Clothes Minded

by Chloe Taylor

  Marcus looked as if he were about to say no, but then when he saw the earnest expression on Allie’s face, he changed his mind. “Okay,” he agreed. “Just for a few minutes.”

  As the four of them climbed out of the car, Zoey noticed Allie’s outfit: a beautiful silk print blouse and a pair of riding pants.

  “Great blouse!” Zoey said. “Did you make that?”

  Allie smiled and shook her head. “No, I just bought it. This is the first time I’ve worn it.”

  They all walked into the shelter and were pleased to see it was a clean, happy place. Zoey had remembered it being that way, but she knew that some shelters could be rather depressing, with so many animals waiting for adoption.

  “Welcome!” said a man with a yellow smiley face T-shirt. “I’m Stephen, the manager here. And which of you are Libby and Zoey, my volunteers for this afternoon?”

  The girls raised their hands and introduced themselves. Then Allie spoke up. “Stephen, my boyfriend and I aren’t part of the volunteer program, but we’d love to help out a little bit today if you need us. We could play with some lonely puppies or something?”

  Stephen looked them over and sort of shrugged. “Well, we’re not supposed to have more than two volunteers at one time, because of our space constraints. But we’ve got a few big dogs who aren’t getting enough exercise in the doggie yard, and they could use a nice walk outside now that the sun is out. Why don’t you two take those four dogs—two each—for a fifteen-minute walk or so? It would really make their day.”

  Allie’s face broke into a smile, and she and Marcus quickly agreed. Stephen helped them clip leashes onto the excited dogs’ collars, and let them out the back door. Then he turned to Zoey and Libby, who were looking longingly at all the cages in the room behind them.

  “Now, for my official volunteers,” Stephen said with a wink. “I’d love it if you girls could help me clean out some of these cages, make sure all the animals get fresh water, and then record that on these charts on the wall here. When all that is done, it’s playtime! You can take turns pulling out these kitties and pups and playing with them on the floor for a few minutes, and then return them to their cages.”

  Libby looked positively thrilled. Zoey felt pretty thrilled herself. This was so different from her usual after-school activities of sewing and homework! And all the animals looked so happy to see them. The girls quickly got to work.

  Cleaning out the cages was simple, since the dogs were potty trained. The pups just needed their cages wiped down, the ragged towels they used to snuggle with replaced, and their water bowls rinsed and refilled. With both girls working together, it didn’t take long to make progress. They were soon sitting on the floor with puppies and kittens crawling on them. Zoey felt like she was in heaven. One pup in particular, who looked like a terrier mix of some sort, seemed to like Zoey a lot and kept rubbing her doggie nose against Zoey’s cheek.

  “I forgot to tell you!” Libby said as she rubbed the bellies of two kittens who purred loudly in her lap. “I was sitting next to Gabe in computer science today, and he said he’s planning to come to your fashion club meeting tomorrow.”

  “He told me he might,” Zoey said. A second later she added, “He said he’s bringing Josie, too.”

  Zoey had never mentioned to any of her friends that she might like Gabe. She didn’t feel comfortable saying something like that about a boy who was already going out with another girl. And, anyway, she and Gabe had been friends for so long, she wasn’t completely sure that was how she felt. Maybe boy-girl friendships were different from girl-girl ones. Although, she was friends with Sean and didn’t feel about him the way she did about Gabe.

  “I didn’t know Josie was interested in fashion,” said Libby. “Although she always looks great.”

  Zoey scratched the friendly terrier behind the ears and didn’t reply.

  “I wish I could join the club too!” Libby sighed, replacing the two kittens she’d been playing with and taking two more from a different cage. “But I’ve got ballet rehearsals every week, and now volunteering, plus homework, so my mom won’t let me add another activity. She says I have to ‘decide what’s most important.’ ”

  “I get it,” said Zoey. “Don’t worry! I’ll fill you in on everything after the meetings.”

  Libby was about to reply when the back door of the shelter opened and four large dogs burst in, followed by Marcus and Allie, who were both soaking wet.

