Carmen made herself a cup of café con leche and grabbed one of her mother’s delicious currant scones from the basket near the fridge. Then she crept downstairs to the basement, where she had taken to keeping her sewing machine. On the garment rack near her work area were seven original Carmen Ramirez-Ruben original dresses. Two were white dresses for Carolina and Patricia’s church ceremony; two others were formal dresses: one cream-colored with shades of pink, for Carolina, and the other also cream-colored, with shades of charcoal gray for Patricia. These dresses were for the party.
Three additional dresses were for her, Jamie, and Alicia. Since she hadn’t had time to make them dresses for the winter formal, she’d surprise them with these. Each dress had a simple strapless bodice matched with a full skirt and a tulle slip underneath. As a bit of a joke, Carmen had designed the amigas’ Mystery and Moonlight dresses as an homage to the SoBees’ matching outfits. Alicia’s dress was a silvery lavender. Jamie’s dress was an emerald color that reminded Carmen of a putting green. Her own dress was canary yellow.
She placed each dress in the custom-monogrammed garment bags that her mother and Christian had made for her as Christmas presents. Each bag read amigas inc. and, beneath that, ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY C. RAMIREZ-RUBEN.
Carmen took the dresses upstairs, showered, and quickly changed into one of her mother’s vintage Mexican dresses. It was white, thick cotton, with three-quarter-length sleeves and a hand-embroidered design in the center. It was the perfect Amigas Inc. work dress—appropriate enough for a church ceremony, but sturdy enough that you could do anything in it, from getting down on the floor to fix a ripped hem to pitching in and helping a particularly slow catering service. She put her hair in what she and her sister Una called a messy pretty updo. Then she looked in the mirror. Cute, she thought. On days when she was working hard on someone else’s quince, “cute” was plenty good.
Carmen’s mother, the designated driver, met her in the kitchen. She looked exhausted but pretty in a light blue tracksuit. “Estoy cansada,” her mother said. “First stop, Starbucks.”
Once they’d completed their coffee run, Carmen and her mother made the rounds like the quince equivalents of the tooth fairy. First, they stopped by Carolina’s and left her dresses with the housekeeper.
“Señorita Carolina is still sleeping,” the woman said cheerfully.
“Wake her up! It’s her big day!” Carmen smiled, handing her a garment bag.
Next, they stopped at the other Reinoso household, where they found Patricia and her father just back from a morning jog.
“Oooh, dresses!” Patricia called out as she ran up.
Carmen liked Patricia, but her jocklike ability to be perfectly sunny at seven in the morning was borderline alien.
“Here you go. See you at the church!” Carmen said, attempting to match Patricia’s postjog energy with her own cheeriness.
Carmen next dropped off dresses for Alicia and Jamie. Finally, her mother dropped her off at the church.
“Gracias for all the early-morning chauffeuring,” she said, giving her mother a hug and kiss.
“De nada, hija,” her mother said. “I’m very proud of you.”
Carmen entered the church, admiring the space. More than a year of planning quinces had given her a greater appreciation of churches. Each was its own work of art. This particular sanctuary was beautiful: cathedral ceilings, dark oak woodwork, gold fixtures, and pale honey–colored walls. The candles were exactly where she’d placed them the night before. But the flowers—fragrant Casablanca lilies that were supposed to decorate the altars—were nowhere to be found. She checked the church office and discovered that even the bouquets for Carolina and Patricia had failed to arrive.
She quickly dialed the florist and looked at her watch. Two hours until the church ceremony, and this guy was a no-show. It happened occasionally—thankfully not often—that a vendor just completely slipped up. As she left unanswered message after unanswered message, Carmen soon began to realize that this was the case now.
She reached into her bag for her iPad and accessed the Google map application. There were five florists within a ten-mile radius of the church. She’d figure something out. She picked a shop called Florabunda, because she liked the name and because their Web site was cute, and dialed their number.
“Can you deliver two vases of Casablanca lilies in an hour?” she asked. “It’s for a quince that’s happening today, and our flowers didn’t show up.”
