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COLORS OF ME

If seasons were tubes of paint, last fall would have been deep, dark black. Winter was also dark, but more like a foggy gray with lots of huge black blobs mixed in. Spring had some blue, but blue comes in lots of shades, from almost blackish blue to bright sky blue. And then there was summer. Summer had more colors than the other seasons, with hints of purples, but like one of my many soccer bruises, it could look pretty hideous with its swirling blend of black, blues, and tinges of sickly yellow. Grief is hard. Really hard. And you can’t put the cap back on when you want to, like you can with a tube of paint.

A GIFT

A Gift

“I brought you something you can use when you’re feeling like you . . . might . . . explode.”

My mom’s best friend, Deborah Rollins, passes me a rectangular package wrapped in bug paper. It’s covered with crawling ants. What a weird way to express support. “Here, have some bugs. I hope they make your skin crawl.”

“Oh . . . thanks,” I stammer, as we stand at the front door of my house on what has to be the hottest day in August.

“Go ahead. Open it,” Deborah says a little too cheerfully. Her eyes and mouth are smiling, but her body is stiff, like she really doesn’t want to be here. My body is stiff, too, like one of those cardboard dolls little girls dress in paper clothes. I wasn’t expecting her visit, and I don’t know if I am supposed to invite her in. I don’t really want to.

I slowly open the paper, feeling a bit like I need to protect the delicate paper ants.

“It’s . . . cute,” I force myself to say.

Deborah’s gift is a pink furry book. I flip it open and see white. Blank white pages.

“It’s for writing. Writing your feelings and, well, you know, things like that,” Deborah explains.

“You mean like a journal?”

“Exactly. I think journals and diaries are great, don’t you? Remember how Anne Frank wrote in a diary during the Holocaust?”

“Yeah. We read that in seventh grade.”

“She was about your age,” Deborah points out.

“I know.”

Deborah wipes the sweat on her forehead, then asks me, “Well, don’t you think it helped her deal with a bad situation?”

“Anne Frank didn’t survive.”

“Yes, but . . . but your situation’s different, Corinna. You’re going to survive.”

My throat gets really tight after she says this, and my brain tells me: Get out of here right now.

“Thanks,” I manage to squeeze through the narrow opening in my airway. I don’t even bother to say good-bye. I turn away from the front door, walk up the stairs, and escape into the safety of my room, leaving Deborah standing there. Maki, my dog, follows me. I slam my bedroom door shut before tossing the journal on the floor and throwing myself down on my bed. What was Deborah thinking, giving me a totally tacky fake-fur journal? She must  not know anything about what teenagers like. I seriously hope she doesn’t follow me up here.

School is starting in two days. How am I going to make it through a whole day of school, much less a week or a year?

I wait until I hear the front door click shut and then decide to go for a bike ride on the Crescent Trail. It’s so hot that Maki is panting even in the air-conditioning, so I let him stay home. The boiling August heat isn’t going to stop me, though.

The wind blowing on my sweaty face feels good as I pedal hard and fast on my blue mountain bike, the one I got for my last birthday. I practically wipe out on the speed bumps just before the bike path, that’s how much of a hurry I’m in. I want to be a normal biker going to downtown Bethesda. A normal girl.

“Watch out!” a lady yells. She’s pushing a baby stroller.

Then I almost hit a Rollerblader.

My legs are exhausted and my entire body is dripping with sweat as I enter the refrigerator-cold of the gigantic bookstore on Bethesda Avenue. At first, I just catch my breath and enjoy the air-conditioning. Then I make my way to the back of the store, where they keep the racks of books and journals. I take my time as I look, but I always return to a brown suede one on the top shelf. When I hold it in my hands, it feels soft, almost like skin. Well, I guess it is skin, from a cow. Brown suede is much better for a teenager. Does Deborah really think of me as a little girl who loves pink fur just because I’m not exactly big on top?

On my hot and sweaty ride home, I decide to name my new suede journal, like Anne Frank did. Anne called hers Kitty. I choose Suki for mine because it sounds Japanese and kind of sophisticated. I want to tell someone about Suki, someone other than Deborah. I wouldn’t want her to know her stupid gift has given me the idea to keep a journal. Before I go inside the house, I flip open my phone, press Contacts, Mom, and then Send.

“Hello, this is Sophie Burdette, musician and teacher. Please leave me a message, including your phone number, even if you think I already have it. I’ll return your call as soon as my hands are free.”

All I can say is, “Mom . . .” I close the phone and close my eyes.

