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“SORRY THAT YOU HAVE to miss band practice too,” Cassie said. She was back in her room now, since Emily was sick also. Her dad had taken down the bunk bed so neither girl would have to exert herself, and now they both had a twin bed next to each other. “I know how much you were looking forward to it.”
Emily nodded in response but didn’t say anything else. The poxes covered most of her face, and even her lips looked swollen. A single tear shimmered on her lower lashes.
Cassie felt bad for her. She was into day three of being sick and day two of being home, and today seemed better than yesterday. Emily was only on day one, though. She still had two more days before she started to feel better.
“Look at it this way,” Cassie said, her voice full of fake cheer. “Scott’s not going to get our homework for us, so at least it will be a relaxing weekend.”
Emily sort-of smiled. Her hands came up, and she raked them down her face.
“Don’t do that.” Cassie grabbed her hands and pulled them down. “It just gets worse. I promise. Try not to touch it.” She settled back onto her bed and tried to think what she and Emily could do for fun. “Want to play Uno?”
Emily didn’t answer, and Cassie swung her head around to look at her. Her eyes were closed, her chest rising in falling in sleep. Cassie snuggled deeper into her own blankets, her body echoing the primitive urge to take a nap.
a
“Hello, Wildcats! It’s a freezing Friday morning, isn’t it?” Mr. Jones grinned across the music room at the handful of students who had arrived early for band practice. “Not too much longer, and we’ll see sunshine and flowers.”
Most of the kids just stared back at him with deadpan expressions, but Cassie grinned back. Her dad loved doing this band thing.
“And I’m very happy to have my daughters back today!” he said, pointing his baton at Cassie and Emily. “Both of them decided to prove that vaccinations don’t work. Now that they’ve made their point, they’re here, bright and early.”
Cassie and Emily exchanged a smile. Cassie straightened in her chair, holding her clarinet at the ready. She’d been practicing. She felt more confident now, certain she could play whatever note he told them to.
“All right, everyone, instruments up. Once again, give me a Middle C!”
The interesting panel of musical notes filled the room, though this time, even to Cassie’s untrained ears, it sounded more in tune. Her dad walked around, listening, complimenting, correcting. He stopped at Emily first and congratulated her on her posture and the way she carried the note. Then he reached Cassie.
“Beautiful, Cassie,” he said, making the “okay” symbol with his hand. “Great job.”
Cassie didn’t stop blowing her note, but inside she beamed.
a
“How’s your band practice going?” Leigh Ann asked Cassie as the girls gathered after school on Tuesday for their weekly Girls’ Club meeting.
“It’s great!” Cassie said. She sat down at one of the lunch tables left out for them to use. “We’re learning a song to play for the school in an assembly. I play the clarinet!”
“I’ve always wanted to play an instrument,” Leigh Ann said wistfully. She twisted a strand of curly brown hair around her finger. “Maybe someday.”
“You could always join us,” Cassie suggested. “We could use more people.”
Riley came over and sat down next to her. “I don’t like musical instruments. I think they’re boring.”
“Well, that’s your opinion,” Leigh Ann said, bolder than Cassie would ever dare to be. She wished she could say something like that.
Trisha, the assistant Girls’ Club leader, walked in with a big cardboard box in her arms. Margaret, Maureen’s mom and the leader, came in behind her.
“Small group today, huh?” Margaret said, putting her arm around Maureen and hugging her.
Cassie glanced around. Her, Leigh Ann, Riley, and Cheyenne. Half of their normal size. “Where are Stacy and Janice? Jaiden?” She chanced to meet Trisha’s eyes for a second and then looked away. She and Trisha had had an altercation at the beginning of the school year, and though they never spoke of it now, Cassie didn’t have any warm and fuzzy feelings toward her. But she was Jaiden’s mom, so she should know where Jaiden was.
“Stacy’s got the chicken pox,” Trisha said, her stern gaze landing on Cassie. “Her mom came and got her after lunch. And I made Jaiden stay home just in case it was still going around.”
Even though she didn’t come out and accuse Cassie of anything, the accusation hung in the air. Cassie shrank down at the lunch table and resisted the urge to glance around. Hopefully no one else blamed her.
Margaret cast a concerned glance Cassie’s way. “The important thing is that everyone’s okay. Cassie’s not sick anymore and Maureen will be fine. So let’s get started on today’s project, shall we?”
Cassie tried to put Trisha from her mind and pay attention as they learned how to make friendship bracelets, but the woman’s negative aura hung over Cassie like a dark cloud, casting a shadow on everything she tried to do.
Riley waited until Trisha walked away, then she leaned over and spoke in Cassie’s ear. “Don’t let her get to you. Just think about how many friends you have.”
Cassie nodded. Good advice. The more she thought about it, it was great advice. She had friends. She had Leigh Ann, and Riley, and . . . Well, the rest were only so-so friends, including Danelle. Cassie frowned. She needed more. Maybe it was time to reach out a little more.
