Modelland

by Tyra Banks

  “Why the heck are you helping me?” Tookie snapped. “I don’t need your pity. I’m nothing but a bet to you!” She grabbed one of the Maki Balls and rubbed it. Lip gloss spilled out, and she smeared it on her lips. “My first kiss, Bravo—my real first kiss? Know what it’s going to be?”

  He paused, waiting.

  “It’s going to be under a perfect sunset, near a garden of golden flowers spreading as far as the eye can see,” Tookie said, making it up as she went along. “The lucky guy who will get to pucker with my suckers will be wearing a … tuxedo. And … and he’s going to sing to me a song he wrote, and he’ll … dance to it. It needs to make me laugh and make me cry.”

  Bravo blinked. “Are you for real?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m for real! Then he will open up his shirt like a superhero,” she went on. “On his chest will be written Tookie, you are the most amazing girl I have ever laid eyes on. And I can’t decide which I love more, your green or your brown eye. Then he’ll have to touch my face gently with both hands.” Her eyes spilled newer, fresher tears. “And he’ll kiss my forehead, both of my cheeks, and then my nose. Then he’ll spray whipped cream straight into my mouth and then his. And then he’ll part his mouth just a little and press his lips against mine. And for me, it will feel like the kiss will never end. Because it won’t. It will go on forever. And it will be amazing!”

  Tookie’s chest was heaving. Between sobs, she was having difficulty catching her breath.

  Bravo just stared. Suddenly, the photo Gyro came to life, bucking and weaving around them. The countdown began.

  “Z … Y … X …”

  Bravo moved closer to Tookie. “I want you to win. Mess me up really bad, okay? I don’t care how hard you go at me. Throw a Maki Ball at me.”

  “Don’t take any more pity on me!” Tookie roared.

  “But I haven’t,” Bravo said. “I’ve never pitied you.”

  “You’re a big fat devious liar!” Furious, Tookie plopped the queenly couture crown on her head but held on to it. I should throw it at him. She held it in her hand, debating what to do.

  “… S … R … P …”

  Bravo sank to his knees. “You realize, Tookie, that even if you throw that crown at me, you’ll still lose. But there is one way you can win.”

  “What?”

  “Maki Balls. Two of them.”

  “… N … M …”

  “Activate them,” he urged. “Then I’ll take them both and hold on to them.”

  Tookie stared curiously at him. “You’ll lose fifty points.”

  “And you’ll get them.”

  “… I …”

  She placed her hands on her hips. “Why are you doing this, Bravo? Feeling guilty?”

  “… H …”

  “A little bit,” Bravo said. “You … you deserve better than me, Tookie.”

  “… G …”

  Tookie stared at him, a whole new kind of rage boiling inside her. “I deserve better? Damn right I deserve better! And there is better than you, Bravo—believe it or not. Theophilus Lovelaces!”

  The crowd fell silent. But suddenly, from the wings, Zarpessa let out a shriek. “Theophilus? My Theophilus?”

  Bravo blinked hard at Tookie. “Who’s Theophilus? D-do you have some other dude at home?”

  “He’s not tall and not a pouting Bestostero pretty boy like you. Girls everywhere don’t scream out that they want his babies. But he’s better than you, Bravo. Smarter than you.”

  “Is that why you’re leaving?” Bravo whispered. “Because you wanna be with him?”

  Tookie turned away. If Bravo wanted to think that, then let him.

  Bravo shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you, girl. And just so you know, there was never a bet. I just said that because I was pissed at you—because you used me and I wanted to hurt you back. But now I think there should have been.”

  Tookie blinked at him. Could he be telling the truth?

  “… F …”

  Bravo’s salted-caramel eyes looked so sincere. His lips were still moving, but Tookie couldn’t hear a word over the roar of the crowd. She tried to emblazon him in her memory. A person who could seem so genuine but totally fool you. Just like Ci~L had.

  “Tookie,” Bravo said, “just pick up the damn Maki Balls and get this over with.”

  Without a word, she picked up a red Maki Ball, her touch activating it. Tingly jolts of electricity tickled her palms. Instead of blush or lipstick, though, streaks of yellow liquid appeared on her fingers. That’s weird … is it the body oil Bravo was talking about? But that was supposed to be in the blue Maki Balls. The liquid began to solidify and then buzzed in her hands. Was it about to explode?

