The Secret Language of Girls Read online

  Overall, it was a crowd you’d be dumb to leave alone with your fancy silverware. Except for Kate. Petey planned on marrying Kate someday, though he hadn’t mentioned that fact to her yet. Kate wasn’t like other girls. She was reliable and a good basketball player. Petey thought Marylin was dumb to hang out with that bossy Flannery when she could spend all day with Kate if she wanted.

  Maybe Petey should write Kate a note to let her know that something suspicious was going on down there, right underneath her nose. He’d hate to see her become a victim of a crime. He tiptoed up to his room for a sheet of paper and a pencil. But as soon as he opened his door, he heard it: the sound of a dilapidated car engine, the very sort you’d find in Elyse Cassill’s brother’s car, puttering on the street outside his window. He turned out the light and climbed onto the top bunk, his binoculars in hand.

  The plot, he was pretty sure, had thickened.

  After they finished eating pizza, braided one another’s hair, and watched Ghost twice, the girls decided to hold a séance and see if the spirit of Marilyn Monroe had anything to say to them.

  “Are you here among us, Marilyn Monroe?” Kate asked in her spookiest voice, the one she reserved for séances and ghost stories. “Give us a sign, O great movie star.”

  The thump from overhead was loud and clear.

  “That was not Marilyn Monroe,” Marylin said, trying to stop everyone from screaming. “That was Petey falling out of bed. He does it all the time.”

  “That didn’t sound like a body-falling-out-of-a-bed sort of thump to me,” Ashley said. “It was a lot more like a spirit trying to contact us from the other side. It was exactly that sort of thump!”

  Elyse Cassill started to cry. “I hate séances! They’re so dumb!”

  Brittany handed Elyse a Hershey’s with almonds. “Eat some chocolate, Elyse. You’ll feel a lot better.”

  “Ssh!” Kate said in a loud whisper. “I hear something. Maybe Marilyn Monroe is in the room with us.”

  The basement door burst open, which made everyone scream at the top of their lungs. Elyse jumped into Brittany’s lap.

  “It’s only me!” Marylin’s mother called. “I wanted to let you know that the noise you probably heard was Petey falling out of bed. What on Earth are you girls up to?”

  “Nothing, Mrs. McIntosh,” Ashley said in the voice she used to butter up parents. “Just telling ghost stories. Elyse got a little carried away.”

  “I did not!” Elyse shouted through her sobbing.

  “It’s time to go to sleep, guys,” Marylin’s mom said firmly. “It’s past midnight. No more ghost stories, okay?”

  Marylin went to the laundry room to get Petey’s newly germ-free sleeping bag out of the dryer. She wondered if she should spray it with Lysol so it would smell especially disinfected. Who would have guessed that Kayla Townsend would be the sort of girl who worried about germs? Marylin’s mom was always saying you shouldn’t judge people by appearances, and Marylin was beginning to think that maybe she was right. Maybe they should have invited Elinor Pritchard after all.

  When Marylin got back into the rec room, the other girls were rolling out their sleeping bags and arguing over who would sleep next to whom.

  “I’m sleeping next to Marylin,” Ashley said in a bossy voice.

  “I want to sleep next to Marylin too!” Elyse yelled. “I get to be on her other side!”

  Marylin handed Kayla Petey’s sleeping bag. “Where do you want to sleep?” she asked.

  “I need to sleep in the middle of everyone,” Kayla said. “If my legs get cold, I won’t be able to dance my best tomorrow.”

  “We could all pile up on top of you,” Brittany offered sweetly.

  Kate came to the rescue. “Okay, here’s how it’s going to be,” she said in her army-general voice. “Ashley, Marylin, and Elyse, line up your sleeping bags next to each other. Then Kayla, you put your sleeping bag so it runs across the end of Ashley, Marylin, and Elyse’s. Then Brittany and I will put our sleeping bags next to yours. Then everyone can live happily ever after.”

  “I don’t want to sleep at people’s feet,” Kayla complained. “Marylin, you guys put your sleeping bags so your heads are at my side.”

  Ashley started to protest but then thought better of it and did as she was told.

