I am in BIG trouble right now. I have never been in so much trouble. And it’s mostly Mary Majors’s fault. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her.
I can’t believe how much has happened just today—and it’s only a little after three! At least I have plenty of time to write about it here. Since Mom and Dad say I can’t leave my room until one of them comes to get me. No TV. No computer, either. No phone of any kind. I don’t even know what they’ve done with my beautiful cell phone.
Here’s how all my problems started:
This morning Mom walked me over to Mary Majors’s apartment. She kept pointing out what a beautiful day it was, and she was right. Even though it’s still very cold out. The sky was very blue, with no clouds. Plus no wind. It definitely seemed like the kind of day when nothing could go wrong.
Mary Majors’s apartment is nice, but messy! When she opened the door for us, we saw coats thrown over chairs and shoes kicked everywhere—kneepads on the floor, too—and backpacks on the sofa and dirty dishes on the coffee table.
“Is your mom home?” Mom asked Mary Majors. “Or your dad?”
“They’re showing apartments,” Mary Majors said. “They’re brokers. But my sisters are here. They’re teenagers, and they stay with me alone all the time. So you don’t have to worry.”
Mom definitely still looked worried.
“May I speak with a sister, please?” she said, and I said, “Mom!” Because she was so obviously not trusting Mary Majors.
But Mary Majors just said, “Sure.” Then she shouted, “LAYLA! COME TO THE DOOR! WE NEED YOU!”
We waited then. I tried not to look at all the mess. I wanted so badly to pick some of it up.
Finally we heard footsteps, and a very pretty teenager with a high, swinging ponytail hurried down the hall toward us. She smiled at my mom and said, “Everything okay?”
Mom looked so relieved.
“I’m just dropping Celie off,” she said. “Should I call later, to see what time to pick her up?”
“Sure,” Layla said.
“Parents always love Layla,” Mary Majors whispered to me.
Then Mom kissed me and said, “Call me if you need me.”
She went outside, and Layla went back down the hall, and Mary Majors and I were alone in the mess.
“Text your friend,” Mary Majors told me. “The one who’s the sister of your sister’s boyfriend.”
“Make sure she’s going to be home today,” Mary Majors said. “We’re going to go see her. And figure out what’s up with her brother.”
“We ARE?” I said.
“If she’s home,” Mary Majors said. “My sister can take us. I already asked her.”
Part of me loved that plan. I really, really wanted to see Violet. My parents kept saying they’d pick a time for a visit, but they never had. And they were so busy with everything! At this rate I might never see her again! Maybe Lula could even come, too!! It’d be weird seeing them with Mary Majors, but at least I’d get to see them. I missed them both so much.
Part of me hesitated, though. What if Mary Majors started asking questions about Jo and Jake while we were there, and later Jo found out about it?
It was definitely possible. Then Jo would know that I’d talked about her problems with ANOTHER friend, and she’d want to kill me.
Except, Jo already wanted to kill me. Whether or not we went to Violet’s. Plus, I figured, maybe Mary Majors could help figure Jo’s problems out. She was sometimes a big help. Maybe she’d have creative ideas. Like that bathroom sign.
And also, I needed to see my best friends!
So I texted Violet, who WAS home. She texted back things like, “Yay, yay, yay!” And, “I can’t wait to meet Mary Minors!” And, “Of course I’ll see if Lula can come!”
Those texts made me so happy.
But then I told Mary Majors, “I just have to call my mom and let her know we’re going.”
Right away, Mary Majors said, “Don’t do that!”
“BECAUSE,” Mary Majors said. Sounding like she shouldn’t even have to explain. “She might say no, since it’s not exactly close by. Then we won’t be able to find out whether your sister’s boyfriend is lying to her. But if you DON’T call, then your mom can’t say no.”
I hesitated. Mom DEFINITELY thought I was staying at Mary Majors’s. She would NOT want me going an hour away. I knew that.
But still—I wanted to see Violet! And maybe Lula! And Mary Majors had a point: If I called Mom for permission, she probably would say, “You can do that another day.” But that other day might never come!
Plus Jo needed me! Jake was being bad!
Then I thought about it this way: What if Mary Majors’s sister took us out for lunch? Or took us to the bakery for a snack? Would Mom care about that? No, she would not. This wasn’t so different. It was still just the sister taking us somewhere.
That thinking helped me a lot with my decision.