She listened as the woman on the phone quoted her an exorbitant fee.
“Uh-uh, too much,” Carmen pushed back. “What else do you have? How about you do a mix of stargazers and Casablancas to keep the costs down? But no filler flowers and no carnations. Can you also make two hand bouquets? The bases need to be wrapped in satin.
“Those bouquets can be a mix of white and pink roses,” Carmen said. “Here’s my cell, please call me if you have even the slightest question or problem.”
She opened her purse and read the woman her credit card number. Reciting the sixteen digits never failed to make her feel grown-up. Alicia’s mother had opened a corporate account in the name of Amigas Inc., and each girl had been issued a card in her own name. The rule was that they were to use the card only in emergencies—and, as Alicia’s mother often reminded them—she meant quince emergencies, not I’m-at-the-mall-and-this-skirt-that’s-on-sale-is-too-cute-not-to-buy emergencies.
Two hours later, the flowers had arrived, the guests had been seated, and the quince girls were standing at the altar in their new high heels. During the church ceremony, every quinceañera changed from flats to a pair of heels to symbolize her walk into womanhood.
Carmen sat in the second row of the church, next to Alicia and Jamie.
The minister approached the pulpit and gave his sermon. Afterward, he announced, “Our quinceañeras would like to address the congregation. First, we’ll hear from Carolina Reinoso.”
Carolina approached the microphone and smiled at the churchgoers. “Buenos días, honored family, friends, and community members. I have been dreaming about a quinceañera since I was a little girl, and I am so blessed that my parents were able to give me one. I wanted to take a moment and share with you some thoughts on this day and the meaning of this celebration. What does a quince mean?
“The q in quince certainly stands for ‘queen.’ It’s not that we are queens, but more that we are making a commitment to conduct ourselves in a manner that is beyond reproach. Patricia and I, like every quinceañera, are the daughters of queens. And we thank our mothers for their love and understanding.
“The u in quince stands for ‘unity,’” she continued. “We stand before you, united in our family, united in our friendships, and united with the Latino community. The i in quince, at least for me and Patricia, stands for ‘intrepid.’ For us, life is an adventure, and we are so excited that this birthday marks the beginning of a new journey. The n in quince stands for ‘no hay palabras.’ And there are literally no words to convey our gratitude for the role you all have played in making us the young women we are today. The c in quince stands for ‘caring,’ which we forgot to do for each other, but which we’ll never forget again.
“And last, but not least, the e in quince stands for ‘excellence.’ And we promise you to strive for excellence in everything we do. Thank you.”
The church erupted in applause, and the amigas exchanged knowing smiles. It would have been a shame, they all thought, if this amazing quince had been ruined because of the winter formal queen competition. Thank Dios that the Reinoso girls had worked their differences out.
Patricia took Carolina’s place at the pulpit. “My cousin has spoken to you about the meaning of quince and what it symbolizes to us, and I just wanted to take a moment and add a few thoughts about the meaning of family. Everyone here knows that Carolina is not just my cousin. A cousin is someone you see at special occasions, who’s related to you and familiar, someone you may or may not like, someone you may
or may not love. A prima hermana is another matter entirely. We were born cousins, but we were raised as sisters. We know that that bond is rare, and we wanted to take a moment to salute our parents. Mama, Papa, please stand. Tío, Tía, please stand. It’s because you all are so close that we have this gift of friendship and family today.”
The parents of Carolina and Patricia stood up, and the entire congregation showered them with applause.
When the clapping finally died down, Patricia said a few more words, and then, almost as soon as it had started, the ceremony was over.
The amigas joined the other guests in a receiving line to greet the quinces. Standing in the sunlight on the patio of the church, they marveled at all that had happened and all that lay ahead.
“Well,” Alicia said, “it’s December. Quince season has officially begun.”
The amigas knew that between Christmas and the end of the school year, there would be a flurry of parties. Some girls liked to have their quinces over the holidays, to take advantage of families’ visiting town. Some girls waited months, to celebrate their fifteenth birthdays with a big New Year’s Eve bash. Valentine’s Day was a popular time for quinces, as was Easter. And in Miami in June, there were as many quinces as there were weddings.
