Do-Over Read online

  She raised her eyebrows. “And don’t even think about tearing down your dolphin posters, young lady. I love your dolphins!”

  I pouted dramatically, an expression that always made Mom laugh. “But I need help,” I said firmly. “Stop blending in and stay right here with me.”

  Mom pouted back at me. “Now, that,” she said, poking me playfully in the chest, “would be a major infraction of the rules. Even I can’t pull that off.”

  “You can’t leave me again, Mom. Please don’t.”

  She gathered me in her arms. “Don’t worry, sweetie,” she whispered. “I’ll help you, I promise.”

  She put her hands on my shoulders and looked me squarely in the eye. “What I’m about to propose is way, way irregular. Unprecedented, even.” She looked a little nervous. “But there you have it.”

  My eyebrows knitted together as I studied her curiously. “What are we talking about?”

  Mom cleared her throat, sounding official. “You turn thirteen in a little over a month. May eleventh.”

  “And…?”

  She squeezed her hand around my fist, which was still clutching the weird necklace. “Here’s the plan: For the next month, until your thirteenth birthday, I hereby grant you do-over power.”

  I laughed out loud. “Do-over power,” I repeated. “And what exactly might that be?”

  “Well…I’m kinda making up the rules as I go along,” Mom confessed, “but here’s how it’ll work…I hope…if we’re lucky….” She glanced skyward as if to make sure she had permission from the Big Guy to proceed.

  “Mom! You’re making me nervous!”

  She shrugged. “Well…what’s the worst that can happen?” She cleared her throat again. “Hopefully, we won’t have to find out. Okay, the plan: For the next month, whenever you’re having a tough time…say, you spill your chocolate milk in the lunchroom again, or tell a joke and no one laughs, just rub the necklace you’re holding and say, ‘Do-over.’”

  “The necklace! I wondered why this necklace kept popping up….”

  “My mom gave it to me when I was right around your age,” Mom said. “She told me the women in our family are stronger than we know, and that this necklace would help me tap into my strength. I wore the necklace every day for the rest of seventh grade, and somehow, it made my life easier. Nothing magical happened; I just felt more confident wearing it. Then I kind of outgrew it. I didn’t really need it anymore, you know? It was just a necklace, and I felt I was ready to take on the world without it. I put it away…but I had a hunch it would come in handy later.”

  I shook my head slowly. “I’m talking to my mom, who happens to be dead, and she’s giving me a necklace, which happens to have some magical power,” I muttered, trying somehow to make sense of what was happening.

  Mom ran her cool fingers through my hair. “Here’s the deal,” she said. “When you rub this locket and say ‘Do-over,’ the world rewinds for ten seconds. Then you can replay the scene any way you want.”

  I shook my head again as the total craziness of the whole situation started sinking in. “The world rewinds…,” I repeated numbly.

  “For ten seconds,” Mom repeated. “Just long enough to fix an embarrassing moment. For one month only.”

  “How many times can I do a do-over?” I asked, deciding that since this night had veered hopelessly into Loco Land, I might as well play along.

  Mom shrugged. “As I said, I’m kinda making up the rules as I go along. So here’s the deal: You need a do-over? You’ve got it. Between now and May eleventh, you get as many as you want.”

  Loco Land seemed like a pretty awesome place. “And what if I don’t like my do-over any better than I liked things the first time around?” I asked.

  Mom shrugged cheerfully. “Do it over again!” she said. “No one will know what’s happening except you…and me, of course. Everyone else will think they’re experiencing that moment for the first time.”

  I held out the palm of my hand like a police officer signaling someone to freeze. “Okay, look,” I said. “Assuming I’m not dreaming, and assuming I’m not insane, and assuming a lightning bolt doesn’t crash on my head when I say ‘Do-over,’ which, incidentally, will make me sound like a complete idiot if it doesn’t work…assuming all that…can I tell Dad and Grandma what’s going on?”

  Mom bit her bottom lip. “You still have free will, honey,” she said. “I can’t control what you do or say. But don’t you think Dad and Grandma have enough on their plates without worrying that you’ve gone certifiable on them?”