“Let’s do it,” I told Mary Majors.
“Perfect!” she said, bouncing up and down on her toes. Then she turned and shouted, “SHAYNA!! LET’S GO!!”
Shayna? I thought. What happened to Layla?
Then a door slammed, and a different teenager walked toward us. A taller, wider, and grumpier teenager than Layla.
I figured it was the weight-lifter, basketball sister.
She didn’t even say hi to me. She just said, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Then she pointed at Mary Majors and said, “I don’t ever want to hear about that picture again.”
“I promise,” Mary Majors said. Very seriously.
“Where exactly are we going?” Shayna said.
I told her Violet’s address, and she looked up directions.
While she did, Mary Majors whispered to me, “I have a picture of her drinking beer from our fridge, with her friends.”
“Oh,” I said. And I thought, BEER!!! That’s BAD!!!
Then Shayna said, “This is going to take FOREVER. Let’s go.”
She walked about a half a block ahead of us the whole way to the subway. She didn’t even turn back to make sure we weren’t getting hit by cars when we crossed streets. After she swiped a MetroCard to get us all into the train station, she moved pretty far from us on the platform. And sat many seats away from us on both of the trains we took. And barely talked to us at all.
Mary Majors and I had fun on the walk and on the first train, at least for a while. She asked me questions like, “Would you rather be completely bald—and not be allowed to wear a wig or a hat—or completely deaf?” And, “Would you rather give up baths and showers for the rest of your life, or give up desserts?”
That game was fun until she said, “Would you rather kiss Charlie, or lick a gorilla’s foot?” And I had to say, “I don’t like it when you’re mean to Charlie.” Because I don’t.
We were quiet after that. And Shayna was right—it did take a really long time to get there.
But at least Violet’s apartment is close to the subway. And I knew exactly how to get there, once we came out of the stop. So I led the way.
I wanted to stop at so many places! The bagel store owned by a very nice family, and Mom’s favorite bookstore, and the jewelry store where Lula got her ears pierced. I was so close to my old building, too! It would only have been a few blocks out of the way—I could’ve seen the outside, at least!
But I knew none of those spots meant anything to Mary Majors or Shayna. Plus Shayna obviously didn’t want to take even one step more than she had to. Also, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted to go to my building, since it’s not actually mine anymore. I didn’t want to look up at our windows and see somebody else moving around in that apartment. Maybe even in my old room.
So I walked us straight to Violet’s pretty brownstone, in the middle of a block lined with other homes like it. We got there fast, and I said, “This is it.”
What happened next is very hard to believe. But I can’t write it yet, because there’s a lot to say and I have to pee. And that situation is only going to get worse. Plus I need a slice of sour-cream coffee cake.
Dad gave me a bathroom break. But not a slice of sour-cream coffee cake. Just a handful of celery sticks. Then he sent me back to my room.
Anyway. Back to my crazy, horrible day:
After I’d led us right to Violet’s brownstone, Mary Majors told Shayna, “I TOLD you she’d know where to go.” Which made me feel good.
But then Shayna said to Mary Majors, “I am NOT sticking around. That’s not part of the deal. You have a way to get home, right?” Which did NOT make me feel good!
“What did you just say?” I asked Shayna. But she and Mary Majors both ignored me. And Mary Majors told Shayna, “We’ll be fine.” And Beer-Drinking Shayna turned and WALKED AWAY! Back the way we’d come, just leaving us there! We hadn’t even climbed the steps to Violet’s door and rung her bell! It could’ve been empty in there for all she knew!
“Where is she going?!” I asked Mary Majors. “We’re supposed to have one of your sisters with us! That’s why I didn’t call my parents! How are we supposed to get home?! WHY DID YOU TELL HER WE’D BE FINE?”
“Because we will be fine,” Mary Majors said. “Violet’s mom’ll probably take us home.” Then she started climbing up the steps to Violet’s door.
“Violet’s mom?!” I said, following her. “We haven’t even asked her! And she’s always busy! Get your sister back here!”
I turned to look for Shayna, thinking I’d run after her myself. But I couldn’t see her anymore—she must’ve turned the corner.
“Don’t worry so much,” Mary Majors said. Then she went ahead and rang the bell. Of MY friend’s home! Which made me annoyed. I know anyone can ring a bell. But she shouldn’t have been doing that! She should’ve been controlling her terrible sister!