  “What happened?” Zoey asked, jumping up to look around for something to help them dry off. “You look like you fell in a river.”

  Allie grimaced and looked down at her outfit. “The black lab just loves puddles. He ran into every single one and then kept shaking himself off next to me! You wouldn’t believe how strong he is!”

  Marcus shook his head. “He’s a dog, Allie. That’s what dogs do!”

  Allie glared at Marcus. “This is a brand-new blouse that I just bought with money from my Etsy site! I didn’t think walking a few dogs would be like being pulled through a swamp.”

  “Calm down, you’re overreacting.”

  Zoey had never heard Marcus and Allie being so snippy with each other. They usually got along well, and if anything, were too lovey-dovey together.

  Stephen heard the commotion and came into the back room. “Yikes, guys! You really got soaked. Let me see if I can find you some towels. . . . We’re always running out of them, unfortunately, because we use so many for the crates, and for young pups to cuddle up with in place of their mothers. Anyway, they get worn out quickly.”

  He hunted around in a closet and managed to find them each a small towel. Marcus patted at himself a bit, then gave up and handed his towel to Allie, who was still pretty upset about her blouse.

  Zoey and Libby exchanged glances, both aware of the chill between the normally happy couple. But they didn’t have time to dwell on it, because Stephen said, “You all have done such a great job today, I have a treat for you!”

  He disappeared into another room, and came back with a teeny-tiny pinkish kitten. “She’s brand-new!” he said. “Born yesterday. Would you each like to hold her?”

  “YES!” Zoey, Allie, and Libby said at the same time. Marcus laughed, and the tension from earlier seemed to dissipate. The four of them took turns cradling the precious tiny kitten, and Zoey couldn’t remember having more fun.

  “I love cats,” Allie declared. “Look how sweet this little kitten is, Marcus!”

  Marcus held the kitten for a moment, then handed it to his sister. “Cats are okay, but I prefer dogs. Especially big, wet, puddle-loving dogs. Except when they ruin your clothes, of course.”

  “Ha-ha,” said Allie, still gazing at the tiny kitten.

  Libby said, “That’s funny—I thought cat people and dog people usually didn’t go together!”

  Allie and Marcus looked at each other, and Marcus smiled. Then Allie did too. Their silly fight, whatever it was, was over.

  “I still like dogs,” Allie said. “But I want a cat for sure. I’m going to call my parents when we leave and ask if we can adopt one!”

  Zoey gasped. “You are? Oh, that’s so great. I’d love to see one of these kitties go home with someone. Do you think they’ll say yes?”

  Allie shrugged. “I’m not sure. It’ll take some convincing, probably, but I think I can get them to come around.”

  Marcus groaned. “Allie, do I have to give you the same warning I gave Zoey? You can’t come home with a new furry friend or three every time you visit the shelter! Your parents will hate me!”

  Everyone laughed. Zoey looked wistfully at the kitten as Libby helped Stephen put it back in a private nook with its mother and brothers and sisters. A Webber family pet would be so nice. But for now, taking care of lots of animals at the shelter was almost as good!

  CHAPTER 5

  Cat Woman!

  Guess what? I love animals! I always knew I liked animals, and I love my “cousin” Buttons, but after my first volunteer day
at the pet shelter, I can now say that I am officially passionate about all things small and furry. I loved all the kittens and the puppies and the older dogs, even the two parrots that were there! In honor of the newborn kitty I got to hold, I made this sketch of an outfit a cat lover might wear . . . and obviously the fur is faux!

  Last night my brother’s girlfriend said that her parents had agreed to let her adopt both an older cat and a kitten! I’m sew jealous. But at least I’ll be able to visit them at her house. She’s planning to go pick them out this coming weekend. Maybe she’ll let me help name them!

  Also—ahem, ahem—big day today, fashion readers: It’s the first meeting of the Fashion Fun Club! If you’ve ever heard of a fashion club, or been a part of one, leave me a note in the comments. I’d love to hear your ideas on some activities we could do during meetings!