  I gasped as the thought of Dad and Grandma suddenly formed clearly in my mind. “Dad and Grandma!” I sputtered. “They need to see you! Oh, Mom, they miss you so much. Let me go get them!”

  Mom shook her head sadly. “I can’t, honey,” she said. “Getting permission to come to you required absolutely all my persuasive powers. There’s no way I can show myself to Dad or Grandma…and maybe that’s for the best.”

  My mouth gaped. “How can you say that?” I demanded. “Of course they want to see you!”

  “I know, honey, but they’re doing a great job processing their grief and moving forward. I don’t want to interfere with that. But remember: I’m always watching out for them. I’m blending into their lives just like I blend into yours.”

  I searched her eyes. “Will I see you again after tonight?”

  Mom kissed my forehead, then took the necklace from my hand and clasped it behind my neck. “I’ll visit you in your dreams, I promise,” she said. “And who knows…as stubborn as I am, I might be able to arrange a follow-up visit in the flesh. If not, just talk to me anytime you need me, and know I’ll be listening. I can’t promise to make a chandelier shake to let you know I’m close by, but I’ll be there. Cross my heart.”

  I traced the outline of her face with my finger. “I believe you…,” I said slowly, “…yet I also believe that I am totally nuts.”

  She laughed and hugged me tightly. “Then let’s just cut to the chase: Remember I love you, remember I’m always here…and remember to use your do-overs wisely. The only person you can change is yourself.” She kissed my cheeks. “Be true to yourself, Elsa,” she said. “That’s all I ask.”

  And then she disappeared.

  Well…blended in.

  SIX

  Do-Over Day One

  Sunlight was already streaming through my bedroom window when the radio started blasting right on cue: 6:30 a.m. Time to face another disastrous day at Horror Springs Middle School.

  But I didn’t care. I actually woke up smiling. I’d had my best night’s sleep since Mom had died. The kind of sleep you have when your mom is perfectly fine and snoozing in the next room.

  What a great dream.

  I know what you’re thinking: It should be a bummer to dream about your dead mom, right? All heavy and depressing? Wrong. It was the best dream. I didn’t even care that it wasn’t real. For a few magical moments, I’d had my mom back, all warm and funny and lavender-scented. She’d been right there with me. She’d been with me in my dream. At this point, I’d take my mom any way I could get her.

  The weather forecast on the radio matched my mood.

  “As you’re rising and shining this morning, folks, look forward to a beautiful day with sunny skies and a high in the midseventies, with just a few puffy clouds rolling in later this afternoon,” the deejay said.

  Appropriate.

  I felt something cool on my neck and gasped as I realized what it was: the necklace.

  Was it possible…?

  “Do-over,” I said haltingly as I rubbed the locket.

  Strange…Suddenly, the radio was making some kind of weird garbly noise, like a tape rewinding. Then…

  “As you’re rising and shining this morning, folks, look forward to a beautiful day with sunny skies and a high in the midseventies, with just a few puffy clouds rolling in later this afternoon.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  “Do-over,” I
whispered, nervously rubbing the locket.

  Again, the funny garbly sound, then…

  “As you’re rising and shining this morning, folks, look forward to a beautiful day…”

  Oh. My. God.

  Omigod!

  I covered over my eyes and squealed under my breath. No way!

  “Do-over?” I squeaked.

  Weird garbly sound.

  “As you’re rising and shining this morning, folks…”

  I bolted straight up in bed. “Mom?” I called out frantically. “Mom, are you there? Wasn’t that whole ghost visit thing a dream? Mom, answer me!”

  Nothing.

  “…and expect a delay if you’re traveling on Washington Road this morning,” the deejay continued, “where a three-car wreck is tying up traffic. Only minor injuries are reported, none serious enough for a trip to the hospital.”

  I rubbed the locket. “Do-over!”

  Weird garbly sound.

  “…and expect a delay if you’re traveling on Washington Road this morning, where a three-car wreck is tying up traffic…”

  My jaw dropped. “Whoa…,” I muttered.