Then the door opened and Violet was hugging me and jumping up and down.
“I’ve missed you!” she said. “Lula is so jealous! But her dad’s family is in town.”
I hated being so close and not seeing Lula. But I was still happy to see Violet.
I introduced Mary Majors, and Violet’s mom waved at us as she walked by, talking on the phone. Then Violet said, “What do you want to do?”
I hesitated for a second. What DID I want to do? Did I want to figure out how we were getting home, before we did anything else? Did I really want to investigate Jake with Mary Majors there? When I knew Jo would hate it? I felt all mixed up.
While I was thinking, Mary Majors said to Violet, “Can we talk in your room?”
“Sure,” Violet said. It seemed like a fine idea to me, too. So we all went upstairs.
On the second floor we could hear the shower running in the bathroom on our left.
“Is that Jake in there?” Mary Majors asked. Sounding VERY interested.
“Yes,” Violet said slowly. I could tell she was wondering, Why do you care if my brother’s in the shower? I wondered what Mary Majors was thinking, too. I didn’t have a good feeling about it.
And I was right about that. Because Mary Majors said, “This timing is PERFECT! Which one is his room?”
“Why?” Violet said. She gave me a look that said, “What’s going on?” I told Mary Majors, “Let’s just go to VIOLET’S room.”
But Mary Majors had already found Jake’s room on her own. Because the door to the room across from the bathroom was open. And the word “JAKE” was painted in huge letters on a wall.
Mary Majors hurried right in.
“What are you DOING?” Violet said.
“Celie needs to know whether Jake is cheating on Jo,” Mary Majors said. “To protect her sister. So we have to spy.”
“This was not my idea!” I told Violet, who was looking very outraged. The way I’d look if a stranger came into my apartment and demanded to search my sister’s room.
“You don’t have permission to be in here,” Violet told Mary Majors.
Mary Majors ignored her, walked over to Jake’s desk, looked through some papers, then lifted one high and said, “Ha! Got it!”
“Got what?” I said. I couldn’t help being curious.
“Whatever it is, put it back,” Violet said.
“This says, ‘Love Song,’” Mary Majors said. “He’s writing a love song! But who is he writing it TO?”
Who IS he writing it to? I thought. It better not be Trina.
Then the bathroom door opened! And Jake was standing there IN A TOWEL!
“Aaaggh!” I said. And half-hid my eyes with my hand. Because I can’t see Jake when he’s just in a towel!
He said, “Aagh!” too, and took two steps backwards. Then he stopped and said to Mary Majors, “Who ARE you?” And to all of us he said, “What are you DOING? GET OUT OF MY ROOM!”
“I said the same thing!” Violet told him. “I really did!”
“She did,” I said. “Also, this wasn’t my idea.”
But Mary Majors said, “We are NOT LEAVING until we know who you are writing this song to.” And she held that sheet of paper up high.
“Give me that!” Jake said. He starting reaching and trying to grab it. But he couldn’t do a very good job. Because he had to hang on tight to his towel.
Mary Majors darted away from him. Then she actually climbed onto his bed and stood on her tiptoes and held the paper as high as she possibly could.
I could not believe what I was seeing. But it definitely worked. Jake couldn’t jump and grab in a towel. He stood with one hand holding the towel and one hand curled in a fist instead. He obviously wanted to PUNCH Mary Majors!
She paid no attention to that. Instead she started READING THE PAPER. Right in front of him!
“You can’t read that!” Violet said. “It’s private!”
I almost said, “She’s right.” Because Mary Majors should NOT have barged into Jake’s room, taken his love writing, and read it while he was telling her not to! But still—if Jake was writing a love song to Trina, he was acting badly, too! And I needed to know if he was doing that to my sister. So I didn’t say a word to Mary Majors.
She read for a minute more. Then she said, “What does this mean?” And she read out loud, “‘And that time you forgave me/For telling your granny’s secret.’”
She looked at Jake, actually expecting him to explain his private, stolen love song to her! When she did, she forgot to hold the paper high, and he reached out and YANKED it out of her hand.
“NOW GET OUT!” he shouted.
While he was yanking and shouting, something clicked in my head.
“You told JO’S granny’s secret!” I said. “That song is for Jo!” Because he got in big trouble with me and Jo a while ago, when he told his mom that Granny accidentally started a fire in our kitchen. No one was supposed to know that.
