Chapter 14
Age Twelve
“Guess what?” I say to Dani as we walk out of the school building. Our friends stream out alongside us, and we call out goodbyes to all of them.
“What?” Dani says. She passes me her can of Coke. She’s allowed one soda every three days, and because she’s my best friend, she shares them with me.
I take a sip and savor the way the bubbles pop in the back of my mouth. “There’s going to be a new kid at school. A girl.”
“How’d you know?”
“I overheard Mrs. Rawlins talking about it. Apparently she’s going to be in our homeroom.”
Dani shrugs as I pass the Coke can back to her. “Cool,” she says, in a meh tone of voice. I can’t believe she’s not more excited about it.
“I can’t wait to meet the new girl,” I say. “I bet she’s going to be really awesome.”
Dani doesn’t reply, and for a second, I wonder if she didn’t hear me. Then she says, “Why are you so excited about it?”
“I don’t know, I guess because it’s a new thing and it would be fun to have a new friend?”
“I guess,” Dani says. “Oh hey, check out the new earrings my aunt gave me. They’re from Japan!”
All thoughts of the new kid flee my mind, and the rest of the way to Dani’s, we chat about everything from the latest lip gloss to which boy has the strongest body odor.
I love these afternoons when I walk home with Dani and spend the rest of the day at hers, doing homework and eating cookies.
I usually stay there until half past five, then Dani’s mom drives me home in time for dinner.
But that day, in the middle of writing our compositions for English, Dani suddenly looks up and pokes me in the arm. “Fern,” she says, and there’s something in her voice that makes my instincts prick up.
“Yeah?”
She looks at me with wide eyes, as though she is almost scared. “Um, about that new kid . . .” She chews on her bottom lip for a bit, then says, “I know you’re super excited about her, but do you promise you and I will be best friends no matter what?”
Warmth spreads across my body, and I laugh. “Oh my god, Dani! Duh, obviously! I can’t believe you were worried about that!”
Dani giggles. “Well, I mean, you were just so excited about her! And you know what they say, life happens—”
“In mysterious ways,” I say at the same time as she does. Dani says that so often that it’s become an inside joke between us. “You know no one’s ever going to replace you. We’re Dani and Fern. We’re besties forever.”
We grin at each other, our smiles equally wide.
“Besties forever,” Dani agrees.