11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass Page B

it if you hadn’t switched them. No one knew except my clients. And my boss, of course, who fired me a few minutes ago.”
    I sink down onto the corner of my bed. How was I going to get out of this one? I couldn’t exactly tell her that I knew because she told me. Three times!
    “Okay, Amanda, you don’t have to tell me. Birthday or no birthday, you’re grounded until you can tell me the truth. I don’t have to tell you how disappointed I am.”
    She grabs her poster and leaves my door wide open when she storms out. Kylie peeks her head out of her own room and gives me a wide smile.
Grrr!
So THIS is how she’s getting me back. I guess I should have taken the warning on her diary a little more seriously!
    Fuming, I sit by the window again. Wait till Leo hears about THIS one. I’m still waiting, tracing my breath on the window, when the doorbell rings. I hear Mom clomp over to it and I step into the hall to hear better.
    “Um, hi, Mrs. Ellerby. I came over to talk to Amanda.”
    There’s a pause — probably from shock — and then Mom says, “Amanda is grounded until further notice.”
    “But —”
    “No buts, Leo. And you have a lot of nerve coming here. We’ve missed you a lot this past year, you know.”
    I can practically see him staring down at his feet. He always does that when he’s embarrassed. “I missed you all, too,” he says, although I can barely make out the words.
    Then the door closes with a definite finality. Why oh why did he choose the door instead of the window? I’m about to cross back over to the window when I hear the front door open again. Mom shouts out, “And don’t try climbing that tree! Grounded means grounded!”
    I run over to the window in time to see Leo pedaling away on his bike. I can’t believe that after waiting all day, I’m not going to talk to Leo tonight. I put on my pajamas and climb into bed. I can feel the frustration rising up in me. Grounded for something I didn’t do! What a horrible fate! I want to scream that I didn’t do it, that Kylie is setting me up.
    But a smile slowly spreads across my face as I stare up at the ceiling. What am I getting so worked up over? In a few hours no one will remember any of this except for me and Leo. For the first time, I can’t wait to see SpongeBob’s freaky streamer arms waving at me in the morning.

Chapter Twelve
     
    And there he is! Waving and smiling, just like always. I jump up and hug him. Mom and Kylie don’t hate me anymore, and Leo and I are in this together! Woo-hoo!
    Then it hits me — I forgot to hide the balloon last night! Maybe it really ISN’T still my birthday. I look wildly around my room and grab at the Dorothy costume. I turn it around in my hands until I find where the rip should be, right at the seam of the underarm. I feel all around, but it’s perfectly fine! Woo-hoo, again!
    I get dressed and run downstairs. I hesitate for a second at the entrance to the kitchen, where I can see Dad at the counter with his tea. I couldn’t still be grounded, could I?
    “Um, hi Dad,” I say cautiously. I step back a bit in preparation for the four sneezes that have greeted me each morning.
    “Hi, honey!” he says, and then sneezes on schedule. “Happy birthday!”
    I release my breath. All clear. “Thanks! And thanks for the balloon.”
    Before he can tell me that Kylie thought I was too old for it, Mom rushes in. “Hi, sweetie,” she says, bending to kiss my forehead. “Feel any older?”
    I give her a big hug. She’s not mad at me anymore! “I do, I feel a lot older. Like I turned eleven five days ago!”
    She laughs and points to the birthday cake in the plastic box on the counter. “Well, I’m pretty sure if you turned eleven five days ago we’d have eaten that cake by now!”
    I want to tell her that we HAVE eaten it, many times, and that it could have used more Oreo crumbles on top, but instead I just smile and pour my bowl of cereal. “Good luck on the presentation!”
    “Thanks,”