“Of course it’s for Jo,” he said, looking at me like I was an idiot. “Who else would it be for?”
“Trina,” I said.
“I would NEVER write a love song for TRINA,” Jake said. He sounded disgusted.
“Then why do you keep going to her apartment?” I said.
“And why’d you bring a coconut?” Violet said. (I was so happy to hear her say that! Because she could definitely have sided entirely against me, after everything Mary Majors had done.)
Jake was glaring at Violet now. “I TOLD you to stop telling her where I was going!” He pointed an angry finger at me. “Now look what’s happened!”
“This isn’t my fault!” Violet said.
“It really isn’t,” I said. I was ready to leave then. Violet and Jake almost never fought—I knew that. I hated seeing him so angry with her because of me.
But crazy Mary Majors said, “We are not going anywhere until we get the explanation Jo deserves.” Even though she barely knew Jo!
Then she sat down in the middle of Jake’s bed and folded her arms across her chest. Obviously prepared to wait.
“If I tell you,” Jake said, “would you all GET OUT OF MY ROOM?”
“We definitely will,” I said. “I promise.”
He waited, looking at Mary Majors, right in the middle of his bed.
“I’ll get her out, too,” I said.
He sighed and looked up at the ceiling and started speaking fast. “I wasn’t going to see TRINA,” he said. “I was going to see her BROTHER. He’s a musician. He has flyers up in coffee shops, saying he can help write songs. I recognized his picture. I wanted to do something nice for Jo for Valentine’s Day. He told me to bring things that remind me of her. I brought the coconut.”
He looked at me then and said very loudly, “THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY, OKAY? GET OUT OF MY ROOM NOW!”
I thought he might explode in a million pieces. I was ready to pull Mary Majors out if I had to. But she jumped off the bed by herself and ran out of the room. I hurried after her. Violet stayed with Jake, though. I heard him saying things like “NOT OKAY” and “HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT!” and “YOU’D BETTER HIDE YOUR THINGS FROM MY FRIENDS!”
Violet stayed in there for a while. When she finally came out, she said to me, “He’s really mad. I don’t want to kick you out, but …” She paused and shook her head. Then she gave me a look that said, “Why would you bring that crazy girl to my house? And get me in trouble with my brother? How could you DO that to me? I thought you were my friend!”
I felt very mixed up and terrible then. Everything had gone so wrong! I’d wanted to help Jo, but I’d never, ever planned to break into Jake’s room and go through his papers and demand explanations from him while he was practically naked! And I’d really wanted a nice visit with Violet. I missed her! I might not get to see her again for months! But I’d barely even talked to her! Plus I’d gotten Jake furious with her. All because Mary Majors was a LUNATIC!
I didn’t know how to tell Violet all of that. The only thing I could think to say was, “I’m so sorry.”
“We could go now, if it’d be better for you,” Mary Majors told Violet. Making herself sound thoughtful and generous, now that she’d ruined everything.
I wanted Violet to say, “I need to talk this through with Celie first.” Or, “You can’t go—I never get to see Celie—the visit can’t end in such a bad way!”
But instead she nodded and said, “It’d probably be better if you left.”
I tried to shoot laser beams out of my eyes at Mary Majors then. Like this:
But it didn’t work. Mary Majors stayed in one piece. And we all started walking downstairs together.
Then, suddenly, I remembered a problem. And I asked Violet, “Can I say goodbye to your mom?” Because I needed her to take us home!
“Sure,” Violet said. Together we found her mom, who had two other women with her now. They were sitting around the dining room table with papers set out in front of them. Obviously having a meeting.
“That was a fast visit,” Violet’s mom said, when Violet told her I was leaving. “Is everything okay? I thought I heard some commotion up there.”
“We’re fine,” Violet told her. “It’s just time for Celie to go.”
“Oh—are your parents here to pick you up?” Violet’s mom asked. “I’ll come say a quick hi. I was sorry not to see them when they dropped you off.”
“They didn’t bring us,” I told her. Very honestly. “Mary Majors’s older sister did.”
“How nice to have a sibling old enough to take you places,” Violet’s mom said. “We’re counting down the days.”
