Twice As Nice Read online

  I shook my head.

  No, the point was that no matter how this turned out, I was at fault. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t opened my big mouth.

  Ryan seemed confused. “What’s Charles got to do with this?” he asked.

  I couldn’t stand it anymore. I didn’t want to tell one more lie. And so I told him what I had done. Everything.

  “Whoa,” he said after I’d poured out my story. “This could get ugly. Maybe I should have slept over at Winston’s after all.”

  “Actually, Ryan, that’s not a bad idea,” GoGo said. “I think Sammie and Charlie need to work through this by themselves.”

  “No problem,” Ryan said. “I’m calling Winston now. See you guys in the morning. Oh, and good luck with this, Charles. Seriously.”

  He reached out and actually gave me a hug, a nice one. I felt better, but it was only temporary.

  Too soon, I heard my dad’s car pull into the driveway. I knew it was his because the brakes on his minivan squeak when he stops. I heard the doors slam . . . one, two, and three, the slider . . . then footsteps. There wasn’t another human sound, not a peep. It was ghostly quiet out there. I stood up from the counter.

  “Are you coming?” I asked GoGo.

  “I’ll be there if you need me,” she said, taking my hand. “But you’ll do what’s right, Charlie. I trust you.”

  I took a deep breath. I thought I might actually faint, but with GoGo’s help, I steadied myself and walked into the living room. I had no choice.

  The first face I saw was Sara’s, tear-streaked and pale. Her scarf was off and her poufy hair was sticking out wildly all around her head. Next to her was Sammie. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, too. Only Alicia wasn’t in tears, but her face, usually so smiley and cheerful, was set in a fixed frown. My dad was the last to come in. You could practically see the gray smoke coming out of his ears. Without a word, he threw his keys on the coffee table and sat down. Everyone was staring at me.

  “So I suppose you guys have all seen the picture?” I started, my voice shaking.

  “Oh yeah, Charlie. We saw it,” Sammie said. “We saw it on practically every single phone at the game. The guy next to us, the girl behind us, the couple in front of us. Apparently, Bethany has a lot of followers, which makes total sense because she’s such a nice person.”

  I started to cry.

  “I am so sorry for what happened to you, Sara,” I said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “But this does hurt, Charlie,” Sara said. “It hurts a lot. On the way out of the stadium, I felt like everyone was staring at me. I felt like a freak.”

  The phrase “bearded lady in the circus” echoed in my head. It felt awful at the time and even worse now.

  My dad sighed loudly and angrily.

  “We’re all sorry you feel that way, Sara,” he said. “Deeply sorry. Everyone in this family is.”

  “So what exactly happened?” Sammie asked me. “Did you just go in my purse and send the photo to Bethany?”

  “I never sent the picture to Bethany, I swear,” I told her.

  “Oh, so it just decided to send itself to Bethany’s Instagram account? Right. That happens a lot, Charlie.”

  It was time for the truth, the whole truth. It didn’t matter whether I was ratting out a friend or betraying a confidence. The lies had to stop. Enough was enough.

  “Lauren sent it to Bethany,” I said. “Then Bethany decided to post it.”

  “Oh and how did Lauren get it?” Sammie asked. “Let me guess. You gave it to her. Am I right?”

  “No, you’re not. She took it off your phone, during Etta’s concert. That’s why your phone was in the wrong zipper pocket.”

  “Well then tell me this, Sherlock Holmes.” Sammie had crossed the room and was standing about two inches from my face. “If that’s true, how did Lauren even know there was such a picture on my phone? Explain that if you can.”

  There it was—confession time. It was down to telling them my piece of the puzzle. I felt my throat close up and my mouth go dry.

  I took a deep breath and started to talk. Before I knew it, everything was pouring out, words and tears all mixed together. I told them about the Junior Waves and the initiation ceremony on the beach, about how we each shared secrets, and about how they forced me to tell Sara’s secret.