FROZEN

Frozen

“Bye, honey. Have a great day,” a mom says, hugging her daughter in the Westhaven Middle School parking lot. POW. It’s the first morning of eighth grade, and I feel like someone just socked me in the stomach. Maybe it’s more of a stab. Whatever it is, it hurts.

Then the woman gets back in her car, and the girl turns and walks into school with a nervous sixth-grader smile and an armful of colorful binders.

That’s when I freeze. How can I continue to put one foot in front of the other when I can barely breathe? How can I smile and talk to everyone like I’m the old me, like nothing has changed?

My dread about meeting my teachers definitely doesn’t help. I have a feeling at least one of them will say something annoying or do something that will catch me off guard and make me burst into tears in front of everyone. They might even try the old “complimenting my outfit to try to cheer me up” technique that my nursery school teacher used when I didn’t want to let go of my mom’s hand on the first day of school. I look at what I threw on this morning: a plain old white T-shirt and jean skirt. We always used to buy a few outfits before school started, but not this year.

The teachers are really the least of my worries. Everyone — worst of all, my friends — has pretty much avoided me all summer. But now they won’t be able to. And everyone else . . . Well, I figure if they don’t already know my “news,” as soon as they find out, I’m going to be the class freak. Or the class pity project.

One girl I know from band walks by, chomping on a big wad of gum. She pushes her gum to the side long enough to say, “Hey, Corinna! Long time no see! How was your summer?”

“Um . . .”

“Not so great, huh? That stinks. Well, see ya.”

BAM.

The first day of school used to be filled with the fun of seeing all of my friends after summer vacation, the thrill of carrying fresh school supplies neatly labeled with Dad’s Xpress Pro label maker, and the nervous excitement about having new teachers (and hoping they would be good and not boring). But today is totally different. My head and body feel like they are moving through thick cement. I don’t really want to talk to my friends or listen to new teachers. I couldn’t care less about the color of my notebooks (which are not labeled this year).

I find my new locker in the yellow hallway. It’s a miracle that I remembered to bring the piece of paper with my combination. I twirl the dial clockwise a few times, the way you’re supposed to, and then start in on the numbers. I think I’m being careful, but it isn’t working. No clicks, no release.

“Hey, Corinna. Forget how to open a locker over the summer? Maybe you should go back to seventh grade.”

A bunch of boys next to me burst into laughter. My neck and face start to sweat. When I look up, I see it’s stuck-up Dylan and his immature friends, just what I need when I’m already feeling plenty pathetic.

I fumble with the locker, hoping they will get bored and leave. More kids start filling the hall. Everyone else’s lockers seem to be opening just fine. Maybe I should ask for a different locker . . . in Siberia.

“Hey, Corinna,” someone says a few lockers down on my left.

I pretend I haven’t heard. I hope that whoever it is goes away soon.

Just when I think I’m in the clear, I see Olivia rounding the corner. I dodge around a bunch of sixth graders, but Olivia’s big head comes at me anyway.

“Corinna! Love that jean skirt, girlie!”

I stare at her, probably looking like a zombie.

“So, Corinna, are you still playing on the rec soccer team or did you switch to travel?” I can see in her face that she has a lot of questions she’s getting ready to ask, and there are too many people around us.

“Uh, yeah. Rec,” I manage to squeak. I want to escape Olivia before she can ask me anything else, so I say, “Ciao,” like we’ve been doing for years, only it doesn’t sound right

this time.

Walking down the familiar hallways, I feel strangely alone. Alone even though there are tons of kids everywhere. Alone even though some of them are my friends. There’s not enough air, and my stomach really hurts, especially on the left side right below my belly button.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, and when I turn around, it’s our class “Queen Bee,” Beth, wearing her perfectly matching purse, clothes, and shoes. The whole outfit. Matching. As always.

“I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but I wonder if maybe you’d like to have lunch together at my family’s club.”

“Umm, uh. Maybe.”

“They have the best Caesar salads. The dressing is delish and they never force you to eat anchovies. Aren’t anchovies the grossest? Gag me. Anyway, I just know you’ll love it.”

I didn’t think Beth even knew I existed, so her lovely invitation to her lovely club is a bit confusing. Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe her invitation is proof that I’m a charity case. Her mother probably told her to invite me.

I can feel everyone’s eyes on us.

“Okay, well . . . see ya,” I say, wishing I could call my dad and tell him to come get me. My stomach gives another tug, and I realize what I’m most dreading today. Jocelyn.

