Allergic

An illustration depicts the layout of both Claire’s and Maggie’s homes. Claire’s home doesn’t have anyone in it, and everything is neat, organized, and quiet. In Maggie’s house, her brothers are jumping on beds and making loud noises. Her father is pounding nails into the wall in the baby’s nursery, while her mother unpacks objects onto shelves in the room. Downstairs, the washing machine makes a loud noise. The two girls play together a lot, and Maggie likes how quiet Claire’s house is. They hang out there, and Claire explains that she and her dad unpacked quickly because her father is an expert at moving after having moved so many times. Claire likes having a house because, unlike in apartments, she can put her things wherever she wants them and won’t have to move them because of apartment rules. Claire suggests baking cupcakes, explaining that her dad promised that if she “had a good attitude about moving, then he’d try his best to always […] ‘say yes to the mess’” (69). The two friends bake cupcakes, and Maggie says that she used to want to be a vet. She doesn’t explain why she can no longer aspire to that career. Claire says her dad is an artist and that they moved to the neighborhood so he could pursue his art full-time and this area is cheaper than San Francisco. Maggie explains that her mom and dad are a social worker and a computer tech. Claire suggests that she and Maggie open a bakery because their cupcakes are so good.

At home, Maggie’s parents assemble the crib, and Maggie comes in to talk to them. She tells them her plans for their house, including a bowling alley in the family room and a tree in the dining room. Her parents suggest that she first focus on her own room because they’re already quite busy. Frustrated, Maggie goes back to her room but doesn’t have any ideas; the room used to feel like home to her but no longer does.

On the bus, Claire and Maggie wish they had lunch together. Maggie later sees Claire with a group of sixth graders. As a fifth grader, Maggie is apprehensive about meeting the older girls. They’re surprised that Claire made friends with a fifth grader, but when Claire tells them that Maggie is “awesome,” Maggie thinks she has the perfect friend. The two get permission from Claire’s father to make water balloons, and they attack Noah and Liam with them. They then build a fort, and Claire tells Maggie that her mom lives in New York and she only sees her during the summer and on some holidays since her parents are divorced. Maggie thinks going to New York frequently sounds fun. When Maggie laments that her brothers would destroy their fort, Claire says they’re cute. Maggie is shocked because she just finds them annoying. Claire also thinks that a baby in the house could be fun, but Maggie thinks her house already has enough people. She tells Claire about her animal allergy and the plan to start allergy shots. Maggie invites Claire over for movie night, and Claire excitedly accepts the invitation.

During movie night, Maggie’s grandmother, father, and mother sit on the couch. Maggie sits next to her mother. When her mom feels the baby kick, she puts Maggie’s hand on her stomach, but Maggie looks apprehensive. Meanwhile, her brothers have a pillow fight. Maggie’s grandmother laments the hiccups Maggie’s mother, Hannah, always had when Grandma was pregnant with her, and Maggie’s father laments Hannah’s snoring. Maggie cuddles with her parents on the couch until one of the boy’s pillows hits her, making her angry. Claire arrives, and the two whisper to each other on the couch during the movie.

Maggie saves up to buy Claire a friendship necklace. It’s a heart broken in two, one side for each friend. The letters “BFF” are engraved on it, for “best friends forever.” After putting on her necklace, Maggie hears Claire calling from outside. Claire has a new puppy in her arms and talks about how cute it is, but Maggie thinks, “How could she?” (85). She closes the shades so that she can’t see Claire anymore. She pulls off her best friend necklace, breaking it in the process.

Claire comes to Maggie’s house with her puppy, but Maggie says she’s too busy to play. Claire is excited to introduce Maggie to her dog, and Liam and Noah tell Claire that it’s Maggie’s fault they can’t get a dog. Maggie thinks they’re all traitors, and the boys go to Claire’s house to play with the dog. She plans to call it Lucky. Maggie thinks about how she now has neither a puppy nor a best friend. Maggie says she’s unavailable whenever Claire tries to talk to her. She pulls the covers over her head and imagines Claire asking her dad for a puppy and her dad saying she can have anything she wants.

Maggie asks her mom to drive her to school so that she doesn’t have to see Claire, but her mother says she must take the bus and reminds her about her allergy shots later that day. Maggie rushes to the bus to avoid Claire and feels her heart pounding on the bus. She’s called to the office to leave for her shots, and her mind is too tangled to respond to a boy who says hi to her. Her father calls her his favorite daughter, and when they get to the car, she sees the baby’s car seat already in it. Maggie thinks that having a baby is a bad thing and wonders who will be her father’s favorite daughter if the baby is a girl. At the doctor’s office, Maggie receives two shots, which won’t allow her to get a pet but, with luck, will minimize her reactions to other people’s pets. One potential side effect of the shots is a “sense of impending doom,” and when her father explains what it means, Maggie wonders what the wording is for how she currently feels since “the bad thing had already happened” (105).