  “They forced you?” Sammie said. “They didn’t force you. You did it. You could have said no. You could have walked away and told them you didn’t want to be in their stupid club, anyway. But you didn’t, Charlie. You made a choice and it sucks.”

  I didn’t try to explain it away or defend myself. She was right. I had made a choice, and it was the wrong one. So I did the only possible thing I had left to do.

  “I’m so sorry, Sara,” I said. “Deeply, truly, from the bottom of my heart sorry.”

  We all stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity. At last, Sara stepped forward and walked over to me.

  “I believe you,” she said.

  “I wish I could take it all back. I’d do anything to take it back.”

  Now Alicia was next to me.

  “I feel how much you regret what you did,” she said. “And I feel sorry for you, too. Sara isn’t the only one here who’s hurting.”

  “I really like you guys,” I said, wiping my nose and tears on my jacket sleeve. “I don’t know why I haven’t been nicer to you.”

  “I know why,” Sammie said. “Because you wanted to be one of those girls. You have ever since the day we moved here. You look up to them and think they’re so hot because they’re popular and rich and perfect. Well, what do you think of them now?”

  “Lily wasn’t part of this,” I said. “And Brooke and Jillian just do anything Lauren says.”

  “That’s obvious,” Sammie said. “And guess what? So did you.”

  My dad stood up and went to the phone.

  “You’re not calling the police, are you Dad?” I asked.

  “No, Charlie, of course not. You didn’t do anything illegal, just disappointing. But there have to be consequences for this. Kids can’t go around posting pictures with hateful comments. It’s not right. I’m calling Lauren and Bethany’s parents, to tell them what their daughters did.”

  “No, Dad! You can’t do that!”

  “Just watch me, Charlie.”

  “But Dad, can’t we just think about this for a while? You always say you shouldn’t do anything rash when you’re angry. Besides, tomorrow is Bethany’s party. If you tell her parents, it’s going to ruin everything!”

  “She should have thought of that before she did this,” he said.

  We listened as my dad made two phone calls. No one was home at Lauren’s house, but Bethany’s dad was there. When my dad explained to him that there was a big issue they had to discuss, Mr. Wadsworth said he would come over the next day and talk it through. He had to bring some party supplies over, anyway. My dad emphasized that this was a really important conversation. Mr. Wadsworth finally agreed to get in touch with Lauren’s father and they’d all meet at the club at ten o’clock. My dad suggested they bring Bethany and Lauren, to get to the bottom of this.

  So now I was going to have to face Lauren again. Already Sammie and her friends hated me. And tomorrow Lauren and the SF2 girls would officially hate me, too.

  “Well, if it isn’t the biggest rat ever,” Lauren said as she walked onto the deck of the clubhouse the next morning. “Seems like we’ve done this same scene before, haven’t we, Little Miss Tattletale?”

  From her opening line, it was pretty clear how the rest of the meeting was going to go. It was exactly ten o’clock and we were all sitting at the table on the deck—my dad, Sammie, Sara, Sara’s mom, and me.

  I had hardly slept all night. The one time I did fall asleep, I had a dream about a c
lown wearing a scarf and hoop earrings. Then for no reason, he turned into a pirate who kept chasing me. Then he morphed into a pelican with a fish in his mouth, only the fish was me. I was happy when the sun rose in the morning and I could get up from the couch and start the day. Anything had to be better than that dream.

  Lauren slid onto the bench at the opposite end of the table. Her dad, Chip, who is a pal of my dad’s (and the one who got him the job at the Sport Forty) came in from the parking lot carrying a newspaper under his arm. He sat down next to my dad.

  “Stock market took a hit yesterday,” he said. “Oh, and Lauren’s mother can’t make it this morning. She sends her apologies, but she and Carol Ann are getting their hair done for Bethany’s party tonight. Hope it’s okay if it’s just me.”

  “It’s fine, Daddy,” Lauren said. “This shouldn’t take long, anyway.” She shot me a cold glance, and then looked away. “I don’t suppose Ryan’s here,” she added.

