“Sheesh,” you say. “Poor Lena! Well, at least you can’t see her face.” Although you think that won’t be much of a consolation to Lena. She’s going to need something special to distract her when she realizes she was taped tossing her cookies. “Hey, Lizette, wanna ditch your cousins and come with me to buy Lena something to celebrate her big win?”
She sneaks a peek back at Celia and Delia, who are still bickering, although the crowd has long since gotten bored of the show and moved on. Without skipping a beat, she says, “Let’s go.”
As you head toward the movie theater, you see lots of kids from school, some proudly waving their golden tickets around, some shaking their heads. You hear Jasmine say to Charlie as they pass you by, “I can’t believe I missed that one. The Aleutian Islands are in Alaska, not Antarctica. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Well, anyway, how are my teeth?”
You’re just around the corner from the theater when you spot someone standing behind a huge bouquet of helium balloons that all say CONGRATULATIONS! Perfect. You can buy one for each of your friends. Lizette thinks that’s a great idea and you head over together.
“Excuse me,” you say. “How much are the balloons?”
But the balloons part and you nearly have a heart attack when you see Shawna’s smiling face looking back at you. “They’re free if you can get past me!”
“іQue bueno!” Lizette cries, clapping and jumping up and down. “This is great! Looks like you’re the one in the hot seat now.”
Gulp.
It must have been hard not letting on to Lena how disappointed you were that she didn’t pick you to go with her to the birthday party. Good for you for being so understanding and realizing that fair is fair. The universe seems to be rewarding you for good behavior by giving you a crack at your own golden ticket! But are you up to the pressure cooker that the Shawna challenge can be? Stronger competitors than you have tried and failed. (Just look at poor Jasmine!) You’d better take the quiz to find out if you can keep your cool.
QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
1 You’re in the middle of an oral report that you had to memorize for Spanish class and you forget the second half of your speech. What do you do?
Come to a complete halt and run out of the classroom. You can barely remember how to speak English right now, let alone Spanish. True, running out mid-examen won’t earn you any grade points with the teacher (or cool points with your friends), but it beats dealing with this pressure!
Struggle through it, blurting out whatever random lines of the speech you can remember. Unfortunately, you’re remembering them all out of order and no one knows what you’re saying. Finally you give up and beg the teacher to let you try again tomorrow.
Wing it. You start making things up right on the spot. You’re making absolutely no sense and you’re pretty sure you just said something like “Cats eat green eggs at midnight,” but at least you’re still talking. And maybe your teacher will be so distracted by how well you roll your r’s that she won’t notice that your speech just went from Spanish to gibberish.
Stop, take a deep breath, and get your bearings. You know you can nail this speech if you just stay calm. Once you get past the nerves, the rest of the words will come flooding back to you. And if not, you’ll just talk about the topic in your own words. It might not be as good as the speech, but the point is to show how well you can speak Spanish.
2. If you could be on any game show, it would be:
Deal or No Deal. You have plenty of time to think and ask your family and friends for help—and talk smack to the banker. And all you have to do is pick numbers, so even if you were nervous, it would still be easy to choose a case.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? The questions on this show are usually pretty easy. Plus, they give you three safety nets and you can drop out whenever you want (not that you would).
Family Feud. Coming up with answers on the spot would be a piece of cake for you. Plus, you just know you’d rock the speed round at the end.
Million Dollar Password. The whole game is a race against time. You have to give great clues or guess your partner’s—all while listening to the clock tick away. Only people who are able to keep their cool do well on that show, and let’s just say you’d leave with the grand prize.
3. If you had to choose, you’d be:
a yoga instructor. Half your job is teaching people how to reeelaaax. And the clothes are pretty comfy too. You don’t even have to wear shoes! Talk about stress free …
a midwife. True, there is a bit of tension involved (you are helping to bring a new baby into the world, after all!) but your focus on meditation and creating a soothing atmosphere for the mom-to-be makes this a fairly mellow job.
a fashion-magazine editor’s assistant, like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada. Some girls might shy away from a job that has you running around in heels all day and night, doing a million things at once, but it looks exciting to you! Besides, when you get to enjoy some downtime, you’ll be doing it in Gucci and Jimmy Choos. Totally worth the stress.
an ER doctor. You don’t get much more high-pressure than this job. You’d get no sleep, you’d be on call twenty-four seven, and you’d have only split seconds to make life-saving decisions. The upside? You’d save a lot of people.
4. You have a big science project due at the end of the year. You:
start months and months in advance. That way you can do a little bit every day and not get overwhelmed. Why procrastinate when you could be done by Thanksgiving and not have to worry about it after that?
get started at least a month or so before it’s due. As long as you set up a careful schedule for yourself and stick to it, you should be done just in time without breaking a sweat.
procrastinate until a week before it’s due. You work best under pressure—or so you tell yourself. By now most of the good ideas are taken and your parents have to help you scramble for supplies, but that’s all part of the fun … not.
start working on it the day it’s due and end up having to beg your teacher for more time. You’ll lose a letter grade and will have to sweat bullets to get it in before you fail altogether, but that date just snuck up on you!
