by Nancy Zhang
“Oh, would you?” Mrs. Flynn smiled hopefully, and Sophie looked at Zoey nervously, as if she were asking for a million dollars instead of a simple outfit.
Zoey’s face broke into a huge grin. “Of course! I’d be delighted.” She wrapped an arm across Sophie’s shoulders and pulled her in for a squeeze. “We’ll make you something really special, Sophie,” she said. “Something you can’t find in stores. And you can help me design it!”
Mrs. Flynn clapped her hands together. “Oh, thank you, Zoey! That’s so kind of you. Sophie’s been wearing dresses so short, they look like tunics, and she ends up having to wear leggings with everything—even when it’s warm out!”
“We’ll fix that,” Zoey assured her. “We should probably get started soon, though, so I have time to finish before school starts. I usually hang out at my aunt Lulu’s house when my dad’s at work, so maybe you and Sophie could come by this week, so I can measure her and we can talk about ideas?”
“Yes!” yelled Sophie. “We’ll come. I can’t wait! My own Sew Zoey dress and Cody Calloway! This is the best night ever!”
Libby looked at Zoey over Sophie’s head and smiled gratefully. Thank you! Libby mouthed. Zoey shook her head, indicating it was no big deal. Sophie was cute and funny, and she seemed to adore Zoey. It would be fun to make her an outfit.
All of a sudden, the lights went out, and a huge roar came from the crowd. Cody Calloway was about to come on!
Zoey and Libby instinctively reached for each other’s hands behind Sophie’s back and squeezed. They were about to see Cody, live, onstage.
The bass line to one of his best songs came on, and Zoey heard herself, and most of the crowd, start to sing along.
Two hours later, the concert was over. Zoey had sung herself hoarse, and Sophie was so tired, she was resting her head against Zoey’s shoulder. The crowd from the stadium was slowly moving toward the exits, and after helping Sophie up, Mrs. Flynn began guiding the girls to the exit nearest their seats.
In the lobby of the arena, people had set up booths selling T-shirts and other Cody Calloway memorabilia. Libby and Sophie paused to look at a few things when Zoey saw a booth with a huge sign that read, THE CAMP OF ROCK! Curious, Zoey moved closer and picked up a flyer. The Camp of Rock was a weeklong, intensive camp for middle school and high school students with rock bands. It culminated in an outdoor concert for the young musician campers that featured a mystery big-name headliner band dropping in to play a few songs. And camp started in just over a week!
On impulse, Zoey folded the flyer and then put it in her pocket. She knew just the person for it.
After Mrs. Flynn dropped Zoey at home, Zoey ran into the house to look for her brother. Marcus’s car was in the driveway, which meant he had to be home from his date with Allie. She found him in the basement, strumming his new guitar and watching a movie on TV. He usually played the drums but had recently picked up the guitar, too.
Zoey unfolded the flyer and then handed it to him. “Look,” she said. “You should do this!”
“ ‘The Camp of Rock’?” he read. Silently, he scanned the rest of the flyer. Then he looked up at Zoey questioningly.
“Your band has been practicing so much this summer!” she said. “The Space Invaders are really sounding good.”
Marcus chewed his lip and read over the flyer again. “I don’t know,” he said. “We’ve only been playing together for a while. It takes a long time to get ready for something like this. What if they reject us?”
Zoey shrugged. “So they reject you. So what? You’ll never know if you don’t send in an application!”
“Easy for you to say,” Marcus grumbled.
“Listen, Kate told me yesterday that the reason she’s a great athlete is because she doesn’t waste time overthinking. So I’m telling you to do the same. Just apply, Marcus! See what happens!”
Zoey watched her brother’s face as he thought it over. Zoey really believed her brother was a talented musician, but she also knew he wasn’t someone with a big ego who automatically thought he was the best at everything. Zoey understood that; she was the same way. She’d been lucky with her design business; she had some great mentors, like Fashionsista, Jan from A Stitch in Time, and Allie, who encouraged her to aim high.
Marcus sighed. “The application is due tomorrow, Zo. How can I get it done in time?”
Zoey smiled confidently. “You will. Don’t think, just do.”
