True Colors

by Krysten Lindsay Hager

  “We never go on a decent field trip, and I’m on my deathbed the one time we do. Too bad you got stuck in a car with Tori — she follows Ericka around like a puppy,” she said.

  I checked my e-mail before bed. I was hoping Tori would want to make up, but I didn’t have any mail. I couldn’t believe they were still mad at me. I went into the living room where my mom was watching TV.

  “I don’t feel good,” I said, remembering Ashanti had said she had a lot of high fevers. “Check my temperature. I think I’ve got mono.” She slid her hand onto my forehead.

  “Hate to disappoint you, kiddo, but you feel cool as a cucumber,” she said.

  “I feel sick. I don’t think I can go tomorrow,” my voice broke, and I moved away so she wouldn’t see me cry.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Are you crying?”

  “I just feel so bad.” She told me to go to bed and see how I felt in the morning. I did feel sick. My stomach was cramping, and my head hurt. I lay in bed wishing I would wake up with mono and be out of school for weeks. I didn’t want to fall asleep because the sooner I went to sleep, the sooner it would be time to get up for school.

  Chapter Eight

  Mom made me go to school, but I didn’t eat breakfast because I didn’t want to puke in Mrs. Carangi’s van on the way to the museum. Mom gave me a ride to school, and I prayed this would be the world’s shortest school day. Ms. Ashcroft and the other teachers were in the parking lot, and I checked in and went to Mrs. Carangi’s van. Jared, Tad, and Hakeem were already sitting in the back so I could either sit in the front seat with Jared’s mom or sit next to Tori, who would ignore me the entire trip. I got into the front seat, and Ms. Ashcroft came over and asked if we had room for one more. Not Ericka, I prayed, not Ericka.

  Mrs. Carangi nodded, and Peyton got into the van. However, it’s not easy to talk to someone in the seat behind you, so I spent the trip down listing to the radio. When we got to the museum, the teachers told us to pair up with someone from our car, and Peyton grabbed my arm and said “partner,” which was great since Tori got stuck with Tad. Our guide, Antonio, walked us to the Egyptian room, and I told Peyton I’ve had a fear of mummies ever since I saw The Mummy on TV. She told me to look at the floor as we walked through the room. Peyton had to go to the bathroom, but we couldn’t find the restrooms on our map. She felt dumb asking Antonio, who was super hot, but she was about to wet her pants so I asked for her. Tori sighed loudly, like I was bothering her, and Peyton gave her a dirty look as he told us the quickest route to the bathroom.

  “Go back through the Pharaoh’s room—”

  “Um, is there another way? I have a thing about mummies,” Peyton said. I shot her a grateful look.

  “You can go through the contemporary art section, but it’ll take longer. Meet us in Impressionists, okay?” he said.

  We got lost on the way back and ended up in the lobby, and a security guard radioed Antonio and led us back to our group. We found our group, and Mrs. Carangi said we were going to break for lunch. There was a big sign for bathrooms as soon as we walked into the museum cafeteria, and we started laughing. Everyone else had already begun eating, and we sat with India and Devon as we helped ourselves to pizza and soda. India soaked up the orange oil on the top of her slice with her napkin while she told us about a painting which freaked her out in one of the galleries our group hadn’t been in yet. She wouldn’t tell us what it was, but Devon put her hands over India’s ears and said it was of some dead guy.

  “Peyton, what time do you want us to come over tonight?” India asked.

  “Six,” Peyton said through a mouthful of cheese.

  Antonio asked us to get back into our groups to finish the tour. I was glad since I felt uncomfortable when they started talking about their plans for the weekend. I knew they didn’t mean to leave me out. I just wasn’t part of their group. It wasn’t their fault my own group didn’t want me anymore.

  We went into the room with the dead guy picture, and Peyton grabbed my arm. She said if a decomposing mummy freaked me out, then I’d never sleep again if I saw the painting. She led me past it, and Antonio said we might want to skip the next room with the sculpture of another dead person.

