Call Me Sunflower Read online

Shakespeare? My hand flew to my forehead. The only thing I knew about Shakespeare was this quote Mom kept on the bulletin board in her office: “To thine own self be true.” When I asked Mom what it meant, she said it was about being the person you were supposed to be deep inside, and not worrying so much about what other people thought of you.

  All I knew was that Shakespeare spoke in riddles, and I wasn’t crazy about singing in front of everyone either. I skipped to Problem 5: “Odyssey Angels.” It looked like a lot of fun. Nothing too technical, no required song-and-dance … just a humorous skit about angels.

  I crossed my fingers under the table, hoping my new team members would feel the same way I did.

  Coach Baker started the discussion a few minutes later.

  “I think we should build the vehicle,” said a boy whose name tag read Carson Fullers. He must have been an eighth grader because he was twice my height and about twice as wide. “I know how to rig up a brake suspension system.”

  A couple of kids echoed him, commenting how cool building a vehicle would be. Someone said something about figuring out how to propel it with power steering. One boy reached for his notebook and began sketching.

  My stomach twisted and I crossed the fingers of my other hand, as well.

  “I think we should do a musical theater skit about Shakespeare,” Lydia said. “We did Shakespeare monologues at our homeschool co-op last year and it was a lot of fun!”

  “I’m with Lydia,” said Jalia. “My mom teaches Shakespeare in her classes at the university, and I’ve seen some of the plays. We could come up with a million puns and all kinds of wordplay if we were doing Shakespeare.”

  I looked over at Jalia, recognizing her from math class. She had light brown skin and curly dark hair, and wore small round glasses. I wasn’t surprised by Lydia’s choice, but who would have guessed there was another sixth grader who actually loved Shakespeare, too? I clenched my fingers tighter.

  Avi spoke up for the first time. “I’m for Weird Science. We’d get to travel to outer space.”

  “How about you, Sunny?” Coach Baker asked. “Which problem are you most interested in?”

  “Um, how about Problem Five?” I uncrossed my cramped fingers and ran my hands up and down my jeans to loosen them up. Staying quiet was obviously not getting me anywhere. “I’m not good at technical stuff, and I don’t know a thing about Shakespeare except it’s really hard to understand. So I think we should pick Odyssey Angels.”

  Someone groaned, and Coach Baker said, “We need to listen to everyone’s opinion here. We’re a team now, remember?”

  “You don’t have to know Shakespeare to choose Problem Three,” Lydia said. “It’s all about making the wrong choices.”

  I shrugged. “We’d have to build a trapdoor,” I said, pointing to that part of the description. “And I’m a terrible singer.”

  “You won’t have to do a solo,” Jalia said. “We’ll sing together.”

  “Forget the singing,” Carson said. “Let’s build a vehicle!”

  The discussion went on and on for a long time until it sounded more like an argument. Finally, Coach Baker blew his whistle. “Your homework is to write down three good reasons for choosing a particular problem. Everyone will make his or her case next week, and then we’ll vote.”

  I packed up my stuff and followed Lydia outside to wait for my mom. I stood there quietly until Lydia said, “So if it’s a choice between the vehicle and Shakespeare, which one will you vote for?”

  “I don’t want to do the vehicle—”

  “That’s what I thought.” A triumphant smile flashed across her face. “If you don’t want to get stuck with the vehicle, just make sure you vote for Shakespeare next week. We’ll outnumber them for sure.”

  “There are seven of us on the team,” I pointed out. “And even if I vote with you and Jalia, that only makes three.”

  “Avi’s the wild card,” Lydia said. “But don’t worry, Jalia and I will take care of him. He’ll vote on our side. I’m sure of it.”

  I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “I already told you, Lydia, I don’t want to do the Shakespeare skit. And what makes you so sure Avi won’t vote for the vehicle?”

  “He won’t, any more than you will,” Lydia said.

  “You don’t know everything,” I said, getting more annoyed with her by the second. I took a slow deep breath to stay calm. “Maybe I’ll convince Avi and one of the other boys to go with Odyssey Angels instead.”