Joci is supposed to be my best friend, but we haven’t actually talked in what feels like forever. It doesn’t seem possible that just six months ago we could almost read each other’s minds, whether it was about boys, friends, teachers, boob development (my lack of ), our favorite bubble bath, whatever. We used to text each other a gazillion times a day about everything. We practically lived at each other’s houses. She sent me a card a few weeks ago but, basically, she’s been MIA for months.

It’s fourth period, and so far, Joci hasn’t been in any of my classes. My English teacher, Miss B. B. Beatty (everyone calls her Miss Boppity Bop), comes up to me as soon as I sit at a desk in the back, next to the window.

“Corinna, I’m so sorry to hear about your mom,” she whispers.

I don’t hear anything she says after that. I have to block my ears and brain or I might lose it right here in front of everyone. I tell myself, “I must not cry at school or I might not be able to stop. I must not cry at school.” I wonder if all my teachers know, and if they do, why Miss Boppity Bop is the first to say anything to me.

The one good thing about this class so far is that Miss Boppity Bop doesn’t make us stand up in front and talk about what we did over summer vacation. I’ve had to do that practically every year since kindergarten. What would I say? “My vacation sucked. My mom died. The end.”

“Class, I’d like you to write five paragraphs about the highlight of your summer. It’s due on Thursday. Make it interesting, and show me your best writing, so I know what writing skills we need to focus on this year.”

The highlight of my summer? Is she kidding? At least we don’t have to write it in class. Miss Boppity Bop casually says that she’ll be looking for volunteers to share their highlights with the class. I don’t want to turn mine in, much less read it out loud.

I rush out of English as soon as the bell rings and stop at my locker to get my lunch. Not that I’m hungry. I still haven’t seen Joci, and I begin to wonder if she’s absent, and if she isn’t, why she hasn’t bothered to find me yet.

When I walk into the noisy cafeteria, I look over at our usual spot and see Joci sitting with Olivia, Juliette, and Eliana. She sees me and waves me over. I don’t know if Joci is going to talk to me about anything that’s happened recently or just pretend like everything is the same as always. I have no idea what am I going to say to her, either.

“Hey, Corinna,” Joci says cheerfully. “How ya doin’?”

“Hi, Joss. Hi guys.”

“Hey, Corinna,” Eliana chimes in. “So . . . what’d you bring for lunch?” Eliana asks with a big smile.

“Nothing much,” I say, sounding pathetic.

“Did you make your own lunch today?” Eliana is still smiling as she asks this, as if she is my personal cheerleader or nursery school teacher.

How do I answer that? I look over at Joci to see if she gets how awkward this is. I’m not sure, but she looks like she’s as scared as I am about how this is going to go.

Joci turns to me and says, “I can’t believe we haven’t had any classes together yet.”

“Yeah.” I nod in agreement. “Who do you have for math and social studies?”

“Mr. Spinolli and Mrs. Giamatti; what about you?”

“Me, too,” I say flatly.

“Have you heard anything about them?” She’s leaning in, like she wants to hear some good gossip.

“No, have you?” I sound bored.

“I heard they’re the two hardest teachers in the entire school.”

“Great, that’s just what I need,” I reply, pulling apart my sandwich as I slump even more.

“You’ll be okay, Corinna. I’m sure you’ll be okay,” Joci says to reassure me.

“Well, I’m not so sure.” I finally take a bite of my sandwich and can barely swallow it.

Out on the blacktop after lunch, there are more traps waiting. I can hear kids whispering about me.

“Can you believe it?”

“I would die if that happened to me.”

As I walk by a group of girls, they go all silent. Talk about obvious. I am tempted to go to the nurse’s office and ask her about my stomachaches. Maybe I could go home sick. Who would pick me up, though? Dad’s at the high school, teaching.

It feels like I’m on a separate planet from everyone else. The kids at school are on Planet Normal, the planet I used to belong to. Their lives are going on as if nothing had happened. And then there’s me. I’m on Planet Doom and Gloom. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Planet Normal. I was right to have been worried about school. I am obviously the unofficial and unmistakable class freakazoid. You’d think no one had ever encountered death in all of history.

Somehow, I make it through the day. Dad and I are both exhausted and eat canned chili for dinner in silence. While I’m cutting up an apple and an orange for us to share, I try to think of something to say to Dad.

“Dad, how were your classes?”

He reaches for a slice of apple.

“Fine, I guess. Not enough desks for all the students, though.”

“Well, my first day was totally awkward.”

Dad sits back in his chair. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He sighs.

This whole day has been so blah, including dinner, and I’m ready for it to end.

“I’m tired. I think I’m going to go to bed early.”

“Good idea. Me, too,” Dad says, with zero energy. “Let’s just put our dishes in the sink.”

