Jane wiped at her hands. “I’m going to the restroom. Come with me, Truly?”
I didn’t need to be asked twice. I nodded and trailed after her to the restrooms. Once I was away from the prying eyes, I could actually breathe again.
“Are you okay?” Jane asked, hovering over me with concern dripping from her features.
I pulled myself up on the counter next to the sinks and leaned against the wall. “Chace is never going to go out with me again after that.”
“Are you kidding? He can’t stop looking at you with those googly eyes. He couldn’t not go out with you again if he tried.” She waved away my concerns like they were trivial.
“How’s your date going? Are you having fun with Beau?”
She nodded, blushing slightly. “I am. I’m so glad you’re here though. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“None of us do. That’s why dating is so hard.”
Her blush deepened, pinking her cheeks. “We reached into the popcorn bucket at the same time in the movie and touched hands. It was… electric.”
I thought of Chace holding my hand. That was definitely electric. Epically electric. “It’s nice, huh?”
She nodded again, words not being needed. We both sighed.
“I can’t believe Hayley said all that stuff in front of him. She hates me so much,” I said quietly.
“She’s jealous of you.”
I sat up again. “How? She’s the one with everything. She’s beautiful, she’s rich, she’s popular.”
“It’s all superficial,” Jane said, her hand going to sit on her hip. “You have real friends, a real business, and a real future. That’s everything she wants but can’t have because she’s so busy being mean.”
She was probably only saying those things to be nice, but they were working. If the council closed down our business, I really was going to miss hanging out with Jane so much. A part of me doubted she would want to be around me if we didn’t have Every Girl Inc. I was going to enjoy these moments while I could.
“Thanks, Jane.”
“No problem. Now, I really do need to pee. Will you be okay?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
She hurried off to a stall while I touched up my makeup and made sure my clothes were all where they were supposed to be. I smiled into a mirror, figuring I looked normal.
Hate was a strong word so I couldn’t use it to describe Hayley, but I did severely dislike her right now. My first date with Chace was totally tainted by what she did and it would take a long while to forget about it.
Jane washed her hands and we started back to the table, taking deep breaths along the way. We had to pass Hayley’s table to get back to our own. They all laughed as we got near, putting on a nice show for my benefit, I’m sure.
I held my head up and pretended to ignore them, like they couldn’t hurt me any more for one night. Just as I had passed them, Hayley cried out. “Look what you did!”
Quickly turning around, I was all ready for a fight. Until I saw the blue slushy drink all over the table.
All. Over. The. Table.
Jane started dabbing at it with a napkin. “Sorry about that. I’m so clumsy.” Except, she wasn’t. Nothing about Jane was clumsy.
She’d done it on purpose. I could not love that girl more.
“Just go,” Hayley ordered, holding up her hand.
We started back to our table, both unable to stop the smirks highlighting our faces. I bumped her with my shoulder. “Thank you.”
“She deserved it.”
She really did.
After the pizzas were gone and Hayley’s group mysteriously disappeared to find someone else to taunt, we realized it was getting late.
We piled into Chace’s mom’s car and he dropped us home one by one. I was last, something I was insanely conscious of.
He pulled the car up outside my apartment building. “I’ll walk you up.”
I took off the seatbelt. He was already opening my door before I could even reach for it myself. “You don’t have to walk me up. It’s a long way.”
“I don’t mind.”
The funny thing was, I actually believed him. Like walking me up the six flights of stairs wasn’t a problem in the world. Like it was… enjoyable.
We made small talk the entire way. My stomach was a mess of nerves the closer we got to my door. I’d been kissed before, but somehow with Chace, it seemed… huge. Like it was my first kiss all over again.
“This is my place,” I said as we reached my door. “Thanks for coming all this way. And for tonight. I had a really good-”
I didn’t get to finish.
I was too busy being kissed by the softest lips I had ever felt. Chace’s hand rested on my hip, like he might be afraid I would run away from him.
I wouldn’t do that. Not after the effect he had on me. His kiss was gentle, but it promised of so much more. He was holding back, being careful in case I was breakable. My hands rested on his chest, feeling his heartbeat with my fingertips. I wondered if he could hear mine pounding with the same rhythm.
When he pulled back, his smile was a mile wide. “Sorry to interrupt.”
Stars were still swimming in my eyes. “I talk too much anyway.”
He chuckled a beautiful little breathy laugh. “Good night, Truly.”
“Good night.”
I watched him leave, I needed that time to recover. My knees were weak and I wasn’t sure I could remember what acting normal felt like again. I couldn’t go inside and face my mother until I had myself under control.
It was the best loss of control I had ever experienced. It took almost five full minutes before I could turn around and enter the apartment.
Get a grip, Truly.
I managed to make small talk before I went to bed. My dreams were of superheroes, all featuring Chace as the main character.
The next three weeks passed by in a happy bubble. I hung out with Chace nearly every lunchtime and worked on our Paris runway show with Jane every afternoon.
