Anna Banana and the Sleepover Secret Page 3

  “And for Anna and Sadie to never be invited over again?” Emma interrupted.

  Sadie and I looked at each other in panic. Isabel’s parents wouldn’t really ban us from their house forever . . . would they?

  I swallowed hard. Getting Isabel grounded and Sadie and me banned for life was the last thing I wanted. But just not telling their parents wasn’t going to fix this. As my Nana always says, two wrongs don’t make a right.

  “I’m the one who dropped it,” I said. “I’ll tell them what happened and that it was all my fault. Isabel and Sadie shouldn’t get in trouble too because of me. Maybe I can save up my allowance and do extra chores until I can buy them a new vase to replace it.”

  Luisa looked like she might burst into tears. “That vase was, like, a hundred years old. I don’t think you can get another one.”

  I looked down at the vase and felt like I might break in half too. This was awful.

  Maria crossed her arms. “If you tell them what happened, we’ll all get in trouble. Even though Anna is the one who dropped it, all of us were involved.”

  “I wasn’t,” Luisa said.

  “That won’t matter. They’ll blame us because we’re older and because Maria dared her and we all said she should,” Emma said.

  “I didn’t say she should,” Luisa pointed out. The older girls ignored her.

  “But don’t we still have to explain why the vase is broken?” Isabel asked.

  “Not if they don’t see it,” Emma said. She opened a giant cabinet, pulled out a tablecloth, and knelt on the floor next to Isabel. She frowned as she placed the two halves of the broken vase inside the cloth, wrapped them up carefully, carried the bundle back to the cabinet, and tucked the evidence deep inside.

  “There,” Emma said. “Now no one has to know. It’s our secret.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The Problem with Promises

  Up in Isabel’s room, Sadie and I sank down onto the carpet next to our backpacks while Isabel shut the door behind us. She let out a huge sigh, then sat on the floor next to us. We all leaned back against the bed.

  “I really am sorry,” I said, even though I knew those words wouldn’t fix this.

  Isabel pulled my pillow onto her lap and hugged it against her chest. “I would have done the dare too, to protect Sadie’s secrets. That was a horrible choice they gave you. I’m sorry I let them take over our game.”

  Sadie twisted the end of her ponytail around one finger. I knew she was tempted to chew on it, like she sometimes did when she was upset, but she was trying hard to break that habit. “Do you think we should tell your parents anyway? Even though you promised your sisters we wouldn’t?” she asked.

  Before we’d gone upstairs, Maria had made Isabel pinky-swear that none of us would tell their mom and dad what had happened.

  “I don’t know,” Isabel said. She rested her chin on the pillow. “Then my sisters and my parents will be mad at me.”

  “Even if we tell them it was all my fault?” I said. I didn’t want anyone getting mad at me either, but I was the one who had broken the vase.

  “It wasn’t all your fault, though. You broke it, but Maria gave you the dare and Emma pressured you into it, and none of the rest of us stopped you. Any one of us saying no could have changed what happened. That’s how my parents will see it, anyway,” Isabel said, and I could see how that was right.

  “They’re going to find out eventually, though, aren’t they?” Sadie said. “I mean, it’s not like vases just disappear. When they notice it’s gone, they’ll know something happened to it. We can’t keep this a secret forever.”

  Isabel looked ready to cry, which was exactly how I felt. “I don’t know,” she repeated. “I’m not going to lie about it. If they ask me what happened, I’ll tell them the truth. But maybe Emma’s right. Maybe they won’t notice it’s missing, at least not until we’ve figured out how to replace it or something.” She burrowed her face in the pillow for a moment, then looked up and said, “Can we please just forget it for now? I don’t want this to ruin our sleepover. Especially if it ends up being the last sleepover I’m allowed to have.”

  Sadie and I glanced at each other. “Okay,” she said.

  “Okay,” I echoed, because I didn’t know what else to do. I hoped that agreeing would stop Isabel from crying, but I could see the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

  Just when I thought I might start crying too, Sadie shrieked and jumped up, then plopped back down beside us and burst into hysterical laughter.

