“Don’t be ridiculous, Madison,” Sabrina said. “Could you just imagine any other pet back to life?”
“Even if you could, would you want to?” Jaxon added. “I mean, have you ever readPet Sematary?”
“Haveyou?” I shot back.
“Now is not a day to fight,” Eli interrupted, still speaking in that strange and calming tone that he’d been using all day. He opened the Tupperware and held it out to each of us in turn so we could all take a brownie. Then, we each held it into the middle of our circle, like we were doing a toast. “To Skippy. You will never be forgotten.”
“To Skippy,” we all replied in unison. Violet and I shared another glance as we both took a bite of our brownies. I guess we both lost—“imaginary fish” was nowhere on my bingo card for what these idiots might pull out to get food. Actually, I had to respect the attempt. They truly embodied the motto “don’t let them guess your next move.”
“So…” Violet said slowly. “What would… Skippy...” She sounded like she was choking as she said the name. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was trying to hold back another bout of laughter or if it was because he wasn’t certain she’d chosen the right name. “What would he want us to do today? You know, in his honor?”
“I think he would want us to do his favorite activity,” Sabrina said.
“Swimming?” I guessed.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Madison,” she said.
Violet shrugged and mouthed at me, “I thought it was a good guess.”
“Obviously, his favorite activity was skateboarding,” Sabrina said.
“Obviously,” I repeated. What fish didn’t love skateboarding, right? Shame on me for not knowing.
“Wait,” Violet said. She pointed a finger at Jaxon, an accusatory look on her face, while he was clearly also trying not to laugh. I felt like something had flipped here, but I wasn’t totally sure what it was. “Did you plot all of this just so you could force me to skateboard?”
“That’s absurd, Violet,” Jaxon said, sticking his nose in the air. “Why would I do that?”
“Oh, so it’s just a coincidence that your fish, whose favorite activity was skateboarding, died three days after I told you there was no way I was going to try it?”
“A tragic and horrible event,” Jaxon said.
“That didn’t answer the question.”
“A true tragedy,” Eli said.
“You’re in on this too?” Violet asked, pointing a finger at him. “I thought you guys just wanted my brownies!”
“The brownies were definitely a nice bonus,” Sabrina said, dropping her act for the first time since we’d gotten there. Jaxon elbowed her in the side. “Uh, I mean, they will help dull the emotional pain of this terrible event.”
“You three are ridiculous,” Violet said, crossing her arms. Jaxon, Eli, and Sabrina all looked down. Violet sighed. “But fine.”
Jaxon’s head immediately snapped up again, and he smiled widely at her. “Fine?”
“Just this once,” she said through gritted teeth, “I will try skateboarding. But you will never bring it up again if I don’t like it. Deal?”
“Deal,” he said immediately.
Violet looked at me. “So… how would you feel about learning to skateboard?”
“Do we have enough skateboards for us to both try?” I asked.
“We have two,” Sabrina said.
“But Eli probably wants to practice too, right?” I asked.
“My neighbor, Charlie, said we could borrow his if we wanted,” Jaxon said. “So you can all try.”
“Oh right,” Violet said, looking at me from the corner of her eye. “Charlie.”
