Mixed Messages

by Tina Wells

  As the rest of The Beans gathered their books, Ms. Vardolis waved her arms in the air. “I almost forgot, I have an announcement.”

  “Was Zee crowned Queen of the World?” Kathi half-whispered to Jen.

  Jen shrugged.

  “I got a call from the Brookdale Day coordinator. She wants to make The Beans the opening act on Brookdale Day,” Ms. Vardolis explained. “To start the day off with a bang.”

  Chloe, Ally, Missy, and Zee jumped and clapped in a circle while Landon gave Marcus and Conrad high fives. Missy and Jen gave each other a hug. Even Kathi wore a smile. And Jasper shook each band member’s hand. Before he could grab hers, Zee quickly wiped off her sweaty palm on her pants so he wouldn’t know how nervous he had made her. Of course, it just got sweaty again when he shook it.

  With the buzz in the room, Zee didn’t notice that Landon had come over. “It’s kind of interesting to see Jasper onstage,” Landon remarked.

  “What do you mean?” Zee asked.

  Landon half-shrugged. “He’s kind of like a different person. Don’t you think? Like he’s two-faced.”

  Zee glanced over at Jasper, who was quietly putting his bass into its case. Or maybe we’ve just never noticed the real Jasper before, she thought. But out loud, she said, “I don’t think that’s it.” Zee zipped her guitar case. “I’ve gotta go,” she told Landon. “I don’t want to be late for second period.”

  Ms. Vardolis gave Zee some costume money, so after school, Zee and Ally went to the discount store to buy enough T-shirts for the band. By the time Chloe and Missy showed up at Zee’s house, T-shirts in every color of the rainbow were spread across her bedroom floor.

  Chloe sat cross-legged on the carpet, looking through a container of tiny plastic gems. “You and Jasper are so awesome together,” she told Zee.

  Zee gulped. “What do you mean?” she asked nervously. Had Chloe noticed that Zee was starting to have a crush on their best boy friend?

  Chloe gave a little shrug. “You know, first you worked on Bluetopia together, then you came up with this cool costume idea together.”

  “Oh yeah,” Zee agreed.

  “I guess it makes sense since you’re such good friends,” Chloe went on.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Zee agreed, afraid to say more.

  “We should make Marcus wear a pink shirt with tons of glitter,” Missy said. Zee was happy that Missy changed the subject.

  Chloe laughed. “I wonder if the Jonas Brothers have to make their own costumes.”

  “When we’re as big as they are,” Zee told her, “we won’t even have to make our own beds.”

  Ally gestured to the twisted-up comforter on Zee’s bed. “And your life would change how?” she asked.

  “You know what I mean,” Zee said, then looked around. “I still don’t know if this is going to be my room once the twins are born.” She looked over at Missy, hoping she might have something positive to say, but Missy was staring at the T-shirts on the floor.

  “Hey, Missy!” Zee got her attention. “Did you have to give up anything big for your brothers?”

  “Besides my hair?” Missy groaned.

  Zee’s stomach tightened. She wished that Missy would say, “Having twins around is awesome!”

  Tap. Tap. Tap. Mrs. Carmichael interrupted the girls’ conversation by knocking on the bedroom door.

  “Come in, Mom,” Zee said. She could see that her mother held a colorful roll of paper in each hand.

  “I was hoping to get your opinion on something,” Mrs. Carmichael began. “Which do you think would be better wallpaper for the babies’ room—colorful stripes or the night sky?”

  Ally and Missy said, “Colorful stripes” at the same time Zee and Chloe said, “The night sky.”

  Mrs. Carmichael shrugged and chuckled. “I guess I can’t go wrong.” She hummed as she held the samples against a wall, then turned to Zee. “Now I know you said you had to think about moving to the guest room, but I wanted to check these samples in this light—just in case.”

  Zee watched as her mother checked out the wallpaper from different angles. She wore a huge smile on her face. And when Mrs. Carmichael placed her hand on her stomach, Zee noticed that her mom was starting to get a little round belly. Zee began to feel guilty about the way she had been feeling. Why couldn’t she be excited for her parents?