“We’re ready for it,” Carmen said confidently.
“Carolina and Patricia are awesome,” Jamie said, gesturing toward the girls who stood at the church door, looking beautiful in their white dresses.
“They’re like honorary amigas,” Alicia noted.
“I totally agree,” Carmen said.
“You know who else is totally awesome? Maxo,” Jamie said, playfully giving Carmen a little push.
Alicia grinned and clapped her hands. “Oh, my God. He’s so into you.”
Carmen just smiled.
“No, seriously,” Alicia commented. “How does it feel to be worshipped like a goddess? I mean, a queen?”
Alicia was exaggerating only a bit. Maxo was a hopeless romantic, as Carmen was quickly learning. After their first winter formal dance, Maxo had fallen to one knee and kissed her hand; this had drawn praise and applause from all of the girls, but incredulous stares from the guys.
“He’s just old-fashioned,” Carmen said shyly.
Alicia raised an eyebrow. “Okay, fine. How does it feel to be worshipped like a goddess in an old-fashioned way?”
Carmen grinned. “You know what? It feels pretty great.”
Jamie grew serious. “Can you believe that this time next year, we’ll have applied to colleges?”
Alicia sighed. “I know. It’s so wild. Time is flying by, and I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
“Well, you know, I’ve got to get back to Nueva York by hook or by crook,” Jamie said, enthusiastically. “Let’s hope that Columbia University shows me some love. What about you, C.?”
Carmen smiled. “Me? I’m just enjoying all of the possibilities.”
She’d always assumed that she’d apply to FIT or the Savannah College of Art and Design. But the past few weeks had changed everything. Hillary had studied hotel management at the Wharton School in Philadelphia, and that seemed exciting. Carmen had a cousin at the University of Texas in Austin; that school seemed interesting, too. And she loved everything she heard about the art program at Brown. More and more, it seemed that the best thing Carmen could do was to follow the advice Carolina and Patricia had given in their speech about quinces: be intrepid, and enjoy the adventure.
But all the talk about the future made the amigas wonder the same thing: what would happen to Amigas Inc. after they left for college?
“We need successors!” Alicia cried.
“I don’t even know any freshmen,” Carmen pointed out.
“Me, neither,” Jamie added.
The group decided to start looking for a few good first-year students whom they could begin to train and to whom they could pass the quince business on to when they graduated—and they would do so, just as soon as they were finished wrapping up the Reinoso quince.
“Look at us,” Jamie said. “Do you really think we’re going to find three girls as fierce, flawless, and fabulous as us?”
Alicia admitted it was a tall order. “But Amigas Inc. is too special just to let it fade away when we’re at college. We’ve got to pass it on to a great group of girls.”
Carmen wasn’t pressing the matter. “We’ll find them! And remember, we’ve got our whole senior year to whip ’em into shape.”
When I first came up with the idea for the Amigas series, I thought about the many Latina women who, like Alicia, Jamie, and Carmen, had started out as entrepreneurial teenagers. Who, through hard work, imagination, and dedication, were able to take their passions and talents and become role models and successful adults. For me, Jennifer Lopez is such a woman. She has incredible drive and an amazing work ethic, qualities she shares with the girls in Amigas. They, too, needed an equal amount of determination to turn their quince-party-planning business into a huge success.
So, to get a better sense of this connection, I sat down with Jennifer, and we talked about quinces and what it was like for her as a Latina girl growing up in New York City. Here are some more of her answers.…
—J. Startz
1. When you were in high school, were you involved in any clubs or extracurricular activities? Did you play any sports? If so, what were they, and which one was your favorite?
I didn’t play sports when I was in high school, but in elementary school, I ran track, did gymnastics, and played softball. I was the shortstop on our team in seventh grade and eighth grade! In high school, I was in our school’s plays and musicals every year. I danced in all the musicals, and even choreographed some. I would have to say that was my favorite part of my extracurricular activities.
