But better than that, I see my best friend, Melody. She’s sitting on the seat right next to me, eyes shining with excitement and a big smile on her face. For the first time in ages, actually, I truly see her.
MELODY
Goodbye Summer
It’s the last day of summer—again! And I feel like there’s so much to do, so much to squeeze in. Katie and I brought our bikes to the beach and we’re racing down the path. The wind is whipping through my hair and we ride so fast we see a million beach scenes but all speeded up. Kids with red buckets, tanned ladies in floppy hats, old dudes with round hairy bellies, Rollerbladers in spandex, joggers in tank tops, skaters, surfers, and dogs. I even see a giant lizard on a leash. Frisbees fly through the air and footballs do, too. I love it: the salty air and the summer sun, the sparkling sea and the magic. Well, not the magic. I’m done with the magic for now. Regular life is complicated enough.
After a while Katie veers off the path and hops off her bike. I follow her and we lock our bikes up at the nearest rack, kick off our shoes, and run toward the surf.
When we’re ankle-deep we stop and gaze out. The sun is starting to set and the sky glows orange-pink.
“I can’t believe we start seventh grade tomorrow,” says Katie.
I don’t say anything because I can believe it. I’m scared and excited, but most of all, I’m ready. I take a deep breath. “This is so gorgeous, I want to paint it,” I say. “Capture it all on a giant canvas and hang it on my wall.”
“Except your mom would never let you,” Katie reminds me.
I shake my head. “Nope, she has no choice. I told her I’m redecorating. The rest of the house is hers but my room is my own.”
Katie raises her eyebrows and looks at me, totally shocked. “And Debbie actually agreed to that?”
“She had to,” I say, with a huge grin. “I told her I was sick of shopping, that I needed a real hobby. And that exercise is fine once in a while, but I’m not going to do her crazy workouts with her. Especially on Saturday mornings, because I signed myself up for this awesome art class downtown.”
“That’s so not mellow,” Katie says, impressed.
I shrug. “Yeah, turns out there’s such a thing as too mellow and that’s not me anymore.”
“That’s awesome. When do you start?” Katie asks.
“Next week. I can’t wait! Hey, do you want to sign up, too? Or do you have to babysit?”
Katie shakes her head. “No, thanks. Art isn’t really my thing. But then again, neither is free babysitting. My mom and Jeff promised me they’d find a real babysitter for the twins. And when I do end up babysitting, they’re actually going to pay me.”
“That’s amazing,” I say. “Tell them to give me a call. I’d be happy to hang with the boys anytime.”
“Anytime?” asks Katie, eyebrows raised.
“Well, maybe not anytime, but definitely sometime. I actually miss them.”
“Hey, race you back to the bikes?” Katie asks.
Before I have a chance to answer she’s sprinting up the beach, already halfway there.
An hour later we’re boarding the bus again. It’s the last shuttle of the day, our last ride of the summer.
“I cannot believe it’s over,” Katie says, leaning back as she pulls her hair up into a ponytail.
“Well, at least this time we got two summers for the price of one,” I remind her.
“Thanks to the tunnel,” Katie whispers as the bus pulls away from the curb. “I wonder if it’ll work again. Maybe we should make another wish.”
“You’re crazy,” I say, shaking my head. “Don’t get any ideas. I do not want to repeat this summer a third time and I do not want to trade places again.”
“Neither do I,” Katie says. “But I’m thinking … What if we wish for something else?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Well, we know the tunnel is magic, but how magic is it? Like, can we wish for anything? The perfect boyfriend?”
“You thought you had a perfect boyfriend in Kevin,” I remind her.
“I know. I guess I should’ve learned my lesson. He’s a sweet guy, but we’re definitely better off as friends. And not even good friends. Just regular I’ll-high-five-you-in-the-hallway-and-maybe-sit-with-you-at-lunch-on-occasion type of friends. So, really I did you a favor by breaking up with him,” Katie says.
I let out a laugh. “Um, I wouldn’t go that far. It’s probably something I should’ve done myself, especially since we’re neighbors.”
Katie cringes and shifts around in her seat. “Right. I guess that could get awkward. I’m sorry. Is he still avoiding you?”
I shake my head. “No, don’t worry about it. We hung out last night. You know, just as friends. Kevin is still freaked out by my major personality change this summer, but it all worked out in the end. I think he’s just relieved I’m back to acting like myself, no offense.”