Then, before I could say anything else, one of the other women handed Violet’s mom a sheet of paper and said, “What do you think of the first two paragraphs, Betsy?” And Violet’s mom said to Violet, “You’ll see them out, right?” She gave me a quick hug and said, “So good to see you, Celie.” Then she started reading that paper. And I didn’t say anything like, “Would you please stop reading that paper and leave these women here and travel more than an hour to take me home and more than an hour back?” Because she obviously could not do that.
Instead I followed Violet, who led me and Mary Majors to her front door and opened it for us. I thought she might say, “Where is that older sister?” Since there was not a single person there to pick us up. But she didn’t.
Maybe she was still thinking through what had happened upstairs, and she didn’t even notice. Or maybe she just assumed the older sister was waiting somewhere nearby. Like a normal, responsible person. I don’t know.
All I know is, the only thing Violet said to me was, “Bye.” Then she locked the door behind us.
So I stood at the top of her stoop. Feeling pushed out by one of my very best friends, with the door locked forever behind me.
I don’t want to write any more right now.
Granny came to visit me! She brought me a big slice of sour-cream coffee cake because she heard me ask Mom and Dad for one earlier. At first I thought maybe she didn’t realize that I was in trouble. But before she left, she raised a finger to her lips then pointed at the cake and whispered, “Our little secret.”
It’s the best secret in the world.
I hope this means she doesn’t think I’m bad. I HATE the idea of Granny thinking I’m bad.
It’s NOT going to be easy to see Mary Majors at school on Monday. For one thing, after Violet locked us out, we had a big fight on the sidewalk.
“You ruined everything!” I told her.
“I did not!” she told me. She actually looked really surprised. “I SAVED everything. I found out what Jake was doing! And it’s good for Jo! She’s going to be so happy.”
It was true that she’d been good for Jo. But in such a bad way!
“I wish you’d done it differently,” I told her.
She looked like she had no idea what I was talking about. Which was annoying!
“We don’t even have a way home now!” I told her. “HOW ARE WE GETTING HOME?”
She bit her lip instead of answering, and I wanted to cry. I didn’t have money for a taxi, so I couldn’t even try to figure out how to take one without a grownup. And I knew it was a five-hour walk. And I didn’t know the way. And I needed my parents, and I couldn’t stand how upset and disappointed in me they were going to be when I reached them.
“Can you call your parents? Or Layla?” I asked Mary Majors. She shook her head and said, “They’re all working.”
“My parents will be SO MAD that I went this far away without asking permission,” I said. “I should’ve called my mom before we left!”
“We could take the subway,” Mary Majors said.
“I’m not allowed to take the subway by myself!” I said. “I’m ten! Jo isn’t even allowed to take the subway by herself!”
“But nobody will ever know,” she said. She sounded a little excited—like it might be even better to secretly ride the subway alone. I did not agree with that! But I couldn’t figure out what to do.
“You know how to get to the subway station, right?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But I’ve never been on a subway without a grownup! What if there’s a crazy man on the train? Talking to himself and lying across a bunch of seats and not wearing shoes? That happens.”
“You were just on the subway with Shayna,” Mary Majors said. “She’s not a grownup. She didn’t sit with us—she barely even looked at us! Plus we can check for crazy people before we get on. If we see something scary, we’ll go to the next car.”
“I don’t know,” I said. I imagined myself on a subway platform, running away from a crazy person, trying to get into the next car before the doors closed, and then getting stuck in the doors.
Mary Majors kept talking. “We only have to take two trains,” she said. “The F and the A. I paid attention. I have a little money, too. Enough for a MetroCard for both of us. It’ll be great!”
I definitely did not think it would be great. But she was making it seem okay.
“Besides,” she said, “the only other option is to call your parents, and it would take them at least an hour to get here. What are we going to do for an hour? They wouldn’t want us just standing here on the street. It’s cold!”
I didn’t say anything.
“It’s going to be JUST THE SAME as it was with Shayna!” Mary Majors said. “Except better, because she won’t ruin it with her grumpiness.”
I had to admit—Shayna hadn’t helped us at all. Plus I didn’t want to call my parents. And it was freezing out. And it was just getting later and later, and I wasn’t getting anywhere!
We walked back to the subway station, to get on the F train. I didn’t like walking down the steps alone. I kept noticing things I’d never focused on before. Like the bits of ceiling hanging down, and the peeling paint, and the flickering of the yellow lights, and the shadows. I knew there were rats in the subway sometimes—what if one came out of the shadows?
