Chapter 32

Maggie

Mrs. Weston holds the sign-up sheet in her hands. She looks around at the girls at their desks, with their disinterested faces. Another class and another group of blank stares.

“So, no one wants to enter this contest?” Hope leaks out of Mrs. Weston’s voice and Maggie cringes for her.

The sign-up sheet is for a historical essay contest. Mrs. Weston has explained that every year, the call goes out for submissions and that there is a prize. Not only does the winner receive a $100 gift card to a bookstore, but their paper is published in the Historical Society’s magazine.

“And, of course, you’ll have bragging rights,” Mrs. Weston says grinning.

Maggie is doing her best to keep her eyes on her desk. As soon as Mrs. Weston mentioned the contest, an idea popped into her head. It might be crazy to even pursue it, so she keeps quiet. At least, until lunch hour.

Maggie is sitting with Lexi and Brianne at their usual table in the cafeteria. It has been a week since the Student Leadership Committee meeting and there is an uneasy truce between them. Maggie picks her words carefully, and does more sitting and listening than usual. Lexi was elected as seventh-grade rep, so Maggie’s failure to vote has been forgiven.

Lexi and Brianne are discussing a new series released on Netflix which they both binge-watched on the weekend. Maggie hasn’t seen it yet and zones out. “What did you do on the weekend?” Brianne asks Maggie. “If you weren’t watching Netflix.”

“More volunteer hours?” Lexi asks. The barbed comment is not lost on Maggie.

“I did other stuff too,” Maggie says a little defensively. But then struggles with what that other stuff was. Brianne and Lexi wait expectantly. “I took Harvey for a walk,” she says quietly, realizing how pathetic it sounds.

“Oh, Mags!” Brianne says, shaking her head. Maggie grits her teeth at her friend’s condescending tone.

“I know you think Brayside sounds boring, but it really isn’t.” She’d like to add that she thinks staying inside all weekend to watch TV sounds boring too, but she doesn’t.

The girls wrinkle their noses and Maggie feels like she’s been left out of a conversation. Her last shift at Brayside was spent in the library, which now looks more like a library. Maggie was asked to play piano before lunch again and Austin taught Harvey a new trick. All in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon.

Lexi ducks her head like she’s trying to hide. “Oh no! Mrs. Weston is here.”

“Why is that bad?” Maggie whispers. She thought they liked Mrs. Weston.

“She’s super-intense about this essay contest. She caught me in the hallway and wants me to ‘think seriously about entering.’”

“As if we have time!” Brianne moans. “We get so much homework!”

“You had time to watch a whole series on Netflix,” Maggie points out, but regrets the comment when she gets the stare from her friends.

“That’s different. That’s downtime. And when did you become my mom?”

“You’re turning into an old person! From spending so much time at Brayside!” Brianne snickers.

Maggie smiles at the comment and tries not to take it personally. She’s just teasing, she reminds herself. But it also makes her wary about admitting she has an essay idea, or that she’s considering entering. It will give them another reason to mock her.

Despite Lexi’s attempt to hide, Mrs. Weston sees them and walks over. She still has the sign-up sheet in her hand and it is still blank. “Hi girls!” she says. “I know I talked about the contest in class, but I wanted to double-check that none of you wanted to enter. The deadline is pretty soon, so if you’re interested…” She lets her voice trail off.

“Sorry.” Brianne shakes her head.

Mrs. Weston turns to Lexi. “Lexi?” she says hopefully. “I know you said no earlier…”

“It’s not really my thing,” Lexi says with a shrug.

Mrs. Weston turns to Maggie.

Maggie’s idea has been percolating all morning. But with her friends watching her, she can’t admit that she’d like to enter. So, instead, she shakes her head regretfully. “All right, well, if you change your mind”—Mrs. Weston holds up the sheet—“you know where to find me.”

The girls watch as Mrs. Weston moves on to the next table of seventh graders. “I wouldn’t even know what to write about, anyway,” Brianne says. “History’s pretty boring. It all happened so long ago. Like, who cares?”

The answer to Brianne’s question burns on Maggie’s tongue. History is not boring and there are plenty of reasons to care. But their friendship is already on shaky ground. She doesn’t want to look like a keener, so she bites back her words and tries to look interested as the conversation returns to Netflix.