  “You guys can meet us at the gift shop. I’ll mark the map for you so you won’t get lost again,” he said. I was starting to like him until I realized the gift shop was practically around the corner. How stupid did he think we were?

  Devon’s tour group came into the gift shop next, and we started looking at the jewelry. Devon decided to buy this cool woven bangle bracelet, and India and Peyton decided to get one, too. I wanted a bracelet too, but there were only three. Instead, I bought a postcard of a Monet painting to send to my dad.

  When we got back to the car, Peyton asked Tori if she’d mind sitting in the front seat. Tori looked annoyed, but she got in the front and Peyton and I had fun on the ride back, which seemed a lot shorter than the ride down. I started to head to the bus line when we got to school, but Devon offered me a ride home.

  “Landry, do you want to come over to my house tonight?” Peyton asked. “We’re going to watch movies.”

  I wondered if she was just asking me because India had mentioned it in front of me, but I said I’d love to and then felt stupid for looking so excited. Devon’s mom said she could take me to Peyton’s tonight, and I said my mom could probably bring us home. Devon said she was going to wear her new black sweater with her new jeans tonight. I went through my closet trying to find something cute and fairly clean. Mom was happy to see I’d be off the couch for the evening, and she let me borrow her sweater.

  “Who am I taking home? Tori?” she asked as she rifled through the mail.

  “No, Devon,” I said.

  “Is Tori going? Because I could take her home since she’s right on the way.”

  “She’s not friends with these girls,” I said.

  Mom asked how Tori and Ericka were, and I didn’t want her to know they weren’t talking to me. I said Tori had a bunch of soccer stuff going on and Ericka had a new babysitting job.

  “We’ve been e-mailing each other,” I said.

  “Uh-huh,” Mom said, reading a bill. “What time should I pick you up? Eleven-thirty?” I nodded and went to get ready.

  ****

  Peyton led us into her family room, which had two long navy couches facing one another, a square coffee table, and cream colored bookcases covering the whole wall.

  “I went out with my dad, and we got a couple of movies. We got the new Evan Reynolds one for India, the new Blake Alderson one for Devon—”

  “Thank you,” Devon said as she helped herself to some potato chips.

  “—and The Mummy for Landry,” she said. “Just kidding.”

  I took a snack cake and two slices of pizza and settled down on the sofa next to Peyton to watch Take Back the Skies II. Devon was sitting on the couch across from me with her legs tucked up underneath her.

  “Blake is so amazing,” Devon sighed.

  “Isn’t he, like, way older than your dad?” Peyton asked.

  “It doesn’t matter, although I hate his tattoo,” she said through a mouthful of pizza.

  I said Blake looked a little bit like Peyton’s dad, and they all cracked up.

  “Watch her if she leaves the room because my dad’s not safe,” Peyton said.

  “Ew, what’s wrong with you people?” Devon said, laughing.

  “What’s wrong with us? Um, we’re not the ones with crushes on our friend’s dad,” said India.

  After the movie, Mom came to pick us up, and India joked Devon might want to stay over. Devon blushed.

  “You’ll have to excuse her, she wants to be my stepmother,” Peyton said as Devon shrieked. We walked to the car, and Devon said she didn’t think she’d ever be able to look Mr. Urich in the face again.

  “I wonder what the Ingénue audition will be like next weekend,” Devon said when she calmed down. “My mom’s already freaking out ab
out the whole thing. She’s called, like, fifty times to check on things.”

  I had been trying not to think about next weekend. Every time I thought about getting in front of the judges my stomach would flip over and I’d end up running to the bathroom. I had been trying to get through one day at a time. Now I could worry Mrs. Abrams would decide not to let her go and it would just be me by myself. I could just imagine me tagging along behind my mom because no one else would talk to me. Well, at least having my mom there would be better than nothing.

  The next morning, my mom came into my room. She said her manager had been taken in for emergency surgery, and they needed mom to cover for her in some important meeting. Then mom dropped the bad news.