Marcus rolled his eyes at her. “All right—I’ll think about it, okay? And I’ll call the band tomorrow to talk it over.”
“Cool,” Zoey said. She yawned. “I’m off to bed. Cody was so great, and I’m exhausted!”
“Wash my shirt!” Marcus called as she headed upstairs. “I want it clean and back in my room by tomorrow!”
“No problem,” Zoey yelled back. “It’ll be ready for you to wear to rock camp next week!”
CHAPTER 3
Cheers for Cherries!
Do you like this sketch? I’m going peach picking today with my friend Priti. I’ve had this fabric with cherries on it forever and didn’t know what to do with it, so I’m making myself a pair of high-waisted shorts. (And, yes, I know cherries and peaches are not the same fruit, but fashion doesn’t have to be totally literal, right??!) The shorts are turning out so cute, I might wear them with tights this fall!
And speaking of things I might do, I’m pretty sure I’m FINALLY ready to mail my letter to Fashionsista. My brother and his band might apply to a rock camp, and I know how much courage that takes, so I feel like I need to show a little courage as well! After all, what’s the worst that could happen?
(Don’t answer that!!!!!)
After breakfast, Zoey parked herself at the dining room table with her sewing machine and fabric, ready to finish the cherry-patterned shorts. Priti and her mom would be picking her up in an hour or two to head to the farm, and Zoey wanted her shorts to be done and ironed by then.
Marcus had been sitting in the living room all morning, filling out the application for the Camp of Rock, which he’d downloaded from their website. He was muttering under his breath as he did it—something about how people should never listen to their little sisters.
“Don’t worry, Marcus,” Zoey called from the dining room. “You’ll get it done.”
Marcus walked over to Zoey. “It has to be postmarked today,” he reminded her. “And it’s long! Both of my bandmates have weekend jobs and I asked Allie to come over and help, but she said she had a bunch of stuff to finish and mail off for her accessories site. So now I’m doing it all myself.”
“Do you want me to help?” Zoey asked.
“Nah,” Marcus said sheepishly. “I guess I just felt like venting. It’s getting there.”
Zoey grinned broadly. “Okay, well, if you change your mind, I’m right here.”
She returned to her sewing, humming quietly to herself. Sewing had become such a big part of her life that she was used to waking up on Saturday and Sunday mornings with piles of “work” to do. But to Zoey it wasn’t work. It was her passion! If she could sew all day, every day, she would. And she knew Marcus felt the same way about his band. He just needed some encouragement.
A little while later, Zoey happened to look out the front window and see the postman across the street, a few houses up. He would be at their door any minute to deliver the mail.
“Marcus! The mailman is at the McCuddy’s house!” She pointed, and Marcus looked up, alarmed.
“Okay, I guess I can send it,” he said. “I was just reading it over.” He hurriedly folded the application and shoved it into an envelope he’d already prepared with the address and a stamp. “Wow—I guess I’m really doing it!” he said with a triumphant look at Zoey.
It gave Zoey the final push she needed. She would be brave, just as she was telling her brother to be. She dashed up to her room, retrieved the letter she’d written to Daphne Shaw, and flew back downstairs.
“Here,” she said breathlessly, handing the small en
velope to Marcus. “Mail this too, okay? It’s important.”
Marcus nodded, flinging open the door and running to meet the postman.
Zoey shut the door behind him and ran up to her room to send a text to her friends to tell them she’d finally done it—she’d mailed the letter! Just as she was pressing send, she heard a knock on the door.
She ran back downstairs to find her brother, who’d gotten a call from Allie while he was talking to the postman, and somehow had locked himself out of the house.
He shrugged sheepishly at his sister as she let him in, and gave her a high five.
“I did it,” he said.
“We both did,” she replied. “Phew!”
“Remind me again why we’re picking peaches?” Zoey asked a few hours later as she and Priti sat in a large field, enjoying the sun and fresh air. There were about a dozen other people there as well, including Priti’s mother, who was wearing a straw hat and gardening gloves and who looked as if she were in heaven.