  Isabel and I stared at her. My heart was racing at full gallop, but at least being startled had chased away my tears. “What happened?” I asked.

  “Mewsic!” Sadie said. She pointed, and I saw what had caused her surprise: A small orange paw poked out from under the bed, then disappeared back under it. “He grabbed on to my dress like it was a toy, and I screamed because I hadn’t even known he was under there. He scared me!”

  I smiled with relief and felt the giggles bubble up inside of me, too. It was nice to have something to laugh about again.

  “Here, silly kitty,” Isabel cooed. She lifted the comforter and pulled Mewsic out for petting.

  “Meow,” Mewsic protested, but he didn’t run away.

  I touched his soft fur and felt like maybe things would turn out all right.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Meow Yeow

  When Mewsic had had enough petting and we were all feeling a little better, we got back to the fun of the sleepover. Sadie gathered our invisible wishes and put those aside. None of us felt like dealing with more secrets or playing more Truth or Dare, so we turned on some music, took off our socks, and transformed the room into a spa. We wove paper towels between our toes to keep them separated and took turns painting one another’s toenails. Isabel painted Sadie’s left foot with a different color polish on each toe, and I did her right foot with pink and purple swirls. Then Sadie and I painted Isabel’s toenails bright yellow with dark blue polka dots, and Sadie and Isabel made mine pink with a layer of glitter polish on top. While our toes dried, Sadie redid Isabel’s braids, and I loaned her my favorite headband to top the style off. I held still while Sadie styled my hair into a french braid, and Isabel tied Sadie’s ponytail full of ribbons. By the time we got called downstairs for dinner, we were looking extra sparkly and feeling a lot better.

  We got to make our own personal pizzas for dinner, and I loaded mine with tomato sauce and cheese, and used the chopped green peppers to decorate it with a smiley face. Sadie did the same with her pizza but used pepperoni for eyes, and Isabel put so many different toppings on hers that there wasn’t even room for a face. It was such fun, I almost forgot about the broken vase, until Isabel’s dad said something nice about our pizzas looking creative and the guilt came back, gluing itself to my insides. Even taking a big gulp of water couldn’t wash it away.

  I didn’t say anything about it to Isabel, though. If she had managed to get distracted enough to forget about the vase like she’d wanted, I certainly wasn’t going to remind her. Besides, her three sisters were eating their pizzas nearby, and Emma was watching us as closely as Banana watches Chuck when she thinks he might drop some cheese. I didn’t want her to get suspicious that we might break Isabel’s promise.

  For the rest of the night we acted like the disaster had never happened, and so it was almost like it hadn’t. Almost.

  But I knew it had.

  It didn’t feel good keeping that secret inside me, even knowing my friends were carrying it too. It made my belly ache. It made my smile less real. And it made me miss Banana terribly. I couldn’t bring up the secret with Isabel and Sadie, but if Banana were here, I could have talked it through with her. She would listen and understand. She might even help me figure out what to do. She definitely would comfort me with a cuddle and a lick.

  I wanted that so badly, but Banana wasn’t here. I had ruined the vase. It was ruining the sleepover. And I was stuck keeping the secret.

/>   Chapter Fourteen

  A Squeaky Surprise

  By the time Isabel’s dad knocked on the door and told us it was time for pajamas and toothbrushing, I was exhausted from worrying about the secret for so long. Isabel asked her father, “Can we play just one more round of Uno?” but I was already returning my playing cards to the deck.

  “Nope. It’s already well past your usual bedtime, and Mom and I want to get to bed ourselves soon too,” he said. I groaned along with Isabel and Sadie, but secretly, I felt relieved. I couldn’t wait to fall fast asleep, so that soon it would be morning and I could go home and tell Banana everything.

  I unzipped my backpack to take out my dragon-feet slippers, rainbow pajamas, and toothbrush, and saw something unexpected inside. It was Banana’s yellow plastic bunny toy. I pulled it out and squeezed it. My heart pinched with sadness as it squeaked.

