What Are You Hiding, Tory? (9781771275347) Read online

  “Hi, Liza. What’s up?”

  “Can you babysit me?” Liza asked. I was so surprised by her question, and I didn’t answer her right away. “Can you?” she asked again.

  “Did you ask your mom about this?” I asked her.

  Liza’s head bobbed up and down. She was smiling, and I could see the space where she had lost a bottom tooth the week before.

  “Well then, sure,” I said, “I’d love to.” This will be so cool. The truth was, Liza was one of my favorite kids in the kindergarten class. And, I love babysitting.

  “My mommy said for you to write down your phone number so she can call you.” Liza was smart. She had everything worked out.

  When the recess bell rang, we went back inside, and I found a piece of paper on Miss Denny’s desk. I wrote down my phone number and told Liza to put the piece of paper someplace where she wouldn’t lose it. As Kelly and I left the classroom, I saw Liza tuck the piece of paper into the front pocket of her overalls. She was smiling her big, missing-tooth smile again.

  “You’re lucky!” Kelly said on the way back upstairs to our classroom. “I wish my mom would let me babysit.”

  Kelly’s parents are kind of strict. They let her stay home and watch Kristen and Hayden, but they told her she has to be at least thirteen before they would let her babysit at someone else’s house. I’ve been babysitting since I turned eleven in January.

  “You’ll be allowed to babysit next year,” I reminded Kelly.

  “I know, but that’s not until seventh grade is almost over,” Kelly whined. Kelly’s birthday isn’t until the end of May.

  “Well, maybe your mom will let you come with me when I babysit for Liza sometimes,” I said.

  “Hey, great idea!” Kelly cheered up, but a minute later she looked gloomy again. “I don’t know if my dad will let me do that.” She was silent for a second. “Maybe I could just tell my parents I’m sleeping over at your house, and I won’t tell them I’m going to babysit with you.” Kelly looked a little brighter at that idea, but I didn’t like it much. I hate it when Kelly lies to her parents. I sort of understand why she does it, though. Her parents are so strict she would hardly get to do anything if she didn’t stretch the truth a little or not tell her parents everything once in a while. Still, I don’t think I could ever lie to my parents.

  With all the excitement about babysitting, I temporarily forgot all about the Halloween party. On the way home from school, Kelly started talking about it again. We were walking Kristen home though, so I just listened.

  “Do you want to come over so we can start planning the party?” Kelly was so excited.

  “No. Hayden’s sick. I don’t want to catch the flu from him.” Another problem with having CF is that when I get sick, it’s a lot worse, and it lasts a lot longer than with other kids. So I try to stay away from sick people as much as I can.

  “Oh, yeah,” Kelly said. “Well, then we’ll just go to your house.”

  I didn’t feel much like having Kelly come over to work on the party plans, but I said, “Okay.” I was kind of tired and worried that I actually was starting to get sick without Hayden’s help. What I really wanted to do was go home, take a little nap before dinner, and then do my homework. I didn’t want to disappoint Kelly though, so I didn’t say anything.

  We sat at the kitchen table eating homemade brownies with chocolate milk.

  “These brownies are great. My mom never puts nuts in her brownies,” Kelly said. “I love them this way.”

  “Jenny made them last night. She makes the best brownies.”

  Alec walked into the kitchen dressed in his usual blue jeans and a T-shirt. He grabbed a bunch of brownies. “Hey,” he mumbled in our direction.

  “Hey,” I said back. Kelly turned her full attention on him. “Hi, Alec. How are you?”

  “Good.” He was paying more attention to the glass of milk he was pouring than to Kelly. “See ya’,” he said, before he disappeared up the stairs to his room.

  When Alec was gone, I said, “Kelly?”

  “Huh?” she answered, her eyes still fixed on the stairs where Alec had just been.

  “Kelly!”

  “He’s so cute,” she said dreamily. “Those blue eyes, and that beautiful blonde hair.”

  Alec’s hair is exactly the same color as mine, but I have never heard Kelly call my hair beautiful!

  “Kelly!”

  “What?”

