The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter (28 page)

“Cool!” Sylvie said. And she sounded so happy. She sounded exactly like the old Sylvie I loved and missed.

“You’ve got to call me as soon as you know if you’ve won,” Sylvie said.

“Okay,” I said.

After I got ready for bed, I climbed under the covers and stared at my ceiling. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep at all. My mom cracked open the door and whispered to me.

“Have you called Grandma and told her how things went?”

“I did. She feels like I’ve got a shot. Because the world likes underdogs.”

“That’s true. But it’s okay if you don’t win too. It’s not a matter of life or death.”

“Sure it’s not,” I said.

Then my mom shut my door and left me in a huge cube of darkness. It was so hard to fall asleep. I thought it was never going to happen.

wasn’t sure how or when I would find out who won. I walked into school with my stomach tied in knots. Lots of people waved to me and said, “Great job!” But these people could have thought that I’d done a great job and then voted for Alice or Dolan the Puker.

Psycho-bully Redge glared at me like normal in nutrition. I got him his pen and sat very still while Mrs. Mounds took roll. Maybe I’d find out at lunch. Maybe I’d find out at the end of the day. Maybe they’d call me at home after school. Then the intercom in the room crackled to life. “Bessica Lefter, Dolan Burr, and Alice Potgeiser, please come to the office.”

Holy crud! I was going to find out right now. Was I ready to find out right now? I stood up. Either I’d won and would secure a place in middle school as the awesome grizzly-bear mascot, or I’d lost and would go back to my old place, which wasn’t anything.

“Good luck, Bessica,” Mrs. Mounds said as I left the room.

“Thanks,” I said.

Halfway to the office, I ran into Alice. “You look so freaked out,” she said. And she didn’t give me time to rebut this. She just kept talking. “You must feel rotten. I mean, this whole voting system is totally unfair to you. Seriously. I’m popular. I’ve been a cheerleader for a year and have tons of friends. Plus, I’ve got an injury, which pulls in a ton of sympathy votes. It’s sort of impossible to beat me. So don’t be supersad when you lose. Okay?”

I really wished I hadn’t run into Alice. She was such a snobby downer. I couldn’t believe she had such a huge group of friends. It was weird. When we got to the principal’s office, Dolan the Puker was already seated in a chair in front of Principal Tidge’s desk. I sat down on one side of him and Alice sat down on the other. She looked very confident. Dolan looked sort of like me: worried.

“Congratulations,” Principal Tidge said. “All three of you did a spectacular job. Honestly, I’m sure you’d all make outstanding mascots for North Teton Middle School.”

While that was a nice thing to say, I also knew that it
wasn’t going to happen. I glanced at a pile of papers stuffed inside a box on top of a filing cabinet. There were so many that they were flowing out of the box and onto the floor. They were the ballots. Oh my heck! I could see my name checkmarked on some of them!

“Dolan,” Principal Tidge said, “even though the votes were close, I am afraid that you did not win mascot. But nice job on that tricycle. You’ve got a great, creative future ahead of you.”

Dolan stood up and left without saying anything. I looked at Alice. But Alice didn’t look at me. I didn’t like that we were being dismissed one person at a time. I felt Principal Tidge should have just announced the winner and gotten it over with.

“Bessica,” she said.

I dropped my head a little bit in disappointment. I really thought I had a chance. In my heart I knew I would have made an awesome bear.

“Your mascot abilities are obviously innate. Your comedic timing is brilliant. Your sense of showmanship is a thrill to watch.” She smiled at me so proudly. It was the way my parents smiled at me when I graduated from elementary school. I couldn’t believe that she was about to tell me that I’d lost.

“Alice, you are one of the most acrobatically talented
people I have ever met. It is a joy to watch your strength and flexibility in action.”

Alice beamed when Principal Tidge told her this.

“As impossible as this might seem”—she leaned forward on her desk—“there is no clear winner. It is a statistical tie.”

“What?” Alice said. “That’s impossible. Have all the ballots been counted?”

“Counted and recounted and recounted,” Principal Tidge said.

“Does the whole school have to vote again?” I asked. That seemed like a huge waste of paper. Also, waiting for the results a second time would probably kill me.

“We have options,” Principal Tidge said. “And what I’ve chosen to do is to split mascot duties evenly.”

“What?” Alice asked. “There’ll be two of us?”

Principal Tidge nodded. “Exactly. We’ll take a schedule of the games and you two will decide who will cheer at which event. There are an even number of games. So you will divide them equally.”

I couldn’t believe there was a tie. I was going to be the mascot. Only half of the time. But that wasn’t losing. That was half winning!