I don’t go right to bed, though. Instead, I sit down at my desk to write the assignment. After about fifty sheets of paper, three boxes of Kleenex, and a supplemental roll of toilet paper when I can’t find any more Kleenex for tear and snot absorption, this is what I write:

The Day That Led to the Longest and Worst Summer of My Life

My summer began last spring, on April first, right here in Bethesda, Maryland. April Fools’ Day should be a day of rubber puke blobs on your desk or a whoopee cushion on your chair. But this April Fools’ Day was different. My mother had surgery on that day to “make sure nothing was going on inside.” My dad picked me up from school and took me to the hospital to see her. My dad never cries, but on that day, he started sobbing in the car after he told me that the doctor thought Mom had cancer that had spread to lots of parts of her body and that she probably had “three to six months to live, but it’s hard to really know for sure.” I went numb. Numb inside and numb outside. All I could hear or think was, “three to six months, three to six months.” Over and over, that’s what my brain saw and heard, like those news tickers at the bottom of the TV screen that make it impossible to see anything else. We went in to see my mom, in the green hospital room with the ugly speckled linoleum floor. It sounds mean to say, but she looked like an alien, with tubes going in and out and every which way. It was really hard to look at her. I felt kind of nauseous, actually.

She cried when she saw me. Two parents crying in one day. That had never happened before. Well, that’s pretty much all I remember from that visit and that awful day. I didn’t sleep much that night. Life as I had known it was over. My mom, Sophie Burdette, had a death sentence, but she hadn’t committed a crime.

That’s as far as I get. I can’t answer the assignment question. There was no summer highlight. But I will have to turn in my essay anyway, and Miss Beatty will have to read it.

After all that writing, I take a long bath in my Blue Oasis bubble bath and listen to music quietly, in case Dad is already asleep. My usual choices in girlie music don’t feel very relaxing or fun anymore, but the Blue Oasis is pretty good at getting the lump in my throat to melt. Mom used to take baths to help her relax, too, until she was too tired even for a bath.

“How many lotions and potions can a thirteen-year-old girl use?” my mom had asked after the last guest left my karaoke birthday party.

“Tons, Mom. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, I’m shocked!”

That was the last party that took place during my old life, the one before my mom got sick and died. The one before my dad turned into a sad, sad man.

PEP TALKS

I’ve had a lot of trouble sleeping lately, including tonight. Even though I’m exhausted, I just can’t fall asleep. I keep reviewing all the things from my first day at school, and I can’t shut off my brain, even after writing in my journal. Everyone at school was buzzing with energy. They had happy things to talk about.

Another reason I can’t sleep is that it’s raining really hard and loud. Sometimes it sounds like footsteps walking, then running for a long time, then walking again. Some people say that the heavens are crying when it rains. I guess they’re really crying tonight, crying with me.

When I arrive at school for day two, I head straight to my locker and manage to get it open on the first try. Dylan and his posse start clapping. I try to ignore them while I stuff my backpack and flute inside and slam the door shut. Joci calls to me from

down the hall.

“What’s up?” I say, hesitantly turning to face her.

“Corinna, you didn’t answer your phone last night.” She sounds all huffy.

“I was tired.”

“There’s so much to talk about! We have to have a major catch-up session ASAP.”

She’s so enthusiastic and energetic, I feel like a slug in comparison.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“But . . . we always compare notes on who’s in what class and all the teacher gossip after our first day.”

“We’re going to be late,” I interrupt.

“You’re my best friend, Corinna,” she says just outside her classroom. “Best friends share everything!”

During my first three classes, I can’t stop thinking about Joci. I miss most of what is being said. But in Miss Beatty’s class, I’m totally focused. She’s just asked for volunteers to read the “highlights of our summer” assignments.

Only four super-perky kids read their summer vacation essays to the class.

“I went to sleepaway camp in Canada and saw five rainbows. . . .”

“My family and I spent the summer on Fire Island. . . .”

“I spent the summer helping my grandparents on their farm in North Carolina. . . .”

“The Palisades Swim Team came in first in division three. . . .

“Great,” I whisper to myself. Even if I were brave enough to read my essay, I doubt anyone would want to hear it. Summer vacations are supposed to be fun. It’s a good thing soccer practice starts today because I need to run, and kick, and get rid of this awful feeling in my stomach and throat and everywhere else. I need to kick the sad out of me, at least for an hour and a half.

After practice, Coach Montgomery calls us over to the sidelines for a talk. The sky is getting darker and it looks like it’s about to rain again. He better talk fast.

