by Toni Runkle
It took a moment, but then Kat’s excitement began to fade as Zoe’s words slowly sunk in.
“What did you say?” Kat asked.
“You’re going to win!” repeated Zoe.
“No. The part about you getting Jules out of the picture.”
Suddenly realizing she’d said too much, Zoe’s eyes went wide. Kind of like a deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler bearing down at 100 miles per hour.
“Uh, well…” Zoe stammered.
Jessica ended her song to deafening cheers and Chelsea took the stage. But Kat was only vaguely aware. Her attention was on Zoe.
“Don’t be mad, okay? But I was the one who sent the video to Jules. But we did it for your own good!” she added quickly.
“We? Darcy was in on this too?”
“Puh-lease. As if.”
They looked over at Darcy who was staring at a garbage can that read “WASTE PLEASE” and looking really confused.
“Then who?” demanded Kat.
Kat saw Zoe’s eyes flick onto the stage and at Chelsea. She was introducing Gregory Remoulet to a nice round of applause from the audience. Kat looked back at Zoe.
“Chelsea was in on it?” asked Kat, feeling completely blindsided.
“Yeah. She’s the one who took the video.”
“What?”
“But she did it for your own good. She told me so! She took me out for some shopping and we had a talk about your future. And she said how Jules was going to ruin everything for you, and did I want that? And of course I said no. And then she gave me the video and told me what to do. And we agreed that it was for the best.”
“Psst! Move it!”
Kat turned to look behind her. It was the girl from Iowa giving her a shove toward the stage. Kat realized many of the Glitter Girl hopefuls were already out onstage and she was holding up the rest of the line.
Not knowing what else to do, Kat walked out and took her place, with the pushy girl from Iowa on her heels. Chelsea shot an irritated look at the two of them for causing the delay. The girl from Iowa whispered angrily, “You better not have ruined this for me!”
But Kat wasn’t even listening. She was still in shock over what she had just learned.
So Chelsea Ambrose was the one behind her fallout with Jules. She actually planned it! She knew Chelsea was single-minded, but Kat had never imagined she would stoop so low as to ruin a friendship. And in such a mean and sneaky way. Showing up at the school and taking her on that shopping trip and pretending to care. She’d deliberately set Kat up and deliberately made Kat hurt a totally trusting and caring human being. Her best friend, in fact, who had never done anything underhanded or nasty in their entire friendship.
The lights dimmed and four or five brilliant spotlights scanned the girls as dramatic music played in the background to build up the suspense. Chelsea was still at the microphone. Kat focused on her. While the other girls were feeling excitement and anticipation, all she could feel was hurt and betrayal. She stared daggers at Chelsea as she went on with her speech.
But Kat realized it wasn’t just Chelsea that she was mad at. After all, it was Chelsea’s job to make sure the whole Glitter Girl thing went smoothly. That’s what was important to her. How could Kat expect her to care about anything else? Anyway, she didn’t even really know Kat, except as the girl who delivered big sales, the Alpha Girl.
And Kat had let herself get totally caught up in it. For what? Popularity? Fame? Sure that all sounded exciting. But what was the cost? Not only did she lose her best friend, but she had also lost a sense of herself and who she was. Kat suddenly felt really angry. Not at Chelsea and not at Zoe. But at herself, for losing sight of what was important.
Chelsea had arrived at the big moment. With a dramatic flourish, she opened one of those fancy envelopes like they have at the Academy Awards and said, “And the winner of the all-expenses-paid trip to New York, where she will participate in a photo shoot that will make her the Face of Glitter Girl is…Kat Connors from right here in Indiana!”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Kat blinked as if in a dream. She could have sworn she’d heard her name called. She looked in the wings and saw Zoe and Darcy hugging and jumping in unison. She saw her mom crying big sloppy tears of joy and giving her a thumbs-up. She looked up at the Jumbotrons and saw them filled with her surprised face. She turned and saw Chelsea looking very pleased and waving for her to come forward. And she knew…she had won.