  Sadie looked over and giggled. “You brought Banana’s toy to the sleepover?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “I didn’t know it was in there. Banana must have dropped it inside my backpack again when I wasn’t looking. It’s her favorite toy. I hope she isn’t missing it.”

  “Maybe she wanted you to have it tonight, since she couldn’t be here with you,” Isabel said.

  I liked that idea, but I worried about Banana being lonely without me, and without her favorite toy, too. I squeezed it again, and it made me wish I could see the way Banana’s ears always lift up when she hears it. I wondered what she was doing right then and if she missed me as much as I was missing her.

  We changed into pajamas, brushed our teeth, and unrolled our sleeping bags. I tucked the yellow bunny inside mine with me. I hoped I wouldn’t roll onto it in the middle of the night and wake everyone up with its squeak, but it seemed worth the risk. I felt a little bit better just having it there beside me. If that had been Banana’s plan, it was a good one.

  Isabel’s mom stopped by to turn out the lights and wish us sweet dreams, and it felt so nice to have my head on the pillow, I was certain I would be asleep in no time.

  But I was wrong.

  Instead of winding down until I drifted off to sleep, my brain cranked up in the opposite direction, making me more and more awake, even once Sadie and Isabel had stopped whispering.

  I worried about the vase and what would happen when Isabel’s parents realized it was missing. I worried about Isabel and how the thing I had done might get her in huge trouble. I worried about myself and how disappointed in me all of the grown-ups would be once they figured out the truth. I worried about Banana and whether she was wide awake, tossing and turning too, when she should be curled up sleeping.

  I wished Maria hadn’t given me that dare. I wished I hadn’t said yes to it. I wished my balance had been better and that Mewsic hadn’t run out in front of me and that I’d managed to catch the vase before it fell. I wished we’d never let Isabel’s sisters play the game with us. I wished we hadn’t had this sleepover at all.

  I rolled over onto my left side, then my right side, then my back, but I couldn’t get comfortable in any position. The floor felt hard beneath my body. My pillow felt too flat or too high or too lumpy, even though it was the same pillow that usually felt just right at home.

  The house was eerily quiet, and I wished so much that I could hear Banana snoring softly in her basket next to my bed. I lay still, trying not to disturb Sadie and Isabel in their sleeping bags beside me, but the harder I tried not to move, the more fidgety I became. I watched the shadows and moonlight move across Isabel’s walls in strange patterns, different from the ones I was used to at home. I’d spent so many hours playing in this room with my friends during daylight, but it felt really, really different late at night. It looked different; it sounded different; the air even tasted different. I loved my friends and usually my favorite place in the world to be was with them, but right now all I wanted was to be back at my own house, in my own bed, with my own dog sleeping beside me.

  But I couldn’t go home now. I was stuck.

  “Sadie,” I whispered, in case she was awake too. Sadie didn’t move or answer.

  I propped myself up on my elbow so I could see over her to Isabel. “Isabel,” I said, a little louder. Isabel let out a light snore. She and Sadie were both sound asleep.

  I thought about nudging Sadie awake or faking a coughing fit to wake up both of them, but I knew that wouldn’t be fair. And what would I even say if I did wake them? That I missed my dog? That I felt bad about the vase? That I wanted to be back in my own bed? My friends couldn’t fix any of that, even if they were awake. I let them keep sleeping. The night seemed endless.

  I had never felt so alone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Decisions, Decisions

  I climbed out of my sleeping bag as quietly as I could and tiptoed into the hallway, where a night-light guided my way to the bathroom. I turned on the faucet, cupped my hands under the water, and drank a few sips. I dried my hands on a towel and opened the door to the medicine cabinet, not even sure what I was looking for. Inside, there was an extra tube of toothpaste, the same kind we used at my house. Seeing it made me feel both better and worse.

  I shut the cabinet door.

  I crept back into the hallway and noticed a light on downstairs. Was somebody else awake? I wasn’t sure if I might get in trouble for being out of bed, but I started down the stairs anyway. Maybe if one of Isabel’s parents was still up, they would offer to drive me home to Banana.

