THIRTEEN

WHEN I GET HOME FROM the pool, Gemma is watching TV in the den, still in her paint-splotched shorts and T-shirt from her last day of day camp.

“Where’s Mom?” I ask her. On the walk home, I realized I hadn’t told my mom that I was sleeping at Kaylan’s tonight, and I need to finesse this in just the right way so she doesn’t get all agitated and flustered that she wasn’t aware of my plans.

“Upstairs in the office with Dad. I’ve knocked three times so far asking if we can order pizza tonight, but they keep telling me they’re discussing something important and I need to watch more TV.” She stretches her legs out on the ottoman. “Can’t complain about that, though!”

I hang up my wet towel on the back of the laundry room door and then head up to my room to shower and change for Kaylan’s. On the way, I make a quick pit stop outside the office to do a casual eavesdrop and see what’s going on.

“Well, they’ve been alluding to this for months now, Marc,” my mom says. “It’s hard to live in this uncertain state.”

Who’s they? And what are they alluding to?

My dad mutters something back, but I can’t hear what it is.

My mom adds, “I just didn’t think we’d be in this position.”

And another mutter from my dad.

Then silence.

As much as I want to stand outside the office door for the rest of the night and figure out what’s going on, it actually ends up being pretty boring, and I do want to get to Kaylan’s for our big night ahead. I can’t wait to tell her all about camp and make the mac and cheese and see the sunset and the sunrise.

Whatever is going on with my parents is clearly a grown-up thing, and there’s no way I could do anything to help with it anyway. Might as well move on.

I hop in the shower and then take the time to really lather the shampoo, extra condition, and feel the warm water rushing down my back.

Ten minutes later, as I’m walking out of the bathroom with a towel on my head and another towel tight around my body, my mom stops me.

“Oh, you’re home,” she says.

“Not for long. Going to Kaylan’s and sleeping over.” I go back into my room, and she follows me. “Sorry.”

After a deep sigh, she says, “Okay, Ari, but please remember there is a lot to do before school starts. We haven’t even discussed the change in your classes for this year. Are you excited to be on the honors track? Stressed?”

“I haven’t really thought about it yet. It’s still summer.” I tilt my head, wondering how it’s possible to go from a super-relaxing shower instantly into a stressful line of Mom questioning. “Mother, I’m fine. Don’t stress. Seriously. I can handle it.” I do a little dance in my towel. “Do I seem stressed to you?”

She giggles. “Not really. No.”

“We’re good then.” I look in my closet for something to wear. “Okay, let me get dressed. Byeee,” I sing.

“I guess you’re at that age where you need privacy now, huh?” she asks, leaning against my doorframe.

“Ew, Mom. Don’t be weird.” I try to gently close the door. “Please.”

She walks away, and there’s a tiny speck of guilt on my brain that I was mean to her, but I wasn’t really. It’s awkward to talk about changing bodies and privacy with your mother. Moms should know that daughters don’t want to discuss it with them. It’s an unspoken rule to just ignore it until things feel normal again.

I take a final peek in the mirror, dab on some of my strawberry lip gloss, and head down the stairs.

“Bye!” I yell out to the house. “Going to Kaylan’s. Be back tomorrow!”

No one responds.

“Okay, bye for real!”

Finally, Gemma comes up from the basement. “Wait, you’re leaving me alone with them? Again?”

“Um, I guess so. Yeah.”

“Ari, something weird is happening.” Gemma looks at me all confused and frowny.

“Gem.” I pull her into a tight hug. “It’s not a big deal. Honestly. Grown-up drama. Who cares?”

“Whatever you say, Ari . . .” She turns around and goes back down to the basement.

I’m halfway out the door when the landline rings and no one seems to be answering it. It’s Bubbie’s number so I put down my overnight bag and pick up.

“Hi, Bub,” I say.

“Hi, doll. How are you?”

I lean against the pantry. “Good, going to Kaylan’s for a sleepover. How are you?”

“Good, good, but missing you. I’m sorry Zeyda and I aren’t coming for our end-of-the-summer visit, but with your bat mitzvah in November, it just felt like too much travel.” She sighs. “I’m an old lady.”

I laugh. “You’re not old at all, Bub. Don’t say that.”

“Okay. I won’t.” She pauses. “Okay, tell Dad to call me.”

“I will.”

“Bye, doll.”

I hang up the phone and yell out, “Daaad, call Bubbie back!”

On the walk over to Kaylan’s, I think about how everyone in my house seems to be mildly freaking out, and how it’s kind of a startling way to zap back into life at home.

It’s summer—we should be experiencing the highest level of peace and tranquility.