  Zoey wondered all day what the first Fashion Fun Club meeting would be like. Every time she saw Sean in the halls, she looked at him nervously, and he grinned and shook his head at her. As a cofounder, she felt like she was responsible for the club being a success, and what if no one showed up? What if it turned out to be a big joke, and she and Sean just sat in the home ec room all by themselves? She could hardly concentrate in her classes, she was so preoccupied.

  At last the final bell rang, announcing the end of what had been a very long day for Zoey. She stopped by her locker to grab the stack of magazines Lulu had donated and to quickly check her phone for messages. While scrolling her in-box, she came across the name Sonya Turley and had to lean against the lockers to steady herself. Could it be the real Sonya Turley e-mailing her?

  She clicked on the message to open it.

  Dear Sew Zoey,

  I hope you don’t mind me e-mailing you! A friend sent me a link to your blog with the ice-skating costume you designed for me. I’m so flattered! And I love the design with the car wash skirt and piano-key detailing so, so much. Would you be willing to let my costumer make this outfit for me? She knows my measurements and makes all of my costumes by hand so they fit me perfectly. We’d be more than happy to pay for your design and give you full credit, of course!

  I’d like to wear it to the nationals competition in a few weeks so please let me know as soon as you can!

  Your friend,

  Sonya Turley

  PS I love your blog! I can’t stop reading it and wondering what you’ll design next!

  Alone in the hallway, Zoey gasped. Sonya Turley, one of ice-skating’s most exciting young skaters, wanted to wear a costume Zoey designed to the national championships! Zoey couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t! She’d sketched that outfit thinking it would never ever get made, not even for fun. And if Sonya had it made and ended up wearing it, it would be on national television.

  Zoey felt like she’d won the fashion lottery. Her phone beeped, signaling the start of the Fashion Fun Club meeting, and with a jolt she realized that meant she was already late! The home ec room was on the opposite end of the school. Hurriedly, she grabbed the stack of magazines and attempted to shut her locker with her foot. But the magazines were so heavy, she started to lose her balance, and the whole slippery stack flew out of her arms and onto the floor.

  “Argh,” Zoey growled. She shut her locker properly, then stooped to collect the magazines and pile them more carefully into her arms. Slowly, she proceeded down the hall. By the time she reached the home ec room, the muscles in her forearms were aching, and she’d practically forgotten the Sonya Turley news. She just knew she was late and that wasn’t very “VP and treasurer” of her.

  Sean had grouped a few tables together so that the club could sit in a circle, and was distributing scissors and glue sticks to each seat. There were a few kids already at the meeting, including Gabe and Josie, and one or two people Zoey recognized as being in musical theater club and friends of Sean’s. There was a girl named Emily from home ec, who bragged a lot about her mother—the chef at a local restaurant—but seemed to have a knack for sewing. So far, a decent turnout.

  “Sorry,” Zoey puffed as she gently eased her burden down onto the table.

  “Wow,” said Sean, eyeing the giant stack of high-end fashion magazines, some of which were Italian and French. “Great job, Zoey! Those will be perfect.”

  “No problem!”

  She looked around to see if there was anything she could do to help Sean, but he had just sat down at the head of the table and seemed ready to begin. She took a seat about halfway around the table herself and noticed he’d also handed out large squares of card stock already.

  “I’m ready for my close-up, Sean,” someone boomed as they walked into the room. “This is going to be ahhhh-maaaaazing.”

  Without even turning her head, Zoey knew the owner of that voice. It was Ivy Walker, her long-time adversary who had consistently insulted Zoey’s outfits for most of the school year.

  Zoey turned to look at Ivy, and as their eyes met, Ivy’s face went from giddy to sour. Zoey’s nearly did the same, but she managed to clench her jaw and keep her expression as neutral as possible. She was the VP and Treasurer; she couldn’t frown at someone who had shown up to join the club.

  “Hold up,” said Ivy. “No one said Zoey Webber was going to be part of the Fashion Fun Club. That would make it the Unfashionable Unfun Club.”

