by Annie Bryant
Isabel couldn’t believe her ears. She and Elena Maria had grown up with pretty relaxed rules—their mother and father had always given them the benefit of the doubt, and trusted them to be responsible. Isabel knew that Aunt Lourdes was pretty strict—maybe not having any kids of her own was partly the reason for that. But she couldn’t possibly have fathomed that Aunt Lourdes would try to override her mother’s rules.
“Maybe you and Mama should talk about this,” Isabel said, trying to stay calm. “But listen, Aunt Lourdes—my friends are expecting me. I have to go.”
“I’d like you to ask me first!” her aunt said, looking angry and upset.
Just then the door burst open and Elena Maria came hurrying in. She had an armload of stuff, which she dumped in the hallway—her books, her soccer gear, and her bike helmet. “What’s up?” she said cheerfully.
There was a tense silence in the room. Elena Maria glanced from her sister to her aunt. “Did I walk in on something?” she demanded.
“Actually—” Isabel and Aunt Lourdes said this at the same moment, then looked at each other and fell silent. If they hadn’t been mad at each other, it would’ve been funny.
“Aunt Lourdes doesn’t want me going to dance class at the Community Center. Even though Mama says it’s fine,” Isabel said unhappily.
“I just have a lot of questions about it!” her aunt exclaimed. “And I don’t really appreciate finding out about stuff at the last minute, either! We’re living together as a family now, and—”
“Please,” a weak voice said from the hallway. It was their mother. She was in her bathrobe, and she had to hang onto the doorjamb to hold herself up. “I heard yelling. Can you please tell me what’s going on here?”
Aunt Lourdes frowned. She was three years younger than Isabel’s mother, and Isabel could see the change in her aunt the minute her mother came into the room. “I just didn’t want Isabel running off in the night with strangers,” she said quietly. “I don’t think it’s wise, I really don’t—”
“Lourdes.” Ms. Martinez shook her head, her face sad and weary. “It’s hard enough being bedridden right now. I don’t need to have you three quarreling.” She turned to Isabel, who could see what a tremendous effort it took for her to move. “Isabel, go ahead. Have fun with your friends. We’ll talk later.”
Isabel glanced nervously from her aunt to her mother. “OK, Mama. I love you,” she whispered. And with that, she was gone, sprinting down the hall of her aunt’s apartment building to the elevator.
Living with Aunt Lourdes was proving to be a lot trickier than she’d imagined. Moving to a new place wasn’t the hard part.
She missed her father terribly. She missed her mother being strong and well. And it was so difficult getting used to sharing their lives with their young aunt.
Isabel knew Aunt Lourdes meant well. But why did she always have to be so overprotective, and so incredibly strict?
CHANGING…
“Isabel! Where were you? We were getting worried!” Maeve shrieked, pulling her friend into the house and dragging her upstairs. As usual, Maeve was in high-drama mode. “Did you bring something to change into?” she asked, looking worriedly at Isabel’s blue jeans and navy sweater.
“Yep,” Isabel said, starting to haul out her miniskirt and top. Thank heavens I had the good sense to hide this stuff, she thought, hauling out her makeup bag. If Aunt Lourdes had seen this…She shuddered.
“I’m trying to decide between these earrings—and these,” Maeve continued blithely, showing Isabel two pairs of enormous silver hoops. “Which do you like?”
Isabel laughed. “I think I like the silver hoops,” she said.
Maeve’s room was sheer chaos. Clothes, makeup, and accessories were strewn all over the place. Music was blaring from Maeve’s pink stereo, which seemed to be setting off the guinea pigs, who were running around their cage and squeaking. Katani was in one corner making the final adjustments to her outfit, a stunning Katani number—silver miniskirt and a one-shoulder black top that looked fabulous on her statuesque figure.
“Katani! You look gorgeous!” Isabel breathed.
“Thanks,” Katani said. She actually gave Isabel a smile—not much of a smile, but a smile just the same.
Charlotte and Avery were struggling to help each other in the other corner. Avery had her soccer clothes on and was scowling at a limp piece of fabric in her hand. “You can’t really expect me to put this on,” she mumbled. “I’ll freeze to death in this thing!”
