Foiled

by Taylor Morris

  Eve looked so sad and so defeated, like there was nothing left to do. “But I really think I can—”

  “Mickey, seriously,” she said. “I don’t want you here. It’s only making this worse. Please go.”

  The toolbox in my arms felt as heavy as a box of new shampoos and conditioners. Tears welled up in my own eyes, and as I stood there looking at what I’d done to Eve—and I don’t mean just her hair—I slowly realized that my plan was hopeless. What I’d done was too big, a true disaster. Maybe it was best if I just stayed away from everyone for the next five years or so.

  “Okay,” I said. “I just—I’m really sorry, Eve.”

  She didn’t look at me as I turned and walked off.

  As I left the set, I told myself that I had at least tried to make things right. I could feel good about that. Right?

  Except I didn’t. Walking away from the warehouse toward home, I felt like a huge failure—both as a wannabe stellar stylist and as a wannabe super friend.

  CHAPTER 19

  As I trudged toward home, I thought about how my chances of becoming a stellar stylist were long gone. But maybe, I thought, maybe there was still a way for me to be a super friend. Eve may have given up on me, but I hadn’t given up on her—not yet, anyway.

  I raced back to the warehouse. I found Eve right where I’d left her, except now she was sitting on the ground. Just sitting there in a patch of dirt. She looked so sad and alone. I felt awful times a thousand.

  I thought she’d spring up and run away when she saw me, but she didn’t. Maybe she didn’t have the energy anymore.

  “Eve, please listen,” I said, my stomach a jumble of nerves. I sat down beside her. “If I promise I will not touch your hair, will you let me try my idea?” She looked at me through narrow eyes. “Can I at least show it to you?”

  She considered me. “Fine. Show me. But that’s all.”

  At least it was a start. I set down my tool kit and opened it up. “So listen. You’re supposed to be an alien, right?”

  “Was supposed to be,” she said.

  “Remember when I showed you this magazine when you all slept over?” I tried to ignore the pang of hurt caused by the hangout I wasn’t invited to. Her eyes flickered to me, and she nodded. “Let’s make you the best-looking alien here,” I said. “Not some ghost alien like the rest of the actors, but something bigger than that, something more beautiful. See?” I handed her Le Look, the layout marked with yellow stickies. As she looked through the pages, I pulled all the shimmery, shiny, silver metallic makeup I had out of my toolbox—from eye shadows and blushes to lipstick and even this really cool silver mascara. “Okay, so your hair has some blue in it. But who said aliens can’t be blue? Hello, what about Avatar? Um, can I see it?” Eve slowly reached up and pulled off the Sox hat.

  Her hair wasn’t as bad as I thought. I mean, okay, it was blue. But it was streaked blue and the shade was actually sort of pretty, like the fancy sparkling water bottles Mom keeps stocked. I could see how a person wouldn’t want to wear this look every day, but on a special occasion—say, an alien commercial—it looked kind of cool.

  I reached out to touch her hair, but Eve pulled back. “Don’t touch. You promised!” She quickly pulled the Sox hat back on her head, and I couldn’t resist asking.

  “Can I—is that Jonah’s?”

  Her face softened the slightest, tiniest bit. “Yes. He let me borrow it the other day after school when my ponytail elastic broke. I forgot to give it back to him.”

  I smiled. “Forgot?” Because maybe she’d purposely forgotten, if you know what I mean. She didn’t smile back. “Okay,” I sighed. “How about if I just do your makeup? I can’t permanently scar you with makeup . . . I don’t think.”

  She looked at me carefully, then back at the magazine in her hand. “Okay. Fine. Makeup only.”

  I got to work applying a light-colored base that had only the smallest hint of shimmer, and then ramped up the look on her eyes. I wiped a straight swath of white eye shadow on her cheeks and topped it off with blue glitter. It was like pop-star overkill meets glam rock.

  “Um, can I at least brush your hair out?” I asked. “Give me the brush,” she said, taking the hat off once again. “I’ll do it.”

