The Prettiest

by Brigit Young

  25

  THE CHOIR ROOM TRIO

  NESSA: Soph, what did you say to brody today???

  SOPHIE: why

  EVE: What??? Is that why he seemed all quiet?

  NESSA: because every single human on earth is talking about it. he tried to kiss you?? you turned him down????

  SOPHIE: whatever moving on did he text u tonight

  EVE: He won’t STOP texting me.

  SOPHIE: good

  NESSA: btw lara is pretty upset about the list. its sad. she really might transfer schools

  SOPHIE: yeah like she has anything to complain about. shell transfer to Greenmount. shell go to a BETTER school!

  NESSA: hey thats mean

  SOPHIE: and you’re never mean?

  you know what never mind

  NESSA: I don’t know maybe she could help us. the more the better right?

  EVE: what if she actually wrote the list though? What if we are wrong?

  SOPHIE: why wouldnt she put herself on it then …

  EVE: I don’t know, maybe she WANTS to go to another school.

  SOPHIE: EVE. BRODY WROTE THE LIST. TRUST ME. ACCEPT IT.

  NESSA: yeah shes right. brody wrote it not lara alexander!!! ugh how can you be defending brody. gross

  SOPHIE: yeah are you a double agent now or something

  look he will like another girl soon and it wont be you

  EVE: I’m not defending Brody!

  SOPHIE: okay wow maybe you haven’t gotten anything useful from him about the list because youve fallen for his nice guy act

  but we need you to stick to the plan

  the halloween dance is the perfect time to record him admitting it

  he might not like you for much longer

  and it wont be long before he kisses you trust me

  EVE: What?!?!?!?!?!

  NESSA: aw geez don’t say that i just ate dinner ill get sick

  EVE: But we hardly know each other!!!!!!

  SOPHIE: did you really just say that

  NESSA: evie look how stressed youre making sophie

  EVE: I am not falling for his act!

  SOPHIE: whatever you know what im going to bed goodbye

  NESSA: sophie always leaves in a huff lol

  EVE: haha

  NESSA: she never leaves a room without being like [GIF of reality show actress storming off and kicking a table over, then throwing over a bookcase on the way out of the room]

  EVE: hahahahaha omg Nessa

  SOPHIE: very funny

  NESSA: youre the funny one

  SOPHIE: okay Im serious now bye bye

  NESSA: she’s doing it again lolololol

  EVE: hahaha

  SOPHIE: SOME OF US HAVE HOMEWORK TO DO

  GOODNIGHT

  26

  EVE

  Text message, after homeroom, Curtis Milford:

  you think you’re so much better than me don’t you

  Text message, unknown number, during math class:

  hey no 1. u always look so sad. smile. ☺

  Text message, unknown number, end of math class:

  is it tissue in there or padding

  The day before the Halloween dance, an unfamiliar voice came from behind Eve’s open locker door.

  “How’s it going?”

  She shut her locker to find Winston Byrd standing there, his hands wrapped around his backpack straps, his shoulders hunched over a bit as if he wasn’t yet used to being so tall. For an instant, she wondered whether he’d sent her any of the text messages, and which ones.

  “It’s okay.” She felt her face flush as pink as cherry blossoms. Why, God? Why did her blood vessels betray her like this?

  Winston looked like he was about to say something right as Brody came toward them from the boys’ bathroom.

  Two seventh graders waved at Brody. He threw them a slight nod of the head as he strutted by.

  “Hey, Byrd!” Brody smacked Winston’s back so loudly Eve heard a thump. “Hanging by my girl’s locker, huh?” His teeth gleamed white under the harsh hallway light. “Joking, joking. What’s up?” Brody propped an elbow against Eve’s locker.

  Winston seemed to force a smile. Eve hadn’t known he wore braces. He never smiled with his teeth showing. “Nothing, nothing, man.”

  “You still coming with Caleb to my place before the dance?”

  “Oh, um. Can’t. But I’ll see you there.”

  “Cool.” Brody turned away as if dismissing him.

  “All right, see you guys at lunch.”

