The Friendship Bracelet Page 11

  “OK.”

  Olivia hung up and looked around her room. She didn’t feel any different, no fever or anything like that, but she was really worried. She didn’t want to be a total downer and tell Mu Mu that if they did break out in a rash, there went their visit to Central Hospital with THREADS. But Mu Mu is sharp. She’s probably figured that out already, she thought. And we’ll know soon. Probably by tomorrow morning.

  “Knock, knock,” said her mom in a cheerful voice, coming in with Olivia’s laundered clothes and shoes. “I’ve washed these three times, sweetie. They should be perfectly fine,” she said, putting them on a chair in the corner. Still, Olivia couldn’t help looking at them with dread.

  “And here is your friendship bracelet,” she said, handing her the wide band that said THREADS. “Maybe you shouldn’t put it on until tomorrow in case there is a rash?”

  “OK, Mom. But wait! Where is the blue-and-white bracelet? The one you gave me? The one from Dawn?” she asked with alarm.

  Her mom blinked and seemed puzzled. “I didn’t see it, sweetie. But I’ll check the washing machine.”

  Olivia followed her into the laundry room off the kitchen. The washer and dryer were empty. They even checked the lint filter.

  “Could it have slipped off?” Olivia’s mom wondered. “When you fell? And how did you and Mu Mu both fall at the same moment?”

  Olivia sank down onto a bench. This was too much to handle. First, the poison ivy, and now the missing bracelet. She needed the bracelet back! Everything had been better since her mom gave it to her: THREADS, Austen, Zoe, Mu Mu, the puppy, even Ethan! Would it all just go downhill now?

  “Mom, I have to have it!” she cried, looking frantic.

  “Oh, Ollie, calm down. We’ll find it. First, you ask Mu Mu if maybe it’s mixed in with her things,” her mother said hopefully.

  Olivia raced back upstairs for her phone.

  Mu Mu picked up on the first ring. “Nope. My clothes are right here. I’ll check them again. Nope, nothing. But I did find out something else. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you.”

  “What?” asked Olivia, half listening.

  “Ashley told my mom that one of the other campers, Tiffany Diaz, you know, from Team Chestnut, recorded our fall. She was taking pics of the poison ivy and caught the whole thing.”

  Olivia had a bad feeling about what was coming next.

  “It was Elin and Kennedy. They pushed us. Check your phone. Tiffany is sending the video now.”

  Olivia hung up and immediately opened Tiffany’s message. The video showed them being pushed, plain as day.

  Tears filled her eyes. There had been mean-girl stuff before, but this was the worst! She was crazy to think things had gotten better.

  She ran downstairs and out the side door.

  Olivia’s mom followed, grabbed her by the shoulders, and looked into her daughter’s stricken face. “What is it, sweetie?” her mom wanted to know.

  Olivia couldn’t bear to tell her the truth, that someone would do something so awful to her.

  Instead, she said with a sob, “I have to find the friendship bracelet. Will you help me?”

  “Of course,” her mom said. “Get in the car. We’ll retrace your steps. Don’t worry. Things just don’t disappear!”

  Chapter 34

  “No, Dad. Don’t do that. It’s gone. We already looked all over the roads.”

  “Ollie, Mom has told me how important the bracelet is to you,” her dad said, pulling on his tall rubber boots. He stood up and reached for his car keys. “If the bracelet is up in Carey’s Woods, I’ll find it. There’s still plenty of daylight. I know you and Mom looked for a long time, but I’ll put a pair of fresh eyes on it.”

  Olivia so wished he wouldn’t. Her dad was allergic to poison ivy and could blow up like a balloon if he was exposed to it.

  She turned to her mother. “Mom, make Dad stop. I’ll be OK. Honest. I’ll…I’ll make another one.”

  “Daddy knows what he’s doing, sweetie,” her mom said. “Let me bring in Sully, so he can go upstairs with you, Ollie.”

  Oh no, thought Olivia. Things have gotten totally crazy! It’s all my fault.

  Her mom opened the back door and clapped her hands. Sullivan pranced in, trying to scoot upstairs before anyone noticed that he had something in his mouth. A blue-and-white something.

  “Look!” screamed Olivia. “Sully has the bracelet!”

