The Grass Is Always Greener

by Jen Calonita

  “No, stay! I’ll go,” Mira said hastily. “I didn’t know Zoe was going to be here. She showed up while I was out here painting.”

  “Mira almost jumped out of her skin,” Zoe said with a laugh. “I figured while we were both here we might as well take some test shots. Mira is going to be an amazing model, and having me shoot her head shots can’t help but look good.” Mira thought Zoe sounded conceited, but when you were that good, it was probably hard not to be.

  “Well, I’ll leave you guys to it.” Izzie hung the dress on a hook near the door.

  “Stay,” Zoe said. “I want to hear all about your date. Was the dress a hit?”

  “I think so.” Izzie looked uncomfortable, and Mira noticed her toes begin to tap. “Thanks again. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Zoe leaned on the edge of a chair. “I love helping people. My friends say I am always putting others’ needs before my own.” Mira and Izzie briefly locked eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep the dress?”

  Izzie shook her head. “No, it’s yours. Besides, no one wears a dress more than once in this town anyway. Right, Mira?” If Izzie was teasing, she couldn’t be too mad.

  Dress. Town. Time. “What time is it?” Mira panicked.

  Zoe held up empty wrists, but Izzie had a watch on. “One fifteen. Why?”

  Mira grabbed Izzie by the hand. “Zoe, can we finish up later? I’ll come back and grab my art supplies. I forgot Izzie and I have someplace we need to be.”

  “We do?” Izzie asked as Mira dragged her along.

  “Sure! I think I got a few good shots already.” Zoe looked at the screen on her camera. “Justine is going to love you! I’ll call them Monday. And I say go with the beach painting. It’s a winner.”

  “Thanks.” Mira grinned. “That means a lot coming from you.” Mira could sense Izzie watching, and suddenly she felt funny. She had a feeling she was going to hear it when they got outside, and she did.

  “Since when are you two friends?” Izzie had an edge to her voice.

  “We’re not! I didn’t even know she was going to be at the pool house.” Mira lingered by the back door and looked out at the patio. Her mom had uncovered the furniture already because it had been so warm. “When Zoe showed up, she was nice enough to ask about that art class I’m trying to get into, and then the next thing I knew, she was taking my picture.”

  Izzie bit her nails, and Mira tried not to look horrified. “Sorry for the inquisition.” She hesitated. “I just feel weird seeing you two together. She was so awful to my family, and when I see you laughing with her…”

  Now Mira felt bad. If she was taking sides, she was on Team Izzie. “I always have your back,” she promised. “Zoe’s probably just being nice to me because she knows it’s a good way to get to you.” Izzie frowned. “To get to know you, I mean,” Mira quickly clarified. “That’s why she’s so into getting me a modeling contract.”

  Izzie finally smiled. “You’re into you getting a modeling contract.”

  “True!” Mira sidestepped the sandbox. Connor had obviously been in it that day because the lid was off and sand was everywhere. “I’ll travel the world and forget all about Kellen, but he’ll be forced to think about me because my face will be everywhere.”

  “The ultimate revenge,” Izzie agreed. “Have you talked to him?”

  “A little.” Mira was too exhausted to rehash the texting and the phone conversations. “At least we’re talking—which is what you and Zoe should do.” Izzie groaned. “Maybe she’ll know what’s in that safe-deposit box that you refuse to open.”

  “Maybe.” Izzie seemed to think about that for a moment. “I’m not ready to know anyway. I’m just starting to feel like myself again.”

  Mira didn’t want to push it. She knew what it was like to feel sad, and her sadness didn’t compare to Izzie’s in any way, shape, or form. When Izzie got quiet, Mira saw the opening she had been waiting for. “That’s good because I have just the thing to cheer you up waiting in the kitchen.”

  Izzie looked suspicious. “What is it?”

  Mira ignored her and opened the back door. “Mom? Is it time?”

  “Yes! We’re in the dining room!” Mira’s mom yelled.