  She stared at the peculiar half-liquid/half-solid substance. The buzzing turned into convulsions, and then, gradually, the substance formed into a cellophane-thin sheet. The object was now rising and falling as if it was alive. Tookie’s mouth dropped open. Is this …?

  “A SMIZE!” Gunnero called. “Hot damn, we haven’t had one of those little babies appear in our Maki Balls for quite some time! It’s a lucky charm, Crazy Eyes! Cover those loony peepers of yours and put your spectators’ eyes out of their misery!”

  Slowly, Tookie put the SMIZE on her face. The moment it touched her skin, she felt a jolt in her heart. Her head cleared and filled with an incredible pulsing energy. So this is what a SMIZE feels like, she thought, feeling stronger and more powerful than ever before. She felt beyond special—as if a switch had been turned on, illuminating her from the inside and dimming everyone else.

  Her senses were on fire. Each breath Bravo took reached her ears. Her taste buds were flooded with every delectable whipped cream she’d ever tasted. Neon colors dazzled her eyes, and the air smelled like lime and crushed mint, island coconut and rosemary and buttercream frosting.

  Tookie felt—no, she was—intoxicating. Waves of words flowed into her brain.

  Magnifique. Omorfos. Vacker. Schön. Mei-li. Mooie. Guapa. Sundar. Maganda. Chachowww. Belle. Hundreds of words coming from the SMIZE that all meant the same majestic, wonderful, marvelous, magnificent, mind-blowing thing.

  Beautiful.

  As she turned to Bravo, his jaw dropped.

  “Oh. My. God,” he said, staring at her, transfixed. When Tookie looked into the crowd, everyone else was gawking at her too. Even Webb, Alexander, and O’Neil. Even Zarpessa, who, like the other Bellas, paled in comparison to Tookie’s ravishing glow. Even Gunnero looked spellbound as he whispered “Whoa … Super Modelland Eyes …” into the microphone.

  Then Bravo stood, took the second red Maki Ball from Tookie’s hands, and placed it on his chest. The Maki Ball rose and fell with his fast breath.

  “… E …”

  Tookie watched him. The Ball’s beeps quickened.

  “… D …”

  She stood over Bravo. In the few remaining seconds, she placed her hand near her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and licked her thumb ever so slowly. Then she leaned down, glared into Bravo’s eyes, and wiped each of his eyebrows with it. It felt good. Vengeful.

  With three big leaps, she was back near her end of the plank.

  Kaboom! The Maki Ball exploded, spraying its contents all over Bravo, covering him in bright, garish color.

  “… C … B …”

  In what seemed like the millisecond that Tookie had remaining, she ran back to Bravo and stood over him, and remembering her CaraCaraCara lessons, she made her face express the exact opposite of what she was feeling.

  She smiled.

  Bravo turned his face away from the camera.

  SNAP!

  The Gyro’s image floated above the OrbArena.

  For Modelland: Tookie, 106 points. For Bestosterone: Bravo, 19 points.

  “Is that thing broken?” Gunnero cried. “It beauty-is-pains me to say this, but you all have just witnessed the greatest turnaround in ManAttack history! Tookie from Modelland has scored 106 points, Run-a-Way-ing past her competitor
s! Tookie is … ugh, it hurts … our, uh … new champion.”

  “I won?” Tookie asked incredulously. “Are you serious? I won?”

  Suddenly, a high-pitched scream rang from the crowd. “She fainted! Oh my God, that big girl fainted!”

  Dylan!

  And then the OrbArena went dark.

  Pitch-black.

  It was time.

  38

  LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT

  It sounded like the whole OrbArena was screaming. There were clangs, then shouts, then a blaring fire alarm. Tookie blinked in the darkness. She couldn’t see a thing.

  A voice yelled in her ear. “Is me! Shiraz. Come. I see perfect!”

  Shiraz grabbed Tookie and led her off the plank, back through the Prep Zone, and down to the ground. As she hit the earth, she felt the SMIZE flutter away from her face. She tried to grab for it, but the rice-paper-thin talisman had disappeared into the darkness. “Where are the others?” she whispered.

  “Here!” two voices said in unison. It was Dylan and Piper.

  Inside, panicking ManAttack spectators pushed and screamed. Shiraz muscled through an unnoticed door and the girls stumbled through it. Tookie looked back at the OrbArena. The rumbling of trapped spectators practically shook the steel struts. “We created this chaos,” she cried. “We can’t just leave them in there!”