  Still, these babies were going to change Zee’s life completely. Was it so horrible of her to want to keep her bedroom the same?

  That night, Zee logged onto Bluetopia. Landon had sent her a cupid teddy. Zee sighed. She decided that she needed to tell him she really didn’t like him like that. But how?

  Zee clicked to open her blog. “If you’ve got a problem . . . solve it,” she sang as she waited for the page to load. “You don’t have a reason . . . to quit.” She stopped singing as the page opened. “That’s it!” she shouted.

  Zee just needed to solve her problems. Then they’d stop being problems. Landon and the babies weren’t going away, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do something about them.

  * * *

  Hi, Bloggest One,

  How can something that makes my mother so happy make me so sad? The babies are all she thinks about. Maybe I’m miserable because she’s so happy.

  I’ve decided the babies can be the stars in the Carmichael house. I want to be a rock star in the music world. If The Beans do really well tomorrow, maybe we’ll start getting even more offers. Gigs. A recording contract! A NATIONAL TOUR!! Maybe Ally is right, and we can tour France with her. If that happens, I won’t have to worry about the babies at all. I won’t even be here.

  And I’ll get to be with Jasper even more. That’s another problem I’ve figured out. I’ll let him decide if we’re just friends or if we should be more. Since there’s no way I’ll actually ask him, I’ll have to watch what he says and does. I’m too scared to tell him I like him!

  Which leads me to the other problem . . . I need to tell Landon I don’t like him anymore. I mean, I do like him. I just don’t like like him. A ton of girls have crushes on him. I don’t want him to waste his time on me.

  Then again . . . what if Jasper doesn’t like me like that? Will I completely blow my chances with Landon? Do I care?

  Oh no! I thought I was in problem-solving mode, but now I think I made even more!!

  Zee

  * * *

  As Zee clicked out of her blog, she noticed that just about everyone she knew was hanging out on Bluetopia. She had never seen the site so busy. Buds kept IMing her, swapping clothes, inviting her to play games, and sending her gifts.

  Zee smiled. Bluetopia was a huge success! If The Beans became half as popular as Bluetopia, they’d be a worldwide phenomenon.

  Chapter 14

  Brookdale Day Disaster

  Chloe yawned.

  “Are you tired?” Zee asked.

  “I guess José and I were up too late chatting,” she said. “But he’s so interesting that the time went by really fast.”

  “Do you like him?” Zee asked.

  A smile spread across Chloe’s face. “Kind of.”

  “That’s so cool,” Zee cheered. “Too bad he lives so far away.”

  “Luckily, thanks to Bluetopia I can chat with him.”

  “I wish we could meet him,” Zee said. “It just seems strange.”

  “I think it’s romantic,” Ally said. The girls were riding bikes over to Jasper’s house so they could go to Brookdale Day together. “I mean, he found you on Bluetopia. If Jasper had never created it, you wouldn’t even know he existed. It’s fate.”

  “I hadn’t even thought of it that way,” Chloe said with a sigh. “I do kind of feel like we were meant to be together.”

  “I guess it’s hard to be together when there’s a whole ocean between you,” Zee said.

  “Don’t worry, Chloe,” Ally assured her. “If it’s meant to be, that ocean won’t stand between you for long.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Chloe said as the
girls pedaled into Jasper’s driveway.

  Mrs. Chapman opened the door. “Hi, ladies,” she said, then motioned toward the back of the house. “Jasper’s in the office.”

  The three girls headed down the hall. Now that Zee had figured out she’d let Jasper decide if they should be more than friends, the thought of being near him didn’t make her panic—although she still planned to watch for clues.

  In the office, Jasper’s fingers pecked furiously on the computer keyboard. He didn’t even notice when the girls came in. Clue one: Doesn’t notice me when I come into the room. Conclusion: Just friends.

  “Jasper,” Zee said.

