by Chloe Taylor
The dress Zoey loved reminded her of the one she’d designed for herself to go to the dance—the one she never finished because she wasn’t going. It was velvet, too, with lace inserts instead of zigzags. Zoey wished she could wear that dress to the dance—while dancing with Lorenzo. Sigh.
“Okay, take thirty minutes before we start taping judge reactions,” Jed said.
Zoey had been having so much fun, she hadn’t realized an hour and a half had passed.
She and Lulu went to the greenroom to get a drink and a snack.
“It’s so exciting!” Lulu said. “I’m almost as thrilled as if I were on TV!”
“I know!” Zoey said. “I keep having to pinch myself to believe I’m sitting next to Aubrey Miller and Christophe Pierre.”
Zoey took out her laptop from her backpack.
“I need to blog about this right away. I don’t want to forget a single little detail!”
- - - - Chapter 9 - - - -
Fashion Showdown. For Real!
Imagine getting invited to be a guest judge on one of your absolute favorite TV shows. And then having a professional do your makeup so you look in the mirror and it looks like you but with the zit that was about to erupt covered up and your eyes glowing. And she lets you use the lucky lip gloss that Fashionsista sent you! (Thanks again, BTW!) The wardrobe lady tells you to change your shirt because it’s too stripy for TV, but it’s okay because you’ve got another outfit that you both adore. And then the hairstylist tells you have “great hair” and finds a special ribbon in his “magic closet of tricks” that is the finishing touch to the whole thing! But all this isn’t even the best part! Because when you walk on the set, you get the best surprise of all—the other judges, Christophe Pierre and Aubrey Miller, are so nice and make you feel like an equal and help you get over your jitters.
I still have to keep pinching myself to believe that I’m here and this is really happening to me. We’ve taped the first part of the show, and some of the designs are awesome. I can’t share anything about them because it’s all top secret till the episode airs, but I think it’s okay to say that there’s one dress I’d LOVE to wear to the dance—well, if I were going, that is.
Oops! Sydney (she’s the production assistant) is telling me the break is almost over and I’m needed back on set. More later, during the next break!
Back on the set, Jed explained how he was going to tape the judging segment.
“When you’re giving your critique and we come in for a close-up, remember to focus on the contestant, not the camera.” He looked at Zoey and smiled. “Just pretend the cameras aren’t there.”
Zoey looked at the huge TV cameras. Like that was going to happen!
“Okay, let’s roll ’em. We’re going to start with Aubrey, then move down the line.”
At least she wasn’t going first.
“Fashion Showdown, episode 201, judging, scene three, take one.”
The camera’s red lights blinked on, and Oscar asked Aubrey for her opinion on the first contestant, Christina’s, dress, a pink snakeskin-patterned sheath that reminded Zoey of a serpent. Aubrey wasn’t crazy about it. Zoey loved how Aubrey criticized the dress without being mean, unlike some of the other guest judges she’d seen on Fashion Showdown. Zoey knew how hard it was to come up with designs and to make them without a lot of time to spare. Being a tween designer was like being a contestant on Fashion Showdown all the time!
“Now let’s ask our special guest judge, teen designer Zoey Webber, of Sew Zoey. Your thoughts on Christina’s design?”
Zoey had been so busy listening to Aubrey that she forgot she was up next! When she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. The spotlight felt unbearably hot, and she could feel her cheeks flushing.
“Cut!” the director shouted.
Zoey wished the studio floor would open and swallow her up as the director strode over to her.
“You okay, Zoey?” Jed asked. “Do you need a glass of water?”
“M-maybe I’m not r-ready for p-prime t-time,” she stammered.
“Of course you are,” Aubrey said, patting her knee. “It’s just your first time on TV. If you weren’t nervous, there’d be something wrong with you.”
“Bien sûr!” Christophe said. “The first time I was on the TV, I couldn’t say three words.”
“I still get nervous before every show,” Aubrey said. “But now I realize my butterflies give me energy if I channel them in a positive way.”
“You mean . . . fake it till you make it?” Zoey asked. “That’s what Aunt Lulu told me she does when she’s nervous about something.”