  “We gotta get outta here now,” Dylan said. “We made an opportunity. Now we gotta take it!”

  “Not only did I find out where the switch was,” Piper said as she panted, out of breath, “I found the emergency ZipZap too. It’s exactly where you said it was. C’mon!”

  They ran to the stadium. Now completed, it was massive. Its elaborate architecture cast eye-patterned reflections on the ground. The girls scampered up a path cordoned off by a metal banner, across which scrolled blinking words that read NO ENTRY UNTIL THE 7SEVEN TOURNAMENT! Making sure no one saw them, Tookie and her friends scooted around the blockade. Before she went into the stadium, Tookie turned back, exhaled, and took one final look at Modelland. Goodbye, Kamalini. Goodbye, Guru Lauro. Goodbye, Dr. Erica. Goodbye, Bravo.…

  “It’s time, Tookie,” Piper urged.

  Tookie ducked under the banner. Instantly, Piper rushed down four flights of stairs into the depths of the stadium, the girls right behind her. A giant pile of stones lay in front of them. Following Piper’s lead, they began lifting the rocks until a horizontal ZipZap flush with the ground appeared under the rubble. It had jagged, pointed, rusty teeth and a zipper pull that flamed crimson, as if warning not to touch it. Taking a deep breath, Tookie yanked it open. “Ouch!” It was hot to the touch. A whirlpool of thick, hot air and reddish liquid whipped inside.

  “Is blood?” Shiraz wondered aloud, holding tightly to Dylan’s hand. Muted screams streamed out from the deep.

  “Let’s go,” Tookie said. And then, after a slight hesitation, she fell straight backward and disappeared into the hole.

  The girls’ bodies twisted around the curves of the ZipZap. It was pitch-black inside the tunnel; terrifying growling and wailing sounds echoed off its walls. The tunnel’s surface was hot, burning through the girls’ clothing and singeing Tookie’s bare legs. Everyone yelped in pain.

  Suddenly, the path leveled off. Tookie saw a fork straight ahead.

  “Left or right? Left or right?” Tookie screamed. “I think we should go left!”

  “No! Right!” Shiraz answered.

  “Left!” Piper said.

  “No, right!” Dylan said.

  Tookie leaned to the right. The girls did the same. They whipped through a new tube. Gradually, a pinprick of light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Where would they end up? In LaDorno, or in the Diabolical Divide? Tookie’s heart thumped.

  The light grew closer and closer. Dylan screamed. As they reached the end, they picked up speed, their bodies whipping against the tube. And then, suddenly …

  Thump!

  The girls fell into a pool of thick red mud. The air smelled charred and rotten. There were no telltale signs of LaDorno anywhere. No buildings, no streets, no cars. Tookie looked into the air and saw four fireballs shooting straight toward them.

  “We’re in the Divide!” she screamed. “Get back in the ZipZap!”

  They all tried to stand, but the mud sucked them downward. Tookie rose and then fell face-first in the mud. It stung her eyes.

  “I got you!” Tookie yelled. From somewhere deep within, she found the strength to rise. She then reached down and, one at a time, pulled Piper, Dylan, and Shiraz free.

  “Hurry up!” Tookie screamed over the sound of crackling flames. “Back in the ZipZap!”

  Just before the four fireballs were about to consume them, the girls jumped back into the ZipZap. Tookie took the left fork and the girls continued to slide, until … splash!

  Tookie’s nose burned with the scent and taste of chlorine. Blue-gray buildings rose around her. The moon hung high in the sky overhead. A few lonely cars whipped around a traffic circle. Beyond it was the mist-covered mountain of Modelland.

  She looked down and saw water lapping at her neck. She looked to the side and saw a statue of Mayor Devin Rump standing beside her.

  They were in a fountain in LaDorno.

  “We made it!” Dylan yelped. She splashed over to Tookie and gave her a huge hug. “And you were right. We shoulda gone left!”

  Piper waded over and hugged Tookie, and then Shiraz did too.

  “Now what?” Dylan said, tucking a clump of wet blond hair behind her ear.

  Once they broke free, they looked around at one another, suddenly realizing something.

  “I guess we go our separate ways.” Piper pointed out what they were all thinking. “I’ll find my way back to SansColor. And … to Mother, the queen.” She made a face.

  “Back to Canne Del Abra,” Shiraz said morosely. “Will again deliver good news to the people, but no to me.”