Charlotte was halfway into her favorite bohemian skirt from Paris, and she didn’t look all that thrilled either.
“What do you guys think?” Maeve asked, leaping onto her bed so she could see herself in the mirror across the room. She tried to turn around and get a look at herself from behind, and almost fell off the bed.
“Oops!” she said, catching herself.
Maeve had really outdone herself tonight. She was wearing a bright blue dress with a trendy design that showed every curve in her very curvy figure. High strappy heels finished the look—along with her huge hoops.
“Blue is Dillon’s favorite color,” Maeve pointed out, squinting at herself.
“You really like Dillon, don’t you?” Isabel asked.
Maeve tried to look nonchalant. “He’s OK,” she said. She glanced at Isabel. “What about you? I saw Pete looking at you in homeroom the other day…”
Isabel shrugged. “Seventh-grade guys seem kind of young to me,” she said, leaning forward to buckle the strap on her high heel.
“How you expect to be able to move in those shoes is beyond me,” Avery remarked.
“And what are you planning on wearing? Soccer cleats?” Maeve retorted.
“Not sure,” Avery mumbled. “Can’t I just wear sneakers? Aren’t we learning to dance?”
“You can’t wear sneakers!” Katani looked horrified.
“Kidding, Katani. Just kidding,” Avery said. She pulled a pair of black flats out of her soccer bag. “My mom has spent half her life at Social Dancing. She’s out of her mind about this. She thinks it will actually make me a ‘young lady.’ “
Maeve shook her head. “You make that sound like a fate worse than death,” she chided her.
Avery jumped up on the bed. “My turn for the stage, Maeve. Here’s a story called ‘Averella,’ starring Avery Madden and written by her mother:
“Once upon a time a girl named Averella was growing up in a house with her perfect mother and her two perfect brothers. And on vacations, she occasionally hung out with her father. Only Averella was always a mess. Messy hair, messy face, messy locker,” she added ruefully. “Anyway, she got invited to a fabulous ball. Now when Averella heard the word ‘ball,’ all she could think of was soccer. But no. At this ball you were supposed to wear very uncomfortable shoes and wait for some guy to ask you to dance. Boring. Still, Averella went to the ball. And guess what? She turned into a regular lady. Soon she curled her hair and wanted to spend all her free time reading fashion magazines and going shopping.”
“That’s a happy ending?” Maeve asked, frowning. She was still irritated with Avery, whom she was convinced was trying to get Dillon to like her. Though she had to admit it didn’t look like Avery was planning on using high fashion as bait!
“Not to me,” Avery said, hopping down from the bed and trying to stuff one of her feet into a black flat.
“I have another ending,” Katani said, tossing Avery a hairbrush. “Averella went to the dance. And she learned something new, and actually had a good time. And she still played soccer, and she realized that going to a dance did not completely destroy her credibility.”
“Hmm,” Avery said, looking at her thoughtfully. “Kind of like Check All That Apply,” she added, half to herself. She wriggled into her dress, pulling up the zipper from behind.
That did it. All five of them were dressed.
“I think we need a group picture,” Maeve exclaimed. “Let’s go downstairs and get my mom.”
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Five minutes later, the five girls were lined up together in Maeve’s kitchen, arms linked.
“Maeve, you have a tiny bit of lipstick on your tooth,” Maeve’s mother said.
Katani passed Maeve a tissue. It figures, she thought. Could Ms. Kaplan possibly say something to Maeve without being critical?
But Maeve was so excited she didn’t seem to mind. “This is a perfect night,” she announced. “Getting ready for the dance class—all five of us! Right, girls?”
Katani smiled at her. Maeve really did have her heart in the right place, she thought affectionately. True, she could be a little spacey sometimes. And she’d laid it on a little thick welcoming Isabel. But way down deep, Katani realized that Maeve was a pretty good person after all.
CHAPTER 14
Girls’ Choice
The Brookline Community Center had been transformed for the opening night of Social Dance Class. The big central room was darkened, big tables with refreshments set up on either side of the room, and a music system played welcoming music as seventh graders streamed into the building. There were several other Brookline junior highs participating as well, so the Beacon Street Girls saw many unfamiliar faces—as well as lots of kids they knew from school.