Kat stood frozen. It wasn’t until Iowa gave her a nudge that she staggered forward to center stage. Chelsea met her halfway, took her by the elbow, and leaned in to whisper. Kat thought it was to congratulate her.
“Straighten the hat. And don’t stray from the speech we practiced. And remember, in ‘Remoulet,’ the ‘t’ is silent.”
Chelsea had managed the whole little speech through a big smile and clenched teeth. Her mouth hadn’t moved at all. And when she guided Kat to the microphone, she let go and stepped to the side, the big smile still in place.
Kat stood there blinking. As the applause began to die down, she stared out into the audience. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust because of the bright lights, and then she could see them…hundreds of young faces all staring up at her. Excited faces, wishful faces, even some jealous faces. Faces of girls who would have given anything to be in Kat’s shoes. Faces that all wished they could be Kat. Yet at that moment Kat wished very much that she wasn’t Kat.
As she scanned the sea of girls before her, Kat caught a glimpse of one girl in the front row wearing the very same bracelets she was wearing. Another wore the same bedazzled vest. And the engineer’s hat. There were dozens of them, all over the auditorium. And that’s when she realized it.
I’m NOT me. Not anymore. I’m exactly like everybody else.
“Miss Connors?” Mr. Remoulet leaned over to her. “You have a few words, I understand?”
Kat stepped up to the microphone and pulled out the prepared speech. She looked at it for a moment and then put it away.
“When I was first contacted by Glitter Girl, I was so excited. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Getting picked for your taste and for being a girl that other girls look to and admire. How cool is that? I mean, it’s something we all really desperately want, right? To be accepted. To fit in.”
There was a murmur of agreement from the audience. Kat took a quick glance over at Chelsea and saw a concerned look flash across her face. Kat swallowed hard and continued.
“And I totally thought the Glitter Girl stuff was the coolest stuff. For the coolest girls. And they do have some cool stuff. I mean, those skinny jeans with the tiny pockets are to die for.”
The audience applauded and cheered appreciatively. Chelsea relaxed a little. Kat was going off book and throwing some of her own stuff in there, but hey, the audience was responding.
“But there is nothing cool about turning your back on your friends. It’s gross to admit, but I did that recently. I’m not even kidding. I acted like a total jerk to my best friend. All because she didn’t fit in with what I thought was cool…with all of this.” Kat indicated herself, her whole look.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kat saw Chelsea’s smile turn to a snarl and Mr. Remoulet looking very unhappy indeed. There was no turning back now.
“I mean, look at us. There’s nothing unique or individual about us. We all look the same. We act the same. And if anyone is different, we treat them like they don’t belong. Is that cool? No. But I did that to somebody just because she had the guts to be herself. And the crazy thing is, that’s why I liked her in the first place!”
Kat held out her wrist, showing her bracelets to the crowd. “This, this is just…stuff. It doesn’t mean anything. Friendship is what matters. Loyalty is what matters. Being brave enough to be yourself is what matters. Because of Glitter Girl, I let myself get tu
rned into a mannequin,” she said repeating Jules’s words from their fight. “Brainless and heartless and made of plastic.”
There was an audible gasp from the crowd. Kat had to hand it to Jules. She could come up with some real zingers when she was mad.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Remoulet. I appreciate that you picked me. But I’m definitely not the Face of Glitter Girl. I’m just the face of plain old me. Oh, and Chelsea, before someone sends you a secret video of me saying it—this hat is stupid!”
Kat pulled off the engineer’s cap and threw it at Chelsea, who fumbled as she caught it. Then Kat walked off stage.
Everyone in the auditorium stood in stunned silence. Nobody knew what to do. For once in her life, even Chelsea was speechless. But Chelsea being Chelsea quickly composed herself. She put on the engineer’s cap and her biggest, fakest smile to date, then grabbed the microphone and shouted, “Free lip gloss for everyone!”
Chelsea gave a signal and stagehands began shooting packages of lip gloss out of a gigantic cannon into the audience.
The band cranked up another jam and the audience erupted in cheers, immediately forgetting what had happened onstage seconds before.