“You girls are looking good. We’re going to have a great season, and I need you all to work hard, be your best. We need to come together and support one another, and especially to support Corinna. As you may know, her mother passed away this summer. I’m counting on each and every one of you to lend a hand, lend a shoulder, whatever you can do.” There is a long awkward silence. Finally, my coach claps his hands. “Okay, girls, see you on Friday.”

I think I’m glad he said something, but it feels kind of gross, too. Not gross in the usual smelly, icky way, but in the way that makes you feel nauseous because it’s too intense. A few girls give me hugs, and then we gather our water bottles. As soon as I get into Dad’s car, the tears begin, no longer under my control. Dad puts the car in reverse and gets me out of there. Neither of us says a word. Neither of us has to.

Later, when we sit down to dinner, my eyes are still burning, and I blurt out, “So, what’s going to happen, Dad?”

“What do you mean?” He takes a sip of water and looks at me.

“Now that it’s just you and me.”

“Well . . .” He swallows before continuing. “We’re going to do the best we can.”

I use my thin paper napkin to wipe my tears, but what I really need is a roll of paper towels. “It’s not going to be easy. But we’ll be okay.” He touches my shoulder. “I know we’ll be okay. It just might take a while.”

I sit there, nodding because I want to believe him. But he hasn’t answered the part of my question I’ve been too scared to ask. The part about what happens with me if something happens to him. The part I really need him to answer.

“Come here,” Dad says as he reaches for me and hugs me close. My tears and nose are all running together in one big mess.

“I promise you, we’re going to be okay.”

The next day at school, things are definitely not okay. In the middle of my second period class, I get called down to the main office. The secretary at the front desk, who we call Norma the Storma, says to me, “Corinna, did your mother send in the residency form for this year? I can’t find it in your file.”

The other secretary chimes in, “Norma, there is no mother.”

“Excuse me?” asks Norma.

The second one says, “I’ll handle this,” and walks over to where I’m standing. “Corinna, we need you to get this proof of legal residence form in by tomorrow. You’re really not allowed to be in school without it, and for some reason, we don’t have one for you. They’re really tightening up to make sure all the students actually live in our school district. Some overcrowding problem or something.” She hands me the form. “And I’m so sorry about your mother.”

I’m not sure what to say.

“Thanks,” is all that comes out as I turn and leave the office.

After soccer, giving Maki a walk, and taking a long, hot shower, I decide to call Joci. Even though I’ve been kind of avoiding her, I feel like I need my old friend back.

“Joci? It’s Corinna.”

“You actually called me!”

“Yeah . . . How’s it going?” I twirl my hair with my free hand.

“I just got back from tennis. What’s up?”

“You won’t believe what happened in the office at school today.”

I tell her the whole story and wait to hear what she says. But Joci stays silent on the other end of the phone. I guess she’s waiting for me to continue, but I am expecting her to say something. She doesn’t.

“Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” she says.

“Well, can you believe it?” I begin to pace around my room.

“I got out of there in such a hurry,” I add, expecting her to finally speak.

“Yeah. That’s terrible.”

“To hear that lady say ‘there is no mother.’ ”

“I know how you feel. Those ladies are creepy. I get the chills every time I go in there.”

“Wait a second, how can you know how I feel?”

“I mean she was such a jerk. She shouldn’t have said that in front of you.”

I don’t bother to tell Joci that my next stop was at the school nurse’s office to ask about my stomachaches.

After she tells me about her new tennis coach and how cute he is, we get off the phone. I’m so ready for the weekend and for a break from all this drama.

The next morning, the doorbell rings. I can hear the lawn mower, which means Dad is mowing and I have to answer the door myself. No one is there, but I look down and see a small pink box. I recognize the famous box from Georgetown Cupcake. When I open it, I see that the cupcake has chocolate frosting and a candy heart on it that says, “BFF,” as in, Best Friends Forever. I hold it in my hands, thinking about Joci. It must be from Joci. She knows that I love their red velvet cupcakes, and I don’t think any of my other friends would have done it. I guess she’s trying to get close again, but it feels so awkward, like we can’t figure out how to go back to the way it was before. I place the cupcake back in the box and wonder if things between me and Joci will ever be good again. If I can trust her again.

Everything is so different now than it was before, and not just with Joci. It’s as if everything in my life can now be divided between BD and AD. Before death and after death. I wish I could do something to change that. I would promise to practice my flute every day the way Mom wanted me to, if only I could roll back the clocks, the calendar pages, the years.

Excerpted from IF ONLY © Copyright 2012 by Carole Geithner. Reprinted with permission by Scholastic Press. All rights reserved.

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