“OMG—the Queens of Mean, in dresses,” Maeve hissed, grabbing Katani’s arm.
Avery followed her gaze. “Oh—and look, there’s Dillon,” she said.
It was an innocent comment, but Maeve jumped on it. “I know. I see him,” she cried, racing off to make sure she was the first to say Hi.
Avery frowned. “What gives? Is this place making everyone act like an alien?” She rubbed her arms. “I’m freezing, anyway. I want my sweatshirt,” she moaned to Katani.
The four girls moved over toward the refreshment table while Maeve cornered Dillon.
“Hey,” she said, trying to lower her eyes just the way Audrey Hepburn does in Maeve’s all-time favorite movie, Sabrina. “You look great, Dillon.”
“Thanks,” Dillon said. “Personally I hate this tie-and-jacket thing. I seriously feel like I’m being strangled.” He looked more closely at Maeve. “Are you OK? Do you have something in your eye?”
Maeve gave up with her eye-lowering act. Subtlety, she thought with a sigh, is just lost on seventh-grade guys.
“You know, Dillon,” she said coyly. “After we learn a few dances, we’re going to have free choice. And I was thinking—”
“Gotta go,” Dillon said abruptly, catching sight of Pete Wexler, who was waving desperately at him across the room.
Maeve chewed her lip as she wandered back to find her friends.
“What’s wrong, Maeve? Shoes hurting?” Avery asked with apparent sincerity, helping herself to some 7-Up.
Maeve gave her a suspicious look. “Avery,” she said suddenly, leaning closer, “what do you think of Dillon?”
“He’s OK,” Avery said with a shrug. “Why?”
Maeve didn’t answer—she was too busy fuming. For Avery to say a guy was OK…well, that clinched it. While Avery and Katani had been mad at her, they’d been hanging out nonstop with Pete and Dillon. It was obvious that Avery had really fallen for Dillon…Well, she wasn’t going to just let Avery steal Dillon from her. No way. Tonight was the chance to prove once and for all that Dillon was hers. And Avery was just going to have to stay out of her way!
BOX STEPS
Jody Brown, the Social Dance teacher, got the formal part of the evening started about five minutes later. She was a petite brunette with a lot of energy. “She’s young,” Katani whispered to Maeve, surprised.
“Here’s the agenda for tonight,” Jody announced, clearly not at all perturbed by the fact that she had more than a hundred seventh graders milling around. “For an hour, we’re going to work on the basics of ballroom dancing—the box step. We’ll try it first without music, then with. Once you’ve got that down, I’ll show you how you can put it to a beat and it becomes the Foxtrot. After that, we’ll have some refreshments, and the last hour of the evening you can dance however you like.”
“Foxtrot? That sounds like a soccer play,” Avery muttered.
“Sshhhh,” Maeve said, more sternly than normal.
Jody continued to lay out the ground rules. For the instruction part of class, kids would be matched up by pulling numbers out of two boxes on the refreshment table. “For free dancing, you guys can pick your own partners,” she added. This of course prompted some serious hooting from the back of the room, but Jody didn’t seem phased by it.
There was some confusion while everyone picked his or her numbers. Maeve tried to hide a groan when she discovered she was paired up with Riley Lee. Katani got a guy named Joe from another junior high school, and Charlotte got someone she didn’t know very well—Sammy Andropovitch, a boy in her homeroom who was extremely shy. And short, she thought ruefully. Sammy barely made it up to her shoulders.
Isabel got paired with Billy Trentini. Unbelievably—in Maeve’s mind, anyway—Avery got Dillon.
This has got to be rigged, she thought furiously, trying her best not to trip Avery as she bounded over toward Dillon, calling out his name. She couldn’t see how Avery had pulled this one off, but she’d clearly managed something sneaky with this one.
“Watch it, Madden. That’s my foot, not a soccer ball,” Dillon cried, pretending to jump up and down in pain.
Flirting already, Maeve fumed.
“Come on, Maeve. We’re supposed to stand and face each other,” Riley told her.
