Too Good to Be True by Laurie Friedman

Oz
Monday, September 30, 6:02 P.M .
At the kitchen table
    Ms. Baumann might have been happy when we won the competition on Saturday, but today she was all business when she went through the homecoming schedule.
    â€œHomecoming is October 18—that gives us less than three weeks to prepare!” She said it like three weeks was the same thing as three days. Then she talked about the dance we’ll be doing at the pep rally that Friday and the routine we’ll be performing during halftime of the game on Saturday.
    When she was done, some of the girls started cheering like they were showing their school spirit a little early, but Ms. Baumann stopped them and said there would be time tocheer later. She called out Emily, Vanessa, Kate, and me. “Girls, you will be given permission to leave the middle school for the pep rally. As we get closer, we’ll coordinate your schedules.” Emily and I high-fived. Then Ms. Baumann told us to get ready to work on our dances for both performances, and that’s what we did.
    When I got home, I called Billy. I was excited to tell him about performing at the homecoming game and the pep rally. “You can come to the game and see us dance!” I said.
    â€œThat’s cool,” Billy said, but I kind of got the feeling he didn’t really share my enthusiasm.
Saturday, October 5, 12:32 P.M .
On my bed, too tired to move
    I haven’t written anything all week because I haven’t had time. All I’ve done is wake up, go to school, go to dance practice, come home, do my homework, and go to bed. Ms. Baumann has made our practices even longer than usual so that we’re ready in time for homecoming. All we do is go over and over and over our dances.
    If someone gave Ms. Baumann a page in theyearbook, her quote would read: “Take it from the top.”
Sunday, October 6, 4:45 P.M .
In my bathroom
Trying to wash makeup off my face
Not sure it’s washable
    I called Brynn, Billy, and Emily today to see if they wanted to do something, but they were all busy so I let May and June play beauty shop on me.
    BIG MISTAKE.
Tuesday, October 8, 1:47 P.M .
My body, in study hall
My brain, somewhere else
    Before study hall, Brynn invited me over after dance practice. “I want you to see my Halloween costume before I order it,” she said.
    â€œSounds like fun,” I told her, and it does. I have a test next period in social studies that I should be studying for, but who can think about the three branches of the American government with Halloween around the corner?
8:17 P.M .
    Going to Brynn’s house to help her order her costume was a lot less fun than I thought it would be. In fact, it was pretty annoying. When I got there, Brynn said, “I’m going to be Dorothy from
The Wizard of Oz
.” Then she showed me the costume and all the accessories down to the ruby slippers she was planning to order.
    â€œWow! That’s a supercute costume,” I said. Then I told Brynn that I’m coming as a flapper girl. “Mom is making a really cute minidress with fringe on it for me. She said I can order some gloves and a headpiece and some fake pearls to go with it.”
    Brynn frowned. “Actually, I was thinking that we could both go as characters from
The Wizard of Oz
. You can either be the Scarecrow or the Tin Man. I’m going to talk to Heather and see if she wants to be whichever one you don’t want to be, and Billy can be the Lion.”
    I didn’t want to dress up as a scarecrow or a tin man. “Mom has already started on my costume,” I told Brynn. But that didn’t seem to make any difference to her.
    â€œYou can save it for another time.” She shrugged like it was really no big deal. Then, when I didn’t say anything for a few seconds, she crossed her arms across her chest and looked at me. “April, I think it would be really fun to all wear costumes from
The Wizard of Oz
.” She bent down