“So what’s your system here?” I asked.
She looked in a box and pulled out an old round brush covered in hair. She dropped it back in, a disgusted look on her face. “It’s worse down here than I thought.” She looked around at the mess surrounding us in the dim light of the basement.
“I’m pretty sure there are various bugs and possibly mice living down here,” I said.
“Probably.”
The fact that she responded gave me a little relief.
I dragged the big trash can to the center, then went to one of the boxes that was already on the counter. “Are you just throwing away anything that’s remotely sketchy?” She nodded. I lifted the box and dumped its contents in the trash.
Of course I wanted to make up with Lizbeth. She was my friend, after all. But I knew that before I even attempted to get there, I had to know why she’d told on me. Why would a friend do that to another friend?
“Why did—” I began. “Why did you want to clean this place out?” Argh, totally chickened out on asking the real question!
“I think it has potential and I thought your mom would appreciate the help,” she said. She turned to look at me from across the basement. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. It’s really nice, I mean.” Clearly I had to ask her, but I was afraid of what she might say.
“Look, did you . . . okay, did you tell on me yesterday?” It came out faster and harsher than I wanted, but I had to know.
“Excuse me?” She sounded defensive and she planted her hands on her hips.
“When Mom came down here when I was doing Eve’s hair. I don’t believe she just happened to come down here right at that moment. She hasn’t been down here in months. And you were the only one who knew we were here.”
“You think I would tell on you?” she snapped.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But you’ve been so mad at me about the mall trip—maybe you’re getting back at me or something.”
“Oh, please,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “I don’t care that much about you and Eve going to the stupid mall. And I didn’t mean to tell on you, okay?”
“So you did tell?” I asked, stunned.
“Look, it was an accident.” She bit her lower lip and finally looked up at me. “Your mom can be kind of scary sometimes, in case you didn’t notice.”
No argument here . . . I could tell she was upset, so I tried not to sound so angry when I said, “So what happened then?”
“It’s not like I was tattling on you or trying to get back at you, okay? It wasn’t like that.”
“Okay,” I said. “Then what was it like?”
“Well,” she began, “yesterday your mom was at the front desk talking to some clients when Giancarlo came up, asking where Eve was. He was scheduled to give her that deep conditioning. I tried not to answer because I didn’t want to lie—thanks a lot for putting me in that position, by the way. When your mom saw what time Eve’s appointment was for and how long she’d been gone, she asked where you were. I tried to play it off and not answer her at all, but she could tell something was up. All I told her was that I thought I saw you guys go into the break room. I really thought she’d just leave it at that and wait for you to come back. I guess it was dumb to think she wouldn’t go looking for you.”
I felt sick to my stomach knowing I’d put Lizbeth in that situation. Being stared down by Chloe Wilson wasn’t exactly something I’d like any of my friends to deal with. It’s a pretty bleak experience.
“I get it,” I said. “Totally and completely get it. I shouldn’t have put you in that position in the first place. And I shouldn’t have assumed you ratted me out. I’m sorry,” I said.
“So,” Lizbeth said. “Is that the only reason you were upset with me? Because you thought I told on you?”
“Truthfully?” She nodded, seeming to know there was more to it than what I’d said. “I was jealous at how easily you fit in here, not to mention that you did way better than me on the written report.” She gave me a questioning look, so I said, “I heard you got an A on it. Did you hear what I got?” She shook her head no. “I got a C. I felt like I should have been the one doing great with the Career Ex thing, but you totally blew me away. You make, like, no mistakes. Ever.”
Lizbeth crossed her arms as if I’d offended her. “I do so make mistakes. Once I brought a lady a regular soda instead of a diet. When she sipped it and realized it was regular, she snapped that I’d just ruined her seven-year streak of only drinking diet.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Do I have to remind you that I not only almost blinded a woman but I also almost made Eve go bald?” This made her smile. “I think that trumps a little aspartame. I don’t want you to be mad at me, but I get why you are, okay?”
“I’m not mad, just hurt,” Lizbeth said. “I was really excited about working at the salon. I thought we’d have so much fun together. At first I thought I was just being too sensitive about how you were acting. Then I felt like you ditched me to go out with Eve—not that I care if you guys do stuff without me and Kristen, but the fact that you lied about it made me feel like you were trying to avoid us.”
“Kind of like how you guys ditched me Friday night at Kristen’s?” I said. I hadn’t planned on bringing that up—at least not that bluntly—but to be honest, it felt good. We had to talk about it.
Lizbeth, though, turned a little green. “Mickey, that was totally Kristen’s idea. She said you had plans with your parents, but I got the feeling that wasn’t true. I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything to you about it.”
“It’s okay,” I said, a lump forming in my throat. “Actually—it was really mean.”
She nodded. “I know. It was. I guess I never believed that you had plans and just couldn’t make it—I just chose to buy it to make myself feel better. But I should have stood up to Kristen, even though she was so angry. I’m really sorry. Can you forgive me?”
“Of course,” I said. I meant it, even though I was still sad about everything that had gone down. I realized I still had very little idea how to be a good friend to girls. “Besides, I guess we don’t always have to do everything together.”