I wanted to say, “Stop—this is a TERRIBLE idea.” But Mary Majors had already fed her dollars into the MetroCard machine and was pressing buttons. Soon it spat out a card, and Mary Majors walked to the turnstiles and swiped the card twice very smoothly, and said, “Let’s go!” So I went.
I wasn’t even sure which stairs to take next. But we followed the big black sign that said “Manhattan & Queens.” What if we end up in QUEENS? I thought. I don’t know anything about Queens!
Then we heard the sound of a train roaring in, and Mary Majors said, “Hurry!” And I followed as she ran down more flights of stairs.
By the time we got to the bottom, we heard the conductor announce, “Stand clear of the closing doors, please.” Mary Majors RACED into a car, without checking first for crazy people! I had to race after her. We couldn’t get separated!
Before I could even say, “You didn’t check!” Mary Majors scared me for ANOTHER reason. Because she said, “Wait, is this an F? It could be a G.” But the doors were closing! The train was moving! It was the wrong time to figure out whether this was an F!
“How do we tell if it’s an F?” I cried. Then Mary Majors turned to a COMPLETE STRANGER and said, “Is this an F?”
Fortunately, the stranger said, “Yes.” And also, the stranger was a nice woman with a cute baby in a stroller. So we sat close to them. Then Mary Majors asked the woman, “Do you know how we get to the A?” I almost yelled, “YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE A?!” Because she’d told me she’d paid attention!! We were going to end up in Queens!!
But the woman knew all about the A. She told us we needed to transfer at the Jay Street-MetroTech station, and she made sure we got off there. We waved goodbye from the platform as the doors to the F closed, and the nice woman and her baby rode away.
And then, DISASTER!!! Because as we were following signs for the A train, we kept hearing announcements like this: “Due to a blah-blahblah-something, Manhattan-bound A trains are not stopping at Jay Street-MetroTech. Please use alternate service.”
“We need alternate service!” I told Mary Majors.
“I don’t know any alternate service!” she told me.
We asked one woman, but she couldn’t help, and there were scary men EVERYWHERE in that station—some of them with no teeth! We couldn’t ask THEM! And the station was huge and dark and weirdly wet and crumbly, and I didn’t want to just stand still, staring at a route map.
I started following exit signs, and Mary Majors followed me; and we finally got out of that terrible place.
“Where ARE we?” Mary Majors said, when we came out of the station.
“I have no idea!” I said.
“But you’re from Brooklyn! We’re still in Brooklyn!” she said.
“Brooklyn is HUGE!” I cried. Then I said, “I’m calling my mom.”
I took out my phone and saw that I had five missed calls from Jo and about fifteen texts—also from Jo. Texts like this:
“mom and dad at movies, to celebrate finishing move. asked me to come pick u up. answer ur phone!”
and
“where r u?”
and
“looked up Mary Majors in school directory. no one answering at her house. WHERE R U?”
and
“call me right now!”
and
“I AM FREAKING OUT!”
I wasn’t paying enough attention to people around me as I read those texts. When I finished, I realized that Mary Majors was trying to hide behind me and whispering, “That guy’s staring at me. I’m scared.”
Many VERY LARGE boys were pushing each other and shouting bad words at a corner near us. And one of them was STARING in our direction.
AAAAAAGH! I thought. I hid my phone behind my back for second—I didn’t want them to steal it! Except, I needed to use it!
“Come ON!” I said to Mary Majors, and I PULLED on her until I got her around the corner. She was weirdly frozen. And the block felt too deserted—I wanted more people! I tried and I tried and I tried to call Jo, but I got voicemail every time. I kept thinking, What’s the MATTER with her?! SHE SHOULD BE PICKING UP!!!
“Who else can I call?” I asked Mary Majors.
She didn’t answer. She was looking behind us, waiting. “They might follow us,” she whispered. “One of them pointed at me. I saw it!”
“I just have to figure out who to call!” I said. Part of me definitely thought, Call Mom and Dad! You need them! But another part thought, Is there ANYONE else? Because Mom and Dad are going to KILL me!
Then I remembered—I did have the number for someone else. Someone who lived in my new neighborhood and would know about the trains to get there.
“I’m calling Charlie,” I said. “Charlie’s smart. He can help us.”
“He hates me!” Mary Majors said.
“He doesn’t hate you,” I said, as Charlie’s line started ringing. “He just wants you to stop being mean.”
