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He jerked his head up. His heart caught in his throat. Quickly, he tucked the hook under the pillow to hide it. He couldn’t let anyone catch him with the stolen artifact. He grappled on the bookshelf by his bed for a book—any book—to pretend like he’d been reading. He found one, then flipped to a random page and propped the book up on his lap.
“Come in,” he called out, trying to keep his voice steady.
Slowly, the door creaked open.
Rita poked her head in. She frowned at the book in his hands. It was…Little Women. He felt his cheeks burning. He’d never actually read it. The book was a hand-me-down from his sister, of course. And he pretty much never intended to read it.
“Thought you only liked mysteries?” Rita said suspiciously.
“Uh…it’s assigned reading…for school,” he stammered.
“Well, I won’t keep you from your little women,” Rita said with a chuckle. “But I just wanted to say—happy almost birthday, Goober.”
“Uh, thanks,” Barrie said with trepidation, waiting for her snarky comeback or her ulterior motive for being nice to reveal itself. But she just looked pensive. She bit her lower lip.
“You’re lucky you’re only turning twelve,” she said with a weary sigh.
“Wait…what do you mean?” Barrie said, surprised. “You love birthdays. You were so excited for your sweet sixteen party, you couldn’t stop talking about it.”
And it was true. For practically a whole year, she’d turned into a psychotic birthday princess and annoyed him—and anyone else unlucky enough to be in earshot.
“I was excited—past tense,” Rita said as her shoulders sagged. She looked…haggard. “Listen, I thought it would be great, but it’s not. It’s like the complete and total opposite. I have more chores and homework than ever. I never have any free time. I’m always stressed out.”
Barrie took that to heart. “Is it…algebra?”
Rita groaned. “Ugh, don’t remind me. I’ve got an exam tomorrow. Exponential equations are gonna kill me.”
“But what about getting your driver’s license?” Barrie said. “Having a later curfew? Getting to go to parties? What about…Todd?” he added, unable to suppress a wicked grin.
“Please. I barely have time for my friends anymore,” Rita complained.
“But you’re always talking to them,” Barrie pointed out. “And texting them. Like nonstop.”
Her phone vibrated with a new text message as if proving Barrie’s point. She pulled it out of her pocket and frowned at the screen.
“Yeah, it’s relentless.” She met his eyes, turning more serious. “Listen, it’s school—but it’s more than that,” she confessed. “Like, I miss my old friends from when I was a kid. Remember Hannah and Jessie?”
“Yeah, what happened to them?” Barrie said. He’d noticed Rita didn’t spend much time with them anymore, but he figured that she had a new group of cooler friends now that she was in high school. Not to mention her obsessive crush on Todd.
“Really, I don’t know,” Rita said with a sigh. “We used to be inseparable. We did everything together, remember? But when we got older, it’s like we grew apart. We don’t have the same interests anymore. We’re not in the same classes. We’re on different tracks.”
“But what about Brooke?” Barrie said. “And well…Todd. You’ve got all these cool new friends.”
Rita shook her head. “Yeah, but it’s not the same. There’s like all this crazy pressure to fit in and say the right thing,” she confessed. “Look, you wouldn’t understand. You’re too young. I didn’t get it either until it happened to me. I never felt that way around my old friends. I could just be myself with them.”
It was true, Barrie knew. She did always seem stressed out or worried about something. She was always doing her hair and makeup, or agonizing over the perfect outfit to wear to school, or talking to Brooke about what to say to impress Todd the next day.
“All I wanted was to grow up and become an adult, but I didn’t realize how hard it would be,” she went on, backing out of his room. She met his eyes one last time from the doorway. “Just trust me, stay a kid for as long as you can.”
With that, she shut his door. He counted to ten slowly, waiting until she was safely ensconced in her bedroom with her door closed; then he pulled the hook out from under his pillow and stared at it. His sister’s words echoed through his head. Just trust me—stay a kid for as long as you can. He glanced back at the letter, rereading the message for the hundredth time. Maybe he should give the hook a chance to work first. Maybe it just needed more time.
“I want to stay a kid forever,” he whispered to the hook for a second time. Then he tucked it under his pillow, patting the pillow down to make sure the hook was hidden. “That’s my wish.”
Suddenly, his eyelids felt heavy. After everything that had happened earlier, he was beyond exhausted. He laid his head on the pillow and quickly fell into a deep slumber.
* * *
Thump. Thump.
