“Positive,” Ginger told her.
“Okay,” Betty sniffed. “But would you mind telling me how they’re doing environmental themes?”
There was a long pause at the other end of the line, and then Ginger finally said, “I’m sorry, Betty, but I have absolutely no idea.”
Chapter 14
Veronica could not wait to get to school that Friday. She’d been putting in megahours at the paper and, finally, the fruits of her labor would be delivered in neat stacks outside of every homeroom—it was distribution day for the latest and greatest issue of The Blue and Gold.
As Veronica trotted up the front steps of the school, Ginger swept down on her, waving a copy of the paper. “Ronnie, it’s hilarious! The whole school is talking about it! You’ve really done something special here.”
“Do you think so?” Veronica was so thrilled she felt fit to burst. “I put in a ton of hours getting it done.”
“Oh, you can tell,” Ginger assured her. “You can definitely tell.”
“Thanks, Ginger.” Veronica was on the verge of bubbling over with excitement. “And I superappreciate all your support and enthusiasm.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Veronica really had put 100 percent of her effort behind the paper. All the writers had turned their articles in on time. But as predicted, a lot of their stories were pretty plain for Veronica’s tastes, so she decided she had to spice them up. Kevin had refused to help so, staying up half the night, she took on fixing the problem single-handed. She transformed Kim’s article on the school dress code into a searing story about how low-rise jeans were going the way of the dodo bird. She made sure to emphasize how only the extremely fashion challenged still thought they were a hot item. Nancy had tried to use actual astronomy with her astrology horoscopes, and the outcome was a little dry. Veronica took it upon herself to give each prediction a little more zing. For example, when Nancy submitted:
“Sagittarius: The alignment of Saturn with the stars in Orion’s belt suggests that this is a good week to start a new venture.”
Veronica edited it to read:
“Sagittarius: The stars have aligned to tell you that your old relationship has grown stale. This week is a great time to cast off that boring old beau and pursue a brand-new hunk.”
Veronica hurried to her locker. She couldn’t wait to get to homeroom and hear what everyone had to say about The Blue and Gold.
“There you are!” a voice snarled, causing Veronica to spin around. Kim was clutching a copy of The Blue and Gold, her eyes blazing. “What do you call this?”
“That’s the school paper,” Veronica informed her.
“I know, but why does my article say, ‘Don’t force your friends to call you a fashion disaster behind your back, ditch those low-rise jeans before they waste your reputation’? I never wrote that! But here it is in black and white with my name credited as the author!”
“I’m sorry, Kim, but your article needed more zip. I had to make an executive decision, so I changed it.”
“I can’t believe you did this!” Kim shouted at her. “You completely rewrote my story. Now everyone thinks I’m some sort of fashion snob, when it’s actually you! I quit The Blue and Gold! You’ve ruined the paper! I demand a retraction stating that I never wrote this nasty article!”
“Take it easy!” Veronica held up her hands as if to ward off the girl’s tirade. “I’m sorry you feel this way. I’ll tell everyone I wrote it.”
“You’d better!” Kim snarled before stalking off down the hall.
“Geez,” Veronica grumbled to herself. “Some people have no sense of humor.”
“Hey!” someone said, coming up behind Veronica. It sounded more like an angry greeting than a friendly one, so she was reluctant to turn around. Eventually, she had to peek over her shoulder where she saw Toño Diaz glaring at her. “What’s the big idea with that horoscope in the school paper?” he demanded.
“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.
“My girlfriend’s a Sagittarius. Or, I should say, my ex-girlfriend’s a Sagittarius. She just dumped me this morning,” Toño fumed.
“Well, what does that have to do with me?” Veronica tried to look as innocent as possible. “I don’t write the horoscopes. Nancy does.”
“Yeah, but I asked her about it, and she said that wasn’t what she wrote. Nancy said that she recommended starting a new venture, but it somehow got edited into ‘dump your boyfriend.’”
“You can’t blame me for that,” Veronica insisted. “No one really believes in horoscopes, do they? It’s just supposed to be a bit of fun.”