  Not that I wanted to leave my friends in the middle of the night, but I was feeling pretty homesick. Sadie and Isabel would probably understand.

  I followed the glow of the light into the living room, where Abuelita was sitting in her armchair under a reading lamp, her feet up on a padded stool. Her glasses were perched halfway down her nose, and Mewsic was curled up on her lap. He was so gigantic that she couldn’t fit both him and a paperback in her lap. She had to hold her book off to the side and prop it against the armrest instead.

  Mewsic and Abuelita looked so content, I didn’t want to disturb them. Seeing them reminded me of the hours I spent curled up on the sofa with Banana and a book—one of my favorite ways to read. When Banana and I were wrapped up in a story, we didn’t like to be interrupted.

  But when I started to leave the room, the floorboards creaked beneath my feet, and Abuelita looked up from her book. “Anna?” she said. I stopped. “Are you having trouble sleeping?” she guessed.

  “Yes,” I admitted. She tucked a bookmark into her book and closed it with one hand, stroking Mewsic’s back with the other. I hesitated, then walked toward her.

  I love Abuelita. I love that the first time we met her, she told Sadie and me we could call her Abuelita too, even though she isn’t our real grandmother. She said she considers the best friends of her granddaughters to be her own “honorary grandkids.” I’d asked her what “honorary” meant, and she’d said, “It means even though you’re not my granddaughter, I am honored to treat you that way.” She always makes me feel special and important like that.

  I settled onto the arm of the couch, next to her chair. “Do you always stay up this late?” I asked.

  “Not always,” she said. “But sometimes when I get caught up in a really good book, I like to spend the quietest part of the day alone with it. Well, alone with it and Mewsic, of course.” Mewsic blinked.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt you,” I said.

  “No, no. I’d just reached the end of the chapter. It’s good timing. Though now that Mewsic has settled in like this, I’m not sure he’s going to want to let me up. Come, feel how hard he’s purring.”

  I reached out a hand, and as I leaned closer, I heard the steady motor of his purr. Abuelita nodded as I placed my hand on his back and touched his soft fur. Abuelita was right—he was purring so hard, his whole body was vibrating. I could feel his happiness right through my hand.

  There was something calming and comforting about how pleased he was, and it almost made me want to laugh.
I looked up at Abuelita, and we shared a smile.

  In that moment I made a decision. “There’s something I have to tell you,” I blurted, before I could chicken out.

  “Oh?” she asked.

  I petted Mewsic again, for strength and good luck. “A bad thing happened, and it’s kind of my fault.”

  Abuelita waited to hear more, but instead of telling her, I turned and went to the cabinet where Emma had tucked away the evidence. I pulled out the bundle, brought it over to Abuelita, and unwrapped the broken vase.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Truth Be Told

  Abuelita sucked in a surprised breath. “Oh. That is a bad thing,” she said.

  My insides felt like someone had chewed them all up and spit them back out again, like a used-up wad of gum. I was super worried what Abuelita might think of me now that she’d seen what I had done, but also, it was a relief having it out in the open. Even if I got into big, big trouble now, at least I wouldn’t still be carrying a horrible secret.

  “How did this happen?” she asked. Her voice sounded worried, not angry, but I still wasn’t sure I should tell her the whole story. I wasn’t breaking Isabel’s promise by showing Abuelita the vase—Isabel had promised we wouldn’t tell her parents, not that we wouldn’t tell anyone—but still. It seemed better not to bring Truth or Dare and the sisters into it.

  “I dropped it,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

  Abuelita nodded and stroked Mewsic’s back. “Mistakes happen. But how did it end up wrapped in a tablecloth in the cabinet?”

  I looked down at my feet. My pink sparkly toes didn’t have any good answers. “I can’t tell you without breaking a promise,” I said.

  Abuelita paused for a long moment. “I know how hard it can be to be honest when you’ve messed up and something’s gone wrong. I’m glad you told me,” she said. I looked up at her face. Her eyes were serious, but full of kindness. “And I know you know it’s important to be careful with other people’s things,” she said. “Although it’s even more important to be careful with their feelings.”