  “Who’s ‘we’?” Izzie asked. Mira didn’t say anything. They both took off at a run, trying to race each other through the house. Izzie beat Mira by a half a second. She looked pleased with herself till she realized the we was her aunt and a woman bearing lots of magazines, swatches, and a laptop presentation that said SWEET SIXTEEN. Mira swallowed hard.

  “Oh good, you found Isabelle!” Mira’s mom said. “Girls, I want you to meet Kimberly Mays.” Ms. Mays was impeccably dressed in a gorgeous navy pantsuit.

  “It’s an honor to meet you,” Mira said. She felt like she was meeting royalty.

  “Why does her laptop screen say sweet sixteen on it?” Izzie asked. She did not sound pleased.

  Ms. Mays smiled serenely. “Mira warned me about your dislike of parties. That’s just because you haven’t had one planned by me yet.” Izzie’s head spun around so fast, Mira thought it might fly off.

  “I begged my mom not to tell you,” Mira squeaked. “Because you would say no! Just hear her out, okay? She’s the best party planner on the East Coast.”

  “Great, then you use her,” Izzie said with gritted teeth. “I don’t want a party.”

  “You mean you don’t want to plan a party.” Ms. Mays misunderstood. “That’s the beauty of me. I plan everything. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy.”

  Izzie looked at Mira’s mom. “I appreciate what you’re doing, but I am not in the mood to celebrate when…” She trailed off. “It feels wrong.”

  Mira’s mom put an arm around her. “I know you feel strange, but Grams would want you to celebrate your life, and turning sixteen is a huge milestone.”

  “Quite the milestone!” Ms. Mays chimed in, and Mira winced. For a great party planner, she sure was clueless when it came to people’s emotions.

  Izzie still looked unsure. “I don’t like being the center of attention. When those stories came out about me in the paper, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I don’t want a showy party that will make everyone talk again.”

  Mira couldn’t believe how opposite their views were on getting attention. She loved celebrating her birthday and wanted everyone to know it was her special day. When she was little, they used to celebrate her birthday at Disney World, and she’d wear a happy birthday pin all week long so that people would congratulate her.

  “I thought you might feel this way,” Mira’s mom told Izzie. “That’s why Ms. Mays has an alternative in mind. How would you two feel about a joint party in April?” Before Mira could protest, her mom went on. “Izzie’s is just a month away, so that doesn’t give us much time to plan, and yours is in May when school is getting out. You complain every year that people are usually on vacation when you have a party,” her mom reminded her with a twinkle in her eye.

  That was true. No one was ever around for her birthday.

  “April would be right between your two birthdays, and then all the pressure wouldn’t be on just Izzie,” her mom added. “You could share the spotlight.”

  Mira and Izzie looked at each other with interest.

  This wasn’t what Mira had in mind when she got her mom to hire Ms. Mays. On one hand, she hated sharing attention, but Mira also couldn’t help thinking how much bigger a joint party would be. Plus, Izzie hated party planning and had her hands full with Founders Day, so she’d let Mira make all the decisions. “I’m in!” she exclaimed.

  They stared at Izzie. “This is like the cotillion ambush. You guys are not going to give up until I say yes, are you?” Mira and her mom nodded, and Izzie’s mouth started to twitch. “I guess we could have a small party.” Mira practically tackled her. “But here are my rules: I don’t want to invite the whole town. Just family and our real friends,” she stressed
. “And no gifts.” Mira froze. “Maybe people could donate to our favorite charities instead,” Izzie said, looking at Mira’s mom.

  “I like it! That is quite the trend these days.” Ms. Mays jotted something down in her journal, and Mira felt her presents vanish in front of her eyes. Izzie was right, though. They already had so much. And her family would probably still get her something.

  “We want something tasteful,” Mira’s mom told Ms. Mays. “I promised their father we would not blow this party out of proportion. We’re in the middle of a race, and it wouldn’t look good to spend a fortune on some overblown spectacle.”

  “It won’t be a spectacle, but it will be superb.” Ms. Mays began a slide show on her laptop. Mira was dizzy with anticipation at the sight of it. “I had some ideas.”

  Izzie seemed to take that as her cue. “Okay, I’m done here. Let me know what you pick!”

  Ms. Mays looked shocked. “Don’t you want to be part of the planning?”