Priti started to laugh but then stopped herself. “My mom has been trying to come up with ‘special’ things we can do together, now that my dad’s moved out. Like, when I’m at our house on ‘her’ time, we can’t just be normal—we have to spend quality time together.”
Zoey looked around thoughtfully. The orchard was beautiful, and it was a perfect late summer day to be outside. “It could be worse,” Zoey said. “Quality time could have been grocery shopping or something.”
Priti giggled. “Yeah, or how about mopping the floors?”
“Or polishing the silver.”
“Or cleaning the gutters!”
The girls laughed hardest at that one and then went back to picking peaches for several minutes. When Zoey had filled a few baskets, she sat back and pulled out her sketchbook from her knapsack.
“Working on something new?” Priti asked.
Zoey shrugged. “Just some ideas for back-to-school outfits. I made these shorts this morning—do you like them?”
Priti nodded enthusiastically. “LOVE them. The cherries are so cute! And the high waist is really fun, too.”
From two rows over, Mrs. Holbrooke called, “Girls, are you having fun? Shall we stay a bit longer?”
Priti and Zoey looked at each other and nodded, since it was obvious from the giant smile on Mrs. Holbrooke’s face that she was enjoying herself. And Zoey had to admit, she was having a much better time than she’d anticipated. Being outside and chatting with a good friend was definitely a nice way to spend the day.
“If you’re supposed to be having quality time with your mom, why am I here?” Zoey whispered.
Priti looked guilty. “I begged her to let you come too. I don’t like quality time! It feels so forced. She’s my mom. We live together. And now we have to go and pick fruit? Can’t we just talk to each other? My sisters are in high school, so they don’t have to do all this stuff—they’re too ‘old.’ It’s just me.”
It was hard for Zoey to hear Priti like this. Priti was always her happiest, most cheerful, most glass-is-half-full friend. Zoey put down her sketchbook and sat next to Priti.
“I’m here if you need me,” she said, wishing she had something more to offer.
Priti half smiled. “I know you are. Thanks.” She fiddled with her friendship bracelet—the one made with beads to represent her, Zoey, Kate, and Libby, the one that each girl had—turning it around and around her wrist. “Oh, so listen to this! Remember I told you my dad’s all moved into his new apartment, right? And we’re supposed to split time between his place and my mom’s until they have a formal custody agreement? He told me he really wants me to decorate my room there so it feels like home!”
Priti said the last part in disbelief, as if she couldn’t imagine ever feeling that a room in an apartment somewhere could be her home. Zoey knew Priti’s house, the one where her family had lived since she was a toddler, would always be the place Priti called home.
“But, wait, Priti—think about the positive! It would be so much fun to decorate a room from scratch! It’s a totally empty room, so you can dream up anything you want and make it happen. Imagine the room of your dreams!”
Zoey’s eyes glowed at the thought. She loved her own room, but a lot of it was hand-me-down furniture from her grandparents, and curtains that her mother had made when Zoey was a baby. She wouldn’t ever get rid of them, because they’d been made for her by her mother, even though the fabric was starting to feel a little babyish.
Priti thought it over, and suddenly her face broke into a huge grin. “You’re right, Zo! I could make the room of my dreams. But only,” she said, pausing for emphasis, “if you help me!”
“Me?” said Zoey. “But I’m a clothes designer. Not an interior decorator.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Priti. “You have great ideas. And I’ll need help! I need your vision. Okay? Promise you will! Promise? I want it to be bright and sparkly and fun!”
Zoey couldn’t help laughing. “Of course you do, Priti. That sounds just like you.” She took a second to think over the idea and then nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it. But I’m going to ask Aunt Lulu to help too, because she knows so much more about this, and I really want you to love it. Deal?”
“Deal!” Priti squealed with joy, the happiest Zoey had heard her since they’d returned from camp. Priti was so delighted, in fact, that she flung herself on Zoey, attempting to give her a huge hug but accidentally knocking her to the ground.
Zoey groaned. “Owwww. I think we landed on my peaches.”
Priti giggled. “I guess we need to pick more, then!”
“We do,” Zoey agreed. “At least my shorts are patterned. Maybe the stains will blend in!”
