“I told her all that,” I piped up. “I said you had an exterminator and that there weren’t any rats down there. I didn’t show her anything, though!”
Dad rubbed Mom’s back and said, “Chloe, I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“Mom, it’s a makeover!” I said, trying to get her to see that this could be a good thing. “The basement is like a hopeless case of dry, frizzy hair with bad coloring that only you can transform into something beautiful. You just have to step up to the chair and work it!”
“She’s right,” Dad said. He gave me an encouraging smile.
Mom looked at me. “I trusted that this reality show stuff would be something good and fun for my business. But, Mickey, this doesn’t feel very fun right now. Not to mention that tomorrow is the day Cecilia makes her big recommendations. Who knows what she’ll say.”
“Mom, I’m sorry,” I said, my stomach tightening at the mention of tomorrow’s big day. I’d never seen her so defeated. I started to think maybe this was a bad idea after all, but I didn’t want her to give up yet. I didn’t want to give up yet. Cecilia’s Best Tressed was about making a salon the best it could be. I wanted the whole world to know that Mom’s was the greatest salon, even if we did have a messy basement. “Did you show her the basement?”
“I had to,” Mom said. “I’m contractually obligated to go along with this nonsense. And I’m sure this is exactly the kind of TV she’s looking for. She has to up the drama somehow.”
I could only imagine how Cecilia reacted. There may not have been any bugs, but it was pretty messy down there. Aside from the metal staircase and dangling bulb on a chain, the basement was full of boxes overflowing with old products that never sold, broken and burned-out hair dryers and flat irons, grimy towels that were never washed or thrown away, and a rusty sink that only sort of worked. It may have been a bug- and rat-free zone, but it was still a mess—definitely not something Mom would want her clients or potential clients to see.
“I agreed to do this show because I honestly started to think that you were right,” Mom said wearily, looking to Dad. “I thought that it could bring in more business, really take Hello, Gorgeous! to the next level. But I meant the next level up, not down. I don’t know how to fix this.”
“Mom,” I started.
But she stood up from the kitchen table and looked down at me. “Where’s your homework—have you done it yet?”
“Not yet,” I admitted.
“I shouldn’t have to be the one to remind you that you have a test tomorrow. I expect you to be responsible, Mickey.”
And I knew she meant more than just the test. “Okay, Mom.”
She pushed in her chair and said, “I’m not really hungry. I’m going to go take a bath.”
“You sure?” Dad said, watching her with concern. She nodded. “I’ll make some tea and bring it in to you,” he told her.
As she walked out of the room, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I’d never seen my mom give up. I thought she was indestructible. Nothing could stop her from making her salon the best around.
Well, I guess nothing except for me.
Dad came over and hugged me. “It’s okay, honey. Don’t worry about this, it’ll all be fine.”
“But it’s all my fault,” I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “There has to be something I can do to fix it. Maybe I can talk to Cecilia? Maybe I can start working on the basement—”
“Mickey, listen to me.” Dad took me by the shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. “It’s going to be fine, okay? Being on the show is a good thing for your mom—it’s just stressful right now. But I don’t want you getting any more involved in this. This is adult business. Is that understood?”
I nodded yes. I understood. I understood that he was saying I was the one who’d gotten them into this mess, and if I stayed any more involved I would make things even worse. And I knew it was possible to make a situation even worse because I’d done it before. Some might say it was one of my many talents.
I was too upset and stressed to eat, too, so I went back to my room, shutting the door tight. Maybe I could get swept up in the magic of the gothic South through one of our country’s greatest pieces of literature. I opened TKAM to the dog-eared page and began reading once again. I only had two short chapters left, but once again, my little mind started drifting . . . to Mom . . . the salon . . . Eve . . . and to Kyle . . . and his hand in mine.
Wait. I sat upright in my bed. That was not what I was supposed to be thinking about. Scratch that and reboot.
I picked up my phone and called Eve. Maybe if I told her about Kyle and hiking I’d understand that it was all nothing. Kyle and I were just friends—nothing else. I also wanted to tell someone what had happened at the salon. If I just talked through it with her, I might come up with a solution. Jonah had helped me before, but I knew Eve could be a great listener, too.
The phone rang and rang until it went to voice mail. I hung up, feeling even worse. Of course Eve was with Jonah. She was always with Jonah these days. That’s why I had been with Kyle in the first place.
I stared at the words on the page of my book, trying to concentrate. Maybe the basement wasn’t as bad as we all thought it was. Maybe we really were overreacting and Cecilia would show it simply as a space that needed improving. Maybe everyone would see that I was joking about the mutant zombie rats. Maybe it would all work out without my having to do anything.
The only thing I could do for sure was study and do well on my test.
I picked up my phone and called Eve again. She’d helped Jonah study, so maybe she could help me. But once again it went to voice mail. I slammed the phone down on my bed. My plan to get Eve back together with her friends seemed more important than ever now. That girl needed to get her priorities straight.