  “As it happens, he isn’t,” my dad said. “This isn’t a social visit, anyway.”

  “Sounds like you’re making a pretty big deal of this, Rick,” Lauren’s dad said. “Get a little perspective here. It’s just kids who got themselves in a little jam.”

  Bethany’s dad, Dennis Wadsworth, was the next to arrive, hurrying in and carrying a stack of plastic serving bowls in his arms.

  “Let me just run into the kitchen and put these down,” he said. “I remember the days when a birthday party was a simple affair.”

  Bethany took her seat at the far end of the table next to Lauren. She was holding her phone in her hand, which took a lot of nerve, given the topic of conversation this morning.

  “Isn’t anyone going to wish me a happy birthday?” she asked.

  “I am,” Lauren said. “Happy birthday, Beth.”

  When her father returned and we were all gathered around the table, my dad began.

  “As I said last night on the phone, we have a problem that I think requires our attention,” he said.

  “Bethany has told me something about it,” her dad said. Then looking at Sara, he said, “And I’m terribly sorry if you got your feelings hurt in any way, young lady.”

  I noticed Sara’s mom reach out and squeeze Sara’s hand.

  “Like I always say to Lauren,” her dad, Chip, said, “we all have to watch what we say and do with these phones.”

  He seemed to think that was the end of the conversation, but my dad wasn’t letting it go.

  “Did your daughters tell you exactly what happened?” he asked. “That Lauren pressured Charlie into telling a secret that wasn’t hers to tell, holding her membership in the Junior Waves over her head?”

  Chip looked surprised. I saw him shoot a questioning glance to Lauren, who just shrugged and said, “He’s making it sound like a bigger deal than it was.”

  “And that Lauren took Sammie’s phone without permission and stole the picture and sent it to Bethany,” my dad went on. Then turning to Dennis, he added, “And your daughter posted it on a photo-sharing site with a cruel comment.”

  “Can I see this posting?” Dennis asked.

  Bethany handed him her phone, and I saw him flip to the screen.

  “We thought it was funny, Daddy,” Bethany said. “Some people just can’t take a joke. I didn’t know she was so sensitive. I’m sure I’m not the first one to call her Dumbo.”

  Sara winced like someone had punched her.

  “Do not say those words ever again, young lady,” Sara’s mom said, her dark eyes full of anger. “Apologize right now.”

  “Okay, okay,” Bethany said. “Don’t get all in a twist about it. So sorry.”

  Obviously, she couldn’t have cared less about her apology.

  Dennis passed the phone to his brother Chip, who looked at the picture and scrolled through all the comments. I looked over at Sara to see how she was taking this. Her eyes were looking down at the planks on the redwood table, studying them intently. She never looked up.

  “Can we go now, Uncle Chip?” Bethany said, taking back her phone. “We still have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for the party.”

  She stood up and turned to the gate, but her father took her arm and stopped her.

  “Sit down, young lady,” he said. “I’m going to tell you a story—perhaps one that I should have told you before. Pay attention.”

  Bethany reluctantly flopped down on the bench and put on her most bored look ever.

  “When Chip and I were growing up, there was a kid who lived down the block,” her father began. “He was a short kid, and I’m ashamed to say, we made terrible fun of him. Developed all sorts of names for him. Peanut. Shrimp. Shortypants. Some a lot meaner than that.”

  “Just put up a flag when this is going to get interesting,” Bethany said.

  “Well, when we got to high school, lo and behold, this short kid sprouted up. In fact, he sprouted up quite a bit, so much so that he made the basketball team at UCLA.”

  “Which we did not,” Chip added. “Remember, Rick, we barely made the junior varsity team in high school.”

  His brother held up his hand for Chip to be quiet, then continued his story.

  “So this short kid played pro basketball,” Dennis said. “Made some good money, invested well. Do you know who he is now?”

  “Kobe Bryant?” Lauren guessed.