  “Drop it,” commanded her dad in a firm voice.

  Sullivan looked up as if to say, Who, me? but then he let it fall to the floor.

  “Good boy!” said Olivia’s dad.

  Grabbing a paper towel, her mom scooped up the bracelet and put it in the bathroom sink to be washed later.

  “Come on, Sully,” she told the dog, opening the back door again. “Now, it’s your turn for a bath. So far, so good, but we can’t take any chances with poison ivy.”

  • • •

  The rash started out small, and by the next evening, Olivia had never been so bummed. She couldn’t stop looking at her arms and legs, where each hour seemed to bring a new area of misery.

  Her face was the worst, with nasty, red splotches threatening to become nastier and bigger.

  For Mu Mu, her hands were driving her the most crazy. The soft spaces in between her slender fingers had become raw and sore.

  “This totally sucks!” she cried. “You know it means we can’t go with THREADS on Monday?”

  Olivia was way ahead of that breaking news. Earlier, she’d texted Zoe, Ethan, and Austen.

  “And Mom says I can’t bake! This is so gross!” Mu Mu added for good measure.

  Olivia wished there was something she could say to cheer up her friend, but she knew how useless that would sound. “Send me pics,” she said instead, knowing she was the only person right then who could really understand the mess they were in.

  Her mom knocked on her door.

  “Ethan is here,” she whispered.

  “Make him go away, Mom. Please. I can’t handle it!”

  Her mom shrugged and went downstairs.

  “Who’s there?” asked Mu Mu.

  “Only Ethan,” Olivia said. “I don’t know why he’s here.”

  “Maybe he’s trying to be nice? Talk to you later.”

  Chapter 35

  A few yucky and itchy days went by.

  Olivia Skyped with Alex, who was totally shocked by what had happened.

  And she and Mu Mu shared their misery in endless texts. When she wasn’t organizing and reorganizing her room, she was propped up on the sofa in the family room, where she and Sully got to binge watch whole seasons of TV shows. That is the only good part, she thought.

  Every day, Austen and Zoe texted and asked to visit, but Olivia was certainly not up for that.

  Late Monday afternoon, their friends sent Olivia and Mu Mu lots of pics of the first THREADS visit to the hospital. Olivia had to smile. Everybody wanted to take a selfie with Austen, both the nurses and the patients. There was even one of him with a man who had a mop and bucket. And why not? she thought. He looks so cute in his blue-and-white shirt.

  By Tuesday afternoon, both she and Mu Mu could report no new breakouts, so the end of their ordeal was in sight, except for the Elin and Kennedy thing. Olivia dreaded ever facing them again.

  “Yuck! Did you get their get-well card yet?” asked Mu Mu when she called before dinner.

  “It just came a little while ago,” Olivia replied. “The one with a Band-Aid on the front?”

  “Yeah, and does it say ‘OUCH’ in big, red letters?”

  “Yup,” said Olivia. “Guess they sent us the same card.”

  Mu Mu dropped her voice. “Dad’s back from his business trip, and he wants Camp Monroe to kick them out. He’s furious.”

  “Really?” Olivia rep
lied, feeling alarmed.

  “Yeah, really. But, Olivia, Dad wants to talk to your parents first,” Mu Mu explained. “Later tonight.”

  Olivia gulped. “I still haven’t told them what happened. They probably think I tripped and took you down with me. I’m kind of a klutz.”

  “No, you’re not! But listen, maybe you better tell them,” suggested Mu Mu, “so they don’t hear it from Dad first?”

  Yipes! This felt worse than ever. She was the one who got hurt, and now she had to go through the whole episode all over again?

  At dinner, she started to tell her mom and dad about Mu Mu’s call.

  “Her father wants to speak with you,” Olivia said, cutting her cheese ravioli into small pieces.

  “I hope Mu Mu is getting better,” said her mom. “But why does Mr. Lin want to speak with us?”

  “Because, well, I didn’t tell you…” Olivia trailed off.

  “Sweetie, tell us what?” said her mom.

  She looked down and said in a quiet voice, “That Mu Mu and I didn’t fall. We were pushed. By Elin Pierson and Kennedy Washington.”