“There’s got to be another solution,” Alice said. “People were absent yesterday. They should have a chance to vote. They could cast the tie-breaking ballots!”

That made sense. I hoped Principal Tidge didn’t do that. Because I’d rather be a half winner than a full loser.

“I don’t mind being a half mascot,” I said.

“You’re a full mascot,” Principal Tidge said. “Just half of the time.”

I smiled. I looked at Alice. She wasn’t smiling. She looked majorly upset.

“When will we divide out the games?” I asked. I thought of the various schools we played against. Would I fight the Snake River Tiger? Would I cheer against the Flat Creek Bald Eagle? Who would fight the Teton Village Cougar? And the Powderhorn Spud? I couldn’t wait to find out.

“I’ve printed out schedules to send home with you so you can discuss it with your parents. Mrs. Batts will be in touch with them and then we’ll generate a schedule.”

“Who gets the costume? Normally the mascot gets to take it home,” Alice said.

Principal Tidge nodded to a coatrack. There hung the giant fur costume. It looked like a real bear. Brown furry legs. Brown furry arms. And an enormous brown furry head. It looked awesome!

“We’ll store it here, but you’ll be able to check it out the day before games.”

Alice released a puff of disappointment. “I think we should revote. This is insanity.”

“The decision has been made,” Principal Tidge said. “Congratulations to you both.”

I stood up and looked at the toppling pile of votes again. It seemed impossible that there was an exact tie. But I guessed that anything was possible.

“I’m telling you right now that I want to fight the Buffalo Valley Wildcat,” Alice said. “I hate Mikey Mason. He’s the wildcat this year. I’ll tear him down.”

“Okay,” I said.

“This is so ridiculous. Stupid wrist.” She lifted her wrist brace and shook it at the ceiling. “Who are we kidding? Being a mascot is beneath me. I should be a cheerleader.”

“You could always quit,” I said. I thought this was a brilliant suggestion on my part.

“Dream on,” Alice said. “Potgeisers don’t quit. We conquer.”

Then I decided to be the bigger person. “I know you’re disappointed, but congratulations.”

Alice looked at me in total disgust and blinked. “I can’t believe you just said that. For a sixth grader, you are so sarcastic. Seriously. And who even votes for a sixth grader? Who?”

And I felt like telling her that I was not being sarcastic and about half of the school voted for a sixth grader. But I didn’t. It was a no-win situation for me. If Alice wanted
to be a jerk about half winning, I was just going to have to let her be a jerk. I kept walking back to nutrition. But before I went inside I decided to do something. I went to my locker and got out my banned cell phone. I looked left and right to make sure that nobody was watching. The coast was clear. So I texted Grandma:

You were right. The world loves underdogs. I half won! Have fun with Willy. Come home soon. XXOO BL

y mom drove me to Sylvie’s house for lunch on Saturday. In addition to my fur pants, I carried a box from the bakery that held four blueberry tarts. One tart for everybody.

“I don’t even know if they’ll like tarts,” I said. “I should have brought cake. Everybody likes cake.”

“Tarts are special. They’ll be a huge hit!” my mom said as she pulled into Sylvie’s driveway.

“I guess,” I said. I couldn’t remember ever eating a tart before. I balanced the box on my legs and carefully opened the car door.

“Do you want me to help you carry anything?”

I shook my head. I didn’t need help.

“Are you sure you need to take your pants?” she asked.

My jaw dropped. “Of course I need to bring them. Sylvie is going to teach me dance moves. I need to learn how to do them in fur pants to make sure I do them properly.”

My mom smiled. “I’m very proud of you. You’re thinking like a mascot!”

I rolled my eyes, got out of the car, and hurried to Sylvie’s front door. I didn’t have to knock. The door swung open and I saw Sylvie.

“Oh my heck!” I yelled. “I love your hair!”

Sylvie was wearing a yellow headband that looked very cute.

“Thanks!” Sylvie said. “It keeps my bangs off my forehead.”

“Nice,” I said. Because I hadn’t even thought of trying to keep my bangs off my forehead. Then I stepped into Sylvie’s house and I saw something that I didn’t want to see. I saw Malory, and she was wearing a headband too. Malory waved at me. I waved back with my fingers only, because my hands were full.

“What’s in the box?” Malory asked.

“Tarts,” I said.

“I love tarts!” Malory said.

Then Mrs. Potaski rounded the corner. My heart felt
jumpy. Even though we had made up at the window of the craft store, it still felt a little awkward standing face to face with her.

“Hi, Mrs. Potaski.” I gave her a fingers-only wave too.

“Let me take those from you,” Mrs. Potaski said. She reached down and took the box, but I kept my fur pants. Then she gave me a little hug. And it felt pretty terrific.