  “Now that,” Lydia said, giving me a know-it-all grin, “is unlikely.” She slung her backpack over her shoulder as a small blue car covered with bumper stickers pulled up to the curb. One of the stickers jumped out from the others: CRUEL PEOPLE WEAR FUR.

  Lydia’s mom rolled down the window. “Hi, Sunny! How’s it going?”

  “Great,” I managed to say through gritted teeth. As the car pulled away, I tried not to think about the bumper sticker. Even though Lydia got on my nerves, we were on the same side about animal rights. I wished I could tell her how I felt about furs, but that would mean telling her my grandmother owned Luxury Furs and Leathers. She’d expect me to do whatever it took to get my grandmother to shut down her store. Lydia would never understand that I was stuck right in the middle.

  That meant it was up to me to make sure she never found out who really owned the fur store right down the sidewalk from Earthly Goods.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  From: [email protected]

  To: [email protected]

  Ooh-Motional Vehicle!

  We picked our OM problem! We’re doing Ooh-Motional Vehicle! It’s going to be so cool. Trent says he knows how to build a car because he did the soapbox derby.

  Wish you were here!

  From: [email protected]

  To: [email protected]

  Re: Ooh-Motional Vehicle!

  We still haven’t decided on our problem. There was a big argument about it. I don’t know anything about making cars and I don’t want to do musical theater because, as you know, I can’t sing!

  There’s one girl who is going to be really angry if I don’t pick musical theater, but I’m not sure what I’m going to vote for next week.

  Do you think I should vote for the car, Weird Science, or my favorite that no one else likes…. Odyssey Angels???

  From: [email protected]

  To: [email protected]

  Re: Ooh-Motional Vehicle!

  Of course you can sing! Just stay away from the high notes. Who knows? Maybe if you vote for the angels, others will join you.

  Don’t worry about making someone mad. She’ll get over it!

  P.S. Did I tell you Emma G. is on my team this year?

  ***

  I stared at Madeline’s email for a long time before I hit DELETE. I’d been so excited to see her name pop up on the computer screen, but now I wished I had never read it. I’d never been crazy about Emma G. I wondered if she was trying to replace me as Madeline’s best friend when, here I was, stuck in North Carolina where I didn’t have any friends at all.

  Madeline’s email was still on my mind as I sat in my usual spot at lunch the following Wednesday pretending like I was paying attention to the conversation, which was sprinkled with a lot of boys’ names and a lot of talk about what someone had heard somebody say about somebody else. That’s when Lydia walked right up to our table.

  “Did you change your mind about the problem?” she asked me. She’d dropped the overly confident tone I’d heard after last week’s meeting, and I could hear a hint of worry in her voice. “Please, please, tell me you’re voting for Problem Three.”

  “I guess you’ll have to wait for the meeting,” I said.

  “Well, can I see what you wrote? I’ll show you mine,” Lydia said, handing me a folded piece of paper.

  “That’s okay,” I said, shaking my head. I noticed the table had gone completely quiet, and I was ready for her to take her persuasive paper
and go back to wherever she usually sat in the cafeteria.

  “Um, well, okay.” Lydia looked unsure of herself for the first time as she put the folded piece of paper back in her pocket. “It’s just that I really don’t want to do Ooh-motional Vehicle. I’ll go with Weird Science before I vote for that.”

  “What are ya’ll talking about?” Jessie asked, wrinkling up her nose. “Weird Science? Ooh-motional Vehicle?”

  “It’s for Odyssey of the Mind,” I told her. “Lydia and I are on the same team.”

  “Yeah, I heard about that on the announcements,” Cassie said. “It must be a team of weirdos, because Avi Sterling’s in it, too.”

  “Who’s Avi Sterling?” Chloe asked.

  “He’s this short kid with glasses whose hair sticks out all over his head, like Einstein,” Cassie said.

  “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen him in the hall!” Meghan said with a giggle.

  Cassie rolled her eyes. “He is a complete nerd!”

  My stomach flipped. Say something, I told myself. Tell them Avi’s a nice kid, and they shouldn’t make fun of someone because of the way he looks!

