“I appreciate the help. I do,” Caroline said. “But I’m not the only one you need to make amends to, you know.”
Her sister stared at her notebook page but didn’t write anything down. “I know,” she said in a quiet voice. “I . . . I wish I knew how to do the whole amends thing better. Especially with Dad.”
Caroline could not help but think of her all-too-awkward letter to Marissa. The other girl had accepted it with a haughty sniff and shoved it in her backpack without a single glance. Honestly, Caroline could not blame her under the circumstances. There had to be a better way to say sorry than that, surely.
“I’ll try to help you make amends,” Caroline offered. “It’s only fair, since you’re helping me with Micah.”
The beginnings of a smile popped up on Lara’s face. “I think we have a deal.”
* * *
NEW MISSION: I will try to make amends with, well, everyone.
QUESTION FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION: How?
When it came to Mission Make Amends, Lara decided she should start off easy. She figured that getting forgiveness from Benny shouldn’t be too difficult. And indeed, it was not. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “Really, really sorry.”
Benny shrugged. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have taken Ima’s pin-thingy. And it was mean for me to say that you’re a spy. Even though you are.”
“Not anymore,” Lara said. “Promise.”
And then she spent the next half hour watching Benny explain his zipper-zipping machine. By the end of it he was beaming and bouncing and being very Benny-like in general. Before leaving, she promised to be on the lookout for stuff he could use in future inventions. Stage 1: complete.
Noah wasn’t too difficult, either. When Ima started nagging him to put in his college applications over dinner, Lara decided to say something. She might as well try to do good when getting involved in other people’s business.
“I think it’s cool that Noah wants to be a mechanic,” Lara said.
Her brother looked surprised, but he smiled. “Thanks, Lara.”
Dad agreed. “Ezter, we’ve discussed this. Can we maybe not get into it right now?”
Although she pursed her lips, Ima let the matter go. Lara counted that as having Made Amends to Noah.
Next up was Aviva. This time, she was sure to knock before entering Aviva’s room. She entered to find Aviva sitting at her desk. A pencil was tucked behind her ear, brushing against her tightly woven braid.
“Hello,” Aviva said. “Why are you here? Not that it isn’t very nice to see you.”
“I am here to make amends,” Lara said. She might as well be honest about it.
Aviva frowned. “I think I know what that word means, but I am not entirely sure.”
Right. Lara considered her predicament. Although she’d embarked on a mission that had amends in the name, she found it was rather more difficult to explain the word than she’d thought. Several moments of silence lingered as she tried to come up with just the right response.
“It means I want to say sorry,” she said finally. “For being so mean to you at Rosh Hashanah dinner.”
Her cousin gave her a tight smile. “It’s all right. And you have already told me that you’re sorry. This is the fifth time you’ve apologized to me.”
Huh. Lara didn’t realize that she’d apologized to Aviva quite so much. Now that the fact was laid before her, it all seemed a little pathetic. But this would be the last, most important apology. “Making amends isn’t just about saying sorry, though. It’s about showing that you’re sorry. And I want to show you. So, uh, is there anything I can do for you? To show you how sorry I am.”
Forehead creased in concentration, Aviva twirled one of her braids. Lara focused her attention on the twirling rather than Aviva’s face. It felt easier, somehow.
“You are already helping me a lot with my writing in English,” Aviva told her finally. “I think that is a good way to make amends with me.”
Lara just barely restrained herself from letting out a frustrated grunt. Why did her cousin have to be so very nice about everything, to the point where she didn’t even ask for a favor? Couldn’t she see that Lara was trying to be good, or at least better than she had been?
“I can help you with your writing. Sure. But isn’t there something else you want? Something else I could do for you to make up for everything?”
Aviva stopped twirling her hair. “Well . . . there is one thing.”
“Yes?”
“I know we have not always gotten along. But I would like for us to try and be friends.”
Lara stared. Of all the things she might have expected her cousin to say, she had not anticipated that particular request. And yet there was only one response.
“I would like that too,” Lara said. She extended her hand and Aviva shook it.
In her mind, Lara checked Aviva off the list. Now only Dad was left.
Lara’s skin heated up every time she thought about it. After what she’d done to Dad, how could she ever Make Amends?
* * *
It turned out that Lara’s solution to the Micah Problem was a good one. Now Caroline just had to do it.
You can, her sister’s voice chanted in her ear. Remember— we made a deal.
Indeed they had. And Caroline intended to keep her end of the bargain.
When she walked into Experimental Art, she kept her back straight and her purpose clearly in mind. She took in one, two, three deep breaths while she walked over to her spot. Well, her and Micah’s spot.
Micah usually rushed into class at the last possible second, but today he was already there, doodling on a piece of scratch paper. Was this perhaps a sign? And if so, of what?
Caroline had barely settled into her seat before pulling out her tablet. She opened up her speech app. But
