An hour later, I officially had a room of my own. Mom said she’d talked to Ms. Olson and told her I wouldn’t miss any more after-school practices for the rest of the school year. Ms. Olson had said if I kept on teaching B.J. and Dallas the senior varsity cheers and dances so they’d be ready for the game with Silverton on Friday, my absences wouldn’t count. And as long as I didn’t get hurt, I could keep being one of the flyers.
“The girls can come here after school tomorrow.” Mom carried a laundry basket of my clothes into the guest-room—I mean, my room. “You can work with them all afternoon.”
“What about Priscilla?” I took Mom’s real-estate books from the shelf so Bruce could carry them into the other room. “Are you guys serious about daycare? She’s only nine. She takes a lot of attention.”
“That’s why she goes to Mrs. Larrison’s for the next month.” Mom’s voice was firm. “She’ll learn to follow the rules.”
“It’s a life lesson,” Bruce said. “There are rules we all have to obey, whether we like it or not. It’ll be easier if Priscilla learns that lesson now, rather than waiting until she’s older.”
“Where are the rest of your belongings?” Mom asked me. “Bruce planned to work on this project earlier, but everything was gone. Priscilla didn’t take all of your things.”
I held her gaze with mine. “My stuff wasn’t safe here so I took it to my friends’.”
Mom heaved a sigh and hugged me real quick. “Sarah, at some point, you really need to stop being such a drama queen. You have a room of your own and if you want to put a lock on the door to keep Priscilla out, it’s okay.”
“I don’t think it will be necessary after we spend tomorrow night going around town and she has to bring back everything you haven’t found,” Bruce said. “I can stop at the hardware store and pick up a lock if you want.”
“No, we can give it a try,” I said. “You could always put a lock on later.”
“Okay.” Bruce left.
I studied Mom, watching her put my clothes away. She’d suckered me at first, but I wasn’t that dumb, not really. How could I trust her after six years of living in a house where I didn’t count?
I knew everything would return to normal as soon as she got over being worried about Helene, CPS and the upcoming hassle with Dad, but I decided to enjoy the respite. I’d pretend I was as good as Priscilla and this was my house and family, too, even though I knew it was totally bogus.
Mom closed the dresser drawer and turned to me. “I know you’re going to a party at Abbie’s this weekend.”
“Yeah, I wanted to ask you if I could stay over at Rita’s Friday night,” I said. “We’ll be leaving early for the Rec Cheer competition in Everett.”
“The what?” Mom frowned. “I was counting on you to be home this weekend.”
“Really?” I asked. “Why? Didn’t you just give me the speech that Priscilla would be at Mrs. Larrison’s for day-care?”
“That’s on weekdays,” Mom said. “You and Warren will still need to take care of her when Bruce and I have to work on Saturdays.”
My stomach suddenly started to hurt, and I folded my arms across it. I struggled not to scream. “Didn’t you tell Ms. Olson that I wouldn’t miss out on any of my cheerleading activities?”
“We were talking about your practices after school and the games.” Mom looked puzzled. “How was I supposed to know that cheerleaders attended some kind of competitions? You never did that when you were in middle school or last year when you were a freshman.”
“Junior Varsity doesn’t go to the competitions because it costs more money and most of the parents won’t let the girls put in the practices that it takes to be good,” I said. “I’m on the Senior Varsity squad now. We represent the academy all over western Washington. If we qualify, we’ll go to California in the spring. And now that I’m on this squad, we also go with the sports teams when they go to State.”
She was shaking her head like she hadn’t heard any of this before. It reminded me of the fair when I won enough of my classes that I was invited back for Championship Day. She’d tried to keep me home so I could babysit then too. Warren had stepped up and looked after Priscilla. Aunt Cathy had trailered Xanadu back to the fair, and Grandma’s 4-H club had rallied around because I was the only one who made the cut. They groomed my horse and waited on me and my Arabian, hand and hoof. Of course, Mom had to go to Book City. She couldn’t come watch me show my horse against the best riders in the county.
“You signed the papers for me to be on the squad,” I said, biting my lip. I wouldn’t cry in front of her. She’d know she’d won and ruined my life one more time. Gawd, I felt stupid for trusting her for even a heartbeat. “And Dad agreed to pay for everything so it’s not costing you a cent. Well, except now you’re out the money for a babysitter.”
“What’s going on?” Bruce came back into the room. “Why do we need a babysitter? I thought we agreed that Priscilla was going to Mrs. Larrison’s after school.”