Chapter 22
Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be (Unless You’re in a Really Big Hurry)
Once she got off the stage, Kat ran. She pushed past several stagehands and headed toward the locker rooms. By the time she had made it to the door, she heard the announcement that the nasty Alpha Girl from Iowa had already been chosen as a replacement for her. And the house band welcomed her to center stage with the same blaring music that had greeted Kat five minutes earlier. Clearly, Chelsea Ambrose had barely missed a beat. She was going to land on her feet on this one, Kat could tell already.
Kat moved quickly through the locker room, pushed open the disarmed fire door, and stepped into the bright October day. The Earth seemed to be spinning extra slowly as she took a deep breath of the air around her. The fall colors were just starting in Indiana, and everywhere she looked were the brilliant reds and yellows of the leaves on the trees. She had never really noticed how beautiful the grounds of the school were until this very moment. She had to catch her breath; the colors were overwhelming to her.
Kat knew she had to talk to Jules as soon as possible. She had to tell her what happened, leaving nothing out. There was a shuttle bus that picked up people going to the Renaissance Faire right in front of Willkie every half hour. She looked down at her Glitter Girl watch. Just two minutes and the bus would be there. Jules was supposed to sing her solo at three. If Kat made this bus, she just might be able to catch Jules’s performance. She quickly ran over the small hill that led from the gym to the bus stop, almost falling a couple of times because she was moving so fast.
She was out of breath when she arrived at the bus stop. Two elderly couples with a picnic basket were already there waiting, as was a teenage boy in green tights and a Robin Hood hat. Kat couldn’t sit down. Instead she paced back and forth, looking down the street for the shuttle bus. That is, until she heard—
“Kat!” She turned around and saw her mom heading down the hill toward her. Ugh. Thrilling getaways are always easier when you don’t get a ride from your mom in the first place. Kat braced herself. She knew she had disappointed her mom. She knew she had an earful coming, but she didn’t care. She’d take whatever her mom had to dish out. It was a small price to pay to get out of there.
Her mom came right up to her just as the low-pitched rumble of the shuttle-bus engine could be heard in the distance.
“What were you thinking making a speech like that?” Trudy looked at Kat like she was crazy.
Kat answered, looking at the ground. “Not quite like we rehearsed it, was it?”
“That’s for sure,” Trudy responded. “Do you know what you just did in there? Do you have any idea? You said no to a huge opportunity. To a lot of stuff!”
“So what?” snapped Kat. “Look at all the stuff you’ve got, Mom. Are you happy? Does it make up for the fact that Dad ‘chooses’ to be at his job instead of with us? Cuz that’s what he does, you know. He told me himself. And you ‘choose’ to let it happen. And then you let yourself be bought off. Well, I don’t want to do that. I choose not to!”
Kat was surprised by her own outburst. But it felt good to say it. What didn’t feel good was the hurt look in her mom’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I—” started Kat.
“No, it’s okay,” Trudy stopped her. “It sounds like you know what you want.”
Kat shrugged. “Not really. I just know I need to get out to the Faire and see Jules.”
Trudy looked at her daughter for a moment and nodded. “Then let’s get you to the Faire and see Jules. Come on, we’ll take my car.”
Kat’s mom put her arm around her as they headed to the parking lot. As they did, the shuttle bus stopped and picked up the remaining customers and started out on the ten-minute drive to the fairgrounds just outside of town. It didn’t matter, though. In a few minutes Kat would be—
“Aiiiiiiigh!” Kat screamed, arriving at her mom’s Range Rover. The car was totally boxed in. There were so many cars in the parking lot, and they had been there so early that there was no way Kat’s mom could get their vehicle out of that parking lot without magic tricks or dynamite.
Kat looked helplessly at the car and then back at the shuttle bus as it disappeared into the distance.
“Now what?” she said, almost crying to her mom.
VROOOM!
Almost in answer to her question, a vintage Ford Mustang came roaring over the hill toward the parking lot. Kyle! Here at school! By himself! What in the world?
