twelve
After the first few weeks of school, I was already happier than I ever thought I could be. Trip and I spent all our time together. He loved all my stories about DiDi and Lori and the funny things that happened back in South Carolina. I talked and talked, and he listened and left me KOBs. I treasured every last one.
Haha! I liked that story you told today.
Where do you get golden bullets, anyway?
I think you’re the first person I’ve ever really felt like I could talk to.
I’m glad you’re here.
Each one was marked Wait till you get home to read, so I had something to look forward to before I started my homework.
The only thing that didn’t thrill me was that hanging out with Trip and Billy meant I had to hang out with Mace and her friends. Chase was nice to me every once in a while when she forgot maybe she wasn’t supposed to be, but I have to admit, whenever I was around them, I’d get this little twinge inside. Those girls were together all the time. Sitting together and giggling and walking around with their arms linked and their friendship bracelets flashing. It made me wish I had some girlfriends of my own.
Someone I could talk to about boys.
Someone I could go to when I wanted to ask questions like: What do you do when you really, really like someone and they tell you they really, really like you, too? Not to mention they send you secret notes all the time. Does it mean you’re boyfriend and girlfriend? The only girl I ever hung out with was DiDi, and there was no way that talk was ever going to happen with her.
So I was really looking forward to the Club & Activities Fair. I knew there was a club that Mr. McGuire thought I should join, but mostly I was thinking that if I looked for clubs I liked, I’d probably find a couple of girlfriends I liked, too. There were four seventh-grade class groups at Hill Prep, and so far, I really only knew one of them.
The day of the fair, I walked into the field house (which is just a fancy name for a gym) and it was packed with students. There was every kind of club you could imagine. Sports Boosters. Mathletes. Theater. School Paper. Arts Magazine. Robotics Club. Each one had big signs in bright letters. You could tell some of the tables were the popular ones and others were quiet.
And then I noticed a small table to the side.
The Stargazers.
My hand reached up and touched the star on my forehead.
“Hey, G! G-Girl!”
I looked around. It was Billy over at the Sports Boosters Club, which was the table with the biggest crowd. They actually had three tables pushed together and a giant banner flying overhead. Trip was standing there, smiling. He gave me a little wave and beckoned me over. He looked so cute in his soccer uniform, kicking a ball around with kids from the boys’ and girls’ teams. Everyone was laughing, and the girls looked fun with their pretty ponytails flipping around. It was a no-brainer for my Recipe for Success.
I started toward Trip, then stopped and glanced back at the Stargazers. Just two girls, sitting there, huddled together. The homemade poster taped to the front of their table was decorated with shiny stars and words in the shapes of constellations. Someone opened the double doors that led outside, and the poster flew up and tore away from the table. I ran over to help. I held it for a second and it was like something electric was running through my fingertips.
“Hi,” I said, handing the poster over, and, before I realized it, I was saying, “Can I join?” I looked down at the signup sheet. It was handwritten on this black construction paper in silvery marker. There were just three names on the list: Haven Chang and Allie Middleton and Faculty Advisor: Mr. McGuire.
“R-really?” said one of the girls. She was wrestling with the tape, trying to get the poster to stay on the table. “I mean, sure. It’s—it’s still early—that’s why we don’t really have anyone else yet, but I think we’ll get more. And—um—we do a lot of really cool stuff, like trips to the observatory—midnight campouts, museums, movies… lots of stuff. Cool stuff. It’s—it’s really cool.”
She seemed kind of like one of those nervous types, standing there reciting all her club facts, but I liked the look of her. She had this nose with a sort of bump. DiDi calls them Just You Wait Noses. Meaning when she’s older, she’ll go from kind of awkward to totally beautiful in a really different and glamorous way. I nodded to both girls. “Hi, I’m G—”
Dang it all.
“G?” the girl with the nose asked.
I sighed. “I mean Leia.”
“Oh. Hi. I’m Haven.”
“I’m Allie,” the other girl chimed in. She had a really smiley face with dimples. She was strapping enough tape on her side of the poster to keep it there for all eternity.
“Well, it’s really nice to meet you both,” I said, and I picked up that pretty silvery pen and wrote my name on the list. Leia Barnes. Seeing it there in my curliest cursive, surrounded by those sparkling constellations, I thought it looked just right.
“Well, well, look who’s gazing at stars. How very appropriate.” Mr. McGuire stepped up to the table, looking pleased.
Both girls smiled and the air around us just seemed to become relaxed and comfortable the way things always did when Mr. McGuire was around. I was glad to know he was part of it.
“Fellow Stargazers, keep up the recruiting. I’m going to run and break up that little tussle at the Mathletes table. You know the kind of burgeoning criminal minds that come out of that lot.” He saluted us and took off.
“G-Girl!” I looked up. Billy was still flagging me down and Trip was looking over at the Stargazers table. I waved and turned to go. “Okay, just let me know when we have meetings or something,” I said to Haven and Allie.