  “The meeting is on Friday afternoon.”

  “So I can’t go to the audition? Mo-om, this could be my big—”

  Mom put up her hands to stop me. “I called Mrs. Abrams, and she said you can ride with her and Devon to Lansing. I don’t see any other way of getting you there.”

  I shrugged. I guess it was better than missing the competition, but I wanted my mom to be there with me. Mom said since she already paid for our room, Devon and I could share it, and Devon’s mom would stay in the other room. I was glad Mrs. Abrams would be there because I wanted somebody’s mother to be there… even if it wasn’t my own.

  Chapter Nine

  On Tuesday, I went to sit in the lunchroom because I thought I could sit with Devon. I was halfway through the line when I remembered she was eating lunch in Mrs. Kharrazi’s room because she had to make up a quiz. Maggie and Halle had their matching pink purses on the chairs next to them, and I didn’t feel like having to ask them to move their stuff. I didn’t want to have to beg to sit at their table. I could sit with Tad and his friend, but none of the girls had ever sat by themselves with a bunch of guys. Besides, then everybody would think I was his girlfriend or something. I had been standing there way too long, and I started to walk toward Maggie and Halle’s table when Hana walked past me to get a napkin.

  “Hi, Landry. What’s up?” she asked. I almost kissed her on the mouth.

  “Hey, can I sit with you?” I asked.

  “Sure,” she said. “What did you think of the math quiz?” she asked as we sat down. “The story problem was crazy.”

  Oh crap, I thought it had been pretty easy which should have been a huge sign since math is never easy for me. Hana was a brain, and if she found it tough, then I was sunk. My mouth was full, so I shrugged.

  “I read your story. It was cute,” she said.

  “Thanks.”

  Tori walked by, and Hana asked if we were still fighting. I rolled my eyes.

  “I know you guys were friends and all, but doesn’t it bug you how she has to be the best all the time? I’ve seen her ask for extra homework to challenge her,” she rolled her eyes. “Why are they mad at you anyway?”

  I told her it was because of the audition, and she wasn’t surprised since Ericka and Tori were always so competitive. I didn’t mention Ericka was also mad about Kyle paying attention to me because I didn’t need to hear the fact Kyle would never be interested in me. Hana and her friends had finished eating, and I started to gather up my tray to go, but they told me to finish my lunch.

  The rest of the week flew by as I worried about the trip. We were leaving Friday afternoon, and we even got to leave school early. I wanted to bring my favorite stuffed mouse with me as a good luck charm, but I’d die if Devon saw him, so I shoved him into the bottom of my suitcase next to my makeup bag so I’d know he was there even if I couldn’t take him out. Devon’s mom was in the driveway packing up their SUV when my mom and I walked over.

  “This is so exciting,” Devon said.

  “I’m kinda nervous,” I said, but I don’t think she heard me.

  I said goodbye to my mom and got in the Abrams’ SUV. Devon had flipped down the two middle seats so we could sit in the backseat and put our feet up.

  “Are you hungry?” Devon asked when we sat down. “My mom packed a ton of snacks. I have animal crackers, pretzels, juice boxes, and candy bars.” We pulled down the middle seat tray and made a little buffet. “You know, I’m glad we’re only auditioning for the young teen group,” she said. “I hear the older girls get asked if they’ll pose naked, and they have to wear swimsuits.”

  I almost choked on an animal cracker. “I would have passed out,” I said.

  “Yeah, they can’t make girls under eighteen wear swimsuits because people would, like, protest or something,” she said rolling her eyes. “Whatever.”

  When we arrived, Mrs. Abrams checked us into our room at the hotel and told us where her room was. She said we were supposed to meet in the banquet room for orientation at five o’clock, and we’d eat at six. We had plenty of time, and Devon said she’d do my hair. She took out a curling iron with a bunch of different attachments. She used a waving iron on my hair, and it looked gorgeous. Since her hair was already curly, we used the straightening iron on it and then the big curling iron to put a little wave in it. Her hair looked just as gorgeous straight as it did curly.