  Izzie shook her head. “That’s more Mira’s thing. She can pick a theme.”

  Mira squealed. She was in charge! She sat down and happily looked at the laptop.

  Two seconds later, as if sensing Mira’s ideas taking form, Izzie was back. “Correction! You can pick anything—as long as we don’t show up in a pumpkin-shaped coach or by camel.”

  Mira frowned. A Cinderella theme was her top choice. She must have let it slip at some point. Oh well. There were still plenty of ideas she could go with, and Izzie had given her free rein. It might have to be small, giftless, and sans camels, but if Mira had a say, their joint party was going to be one EC wouldn’t soon forget.

  Nine

  “What do you mean, you don’t want tiaras at our street-fair booth?” Savannah’s indignant voice boomed over the phone. “Tiaras are perfect for any occasion!”

  Izzie covered the phone with her hand and looked wearily at Mira, Kylie, Violet, and Nicole. “Remind me again why I called her?”

  “Because it was better than inviting her here to yell at you in person,” Violet said. “She would have taken one look at this dive and squirted the place down with Purell.”

  “Hey, you guys wanted a bargain.” Kylie was grouchy. “This place serves up party supplies for cheap.”

  Both girls were right. Savannah would have taken one look at the hoarderlike aisles, fluorescent lighting, broken store sign, and dirty floors and have run screaming, but there was no place better than Harborside’s Party Goods and More for deals.

  Izzie put her ear back to the phone. “Savannah, we went over this the other day. Tiaras don’t make sense for a booth about mining.”

  Savannah sighed loud enough to be heard through the phone. “They do if we want cute miners. The girls won’t want to wear ugly plastic hard hats!”

  Izzie banged the phone against her head. When they had met the other day to discuss the street fair, the booth seemed like the simplest part of their plans. Emerald Cove was a town built on mining emeralds. That’s why founder Victor Strausburg named their town Emerald Cove. So Izzie argued that a booth that allowed children to pretend they were mining for emeralds was quintessential EC. All they had to do was make a mining station. Everyone agreed on the idea of building a large standing sandbox and filling it with water and sand for “mining.” All they really needed for supplies were toy shovels, plastic jewels, sand, loot bags, and plastic mining hats. Unfortunately, the plastic mining hats were Savannah’s sticking point.

  “If I was a girl coming to our booth, I would be devastated if you asked me to wear a green plastic hat,” Savannah went on. “Think of all those poor mothers! No one is going to want a photo of her daughter in a miner’s hat.”

  The only person who thought like this was Savannah. Izzie was ready to scream, but she knew that would be just the reaction Savannah wanted.

  “Just hang up on her,” Violet whispered.

  “No! Don’t be a coward!” Kylie said a little too loudly. “Hold your ground. It’s a good thing she isn’t here, because I would have decked her by now.”

  Izzie ignored her friends. “The hats are only forty-nine cents each,” she said calmly. “I’ll send you pictures of them. They’re perfect! So are the jewels and all the other stuff we found. We don’t need tiaras, too.”

  “If you had told me you were going, I would have saved you the trip,” Savannah sniffed. “I’d rather order from Oriental Trading. My new boyfriend Pierce’s dad practically owns that company. Their stuff is much more quality than what you’ve found somewhere in Harborside.” Izzie was ready to throw the phone out the window.

  Mira must have realized that because she gingerly pried the phone from Izzie’s grasp. “Savannah?” Mira took over, surprising everyone. “It’s Mira. Just listen,” she said in a soothing tone. “These mining hats are perfect, and they don’t look cheap. The kids can decorate them with stickers before they go mining so they look more fancy.” She listened for a moment then she winked at Izzie. “Of course no one expects you to wear one, but if we buy these we’ll have money left over for you to buy whatever you want for the Butterflies to wear the day of the fair.” Mira bit her lip and side-eyed Izzie. “Butterfly wings? Um, sure. Those would look great.”

  “Butterfly wings?” Izzie cried, and lunged for the phone. “No way!”