  “What?” cried her mom.

  Olivia’s dad put down his fork and wiped his mouth with his napkin.

  “It gets worse,” said Olivia, her red face turning even redder. “There’s a video of it.” Still she couldn’t look up, and the rest of the story gushed out. “I just didn’t want it to go viral and then everybody would know me as the dopey girl who got thrown into a bed of poison ivy. Then I would be the person someone hates so much they would do something horrible like that to me!”

  Her dad pushed his plate away. Olivia raised her eyes. She could tell he was really angry. The vein in his forehead looked as if it were about to explode.

  “Don’t worry, Ollie,” he said in a calm, controlled voice. “I know you and Mu Mu have been suffering, but now this is also about those other girls and what they did. They must be held accountable for their actions. Otherwise, they’ll think it’s OK to do unacceptable things like this. You understand?”

  Olivia nodded.

  “OK,” said her dad. “Now tell us everything.”

  • • •

  “They’re kicked out,” reported Mu Mu. “Ashley just called my dad and said Heather, the camp director, decided. So…you don’t have to tell your parents.”

  Olivia looked up at the ceiling and almost laughed.

  “Too late! Dad got off the phone with Heather a little while ago. I heard him. Now he’s calling Elin’s and Kennedy’s parents. He wants them to come to his office, and he’s hoping your parents will come too.”

  “Wow! But that’s a good thing, right? And at least we won’t have to see the rest of Team Unicorn when we go back.”

  “Yeah, probably,” replied Olivia. But she couldn’t stop thinking, Why do I still feel so bad? I have to stop being such a wuss.

  She glanced down at her left arm. Her wrist was healing fast. Soon, she could wear her friendship bracelets…and maybe they could go to camp the day after tomorrow or at least by Friday.

  Chapter 36

  Ethan studied the get-well-soon diamond-braided bracelet. He hoped it was girlie enough.

  Yesterday, Miss Ruth Ann had helped him pick out the colors, all happy ones—fluorescent green, yellow, turquoise, and pink—and suggested he use tiny pink beads, one-eighth of an inch size, to make a border down the sides.

  Maybe Olivia won’t even want it. Maybe it will remind her of the poison ivy, he worried as he took the yellow floss and worked a forward knot on the left side and one backward knot on the right side.

  The apartment was quiet. His mom was working and so was Manny, his stepfather. He had to hurry because they usually got home at six or so.

  A key turned in the lock.

  Footsteps approached, and his heart sank. His stepbrother, Jayden, was blocking the doorway to their room.

  “Hey, Thread Head, what are you doing now? Let me see, let me see,” Jayden said, trying to wrestle the bracelet away.

  “Stop, idiot!” cried Ethan, stashing the bracelet in his pants pocket.

  “Pink and blue. Are you sure that’s not for you?” he teased.

  “Leave me alone,” shouted Ethan, pushing Jayden aside.

  “Or what? You’ll go cry to your mama? Or maybe to your girlfriend, Olivia?” said Jayden with a laugh.

  Ethan grabbed his skateboard and baseball cap. “Get a life,” he muttered, slamming the front door and running down the narrow hallway.

  Downstairs in front of the apartment complex, his mother was driving into the parking lot. “Ethan, it’s dinnertime. Where are you going?” she called out to him.

  “Nowhere,” he said, pushing off in the direction of Katonah Crafts.

  • • •

  Commuters were pouring off the trains that screeched into the station every few minutes during rush hour. Closed said the sign in the window of the crafts store.

  Propping his skateboard behind his back, Ethan plopped down on the front stoop and took out the bracelet.

  When he looked up, Mr. Dalwinkle from Village Hardware was chugging full steam toward him. Only, instead of his work apron, tonight he was wearing a crisp-looking red-and-white-striped shirt and a navy-blue bow tie.

  He’s all duded up. Looks like he has someplace to go, Ethan thought. So he was surprised when the older gentleman stopped in front of him and was about to climb the steps up to the shop.

  “It’s closed,” he muttered.

  “What’s that, son?”

  “The store, Katonah Crafts, is closed,” said Ethan loudly while pointing to the sign in the window.