  “Can we get back to the subject of the party, please?” Between discussing how cute Kelly thinks my brother is and the Halloween party, I’d choose the party any day.

  She showed me the list of girls she had written down the night before. Her name was at the top, with my name right under it. Then, there were Zoe, Shayna, and Isabella.

  “Why are you inviting them? I mean, Zoe is okay, but Shayna? She is so…snobby!”

  “She’s really not. You just don’t know her that well.”

  “Oh, and you do?”

  “Well, actually I do. She invited me over to her house last Saturday, and I had a pretty good time.”

  “You went to her house? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I thought you would be mad,” Kelly said in a quieter voice than the one she used a moment before.

  “That’s stupid. Why would I be mad?” I asked, but I didn’t care so much for an answer. I was just curious about what Shayna’s house looked like. Everyone knows that her parents have a lot of money. But at the moment I was too tired to get into that conversation with Kelly. Besides, if Shayna came to the party maybe she would end up inviting me to her house sometime, and I could see it for myself.

  “All right, Shayna is okay, too. But, Kelly, why on earth would you invite Isabella? Besides, she won’t come if Sara’s not invited,” I pointed out.

  Kelly thought about that for a minute and then added Sara’s name to her list.

  “Kelly! That’s not exactly what I had in mind!”

  “Is there anyone else you think we should invite?” she asked, ignoring my opinion on Sara. Her pencil was poised to write down any names I suggested. I thought for a second while I took a bite of another brownie.

  “How about Nicolle and Lily?” Nicolle Davies and Lily Miller have been in our class since second grade. They’re nice, but we don’t do much with them because they are best friends and stick with each other all the time like Kelly and I do.

  “Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about them,” Kelly said as she added their names.

  “And maybe we should invite Diana?”

  “Diana? Why? We’re not friends with her,” Kelly said, as if I needed a reminder.

  “I know, but she’s so shy she’ll never make friends with anyone. If we invite her, she’ll have a chance to get to know some of the girls in our class.”

  “You’re right,” Kelly said. “That’s pretty nice of you.”

  One of the cool things about Kelly is that she is not afraid of complimenting people to their faces. I like that about her.

  She reached for another brownie and took a bite. I watched her chew for a minute before I said, “Kelly?”

  “What?”

  “I’ve got to ask you something?” I was nervous. I felt dumb when I asked her, “Well, I mean, what about my therapy? At the sleepover, I mean.”

  Kelly knows all about my nightly routine. She’s even seen me do it. I’ve slept over at her house lots of times. Kelly’s mom is a respiratory therapist, so she knows the old kind of therapy Mom did for me when I was little. In fact, it’s because of Kelly’s mom’s job that Kelly and I are friends in the first place.

  * * * *

  It’s actually pretty cool how Kelly and I got to be friends. Lots of kids have been friends with each other since preschool or kindergarten. But Kelly and I have been friends since my parents first learned I had CF. We were three. The best part about knowing Kelly practically all my life is I never had to explain CF to her. It’s always been something she just accepts. I guess that’s why we are best friend
s.

  After I was sick with pneumonia for the fifth time, Mom and Dad were terribly worried about me. Our doctor decided to do some tests because he agreed I was sick too much. Anyway, after the doctor did a sweat test and they found out I had CF, I had to start getting respiratory therapy. The respiratory therapist who took care of me when I was in the hospital was Kelly’s mom.

  I’ve only had to go back into the hospital once since that first time, the time I got pneumonia again when I was seven. That was over summer break, though, so none of the kids in my class even knew about it.

  Whenever I sleep over at Kelly’s house, her mom does my therapy for me before I go to sleep and then again in the morning. It’s a nice break from the machine, which is much too heavy and bulky to bring with me for a sleepover. I like when Mrs. Conrad does my therapy. She pounds a little longer than the time it takes for my machine to do the treatment. I think that’s because when she works at the hospital she has to give her patients 45-minute treatments. She doesn’t seem to mind doing my therapy. The other reason I like it is Mom and Dad get to take a break.