“Yeah, some fun. I get dumped.”
“I’m sorry, Toño. Why don’t you try talking to her? I’m sure she didn’t just decide to break up with you because of the school paper.”
“You’re probably right,” Toño reluctantly agreed. “But I’m sure it didn’t help any. You guys should be more careful about what you print in the paper. Words can hurt, you know?”
Veronica promised to be more careful and then scurried down the hall to homeroom. People were talking about The Blue and Gold. But it wasn’t quite the reaction she had been expecting. By the time she staggered into history class, Veronica was exhausted from fending off angry school reporters and apologizing to offended students. It turned out that a lot of people still liked low-rise jeans and were angry at being told their wardrobe was passé. And that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as their complaints.
“How’s it going?” Ginger asked as Veronica collapsed into her seat.
“Awful.”
Just then a student aid came into the class. Veronica needed to report to the principal’s office right away. “What do you think it’s about?” Ginger asked as Veronica gathered her books.
Veronica rolled her eyes and muttered. “I don’t even want to find out.”
Chapter 15
Veronica felt very nervous as she hurried down to Principal Weatherbee’s office. There had been enough anger and outrage about the paper that it wasn’t hard to guess why she was being summonsed. The fact that Ms. Grundy, clutching a copy of The Blue and Gold, was sitting in a chair across from Mr. Weatherbee was also a bit of a clue. “Ms. Lodge!” the English teacher said as Veronica entered the office. “Explain yourself!”
“I . . .” Veronica fumbled for words.
“This issue of The Blue and Gold is a disgrace!” Ms. Grundy went on waving the paper in the air. “This is the worst issue in the paper’s history!”
“But . . . ,” Veronica tried again.
“I went over the articles the students handed in, and none of them were this . . . this . . . garbage!”
“Ms. Lodge,” Mr. Weatherbee interjected before Ms. Grundy could continue her tirade, “the issue you put out is completely inappropriate for a school paper. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I’m sorry!” Veronica finally managed to blurt out. “I made a mistake! I thought I was making the paper a little more, you know, modern, but I guess I went too far.” She took a big sniff, fighting back the tears that were brimming in her eyes. “I really didn’t mean for this to happen. I thought I was making the paper more entertaining, but I screwed up. I’m really sorry.”
Mr. Weatherbee appeared to soften, and Ms. Grundy sat back down in her chair. “Well, it’s not the end of the world,” the principal said in a less severe voice.
“But it is very embarrassing,” Ms. Grundy said. Turning to Mr. Weatherbee, she added, “I think Veronica has bitten off more than she can chew, and she should be relieved of her position as editor in chief.”
“No!” Veronica protested. She hadn’t wanted to be the editor of the paper, but now that she was, she didn’t want to be thrown off the post. “Please don’t do that! There’s only one issue left this year, and I promise I will do everything I can to make it the best issue The Blue and Gold has ever had. Please? Just let me have this chance to make it up to you.”
“Well .
. .” Mr. Weatherbee hesitated, shooting the English teacher a sidelong glance.
“Fine,” Ms. Grundy relented. “But I want to approve every single article after you’ve edited them. Not before. And I want article approval. And no more horoscopes. And . . .”
“I think Veronica gets the point, Ms. Grundy,” the principal assured her.
“Well then, fine. Veronica, you’re still the editor, but I’m holding you accountable,” the English teacher said in her best no-nonsense voice.
“I understand,” Veronica assured both of them. “I’ll do a good job. I promise.” Hurrying back to history class, Veronica wondered why she had fought to stay on as editor. A few weeks ago she didn’t even want to be part of the paper, but just a few minutes earlier she had been fighting to keep her position. It just didn’t make sense, but a huge part of Veronica wanted to prove that she could actually put out a good issue of The Blue and Gold.
Veronica got back to history just as the bell rang signaling the end of class, so she turned on her heel and headed for her locker. Students came flooding out of all the classrooms.