“But I like it when we all hang out,” Lizbeth said. “Kristen does, too. That’s why she was so upset about you and Eve not inviting us to the mall with you. You have to talk to her about it.”
“I will,” I said, feeling exhausted from all the stuff I still had to fix. “Are we okay, though? Or do I need to do something to make it up to you? I could color your hair?”
She laughed and grabbed the ends of her hair. “Not even! I’d rather clean this place up by myself than let you come near my hair with a bowl of hair dye.”
“Why did you volunteer to clean this stuff out, anyway?” I asked.
“I guess I just like being here,” she said. “I’ve had fun and I didn’t want it to end.”
“Hey, you never said—how’d the thing with the guys at the country club go last night?”
“It was kind of pretty much awesome.” Lizbeth grinned. “I got there late but still in time for the barbeque. The four of us hung out a little bit, when the guys weren’t getting yelled at for running onto the golf greens.”
“So, does that mean you might be going out with Matthew?”
Lizbeth blushed. “Maybe.”
“I’m really glad it worked out,” I said. I looked around the basement—it didn’t look like much progress had been made. But we had definitely made progress of our own. “Well, let’s get down to it and show this mess who’s boss! This place gives me the creeps.”
“Agreed,” Lizbeth said.
We decided to move all the boxes and junk from the corners toward the center of the basement where the light was brighter and we could better see what was in them. After shuffling some smaller items away from the wall, we reached back together to drag a particularly big box out of the corner. When I saw the black mass behind the box, my voice caught in my throat. When
my eyes focused and I saw the mass moving, I screamed.
Lizbeth jumped and said, “What?” with a horrified look on her face.
“Bugs! Bugs!” I yelled as I grabbed Lizbeth’s arm and pulled her away with me. We both ran screaming up the basement stairs, vowing never to go back down until someone else guaranteed it was a bug-free zone.
CHAPTER 22
That night, I had just gotten out of the shower when Mom called for me to come downstairs.
“Well,” she began once I sat down in her office. “I, for one, have finally calmed down enough to have a civil talk about what happened. Have you?”
“Yes,” I said, hoping this meant she wasn’t going to scream at me again.
“Then maybe we can start by having you tell me what exactly has been going through your mind lately because, honestly, I’m at a loss here.”
“I don’t know” was the in-depth response I came up with.
She sighed. “I want you to do well at the salon, honey. I really do. But I can’t believe you’d try to color Eve’s hair by yourself. That was the single most reckless thing that’s ever happened in my salon. Do you realize we could have been sued?”
“I just wanted to help,” I mumbled. “It was really busy and Eve was in a hurry and—I don’t know. I guess I thought I could do it.”
“Color her hair? With professional tools and products?”
I felt so ridiculous that I wanted to cry. “Some people say I’m really good at hair stuff. I thought I could show you that I’m not really a screwup at the salon.”
“Mickey, is that true?” Mom asked, concern growing on her face. “Do you think that I think that about you?”
“It’s just that I’ve made so many mistakes and Lizbeth never made a single one, and you acted so happy to have her there that I just felt like—I guess I felt like you liked her more than me. At the salon at least.” I started crying, finally unable to help myself.
“Oh, Mickey,” Mom said, resting her hands on my knees. She leaned forward and looked into my eyes. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. I like Lizbeth, and she has been a big help at the salon. But nothing—no one—can compare to my own daughter.”
I wiped my runny nose, keeping my eyes on the floor.
“Sweetie,” she said, her voice softening even more, “maybe it’s because you’re my daughter that I hold you to higher standards than anyone else. I know how much you love the beauty business and that it’s something you want to do, maybe even as a career. You’ll never know how happy that makes me.”
“Really?” I said.
“Really. That’s why I’m harder on you than I am on Lizbeth. Because I know you can be great at styling hair. And makeup, as it turns out . . . but you have to be patient and learn first—just like all the other professionals. And you’ve been doing great—well, until Eve.”
“She’s okay now, though. Right?”
“Her hair won’t be falling out any time soon,” Mom said, and she even cracked a little smile.
I wiped my nose and said, “I can’t believe I did that. I don’t know what I was thinking. Coloring is a lot harder than it looks.”
“You may find this hard to believe,” Mom said, “but we’re actually trained professionals.”
“I know,” I said. “I promise I won’t do anything that stupid ever again, Mom.”
“I know, honey,” she said, patting my leg. “Now, you have that oral report coming up for your Career Exploration class, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Considering how you did on the written report and all that’s happened since then, I expect great things on the oral section. How about we make a deal? If you get an A- or better, you can come back to work.”
“You mean you’re not firing me?”
“Not yet, anyway,” she said, and actually cracked a grin. Mom reached over and hugged me. I hugged her back tight, taking in the fresh scent of her vanilla spice shampoo—our newest product.
“So—are you going to make me go back to that basement?”
“After you girls left I realized that the job is much bigger than I thought. And the exterminators will be called first thing tomorrow! I’ll need to find someone else to either help with it or just hire a crew. Lizbeth had a great idea, but I don’t think it’s an appropriate job for you kids.”
