The Truth About Twinkie Pie Part 12

twenty-five.

When we got to the soccer fields, it looked like there was a whole big hoopla going on. Tables and cars, tents and little mini-grills set up everywhere. Coolers with iced sodas and probably champagne and caviar, too. Everybody looked pretty excited for the game, and I guessed they must be, to get there two hours before it even started.

"Looky, there's Trip!" DiDi waved and headed for this big tent with lots of people. "Yoo-hoo! Hey there, Double B!"

I watched as DiDi hurried over to where Trip and Mace were. She gave them a huge three-way bear hug without even putting down her giant basket.

"What's with DiDi and all the double stuff?" Allie asked. "What's Double B?"

"Trip's initials," I said. "His real name's Bradford Breckinridge." I slowed down. Haven looked back and came to my side.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. "Do you want me to tell them you don't feel well or had to go home or something?"

I gave a little smile. "No, I'm all right."

And then I heard Billy's unmistakable voice shouting, "G-Girl!"

I rushed over and, after a quick high five, I introduced Allie and Haven, who seemed shy but really pleased to be there.

"Hey, Star Girls," said Billy.

I looked over to where DiDi had gone and saw her laughing with Mace. Trip looked up and waved.

I began studying the gra.s.s like I had to memorize how many blades there were, but I could tell he was walking toward us.

I turned to Billy and laughed as loud as I could.

"Uh, G-what's so funny?"

"You are," I answered, sensing Trip behind me. "You are probably the funniest person in the entire northeastern part of the United States."

Billy raised his arms above his head in victory. "Yes! The Best of the Northeast!"

"Right. Northeast corner of the parking lot, maybe." Trip was there, looking like his sweet and beautiful self in his soccer uniform-like this was just another day. "Hey, G."

I didn't know what to do or say. It's not like I could do what I actually wanted-which was to ask Trip if he liked Mace better than me now. And why he hadn't given me a KOB that week. Instead, I just shrugged.

"Come over for a sec, okay?" he said. "Billy will entertain everyone."

Billy went right into a series of muscleman poses that had the girls in giggles. I began following Trip to his parents' tent. Haven looked over her shoulder at the same time I did and nodded like everything was going to be okay. Maybe it would be.

As we got closer, I noticed this blond woman standing next to Trip's mom. And glaring at DiDi. I slowed down. Who was she?

"DiDi, is it?" The woman's voice was low, but somehow it cut through the chatter.

"Why, yes it is," DiDi said. "You must be Mrs. Tanglewood, Mace's mom, and Mrs. Davis, too, right?" DiDi held out her hand. "So nice to meet you both."

The blond woman was Mace's mom. So I guess Mace was adopted.

I knew what it meant when a little girl was adopted from China. People have to fly around the world to get those babies. No wonder she was so stuck-up. Being whisked away by rich people to go live in a big house with her very own bomb shelter. She'd been made a fuss over since the day her parents got her.

DiDi didn't seem the least bit surprised. Mace had probably told her all about it during one of their marathon girl-talk sessions.

I looked at Mace's mom. Well, adopted or not, it looked like shooting daggers with the eyes runs in the family.

"I have to tell you what great kids you both have," said DiDi. "Trip is such a gentleman. And Mace-well, we have just been hitting it off since she came in for her little makeover-and I really appreciate your letting her stay on after school at the salon this week, helping me sweep and such."

I froze. Trip walked a few more steps before he turned and looked back at me.

"Sweeping hair at the salon?" Mrs. Tanglewood's voice rose for a second. Then she glanced around and quickly lowered it, smoothing her hair back as she turned to Mace. "You said you've been taking the late bus because of Young Entrepreneurs Club."

Mrs. Davis had a hand on her shoulder. "Tish, let's stay calm."

"It's not a big deal." Mace lifted her chin. "I'm just hanging out and helping DiDi and talking to her about things."

Mace was with DiDi every day this week? Sweeping up and yakking away? And that was not a big deal? DiDi would never let me set a toe in her work s.p.a.ce. I used to beg her to let me stay and hang out and talk, but she always made me go home early to shut myself up in a room alone with my books.

DiDi was looking back and forth between Mace and her mom. "Macy?" She bent down so she could look her in the face. "You didn't let your parents know you were hanging out at the salon with me?"

"Of course she didn't!" Mrs. Tanglewood said between her teeth. "Do you think I'd let Mace sweep up the hair of our friends? And who are you to dye a child's hair without permission?"

"Mom, stop it," Mace said. "It's a clip-in. I can take it out anytime I want to-I just don't want to. I tried to tell you, but you were too busy shouting at me!"

"Lower your voice, young lady-"

"No, I won't, and maybe for once you'll hear me. You never listen! DiDi listens to me. DiDi asked me what I wanted to look like-the real me-instead of... of just telling me like you do!" Mace was crying. "She's the first person around here-the first grown-up to listen for five seconds to what it feels like to be me!"

DiDi pulled a rumpled tissue out of her pocket. "Here, baby girl, take this-"

Mrs. Tanglewood shoved it back at her. "Mace, we're going home-"

"No!"

"Yes. Where's your father?"

Mrs. Davis looked upset. "Maybe if you and Mace just took a moment to talk-"

"I'm not going anywhere with her!" Mace said, and she pulled away and ran off the field.

