CHAPTER

TWELVE

“Surprise!” Ava cried the next morning. She jumped on her parents’ bed to wake them.

“Happy birthday!” Alex called, flicking on the lights.

“Party time! Whoo! Whoo!” Tommy added, clapping his hands loudly.

Coach rubbed his eyes. His hair stuck up on one side. “What’s all this?”

“Your Birthday Breakfast Bash,” Ava announced. “Time to get up.”

They pulled Coach from his bed. “Laura, did you put them up to this?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Mrs. Sackett insisted with a bemused smile. She slipped on her robe. “I know nothing.”

“Take this.” Ava handed Coach the end of a long strand of toilet paper.

“And follow it,” Alex said.

“I’m following toilet paper?” he asked incredulously.

“Exactly,” said Tommy.

“Okay.” He grinned at them, his green eyes twinkling. Ava could see he was clearly pleased with his birthday surprise. And with the big win.

The paper trail led out the bedroom door and downstairs to the front door.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Open the door!” they all cried.

He pushed it open and peered into the hazy morning light. For a moment he stood frozen, taking in the amazing sight.

They had kept last night’s toilet paper exactly as it was, and Tommy had strung up their little white Christmas lights. Alex and Ava had added a big birthday banner and lots of colorful balloons.

Coach began to laugh. “Incredible! You three are incredible!”

“Not only us,” Ava said. “The football team had a big part in the decorations.”

“Time to eat,” Alex said. She led their parents to a folding table set up in the middle of the decorated yard. The table sported a bright-orange tablecloth and blue napkins—the Tigers’ colors.

“Out here? In my pajamas?” Coach seemed horrified.

“Watch this. Instant privacy.” Ava pulled closed a curtain made from two huge bedsheets that she’d strung between trees. The sheets blocked the view of the table from the street. She’d gotten the idea from Lindsey’s fortune-telling booth.

“Football-shaped pancakes!” Coach cried with delight, as he surveyed all the food on the table.

“And gifts!” Ava gave him her football-shaped spatula. Alex gave him a platter that looked like a football field. She’d gone back to the store in the mall on Thursday and exchanged her spatula. Now their presents went together perfectly.

“One more game, and then we go to state!” Tommy reminded them, reaching for a large helping of bacon. They hadn’t tried making chocolate-covered bacon. Just getting breakfast cooked and on the table had been challenging enough for the three of them. Adding boiling chocolate to the mix would have been asking for trouble.

“State is in Austin,” Mrs. Sackett said. “I’ve always wanted to visit. I hear they have great contemporary art galleries.”

“And great live music,” Tommy said.

“And great boutiques,” Alex put in.

“If the team makes it, can we all go?” Ava asked Coach. “Please?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’ll need my whole family with me. We’ll stay in a nice hotel.”

I hope they spring for two rooms, Ava thought. In the past, they’d always crammed into one room. Mrs. Sackett and Coach in one bed, she and Alex sharing the other, and Tommy on a cot. I don’t want to share a bed with Alex, she thought. She snores.

“I don’t want to share with you, either, Ava,” Alex retorted. “You kick at night.”

“What are you talking about?” Tommy asked. “Ava didn’t say anything.”

Ava felt a shiver run down her spine. She locked eyes with Alex. What had just happened between them?