Barbarians at the PTA by Stephanie Newman

Author:Stephanie Newman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510759855
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2020-05-19T16:00:00+00:00

At least my daughter was now knee-deep in basketball. There were frequent practices and games, each one an opportunity for her to show her stuff. Rachel was athletic, a currency that really mattered at Barnum. The jury was still out about whether that would help her socially, though she had recently been invited to spend the afternoon at Katie’s with the other girls in her class. When I picked her up, she told me all about it. “They invited everyone but Maya,” she began.

“It makes me uncomfortable when they laugh at her or Francesca,” she told me.

“So what do you do when you’re in it with the other girls?” I asked.

“I try to stay clear.” She looked down at her hands. “When Maya heard everyone talking about going over to Katie’s, her face got really red and she went to use the bathroom.”

“That situation—inviting all the girls in the class but one—you know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that.”

“It’s mean.” Rachel’s expression was thoughtful. “But a lot of this isn’t up to me. Who they invited wasn’t my choice.”

I turned the steering wheel and headed up the hill to our house. “Couldn’t you have asked them to include Maya?”

“I just told you! It wasn’t up to me. It was Katie’s party. And I told you, none of them like her.”

“You don’t have to do everything the group does. You know that, right?”

Rachel thought for a moment. “Maya can be kind of nice,” she said. “She shared her cookies with me the other day.”

“Why don’t you invite her to come home with you one afternoon?”

I stopped at a stop sign and glanced at Rachel. “I don’t think so,” she told me. “They’d ditch me. I want to be part of that group. They have all the sleepovers and parties.”

I tried again. “I’ve said this before, but here goes. Why not make friends with kids in different groups?”

Rachel shot me an annoyed look. “It doesn’t work like that.”

I asked her if she wanted to go out for ice cream, but she said she wasn’t hungry. It was the third time I’d heard that in as many weeks.

“No ice cream?”

Rachel shook her head.

“You weren’t hungry the time we baked cookies either.” She didn’t meet my eye. “How ‘bout you tell me what’s up?”

Rachel shifted uncomfortably. “What’s a makeover?”

My anxiety rose. Was she unhappy with her appearance? I forced myself to play it cool. “Sometimes people try a new style, use different makeup, or change their hair and clothing when they want to improve how they look. And some people undergo surgical procedures. Why do you ask?”

Rachel looked down at her hands. “Yesterday when Alva was picking me up from school, I ran back in because I’d left my jacket in the cubby. Mrs. DeVry was telling another mom that I could use a makeover.” Her face turned a bright shade of red.

That was outrageous! “She has no idea what she’s talking about. And you’re perfect.”

Rachel sighed. “You’re supposed to say that.

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