“Yeah, something like that,” Aubrey said.
“Try to forget you’re on TV,” Jed said. “Pretend you’re talking to your friends.”
“Or the readers of Sew Zoey,” Sydney said.
Zoey didn’t think she could forget she was on TV. And if she thought about Priti, Kate, and Libby, she’d think about missing the dance. But she could pretend she was talking to her Sew Zoey friends.
“I’ll try,” she said.
“Okay, let’s roll ’em,” Jed said.
“Fashion Showdown, episode 201, judging, scene three, take two!”
Oscar again asked Zoey for her opinion on Christina’s dress.
This time she ignored the red eyes glowing above the camera lenses and pretended Christina was a Sew Zoey reader, asking for her opinion. She was honest in her criticisms of the dress, making it clear it wasn’t something she’d wear, but she found a few positive things to say, just like Aubrey.
When Oscar moved on to Christophe, Zoey breathed a sigh of relief. Aubrey leaned over and whispered, “Well done. You’re a natural!”
Zoey felt like she would explode with pride. She was so glad her friends had convinced her not to give up the opportunity to be a judge on the show. If she had, she never would have met Aubrey Miller, who said she was “a natural.” In fact, Zoey started having such a good time once she relaxed that she was surprised when the director yelled “Cut! Take an hour and a half for private judging and lunch.”
He walked over to where Zoey and the rest of the judges were standing and stretching, after having been seated for so long. “We’ve got lunch set up for you in the greenroom so you can decide on the winning designs while you eat. I’ll need you back on set by one thirty.”
Zoey went to find her aunt.
“You were amazing, hon!” Lulu exclaimed. “A total pro.”
“I was sooooooo nervous,” Zoey said. “But you were right. I faked it till I made it.”
Lulu hugged her. “Told ya, Zo. Never fails.”
“Let’s go eat,” Zoey said. “Now that I think about it, I’m starving.”
“It’s been hours since breakfast,” Lulu pointed out. “It’s time to refuel.”
“And to pick the winning dress,” Zoey said. “I can’t believe I get the same say as Aubrey Miller and Christophe Pierre!”
There was a delicious spread laid out in the greenroom. Zoey and Lulu filled their plates, and then Zoey joined the other judges to decide the winning dresses. The snakeskin dress was cut right away. When they’d narrowed the field down to five designs, each judge had to pick their winning design and runner-up. Zoey picked the dress she wished she could wear to the dance as her winner, and as runner-up, a peacock-blue silk shift that seemed to shimmer on the model. Christophe’s choices were the ones Zoey loved to look at but thought would be really uncomfortable to actually wear. When Aubrey turned over her choices . . . they were exactly the same as Zoey’s!
Zoey gasped. Aubrey winked at her and grinned, her teeth pearly white against her red lipstick.
“Great minds think alike, eh, Zoey?”
Zoey was so excited! That meant her favorite dress was the winner.
“We’re going to have to keep an eye on this one,” Aubrey told Christophe. “She’s got a great eye.”
“She has to finish high school first!” Lulu warned.
“I h
aven’t even finished middle school yet!” Zoey reminded everyone. “Right now, it’s hard enough keeping up with homework and my blog. Speaking of which, I need to do another update. I promised I’d write spoiler-free updates all day.”
Backstage Pass!
Taping is going well. We’re on our lunch break. I’m in the greenroom with the other judges, Aubrey Miller and Christophe Pierre; Aunt Lulu; and Sydney, the production assistant who’s been taking us around the studio and making sure we don’t get lost. The Fashion Showdown people sure know how to make a girl feel at home—the oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies were almost as good as Kate’s mom homemade ones. Almost.
During lunch we chose the winning design and the runner-up, but it’s classified information. SORRY! You’ll have to wait till the episode airs next weekend. Yes, I know it’s not fair, but those are the rules.
Aubrey said I had a “great eye.” Can you believe it?! It was like Christmas and my birthday combined!
I was so nervous at first—in fact, when I had to give my first critique, I totally flubbed it and they had to stop filming. But everyone—the director, the producer, and the other judges—they’ve all been super-understanding and helpful.