2. Did any of the activities that you were involved in as a high school student have an effect on your choice of career? If so, in what way?
While doing the shows in high school, I realized what hard work it was to be a performer. I learned how much work and commitment it took to put on a good show—every night, every time. Months and months of rehearsal have to go into it first, and then you have to perform at your peak the minute you hit the stage. So, while I already knew that I wanted to dance, act, and sing for a living, I realized that I needed the commitment, passion, and desire to do the hard work, to accomplish my dreams. So, I decided to do that!
3. Was prom or winter formal a big deal in your high school? What made going to a school formal in high school special for you?
Prom was a very big deal in my school. I went to an all-girls high school, so we looked forward to events where boys would be around! I designed my own dress for the prom, too. It was pale pink satin, in a kind of mermaid shape. At the time, I loved it.
4. The two primas hermanas have very different interests. Patricia is a super athlete and star basketball player. Carolina is more of an academic, and is very involved with Coral Gables’ environmental club. Of the two cousins, whom do you feel most similar to?
I was definitely an athlete growing up, but I always worked on being a good student, too. I thought both were really important to focus on when I was a teenager.
5. Carmen gets drafted by her homeroom teacher to be on the planning committee for the winter formal and rises to the challenge of having to work with the SoBees, her school’s version of “mean girls.” When you were in high school, did you ever find yourself in this kind of uncomfortable social situation? How did you deal with it? What advice do you have for teens who feel they are being bullied or made to feel inferior by the popular “queen bee” clique in their school?
I think everyone at one time or another faces this kind of situation, and we all have to live through it. But the bullying topic always bothered me! It’s become such an important issue lately, too. It is so important to remember to never treat anyone in a way that degrades them, or makes them feel bad about themselves. Also, if it’s happening to you, remember that yo
u do not have to keep quiet! Say something. Don’t suffer in silence. No one should have to take harassment from anybody. Report it; tell parents and teachers. Make sure the adults in your life have a plan to deal with it. And know that no one is any better than you; just as you are not better or worse than anyone else. Everyone deserves to be treated kindly and with decency.
6. Patricia and Carolina both decide that they want to be voted as winter formal queen, and soon they are involved in a major competition. Have you ever been in a situation (personally or jobwise), in which you had to compete against a good friend for something you wanted very much? How did you feel about it, and how did you deal with it?
I always believe that the opportunities that are meant to be there for you come your way. I used to worry sometimes, when I was first starting out, Oh, I didn’t win in that audition, I didn’t get that one part I would really have liked. But I realized later that you needn’t worry about the competition, or what you are winning or not winning over somebody else. The things that are meant to be there for you will be there. You don’t have to put any thought into any of the other stuff.
ALICIA CRUZ couldn’t remember the last time she’d had her friends over for a sleepover. They’d pretty much given up on them in the eighth grade. Which isn’t to say they hadn’t hung out all night long until the break of dawn ever since—not only in their hometown of Miami, but as far away as Spain. Sometimes they hung out for fun, like in the ninth grade, when for Alicia’s fifteenth birthday, she had passed on the traditional Sweet Fifteen extravaganza, known the world over as a quinceañera, and instead traveled to Spain with her pal Carmen Ramirez-Ruben. In Barcelona, restaurants didn’t even start serving dinner until nine, so Alicia and her parents and Carmen had dined many times at midnight and explored the Rambla, the heart of the city, as they strolled back to the hotel.
Two years ago, the late-night sessions had become more focused on work, when Alicia’s desire to do a good deed and help a new girl in town plan her quinceañera turned into a full-blown business, Amigas Incorporated. And so, while Alicia had never had a quince of her own, she had now planned and attended dozens of them. She ran Amigas Inc. with Carmen and her other best friend and partner, Jamie Sosa. Now the three girls sat at the helm of the hottest teen-party-planning business in town—with a substantial company bank account and a very snazzy Young Entrepreneurs of Miami Award from the mayor’s office to prove it.
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