Maeve sighed. “OK, OK.” She followed Riley to their spot on the dance floor, trying hard not to think about having to hold his hand—and worse, having him hold her waist—for the next hour.
“I think we stand like this,” Charlotte said gently to Sammy, trying to guide him into the position Jody and her partner Jim were demonstrating on the stage.
Sammy turned beet red. If he stood that way and faced her, he was staring directly into her chest!
Maeve fought the urge to wipe her hand on her dress. She could have guessed that Riley had slippery hands. Yuck!
Isabel was gently trying to dislodge Billy’s foot, which seemed to keep landing on hers.
Katani was looking completely embarrassed—her partner Joe seemed to think this was a chance for slow dancing and kept trying to snuggle closer to her.
The one who seemed to be doing best was Avery. She and Dillon were cracking up, clearly enjoying themselves—much to Maeve’s fury.
Jody called everyone to attention. “OK, now the box step is exactly that. Guys, hold your partners like this—hand on the small of her back, bodies straight, eyes on hers—”
Her—what? Charlotte thought, embarrassed beyond belief. Sammy stared straight into her chest, his face beet red, clearly not daring to breathe.
Jody showed them how to make a box with their feet. “Guys—step in to your partner, feet together, right foot right, feet together, right foot back, feet together,” Jody chanted.
For the first ten minutes or so, there was lots of laughter and a few shrieks as toes got stepped on. But before too long, almost everyone seemed to have it. Jody said it was time to turn on some music and try to put it to a beat. Soon the well-known music to “Tea for Two” was blaring out on the sound system.
Charlotte stopped feeling mortally embarrassed, mostly because she knew Sammy was feeling a million times worse. He was actually really sweet, and he didn’t step on her toes once. She was amazed that she was able to keep her feet in the right places, too. It was actually—she couldn’t believe she was thinking this—kind of fun!
Maeve did her best to get the steps down without focusing on Riley. Pretend, she told herself. Pretend it’s Orlando Bloom. You will get through this, Maeve Kaplan-Taylor. She had to wipe her hand a few times. But she felt bad about it, because Riley actually blushed. He seemed so embarrassed about it. “Sorry,” he said, wiping his hands on his pants. “My hands…sometimes sweat a lot.”
“That’s OK, Riley,” Maeve told
him. It was one of Maeve’s deepest principles that “what comes around goes around.” Which meant that if she were nice to Riley, Dillon would ask her to dance later on! The good thing was that Riley actually seemed to get this whole dancing thing. He hadn’t stepped on her feet once.
Isabel was having the hardest time. Billy had two left feet—though it felt more like eight. It wasn’t just that he kept stepping on her—hard—and that her toes were bare in her strappy high heels. He was so clumsy that he kept whacking her into the couple behind them. And he didn’t even seem to care. “Watch it,” he kept saying to Isabel, as if it were her fault.
Katani discovered Joe wasn’t that bad—once she got him to keep the proper distance, he was a good dancer, and pretty funny, too. She was also surprised to discover that she was actually having a good time.
As for Avery—well, she couldn’t believe this was all there was to it. Making funny boxes with your feet—this was dancing? The actual steps were a piece of cake. The hard part was seeing the point. She had to admit that dancing wasn’t all that bad.
Jody came around to offer encouragement or give advice as they finished off the lesson. She stopped to watch Dillon and Avery with a frown. “Try to loosen up,” she advised Avery, shaking her arm a little to make it looser. “Try not to jump around so much, OK? Try to feel the music. Let it get you going!”
“I’ll tell you where I’m going,” Avery whispered as soon as Jody was out of earshot. “I’m going—to get out of here! And not come back!”
Dillon laughed, and Maeve, who happened to be dancing nearby with Riley, gave Avery a serious scowl. But Riley, who had got the hang of the box step really well, spun Maeve around in quite an elegant fashion. She looked up at him in surprise.
“OK, guys! Good work for the first class!” Jody called out, clapping her hands in front of Riley and Maeve. Then she signaled that the first part of the class had finished. “Help yourselves to refreshments, and after a short break, it’s dance however you feel like it!”