I went over to the computer and Googled the book, hoping to come up with some online CliffsNotes to help me study for tomorrow’s test. Don’t get me wrong, the book wasn’t terrible—in fact, I actually liked it. I just didn’t have time to finish. I really needed Eve. She was such a good student and with all the studying she’d been doing lately, I thought she could help me—and maybe listen to me cry about what I did to the salon.
I called one more time.
“Hello?”
“Eve!” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Finally. I’ve been trying to call you.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Everything. It’s like, just when you think nothing can go wrong, wa-paw! Something blows up. Remember how awful the basement was where I dyed your hair blue?”
“Only when I have nightmares.”
“Well, Cecilia went down there today and saw everything.”
“Oh no,” she said. “Did she say what she’s going to do about it?”
“Other than rope it off with crime-scene tape?” I said. “I’m not sure. Mom finds out tomorrow. That’s when Cecilia’s going to make her recommendations. I think that’s why Mom is so upset tonight—”
The phone beeped, and Eve said, “Oops, sorry, Mick. That’s the other line. Hang on a sec.”
Eve clicked over and the line went silent. At least I finally got her on the phone. Once I talked things out with her, I knew I’d feel much better about everything that was happening. I waited, thinking about the verdict Cecilia might lay down tomorrow.
Maybe I was right. Maybe Mom was just so nervous that she was getting all worked up about something that really wasn’t that big of a deal. If she thought of the basement as a style makeover like I’d said, she’d see it wasn’t an impossible job.
I held the phone in the crook of my neck and flipped through the pages of my book. Ms. Carlisle gave us study sheets but I’d left mine at school. Of course I had, because nothing in my life could go right.
I started reading again as I waited for Eve. I had gone through several pages when I realized she still hadn’t clicked back over from the other line. I’d been waiting for close to ten minutes now
.
I hung up, then called her back, withholding judgment until she gave me an explanation. When she answered I said, “Hello? Did you forget you had someone else on the other line?”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I’m talking to Jonah. He has this English test tomorrow, too. I was just helping him out.”
“I thought you guys already studied this afternoon?”
“We did,” she said. “But now he has more questions. I better get back to him. But we’ll talk tomorrow, okay? I want to hear all about the thing with Cecilia.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said quietly. “See you tomorrow.”
I hung up feeling incredibly hurt. I’d just been ditched. Well, first I was forgotten about and then I was ditched. Talk about feeling like a loser.
If Eve wanted to have Jonah as her boyfriend and hang out with him once in a while, that was one thing. But to completely ignore your friends again and again . . . to forget all about them? Kyle and I really needed to save them both from that heinous thing they called a relationship.
It wasn’t until I picked my book up again that I remembered I had called her for help with the test, too. But I guess it didn’t matter. She had already chosen Jonah over me. It was like she’d decided her world had to revolve around him. Like she didn’t need anyone else. Including me.
CHAPTER 12
The next morning, Jonah came in the back door just as I headed out the front.
“Mickey! Wait up!” he called. I shut the front door and started walking.
Immature move? Maybe. But I was tired and running late for school because I’d been up late studying. Alone. Hopefully I’d actually remember what I’d read when it came time to take the test.
Moments later the front door opened and I could hear Jonah running down the sidewalk after me.
“Hey, what’s up with you?” he asked when he caught up.
“Nothing.”
“Oh, man!” he said. “I’m so going to bomb my English test today. My dad said he didn’t read To Kill a Mockingbird until college, but we’re expected to read it now? Come on. Did you know it’s the only book that author wrote? He never wrote another one.”
“She,” I said, annoyed that he didn’t know. Hadn’t he and Eve spent all night talking about this book? “And her name is Harper Lee.”
“Right,” he said. We walked a few more paces in silence. Then he asked, “You okay? You’re acting funny.”
“I’m fine. I’m just tired.”
“Man, me too,” he said. “I’m pretty stressed about this test.”
We turned toward the school and I said, “Jonah, I have the same test today. I’m stressed, too. And I didn’t have a study partner.”
“Hey, sorry, Mickey,” he said, looking taken aback. “I guess I forgot.” He shrugged.
My head almost exploded with anger on that last word—forgot.
“Clearly,” I said, and walked off, leaving him behind.
On my way to class I heard footsteps coming up behind me. Kristen and Lizbeth landed on either side of me, grabbing my arms.
“Sheesh, you guys,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Kristen said. She gently brushed her long bangs off her face but kept them dangling outside the red flower headband she wore. “So tell us everything.”
“About what?”
“About Kyyyyyyle,” she said, dragging his name out.
“We heard you guys went out yesterday,” Lizbeth said. “So are you together now?”
“No!” I said quickly. “At least not like you mean. How did you hear about it, anyway?”
“Cara Fredericks was with her mom at Hello, Gorgeous! and saw you two drop off your bags,” Lizbeth said. “She said it looked like you were getting pretty chummy, if you know what I mean.” She nudged my shoulder with hers.
“We didn’t go out,” I said. “We went hiking. Big difference.”
“Oh, please,” Kristen said. “You two were alone in the woods. Tell us about it!”
“We hiked.”
“And . . . ?” Kristen said.