  “No. Even better. He’s the owner of an NBA team. And my boss.”

  Bethany looked shocked.

  “That’s right, Bethany. I work in the main office, and I have a fine position. But my boss is that kid I used to call Peanut. He proved to be a bigger man than me in a lot of ways, not the least of which was hiring me when he bought the team.”

  Sara looked up from the table and smiled. Bethany’s dad looked at her and smiled back.

  “So you see, neither you nor Lauren has the right to make fun of anyone,” he said, “especially not this lovely young lady sitting across from us. I’m disappointed in both of you.”

  Lauren’s Dad seemed more concerned with practical matters.

  “Do you think the school officials already know about this?” he asked. “I’d hate for our girls to have any repercussions at school.”

  “If they don’t already know, I assure you they will,” Mrs. Berlin said, “because I plan to tell them myself. Kids can’t go around cyberbullying other kids. It’s unacceptable. Do you have any idea how embarrassing this was to my daughter? How much something like this hurts?”

  Mrs. Berlin put her arm around Sara. The moment her mother touched her, Sara burst into tears. Not just the flowing kind, but the sobbing kind, the way I had cried last night.

  Bethany’s dad looked like he was going to cry, too.

  “This is what you’ve done,” he said to Bethany, shaking his finger in the air. “And you too, Lauren. Take a good look and then tell me how you feel about yourselves.”

  “We didn’t do anything that bad,” Bethany said. “We were just having fun.”

  Mr. Wadsworth was on his feet now. He was tall, and he towered over Bethany.

  “You had fun at someone else’s expense,” he said. “In my book, that is not fun, that’s cruelty. Do you hear me, Bethany? Are you listening, Lauren?”

  “You don’t have to shout, Daddy. We’re not deaf.”

  “I participated, too,” I said softly. “I was the one who started the whole thing.”

  Mr. Wadsworth wheeled around and looked at me for the first time.

  “And how do you feel about what you’ve done?” he asked.

  “Terrible. I was wrong, so totally wrong. I wish I could take back everything I did, but I can’t. So I’m just going to have to try to be better.”

  “Well, you’re a brave girl,” Bethany’s dad said to me. “Half the battle of doing the right thing is owning up to it when you’ve done the wro
ng thing. I wish I felt certain that Bethany and Lauren understood that.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” Bethany whined. “I get it. Now can we stop talking about this?”

  “Yes, we can. But I hope you understand, Bethany, that there are going to be consequences. At home and at school.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Bethany said, rising to her feet.

  Suddenly, Mrs. Berlin stood up to face her. She looked her square in the eyes, in a way that made even Bethany uncomfortable. When she spoke, her voice was angry but controlled.

  “You could be expelled, young lady,” she said. “Many schools demand that a student who posts an inappropriate picture with hateful messages must leave.”

  “Like for good?” Bethany said.

  “That’s usually what expelled means,” Sammie said.

  “What about me?” Lauren asked. “They’re not going to kick me out, are they?”

  For the first time ever, she sounded shaky and insecure.

  “I can’t imagine your principal will look kindly on your behavior,” my dad said.

  “Wait . . . does that mean I can’t be a Junior Wave?” she cried. Now she seemed really upset.

  “I think you’d better wave good-bye to The Waves,” Sammie said. “Junior, senior, or any other kind.”

  “You don’t know that,” Lauren said with a scowl.

  “Yeah,” Bethany added. “You don’t know anything, you creep.”

  Mrs. Berlin gathered her sweater in one hand and took Sara by the other.

  “This whole experience has been very hurtful to my child,” she said. “I just hope you people will do something so no one else has to suffer like Sara has. Now if you’ll excuse us. We’ve had enough of this.”

  Mrs. Berlin guided Sara across the deck.

  “Stand up tall,” I heard her say to Sara. “You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “I’ll come over to your house as soon as we’re done here,” Sammie said, running over to give Sara a hug.

  I practically tripped over myself to get to her before she reached the gate.