Ava didn’t have a chance to talk to Alex until after school, when they met at their lockers.
“What happened?” asked Alex, her eyes wide and anxious. “Are you in trouble? Are you expelled?”
“I’m not expelled,” said Ava stiffly. “First you think I’m in detention, then you think I’m expelled. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Al.”
“But why were Mom and Dad here? And who was that official-looking lady with all the files?”
“That was Mrs. Hyde. She’s the school learning specialist.” Ava took a deep breath. “They want to test me for ADHD, because of all the trouble I’ve had concentrating. That stands for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.”
Alex’s eyes got even bigger. “I know what it stands for, it’s just—wow, Ave, this is really serious. I always knew you weren’t organized, but I never thought it was a disorder.” She talked slowly and quietly; Ava must be really upset.
But Ava smiled calmly and put a comforting hand on Alex’s arm. “Me neither,” she said. “But it’s not the end of the world, Al. Weirdly, I feel kind of relieved. Because it explains a lot of the concentration problems I’ve been having, and the organizational issues, that kind of thing. It makes me feel better, knowing what the problem is. And Ms. Palmer went on about how brilliant she still thinks I am.” Ava rolled her eyes. “So they’re going to have something called a PPT—a Planning and Placement Team—and I’m supposed to get tested and stuff.”
“When will you know for sure?”
“Within the next few weeks,” said Ava. “But everyone seems pretty sure. Mom and Coach already brought up getting me a tutor.”
“I could tutor you!” Alex began excitedly. She had always felt helpless when it came to Ava’s study habits, but tutoring—that was something she could do! “It’d be perfect!” Alex continued. “We could do it every night after—”
“Hey,” interrupted a low voice.
Both girls turned. It was Corey.
Alex jumped. Talk about bad timing. She’d successfully avoided talking to him all day. In math she’d pretended she had a question for Ms. Kerry after the bell rang, just to avoid walking out with him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ava move away and pull out her phone, probably to text Charlie about her potential ADHD.
“So,” Corey said. “Did you do any more thinking about the Friday plan?” The words came out of his mouth very quickly.
Alex glanced at Ava, but she knew her sister couldn’t—or wouldn’t—bail her out of this. She fought back the feelings of panic and confusion. She felt like a trapped animal. She knew she had to say something, though.
“I can’t go!” Alex blurted out. “I mean, I can go, except not with you.”
Corey took a small step back, as though he’d been socked in the abdomen.
“Oh. Okay. Well, see you.” He turned to hurry away.
Alex called him back. “Wait! No, it’s not like that,” she said. “It’s only, that, see, um . . .”
Ava looked up from her phone with an expression that read Don’t say anything dumb! Too late, though—the words were already tumbling out of Alex’s mouth.
“It’s just that I have a boyfriend. Back in Massachusetts.”
Corey’s eyebrows went up.
So did Ava’s.
Alex plowed ahead. “His name is . . . um . . .” Alex’s eyes flitted wildly around until they came to rest on Ava’s phone. “Charlie! His name is Charlie. But, um, I’ll still be at Sal’s, and I’m sure I’ll see you there.”
Corey mumbled something Alex couldn’t hear and hurried off.
“You have a boyfriend named Charlie? Do I know him?” Ava asked angrily.
“Stop, Ave, I feel bad enough,” said Alex. “Ugh! Why do I get so flustered around guys? What is the matter with me? I just felt like I had to have some excuse. Now he hates my guts.”
“He doesn’t hate your guts.”
“Yes, he does.”
“Well, at some point you’re going to have to come up with a better excuse, because you won’t be able to have a boyfriend back home forever.”
Alex leaned against the lockers and closed her eyes. “I couldn’t think what else to say.”
Ava patted her sister on the shoulder. “Come on. Tommy’s waiting to talk to us about the anniversary dinner before he goes to practice.”
Alex and Ava told their brother the idea for Coach’s present to their mom.
“Isn’t it an awesome idea?” said Ava.
“Phenomenal,” corrected Alex.
“Yeah, that,” said Ava.
“Yep, it’s phenomenally awesome,” said Tommy. He assured them that the music was all set for Thursday. Ava reported that she’d been in touch with Mrs. Cahill about delivering Mrs. Sackett to the restaurant by six thirty.
“So it’s all settled,” said Alex. “Mom will be so surprised. She thinks it’s a ladies’ night out.”
“Are we going to be there?” asked Ava.
“Having her kids along for her anniversary dinner will thrill Mom to no end,” said Tommy.
Alex examined her brother’s face. “He’s being sarcastic, I think,” she said to Ava. “We’ll just stay for the very beginning to make sure everything is perfect. And then we’ll leave them to a quiet dinner.”
“How did you like your new English class?” asked Alex.
The twins were at their lockers the next day, just after sixth period.
“It’s so much better,” said Ava. “Johnny Tremain is the world’s most boring book, and I have some catching up to do, obviously, but it’s much easier to follow than White Fang.”
Secretly, she was a little sorry that she and Jack no longer had a single class together. And in spite of all the stress Ms. Palmer’s class had caused her, she had to admit to herself that she’d enjoyed the discussions. But she knew things would be better this way. She shoved her English book into her messy locker and rummaged around for her social studies book. One of these days she planned to organize her locker, but she was always running behind and never had the chance.
“How about your class?” she asked Alex, slamming her locker door closed.
Alex bounced up and down, her glossy curls swinging crazily around her shoulders. It was day three of Spirit Week, and everyone was supposed to wear stripes, so Alex had on a new blue-and-white-striped dress that swung around when she moved. It was cut sort of like a cheerleader’s dress—and Ava was struck by how natural it looked on Alex.
“Oh, Ave, my new English class is so amazing,” she said, pulling a book from her tidy locker shelf and checking her lip gloss in the mirror inside the door. “I do miss Ms. Torres, but she’s the debate team coach, so I’ll still see her. And I love Ms. Palmer. I’ve read White Fang before, so I’m not behind on that. Today we read some poems by a bunch of different poets, with lines you’ve heard before like ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,’ and ‘time’s winged chariot,’ and stuff, and we learned that those are called carpe diem poems.”
Ava’s eyebrows rose in a question. She loved when her sister was super enthusiastic about something. Her words tended to tumble out of her like coins from a slot machine.
“That means ‘seize the day,’ and basically that’s about enjoying the moment you’re in while you’re in it, because who knows what will happen tomorrow.”
Ava smiled. “That’s usually my philosophy—living in the moment—but not necessarily on purpose,” she joked. “I’m glad you like your class. And don’t look now, but here comes Lindsey.”
“Hey, y’all!” said Lindsey brightly. She was wearing black-and-white stripes from head to toe—a matching T-shirt and cropped pants—and orange flats. Even Ava, who thought dressing for Spirit Week was kind of dumb, had to concede she looked stunning.
“So, Alex! What’s this I hear about a certain guy of yours?” Her tone was warm and genuine.
“What?” asked Alex, totally confused.
Ava gave her a subtle elbow jab in the ribs.
“Ow! Oh!” Alex clearly remembered, and tried to recover. “Oh, yeah.” She feigned a giggle. “Yeah, good old Charlie.”
“Can’t wait to hear about him!” said Lindsey.
The bell rang, and Lindsey skipped off down the hallway.
“Be sure you come sit with us at the game Friday, okay?” she said over her shoulder.
“Fabulous!” squeaked Alex.