“She is,” I said. “But Mom says I can’t go to the cheerleading competition this Saturday. And that will get me kicked off the squad for good. So, you should both be super happy for wrecking my life.”
“I didn’t say that.” Mom shot me a dirty look. “I said I was counting on you to look after Priscilla this Saturday and you didn’t give me enough notice to find someone else.”
“We have three days,” Bruce said. “How many do we need?”
I caught my breath, stared at him. “I can go to the Rec Cheer competition?”
“Of course, you’re going.” Bruce pointed to the radio clock on my nightstand. “And now it’s almost midnight. Go to bed, Sarah. It won’t teach Priscilla not to cross boundaries if you and Warren look after her on the weekends. You have a month off from her. Enjoy it.”
I almost wanted to hug the guy, but neither of us would be comfortable with that, not after six years of warring with each other. Instead, I watched him and Mom leave the room. She was still complaining. He explained if I pitched a fit at Helene and Dad about not being allowed to attend cheer events, it would undo all the good they’d started tonight. He wanted Priscilla to grow up to be a human being, and the lessons needed to start now.
For the first time, I wondered if Bruce would be more decent if he’d married somebody else. Had he been a total jerk when he was with Priscilla’s mom or did my mother bring out the worst in him? Granted, she’d had a couple glasses of wine, but that was barely any compared to what she usually drank, so why didn’t she get it?
Mom surprised me the next morning when I was packing lunches for me and Warren. I eyed her warily while she moseyed around the kitchen in her robe, pouring a cup of coffee, putting a slice of bread in the toaster. Then I decided to go for it. “The cheer competition will last most of Saturday. It’d be easier if I just go to B.J.’s afterward. Your Aunt Liz will take us to Horse Heaven on Sunday and then drop me back here.”
“Why don’t you ask B.J. and Rita to stay here on Saturday night? You’re an important part of this family, Sarah. Helene told me that you won’t have your friends here because you feel unwanted and that you have no value. It’s a pattern we need to change.”
“I guess I can ask them today at school,” I agreed reluctantly. “If their folks say no, can I stay at Rita’s and B.J.’s this weekend?”
“Yes,” Mom said. “I want you to promise that you’ll invite a friend to stay over the following weekend.”
“That’s Homecoming,” I said. “Everybody will be too busy.”
She came over to me and framed my face with her hands. “Sarah, I can’t change things here by myself. You have to try too. Deal?”
“Yeah,” I said, but I was lying. No way would any of this last more than a couple of days. “Deal.”
* * *
At lunch, I sat with Vonnie, Rita, and Kaitlyn. Jason was across the Commons with a few of the guys from the team, and I wasn’t going over there, not when he’d been so mean at practice yesterday.
I pulled out my phone and checked messages. Surprisingly, I had one from Annie Kincaid. She wanted to know if I could pick up Trina after school and take care of her until seven p.m., but it might run a little later.
Since it was okay if we used our phones during lunch, I called Annie back at her office and made arrangements. It kind of shocked me to hear she was a lawyer, but that was probably why she could afford to pay the big bucks for me to look after Trina.
“You know she attends the elementary at the academy and I’ll arrange for you to meet her at the office. It’s all right if you want to bring her back over to your campus for cheer practice,” Annie said. “I’ll have the firm’s driver pick you up there.”
“We don’t have a long practice today,” I said. “We’re finished by the time the elementary kids get out. Ms. Olson wants us to continue working on our own on Wednesdays and I just have to teach the routines to a couple new girls. Then, I go to my grandma’s and clean stalls. It’s how I pay my horse’s board. If I have a note from you, I can take Trina to Horse Heaven with me.”
Annie laughed. “My daughter would be in heaven if she got to see horses. Just tell the driver when you’ll be ready to go to the farm and he’ll take you.”
“I hate having people watch me shovel horse stuff,” I said. “Is it okay if I teach her to muck stalls? She can ride with me if there’s time for a lesson. I’d take good care of her.”
“I know you will. That’s why I’m hiring you. If you want to bring the other cheerleaders with you to my house, that’s fine,” Annie said. “Trina can show you the food in the fridge and if you’d fix dinner for her, it’d be terrific. Or just a snack if you don’t feel like cooking.”
“You’re paying me mass bucks, Annie. I’ll feed the kid and clean up the house,” I said. “And it’d be awesome if we could train at your place.”