“And there’s a killer view at the top of the mountain.”
I thought of how Kyle looked, gazing out at our town, and how sweet he was for taking me up in the first place. Wait. Why was I thinking about Kyle like that? I was seriously wishing that Eve and I had had a chance to talk last night. Something was going on that I needed to figure out.
“Did you watch the sunset together?” Lizbeth asked. “Because if you watched the sunset, then that is a full-on date.” I looked at her closely. She was experimenting with green eye shadow and I couldn’t say it looked good.
“We didn’t watch the sunset,” I said. It had set at some point, but we didn’t exactly sit up there and watch it go down.
“It sounds like a great place to do that. Hey, K,” Lizbeth said as we turned down the hall. “Should we ask the guys to take us up there sometime?”
“Views overlooking the city with a possible sunset?” she said. “Definitely.”
“Just so you know,” I said, “there’s a lot of climbing to get up there.”
“Climbing?” Lizbeth asked.
“Yeah. The kind where you have to pull yourself up on the rocks to get to the top. I almost slipped at one point.” I left out the part where it was just a small part of the climb. And that Kyle had helped me a tiny bit. With his bare hand . . . holding mine.
As if Kristen could actually read my thoughts, she asked, “Please tell me Kyle at least tried to hold your hand.”
“Or you held his?” Lizbeth added, her eyes brightening.
I felt my face turn a deep red. I had to stop all these questions before I started to sweat with nerves like I had yesterday. Besides, why did hanging out with a guy have to mean everything? No one ever teased me when Jonah and I used to hang out.
Key words there—used to.
“Listen, before I head off to class, what are you guys doing tonight?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, nothing,” Lizbeth said. “Why? Should we all do something together?”
“Oh yes!” Kristen said. “All six of us! Eight if Eve and Jonah want to come.”
“No,” I said a bit too firmly. “I mean, let’s just have it be us girls. We can go see a movie or something. We can meet at the salon since I have to work for a couple of hours after school. Say, seven?”
“Sounds good to me,” Lizbeth said.
Kristen reluctantly agreed. “Maybe we can at least tell the guys what we’re doing and then drop hints that they should come by the theater?” she suggested. “That way we can innocently run into them and then poof! We’re all at the movies on a Friday night.”
“Maybe,” I said, trying to maintain cool and not scream, No boys allowed! “But it has been a while since just us girls hung out. It might be fun to go boyless for one night.”
“That’s true,” Lizbeth said. “That way we can actually relax and not worry about strategy every second.”
“And you won’t have to obsess about what to wear,” Kristen said to her. “Like that green eye shadow you’ve got going on there.”
“What’s wrong with my shadow?” Lizbeth asked, looking at us both.
I tried to be gentle when I said, “Well, I’m just not sure that particular shade goes with the color of your eyes.”
“Or your skin,” Kristen blurted out. “Or your hair color.”
“Great, thanks a lot,” Lizbeth said. “Come on, Kristen. Come with me to the bathroom so I can wipe it off?”
“Oh, now I feel bad,” I said. Because I did. But for real, the color looked like mushy green peas were coating her lids. “We’ll find you a color tonight that’s perfect on you, okay?”
“Fine,” she said. She tugged on Kristen’s arm and shaded her eyes with her other hand.
“See you at lunch,” Kristen said as Lizbeth practically dragged her down the hall.
“See you, guys,” I called out.
Finally, my
plan for getting Eve Jonah-free for a night was up and running. By the end of the weekend I’d have her completely reformed. No way could a night out with Jonah be better than hanging out with her three best friends. She’d see.
CHAPTER 13
When I walked into the cafeteria for lunch, I spotted Eve sitting alone at the table. I looked around and saw that Kristen and Lizbeth were sitting at the boys’ table again. Oh well. I guess since they’d have to pull themselves away from the guys for the night, it didn’t matter that they’d ditched us for lunch.
Walking toward our usual table, I tried to catch eyes with the girls. They never looked my way. They were so buried in giggling convo that they wouldn’t have noticed a fire drill.
“Hey,” I said, sitting down beside Eve. “Where are Jonah and Kyle?”
Say detention! I thought.
“Hey, Mick,” she smiled. Nodding behind her, she said, “They’re in line.”
I looked over and saw them picking out sides for their lunches. I didn’t have a lot of time before they came over, and I couldn’t ask her to abandon Jonah on a Friday night in front of him. He’d probably remind her that she’d lost some new bet in which she had to take him to dinner at Antonio’s.
“So!” I said brightly as I took a fruit salad out of my lunch bag. I wanted to tell her how hurt I was at being ignored again yesterday, but decided that I should instead concentrate on moving forward with my and Kyle’s plan. If we were successful, I wouldn’t have to worry about her ditching me like that anymore. “We’re all meeting at the salon at seven tonight for a girls’ night. We’re going to the mall to see a movie and then do some shopping at Sephora. Poor Lizbeth made the tragic mistake of wearing green eye shadow. Next thing you know she’ll be curling her bangs!”
“Sounds fun,” she said. “Hope you guys have a good time.”
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