“Looks like Betty and Veronica getting what they deserve,” Ginger laughed to Brigitte.
“What do you mean?” Brigitte asked.
“Well, you know how Betty and Veronica cheated to win the school elections?”
“Um, no. They didn’t cheat,” Brigitte told her.
“Oh, yes, they did!” Ginger insisted. “I saw them standing in the hallway with two ballot boxes, and no one else was around. How else do you explain them both winning?”
“But Ronnie ran to head the fashion show, and Betty ran to edit the paper. If they cheated, then don’t you think they’d cheat so they’d win the offices they actually wanted?”
“So?” Ginger shrugged. “They stuffed the ballot boxes and then somehow the boxes got switched. I saw them standing right there at the voting booth. They had plenty of opportunity to do it.”
“I think you’re right about the boxes getting switched, but that was because of Jughead. He was running down the hall with too many boxes and crashed into me. Some of the labels fell off, and I guess he stuck them on the wrong boxes,” Brigitte explained.
“Well, then they stuffed the ballot boxes before Jughead got to them.”
“No.” Brigitte shook her head. “I saw Betty and Veronica right after Jughead knocked me down. They were guarding the ballot boxes for the football uniforms and something else. I can’t remember what it was, but it wasn’t the boxes for the fashion show or the paper. I know that for a fact. I’m sorry, Ginger, but you’re wrong.”
“But . . .” Ginger suddenly felt a little wobbly about her convictions. “I know for a fact that they . . . I mean . . . they both won, and I was so sure that . . .”
“Ginger?” Brigitte felt a wave of concern for her friend. “Are you okay?”
“No.” The girl shook her head. “I’m not okay. I messed up royally. I’ve made a huge mistake.”
“Well, it can’t be that bad. I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Ginger gulped. “But I’ve really got to talk to Betty and Veronica.”
Chapter 16
“What’s she doing here?” Veronica growled as she caught sight of Betty sitting next to Ginger in the teahouse.
“What’s she doing here?” Betty said at the same time, springing out of her chair.
It was Saturday afternoon, and Ginger had done a little finagling to get both girls to Leif’s Teahouse at the same time. “You guys, listen. Please? It’s really important that I talk to both of you, and that’s why I asked you here.”
Betty slumped back down into her chair. Veronica thought about storming out, but her curiosity got the best of her. “So,” she said, giving Betty the stink eye, “what’s so important that you have to speak to both of us?”
“Well . . .” Ginger wasn’t even sure how to start. “Um . . . Betty, you know how I kind of told you that all the big designers were going to do green fashion shows this year.”
“Yeah,” Betty replied. “That’s why I chose going green as our theme.”
“I’m sorry, but that wasn’t at all true. I mean, a lot of designers care about the environment, but they show it more through charitable donations rather than actually having environmentally friendly fashion shows.”
“What?” Betty couldn’t believe her ears. “The fashion show is a complete mess because of the environmental theme! All of the vendors pulled out! I don’t even know what I’m going to do!”
“None of the boutiques I set up for you are doing the show?” Veronica couldn’t restrain herself from asking.
Betty shook her head sadly. “No one knew how to handle my theme.”
“I knew that theme was a bad idea.”
“Veronica,” Ginger interrupted. “It’s not Betty’s fault. I practically tricked her into making green the theme.”
“Practically?” Betty was incredulous.
“Okay,” Ginger confessed. “I tricked her into the environmental theme.”
Betty was on the verge of tears. “That’s so mean! Why would you do that?”
“I’m sorry! I got it into my head that you guys cheated, and that was the only reason I wasn’t running the fashion show and editing the paper.”
“We didn’t cheat!” Betty said, wiping at her eyes.
“I know. I know. I figured that out. I was a complete and total jerk, and I’m really, really sorry, you guys.”
Veronica furrowed her brow. “Well, what did you do to me?”
“Um . . . I kind of planted the idea in your head of doing the paper in a tabloid style,” Ginger confessed with a guilty shrug.