  Once her hair was brushed out and the makeup was done, I handed her a mirror so she could check out her new look.

  “Wow. I didn’t know glitter could look so spacey,” she said.

  “So,” I said, “you like it?”

  A smile washed over her pale, sparkly face. “Yes. I do. Mickey, this is actually really cool.” I let out a deep breath. “What’s that?” She pointed to the blue glitter hair spray on the ground that I’d wanted to use on her but couldn’t bring myself to ask.

  “I just thought a little blue glitter against your hair color would really pull the look together, but it’s probably too much . . .”

  “Hand it over,” she said, putting the mirror down.

  After she lightly sprayed her hair, she checked herself again in the mirror. “It’s bizarre, but in a really amazing way.” She looked past me to the crew closer to the warehouse. “I’m going to go find Bunny and show her. Who knows—maybe she’ll like it. I mean, what do I have to lose at this point?”

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “That’s okay,” she said. “I don’t know how she’ll react if she sees non-commercial people on the set. Might be a rule or something.”

  “If you’re sure. But I feel like I should go since, you know, this is all my fault. I could explain to her about what happened at the salon.”

  Eve smiled. “Listen, I’m not mad at you anymore, even though what you did to me was uncool, not to mention scary. I know you didn’t mean to do it. I shouldn’t have let you do it in the first place, but really you should never have suggested it.”

  “I know,” I said. “I really am sorry.”

  “I know. We’re okay now, right?” I nodded a grateful yes. Eve stood up. “I feel like I’m going in for my audition all over again. Except this time I really want it instead of just being curious.”

  “It’ll be great,” I said, standing up with her. “It has to be—you’re the most ferosh alien I’ve ever seen, no matter what color your hair is.”

  Eve smiled. “Thanks, Mickey.”

  As I watched her walk off, determined to face Bunny, I took a deep breath and wondered what the odds were that I had helped her instead of making things even worse. I sat down on the curb to wait and find out.

  CHAPTER 20

  It felt like hours but was really only fifteen minutes later that Eve came out of the warehouse with her head down and a clipped pace to her step.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, standing up to meet her. She couldn’t even look at me. She couldn’t even talk. “What’d she say? Eve, are you okay?”

  She finally looked up at me as a huge smile spread across her face. “Bunny loved it! She took one look at me and said it was amazing. Just what she wanted, only she didn’t know it until she saw it.”

  “Are you kidding?”

  “She wants all the aliens to have this blue and silver look, even the boys—a variation of it, anyway. Mickey,” she said, grabbing the sides of my arms. “You’re a genius. You did it!”

  Before I could start jumping up and down and celebrating, Eve said Bunny wanted everyone in makeup stat so she had to go. “They’re redoing mine a bit. I’m sure it’s no offense or anything, but they’re just going to touch it up some.” Like I cared? No way! I hadn’t ruined Eve’s shot at commercial stardom! “A couple of assistants are being sent off to get silver and blue hair spray and some more shimmery makeup. Do you mind if they borrow yours to get started?”

  Wait a minute. I’d realized something pretty awesome: They were going with my idea. My idea. Whoa.

  “Take it,” I said, handing my plastic toolbox over to her. “Use as much as you want!”

  “Thanks, Mickey,” Eve said, taking the case from me. “You save
d the shoot.”

  I was absolutely positive I’d never met anyone nicer than Eve in my entire life.

  I decided to hang around the set, since my only other option was to go home and have Dad put me to work doing some heinous chore like scrubbing mildew with a toothbrush. I did, however, think I’d better call Dad and let him know where I was. When I told him, instead of demanding I come home immediately, he calmly said, “I just got off the phone with your mother. She wants you at the salon. I think you’d better head over there.”

  Now that was something I didn’t mind doing. After thinking Mom would never let me through those doors again, I practically ran the whole way there. Maybe somehow word had gotten to her about what I’d done on set and she wanted to thank me for my genius eye and tell me that all the top clients were now requesting Mickey’s blue alien look.