I’m about to go down the walkway to Kaylan’s front door when my phone dings.

An email from Zoe!

Dearest Arianna,

My dad is into the set-up idea. I can’t even believe it! Maybe he’s just doing it to be nice, but he said he’ll meet Kaylan’s mom. We actually have plans to visit cousins kinda near you at the end of September. Will you guys be around? Write me back and tell me, and we’ll make a plan.

I miss you sooooooooo much. Can’t wait for next summer!

LOVE YOU FOREVER! Zoe

P.S. Have you heard from Golfy? ☺ ☺ ☺

I pause a second before I go into Kaylan’s house, slightly deflated that I haven’t heard from Golfy. What is he even doing? I don’t get it. I have no clue how boys spend their time, really.

I open the front door and run up the stairs to Kaylan’s room.

“Oh my G, look at this.” I shove my phone in Kaylan’s face. She’s on her bed, reading an issue of Seventeen.

“Oh my GGGGG.” Kaylan clenches her teeth. “I haven’t told my mom anything about this yet.”

“Um, okay.” I stare at the ceiling fan going around and around and try to think. “We can figure this out.”

She adds, “Also, this is still mildly awk, ya know. I’m into it, and it’s on the list, but still—red-alert-level awkwardness.”

I consider that for a moment. “I mean, not really. It’s like awkward in a way, but not totally. They’re just meeting, not like going on some romantic vacation to the Cayman Islands or something.”

Kaylan cracks up. “Ew, ew. Stop. Parents and romance, major ew.”

“We did put this on the list, Kay,” I remind her, hopping up to lie next to her on the bed.

“I know. Give me time.” She pauses for a minute, pushing the magazine away. “Your parents have to throw one of their famous barbecues. We can do it at the end of September and it can be like a celebration for the fact that we survived a month of school. They’ll invite my fam, and Zoe and her dad since they’re passing by or whatever, and then we’ll make sure they talk to each other.”

“Um, you just said you needed time and now you’ve planned it out.” I laugh. “But okay. Let’s backburner this list item since we’re doing two tonight anyway, and we have so much to talk about.”

“Right, okay. So mac and cheese.” She sits up and folds her hands on her lap. “My mom took me to the store, and I got all the ingredients for what I think would be in a super-secret, best-in-the-world mac and cheese. Plus the fancy cheese from France. Obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“I think we can master this tonight. Right?” She looks to me for support. “I mean, I’ve done a little cooking before, so I feel like it’ll be easy.”

“Sure. I mean, I’ve never cooked before. But you seem to know what you’re doing—so I don’t see why not! And we know what we like in a good mac and cheese. I mean, duh.”

“I love your confidence, Ari.” She makes a smoochy face. “Love it. Oh! And once we’ve mastered it, we can make it for the barbecue!”

“Genius! So when do we start?” I ask her.

Kaylan replies, “When my mom goes out with her book club for dinner.” She looks at her phone. “So, in like a half hour. I don’t want her bugging us. But she knows we’re staying up all night, and she’s good with it. I told her I’m totally fine using the stove, and she didn’t really argue.”

“Nice.” I lean back against her pillows and think about the last line of Zoe’s email.

Have you heard from Golfy? It’s nagging me.

I’m staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on Kaylan’s ceiling, debating about telling Kaylan about Golfy’s mysterious disappearance, when she yelps, “OMG. They’re totally right.”

“Who? What are you talking about?”

“Your boobs! The girls are totally right. I just got a good look, and they’re huge, Ar.”

I pull my hoodie tight across my chest. “Stop, Kay. This is weird.”

“It’s not weird. It’s a totally normal thing to happen.” She juts her head forward for emphasis. “It just happened really, really fast for you. That’s it. Did it hurt?”

“No, it didn’t hurt. I’m fine. Okay?” I smile. “Can we talk about something other than my boobs?”

“Big P?” Kaylan asks. “Did you get it again?”

I shake my head. “No. You?”

“Nope. And most of the lunch table girls have gotten it more than once already. Except for Kira and June, who still haven’t gotten it. They’re freaking out a little,” she explains.

“My camp friends are all super chill about it. Some haven’t gotten it yet. No one really seems too concerned.” I pause. “I feel like the lunch table girls are a little obsessed with periods and boobs. Remember when Cami started bringing it up every day last spring? They’ve been obsessed ever since.”

“No they’re not.” Kaylan recoils. “It’s normal to talk about this stuff, Ari.”

“I know that,” I say defensively. “I’m just saying they talk about it a ton, and not everyone does.”

Kaylan hesitates for a second and then says, “I know you like Alice and the camp girls better than the lunch table girls. It’s so obvious. Just admit it.”