  When all the sleeping bags were rolled out, they formed a squished T. The girls slid into their bags and rustled around until they were comfortable. Elyse let out a big yawn and said, “I’m pooped.”

  Kayla sat up. “I’m not,” she said. “I’m bored. Let’s do something! Where’s the phone?”

  “There’s one in the kitchen,” Marylin said. “But I don’t think it’s such a great idea to make any calls. My mom would probably hear you.”

  Later, when Marylin thought things over, she would realize that it was at this point the party started to spiral completely out of her control.

  Ashley sat up. “I know a great prank phone call we could do!”

  Kayla grabbed Ashley’s hand. “Come on! Let’s go call someone! Let’s call Robbie Ballard!”

  Robbie Ballard was the cutest boy in the sixth grade. Well, Marylin thought, at least Kayla has good taste.

  Kayla and Ashley rumbled up the stairs to the kitchen, leaving Marylin, Kate, Elyse, and Brittany to stare at one another.

  “You’re probably going to get in big trouble for this,” Elyse said, sounding sympathetic.

  “Yeah,” Kate agreed sadly. “Your mom has ears like an elephant.”

  “Whose idea was it to invite Kayla, anyway?” Brittany asked.

  Marylin and Kate looked at each other. “Both of ours,” Kate said, patting Marylin’s shoulder. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  Ashley’s and Kayla’s giggles filtered down from the kitchen. Marylin could hear them making loud sshhing noises at each other. It was only a matter of moments before Marylin’s mom would descend the staircase and ground Marylin for life.

  Marylin stood up. It was time to let something happen. “Everybody get dressed!”

  “Get dressed?” Elyse look confused. “I just put on my nightgown. Besides, we’re supposed to be asleep.”

  Marylin began pulling on her jeans over her pajamas. “That’s right, we’re supposed to be asleep, but we’re not. And in a few minutes my mom will come downstairs and find those guys in the kitchen making prank calls and we’ll all get in trouble.”

  Everyone nodded. That was a rule when it came to sleepovers. If the mom in charge got mad at one person, she got mad at all of them. It saved a lot of time in the long run.

  “Well, if we’re all going to get in trouble anyway,” Marylin said, wiggling her head through the neck of her sweater, “we might as well get in trouble for something good.”

  Petey tried to roll over, but he was trapped. Elyse Cassill’s older brother! How had he gotten into Petey’s room? Petey wrestled with all his strength, but his arms were pinned to the bed. “Get off of me, you jerk!” he cried. “Don’t think you’re going to get away with this!”

  The bedroom door opened, light from the hallway flooding in. “What’s all this yelling?” Petey’s mom stood in the doorway. She did not look like a mom who was concerned that her son was fighting for his life. She looked like a mom who was seriously annoyed. She walked over to the top bunk and yanked at Petey’s sheets.

  “You’re having a dream and you’re all tangled up in your sheets,” she told him. “One minute you’re falling out of bed, the next minute you’re being choked to death by your sheets. I should make you sleep on the couch.”

  Suddenly something outside Petey’s window caught his mom’s attention. Elyse Cassill’s brother! Petey knew it! “He’s been there all night, Mom,” Petey informed her. “Just waiting for his chance.”

  Petey’s mom struggled to open the window, then gave up. “Get in bed, Petey, and stay there,” she said, stomping out of the room.

  “But I am in bed,” Petey called after her, jumping down from the t
op bunk. He grabbed his binoculars and peered out the window. Where was that scoundrel? At last, the jig was up, thanks to Petey. Even if Elyse Cassill’s brother managed to make a getaway, Petey had already ID’ed him. He wondered if the police department would offer him a job as a junior detective.

  Petey didn’t see Elyse Cassill’s brother anywhere. He’d gotten away! But there were Marylin and Kate, plus Elyse and Brittany, standing in the middle of the McIntoshes’ snowy front yard. Marylin and Kate were leaning toward each other, whispering.