Zoey didn’t know what to do with all the peaches she’d picked at the farm, and decided a brunch party might be fun. She asked her dad if he liked the idea, and he did, so later that afternoon Zoey called her aunt Lulu and invited her to Sunday brunch the next day. Lulu accepted the invitation, with the caveat that she would be bringing someone special with her—her new boyfriend.
Zoey agreed immediately, even though she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about sharing her favorite aunt. She knew Aunt Lulu had been married once before, but Zoey had only been about two or three when Lulu had gotten divorced, and since then, Lulu spent most of her time and energy building her interior design business. Her house was always open to Zoey for snacks, impromptu visits, and sleepovers, not to mention Camp Lulu! Zoey noticed that since she’d returned from sleepaway camp, Lulu seemed busier and more preoccupied than usual, and Zoey wondered if her boyfriend was the reason.
On Sunday morning Zoey took a shower and then hurried downstairs. She wanted to set the table extra nicely for their guests, and she planned to make delicious peach pancakes for breakfast. She was even going to freshly squeeze orange juice.
Her father was already in the kitchen, drinking coffee and reading the paper, when she burst into the kitchen, ready to begin.
“Morning, sweetie,” he said. “You’re up early.”
“Aunt Lulu and her boyfriend are coming over, remember?”
Her father nodded. “Of course I remember. I made an extra large pot of coffee, and I even picked some hydrangeas from the garden to put on the table. They’re Lulu’s favorite. I stuck them in that vase, but I’m sure you can do a better job of arranging them than I can.”
Zoey couldn’t help smiling. Lulu was her mother’s sister, but since Zoey’s mother had died when Zoey was young, Lulu had become a big part of their little family. Zoey knew that her dad loved Lulu more like a real sister than a sister-in-law.
Normally, Zoey and Marcus took turns making Sunday pancakes with their dad, and today would have been Marcus’s turn. But Zoey could hear Marcus playing drums in the basement, and she wasn’t sure he’d want to be disturbed. He had four more days to wait until he’d hear about his rock camp application, and Zoey knew he was very nervous. So she started to get out the ingredients for the pancake batter and d
ecided she’d let him do next weekend’s turn.
“How about I make the pancakes, and you set the table?” her dad suggested. “You always do a great job of making things beautiful, Zo. And we want to impress Lulu’s friend.”
“We do?” Zoey asked. She wasn’t used to Aunt Lulu having a boyfriend, and a part of her worried that her special connection with her aunt might change.
Her father nodded firmly. “Yes. Lately, Lulu has been the happiest I’ve seen her in ages. So let’s be as welcoming as possible, all right?”
“Of course, Dad. Good idea!”
Zoey quickly went to clear the dining room table of her sewing things. The family normally ate in the kitchen and let the dining room be considered as “Zoey’s office,” but for Lulu, Zoey wanted to host the perfect brunch. If her dad wanted them to be welcoming, then that’s what they would be.
His name was John Chadden, and he sold software. Lulu and John knocked on the front door instead of just walking in, as Zoey’s aunt normally would do. When Zoey answered the door, John held it open for Lulu and ushered her in, like a princess. Lulu’s cheeks were pink, and she wore a dress Zoey had never seen before.
John shook hands with Mr. Webber and Marcus, whom he’d met already, and then turned to Zoey.
John smiled, looking somewhat nervous, and said, “It’s great to finally meet you, Zoey. You’re practically famous! Lulu talks of nothing but you and Marcus. I know all about your blog and your Etsy site and your beautiful designs. Really, we might as well just eat, because there’s nothing you can possibly tell me about yourself that Lulu hasn’t already.”
Zoey couldn’t help feeling flattered. Lulu blushed again at John’s teasing, and Marcus and Mr. Webber burst out laughing. Lulu was a talker, that’s for sure, but Zoey felt certain she wasn’t the only one in her family who was pleased Lulu discussed them all in such detail. They were as special to her as she was to them. Maybe this John wouldn’t change that at all.
Zoey sat next to Lulu during brunch and was delighted by how well the peach pancakes went over. As Marcus was filling in his father and John on some of the details about his rock camp application, Zoey leaned toward her aunt.