  Not exactly. The stern look on her face when I ran into her office definitely said her feelings toward me hadn’t changed.

  “Have a seat,” she said. I sat in the chair opposite her, catching my breath. “I hear that you think the proper thing to do after the stunt you pulled yesterday is to go skipping around town without a care in the world.”

  I knew that leaving home had been a huge risk before I’d even stepped one foot out our front door. Part of me even knew I’d get busted for it. But it had to be done and the truth was I didn’t regret it. How could I? Eve was back in the commercial. She had forgiven me. Of course, I didn’t tell Mom this.

  “Dad said you took off out of the house without permission, and since he’s running around doing errands today, I thought you should stay here and work as well. That way I can keep an eye on you.”

  I almost leaped out of the chair and wrapped my arms around her. As long as Mom still allowed me to work in the salon, my chances of becoming a stellar stylist couldn’t be too far gone. “You’ll start in here,” she said, “away from the clients. First you’ll file these bills, according to date and company.” She dropped a stack in front of me along with a box full of file folders. After that, she said I had to clean her office—sweep, mop, dust, straighten. “And when you’re done with all this, I’ll give you your next assignment.”

  Later as I was dusting the shelves, I heard a bit of a commotion up front. I peeked out the door and down the hallway to see what was going on. Eve was at the front with her mom and Megan was talking excitedly to Eve, touching her hair and looking her over with a big grin on her own face. Mom went up, and then Giancarlo and Devon, and soon half the salon was there, all fawning over her. It must have been because she was now an official star. I was so happy I hadn’t ruined it for her. And maybe now Mom would see what I had done—the good stuff, the styling stuff. She’d finally understand why I’d done what I’d done to begin with, and maybe would even forgive me.

  Eve spotted me lurking and waved me up. Mom hadn’t said I couldn’t show my face, so I headed up to say hi and see how the shoot went.

  As everyone talked around us, she motioned me off to the side a bit.

  “So,” she asked, “are you in big trouble?”

  I nodded. “Monster big. Mom hasn’t given me the exact layout of my punishment yet, which means she’s really thinking it over—it’s going to be bad. Maybe by high school I can go out again.”

  “But you have to be un-grounded by this weekend,” Eve said, her pale, sparkly alien face staring back at me. “The Warpath people are having a huge party on Friday where they’re going to screen the commercial.”

  “Seriously?” I said. I may have fixed Eve’s hair and makeup for the commercial, but I’d completely ruined things for myself. I’d never see daylight again. But I tried to be upbeat for Eve. “Sounds like a real Hollywood premiere.”

  “I know, that’s what I was thinking,” Eve said. “They gave me a bunch of passes, so I thought I’d invite everyone and we could all get dressed together. Think there’s any chance you’ll be off the hook by then?”

  “Doubtful,” I said, looking to my mom, who was still talking to Eve’s mom.

  Eve got this pouty little look on her face that made me feel even guiltier about not being able to be there for her. She looked at our moms, still talking. “Maybe my mom can talk to your mom and explain that there are no hard feelings?”

  “I’m pretty sure there’s no good explanation for me coloring your hair on my own.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I guess.”

  “Listen,” I said. Now that this crisis had blown over—and there were no burning hair dyes to distract Eve—I had to ask her about the other night. If Kristen was seriously still mad at me then I had a lot more to fix. “I wanted to tell you, I didn’t have to have dinner with my parents. Kristen just didn’t invite me to her house.”

  “You mentioned that when you were, you know, burning my head.” I cringed, but she said, “Just teasing. But honestly, I can’t believe Kristen would purposely not invite you.”

  “I’m pretty sure she did,” I said. “I think she’s still burned from how I handled our night at the mall.”

  “Yeah, but I was part of that, too,” Eve said. “I was the one you went with.”

  “But you weren’t the one who lied to her and Lizbeth about it,” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I guess so, but still. I really thought she’d invited you, and you had plans. And honestly, I think Lizbeth thought that, too. I’m sorry, Mickey,” Eve said. “Want me to help you talk to them about it?”