“That’s not true,” I lie just a tad. “I love you, duh. And Marie is a good friend. And M.W. and Amirah are cool.”

“Well, it’s clear that you don’t love them as a group.”

We’re quiet after that, and Kaylan goes back to her magazine and I take my phone out to write back to Zoe and quickly text Alice to see how her reentry to home life is going.

Ari: How’s life @ home? Miss u, AlKal.

She doesn’t write back right away, so I go back to staring at Kaylan’s glow-in-the-dark stars.

When Kaylan and I first came up with the new list, I really didn’t think keeping our friendship strong was going to be very hard. We’d already been through some rocky waters last year, with adjusting to a new school and figuring ourselves out, and the whole debacle when I asked Marie to do the list.

I figured all the difficult stuff was behind us.

But maybe we do still need to work on it? Maybe all sets of friends are working on keeping their friendships strong.

Just because I have my camp friends now, and Kaylan seems to have totally bonded with the lunch table girls while I was away, doesn’t mean that Kaylan and I aren’t still BFFs.

My phone dings, zapping me out of my thoughts.

Alice: life @ home is eh. gg now but I miss u soooo much

“Who’s texting you?” Kaylan leans over to read over my shoulder. “Alice! Again! Ari, be honest. Do you tell Alice more stuff than you tell me?”

“What?” I gasp. “Noooo.”

“For real?”

“For real. And also, it’s not a competition. Chill, Kay. Chill.”

“Your bad habit is telling me to chill,” Kaylan declares. “Sometimes people can’t chill.”

“Okay.” I laugh a little even though I don’t think she was trying to be funny. “But I think I need to come up with my own bad habit, just like you need to come up with yours.”

“Fine.”

“Did you come up with yours yet?” I ask her.

“Yes, it’s freaking out all the time.” She bursts out laughing. “I’m trying to break that.”

I laugh, too, and rest my head on her shoulder. “Good plan.”

“We’re keeping our friendship strong by talking all of this out, ya know?” Kaylan says softly. “That’s what got us into trouble last year. We didn’t talk stuff out. This time we are. And it’s very important.”

“I know. For sure.”

“There’s another bad habit you may want to consider.” Kaylan changes the topic. “I know you have to think of it on your own, but I’m not sure you realize you’re even doing this. . . .”

I roll my eyes. “Okay, what is it? Just tell me.”

“Now don’t sound so annoyed, Ar.” She pauses. “I don’t think you tell people how you really feel. You’re all chill and relaxed and whatever is happening is fine, but you never actually say what’s on your mind.”

“Uh-huh.”

“See! Even now, you’re not really saying anything.”

“Uh-huh.” I crack up and so does Kaylan, and she hits me with one of her pillow shams.

“Kaylan,” her mom calls up the stairs. “I’m going out now. I have my phone if you need me. Is Ari here yet?”

“Yes, I am! Hi, Mrs. Terrel,” I yell out.

“Hi, Ari. Behave, girls. See you later.”

“Bye, Mom.” Kaylan adds, tapping my knee, “Oh! I forgot to tell you.”

“What?”

“My dad is taking Ryan and me on a surprise trip next week! Any guesses?”

I stop and think for a second. “Um . . . California? I don’t know.” I hesitate and then say, “Are you excited about this? You haven’t talked much about the dad sitch lately.”

“Well, you and I haven’t talked much lately. Duh. You weren’t here, and letters don’t cut it!” She smiles. “Kidding. Um, I think I’m okay with the dad sitch. I dunno. He’s been making an effort, I think. And he says we’re staying in a fancy hotel, and you know me and hotels . . .”

“You do love fancy hotels, true.” I sniffle. “Well, that’s great. I’m excited to hear all about it. You better text with updates while you’re away.”

I kind of can’t believe Kaylan is so cool with this—going away with her dad, especially the week before school starts. It all feels so anti-Kaylan.

I start to wonder what I’ll do at home without her. Finish my summer reading, I guess. Or maybe Alice will want to come sleep over! I’d text her now and ask but I don’t want to Kaylan to get jealous—I’ll wait until she goes to the bathroom.

I wonder when Kaylan heard about this mystery trip; if she’s known for a while or if she just found out.

Kind of seems like a big deal.

I thought we’d have a little time together at home before school starts, but I guess not. I mean, I’ll survive without her, but it’s a strange feeling to have something you’re kind of expecting just snatched away at the last minute.

I look over at her, wondering if I should tell her how I’m feeling, after the whole discussion we just had about telling people how we really feel. Is this a time for TH or PF? I think PF since I wouldn’t want her to feel guilty for leaving.

It’s not fair make her feel bad about something she had no control over.