  “I’ll hop a train or somethin’ to Bou-Big-Tique, I guess,” Dylan murmured. “Back to the customer service desk. Back to life confined in a store.” Her jaw trembled slightly. She gazed up at the mountain.

  “What do I do now?” Tookie said aloud, not expecting an answer.

  Suddenly, Dylan’s face fell. She stared at something in the sky. “Tookie …” Her voice shook. “Run!”

  To Tookie’s horror, she saw Ci~L’s familiar pouch, in flying mode. It swooped ominously above them, dropping lower and lower with each rotation. She was coming after them!

  The girls screamed and clambered out of the fountain, running down an alley, ducking under fire escapes and around garbage containers, and climbing over fences, Ci~L’s pouch in pursuit.

  They skidded to a stop at an open manhole cover. They scooted down the ladder and ran through a labyrinth of dark, steaming tunnels. “Where we go now?” Shiraz yelled.

  “We’re heading north by northeast,” Piper advised. “Head up the next ladder we find!”

  Fifty steps later, they found a ladder leading up through an open manhole. Tookie scrambled up and out once more, emerging in the deserted town square. She looked around at the marble ground and the giant clock in the center. This is where Metopia’s T-DOD is held, she realized. It looked so empty and desolate, devoid of people, walkers, souvenir sellers. The clock tower loomed in the corner, and various fountains spewed water on all sides. Immense billboards of Intoxibellas Evanjalinda and Bev Jo decorated the sides of buildings.

  As Tookie spun around, she noticed a telltale question-mark-shaped crack in the pavement and felt a clenching in her stomach. This was the exact point where Ci~L had selected her for Modelland. Right here, on the edge of the square, Ci~L had appeared out of the top of the car, extending her hand to Tookie. Over Myrracle. Over everyone.

  She gazed up at the mist-covered mountain once more, a pang of regret and nostalgia mixing inside of her. So much had happened, she felt like an entirely different person. And yet she was in the exact same place she’d started.

  A
strange scratching sound emerged from behind a nearby trash can. Shiraz grabbed Tookie’s arm. “What that?”

  “I don’t know,” Tookie whispered. “Shhh.”

  The scratching noises intensified. Something breathed raspily in and out, in and out. A dog? A cat?

  “What if it’s Ci~L?” Piper whispered.

  Tookie stepped back, her heart thudding hard. But before she could turn around and make yet another escape, something larger than a cat climbed out of the trash can. A burr-riddled, dread-locked redhead dressed in a hospital gown, a series of fresh cuts and burns on her arms.

  Tookie’s jaw dropped. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  Lizzie.

  Lizzie’s eyes locked with Tookie’s and she let out a joyful yet mournful yelp. The two girls ran for each other, crashing together hard. After a long embrace, Lizzie stuck her hands out to her sides, palms up. Tookie did the same. Both girls pointed to the sky, then made a motion as if checking their underarms for a scent, then did a deep curtsy. “What’s up, Hot Queen?” they cried together. Lizzie stared at Tookie’s arm, which was still adorned with the long ruby bracelet from ManAttack. “You really are a queen today, girl!” she whooped.

  “You have no idea, Lizzie.” Tookie had felt like a queen with the SMIZE. It had fallen off after ManAttack. I wonder where it went. Maybe one of the crazed Bellas back in the OrbArena had found and pocketed it. Maybe the Likees.…

  The Unicas watched them, cocking their heads, trying to make sense of the reunion.

  Then Tookie grabbed Lizzie’s hands. “Is it really you, Lizzie? I was sure you’d be gone by now!”

  “Oh no.” Lizzie shook her head. “I’ve been waiting for you, Tookie. Right here, all day, every day. Well, I hide in the daytime, of course—they see me, during the day, they keep looking for me—but every night, I’m right here in that trash can. I saw you get chosen. Your face was huge for the world to see on the big screen on T-DOD!” Then Lizzie trembled a bit, looked down at her feet and said, “I always told you that you were special.…”

  “I’m sorry,” Tookie said. Her worst fear had come true—Lizzie had seen her take the Scout’s hand. She remembered how Lizzie had stood in her driveway the morning of T-DOD. How she’d let out that scream, thinking Tookie had abandoned her. “I wanted to escape with you, Lizzie. But they threw me into the car—I was stuck!” Tears fell from her eyes. All this time, she’d feared that Lizzie hated her for leaving.