  The only thing I don’t like about having Mrs. Conrad do my therapy is that she doesn’t talk to me the way Mom does. Mom and I talk about things like school and my friends and movies and books I’m reading and stuff like that, regular family things. But Mrs. Conrad asks me lots of questions about how I’m feeling and if I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing to keep myself healthy. It’s as if she thinks I’m one of her patients at the hospital. Sometimes Mom and I watch TV or listen to one of my CDs and we don’t talk at all. When I was little, we used to sing songs together, or Dad would tell me stories.

  One time when I slept over I let Kelly try to give me therapy, but her arms got tired after about two minutes.

  Doing therapy at Kelly’s is no big deal, but how was I going to manage this with all the other girls at Kelly’s party? They don’t know I have CF. I don’t like to tell people because I don’t want to be treated as if I’m sick. If people ask why I’m coughing, I usually just say I have a cold.

  “Hmm,” Kelly said, her third brownie half in her hand and half in her mouth. “I hadn’t thought about your therapy.” Kelly’s plan was for everyone to come to her house before dinner on Halloween so we could start trick-or-treating as soon as it got dark out. “I guess you could go home after dinner and get your therapy before we go to bed.”

  “Sure,” I moaned, “and what would we tell everyone about why I have to leave?” It sounded like a ridiculous idea to me.

  “Why don’t you just tell them the truth?”

  “No,” I said, even though the thought had already crossed my mind. “I’m not ready,” I said quietly.

  Chapter Nine

  Kelly and I were still sitting at the kitchen table when Mom came home from work that evening. Mom invited Kelly to stay for dinner. I tried to give Mom my special look that means “No, don’t do that,” but she wasn’t paying attention. Kelly didn’t notice either, which was good. I think she would have gotten upset if she knew I didn’t feel like having her stay.

  She said, “Sure! What are we having?”

  “Mr. Richards wants to cook burgers out on the grill one last time before it’s too cold out,” Mom said. I thought it was already too cold out. I hoped we wouldn’t have to eat outside, too.

  “You girls can help me with the potato salad.”

  “Okay!” Kelly likes to cook, but her parents don’t let her do much in the kitchen at their house. I think they’re afraid she’ll mess it up. Kelly’s house is so clean.

  Mom opened the refrigerator and took out carrots, celery, eggs, and mayonnaise. Kelly brought a bag of potatoes out of the pantry and started peeling them while I got down a big pot and filled it with water to boil on the stove.

  I was standing at the counter peeling potatoes with Kelly. Mom looked over and said, “Tory, you look a little flushed.” She says that word, flushed, when she means that I look like I have a fever. It always makes me think of the toilet.

  “I’m fine, I just have a headache.” I didn’t tell her it was a pretty bad headache, or that I was starting to have a little bit of trouble breathing, too. My chest felt congested, as if I had forgotten to do my therapy that morning. Except I hadn’t forgotten.

  “Sit down, and I’ll be right back with some ibuprofen,” she instructed.

  Kelly looked up from her potatoes and over at me. “Are you sick?”

  “No,” I said kind of quietly. Kelly looked like she didn’t believe me. I hate getting sick because I am afraid I’ll have to go into the hospital again. I would miss school. I would miss out on recess with the kindergarten class. I didn’t think Kelly could handle the students by herself. Someone else would have to help her. What if Zoe Warner went to help her? What if the kids liked her better than they like me, especially since Zoe’s brother Jack is in their class? What if Zoe took over my job? Oh, I just couldn’t be getting sick! What if….

  “Tory!” Mom shook my shoulder. “Where were you? Here, take this.” She handed me an ibuprofen tablet and a glass of apple juice. My head hurt even more from thinking about being sick.

  * * * *

  We didn’t eat dinner outside. We ate at the dining room table. Kelly was busy telling my family all about her plans for the Halloween party. Or maybe I should say she was telling Alec all about the party. She never took her eyes off him during the entire meal! The crazy thing is, Alec didn’t even seem to notice. Alec was telling us about something funny that had happened in the eighth grade that day. His whole class had gone to the auditorium to hear some teenagers talk about the high school where Jenny goes. When they all sat down, a boy named Josh Schneider sat in a broken seat and fell on the floor.