  We went downstairs to get our information packets, and I got a funny feeling when I saw our nametags. My nametag was yellow, but Devon’s was blue. Oh no, they were going to split us up into groups. We sat down and the group leaders made us go around the room and say our names and what school we were from. I was glad Devon was there because the other people didn’t look friendly.

  Then we were divided up by the color of our nametags and had to sit in a circle and do this stupid getting-to-know-you game where we had to ask each other dumb questions. The first girl I was paired with never even looked at me. She kept leaning across the aisle to talk to her friend. I was getting sick of her saying, “Bella, oh wow!” every five minutes. I asked her if she had any pets, and she rolled her eyes. I reminded her I didn’t make up the questions.

  “A Bichon Frise,” she said. I figured it was one of those little frou-frou dogs who wore a bow in its hair and could fit inside of a purse.

  The next girl I was paired with looked like she thought she was too intellectual to sit with the rest of us or play such a stupid game. She called it “infantile.”

  “Hm, my favorite book… I like Paula Danziger’s books, the Harry Potter series, and Jane Eyre,” I said. I hadn’t actually finished Jane Eyre, but I thought it might impress her. She stared at me.

  “I’m currently reading Joyce and I love Faulkner,” she said. Okay, what was I supposed to say now? She spent the rest of the time staring at the clock above my head and snapping her gum. I don’t know why they even bothered with the book question anyway. It wasn’t like reading was important for being a model anyway. The servers began bringing out our dinners, which was some kind of chicken and vegetable thing smothered in a slimy gray sauce. I ate two bites, and Devon and I hit the vending machines before we went back to the “fun” activities.

  “Is it just me or are the people here stuck up?” I asked.

  “People suck. Aw crap, my chips are stuck.” She hit the machine, and a tall guy came up behind her and expertly tipped the machine making her chips fall down.

  “Thanks,” she said staring up at him.

  He winked and walked away. “Whoa. He looked just like the singer — what’s his name… um, Mason Fraser,” she said. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re not going to tell me your dad looks like him are you?”

  “Nope, although I just downloaded Mason’s latest song,” I said. “I wonder if the Mason lookalike works here.”

  “I think he had a hotel shirt on. We should clog up our toilet and maybe they’d send him up to fix it,” she said. “Of course, it would be kinda embarrassing, but we have to see him again.”

  Later, we went back up to the room and changed into sweats. Devon flipped through the TV stations, and we sat on her bed and ate our snacks from the train.

  “You know what I’m craving?” she asked. “Cupcakes.” We decided to go to the vending machine
down the hall, but neither one of us felt like changing into our regular clothes.

  “How bad do I look?” she asked.

  She had on a gray sweatshirt and navy sweatpants. They were baggy, but she looked fine, and she said I looked okay in my sweats.

  “Should we risk it?” she asked.

  We peered around the corner, and the hall was empty. We made sure we had the room key and tore down the hall to the machines. We bought cupcakes and bottled water and checked the hall to make sure it was still clear. I dropped my cupcake package, and I heard her gasp.

  “Another junk food run?” The Mason Fraser lookalike was standing in front of her.

  “Um, yeah,” she said.

  “Cupcakes, huh?” he said. She offered him one, and he took a bite and thanked her as he walked down the hall.

  “I’m dying,” she said. She narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you the one who said, ‘Who will see us?’”

  “Oops.”

  “My hair’s a complete mess from lying on the pillow, too. Oh well. He’s probably too old for me anyway,” she said.

  “At least this guy isn’t as old as your dad,” I said.

  “I wish I hadn’t given him a cupcake though,” she said.

  We went back to the room, and she asked if I wanted to watch a movie. I knew we should go to bed, but there was no way I was going to fall asleep. I was too nervous about tomorrow to sleep. Devon found a movie on one of the local channels, and I said one of the actors looked like Nikolas.