"Can you tell me who you really are?"
Amanda gulped. "Do I have to?"
"I can't force you," Madame said. "Can I go now?"
Madame nodded. But as Amanda started out of the room, the teacher touched her shoulder, and she looked back.
"Whoever you are… be good to Tracey, okay? There's more to Tracey than meets the eye."
Amanda had a feeling that she wasn't just talking about Tracey's ability to vanish.
"I'm trying," Amanda said.
When the school day was over, Jenna was waiting for her at the school exit. "What did Madame want?"
"She knows I'm not Tracey," Amanda said glumly.
"Well, you can't blame her. You're not exactly acting like Tracey. Does she know who you really are?"
Amanda glared at her. "No, and you better not tell her."
"My lips are sealed," Jenna said. "Can you do me a favor?"
"What?"
Jenna looked uncomfortable. "This is kind of embarrassing, but… when I threw my stuff in my bag yesterday, I forgot something. Something kind of important."
"So you want to go home to get it?"
Jenna made a face. "The thing is… I don't want to go into the apartment if my mother and her friends are still hanging out. Sometimes these parties go on for days. If my mother sees me, she might start crying, and I'll feel awful."
"You want me to get it for you?"
"Would you?" Jenna asked eagerly.
Amanda shrugged. She didn't have anywhere else she had to be.
When they arrived at the door of Jenna's apartment, they could hear music and voices inside. Amanda hesitated. "What am I going to tell your mother?"
"Just say you're picking up something for me."
"But she doesn't know who I am. And she'll want to know why you can't get it yourself. What am I supposed to say?"
Jenna was silent. After a moment, she said, "Maybe you could be invisible."
Amanda rolled her eyes. "Jenna, you know Tracey can't control that."
"But you're not Tracey," Jenna countered. "So what?"
"You're so much stronger than she is. I'll bet if you really wanted to be invisible, you could make it happen."
Amanda didn't buy it. "Disappearing is Tracey's gift, not mine."
"But you're controlling Tracey's body," Jenna said. "Maybe you can control her gift."
Amanda still had doubts. "What is it I'm supposed to pick up for you anyway?"
Jenna gave her an abashed grin. "This is the embarrassing part. It's a teddy bear."
Amanda stared at her in disbelief. Then she burst out laughing. "See? I knew you weren't so tough!"
Then Jenna was laughing, too. "Yeah, okay, I know it's goofy, but I've always slept with him. Don't tell anyone, okay? It would be very bad for my reputation."
"No kidding," Amanda chortled. "The juvenile delinquent sleeps with her knife, her gun, and her teddy bear."
They were both giggling so hard now that they couldn't stop. And they must have been pretty loud, because suddenly a voice could be heard from inside the apartment. "Is someone out there?"
Then they heard footsteps approaching the door.
Jenna froze. "It's my mother."
"Hide," Amanda hissed.
Jenna ran into the stairwell. Amanda closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. Help me, Tracey-help me. Help me disappear. She tried to imagine herself fading away.
She heard the door open, and she knew someone was standing there, facing her. Reluctantly, slowly, she opened her eyes.
Jenna's mother looked puzzled. She looked both ways down the hallway, and then she shrugged.
I did it! Amanda thought gleefully She edged past Jenna's mother into the apartment, trying to avoid bumping into people. She had no idea how long she could hang on to this invisibility, so she moved fast, tearing into Jenna's bedroom. The teddy bear was on the bed.
Back out in the hallway, she ran into the stairwell.
Jenna didn't look in her direction, so she knew she must still be invisible. She closed her eyes. I want to come hack, I want to come back. Tracey, let's be real. "You did it!"
Amanda opened her eyes to see Jenna gaping at her in admiration. She thrust the teddy bear into Jenna's arms. "Let's get out of here."
Once they were out of Brookside Towers, Amanda turned to Jenna. "You're going to have to do something about this, you know."
"About what?"
"Your mother, how you're living-all that."
"You can't tell anyone, Amanda. This is even more important than the teddy bear. Do you know what would happen to me if people found out about my mother?"
Amanda could guess. "They'd take you away from her and put you in some kind of foster care."