  “Aaaiiiieee!” Jasper jumped and his hands flew every which way.

  “Sorry,” Zee said as Chloe and Ally doubled over with laughter. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m just making a couple of small adjustments to Bluetopia,” Jasper told them.

  “Well, hurry and finish!” Chloe commanded. “We don’t want to be late for Brookdale Day.”

  “Don’t rush me,” Jasper said. “I need to fix a couple of glitches. Anyway, there’s lots of time before we perform.”

  “But there’s a ton of stuff to do there,” Chloe pointed out. “I want to hit the craft tables. I might get some ideas for stuff to make.”

  “Me too,” Zee said. “The rest of The Beans said they were getting there early, too.”

  “We can meet up with them,” Ally said.

  “And give them their T-shirts,” Zee added. She reached into her backpack, pulled out a green T-shirt with “Chapman” stenciled on the back, and tossed it onto the desk next to Jasper.

  Jasper looked at it and smiled. “Thanks,” he said to Zee warmly. Clue two: Smiles and thanks me when I give him something. Conclusion: Inconclusive. He’s very polite.

  “Come on! I want to find out what the big surprise is that Mr. P told us about,” Ally told Jasper.

  “Me too!” Zee and Chloe said at once.

  “All right,” Jasper said. “I suppose the rest of the fixes can wait until later.” He hit a few keys, turned off the computer, and quickly pulled on the T-shirt.

  “Yay!” Zee said. “Let’s go!”

  Jasper said good-bye to his parents and grabbed his bike. The group headed to downtown Brookdale where the festivities were taking place. The main street was closed off to everyone except pedestrians, so they locked their bikes to the rack and moved through the crowd.

  Tables with jewelry, pottery, and paintings lined the street. The smell of spices, sauces, and sweets filled the air. Children were getting their faces painted to look like tigers and dogs.

  “Look!” Chloe said, pointing to a banner stretched over the downtown park: WELCOME TO BLUETOPIA!

  “Crikey!” Jasper exclaimed.

  “Cool beans!” Zee rushed in that direction. “That must be the surprise Mr. P told us about!” Under the banner, people were crowded around computers that sat on long tables. Web pages were projected onto large screens above the computers. Kathi had her hand over her mouth while Jen talked frantically. Missy was sitting at one of the computers. It looked as though she was hitting the delete key over and over. Behind her, Marcus and Conrad laughed while Landon looked on with his arms crossed.

  “Jasper, you’re famous!” Chloe said as they followed behind Zee. “Bluetopia is your creation!”

  But as they got closer, Zee could tell something was wrong. People were pointing at the screens. Some were gasping while others laughed.

  The group hurried closer. “What’s going on?” Ally asked.

  “I can’t tell,” Zee said. “But I’m getting a funny feeling about this.”

  “I’m not sure I want to be famous,” Jasper said.

  That’s when Zee saw one of her blog entries flash across one of the giant screens:

  * * *

  My parents are trying to get me out of the way already.

  * * *

  Ohmylanta! Zee panicked. No one else was supposed to see that.

  At the other end of the display, there was a loud screech. Zee recognized it right away—Kathi. Zee looked up to see a doodle from the Dish Club:

  * * *

  Roxy is THE WORST cousin and THE WORST teacher I have ever had. I despise her!! And it’s so gross the way that Zee is always trying to be teacher’s pet. Blech!

  * * *

  Did everyone think that Zee was trying to be the teacher’s pet? She had just wanted to learn more about music. She had to admit she liked all the attention now that her mother was so preoccupied, but she was just being herself.

  A note from Missy to Conrad scrolled onto the screen.

  * * *

  I want to be friends with Zee, but she only wants to talk to me about what it’s like to have twin brothers. It gets kind of boring.

  * * *

  When Zee looked up, Missy was staring right at her. She quickly spun and looked the other way.