I think about this for a moment. “But that can mean so many things…”
She smiles at me, mischievously. “Exactly!”
I bite my bottom lip. “I don’t know. It makes me nervous, not being specific. I think we should play it safe and ride through the tunnel with our eyes wide-open.”
“That’s such a waste!” Katie says.
I giggle. “It’s really not. Think about our last wishes, how hard the summer was. And there’s no more beach bus after today. That means whatever you wish for you’re stuck with until next summer.”
“Unless the magic is in the tunnel and not the bus,” Katie says.
“It could be both—I guess we’ll never know. So isn’t it better to be careful and avoid the potential for another disaster?”
Katie thinks about this for a minute. “Was the summer really a disaster? Maybe our wishes worked out perfectly. I mean here we are, best friends again.”
“Exactly,” I say, nodding. “We got what we wanted, so we should be happy. Quit while we’re ahead.”
Katie stares at the road in front of us. “I don’t know. There’s always room for improvement.”
The tunnel is right in front of us and I’m afraid Katie’s going to do something crazy.
“Let’s just try to have a normal year,” I say.
Katie smiles and says okay, but I can tell she doesn’t mean it. She’s made her decision. There’s no point in arguing—she’s too stubborn. We’re in the tunnel and she’s squeezing her eyes shut tight and holding her breath.
I feel a nervous tremor in the bottom of my belly. We’re in the dark and I can sense that the universe is about to shift yet again. I should probably close my eyes and hold my breath, too, and wish to cancel out Katie’s wish, but I don’t think of that until it’s too late.
“What did you wish for?” I ask once we’re out of the tunnel. “Did it come true?”
“I think so,” Katie says. “But it’s way too soon to tell.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what it is?” I ask.
Katie shakes her head, grinning like mad. “There’s no fun in that!”
Now I’m getting scared. “Katie, what did you do?”
She won’t tell me specifics, though.
Not even after I beg and plead.
She won’t even give me a hint.
All she says is, “You’ll see!”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to Janine O’Malley, Laura Langlie, Rachel Cohn, Morgan Matson, Coe Booth, Jenny Han, and Daniel Ehrenhaft.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leslie Margolis is the author of many books for young readers, including Boys Are Dogs, Girls Acting Catty, and Girl’s Best Friend. She lives in Los Angeles, California. You can sign up for email updates here.
ALSO BY LESLIE MARGOLIS
THE ANNABELLE UNLEASHED SERIES:
Boys Are Dogs
Girls Acting Catty
Ev
erybody Bugs Out
One Tough Chick
Monkey Business
THE MAGGIE BROOKLYN MYSTERIES:
Girl’s Best Friend
Vanishing Acts
Secrets at the Chocolate Mansion
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Katie: Betrayed on the Beach Bus
Melody: Freckled Perfection
Katie: K Surprise!
Melody: Being a Miller!
Katie: Kissing Confusion
Melody: Not So Peaceful Melodies
Katie: Nerds No More
Melody: Color Me Blue
Katie: The Kevin Situation
Melody: Another Day at the Beach
Katie: Lunch and Lunges, but Not in That Order
Melody: Wrong Order
Katie: Typical Saturday
Melody: Supertwins
Katie: Surfer Dude
Melody: The Boy on the Beach
Katie: The Fourth
Melody: Spaghetti Mess
Katie: Hanging at the Mall
Melody: Rocket Ship Dogs
Katie: Kyle Comes Home
Melody: Back on the Bus
Katie: Tears and Fears
Melody: Goodbye Summer
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also By Leslie Margolis
Copyright
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010
Copyright © 2015 Trisha Leaver
All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2015
eBook edition, May 2015
mackids.com
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Margolis, Leslie.
If I were you / Leslie Margolis. — First edition.
pages cm
Summary: Twelve-year-old best friends Katie and Melody have had a terrible summer, ending with a fight over a boy, but when Katie’s wish to begin the summer over as Melody comes true, each girl learns important lessons about the other and herself.
ISBN 978-0-374-30068-5 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-374-30069-2 (e-book)
[1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Identity—Fiction. 4. Wishes—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M33568lf 2015
[Fic]—dc23
2014041190
eISBN 9780374300692