I nodded. I was relieved that things were finally settling back into place. Lizbeth had totally rocked it at Hello, Gorgeous!, and my mom thought I was doing well at the salon, too. I had no idea that she was proud of me and that she actually thought I had a future in the styling biz. Eve and Lizbeth weren’t mad at me, and even though my job at the salon was still on the line, at least I knew what I had to do to get it back. The only thing left was Kristen. I’d saved the hardest part for last.
“Guess what?” Eve said as soon as I answered the phone later that night. “My commercial is done!”
“Really? I didn’t know they could do it that fast.”
“I know. And the filming went by fast, too. Mickey, it was amazing.”
“I want to hear every detail. Spill!” I said, my stomach fluttering with excitement for her.
“This is going to sound dumb,” she said, “but I felt like a movie star. There were, like, a hundred people running around on this crazy set inside the warehouse with dry ice and weird mountains, and even though I didn’t have any lines to say, it was really hard to act like an alien. But Bunny called me a natural and said they loved working with me!”
“I’m so excited for you,” I told her. “Do you think you’ll do more acting stuff?”
“I don’t know. Like Bunny said—and Kristen, who’s apparently an expert on all things Hollywood—they hardly ever shoot anything around here. I’d have to go to Boston if I wanted to try to do more. It was fun, but I’m not sure I’m that into it. Mom would have to take time off work to drive me and everything. But it was still amazing, and the other kids who were in it with me were really cool, too.”
“I’m so glad it all worked out,” I said.
“Yeah,” she said. “Me too. So what’ve you been up to?”
“Actually, I have good news. Lizbeth and I made up.”
“Really?” she said. “That’s awesome! What happened?”
“For some insane reason she decided to volunteer to help clean out that scary basement at the salon. We were basically trapped down there, so we had to talk it out.”
“And what about Kristen? Everything okay with you two now?”
I groaned. “Not yet. But I’m working on it.” I wasn’t sure how yet, but I knew it was coming. “Oh! And I have more good news. Mom said if I get an A- or better on my oral, I can come back to the salon and I won’t be grounded—which means there’s still a glimmer of hope that I can go to your premiere.”
“Oh my gosh, you have to ace that report,” Eve said.
“I know,” I said. “I have an idea that I think might work, but I’ll need a little help.” When I told her my idea she laughed, but in a good way.
“I think it’s brilliant,” she said. “Everyone is going to love it!”
I was relieved that a plan was in action. Now I could start working out the details. One by one, I’d set everything right again. I just had to.
CHAPTER 23
That week at school I pretty much chickened out on the whole Kristen thing. I don’t know what it was about her, but I was more nervous than I was when I made up with Eve or Lizbeth. In one way I just wanted to get it over with, but then every time I saw her my stomach cramped up and I went mute. Plus, she and Lizbeth had started sitting at a different table at lunch. Lizbeth later told me she was sorry, that she didn’t mean anything by it, but I understood, and I knew it was up to me to fix things. I had to concentrate on my oral report, but I swore I’d get to Kristen once it was over with. In the meantime, she stayed just icy enough to let me know she was still angry.
Ms. Carter had given the okay for Eve to help me perform my presentation. Eve had even
come over on Wednesday night—when I would normally have been at the salon—to go over the final details.
On Thursday we all crowded into the Little Theater for our presentations. Kristen’s radio station presentation was laced with sarcasm, and Eve, Lizbeth, and I sat in our chairs stifling laughs the whole time.
Eve’s presentation was filled with pictures of the cute kids she looked after in the day care. It totally softened the teachers up—I mean, they were all aaahhing in unison. Totally benefited all of us who came after her. Such a pioneer.
Jonah seemed to have gotten more out of his job than he thought he would. He had even brought in some old toys, saying how they were made out of metal and not plastic so they were sturdier and lasted longer. Matthew talked about working in the pro shop and being a part of the country club team. And Tobias basically gloated about his job as bat boy with the Red Sox. Every guy in the theater was drooling over his presentation. Us girls rolled our eyes.
Kyle talked about life around the firehouse and said firefighters are the best cooks in the world. I could tell he was nervous speaking in front of the crowd because he kept pushing his hair off his forehead. He told us that there were no actual fires in Rockford while he was working there. “Well,” he said, “except for the fire I started when the guys had me help grill steaks for dinner one night.”
As for Lizbeth, she gave a very good, no-nonsense presentation. She talked about the business side of running a salon, how the stylists earn tips and keep their chairs at the salon as well as the complicated task of booking clients and how an otherwise regular basement could turn into a disaster zone.
Finally, it was my turn to present. Eve and I went up the side stairs and into the wings of the stage like we’d been told.
I got a chair from the side and dragged it to center stage with Eve beside me. I took the microphone from the stand, thinking of what Giancarlo had said to Piper about performing in front of a crowd—picture yourself being fabulous, and fabulosity will follow.
“Hello, gorgeous!” I yelled into the microphone.
Silence rang back at me. I tapped the top of the mic to make sure it was on. Sadly, it was.
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