“What am I going to tell my parents?” Malia searched her friends’ faces for answers, but they looked as bewildered as she felt. She thought she would definitely puke.
“What are any of us going to tell our parents?” whined Bree.
“We’ll tell them the truth,” said Dot. “That we bit off way more than we could chew and got fired from a giant babysitting job. That a kid we were supposed to be watching crashed his bike into a priceless piece of art, and now we may or may not be responsible for paying for it, for what will probably amount to the rest of our lives.”
“This is the saddest I have ever been,” said Bree, stopping to sit down on the curb.
The girls were banished from the Larssons’ house immediately after the incident. Malia had never seen anyone look more furious than Erika Larsson had when she discovered the broken sculpture. With no other plan in place, the girls walked slowly in the direction of Poplar Place, shocked expressions on all of their faces.
“But . . . But . . .” Malia looked around in disbelief. “I don’t think you understand. My parents were finally proud of me for, like, the first time in my life. Now I’m going to go right back to being ‘Malia, the one who screws everything up.’”
Dot sighed. “Malia, I know what went down today totally sucks, and I’m really not looking forward to telling my mom about it, either,” Dot spoke in an overly Zen voice that Malia found more frustrating than calming. “But it was also an accident. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t even make you a bad babysitter. It just makes you a human businessperson who messes up sometimes and who is learning from her mistakes.”
“Oh, please!” snapped Malia, with so much force that Dot actually took a step backward. “That doesn’t make me feel better! It’s so easy for you to talk down to me from your high mountain where you know everything. But you don’t know what it’s like to be me!”
“That is so unfair—” Dot started.
“You guys, please don’t fight,” said Bree, still sitting on the curb.
“It’s just like when we were at the house”—Malia gestured behind her, in the general direction of the Larssons’ house—“I wanted to soldier on! But you wanted to give up. You didn’t have my back!” Her friends just looked uncomfortable. “This club is everything to me. And this job was our one big chance to prove ourselves. But look what happened! It was a complete disaster!”
“Yes, it was. But what’s done is done.” Dot sighed.
“What’s wrong with you? It’s like you don’t even care!” Malia spat back.
“Of course I care. But you know what, Malia? Being good at babysitting isn’t a magical answer to all your problems. It isn’t going to make you as good as your sister!” Dot’s voice got higher and higher as she continued. “It isn’t going to make Connor notice you! It’s not going to change anything at all!”
Malia gasped. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was her best friend, of all people. How could Dot be so mean?
“Stop fighting! Stop fighting! Stop fighting!” yelled Bree, covering her ears with her hands.
“And you know what?” Dot prattled on. “Even if we earned the money to have this party, it’s just a party. The very next day, you would still wake up as Malia, a person with a chip on her shoulder. A person who lives in her sister’s shadow because she can’t step up to claim the things she actually does well.” Dot crossed her arms, apparently satisfied with herself.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Malia yelled. “I thought we were in this together.” She had never felt more betrayed.
“You guys, can you please not fight?” wailed Bree, standing up so she was on the same level as her friends.
“Just SHUT UP, Bree!” Malia snarled. “Nothing you say ever makes anything better!” She felt bad as soon as she’d said it, but the words were already out.
Bree gasped.
“You’re both mean!” Bree shouted. “You’re both horrible! The two of you think you’re so much smarter than me. But you know what? You’re not. I’m the only one who’s always nice. And that is so much more important!”
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, BREE? Are you saying I’m not nice?” Dot spat.
“Yeah, Bree, what are you getting at?” said Malia.
Bree opened her mouth to respond, but before she could make a sound, Malia exploded with rage. “You know what? Forget you guys. I don’t need you. I can babysit all on my own!” Malia was so angry at this point that she was practically vibrating. “THIS WAS MY BIG CHANCE TO PROVE MYSELF AND NOW EVERYTHING IS RUINED!”
“Malia,” Dot spoke slowly, using that annoying therapist voice, “nothing is ruined.”
“Yes it is! IF YOU WERE MY REAL FRIENDS, YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND!” Stupid tears were running down her face, and snot was right behind it. “I’LL BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU.” With that, she took off running.
Malia sprinted down the street, in the direction of Poplar Place, never turning back to look at her friends. She didn’t know if they were following behind her, but she didn’t care. They weren’t behind her in life, the way that real friends should be, and that was all that mattered.