  But my mouth stayed shut, like I’d swallowed a big spoonful of peanut butter.

  “Avi Sterling is super smart,” Lydia said. “Who cares if his hair sticks up?”

  Cassie snorted.

  “So what’s Odyssey of the Mind all about anyway?” Jessie asked me.

  “We have to write a skit,” I told her. “And then we compete against other OM teams.”

  “It’s much more than that,” Lydia interrupted. “It’s all about creativity. And using your brain.”

  “Wow, sounds like fun,” Cassie said, making it sound as much fun as ten pages of math homework.

  “It is loads of fun,” Lydia protested, turning to Cassie. “Don’t knock something until you’ve tried it.”

  “‘Don’t knock something until you’ve tried it,’” Cassie mimicked, and some of the girls giggled.

  My cheeks got hot. I knew I should speak up, but I still couldn’t get myself to.

  Lydia hesitated, and when I didn’t say anything else to her either, she said, “Well, I guess I’ll see you after school, Sunny. No hard feelings, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I managed as Lydia walked away from the table.

  “What a loser,” Cassie said under her breath.

  Words got stuck in my throat again. What was wrong with me? In New Jersey, I was nice to everyone. I’d never hurt someone’s feelings on purpose.

  “Hey, Sunny,” Jessie said. “I’ve got the greatest idea! You should come to the Drama Club meeting with me after school today. They’ll need someone who’s good at art to work on scenery.”

  “You’re joining Drama Club?” Chloe asked. “I thought you were trying out for the cheerleading squad.”

  “I am,” Jessie said. “Who says I can’t do both?”

  Chloe shrugged. “I didn’t know you were going out for Drama Club, that’s all. You never mentioned it.”

  “Yeah,” Cassie added. “There’re a lot of weird kids in Drama Club.”

  “So what? It sounds like fun.” Jessie turned to me. “What do you think, Sunny? Will you meet me after school?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t. Odyssey of the Mind meets every Wednesday.”

  “Well,” Jessie said, “OM sounds interesting, and all, but we’ll fill up the auditorium for the plays. I could get a starring role, and kids will think it’s cool if we’re in the club together.” Jessie turned to the rest of the table. “Come on, ya’ll. We should all go to the meeting today. It’ll be fun!”

  “No, thanks,” Cassie said, and the other girls shook their heads and started offering up excuses. While Jessie was trying to make her case, I got the idea that Cassie was the one who decided what was cool and what wasn’t. Maybe she stunk at singing and acting, so it was easier to make fun of something when she knew she could never get a starring role.

  Jessie turned back to me. “You can do Odyssey of the Mind and Drama Club. Today’s the first meeting, so we’ll talk about what the best day is for everyone. I’m sure we can convince them to not choose Wednesday. Come on. You’ll love it.”

  I tucked my hair behind my ears and took a sip from my juice box. Jessie didn’t have any idea about what I loved—she hardly even knew me. But then she grabbed my wrist and gave me one of her sparkly grins, in a totally BFF way. “Come on, Sunny, say you’ll come with me today …”

  I sputtered and the juice squirted back out, through my nose. Jessie dropped my wrist, and I wiped at my face with the back of my hand. “I, uh, I just remembered. I have a doctor’s appointment after school, so I can’t go with you.”

  Jessie crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You just remembered?”

  “Yeah. My mom will be waiting for me.”

  “Whatever.”

  She was annoyed, but I couldn’t tell if she believed me about the appointment. I just lied to Jessie, I thought, as the conversation returned to its usual ping-pong of names. If Jessie finds out I lied, she’ll probably dump me. Just like I did to Lydia that day she brought eggplant for lunch.

  I’d competed for a spot on the OM team and earned it. I loved OM. But was it worth giving up the chance to be part of the popular crowd? I thought about it for the rest of lunch.

  By the time the bell rang, I still didn’t have an answer.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When the last bell rang, I followed the crowd out the front doors. I stood under the covered walkway trying to look like I was waiting for my mom, but I was just wasting time while I decided what to do. Jessie really wanted me to go to the drama club meeting, and if I didn’t go, I might lose my invitation to sit at her lunch table, and then where would I be? I’d dumped Avi after a week and treated Lydia even worse. Besides, I’d noticed they both had found other kids to sit with.