  Was this possible? Had Mom really held me in her arms the night before? Had she really clasped this necklace around my neck and given me do-over power? It couldn’t be true. No way. Dad would explain this to me, because obviously there was a logical explanation and only Dad could explain it and I really had to talk to Dad RIGHT NOW, and…

  “DAAAADDDD!”

  My voice echoed through the house as I jumped out of my bed, tore down the stairs and ran into the kitchen.

  Dad and Grandma jumped up from the table.

  “Elsa!” Dad said. “What in the world…”

  “It’s Mom…,” I said breathlessly. “Dad, I know it’s nuts, but Mom came to see me last night.”

  My eyes quickly scanned their faces. Grandma seemed strangely calm, but Dad looked downright terrified.

  “Honey…,” he said in barely a whisper.

  Just then, Mom’s words floated back into my head: “Don’t you think Dad and Grandma have enough on their plates without worrying that you’ve gone certifiable on them?”

  I frantically rubbed my locket and yelped, “Do-over!”

  Wow…. I watched the past ten seconds rewind before my eyes. Everything was happening in reverse. Even my actions, but it was weird. My feet stayed planted on the floor in the kitchen, but I watched a transparent, ghostlike version of me moving backward. The real me just stood there and watched it happen—the transparent me hurtling back toward the stairs, and Dad and Grandma inching down into their seats at the kitchen table. It was like pressing the Rewind button on a VCR.

  “DAAAADDDD!” I heard myself screaming, reliving the moment I had just rewound. At that instant, the real me and the transparent me blended back into one.

  Once again, I ran into the kitchen and saw Dad and Grandma jump up from the table. “Elsa!” Dad said. “What in the world…”

  “Uh…” I paused to catch my breath. This was really happening. Dad had no idea why I’d just run screaming into the kitchen. It was as if the past ten seconds had never happened. Now I needed a reason for running and screaming into the kitchen. “I saw a spider in my room,” I said, trying to calm down.

  Dad rolled his eyes. “I thought you were on fire!” he said, visibly relieved.

  “Sorry,” I said. My thoughts were still spinning. “Spiders just kinda creep me out, you know?”

  Dad looked skeptical. “No, I don’t know,” he said. “This, from the kid who put a lizard in her ear on a dare?”

  I scrunched my shoulders. “Go figure.”

  Dad and Grandma exchanged puzzled glances, and I felt a sudden burst of energy.

  “Hey, Dad, Grandma,” I said, running toward the refrigerator. “Do you guys like scrambled eggs?”

  On a whim, I pulled a carton of eggs from the fridge door. “Here goes nothing,” I said, then held the carton upside down over my head. A dozen eggs came crashing down on me, soaking my hair with goo.

  Dad and Grandma were stunned. They stood there watching egg yolk dribble down my face with their jaws dropped open. I giggled and rubbed my locket. This better still work…, I thought.

  “Do-over!”

  The eggs defied gravity and pulled themselves from my hair back into the carton. I placed the carton in the fridge.

  “This, from the kid who put a lizard in her ear on a dare?” Dad said, repeating what he’d said ten seconds before.

  It worked!

  “Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises,” I said, now officially on a roll. “Speaking of surprises, I’ve decided to quit school and join the Peace Corps. I’m leaving in the morning for Tibet.”

  Dad yawned and tousled my hair. “Yeah, honey, good luck with that,” he said, going back to the table. “Take the spider, too, will ya?”

  I huffed grumpily. That reaction didn’t even merit a do-over.

  Oh, well. The important thing was that the power really worked. Now, what could I do with it?

  SEVEN

  Dad finished his coffee and went upstairs to get dressed for work.

  “Have a good day,” he called a few minutes later.

  Now that’s a distinct possibility, I thought with a grin.

  It was beginning to dawn on me that my do-overs had the power to make my life nothing short of perfect…if I was smart enough to maximize my opportunity.

  The front door shut as I returned to the kitchen after dressing.

  Good. I had Grandma all to myself. If I was going to get some serious mileage out of my do-overs, I needed a crash course in perfection. I needed a crash course in Mom.

  “Grandma,” I said, trying to sound casual as I washed down some oatmeal with orange juice. “Tell me what Mom was like at my age.”