“No, you didn’t.” Veronica shook her head. “I’m the one that . . . Oh, wait a minute . . .” She remembered the note in history class.
“Sorry.” Ginger grimaced.
“Seriously, Ronnie, making a student newspaper more like a tabloid is a horrible idea,” Betty assured her.
“Well, it’s not as bad as an environmental fashion show,” Veronica fired back.
“At least I didn’t single-handedly make half The Blue and Gold writers quit,” Betty countered.
“At least I didn’t lose every single vendor!”
“Guys, stop it!” Ginger practically had to shout. “You shouldn’t be fighting with each other at all. If you’re going to be mad at someone you should be mad at me.”
“But . . . ,” Veronica tried.
“You two are best friends, and here you are, turning on each other because I tricked you. That’s just idiotic!”
Betty and Veronica slouched in their chairs, both chewing over what Ginger had just told them. Finally, Veronica glanced in Betty’s direction. “I can understand why you went with the green theme. I mean, I know you’re really into the environment, and I think that’s great. I should have been a little more supportive about it and helped you pitch it to the vendors.”
“Thanks.” Betty gave her a wan smile. “And I’m sorry things got so crazy with the paper. Instead of getting upset with you, I should have worked with you to integrate some of your ideas. I guess I was just feeling defensive because I thought you were being really critical about something that’s really important to me.”
Tossing her long black hair over her shoulder, Veronica sighed. “That’s okay. I should have listened to you instead of being so in love with my own ideas.”
Ginger smiled. “Okay. Good. Are you friends again?”
“Yeah.” Veronica shrugged.
“Sure,” Betty agreed.
“Great. Now, let’s put our heads together and figure out how to save the fashion show and put out an awesome paper for The Blue and Gold’s final issue this year.”
“Um, Ginger?” Betty gave her a hesitant look. “I appreciate you confessing and all, but why should we trust you now? I mean, you’re the one that kind of screwed things up in the first place.”
“Yeah,” Veronica agreed.
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br /> “I know, but I’m going to do my best to make things right, I swear.” She held up her hand as if she’d been called to testify in court. “I’m sorry, you guys. I really am. Can you forgive me?”
Betty and Veronica had one of those silent conversations that can only take place between sisters, best friends, and couples that have been married for fifty years. Finally Veronica said, “All right. We forgive you.” Then she added with exaggerated menace and a diabolical voice, “But we’re keeping an eye on you.” All three girls broke out in giggles.
“Thanks, guys.” Ginger was wearing a big grin. “I promise I’m never going to be such a giant jerk ever again.”
“That’s great, because jerk doesn’t look good on you,” Betty told her. “So what are we going to do about the fashion show?”
“Change the theme?” Veronica suggested.
“It’s too late. I’ve already got the banner, the decorations, and the invitations.”
“Okay, that’s a problem, but all we really need to do is come up with a way for boutiques to participate in a show with the green theme.”
“I know that, Ronnie, but it’s easier said than done,” Betty grumbled.
They all sat there pondering the problem for several minutes. Finally, Veronica looked up. “Hey, I know. Have either of you ever heard of these kinds of stores called resale shops? Apparently, people consign their nice clothes that they don’t want anymore to the shop and then other people buy them.”
Veronica looked so sincere that Betty and Ginger had to suppress their amusement that she thought of resale shops as being such a mystery. “Sure, Ronnie. I know what a resale shop is,” Betty told her. “As a matter of fact, I got that blouse I wore yesterday from a resale shop.”
Totally amazed, Veronica said, “You’re kidding? That was so cute! I wondered where you got it, but we weren’t talking, so I didn’t ask.” Then she went on, “Anyway, reselling something is kind of like recycling, isn’t it? So maybe these resale shops might want to be vendors at the show. Their clothes are green because they’re not adding to garbage dumps or hurting the environment. What do you think?” Betty and Ginger both turned to stare at her. “What?” she asked.
xoxo, Betty and Veronica: In Each Other's Shoes Page 7