“It’s Celie!” I said. “You have to help us!” I told him as quickly as I could what had happened.
“I tried to warn you!” he said. “You can’t let Mary Majors tell you what to do! She’ll get you kidnapped!”
“I KNOW!” I said. There were BOY voices getting louder on the street—I worried that group was about to turn the corner. “You have to HURRY!” I told Charlie. “We need another A stop! NOT Jay Street-MetroTech, but near it. NOW!” Then I told him the names of the streets on the street sign from that corner.
I started pulling Mary Majors farther down the deserted street. There was an empty parking lot on our right now, and a boarded-up building on our left.
“This isn’t fun at all,” Mary Majors said. She kept looking over her shoulder. And she sounded like she might cry.
“OF COURSE IT’S NOT FUN!” I told her.
“I’m on Google Maps,” Charlie said. “I’m trying to figure it out—hold on—wait—”
Then those boys did turn the corner! One of them RACED toward us, and another RACED after him, and the second one LEAPT on the first one, and they both landed on the sidewalk near us, and then there was hitting, and the rest of their group started hollering, and I yelled at Mary Majors, “GOOOO!”
We were both running when Charlie started saying things like, “Left at the next corner. Now tell me where you are. Straight for three more blocks. Where are you?” Until we FINALLY got to another station with an A.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I told him.
I texted Jo to say I was on my way home, on the A.
Then I told Mary Majors, “From now on, you’re calling Charlie by his name. Or ‘Professor Larken.’ Absolutely nothing else.” Then we went into the station and got on the A.
I did NOT SPEAK to Mary Majors on that train. She’d talked me into everything, and I should’ve kept saying NO, but I didn’t, and we could actually have ended up DEAD!
Instead of talking, I mostly stared at a list of A train stops that was posted on the wall of the train, and I kept counting how many we had left until we got home. I wanted so badly to be there—and I worried, too. I hoped I could maybe convince Jo not to tell Mom and Dad that I’d gone missing. In my head I made a list of promises that might work. Like, “I’ll ALWAYS let you use our bathroom first, even if I really have to pee. Just, please, don’t tell Mom and Dad.”
I never had a chance to even try to persuade Jo, though. Because when we finally got off the train, Jo AND Mom AND Dad—and Charlie and both of his parents!—were all at the station entrance, waiting and watching for us.
“I’m going to KILL you!” Jo shouted, as soon as she saw me. Then she was hugging me, and my parents were hugging me, and we were all crying. And Charlie’s parents were saying things like, “I’m so glad they’re safe!”
We left the station together. They asked lots of questions about what had happened. And Charlie actually tried to apologize to me and Mary Majors.
“Sorry my parents are here,” he said. “It’s just—I couldn’t sit at home, not knowing if you’d made it. I HAD to come here and wait. But when I told my parents I had to go to the subway station for a while, they made me explain. Then they said they had to come, too, so they could help, if you ended up needing it. That’s just the way they are.”
He truly looked sorry.
“You are NOT ALLOWED to apologize about anything!” I told him. “You saved us!”
I expected Mary Majors to say something like, “You really did.” But she was watching both sets of parents, who at that point were walking a tiny bit ahead, with Jo. And she was very, very quiet.
I got even MADDER at her then. Because she should’ve thanked Charlie!
I didn’t say anything, though, because Charlie’s parents turned back to us and said they’d walk Mary Majors to her apartment. And we all split up.
Jo did NOT apologize for meeting me with Mom and Dad. “You scared me so badly, when you didn’t answer my calls or texts!” she said, as we walked home. “I kept trying and trying!” She’d finally gone to get Mom and Dad in the movie theater, to tell them I wasn’t answering. There’s no reception in the theater—that’s why my calls to her hadn’t gone through. They’d all seen my last text, though. The one that said I was getting on the A and coming home.
Of course they all wanted to know where I’d been. And when I said, “At Violet’s,” they all started talking at once. “You went all the way to VIOLET’S?” Mom said, and Dad said, “How did you get there?” and Jo said, “Did you see Jake?”
So I told Jo quickly, “Jake’s working with Trina’s brother on a song for you. Trina’s brother writes songs. That’s why Jake’s being weird.”
“Ohhhh,” Jo said. And she seemed happy, which made me happy.