I feel so at home with the people here. Not like an outsider at all. It made me think . . . maybe the grown-up world really is filled with misfits like me. Wouldn’t that be great?
Zoey’s cell phone, which was set to vibrate, buzzed in her pocket as she pushed publish on her blog post.
It was a text from Priti. URGENT!!! OMG ZOEY! ARE U THERE???
Yes, I’m here. What’s up? Zoey thumbed back.
Just finished gym. Ivy was bragging that Lorenzo asked HER to the dance. , Priti replied.
Zoey felt like her turkey sandwich was about to come back up her throat. It was bad enough she wasn’t going to be able to go to the dance. It was bad enough that she never summoned up the courage to ask Lorenzo. It was bad enough Lorenzo never asked her. But . . . to think of him going with Ivy?! Ugh.
Zo? You still there? Priti asked.
Yeah. Just speechless, Zoey wrote.
Priti’s next text was frantic. You need to come back! Show up in a fab dress! How could he like IVY?!
Zoey sighed. She wanted to know the same thing. It just didn’t seem fair. Ivy was mean to everyone, but the one guy who Zoey had a crush on asked Ivy to the dance.
I can’t come back. I’m taping Fashion Showdown, remember?! Zoey typed.
Can’t they let you out early? Priti wondered.
I don’t think so. This is TV, Zoey wrote back.
But this is an EMERGENCY! Priti replied.
Zoey frowned. Anyway, I don’t even have a dress to wear to the dance. I stopped making mine when I realized I couldn’t go to the dance, and I left my backup dress at home.
This is terrible! Priti typed back. We have to do SOMETHING!
I don’t think there’s anything we can do. Just have a good time. And take pics. But NOT of Ivy with Lorenzo. That will make me , Zoey typed.
“Time to get back to the set!” Sydney announced.
“Oh—okay,” Zoey said. “One sec.”
GTG. TTYL, she texted to Priti, and put her laptop and phone in her backpack.
Back on the set, Jed announced they were going to film the judges deliberating in front of the contestants, even though they’d already decided, and then the contestants and their models would come out for one last trip down the runway before the winners were announced. Then each judge would make a comment on the winning design.
As much as she tried to pay attention, Zoey couldn’t stop thinking about Priti’s text. Why would Lorenzo invite Ivy? It didn’t make sense.
“Cut!” the director shouted, startling Zoey.
He walked over to where Zoey and the rest of the judges were sitting.
“Zoey, are you with us? You looked like you were still out to lunch during that take.”
“I’m sorry!” Zoey mumbled. “I was . . . distracted.”
“Do you need a soda to wake you up? I know it’s been a long day, but I need your full concentration.”
“No, I’m fine. Sorry.”
“Okay, guys, let’s take it from the top,” Jed said. “Fashion Showdown, episode 201, judging, scene three, take three!”
Zoey tried to keep her head in the game as they reenacted the decisions they’d already made in the greenroom.
Focus! she told herself.
But within minutes her brain started drifting to Lorenzo and Ivy at the dance. The two of them slow dancing together, just like she had dreamed of doing with him. . . .
“CUT!”
Uh-oh. Zoey hoped Jed hadn’t yelled because of her again.
“Zoey, is something the matter? Because you looked like someone killed your puppy before I called cut.”
“I’m sorry. I promise, I’ll focus better.”
“What’s wrong?” Aubrey asked. “You’re looking kind of glum.”
“Oui,” Christophe agreed. “Tout à fait misérable.”
“Help us out here, Zoey,” Jed said. “You were a total rock star before lunch and now you can’t seem to concentrate for more than thirty seconds.”
How could she tell them it was about Lorenzo and the dance? They were going to think she was . . . a middle-school girl having middle-school problems, not someone who should be on TV.
“You’re going to think I’m silly.” Zoey sighed.
Jed raised his hand. “I swear that if you tell me what’s the matter, I won’t think you’re silly.”
Zoey gave him a nervous half smile, then took a deep breath and a chance.
“Well . . . it’s the dance. The one at school, tonight. I thought I was okay about missing it—I mean, being on Fashion Showdown is such an amazing honor. . . .”