SCREECH! The car skidded to a halt right in front of Kat. When Kyle put on the brakes, the car fishtailed a bit and almost hit a blue Volkswagen, but Kat didn’t even notice. It could have sideswiped a whole line of cars for all she cared. Kyle was here. But how?
“Kyle? What are you doing here?”
Kyle hopped out of the car. “I just saw the whole thing on TV. Are you okay? They cut to a commercial before you could finish and then you were gone.”
“Never mind about that. Can you get us out to the fairgrounds?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess I can find it. I’ve never driven out there before.”
“I’ll show you the way!” Kat’s mom yelled, hopping in the backseat. “Come on, Kyle, put this bad boy in gear!”
Kat and Kyle looked at each other. This day was getting more ridiculous by the minute. Kyle quickly opened the door for Kat and she hopped in, smiling. Who said chivalry was dead? Kyle slammed the door closed and raced back to the driver’s side. He slammed his own door. They all put their seat belts on and Kyle awkwardly put the car in gear.
“Take 34th Street to the highway!” Trudy barked from the backseat. “Waveland is totally jammed at this time of day!”
Neither Kyle nor Kat was about to argue, and the Mustang sped off into the warm Indiana afternoon, disappearing over a hill at a speed that Kyle’s driver’s ed teacher would not have approved of.
The Faire was five miles away. Jules’s big solo was in eight minutes.
Chapter 23
Friendship Is Constant in All Things
“Left! Turn left right here!” came the voice from the back of the Mustang. Kyle’s car veered dangerously close to the edge of the country road but managed to maneuver the turn without the car doing one of those 360 spins that only seem to happen in the movies. As Kat gripped the dashboard for dear life, it seemed very much like a movie to her. Everything was spinning around her double-time now, and Kyle’s driving was exhilarating and downright scary at the same time. And Kat’s mom? Barking instructions from the back of the Mustang? Too bizarre for words.
The Mustang barreled over a small hill, and all four wheels might have even left the ground for a moment as the car sped past a sign pointing to the “R
enaissance Faire—1/4 mile.” Kat looked at her watch. Five minutes to three. They were almost there. Kat breathed deeply. Until—
Squawk! Cluck! Grumble! Grumble!
As they came over the hill, Kyle had to put on the brakes in a major hurry. A horse-drawn cart carrying a load of funny-looking chickens was stopped in the middle of the narrow roadway. A few of the crates of chickens had fallen off the back of the cart as it went over the hill, and the crates had shattered. Now, the hens and roosters were strutting about all over the road as if they owned the place. A man in a peasant costume scurried about trying to round them up and get them back on the cart. Kat looked at the spectacle in disbelief. The sixteenth century could be sooooo inconvenient sometimes!
Kyle looked at the road in front of him. He knew they would never make if they had to wait for Old MacDonald up there to collect all his runaway birds.
“Go!” said Kyle.
“What?”
“You’re going to miss it! Let me worry about the car.”
Kat looked at her watch. Two minutes to go.
“Go on!” said her mom. “We’ll catch up to you later.”
Kat scrambled out of the car and ran down the road, avoiding the chicken catastrophe as best she could.
She was about ten yards from the Mustang when she heard Kyle’s voice behind her.
“Wait!” he said, running behind her and dodging chickens all the while.
Kat stopped.
“You forgot this!” Kyle said, holding out the Shakespeare book that Kat had left in the car earlier.
Kyle smiled. “It’s not a birthday without a present, is it?”
Impulsively, and without even thinking about it, she gave Kyle a quick kiss on the lips and sprinted down the road toward the entrance to the Faire, now in sight at the bottom of the hill.
Kat arrived out of breath, quickly paid her entrance fee, and dashed into the Faire. She ran past a couple of roving magicians and a guy who for some reason was making a sandwich with his feet and headed toward the big crowds that were near the jousting arena. She heard a cheer go up from the arena and feared she might be too late. Jules was only the warm-up act for the three o’clock joust. They couldn’t be doing all that cheering for her, could they?