  Chloe pushed through the crowd to one of the computers. She clicked around, then turned to Zee. “The Spanish boy is really Marcus!” she exclaimed. Until that moment, Zee had never seen tough Chloe cry. The tears poured out of her eyes. “I really liked him, and he thought I was a joke!” she bawled.

  Zee hugged Chloe. Looking over Chloe’s shoulder, she could see Marcus and Conrad. They stood with their mouths wide-open and a guilty look on their faces.

  Ally came over to Chloe and Zee. “Chloe, I wouldn’t be too worried about it,” she said, then locked eyes with Zee. “At least no one is talking about how much she hates your friends!”

  “I don’t hate them, Ally,” Zee corrected her. “I just don’t think they should have said those things about me.”

  Looking at the screens, Zee could see that now people in France and England were noticing that everything anyone had written on Bluetopia was appearing for everyone to see.

  Then the accusations and apologies from the people who were logged on started to appear.

  * * *

  How could you say that about me?

  * * *

  one French girl asked.

  * * *

  I’m sorry I hurt your feelings,

  * * *

  someone in England doodled.

  Ohmylanta! Zee thought. Panic twisted and turned in her stomach, then warmed her face. She remembered all the private thoughts that Brookdale—and the world—were reading. Putting my blog online may have been my worst idea ever.

  Kathi raced over to Zee with a huge smile on her face and Jen followed close behind. “I can’t believe you have a crush on Jasper!” she cheered.

  Landon was standing nearby. “You have a crush on him?” he asked.

  Chloe lifted her head. “On Jasper?” she asked enthusiastically through her sniffles.

  Jasper looked at Zee. “On me?” he said in a near whisper. Then he cast his glance down and kicked at the grass with his feet.

  “Ohmylanta!” Zee said, looking from one person to the next. How could she do this to herself? She might as well have copied pages of her diary and given them out to the entire school—or the world.

  Ally planted her fists on her waist. “Well, it’s a good thing you like British people, because you obviously hate French people.”

  “That’s not fair,” Zee responded. “They were mean to me first.” She turned to Missy. “I didn’t know that talking about the twins bothered you. I just liked having something in common. I wish you would have told me.”

  Landon interrupted. “You don’t have a right to be mad at Missy,” Landon said. “You lied to me.”

  “I did not,” Zee protested.

  “You made me think you liked me. Everyone knows you have a crush on me!”

  Jasper suddenly looked up. “You have a crush on him?”

  “How could you not know that?” Jen asked. “You’re, like, one of her best friends.”

  “I guess we know why she didn’t want to tell Jasper!” Kathi taunted.

  “Just be quiet, Kathi!” Chloe yelled at her.


  “Why don’t you?” Kathi barked back.

  Soon everyone was yelling. Accusations and apologies were flying—even after the big screens overhead went black.

  Mr. P and Ms. Vardolis had been setting up the stage. They rushed over to the chaos.

  “What’s going on?” Ms. Vardolis shouted above the noise.

  The arguing continued—until Mr. P put his fingers to his lips and let out an earsplitting whistle.

  The Beans stopped mid-fight.

  “We thought that showcasing Bluetopia would be great for everybody,” Mr. P said calmly. “What happened?”

  Jasper stepped forward. “It’s all my fault,” he said. “I was trying to improve the site this morning. I must have typed something in that made members’ private information available to everyone.”

  “Thanks a lot, Jasper!” Jen said angrily.

  “Yeah,” Landon agreed. “I guess you’re not so hot after all.”

  “There is no way I’m performing today,” Kathi told Mr. P.

  “Me neither,” Jen announced. “I’m so out of here!”

  “Me too!” echoed Zee and the rest of the group.

  The Beans started to leave—in separate directions.

  Chapter 15

  The Show Must Go On

  Another loud whistle split the air. “Stop!” Mr. P shouted in a firm voice Zee had never heard before. “No one is going anywhere,” he boomed.

  Everyone froze. Zee wondered how long they would have to stand around feeling awkward. Ms. Vardolis finally spoke up. “I know you’re upset,” she said. “But right now that doesn’t matter.”