Free Twice As Nice by Lin Oliver Page B

faces.
    â€œWhat’s going on in here?” I asked.
    â€œNothing,” they all said at once. They were obviously hiding something.
    I saw Sammie reach behind her back and tuck something into the waistband of her jeans.
    â€œWhat’s in your jeans, then?”
    â€œJust a brush. No big deal.”
    I glanced at Sammie’s bed and noticed that it was draped with four or five colorful scarves that belonged to our mom. One of them was clearly GoGo’s, because it had pink flamingos all over it. I saw two or three of my headbands lying on the pillow next to a floppy white tennis hat that I wear on really sunny days. Our mom’s hand mirror, the one that is regular on one side and magnifying on the other, was sitting on the pillow, too. And next to it was Sammie’s cell phone.
    â€œWhy are you using my hair stuff?” I asked. “And GoGo’s scarves?
    No one answered.
    â€œCome on, you guys,” I said. “This is my room, too, and I need to know what’s going on in here.”
    â€œWe’re just doing something for Sara,” Alicia said. “A project.”
    â€œFor school?” I asked.
    â€œKind of,” Sammie said. “You might say that.”
    â€œOh, so now we’re playing twenty questions?” I was getting annoyed. “It really hurts my feelings that you don’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.”
    That got their attention. You mention the Truth (with a capital T) around these girls and the whole world stops.
    â€œIt’s up to Sara whether or not to tell you,” Alicia said. “It’s her decision.”
    â€œI guess it’s okay if we tell her,” Sara answered. “We’re trying to come up with some different looks for me so I don’t always have to wear my hair down.”
    â€œTo make her less sensitive about that issue she spoke of yesterday,” Alicia said.
    â€œHer ears?”
    â€œOf course her ears,” Sammie barked. “I can’t believe you even have to ask that.”
    â€œI’m trying on all kinds of scarves and headbands and hats to see what looks best,” Sara said. “I haven’t been able to change my hairstyle since I started middle school because of, you know, the Dumbo thing.”
    The minute she said that, big tears formed in her eyes. “And your sister and Alicia are being so sweet to me. They’re even taking before and after pictures.”
    I saw Sammie reach out and pick up her phone, protectively.
    â€œDon’t worry, I’m not going to peek,” I said, “unless you want to show me.”
    â€œMaybe we could show Charlie the look I think is the cutest—the one where we wrapped your Grandma’s scarf around her head, pirate-style,” Alicia said. “Just to get another opinion. What do you think, Sara?”
    â€œOkay, you can show her.”
    Sammie held out her phone and I took it. The first thing that came up on the screen was a picture of Sara with her usual poufy hair. The next shot was Sara with her hair pulled on top of her head so you could see the full ear problem. I hadn’t really looked at her ears closely during Truth Tellers. It’s not exactly the kind of thing you feel comfortable staring at. But now, I could see why they bothered her so much. The picture reminded me of the toy Mr. Potato Head. Sammie and I used to play with the plastic potato when we were younger. He came with these big pink plastic ears that stuck straight out from his head.
    I don’t mean to sound rude. Sara’s ears weren’t as bad as Mr. Potato Head’s. But they were definitely in the same category, if you know what I mean.
    The third picture showed Sara’s hair all covered up with GoGo’s flamingo scarf. It was wrapped around her head tightly and tied in a fancy knot at the back. The scarf held her ears back so only the very tips showed, and Sammie had put some gold hoops on them.
    â€œYou