It was perfect, really.
The best thing was Hayley and her group were now ignoring me. The move from mocking and teasing to ignorance was actually a nice change. It was still a pity, and it made me sad every day, but I wasn’t going to let it hurt me.
Time was going too quickly, though. It was the day before we had to leave for Paris and we hadn’t heard anything from the fashion council about our fate. Everything was ready for us to leave, Jane and I had worked extra hard on our clothes, and the tickets were booked.
The only thing we didn’t have was permission to keep running the business.
Which was kind of the most important thing.
We had proceeded on the basis that we were going, but every day the cloud loomed large over us. It was growing heavier by the hour.
When I got home from school that afternoon, Holly was waiting for me. My insides twisted when I saw her standing there outside my apartment. Especially when I saw the official yellow envelope.
CHAPTER 6
“I haven’t opened it yet,” Holly said, handing over the envelope. It bore the insignia of the fashion council – two models holding up a shield.
Inside it was our entire future.
My hands shook as I slid my fingers under the flap and opened the envelope. I crossed everything I had for good news to be inside.
There weren’t many words on the page so it didn’t take me long to read it. After I did, I held it out so Holly could read it too.
It felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach.
They were closing us down because our acts of purposefully deceiving the general public were unacceptable.
Every Girl Inc was over.
The funny thing was, I didn’t even feel like crying. I felt angry. Jane and I had put everything into the business, we’d almost killed ourselves working so hard, and for what? For a bunch of old people to tell us we couldn’t do it anymore? To lose everything?
“Do you want
me to tell Jane?” Holly asked quietly. I had forgotten she was there. All I could see was red.
Red, red, red.
“No,” I replied.
“So you’ll let her know?”
“No.” I shook my head. “They’re not doing this to us. It’s not happening.”
“Truly, they’re the council. You have to be registered with them to operate. We have no choice…”
“Not happening.”
I couldn’t let everything we’d worked for vanish into thin air. It just wasn’t going to happen. I took the letter back and turned around, stomping down every single one of the stairs.
My feet didn’t stop at the bottom. I rode the subway all the way across town to the building that held the fashion council. I stormed right into reception and demanded to speak with someone important.
“But you don’t have an appointment,” the girl replied, looking at me over the top of her glasses.
“No, but I’m here right now so I’d like to speak to someone.” I was doing a pretty good job of being polite, even though I wanted to punch a wall or two.
She humphed and typed on her computer. I planted my feet firmly in place to make it clear I wasn’t going anywhere without seeing anyone.
Ten minutes later, I was being shown into a room where the same guy that had spoken at our hearing was seated. He didn’t look any happier. “Miss Winx, I see you received our letter.”
I slapped the stupid letter on the table. “You can’t close us down.”
“I believe we already have.”
“I know you can, but you shouldn’t. Every Girl Inc is our dream. It’s our passion, our future, our everything. We can’t close it down and walk away like it never happened.”
He leaned back in his seat, his expression bordering on bored. “You broke the law. There are consequences for that.”
“Besides letting people believe Holly was the designer, what did we do wrong? All our customers are happy, our critics love the clothes, and we’ve got a budget. A budget! That doesn’t sound irresponsible.” I ticked everything off on my fingers, giving them something to do.
Rather than use my fingers to make a fist and punch him.
“Tell me, Miss Winx, why is Every Girl Inc so important to you? So important you felt the need to stomp in here and make demands of the council?” He was watching my every move but I wasn’t going to let him get to me. He was not going to intimidate me. Not when the stakes were too high.
I didn’t even need to think of an answer for him. “It’s important because it’s our future. I never used to think I would have much of a future until we started the business. I never thought I’d be able to have anything until then. It’s given me something to believe in, something to work hard at because I know it will be worth it. And if we can do all that, while making girls feel good about their bodies, then I already know it’s worth it.”
“How are you making girls feel good about their bodies?”
I spent the next eight minutes explaining our vision for the company and our plan to revolutionize industry standards of beauty. I basically cracked my heart open and let it bleed in front of him. I didn’t leave anything out, right down to how it all started with my baby sister Lily and how I wanted her to feel beautiful for the rest of her life.
So, yeah, I went on and on.
The guy listened, nodding every now and then so I knew he wasn’t falling asleep. I wasn’t sure if any of it was actually making a difference but it didn’t matter. I needed to say it.
Hopefully it was also being heard.
Because I really needed someone to listen to me.
“We’ll let you know if we change our position,” was all he said at the end.
“That’s it? We’re meant to be leaving for Paris Fashion Week tomorrow. We need to know whether we can get on that plane or not,” I said, more than a little exasperated. I was exhausted too, my outburst really took it out of me.
“I will take that into consideration.”
What?
I was getting nowhere. “Can’t you just say it’s okay to go and reinstate our business now?”
He scoffed. Yes, he actually scoffed. “I can’t do that.”
“Aren’t you like in charge or something?”