Zoey hesitated, embarrassed.
“But . . . ?” Jed asked.
“I just found out that Lorenzo, this guy I like, asked Ivy, a girl who’s really mean to me and my friends, to the dance. It would be bad enough if he’d asked someone nice. But Ivy? It just makes it hurt even more.”
“There’s not enough money in the world to make me repeat middle school!” Aubrey exclaimed. “I had an Ivy of my own. Meredith Magee. She used to call me Stick Insect, because I was tall and skinny.”
“This is not helping Zoey,” Christophe said. “We must find some solution for her problem.”
“There isn’t a solution,” Zoey said. “I’m not even going to the dance. Our train gets back too late, and I don’t have a dress. When I realized I couldn’t go, I stopped working on mine.”
The other judges exchanged meaningful glances.
“Come on. Let’s go find Rashida,” Aubrey said. “Relax, Zoey, we’ve got this in hand.”
Zoey sank back into her chair as her fellow judges marched off to find Rashida Clarke. Lulu came over to ask what was happening and why everyone had disappeared from the set. Zoey explained about the text from Priti and how the other judges said they had the situation “in hand.”
Lulu looked at her watch. Then she gave Zoey a hug. “Honey, I know it’s a big disappointment, both missing the dance and about Lorenzo. But there’ll be other dances, and there are definitely other boys. Take your aunt Lulu’s word on that. If he doesn’t have the good sense to ask out my Zoey instead of some Ivy, he’s not worth dating. I don’t care how cute he is.”
Zoey hugged Lulu back, burying her face in her aunt’s shoulder. She knew her aunt was probably right, but . . . Lorenzo? She’d had a crush on him for a long time. She couldn’t believe he really liked Ivy.
When she looked up, Rashida, Jed, Aubrey, and Christophe were standing in front of her and Lulu.
“You, my dear Zoey, are looking at your Fashion Showdown heroes,” Rashida said. “If you can focus for the next hour or so, we’re going to do everything humanly possible to get you to the dance on time.”
“But . . . the train won’t make it on time. . . . And I—I don’t have a dress.
. . . ,” Zoey stammered.
“Trains, shmains,” Aubrey said. “Fashion Showdown heroes don’t need trains, my dear.”
“Quelle horreur!” Christophe exclaimed. “Non! Non! Non! You will go in a stretch limousine! With a driver!”
Zoey looked over at Lulu, who smiled—and she finally allowed herself to feel hope.
“But . . . the dress . . . ,” she said.
“Darling, you can’t seriously be worried about finding a suitable dress when you’re judging the prom dress challenge episode,” Aubrey said, smiling. “We’ve all agreed—you should wear the winning design to the dance.”
Zoey couldn’t believe her ears. She was going to the dance, in a stretch limousine, wearing her favorite dress!
“We’ll send a camera crew down with you to tape your grand entrance,” Rashida said. “It’ll be the perfect finale to the show.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Zoey exclaimed, jumping up and giving each of them a hug. “You really are my Fashion Showdown heroes!”
“Sydney’s going to take you to the workroom to take your measurements,” Rashida said. “As soon as we’ve announced the winner, they can start alterations on the dress. Brandon and Cara have volunteered to go down in the limo with you for last-minute touch-ups. Oh, and I’ll need your shoe size.”
It was like being in a dream. A magical dream that she didn’t want to wake up from, except Zoey knew she wasn’t sleeping because soon Ellie, the woman who didn’t yet know she’d designed the winning dress, was taking Zoey’s measurements.
Ellie’s hands were shaking. Zoey wished she could tell Ellie that she had nothing to worry about, but she knew that was against the rules. So she did what the other judges had done for her.
“I’m nervous too,” she said. “You saw this morning, right? The first time I had to talk, I couldn’t even move my mouth.”
Ellie wrote down her waist measurement and then slid the tape around Zoey’s hips.
“You were great,” Ellie said. “I can’t believe you’re only in seventh grade. Promise you’ll hire me someday?”
“Only if you haven’t hired me first,” Zoey said, smiling.