“No boys,” Annie said.
“Of course not,” I agreed and hung up since I could hear her secretary going off in the background. I high-fived Vonnie, Rita and Kaitlyn. “I got a job. Fifteen bucks an hour to babysit this really sweet kid. And I can have friends, girlfriends come over. It’s way better than my mom’s and Bruce’s house.”
“Way to go, Sarah.” Rita jumped up and hugged me. “I’m glad things are getting better for you.”
“Me, too. Now, tell me that your dad won’t let you stay at the Hell House this weekend and my life will be perfect.”
Rita wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Why would I want to?”
“Because it turns out that one of my grandmother’s customers is a social worker and she’s investigating my life.” I opened my carton of milk. “So, Mom and Bruce have decided I need a room of my own and my friends need to come hang out at Priscilla’s Palace. Just say, no.”
“No!” Vonnie, Rita and Kaitlyn chorused together.
“Thank you.” I grinned at them. “Now, if the choir teacher hears you do that, you’ll all be in her class before next period.”
“I so am not staying at your folks’ house,” Vonnie said. “My dad would totally freak.”
Kaitlyn heaved a sigh. “Well, since my mom works out with yours and her cousin, Jocelyn at the athletic club, you better hope the three of them don’t talk to each other, Sarah. I love you and Warren to pieces, but I can’t stand the rest of your family.”
“Talk to your dad,” I suggested. “He’s probably like Vonnie’s and Rita’s and thinks Bruce is a major jerk. If your dad tells your mom that you can’t stay...”
“Good one,” Kaitlyn agreed, spearing one small piece of lettuce in her salad. “That will do it, especially if he threatens to bring in his lawyer and bitch about the custody crap.”
I knew I should feel guilty about not keeping my word to Mom and arranging for my friends to visit, but I just didn’t want to be humiliated in front of the whole cheer squad. It was bad enough having them pity me because Princess Priss was a thief.
Plus, I was still pissed at Mom. And okay, so I was also mad at myself for falling into the trap last night and believing her big story about loving me and Warren. After coming second to Priscilla for six years, was I supposed to think that it was all going to be better now because Mom and Bruce were afraid of Helene?
I didn’t think so. I’d be willing to bet they were more scared of my dad being told about the investigation. If CPS was involved, it meant Warren and I didn’t have a good home with Mom and we should be living with him. That reminded me of my brother, so I sent a quick text to him so he’d know about the babysitting and wouldn’t expect me home.
Had he heard from Helene yet? He’d told me not to get hooked on having a room of my own this morning on the way to school, that it was just a game of Mom’s and Bruce’s. So, did I have stupid tattooed on my forehead or what? I knew that.
I still wanted a place of my own all the time, not just when they were trying to smooth over the situation so Helene would go away.
I wanted respect, too, not just once in a while, but every day.
Yeah, right! Maybe I should start making a list for Santa. I’d be more likely to get what I wanted from him, than from Mom.
* * *
After practice, I met B.J. and Dallas in the locker room and explained the situation. Once they contacted their parents, it was okay for us to get Trina and go to the Kincaid’s for the afternoon. The rest of the squad was long gone. Five practices a week was enough.
B.J., Dallas, and I headed across the parking lot to the elementary school. The kids got out at 3:30, so we had plenty of time to meet Trina. We waited in the office for her. The secretary told me that Annie had already called and made arrangements with the staff, so I’d be clear to get the kid for the next little while. It turned out the fancy limo in front of the school was for us, too.
Trina came in the office, about two steps ahead of Priscilla. “Hi, Sarah. This is going to be so cool.”
“What?” Priscilla demanded. “She’s my sister. She’s here to get me.”
“Wrong on all counts,” I said. “One, I am not your sister.”
That got me a long look from the secretary and an even weirder one from Dallas. Did she honestly think I didn’t know we were related when we had matching eye color, so distinctive in our small town?
“Dallas is one of my real sisters,” I told Priscilla. “Like I’ve told you before, I have tons of sisters and brothers all over Stewart Falls because my biological father has lots of kids. You’re not one of them. My mother happens to be married to your father and we live in the same house, but we’re not related. Two, I am not here to get you ever again. I came for Trina.”
Priscilla stared at me as if I was a stranger. “But Mommy said if you or Warren came, I didn’t have to go to Mrs. Larrison’s day-care.”