But my parents had lots of questions about how I’d gotten to Violet’s, and why I hadn’t called them for permission, and how I’d gotten back, and why I hadn’t called them for help before getting on the subway alone. Those questions did not make me happy. And my answers did not make them happy.
Dad got stuck for a while on the subject of Shayna. He kept saying things like, “She just left you there? Two ten-year-olds, by yourselves, so far from home and with no way to get back? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I told him. “I am one hundred percent sure.”
As soon as we walked in our apartment, Mom and Dad said they wanted to talk to me alone in my room. That was NOT a good conversation. They talked a lot about having trust, then breaking it. I definitely started to cry.
Finally my dad said, “Trust can also be rebuilt.” And my mom said, “Let’s focus on rebuilding.” And I said, “Yes, please.”
“You’ll have to start rebuilding right here,” Dad said. “Because you’re not going anywhere except school and home for the next three weeks.”
Mom looked at him and nodded, and I could see they were making up my punishments right then.
“You’ll do plenty of chores, too,” she said. “And no shows on the computer or TV.”
“No cell phone, either, for those weeks,” Dad said, holding out his hand for it.
That last one was the worst! I didn’t care about staying home—I didn’t want to go anywhere else. Chores were fine—I deserved them—and I could do without shows. But how could I make up with Violet if I couldn’t text her? How could I keep in touch with Lula, too? I’d have no friends here—except for Charlie—AND no friends there. No friends anywhere at all.
I knew I couldn’t fight with my dad. So I took my phone out of my pocket and handed it to him. But I also said, “Remember, this phone saved me. I wouldn’t have been able to call Charlie without it.”
“We wish you’d also used it to call us,” Mom said.
“That’s exactly what I’ll do from now on, I promise,” I said. “But I can’t call you if I don’t have the phone.”
“We’ll think about that,” my dad said. He did not hand me back my phone. Instead, he said, “When was the last time you ate?”
“Breakfast,” I said. And I realized how hungry I was. I’d been so distracted, I hadn’t even noticed.
Mom and Dad made me a big bowl of pasta then, and they sat with me while I ate. After that they sent me to my room, as the start of my three weeks of punishment. And I’ve been in here ever since.
I am so very, very tired.
I just fell asleep for a while and drooled all over my pillow. Jo woke me up. “Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me in until now!” she said. “You have to tell me everything—every single detail. I called Jake and talked to Violet, too, so I know a lot. But I want to hear the whole story from you, from the very beginning.”
I was half-asleep until she said she’d talked to Jake and Violet. That woke me all the way up.
“Do they both hate me?” I asked her.
I never thought I’d have to ask that. I hated having to ask it.
“Jake’s just annoyed with you,” Jo said. “He hates Mary Majors. Violet’s pretty mad at you. But we’ll talk about that when we get there. You have to start at the very beginning of the day.”
So we sat side by side on my bed, and I started at the very beginning. It wasn’t easy to tell her every detail. Because there was plenty for her to be mad about. She was NOT happy that I’d told Mary Majors all about her Jake problems, for example. Or that we’d invaded his room and fought with him while he was in a towel. But I knew she wasn’t a hundred percent angry about that. Because she was also very, very glad to have found out that Jake was writing her a song. And not cheating on her with Mean-a Trina.
Still, she was firm with me about one thing. She turned to face me on the bed and said, very seriously, “You should never have let that Mary Majors girl convince you to go all the way to Jake and Violet’s without telling us. It was so scary when I didn’t know where you were, and you could’ve been anywhere—you could actually have been kidnapped—and I had no way to know, or to help you. You can’t EVER do that again.” By the time she’d finished that speech, she looked like she was about to cry.
“I won’t do it again,” I told her.
“Do you solemnly swear?” she said.
“I solemnly swear,” I said.
“And do you solemnly swear to never confront
Jake again without talking to me first? And doing exactly what I say?” she said.
“Yes,” I said. “I solemnly swear.”
“Good,” she said. She rested her head on my shoulder, and we sat there very quietly for a little bit. Then she hopped off my bed and said, “Time to watch a movie.”
“That’s not nice!” I said. Because Mom and Dad were definitely not going to let me watch a movie.
“Oh!” she said quickly, realizing what I meant. Then she thought for a second and said, “It’s educational—for school—very boring.”
That made me laugh a little. She was so obviously lying. But at least she was trying.
“Just go,” I told her, pointing at my door.
She grinned at me and left.
