grip. “Oh.”

  “On top of everything else, he supposedly has some big football player there. You know, giving tips on throwing and stuff.”

  My head swims with this new information.

  “Um, Amanda?”

  I don’t answer.

  “Um, would you mind a ton if I went, too? Just for a little while? I’ll come back, I promise.”

  At first I think she’s kidding. “But you don’t even like football.”

  She looks down at the carpet. “It’s just that Mena and Heather and Jess and the rest of the girls who made the gymnastics team are there, and if I don’t go it wouldn’t look good. I want them to know I’m a team player. You know how it is.”

  “I guess so,” I say, hoping my voice doesn’t crack. I just want to go upstairs and cry. I tug hard at my collar, which is so scratchy it has made my neck red and blotchy. I want to ask since when is Leo friends with those girls, but I don’t really want to know.

  Stephanie gives me a quick hug and slips out just before Mom brings out my cake. I make the same wish I made at lunch over the cupcake. I wish I had never walked by Leo’s room that night. I wish so hard I almost fool myself into believing that when I open my eyes, all this will be gone and Leo and I will be in the middle of one of our great parties, where no one has to pretend to be having fun.

  Nope.

  The party drags on until finally the parents start arriving. I pray that Mom doesn’t invite them in for cake, and thankfully she doesn’t. The basement quickly empties. Struggling to choke back tears, I toss the used plastic cups into the garbage, one by one. Even the table piled with presents can’t cheer me up. Although there really are a lot of presents considering only eight kids showed up. I lift up the cards. One after another are names of kids I invited but who didn’t show up. At least I thought they hadn’t shown up. That’s weird.

  Mom’s voice wafts down the stairs toward me. She’s on the phone, as usual. “No, I haven’t told Amanda yet. I didn’t want to ruin her party.” She reaches the bottom of the stairs and catches sight of me standing by the gifts. She backs up half a step, looking surprised. “I’ll call you back later,” she says, closing her cell.

  “What was that about?” I ask, sinking into the couch.

  She sits down next to me and takes a deep breath. “I was fired tonight.”

  It takes a few seconds for her words to sink in. I sit up straight. “Fired? You? Can they do that?”

  “They can and they did.”

  “But why?”

  She sighs. “It’s complicated. I lost a very important account this morning. I knew a lot was riding on this one.”

  “They didn’t like your ideas? But you always have good ideas.” I pull at my collar again. “Except maybe for this costume!”

  The sides of her mouth curl up, but she quickly frowns again. “They didn’t even get to see my ideas. I spent weeks working on the mock-up for the campaign, but I left it home. There wasn’t time to redo it.”

  “But I saw you leave this morning, and you had the poster rolled up under your arm.”

  She shakes her head sadly. “No, what I had was your sister’s science project. If the client had wanted to learn how a solid turns into a gas, I’d have been all set.” She starts to laugh, but it’s not a happy laugh. “Enough about me. I’ll find another job, not to worry,” she says with finality. “So, did you enjoy your party?”

  I open my mouth to answer, but don’t know what to say. She already feels bad enough, I don’t want to add to it. So I just nod. I don’t know if she believes me, but she doesn’t press it.

  “You sure got a lot of gifts,” she says, gesturing to the table. “They kept showing up all night.”

  My eyes widen. “People just dropped them off at the door? And didn’t even come in?”

  She hesitates, then presses her lips together, which is what she does when she doesn’t want to answer. I can’t believe this. “I’m going to go to bed now, okay?”

  “Don’t you want to open them?”

  I shake my head. “I’ll do it tomorrow.” I hurry upstairs before she says anything else. The light is already off in Kylie’s room, which is surprising since she’s usually up IM-ing her friends at this time of night. I lock my door and kick off the shoes, which have given me blisters on both heels. I wrestle the dress to the ground, and kick it under my desk.

  I guess Stephanie’s not coming back tonight. I don’t really want to talk to anyone anyway. I hope she had fun with her new gymnastics friends. No one in my family even asked me how tryouts went. I put on my most comfortable pajamas and climb into bed. Is this what every birthday from now on is going to be like? Even though I’m still mad at Leo, I hope he had a better time at his party than I had at mine.

  I switch off my lamp and close my eyes. At least tomorrow’s Saturday and I won’t have to deal with seeing everyone at school who blew off my party. I lie still, waiting for sleep to come. But something’s not right. I switch the lamp back on, hop out of bed, and shut SpongeBob in the closet.

  Ah, that’s better.

  Chapter Seven

  My first thought when I turn off my alarm is how happy I am that my birthday is over and done with. My second thought is Why is my alarm going off on a Saturday? I must have set it out of habit. I close my eyes again and snuggle under the covers. It’s almost worth waking up this early on the weekend, just to know I can go back to sleep.

  I’m about to drift off again when the sound of Kylie’s door opening and closing startles me. Why is she up so early? Maybe she forgot to turn off her alarm, too. I glance at the clock. It’s still before seven. Out of the corner of my eye, I spy something moving in the middle of my room. I bolt upright. It’s the SpongeBob balloon, waving happily at me. I rub my eyes and then whirl around to check the closet door. Still shut. Is this why Kylie’s up so early? She woke up to play a trick on me? We don’t really have a trick-playing kind of relationship. I’m not sure what kind of relationship we have. We used to get along pretty well, until a few years ago. Now all she cares about is talking to her friends. Sometimes I think she forgets she even has a younger sister.

  Now that I’m awake, I have to go to the bathroom. On the way, I put SpongeBob back in the closet and place some heavy sneakers on top of his cardboard feet. He’s not going anywhere now. Kylie’s door is open, like it was yesterday. I stick my head in to ask her about the balloon, but she’s not there. Her diary’s out on the floor again. She’s either getting more trusting or more forgetful.

  I’m on my way back from the bathroom when Mom steps out of her room, fully dressed in her business suit. “Amanda, why aren’t you dressed? The bus leaves in ten minutes!”

  All I can think to say to this odd statement is,

  “The bus?”

  She nods, fastening her necklace. “I’m sorry I can’t take you to school. I have a big meeting. And your dad’s feeling pretty sick. Now hurry up or you’ll miss it.”

  She closes her door and I stand there, unsure how to react. I know Mom losing her job must have been a big shock, but she’s in some kind of weird denial or something. Maybe it’s like the time I got six inches cut off my hair, and for days after I kept thinking it was still there.

  She opens the door again.