"Mace!" called Mrs. Tanglewood. "Come back!" She turned to DiDi. "Look what you've done. Couldn't you find anyone else to lavish your precious time on?"

I gasped and tried to pull my arm away from Trip. I hadn't even realized he had grabbed me and was trying to hold me still. "Let go! Let go of me!"

"G," he said. "Wait-"

"No-"

DiDi looked our way and saw me. "G?" She came rus.h.i.+ng over.

"No." I finally wrenched myself away from Trip and faced DiDi. DiDi with her pulled-back curls and tilty nose and curvy lip. DiDi, who had all the time in the world for Mace. And none for me.

I looked her in the eyes like she taught me, so I could Say It Like It Is. "I wish Mama had never died and left me alone with you."

There's a word I learned in science cla.s.s: Implode.

It means to sort of blow up and collapse. But, like, quietly, from the inside. I knew what it meant in science cla.s.s. I had just never seen it before in real life-till I saw it in DiDi's face.

Pull-Aparts

This is what you call Pull-Apart Bread. Everyone wants a piece of it, so when it shows up, you better just get in there and grab what you want.

* cup white sugar * cup light brown sugar * 1 tablespoon cinnamon * 4 cans of Mayflower refrigerator biscuits * 8 ounces cream cheese Preheat your oven to 350F.

Put your sugars and cinnamon in a big plastic bag and shake it up. One can at a time, toss in your refrigerator biscuits and shake them all around till each one is completely coated with sugar. Lightly b.u.t.ter the inside of a 12-cup Bundt pan. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with 3 cans of the biscuits. The entire inside of the pan should be covered in biscuits, leaving a circular ditch.

Cut your cream cheese into cubes and fill the entire inside of the ditch. Sprinkle some of the leftover sugar mix over the cream cheese. Use the last can of biscuits to cover and seal the top of the ditch.

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes, or till everything is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the Pull-Aparts cool for 5 minutes, then flip them onto a plate. Sprinkle the last of the cinnamon sugar over the soft oozy top.

Oh, and please eat while it's nice and warm! Whenever I serve this, folks go crazy pulling that bread apart looking for the best piece. But the truth is, there's no need to pull so hard. There's enough for everyone.

Serves 1012.

twenty-six.

Yes, we live in a Walking Town.

But it still felt like a long, long way from school back to Main Street.

When I got to the apartment, I trudged up the stairs, wiping my tears and snotty nose on my sleeve, and then I did it again on the other side just to spite DiDi because I knew she hated it. I didn't even bother putting myself on Kenneth Alert. Who cared? He wanted to see DiDi, not me. I reached the top and stopped short. Someone was sitting on the floor. It was Mace.

She looked like she'd been crying, too, but before I could ask what she was doing leaning against our apartment door, she started talking.

"I'm sorry I've been so-so mean. It's just-it's just Trip and I have known each other since we were little. We were always together. Then last summer, this-there was this stupid thing-and since then, it's been weird and he just-and then you show up and, just like that, you're his best friend."

Stupid thing? Me, Trip's best friend?

"And that makes up for the nasty way you've been treating me? Making smart remarks about my mama? Picking on DiDi, and then suddenly you're working with her and hanging out and t-talking all the time-and it's like-" My voice cracked. "It's like you're spending more time with DiDi than I am...."

Mace was looking me straight in the face, and at that moment, I had to give her credit. Most people, probably including me, would be looking down at the ground during a talk like this.

"Okay." She nodded. "I did go there to give DiDi a hard time, but then-she was so nice and-and started talking to me about how I wanted to look and asking who I thought I was on the inside and how maybe we could make my hair match the way I feel."

I said nothing.

"Anyway, I know you didn't mean what you said that day outside the nurse's office.... I know DiDi likes me. We-we talk all the time now at the salon. She lets me do all sorts of things there. Not that I think I could do what she does or ever be as good as she is. It's just..." She shook her head. "All my mom does is try to make me what she wants me to be."

As long as I could remember, DiDi had been telling me what she wanted me to be.

Not asking me. Telling me.

I could feel a tiny part of me thinking that, maybe, Mace and I had something in common.

Then I stopped myself. Because we didn't.

Maybe we had both just run away from people who were telling us what to do and who to be. But I didn't have anybody on my side, and it looked like she had DiDi. And now she had Trip back, too.

Then Mace with her rock star haircut looked up at me with my DiDi Special. Her mouth still and waiting, like it wasn't sure whether or not it should stay in a straight, straight line.

I stepped past her into the apartment and clicked the door shut. Then I locked it.

twenty-seven.

The whole next week, words between me and DiDi were dry and crumbly like week-old bread. She would step into the room sometimes when I was studying. Stand there a moment, then turn and walk away.

At the lunch table, Mace wouldn't even look at me.

I heard myself yammering away about this and that, but none of it mattered. Trip watched and watched me and didn't say anything, then at the end of one day pa.s.sed me a KOB that said, Open Now-Are you okay? I nodded and smiled my fake-cheese smile. Haven came to my locker to see if a Stargazers meeting would make me feel better, but I told her I had too much homework. Poor Billy, every time he came looking for high fives, all I had to give him were low ones.

Halloween used to be my favorite time of year, but I couldn't even imagine going out with everyone and acting like everything was all fine. Luckily, it landed in the middle of the week, and I used the excuse that I had too much homework and DiDi wouldn't let me go.