5. You run into your crush unexpectedly at the mall, and he says hi. You:
say something that sounds like, “Uh … um … h-h-hi… urgh …” Unfortunately, your tongue always seems to tie itself into knots whenever you’re around someone you like. Better just wave at him from far away next time.
say, “Hey,” nervously, then run away like your sneakers are on fire. You’re lucky you got out one word. Stay any longer and you risk serious humiliation.
say hi and ask him about the homework assignment from class. Maybe it’s not the most stimulating conversation, but you’re pretty comfortable talking about school, so it’s a good way to stay calm in the face of unbelievable cuteness.
tell him a great joke you just heard and flirt away. Even though you weren’t expecting to see him today, you immediately snap into your most practiced notice-me moves.
Give yourself 1 point for every time you answered A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C, and 4 points for every D
—If you scored between 5 and 12, go to chapter 21
—If you scored between 13 and 20, go to chapter 20
You are one smart cookie! You’d be a shoo-in on Jeopardy!’s teen week, and anyone would be lucky to have you on their debate team. Some might call you a nerd, but you know that nothing is cooler than a girl with a brain. Just ask Natalie Portman, Claire Danes, Emma Watson, Michelle Obama…
You have arrived at what has to be one of your favorite places in the whole mall: the bookstore. What could be better than a place where you can sit and read on the floor while surrounded by stacks and stacks of books, and then go grab some hot chocolate? Gotta love that. And since you’re so crazy about books, you figure Shawna might be too. Maybe she’s posing as a stock girl, or she could be
reading to the rug rats in the children’s area. Besides, you’re pretty sure the new Ann Brashares book is on sale now, and you definitely want to pick that up.
In any case, as long as you’re here, you might as well start by browsing through the journals section. Some nice stationery would make the perfect bribe gift in case you do find Shawna and—gasp—get your question wrong. You’re sifting through the different sets of stationery—would a thirteen-year-old like that lavender set with the black ribbon around it?—when you hear two people arguing behind the travel section … and the voices are extremely familiar. They started out whispering, but it’s slowly becoming a shouting match.
“Keep it down,” the guy says. “We’re in a bookstore.”
“Why should I?” a snotty voice answers. “Everyone who works here knows who I am, so it’s not like they’ll kick me out. The question is, do you know who I am? Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be my plus one?”
“How can I forget?” the guy answers. “You remind me every chance you get!”
Whoa. Sounds serious. You can’t help yourself: You’ve gotta see who is causing a ruckus in the travel section. Could it really be who you think it is? You move closer to the aisle and shift some cookbooks out of your way. You peek through the stack and see … Jimmy and Mona! And they don’t look happy at all, which makes you a little happy. You know that’s terrible. But Mona is so not the girl for him. Anbody could see that.
Mona crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at Jimmy. “Well, somebody needs to remind you,” she says. “I mean, you’re cute and all, but I’m a model! I’m supposed to be at a photo shoot right now. You should be glad to be seen with me at all. So when I tell you to meet me somewhere at ten a.m., I mean ten a.m., not ten thirty-five. And not with a giant lump on your head that makes you look like Igor.”
You wince a little at that. The lump was definitely your fault.
“Look, I told you what happened a hundred times already. And I said I was sorry about being late. I can’t believe you’re still mad.”
“Well, believe it!” Mona snaps.
“Well, believe this,” Jimmy says. “You can find yourself someone else to take to the party. I’m out.”
Mona unfolds her arms and her jaw drops in shock. “What? You can’t ditch me, because I’m ditching you, you loser!” Only she’s saying it to his back, because he’s already started to walk out of the travel section.
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
After Jimmy leaves the bookstore, Mona stalks out too and walks in the opposite direction, her hair flying behind her.
Wow. You just witnessed a falling out that even Amy Choi doesn’t know about yet! You can’t believe you just scooped the biggest gossip in the school. More important, you can’t believe your luck: Jimmy is now as free as a bird. Would it be so far-fetched to think that maybe he’d hang with you sometime?
You’ve gotta call your friends to tell them the great—uh, ahem, you mean, awful, sad—news about Mona getting dumped. You are just about to hit Lena’s speed-dial button when your Sidekick starts ringing with a Gwen Stefani ringtone. It’s Lena.
“Oh my God, Lena, you’re not going to believe this,” you start, not even giving her a chance to say hi.
But she completely ignores you. “I won! I won!” she screams into your ear so loudly that you have to hold the phone away from you.
“What’s that?” you say sarcastically. “I couldn’t quite hear you. Speak up, would ya?”
“Sorry,” Lena says, calming herself down a little. “But I just won a golden ticket!”