He stood up and that’s when I knew I had crossed some invisible line. My mouth always got me into trouble. “Perhaps it’s time you leave, Miss Winx. Like I said, we will call you.”
“But when?” I wasn’t leaving without an answer.
“When we have a decision.” He walked me to the door and waved a security guard over. “Please escort Miss Winx off the premises.”
I spun on him. “You’re kicking me out?”
“There is nothing more here for you. Goodbye,” he said before closing the door on me. I was face to face with the fake wooden grain on the door.
The security guard tried to grab my arm to get me moving but I snatched it back. “I can walk myself out, thank you.”
He still insisted on coming with me. All the way to the front gates. He even waited there until I walked the steps down to the subway station. I felt like running back up again just to freak him out but didn’t have the energy.
By the time I got home, the anger was starting to seep into sadness. We weren’t going to Paris Fashion Week. We weren’t in the clothing business anymore. I wasn’t a designer and Jane wasn’t a businesswoman. It was all over. There was no way the council were going to change their minds.
I couldn’t eat my dinner, my stomach still felt nauseous. I was despondent all night, barely able to keep it all together.
After my brothers were in bed, it was just Mom and I left in the living room. Lily was asleep in her arms as she gently rocked her. I’d already told her everything and she seemed just as upset about it as I was.
“Do you think we’ll be able to get our money back for the trip?” I asked. The travel expenses had put quite a dent into our budget.
“Probably not,” Mom said. Great.
“I’m sorry I disappointed you.”
She gave me a kind smile. “You haven’t disappointed me, honey. I’m so proud of you for standing up for yourself and fighting for what you believe in.”
“Not that it did me any good.”
“You don’t know that for sure.” She opened her mouth to speak and closed it again.
“What?”
“Never give up on your dreams, Tru. I know you’re made for greatness and maybe this is just another challenge you need to overcome to get there.” She stood up, juggling Lily in her arms. That baby was getting big. “If you don’t chase your dream, nobody will do it for you. So run after it with everything you’ve got.”
I sighed. I was running. It just felt like I was on a treadmill.
The next day was a Saturday and our flight was leaving that night. I didn’t like our chances of getting a magical phone call that would allow us to go to Paris but I couldn’t sit around in defeat either.
So Jane and I were packing. We filled two giant suitcases with all our runway clothes and accessories. The only things we weren’t taking were shoes for the models, hopefully they could bring their own. Our budget didn’t extend to footwear. Maybe we would start a bare feet trend or something.
Jane, of course, had a list of everything we needed to take and was checking it for the third time. We had everything we’d need, or at least hoped we did. We had only put on one fashion parade before and that was for our launch. We still didn’t really know what we were doing.
The hours dragged on with no phone call coming in. I checked my phone a million times to make sure it was still working. I guess it would have been too easy to get the magic phone call we needed so we could head off happily.
“Do you want to even bother going to the airport?” Jane asked, slumping on her couch.
“We have to be at the airport three hours before the plane leaves. We could get the phone call in that time frame,” I replied hopefully.
“But we migh
t not.”
“No, we might not.” We settled into desperate silence. All I wanted to do was go to Paris. While other little girls dreamed of Disneyland, I dreamed of Paris Fashion Week. Instead of Mickey Mouse ears, I wanted to wear a tiara.
But three hours was a long time. Anything could happen in those one hundred and eighty minutes. Anything.
“We should go to the airport,” I said determinedly. “We have to believe we’re going. We have to chase our dreams.”
“Are you really sure?” Jane asked. The tone of her voice said she was anything but sure.
I shrugged. “What have we got to lose? It’s only time and I’ve got no other plans for tonight. They won’t refund our tickets. So, are you in?”
She held up her hand. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
I bumped her fist.
We were still awesome, no matter what the council said.
CHAPTER 7
As it turned out, waiting around in an airport terminal was one of the most boring things on the planet to do. Add to the mix our rising panic that time was running out for our magical phone call, and it was torturous.
Like, literally torturous.
Our chaperone for the trip was one of Jane’s staff – my mom had insisted we didn’t go alone. She was a maid or housekeeper or nanny or something. Whatever she was, her nose had been stuck in a book since we arrived and didn’t seem too fussed about what we were doing.
She was the best kind of chaperone. Even if she smelled like peppermint.
Our flight was being called on the overhead speakers. A line was forming at the door and the plane was being loaded with people happy to be going to Paris. I really wanted to be one of those people.
But we didn’t get our phone call.
“All those remaining passengers for flight UT18 to Paris, we invite you to board now,” the woman’s voice said over the speaker.
“We should probably leave,” Jane sighed, standing.
“I’ve never been on a plane before,” I confessed.
Jane’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Never? Like, ever?”
“Never ever.” It would have been nice to take my first flight. But I guess that was too much to hope for. Maybe I was silly to chase my dream. Maybe I was just chasing a shadow instead.
Fashion Fraud Collection Page 17