  Petey smiled. He couldn’t be happy about the heinous crime, whatever it was, committed here tonight by Elyse Cassill and her brother and the rest of that shady crew, but he was happy to see his sister and Kate best friends again. He sat down on the lower bunk, his eyes growing heavy. Detective work sure could take it out of you, he thought, leaning back against the pillow. “Call me when the police get here,” he said, or at least he thought he said it. He was too busy running down his street after some guy whose arms were full of sleeping bags to be sure.

  The snow blanketing the front yard made Marylin think of vanilla frosting. She scooped some up with her bare hand and licked it. The snow tasted sweet and fresh and made Marylin’s tongue tingle. She wondered if Eskimos ate snow for dessert. They could pour chocolate syrup on it and it would almost be like having a sundae.

  “Marylin, what are we doing out here?” Elyse asked, rubbing her hands together. Behind her the trees held out their frozen branches as though they were asking each other to dance.

  Marylin turned to Kate and flapped her arms. She was sending a secret signal that only Kate would understand.

  “Snow angels!” Kate yelled.

  The four girls stood in a row with a few feet between each of them. “Okay,” Marylin instructed. “On the count of three: one, two, . . . three!”

  Everyone flopped backward into the snow. Arms and legs scissored in frozen jumping jacks. Overhead the stars flickered and flamed.

  When they stood up, four silvery angels were spread across the yard.

  “Marylin, what are you girls doing?” Marylin’s mom stood at the front door, her robe wrapped tightly around her. Ashley and Kayla peeked out from behind her shoulders.

  “Come and look, Mrs. McIntosh!” Kate yelled. “It’s like heaven out here!”

  “It’s freezing!” Marylin’s mom ducked back inside. A few moments later she returned to the doorway wearing rubber boots.

  “What is all the commotion about?” she asked, trudging through the snow toward the girls. She sounded annoyed. “I find two of you on the phone asking someone if he’s got Dr Pepper in a can, and the rest of you are outside catching pneumonia. Marylin, I just don’t know why you let these things happen.”

  “Look, Mom,” Marylin said. “Just look.”

  Her mom looked at the snow and didn’t say anything for a second. “Snow angels,” she said finally, making the words sound like the beginning of a song. “Your aunt Tish and I used to love to make snow angels.” Marylin’s mom flapped her arms, as though she could make an angel in the air.

  “Go ahead, Mrs. McIntosh,” Brittany said. “We’ll do it with you.”

  Marylin’s mom nodded her head. “It would be nice to have a yard full of angels.”

  For the next week, until the snow melted completely and ran in rivulets to the street, the angels stayed stretched out across Marylin’s lawn. Every time she walked down her driveway, Marylin thought it was pretty the way the angels melted a little bit every day so that by the end of the week their wings were touching, as if the angels were holding one another up. Her mom’s angel was the tallest, and Marylin’s angel was right next to it, and Kate’s next to Marylin’s. Marylin could see the marks in the snow where their arms had flapped and flapped, as though any second they expected to fly.

  talk to me

  The afternoon sun streamed through the window, making a puddle of light on the kitchen floor. Kate watched it for several minutes, wondering where light went once it got dark outside. Did it fly off to outer space, or did it just stop existing? And did light really have a speed? How could anyone tell? It looked like it was just sitting there to Kate.

  Kate walked over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer compartment. Who needed Marylin and Flannery when life was full of interesting scientific mysteries? Who needed friends when you could have a milk shake? Kate decided that she absolutely did not care that Marylin and Flannery were ignoring her, as though she were a pocket of air taking up space on the school bus. It had happened so quickly, without any warning. There had been the party, where everything was like old times—Kate and Marylin, Marylin and Kate. And then Flannery had come back from her trip to Washington, D.C., and a week later no one was talking to Kate anymore.

  “You are going to blow up like a balloon if you eat ice cream all the time,” Tracie said, walking into the kitchen, where Kate was scooping some Rocky Road into the blender.

  “Is that what happened to you?” Kate asked. “Is that your excuse?”

  “Oh, please,” Tracie said. She opened the refrigerator and took out a can of diet soda. “I weigh exactly what I’m supposed to for my age and height.”