  Grandma glanced at me quickly, as if I’d startled her, but she cleared her throat and tried to look nonchalant. “Hmmm,” she said with the fake cheerfulness she used when talking about Mom. “What do you want to know?”

  “For starters, what was she like when she was a kid? What were her hobbies?”

  “Well…” Grandma tapped a finger on the tabletop. Then she waved her hand through the air as she decided what she wanted to say. “Well, she was brilliant, for one thing.”

  “Brilliant?”

  Grandma got a dreamy look in her eyes as she gazed out the window. “Brilliant,” she repeated, this time sounding genuinely cheery. “You mom was so smart, from the time she was a tiny baby. I remember thinking when she was little, ‘How will the world ever be big enough for that brain of hers?’”

  Grandma looked back at me and laughed in embarrassment. “Moms think like that,” she said, leaning in close like she was sharing a secret. “But your mom really was smart. Never had to study, really. Just paid attention in class and soaked it all up. She was interested in almost everything, so she enjoyed learning about new things. In fact, she always got sidetracked doing her homework. She’d be studying spelling words, for instance, and she’d want to look the words up and learn more about them. Spelling them correctly wasn’t enough.”

  Yep, that was my mom. She was the same way with my homework. “Mom,” I would say in frustration, “I don’t need a crash course on the reign of Queen Victoria. I just need to know how to spell ‘monarch.’” I smiled at the memory.

  “Your mom even started a school newspaper when she was around your age,” Grandma continued. “It was only a few pages long, but her flair for writing was evident even then.” Grandma looked dreamy again. “Brilliant.”

  I wrinkled my brow. “But aren’t eggheads kind of…you know…nerdy?” I giggled and leaned closer to Grandma. “Was Mom a nerd?”

  “I beg your pardon!” Grandma teased. “The women in our family never mask their intelligence for anyone. Your mother was always being asked to write the school play or come up with funny photo captions for the school yearbook. She was smart, but she was also funny and a pleasure to be around.�
� Grandma rubbed my cheek. “Like you.”

  Hmmm…suddenly, it all seemed to make perfect sense. “Be true to yourself, Elsa,” Mom had told me. Well, Mom was brilliant, and I was Mom’s daughter. Maybe being true to myself meant being like Mom. Maybe Horror Springs Middle School was about to meet the most brilliant seventh grader to walk its halls since…since…well, since Mom.

  I finished breakfast and kissed Grandma. “Thanks,” I said. “I want to be just like Mom.”

  Grandma smiled but looked worried.

  “I need to get going,” I said, reaching for my backpack.

  Grandma took my arm and looked deeply into my eyes. “Elsa,” she said intently, “you’re a lot like your mom. But you need to be your own person, on your own terms, and you already possess everything you need to do that. There’s only one Elsa Alden, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She squeezed my arm. “Neither would your mom.”

  I nodded, grabbed my gear and ran out the door. Grandma meant well, but I knew deep down that being Mom was far superior to being Elsa Alden.

  And now Mom had given me the power to make that happen.

  My mind raced as I walked along the sidewalk. How exactly should I begin my new do-over-powered life?

  First, I thought, I’m gonna have a little fun.

  An automatic sprinkler was watering the grass at the house next door. It was a little thing, but I loved running through sprinklers. I dumped my backpack on the sidewalk and ran across the lawn. A dozen streams of water rained down on me from all directions. I shrieked in delight, stretching my arms wide. I held out my tongue to let the water drop into my mouth.

  I giggled. I hadn’t done anything like that since I was six years old. But time was running out….

  Reluctantly, I rubbed my locket and said, “Do-over.”

  Now I was running through the sprinklers backward. Again, there was the strange sensation of standing in one spot while I watched the ghost figure of myself running backward as drops of water bounced off me instead of onto me. I kept running backward until I was on the edge of the yard where I’d started, high and dry.

  “Awesome.”

  I kept walking and saw a cute guy coming in my direction, probably heading for the high school. Before, I could never even bring myself to look such a hottie in the eye, but now…I had nothing to lose.