  But Winston didn’t sit with those guys at lunch anymore, Eve realized. In fact, she hadn’t seen him with that group of boys for a week or so. Where had he gone?

  * * *

  My girl, Brody had called her. He had been joking, right? What did it mean to be “his” girl?

  She decided to ignore it.

  She and Brody really only spoke in school once or twice a day, and whenever she brought up the list Brody changed the subject quickly. But he texted her constantly.

  crazy my bday is on fri the 13th this yr. luv when that happens

  my dads gf caroline picked the movie tonight and its actually pretty good wow didnt think she had it in her

  yr bff Nessa wont stp askng me to run lines can u tell her to lay off a bit lolol

  i mean caroline isnt so great but i can see why my dad is w her. shes like miss america level gorgeous. could never say that to my mom tho. ur parents still 2gther yea?

  have you ever wondered what color the ocean would be if blue didnt exist. lol just thinking about stupid stuff sry

  It was actually sort of sweet how he felt comfortable enough to talk to her about his dad’s girlfriend, and to share his most random thoughts.

  As she walked into the cafeteria that day, a few teachers were hanging up pumpkin and skeleton decorations on the walls. Nessa blew her a kiss from the lunch line, and Eve took her prepacked meal out of her backpack and headed toward Sophie’s table.

  Earlier in the year, Eve’s greatest distraction had been the desperate need to finish any final chapter of whatever book she had on hand. Recently, her distractions from schoolwork included whatever happened in the hallways and during lunchtime. She hadn’t even finished the last book she’d started, she realized as she arrived at the Sophies’ table.

  But Sophie wasn’t sitting there.

  Rose Reed sat in Sophie’s old spot.

  Eve texted Sophie and asked where she was. Eve couldn’t do lunch without her! Eve still felt like she wore a costume. Like she was a spy. However, even though she’d never admit it to anyone, she did like the way the new outfits fit on her. When she put them on in the morning she’d catch herself lingering in front of the mirror.

  But then at school, when people’s eyes fell on the wrong places, she wanted her old life back so fiercely she could scream.

  Eve began to turn away from the table so that she could find Nessa and ask her where Sophie had gone. Before she could move, she felt a hand on her arm.

  “Where you going?” Brody asked with a smile.

  Eve stayed at the Sophie-less table. On her phone, a message from Sophie appeared:

  I can’t go back there today. Sorry, it said.

  And Eve could see why. A whole day later, and everyone was still talking about the soccer game.

  “Did you hear, Evie?” Rose asked her, and Eve cringed a little at hearing the name that only Nessa and her family used. “Sophie’s so mad you’re number one that she’s making up stories that she turned Brody down. Pathetic!”

  Hayley and Liv shook their heads along with some other girls at the table, but Amina said, “We don’t know what really happened, guys.”

  Eve knew she should say something to stand up for Sophie, like Amina had. Eve knew that Sophie wasn’t making anything up.

  But it was easier to stay quiet until the subject changed.

  All day long, Eve replayed Rose’s comments in her mind and fretted about her own silence. Weren’t those girls
Sophie’s friends? Why would they talk behind her back like that?

  As school ended that day, she was so lost in her thoughts of Rose and Sophie that she hardly noticed Brody coming up behind her.

  How did he always find her? She wondered if maybe he had memorized her class schedule. If so, he must really like her.

  “Can you come over the day before the dance?” he asked her with a smile on his face. It always surprised her how kind his smile could be.

  “I hope you’re not listening to Sophie’s stories about me,” he added, speaking lowly. “She’s crazy.”

  There it was. Another chance to speak up for Sophie, to defend her.

  “Well…,” Eve began, but nothing else came out.

  “So can you come by?” he asked again.

  Eve thought of what Sophie had said. How he would try to kiss her soon.

  “I have family stuff,” she told him.

  And Sophie’s not crazy, she thought to herself as Brody waved goodbye.

  27

  NESSA

  The night of the Halloween dance arrived. Nessa turned on her favorite mix of spooky choir music. When Sophie arrived at her house, Nessa jumped out with a monster mask on.

  It didn’t scare Sophie. But it was fun, anyway.