  Tracie was fourteen and acted like she’d recently been crowned Queen of the Universe. She spent two hours a day in the bathroom glopping makeup on her face and spritzing styling gunk all over her hair. It was a wonder Kate ever got a chance to brush her teeth. She’d probably have a mouth full of cavities next time she went to the dentist, just because Tracie couldn’t leave the house without looking like a movie star.

  Kate pushed the MIX button on the blender. “It must be a real pain, being so perfect all the time,” she told Tracie.

  “It can be,” Tracie said. “But I do my best to live with it.”

  Kate pushed the PURÉE button so she wouldn’t have to hear anything else that Tracie said for the next thirty seconds. She watched as the fudge and nuts and marshmallows blurred together into one beautiful shade of chocolate brown.

  Tracie sat down at the kitchen table and leafed through a fashion magazine. “So why aren’t you at Marylin’s?” she asked. “Last time I checked, you were practically living over there.”

  “Marylin’s boring,” Kate said, pouring her milk shake into a glass. “She never wants to do anything good anymore.”

  “Or maybe she just doesn’t want to do anything with you,” Tracie said. “I can’t say that I blame her.”

  It occurred to Kate that throwing her milk shake at Tracie would be a very satisfying thing to do right at that moment. Unfortunately she’d used up the last of the ice cream, and she’d hate to waste perfectly good Rocky Road on someone as dumb as her sister.

  “I’ll forget that you said that,” Kate told Tracie on her way out of the kitchen. “I know you’ll feel very horrible about it later, and that’s enough for me.”

  Tracie’s gulping laughter followed Kate out the front door to the porch. It was the story of Kate’s life. She had friends who didn’t act like friends and a sister who didn’t act like a sister. Maybe everyone she knew should watch more TV so they could get an idea of how normal people treated each other.

  Kate sat down on the top of the steps and began drinking her milk shake. Her next-door neighbor Courtney was standing in her front yard. Courtney was six, and she thought everything Kate did was terrific. Kate could dump a bucket of mud over her head and run in circles around her yard, and Courtney would say, I want to do that! Show me how to do that!

  “Kate, look what I found!” Courtney yelled. From a distance, in her bright-green jacket, Courtney looked like a giant frog. Kate was amazed that little kids never seemed to care about what they wore. Once she had seen Courtney walk down the hall at school dressed in ballet slippers, overalls, and a sweater wrapped around her head like a turban. Courtney appeared to have no idea that at that moment she looked like the weirdest person in the world.

  “Look what I found with my stick!” Courtney called again. A dingy white piece
of fabric was waving from the top of Courtney’s stick like a flag. When Courtney got closer, Kate realized it was a dirty sock.

  “That’s gross,” Kate said. “What in the world do you want that for?”

  “It’s a clue,” Courtney said. “I think it’s a murderer’s sock.”

  “Why would a murderer’s sock be in your front yard?”

  Courtney thought about this for a moment. “Because it fell off of him when he was running away.”

  “Courtney,” Kate said, sighing very loudly to emphasize the fact that she was starting to get annoyed, “what makes you think there’s a murderer around here?”

  Courtney smiled. “Buddy told me.”

  Buddy was Courtney’s invisible friend. According to Courtney, Buddy never slept, and he could sneak into people’s houses without them knowing, and sometimes he had lunch with the president. Courtney always relied on Buddy for the inside scoop.

  “Whatever,” Kate said, draining the last drop of her milk shake. “I’ve got to go in now.” She stood up and turned toward the front door. Just because her so-called friends no longer spoke to her didn’t mean Kate was going to make a habit of hanging out with six-year-olds.

  “But, Kate!” Courtney said, running over to the bottom of the steps. “What if the murderer comes back tonight looking for his sock? He could go into your house and kill you!”

  “I’ll make sure Max sleeps on the end of my bed,” Kate said, not bothering to turn around. “Okay?”

  “I don’t know, Kate,” Courtney said, sounding worried. “I think I better come over and spend the night with you, just in case something bad might happen.”

  Courtney’s big dream was that one day she would be invited to spend the night at Kate’s house. She was always inventing excuses about why it was very important that she sleep over. Last week she claimed her mom had a cold, and if Courtney didn’t spend the night at Kate’s, she would probably catch her mom’s cold and die.