  But just then, the front door opened and Miss Ruth Ann stepped out. Ethan almost didn’t recognize her. She’d changed into a dress. Her silver-gray hair was now in soft curls, and, he couldn’t believe this: Miss Ruth Ann was wearing makeup.

  “Good evening, Philip,” she said to Mr. Dalwinkle, giving him her hand. “Oh, is that you, Ethan? Did you forget something inside? I can let you in for a minute.”

  Ethan scrambled to his feet. “No, Miss Ruth Ann. Uh, bye,” he said awkwardly and then grabbed his skateboard and pushed off, trying to cover as much distance as possible.

  Rolling past Village Hardware, the crazy scene with Olivia came back—their epic fight. Guess Olivia didn’t embarrass Miss Ruth Ann after all, he had to admit. Who knows, maybe she even did them a favor? Yuck! TMI.

  Up ahead was a man in a khaki suit with a bouquet of flowers and a young couple holding hands and laughing. He weaved in between them and then rounded the corner up to Bedford Road. Across from the library, he hopped off. Wow! There was Zoe walking on the green with Carl. They looked so happy together.

  She saw Ethan too and waved with a bright smile.

  “Hey, Zoe,” he cried. “Wait up.”

  He’d finish Olivia’s bracelet another time or maybe give it to somebody else. He didn’t think Miss Ruth Ann would throw him under the bus.

  Chapter 37

  The elevator made a pinging sound and glided to a stop on the fourth floor, where the five members of the THREADS team got out.

  “The nurses’ station is right up there,” explained Zoe, pointing to a long wraparound desk where a dozen or so uniformed people were bustling about. “That’s where we have to meet Mrs. Leon.”

  Olivia and Mu Mu looked around at the long corridors filled with all sorts of expensive-looking medical equipment, bulky machines, and tall, slotted food trolleys.

  “Wonder what the food is like in here,” whispered Mu Mu as a worker walked past carrying a tray littered with empty orange juice cartons and food wrappers. “Olivia, listen, if I’m ever stuck in a hospital, promise you’ll bring me some gelato. Seriously, two kinds: toasted almond and mocha chip. Oh, and wonton soup from Golden Panda?”

  Olivia laughed at that idea.
“OK, you got it. Anything else?”

  Across the corridor, Ethan, Austen, and Zoe were leaning against a long handrail when a woman dressed in a charcoal-gray pantsuit approached them. They straightened up and said, “Hello, Mrs. Leon.”

  “Hello, everybody. It’s so nice to see you again,” she told them. “And this must be Olivia and Mu Mu, the two poison ivy patients? All better I see.” She gave them a warm smile and extended her hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Leon,” said Mu Mu and Olivia.

  “Well, please follow me,” Mrs. Leon said, heading down another long corridor. “Ethan, Austen, and Zoe, two of our patients from last week are still here. They’re looking forward to seeing you.”

  The door to room 412 was open. “Jacob, Nick, may we come in?” she asked, knocking. “Look who’s here again: Ethan and Austen.”

  When the boys were settled, Mrs. Leon steered the girls down to a large, sunny lounge at the end of the hallway. It was painted in pleasant, cheerful blues and yellows, and scattered about were comfy-looking chairs and tables that were ideal for doing jigsaw puzzles or playing games.

  “This is for patients and their families,” Mrs. Leon explained. “Just take a seat. I’ll be right back. Oh, here is Mr. Fellows, another one of our volunteers.” She introduced him to everyone, and then they left.

  Olivia was unpacking her supplies when Mrs. Leon returned with two young girls and a boy. They seemed so tiny and maybe a little scared.

  “Their parents have gone down to the cafeteria for some coffee,” Mrs. Leon explained, “so we have about half an hour, which should be plenty of time for today. Zoe, this is Noah,” she said, introducing a small boy of about six, wearing a bathrobe and slippers with superheroes on them. Mr. Fellows was pulling a stand with an intravenous line and a bag of fluids behind the boy. “I thought you two could work together since you already have been here.”

  Zoe nodded yes and smiled at Noah.

  “Perfect,” said Mrs. Leon. “Then Mu Mu and Olivia, I’ll go get our other two patients.”

  “Hi, Noah,” said Zoe. “It’s good to see you. Want to sit at the table with me?”