  Eve was going to be late because she had to wait until after Shabbat dinner to meet them. Such a nuisance.

  So there they were. She and Sophie Kane, alone. Sophie Kane, the girl who had had a million opportunities to speak to her throughout the years they’d gone to school together, but never had until she’d needed something.

  Nessa’s mom and dad welcomed Sophie in. Nessa’s mom told them that they’d leave in an hour. Nessa checked Sophie’s face for a response to her mom’s Spanish, but she didn’t catch one. Her mom had lived in the States since she was three and didn’t even remember life in Santa Tecla, but some people in Glisgold treated her like she’d just arrived yesterday when they heard her speak in her native language.

  When they got to Nessa’s bedroom, Sophie shocked Nessa by not saying anything stupid like people usually did (“You speak Mexican?” or “I didn’t know you were Mexican.” Oh my God, people. Read a book.). Instead Sophie asked, “Do you speak Spanish, too? Is there any way you could help me with my Spanish homework? I’m bad. And I can’t get a B. I just can’t.”

  Nessa couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure,” she said.

  “What’s so funny?” Sophie asked.

  Nessa understood almost everything in Spanish, but when she spoke it, people in her mom’s family made fun of her accent. At least her dad spoke it as badly as her. Well, way, way painfully worse than her. That helped.

  “I speak enough to help you out, let’s just say that.”

  Sophie grinned and proceeded to take out an abundance of makeup tools.

  “Thanks,” Sophie said as she pulled out a powder brush.

  Nessa couldn’t shake the feeling that Sophie was using her again.

  “Okay, let’s get to work.” Sophie was there to make Eve look Brody-confession-inducing amazing, but Nessa had insisted on help with her own costume, too. She wasn’t convinced Sophie could pull it off, though.

  Nessa showed Sophie a picture of the makeup look she wanted, and Sophie sighed.

  “Not my usual specialty, but okay, I’ll give it a shot,” Sophie relented. “Professor McGonagall it is.”

  Sophie’s costume appeared to be some kind of … pretty person? Cute girl? What was it exactly? Sophie and her friends dressed in these noncostume costumes every year.

  “Okay, so spill it. What are you dressed as?” Nessa didn’t bother hiding the disdain in her voice.

  “I’m a dancer,” Sophie answered as if it were obvious.

  Nessa looked Sophie up and down. “Don’t dancers wear leotards? Tutus or something?”

  Sophie put her hands on her hips. “Wow, the costume police are really strict this year.”

  Nessa shrugged. “I’m just saying. Okay, let’s do this.”

  After Sophie finished up and put the final bobby pin into Nessa’s bun, she handed Nessa a hand mirror from the bed stand.

  Nessa stared at her reflection. She looked incredible. “Thank you!” she said.

  Sophie smiled approvingly. “Not bad,” she admitted.

  So Sophie got to be the most crushed-on girl in the eighth grade and she had serious makeup talent? What a nice life.

  “Hey!” Nessa exclaimed, thinking of a way that Sophie could do something else for her. “You should do makeup for The Music Man! They make us do our own, but most people are really bad at it, and you’d make us all look so much better! We can trade homework help for Music Man makeup magic!”

  Sophie grunted. “Yeah, right.”

  At that, the doorbell rang.

  “Right on time!” Nessa yelled out.

  Eve walked in, dressed in the Juliet costume she’d worn two years in a row.

  Sophie looked Eve up and down and, without even saying hello, held up a makeup brush and declared, “You have to look perfect tonight.”

  * * *

  As soon as they walked into the gymnasium, Sophie went off to the middle of the room to join her crowd.

  “Okay, bye,” Nessa said.

  “Do you see him?” Eve asked her, fidgeting all about.

  “Not yet.” Nessa took her hand.

  Eve squeezed Nessa’s hand and went off to look for Brody.

  Would Eve just slow dance with Brody or something and forget their whole plan? Nessa tried to have faith that her friend hadn’t changed that much. Hey, at least her goofy Renaissance Faire costume, despite its newly snug fit, screamed, “I’m still the old Eve.”