  I wasn’t talking much, and just kind of playing with my food. I thought maybe I wasn’t hungry because of all the brownies I had eaten in the afternoon. It was just too difficult to eat and breathe at the same time. Then I realized my lungs felt even more congested than they had after school. I should have gone upstairs to do my therapy before dinner.

  “Even his zits turned redder!” Alec laughed as he finished his story about Josh. We all started laughing, which made me cough. That happens sometimes if I laugh too hard. I was coughing so violently I started to choke and couldn’t get a breath. What if I died right there at the dining room table? Panic made it harder to breathe. Mom, who was sitting at the foot of the table next to me, leaned close and said quietly, “Short breaths ... Relax … You’re okay.” When Mom talked like that, her voice calmed me down. I was finally able to get a breath.

  “Hey sorry, Tory,” Alec said, “next time I’ll try not to be so funny!” That made everyone laugh again, only this time I laughed very carefully.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning I felt better. My headache was gone, and I was breathing pretty well after my therapy, so I went to school. Kelly’s brother, Hayden, was still sick though, so Kristen walked to school with us again. I couldn’t talk to Kelly about the party anymore.

  In fact, we didn’t get a chance to talk about it again until we walked to the zoo on Sunday afternoon. I was surprised to hear that Kelly and her mom had worked the whole breathing treatment thing out.

  “Here’s my plan,” Kelly said as we stood eating popcorn in front of the big lion cages. “My mom and I are going to make popcorn balls for the party and then we’re going to hide them, so nobody sees them when they come over in the afternoon. When it’s time for you to do your therapy, we’ll just say that you’re going upstairs to help my mom make your famous popcorn balls. The rest of us will be in the basement in our sleeping bags, and my mom will do your therapy up in my room. When you’re done, you can just come down to the basement with the popcorn balls we already made!”

  Kelly had obviously done a lot of thinking about my problem. The only thing that bothered me was lying to everyone. But I didn't have a better idea other than telling them what I was actually doing, and that was out of the question.
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  “What about in the morning?” I asked as we stopped to watch the tigers. There was a new tiger cub in the cage, and its mother was giving it a bath.

  “I haven’t quite figured that one out yet,” Kelly said, leaning against the guard rail to get a closer look at the baby tiger.

  “Maybe I could just do it later when I get home.” I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. I always do my therapy right when I wake up, even on the weekends. I didn’t know how my body would feel if I waited until later in the afternoon after I left Kelly’s house.

  “Do you think tigers like popcorn?” Kelly asked me.

  “I don’t know, Kel, but the sign over there says they’re on a special diet. So we can’t feed them.”

  Kelly turned around and tossed some of her popcorn to the pigeons walking around looking for food. There was no sign saying not to feed them.

  * * * *

  Kelly and I got to school extra early on Monday. The invitations to the Halloween party were in Kelly’s backpack, and we wanted to pass them out before the bell rang. When our friends got to school, I helped hand them out.

  Diana looked totally shocked when Kelly handed her the orange envelope with pumpkin stickers all over it.

  “Is this for me?” she asked. I felt like saying, “No. It's for someone else. We just want you to hold it for a while.”

  Kelly was polite and said, “Yes, of course.”

  Zoe, Shayna, Nicolle, and Lily all opened their invitations right away. They all said they would come to the party, except for Shayna, who didn’t know us as well. She said she would have to ask her mom first. As soon as Isabella and Sara opened theirs, I knew I had been right about it being a mistake to invite them.

  “Aren’t we a little old for sleepovers, Kelly?” Sara asked.

  “I think that means her mother doesn’t let her have sleepovers,” I whispered to Zoe, who was still standing with us. Zoe giggled.

  “You don’t really expect us to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating, do you?” Sara said in a snotty voice. “We’re not eight!” she continued. Kelly looked pretty hurt then. The invitations did say to wear a costume, and that we would go trick-or-treating. Poor Kelly.