Both girls had stopped smiling. It wasn’t too hard to figure out why. With me and Mr. McGuire leaving, the population of their club was about to be cut in half.
“Are you the girl who tripped over Trip the first day of school?” Allie asked.
“No—yes, I kind of—” I gave up. “Yeah, that was me.”
Gossip again. I was trying to figure out if it was the nice kind or the Dead Drunk Donna kind, when Allie said, “You’re so lucky. He’s definitely the cutest boy in school. Is he totally into you now?”
My face reddened. “Oh, I don’t know.…”
I really, really like you.
Was he?
“I bet he is! Don’t you guys hang out all the time?”
I think I got even redder. Haven rescued me. “Did you write your number? We’ll let you know when we start meetings.”
“Thanks. I am really, really glad I signed up.” And I was. Just because I didn’t like my name didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try and be a scientist like Mama would’ve wanted. I thought about the breeze that had blown that poster practically into my hands. Like part of Mama just wanted me to be a Stargazer. It was almost magical.
“G!”
I didn’t want to break the spell of that feeling, but I moved toward the Sports Boosters.
There were shouts of “Hi, G!”
Mace crossed her arms. “What did you just sign up for? Not the Mutants from Mars, I hope.”
Trip was talking and joking with a bunch of the boys and didn’t hear.
Mace cleared her throat and spoke up again. “Uh, Galileo, was that the Mutants from Mars table I just saw you at? Your hairdresser mama will be so proud.”
I saw Trip turn toward us. Billy leaned over to see what was going on.
The magical feeling of Mama I was holding on to disappeared, and my throat suddenly got tight. I was used to Mace putting me down, but I didn’t have a snappy comeback today. I’d only told Trip all about Mama being gone, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to have everyone know, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“Before my mama died, she always wanted to study the stars, and I just—” I straightened up and looked Mace in the eyes. “I just want to follow in her footsteps.” It sure didn’t sound like something that would come out of any Recipe for Success. It wasn’t snappy or zingy. But it was the truth.
Mace opened her mouth and then shut it.
I guess Dead Mama territory is a place even mean girls won’t go.
“Your mom died? That’s so sad,” said Chase. “I’m sorry.”
Laney glanced at Mace, then gave me a small smile and nodded at me.
Trip was watching me.
There was this little ring of silence around us in that big, noisy crowd.
“Well, I think it’s cool that you’re following in your mom’s footsteps,” Billy said. Then he shoved his hands into his pockets and grinned. “I’m going to follow in my dad’s footsteps and collect Mustang convertibles.”
Everyone sort of started laughing in relief. Billy looked at me with kind eyes, then raised his hand in a gentle little high five.
I took a deep breath and turned toward Trip. He reached out like he was going to give my arm a squeeze and slipped a folded KOB into my hand.
That night for dinner, DiDi made Mama’s Maybe Even Better Soup. If you live where snapping turtles are, then making snapper soup is about as easy as catching one, which I can tell you is not all that easy. You have to find a big, strong stick so they don’t bite you, and boy, can they bite. I mentioned Davey Dylan and his missing pinky finger. Well, Davey says all you have to do is take the stick and hold it out and when that snapper stretches his neck out and chomps down on it—whack!—you take his head off with an axe.
I’m not big on whacking things with an axe.
And seeing as there’s no 24-hour snapping turtle store out here, DiDi always makes Mama’s special snapping turtle soup that has no snapping turtle in it.
When we were done eating, DiDi said, “Dang, no finger—you get a finger?”
Maybe Even Better Soup
Roux
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup flour
Soup
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup yellow onion, diced small
• 1 cup red bell pepper
• ½ cup celery, diced small
• ½ cup carrot, diced small
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 3 cups crushed canned tomatoes (from a 28-ounce can)
• 1 pound hamburger meat
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons flat (Italian) parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Now, this is just about the fanciest thing you’ll find in here. My mama’s best friend said she had this soup with the mayor’s wife’s sister once, and I don’t think you can get much fancier than that.
First make your roux, and don’t get all worried about it. It’s pronounced roo, and it’s just a little something to help give your soup a little body. (And what girl can argue with that?) Brown your flour in the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn. In about 10 minutes, it’ll turn a nice caramel brown. Take it off the stove and let the poor thing rest in a fresh container to cool off.
Into a big soup pot put 1 tablespoon olive oil and cook your onions, peppers, celery, carrots, Italian seasoning, cayenne, and 1 teaspoon salt for about 15 minutes, till the veggies are completely soft and tender.
Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for 10 more minutes.
Add your hamburger meat and another teaspoon of salt and cook, you guessed it, 10 minutes more. Then add your chicken stock, lemon juice, bay leaves, and parsley, and bring to a simmer.
It may not be snapper soup, but you know, I think it may be even better.
Serves 4.