“I didn’t come for you,” I repeated. “So, if I were you, I’d hustle, or you’ll miss the bus to Mrs. Larrison’s house. And a word of advice. Don’t steal from the kids there like you steal from me or you won’t make any new friends and the next month will be awful for you.”
B.J. took Trina’s backpack and urged her toward the office door. “Is that why Marcie asked us to sign up to take care of your stuff, Sarah?”
“Yeah, but first I have to get back the rest of it and that may prove impossible.” I followed her, Trina, and Dallas to the parking lot in front of the school.
A distinguished silver-haired man in a chauffer’s uniform got out of the limo and opened the back door for us. Trina paused. “Mr. Ned, this is Sarah. She’s my new sitter and we’re gonna learn all kinds of new cheers.”
“Hi, Sarah.” He held the door for me. “Help yourselves to the sodas in the fridge. Trina can show you the snacks.”
Sure enough, there was a refrigerator in the car complete with sodas and little sandwiches. Trina showed us where to find chips and cookies, so we had a picnic in the car. When we arrived at the Kincaid house, Ned gave me a set of keys.
“When I bring Ms. Kincaid home, I’ll take you to your house, Sarah.”
“Thank you,” I couldn’t call the man, Mr. Ned like Trina did, so I asked, “What’s the rest of your name, sir?”
He chuckled and said, “Call me, Ned or even Mr. Jansen, but not sir. I’ll see you later. Ms. Kincaid told me you’d call when you were ready to go to the stable.”
“Okay. Thanks again.”
For the rest of the afternoon, we practiced the Snappy Dance and two other cheers in the front yard. B.J. and Dallas caught on quick. Trina bopped along with us and had a wonderful time learning how to dance and tumble to the “Louie, Louie” song.
“Tomorrow, we’ll do it with the rest of the squad again,” I said. “You two will have to push so you’re ready for Friday’s game.”
“This is great.” Dallas hugged me. “You’re awesome, Sarah. I can’t believe you got us on senior varsity. I know you and B.J. are tight, but I never expected you to speak to me, much less choose me after I was so bitchy to you last year.” She was so excited; she leaped into another rendition of the Snappy Dance, Trina her shadow as they did handsprings across the lawn.
“I picked her because the two of you are the best on J.V.,” I said. “And I knew you’d follow through on Varsity. Abbie won’t cut any of us slack, not when she wants the squad to win this year.”
“That doesn’t mean Dallas isn’t excited,” B.J. told me. “And she’s right. It was decent of you not to hold a grudge about your dad being a jerk and her being snarky last spring.”
“She’s stuck with him,” I said. “I’m not in the equation since he signed off his parental rights so Adam Flynn could adopt me.”
B.J. grinned at me. “Good points, but you know what they say about blondes.”
“Stuff it.” Dallas kept dancing. Sunshine gold hair swirled around her. “We’re on Senior Varsity and we’ll be out in front of everybody in town on Friday night. I’m so happy.”
“Me, too.” B.J. looked at the clock. “Come on. We’d better go. My dad will be here at five-thirty. I’ve got a ton of homework. I’m so glad my mom changed riding lessons to weekends, or I’d be totally behind on everything.”
“It’s an adjustment, all right, getting switched to Varsity.” I paused, then asked, “Did you talk to Abbie about your new Something Stupid dance? If she and Marcie go for it, then Ms. Olson will listen to them and let us try it out on Friday. If we can keep it below the time limit, we could even add it to our repertoire for Rec Cheer.”
“Oh, my Gawd.” B.J. stopped and stared at me. “I never even thought of that. I’ll call Abbie as soon as I get home and take care of Guard-dog.” She grabbed me in a quick hug. “Thanks, Sarah. You’re the best.”
“You’re welcome.” I laughed and hugged her back. “Remember, Rita and I are staying over on Saturday to help with Gabe’s birthday. Don’t let my mom screw that up.”
“I promise. No way will I let her weasel you out of it.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow.” I walked them to the driveway and watched them run to meet B.J.’s foster dad, my granduncle Ted. Then I turned to Trina. “Come on, kid. Let’s grab a snack before we head to my grandma’s to clean barns.”
“You’re the best sitter ever.” Trina whirled around me, doing a mini-version of the Snappy Dance. “Wait till I tell everybody at school that I get to hang out with cheerleaders and ride horses. They’ll be sooooo jealous!”
I laughed. “You are sooooo cute. Don’t forget to tell them that I made you scoop horsy poop, too. I have a rep to uphold.”