  Violet held her back. “Do it for the greater good!” She struggled against Izzie’s strength. “If you have to wear butterfly wings or even glitter war paint to make Savannah happy, then just do it so you can buy what you want!”

  “Yeah, who cares about your dignity, Iz?” Kylie deadpanned. “Ms. Priss wins again and you get a bargain. It’s worth selling out for!”

  Violet’s face darkened. “I’m not telling her to sell out. She’s doing what she has to in order to get the job done for our club. A club you know nothing about. And if she can do it all for a great bargain, isn’t that worth kissing butt for?”

  Izzie knew that look. Violet and Kylie were about to go at it.

  “Yeah, because I’m sure you’re all about bargains.” Kylie rolled her eyes.

  “How would you know what I’m about?” Violet snapped. “You don’t know me.”

  “I can read you like a book.” Kylie looked Violet up and down. “Rich girls like you just swipe your credit card and never look at the price of anything. Like you care about getting a bargain. I bet you’ve never set foot in Bargain Basement in your life.”

  Violet stepped forward. “Even if I had, I at least know the difference between buying cheap and looking cheap.” Izzie felt her stomach tighten.

  “You better shut your perky little mouth, rich girl, before it gets knocked right off.” Kylie’s face was inches from Violet’s, and she had made a fist.

  “Um, maybe you two should calm down.” Nicole pulled Violet back. She actually looked frightened. “You’re both overreacting.”

  Izzie grabbed Kylie. “Yeah, let’s all just chill.” Kylie always seemed like she was one second away from a meltdown lately. Why did her friend have to take things so far? “Violet was just trying to help me out. The situation with the Butterflies is complicated.”

  “Fine.” Kylie glared at Violet. “I’m going to go outside and get some air. Hayden should be here soon anyway.” She walked out of the shop without looking back.

  Izzie tensed again. So they were still hanging out. And this is how Kylie decided to bring it up.

  “Great idea, inviting her.” Violet’s dark eyes narrowed at Kylie’s retreating back. “Not everything has to turn into a tirade on the rich versus the poor, you know. I’m on scholarship at EP. Does she even realize that?”

  “She just gets bent out of shape.” It was hard to defend Kylie when she acted out the way she did. “We’ve been burned before.”

  “We all have.” Violet smoothed her long peasant top. “The difference is you and I don’t start throwing punches to prove a point.”

  “Mira looks like she has good news,” Nicole said to break up the awkwardness.

>   “Exactly!” Izzie heard Mira say. “Mrs. Fitz is going to think you two are geniuses for being so cost-effective.” Mira gave Izzie a thumbs-up sign. Less than a minute later she hung up. “The tiaras have been officially nixed.” Nicole cheered. “You have Her Highness’s official permission to buy the miner’s hats and assorted fake jewels.”

  “Nice work, power broker.” Nicole twirled a plastic glitter wand like a real pro. She had been on the color guard before she’d ditched it for swim.

  “Thanks, Mira,” Izzie said gratefully. It killed her that she didn’t know how to handle Savannah as well as her sister did. “Let’s buy everything before she changes her mind.” She glanced at the shopping carts behind them. They were full of burlap sacks, bags full of multicolored fake jewels and jewelry, and the plastic miner’s hats.

  “Or before Kylie threatens me again.” Violet pushed one cart toward the front of the store, but it was hard to move because the aisles were so crowded with boxes.

  The color crept up Izzie’s face. Kylie meant well. The fact that she even wanted to help today proved that. Neither of them loved parties—probably because most Harborside parents could never afford to throw them for their kids when Izzie and Kylie were growing up. She hadn’t even told Kylie about the joint sweet sixteen she and Mira were having. She wasn’t sure how she would react.

  “Where is Kylie now?” Mira asked, looking anxious.

  “She went outside to wait for Hayden,” Izzie said, and Mira’s eyes widened. “Guys, can we talk about this later? Kylie’s mom just started working here and I don’t want her to hear us.” Violet looked like she wanted to make a comment, but she thought better of it. “I’ll talk to her about what happened, okay?” Violet wasn’t exactly innocent in their exchange either, but her friendship with Violet still felt new, and sometimes Izzie hesitated to rock the boat.