11 Birthdays Read online

  This is very weird. Why would she have lied about such a small thing? And it’s not like I can ask her since she obviously doesn’t remember lying about it. “But if you didn’t do it, who did?”

  “I did,” a voice from behind says.

  We both whirl around and find ourselves face-to-face with Leo. He’s smiling.

  “YOU did this?” Stephanie and I say at the same time.

  His smile broadens. “Yup. I came in early this morning.”

  I stare at him, truly shocked.

  “Um, I’m going to leave you two alone,” Stephanie says, backing away. “Looks like you have a lot to talk about.” She hurries down the hall, glancing backward at us every few feet.

  I pull Leo into an empty classroom. “You’ve been decorating my locker every day?”

  He nods. “It was easy. I had already cut out all the letters the night before our birthday, so each morning when I woke up, they were in my backpack ready to be taped on your locker.”

  “But why would Stephanie take credit for it every other day, but not today?”

  “Because she felt bad that you had to sit alone on the bus,” he explains. “Then you were so happy when you thought she decorated it, she just couldn’t correct you. But I bet you sat together today, so she had no reason to take credit for the locker.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “How do you know all that?”

  “Well, um, I was sort of lurking nearby to see your reaction that first day. I thought you’d be so happy about the locker that you’d listen to my apology about, you know, last year. Then Stephanie jumped in and took the credit. I overheard her tell the story to Emma in math.”

  “So if you knew all that, why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

  He shrugs. “Stephanie’s been your friend all year, while I … well, you know. So I figure she deserved to have her secret kept.”

  That was really decent of him. I look at Leo closely for the first time in a year. He’s taller, by a few inches. He’s wearing his dark hair a little shorter. I wonder how else he’s changed. If I hadn’t gotten grounded last night, I would have found out. Kids start streaming into the class and we slip back out to the hall.

  “Why were you grounded last night?” he asks. “I left my party before it was over because I couldn’t wait to come over.”

  “After having your party four times, something tells me you weren’t too broken up about leaving early.”

  He smiles. “True.”

  “Basically I got grounded because I snuck into Kylie’s room and read her diary. It actually told me some interesting things, but then she found out and set me up. My mom was furious. But hey, my parents don’t remember I got grounded, Kylie doesn’t remember about the diary, and I still remember everything I read in it. So it all worked out.”

  Leo is nodding thoughtfully. “Remind me to tell you my thoughts on consequences.”

  “We have a lot to talk about first,” I say, noticing for the first time that kids who pass by are staring at us. Our friendship breakup was kind of legendary. Leo must have noticed, too, because he drops his voice.

  “Meet me in the courtyard after first period.”

  I shake my head and whisper, “I have math.”

  “Skip it,” he urges. “It’s not like it’ll matter tomorrow.”

  He has a point. “But what if today is the last time this happens and tomorrow really IS tomorrow?”

  “Then we’ll have all weekend to come up with a reason why we skipped second period.”

  “Okay.” We run into our history class just as the late bell rings. Needless to say, we both ace the pop quiz.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’m about to leave the courtyard and go to math class when Leo finally arrives. “What took you so long?”

  “The guidance counselor seriously has it in for me,” he says, plopping down on the grass next to me. “I went into her office to cancel our meeting for this afternoon and she made me sit and talk to her. I told her I was gonna be late for English, and she gave me this.” He holds up a blue pass. “Looks like you’re the only one actually cutting class!”

  I snatch the paper from his hand and pretend to rip it up. He grabs for it, then says, “Go ahead. We’re in this together.”

  I smooth it out and hand it back. “That’s okay. Keep it.” I want to ask him why he was seeing the guidance counselor in the first place, but there’s something else I want to know even more. Twining a strand of grass around my finger, I ask, “Why did you say those things?” and brace myself for his answer.

  He doesn’t insult me by asking what things, which is really good because then I might have left. “I tried to explain last year.” He yanks up his own pieces of grass, shredding them as he goes. “But you wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “I didn’t want to be in the same room as you.”

  “Look, I don’t blame you. What I said was horrible, but you’ve got to know I didn’t mean it. What can I do to make it up to you?”

  I think about that for a minute. “If I come up with something big enough, I’ll let you know.”

  “Listen, Amanda, you’re my, I mean you were my best friend for my whole life. I don’t even remember a time that you weren’t right there next to me, since I was born. You were, you know, like my sister. And sometimes brothers say really mean things about their sisters, you know, to sound cool in front of their friends.”

  “But I’m NOT your sister!” The grass is wrapped so tight around my finger that the tip is turning purple.

  “Duh, I know that. I knew right as it came out of my mouth that night that I shouldn’t have said those things. I know you have lots of friends other than me. I’m sure your party this year was great.”

  I open my mouth and then quickly think better of it. He doesn’t need to know that only eight people showed up and that even Stephanie left in the middle. “And the part about not wanting to share our birthdays anymore? Did you really mean that?”

  He shakes his head and looks miserable. “Of course not. I had a terrible time at my party — I mean parties — this year. It just wasn’t the same.”

  I have to admit I feel a little shiver of pleasure hearing that he didn’t have fun at his party. But mostly I feel relieved that he hadn’t meant the things he said. “I still don’t understand why you said that stuff in the first place. Why would you pick those guys over me? Everyone knows how obnoxious they are.”

  He squirms a little. “I can’t really explain it. They were hanging out in my room and those guys never wanted to hang out with me before. I didn’t want them to think my best friend was a girl.”

  “But why would they care? What’s the difference if I’m a boy or a girl?”

  He shrugs. “They think girls just sit around and have tea parties and play with stuffed animals.”

  “What am I, five?”

  He holds up his hands. “Hey, I don’t think that. I’m just telling you what they said.”

  “Well, why didn’t you come after me when I left the party?”

  “I couldn’t. I was too embarrassed. And then when my mom found out what happened, she was so mad at me she gave me the cold shoulder for a week. She said you were like the daughter she always wanted and wasn’t able to have. She asks me about you all the time, but I can’t even tell her anything. She misses you.”

  My eyes sting with tears. “I miss her, too. And I miss …” I can’t bring myself to say “I miss YOU” but I think he knows because he holds out his hand and says, “Friends again?”

  I take it and we shake. “Friends.” Then we feel silly and quickly snatch our hands away. I glance at the door to the courtyard, just to make sure no one saw us. Still shut tight. Okay, first order of business down. Time for the next. “So, what was your reaction when you woke up that first time and realized it was our birthday again?”

  “I thought it was a joke!”

  I laugh. “Me too!”

  “The first thing I heard when I woke up was my mom playing th