  “That’s okay,” I said. “I messed everything up. I have to fix it.”

  “Just make sure you do it before my big premiere,” Eve said. “Everyone has to be there. Including you.”

  “I’ll work on making up with Kristen, but seriously—don’t hold your breath. I have no idea if I’ll be able to go.”

  With another apology in the works plus figuring out how to ace my oral report—not to mention suffering through all the punishment Mom was throwing my way—I was going to be pretty busy.

  “Honey, you look outstanding,” Giancarlo told Eve, stepping into our little conversation and twirling her around. “Simply stunning. Where was this commercial shot? Paris? You’re out of this world!”

  “That was the idea,” Eve said, glancing my way with a grin.

  Mom said, “You really do look incredible, Eve. They did a great job with your hair, and the makeup is flawless. Together, the whole look really works.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re impressed,” Eve’s mom said, “because your daughter did it.”

  I could feel myself blush at the compliment. “Did she?” Mom said, turning her eyes to me. I felt a flash of hope, but as Mom looked at me, she didn’t look impressed. Not in the least. In fact, I wondered if she looked angry. The way her eyes cut through me, I couldn’t be sure.

  “Yes,” Mrs. Benton said. “She came to the set and did this to Eve, and the casting director and director liked it so much, they did it to the other actors. Incredible, isn’t it?”

  Mom locked her eyes on me. She didn’t agree with Mrs. Benton. She didn’t even respond to her question. She just gave her a tight smile and looked back at Eve. “Well,” she said, “of course I’ll personally fix your hair, honey. Get you back to your naturally gorgeous color.” I felt the hope I’d been holding on to slink away. Mom wasn’t impressed at all with what I’d done. In fact, I wondered if it made her even more upset with me. “How does your scalp feel?”

  “Feels fine now,” Eve said.

  Mom inspected her head. “Looks like the irritation has gone away. If you’re sure it feels okay, then come on back. We’ll make this right. And Mickey?” she said, turning to me. “Have you finished the project you started in my office?”

  “Not yet,” I said. I headed back before she could punish me even more for getting involved in Eve’s commercial—and going there in the first place. Eve gave me a sympathetic look as my mom led her to her station.

  CHAPTER 21

  An hour later I emerged from Mom’s sparkling clea
n office, exhausted and dusty. I was about to head to the break room to get a drink and wash up when Mom came back. She’d just walked Eve out. I didn’t even get to see how she looked.

  “All finished?” Mom asked. I nodded yes. “Lizbeth has already started on the basement. It’s sweet that she volunteered to clean it out, but I’m certainly not going to make her do it alone.” Mom must have seen the confusion on my face because she said, “Go down and help her.”

  I dragged my tired legs down the metal staircase to the recent hair-horror scene. I spotted Lizbeth around the corner, dragging a box across the floor.

  She stopped and looked over at me. “What are you doing here?” It almost sounded like an accusation.

  “Punishment for Eve’s hair,” I said.

  “So I guess your punishment is something I’m doing voluntarily.” She turned her back on me and shoved the box across the floor with her foot.

  Okay, so she clearly didn’t want to talk to or even look at me. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to talk to her, considering she may have told on me. Was she still so mad that she’d do something that low? And besides, how many ways could I say I was sorry about the mall? How much guiltier could I feel? I wanted to say, Let’s just get over this already, but it seemed clear she didn’t want to hear me say much of anything right then. Still, I knew I had to try because that’s what friends do.

  “I don’t know how you’re not freaked to be down here alone,” I said. I figured acting casually, trying to be normal, would be a good start. “Try doing a dye job here. The whole scene was like something out of the Saw movies.”

  Lizbeth heaved the box she’d been shoving up onto a countertop and walked back to another one not far from me. She still didn’t say anything, and I was pretty sure this was a classic silent treatment. I wasn’t sure I deserved it, though. I mean, yeah, I had the mall thing against me, but if she was the one who got me busted, then that might trump things.