  Missing one meeting didn’t mean I had to quit the OM team for good.

  Except. Except that today was the day of the big vote, and if I didn’t show up and share my thoughts, Coach Baker might choose someone else for the team. Of course, quitting OM would solve the problem about what to vote for, and it meant I wouldn’t have to deal with Lydia anymore either. But I wasn’t a quitter. Not only that, I loved Odyssey of the Mind. I’d earned my spot and giving it up would be like giving up on myself. Or, at least the person I’d always been.

  As the building cleared out, I felt my feet begin to move forward. Before I realized what was happening, I’d taken off at a run toward the media center, grabbing my seat right as the meeting got started.

  “Okay, settle down, everyone.” Coach Baker held up his hand to get our attention. “I’m assuming everyone has put some thought into their choices for the Long-Term Problem. Now it’s time to use your arguments to convince your team members. Who’d like to go first?”

  Coach Baker called on Lydia since she was waving her hand wildly in the air. I sat on top of my hands, hoping everyone else would be as eager to share their thoughts as Lydia. I’d given up on the idea of Odyssey Angels since no one else had been interested in it. Instead of writing up my reasons for my choice, I was hoping that by the time Coach Baker called on me, it would be easier to cast a deciding vote. If someone had defected from the vehicle side and had chosen Weird Science instead, I could cast the winning vote, so it would be 3–2–2 in favor of Weird Science.

  Unfortunately, after five members had read their long and detailed speeches, it was 3–2 in favor of the Ooh-motional Vehicle. It was down to Avi and me.

  “All right, who wants to go next?” Coach Baker asked, looking at both of us. I bit my lip. It looked like no matter what I chose, I’d be stuck doing a problem I wasn’t interested in.

  I glanced over at Lydia, who gave me a pleading look. Somehow, looking across the table at her, I got that funny feeling in my stomach again, the one I’d had after I’d walked away from her in the cafeteria. Even though I’d tried to apologize, it didn’t change what I had done. I hadn’t
defended her when the other girls made rude comments and I’d chosen them over her. She’d been awfully bossy in telling me which problem to pick, but I owed her one.

  “I think we should do ‘To Be or Not to Be,’” I said, still looking at Lydia. A smile spread across her face, and I felt one tugging at the corners of my mouth, too. “It’s about making bad choices and learning from them. Plus, I don’t know anything about building a vehicle.”

  Jalia and Lydia cheered, and that’s when Avi said, “I think musical theater will be fun. I helped with the choreography for a play at church, and I’m pretty good at writing songs.”

  I stared at Avi, surprised. Not only was it the most I’d ever heard him say, but I’d never expected him to have musical theater talents. Lydia and Jalia hugged each other while the vehicle crew mumbled about how disappointed they were.

  “Looks like we have a decision!” Coach Baker boomed out. “Problem number three it is!”

  Lydia gave Jalia a high five, but when I tried to join in the celebration, she opened her notebook and started scribbling. The smile she’d given me a few minutes earlier was wiped clean from her face.

  ***

  After school, I was still thinking about Lydia as I slipped a saucer of tuna under the bushes in the backyard. As much as Lydia annoyed me, I was glad we were on the same OM team. There was something about her that seemed genuine, same as with Avi, the boy I’d thought of only as “Dragon Boy” for weeks. Again, I wondered if Lydia and I might actually be friends if I could just get up the courage to tell her I felt the same way she did about the fur store.

  I heard leaves rustle and turned to see the caramel-colored cat making her way across the yard. I’d only seen the cat twice in the last couple of weeks, but I knew she’d been coming around because the plates were always empty when I checked.

  She moved boldly, as if she were no longer afraid of me. Maybe she knew I was the one who’d been leaving food for her.

  I crouched down and stretched out my hand. “Come here, kitty,” I called softly.

  And then I waited. And waited. She finally made her way over, pushing her head up against my hand. “You came back,” I said. “You don’t have a home, do you?”