Sweet! This day is definitely looking up. First you find out that Jimmy is available again, and now your friend has just won the ticket that will get the two of you into the party of the year. Life is good!
Lena goes on to tell you that she found Shawna in the movie theater, scooping up popcorn. She had to answer a bunch of questions about Reese Witherspoon movies and then eat a small bucket of popcorn in one minute flat.
“It wasn’t the most dignified thing I’ve ever done, but I did it. Can you believe it? Woohoo!” A crowd of kids in the background starts whooping it up as well.
“Whoa, it’s loud there!” you tell her.
“Sorry, that’s my cheering section. Isn’t this great?”
“Definitely!” you yell before remembering that you’re standing in the middle of a bookstore, which to you is the next best thing to a library. You lower your voice and say, “This is awesome. Now we can go to the party together! I have the perfect outfit to wear. You know that top I bought last week from Rampage? And I think I have a great idea for a birthday gift too… .” You trail off when you realize that Lena is being unnaturally quiet. “Um, hello? Still there, Lena?”
“Oh, um, yeah … I’m still here. It’s just … well …”
“Spit it out. It’s just me.”
“Okay, well, I had kind of decided to take Jessie to the party. I mean, she is the one who practically forced me to watch Legally Blonde. If it weren’t for her, I would have spent the summer watching The Discovery Channel. And I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have even come to the mall today if she hadn’t dragged us here.”
“Oh.” Talk about bursting someone’s bubble. Yours just exploded with a loud pop!
“You understand, right? You’re not mad, are you? Please don’t be mad.”
“No, course not,” you lie. “It’s cool. I’ll meet up with you guys in a few so we can celebrate, okay?”
Lena lets out a relieved sigh. “Good. See you in a … oh …”
“What’s wrong now?”
“Urggh … you know all that popcorn I ate? Well, I think I’m going to be sick. In fact, I … urghh!”
The last thing you hear before Lena hangs up is the sound of her puking her guts out into the nearest trash can.
It’s hard to decide how you feel right now. You hate that you missed your chance to become a model, but you’re relieved you didn’t have to share a stage with Mona. You feel bad for Jimmy for having to go through an ugly fight and losing his pass to the party, but you’re thrilled that he’s free to go on a date with someone else (preferably you). You’re happy that Lena found Shawna, but you’re bummed that you didn’t. (And having to listen to Lena puke wasn’t all that fun either.) The only thing that’s clear right now is that as the best bud, you have to go congratulate your friends. But you have mixed feelings about that too. Not sure how you’ll react to their good news? Take the quiz and figure it out.
QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
1 Your friend comes to school with yet another brand-new Coach bag. You:
feel extremely annoyed. You don’t have even one Coach bag, let alone a dozen. It feels like she’s just rubbing it in your face.
are kind of jealous. Your friend always has the nicest things, while you are still rocking your older sister’s hand-me-downs. You’re glad for your friend but are upset that it never seems to be your turn.
feel a little embarrassed that you don’t have bags as nice as hers. But it’s always good to see your friend happy.
are in awe of your friend’s hot sense of style. You’re thrilled she got another bag! Just being seen with someone who owns one of those makes you feel glamorous. And if you’re lucky, maybe she’ll lend it to you!
2. You’ve always been the youngest in the family, but your mom just had a baby. You:
hate it. Say good-bye to all the special attention you used to get. Now it’s baby, baby, baby every single day. The only time anyone seems to remember your name anymore is when your folks want you to change some poopy diapers.
could do without it. Nothing against babies or anything, but this business about skipping family game night just so you can take yet another home video of the baby? Lame.
feel like it’s growing on you. You’re not quite sure yet if you’re going to like sharing the spotlight, but how could you help loving that tiny little face? Cl
early the baby’s an evil genius.
love it. You even offer to give up your own room so the baby can have more space. And you’re always the first one to volunteer to change the dirty diapers. All a part of being a big sis.
3. You try out for a plum spot on the soccer team, but another girl is given the star forward spot you wanted, while you’re stuck warming the bench. You:
quit the team. What’s the point of being here if you’re going to spend all your time sitting on the sidelines? And who wants to play for a coach who can’t recognize talent when he sees it?
grumble on the bench to anyone who will listen. Somebody has to hear about what an injustice was done on the field. And you’re sure they’ll all agree with you.
mope about it in silence. You don’t agree with what the coach did, but what he says goes, so there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. Might as well just try your best to put your feelings aside and support the team.
become the loudest bench-warming cheerleader there is. You even offer to wear a goofy mascot costume. If you can’t help your teammates by being on the field, you can at least boost their spirits like crazy!
4. A boy you’ve been dating, Jake, has a friend who is going through a rough time at home, and she has started calling him to talk about it. You:
forbid him to talk to her anymore and start monitoring his phone calls just in case. You know that his friend is dealing with something, but you don’t want her spending too much time with Jake. You seriously doubt she just wants to be his friend.
Your Life, but Better Page 14