Is She for Real? by P.J. Night

thought. If that’s the worst of what they notice about me, that’s pretty good.
    â€œSandy Lady! Sandy Lady!” Lissa, Lily, and Olivia cried. It was time to begin the summer ritual.
    â€œHow do you decide who goes first?” Bethany asked, trying to feign interest in the ritual, despite the fact that she had a strong feeling of dread growing in her chest.
    â€œWell, last time when it was the three of us, we did eeny-meeny-miney-mo,” Lissa said. “But this time, since it’s a new year and there’s a new member of the club, I think we should do something different. Like rock, scissors, paper.”
    â€œTotally,” Lily and Olivia said at the same time.
    The rock, scissors, paper routine turned out to be complicated, and it took awhile to work out the logistics. Finally they got it right.
    â€œI’m the first Sandy Lady of the summer!” Lissa crowed as they all dug a long hole in which she would be buried. It took awhile, because they were using their hands and because they wanted to make it as deep aspossible. Then Lissa took off her shorts and top to reveal her new polka-dot bathing suit. She got in and lay down faceup as the other three threw sand on her until all they could see was her head.
    They patted the sand down on top of her body, even sitting on it, so it was as tightly packed as possible. Then they all stood back to admire their work and take pictures with their phones. Lissa seemed to enjoy being buried and begged the others to bury Olivia right next to her, but Lily insisted that Sandy Lady was a one-at-a-time deal. They couldn’t mess with tradition, she said, or the ritual would lose its magic and they wouldn’t have a good summer.
    Lissa stayed buried for about ten minutes before she asked to be dug out, and it took a few minutes to unearth her and a few hands to pull her up. She was caked in damp sand but seemed invigorated. Olivia was already getting herself ready, handing her phone over to Bethany.
    â€œWill you document my Sandy Lady moment?” she asked Bethany.
    â€œNo problem,” said Bethany. She was feeling a little better by now; things seemed to be going fine, and she was able to go along with the fun. See, this isn’t so bad! shethought. But for some reason she was dreading her turn.
    She dutifully snapped away with the phone once Olivia was buried. Olivia was making funny faces the whole time.
    â€œBuild me a mermaid tail!” she said. “Please?”
    The girls went to work piling more sand on the area below Olivia’s buried feet, shaping it into a curly sort of fin. Lissa used a stick to draw scales like a real mermaid.
    â€œI’m a Pretty Mermaid Lady!” Olivia cried. “Bethany, take more photos!” Everyone was cracking up, and Bethany tried to laugh too. But half of her was thinking about Nate and how he said she used to be different.
    She sighed silently, because it was true. She’d lost what had always been her superpower: her confidence. It was just gone, or misplaced, or buried, or something. Whatever it was, it wasn’t here. It had been replaced by a feeling of doom so great it felt like it was burning holes in her heart. But she smiled as everyone helped Olivia out of her mermaid hole.
    Now Bethany and Lily had to do rock, scissors, paper to determine who would be buried next. Bethany did “scissors” and Lily did “rock.” Yes! thought Bethany. Rock smashes scissors. I don’t have to go next.
    So it was Lily’s turn. Lily wanted the girls to build a pyramid of sand on top of her so she could pretend to be a mummified Cleopatra in her underground tomb, which kind of creeped Bethany out. But again, she went along with the sand play, helping build the pyramid and taking photos all the while.
    â€œSandy Cleopatra Lady, Sandy Cleopatra Lady!” Lily chanted in a singsong voice. Then, again, everyone helped her out of the hole. Bethany was beginning to