  Nessa scanned the room for any other fun people. Lara Alexander, Erin O’Brien, and a couple of other kids from the show danced in their own little corner. Lara wore a gown and a crown and looked like actual royalty. Erin O’Brien had a red cardboard airplane around her chair and was dressed as Amelia Earhart. Nessa wove through some skeletons, zombies, and various types of princesses and superheroes as she headed toward that safe zone.

  “Hey, is Brody here yet?” Nessa asked the crowd.

  Erin rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t think so. I would’ve smelled the cologne and ego.”

  Nessa snorted. “True.”

  A paper jack-o’-lantern hanging from the ceiling fell, and a couple of teachers scrambled to get its string out of a girl’s hair. Amina, dressed as Catwoman, twirled around the dance floor with Hayley, who wore a costume as vague as Sophie’s. Winston Byrd, that night the Green Hornet, and Caleb Rhines, Han Solo, stood in a corner under an art-class-made papier-mâché monster, arguing. Probably about sports. Caleb pointed a menacing finger at Winston’s chest and shouted something. Okay, maybe not sports. Rose Reed, dressed as Princess Leia, came over and took Caleb’s arm to lead him to dance.

  But no Brody. And where had Eve gone?

  Everyone looked different this year. Glam-ier. A bunch of the girls wore more makeup than she’d ever seen on them. This was probably the one night their parents allowed them to do that. But Nessa suspected that wasn’t the only reason. Every girl’s outfit screamed “Put me on the list!”

  Whatever happened to simply wanting to win the costume contest?

  But wait. Sophie was right; Nessa shouldn’t act like the costume police.

  She heard a group of voices over the music. They came from somewhere far off. The dancing stopped, and people began to crowd around something. A fistfight?

  Wait, could it be Eve? Was Eve okay? Nessa felt her best-friend instinct kick into high gear, and she tried to run toward the action, but the crowd blocked her. She attempted to push her way through, but Nessa still couldn’t see who was yelling or why. She saw Mr. Flynn coming from another side, also trying to get to the center of the noise, as another teacher rushed out of the room.

  And then, nudging through the gawking bystanders, she saw what all the commotion was about. Standing right in front of Sophie and Eve, his hand
on his hip as he tossed back the hair of his cheap blond wig, stood Brody Dixon dressed in the most horrifying Halloween costume Nessa could imagine.

  28

  EVE

  Makeup covered his face: bright pink lips, eye shadow up to his eyebrows, mascara lazily smudged all around his eyes, and buckets of blush. Up close, Eve could see permanent marker drawn all over the roots of the messy blond wig. His clothing was reminiscent of Sophie’s—a red tank top, tight jeans—but he’d attached an enormous price tag to it that read 50¢. Around his neck hung a small poster board with a hastily scribbled #2 on it.

  And he wouldn’t stop talking, his voice nasal and falsetto.

  “OMG, my dad hasn’t paid child support in foreeever. But that’s probably because he’s, like, in jail or whatever.”

  Eve’s stomach lurched. She thought she might throw up.

  Instinctively, Eve moved toward Sophie as Sophie croaked: “He is not! Stop it!”

  “Seriously, like totally, I’m, like, white trash, like yeah.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “OMG, gotta go wash the fleas out of my clothes!”

  Sophie leaned over, her hands on her knees, unable to catch her breath.

  Eve reached for her and held her up. “It’s okay, Sophie, it’s okay.”

  Mr. Flynn came toward them, yelling, “Hey, Brody! Hey!” The music had abruptly stopped.

  “What is wrong with you!?” Eve screeched at Brody.

  Everything Nessa had said about him had been true. His kind smile had meant nothing. He was as bad as they all claimed. How could she have thought any different for even an instant?

  At Eve’s words, Brody stopped the performance. “Ha. What? It’s a joke.” He put out a hand to Eve, as if she’d ever come near him again.

  Couldn’t he see she was literally holding up Sophie? That his little act had forced Sophie to buckle over?

  Brody wore a laugh on his face, like he thought everyone else would laugh, too. And most did. Out of the corner of her eye, in the haze of her disgust, Eve spotted some of Brody’s guy friends chuckling into their palms.