  Sean rolled his eyes at Ivy, and said calmly, “Honestly, I don’t understand girls. Ivy, you know you admire Zoey’s talent, so chill out. This club is for fun. It says so in the name.”

  He smiled at the group, as if the whole conversation was in jest, and Ivy wasn’t being deadly serious.

  Ivy, who seemed stunned to have someone talk to her like that, abruptly sat down next to Sarah, the girl from Zoey’s home ec class. Either Ivy really wanted to stay, Zoey thought, or she couldn’t help respecting Sean for standing up to her and wanted to hear what he had to say.

  Zoey reminded herself to be open-minded about Ivy’s presence in the Club. After all, she herself had decided that anyone could join! She tried to ignore the tiny voice inside her that kept whispering, But I didn’t know “anyone” would include Ivy. . . .

  “Great,” said Sean, clapping his hands together. “Let’s begin! Welcome to the Fashion Fun Club! Zoey and I will be leading the club together, but we want this to be collaborative, so please be vocal with your suggestions. Mrs. Holmes is our supervisor,” he paused, nodding his head in the direction of Mrs. Holmes’s desk in the corner, where she sat working on her computer. She waved to the group. “But we’ll be running the show ourselves.”

  “That’s right,” Mrs. Holmes said. “This is a student-run club, and I expect you all to listen to Sean and Zoey, who are giving their time and energy to create this club for our school. I’m here for backup support as needed.”

  Zoey hadn’t even noticed the teacher when she came in, but she wasn’t surprised to hear that Mrs. Holmes was going to take a backseat during club meetings. Mrs. Holmes liked students to take charge. Even so, Zoey couldn’t help thinking part of Mrs. Holmes speech had been directed at Ivy for her snarky comment earlier.

  Sean pointed to Zoey then, indicating it was her turn to talk.

  “Um, right, okay.” Zoey stumbled over her words, having been lost in thought about Mrs. Holmes and Ivy. “Um, I’m VP and treasurer, and since this club is getting started late in the year, we’ll need to collect dues, so we can have a budget to be able to afford materials, field trips, or other things. You probably saw that on the flyers. We’ll also try to get some things donated, of course, but for now, everyone needs to please hand in your thirty dollar dues to me.”

  Zoey watched as only three of the people there passed money her way. Ivy was one of them, which was a huge surprise to Zoey, as it most likely meant that Ivy was genuinely interested in the club, and intended to come back for future meetings.

  Zoey tucked the money into an envelope she’d marked “Dues.” “Okay, so everyone who didn’t remember today, please try and bring it next time, so we can
start planning the fun stuff.”

  She nodded at Sean, and he took over again. “So, you’re all probably wondering, what are we going to do today? Well, I thought it might be neat to make lookbooks, sort of like you’d find online. Everyone will be given a picture of this one item—today it’s a cobalt-blue skater skirt—and then scavenge through these magazines to assemble a complete look for this piece. When you have all your pieces, glue them onto the card stock, and we’ll compare looks at the end!”

  Zoey saw a few smiles around the table, and she couldn’t help feeling excited by the activity herself, despite the fact that they’d be cutting up issues of some of the most fantastic fashion magazines. She knew she could do a lot of neat things with that simple skirt and she’d never made a lookbook with magazine clippings before.

  “Can we make it a competition?” Ivy asked. “You know, vote on the best one at the end?”

  Zoey resisted the urge to sigh. Of course Ivy would have to take something that was purely intended for fun and make it about winning. But Zoey kept quiet, and Sean shrugged and said, “Sure, why not?”

  Zoey got to work and was quickly absorbed in finding the right pieces for her lookbook. A few minutes went by, and she noticed Gabe walking around taking pictures.

  “Hey, Gabe, thanks for coming,” she whispered, not wanting to disturb everyone else.

  His cheeks flushed. “Uh, I hope you don’t mind, Zoey, but I have no idea how to put together a, um, lookbook, so I thought I might take a few shots of your club to use in the yearbook. I joined that committee, too.”

  Zoey brightened. “Yeah, of course! Great idea.” She glanced over at Josie, who was working intently on her project, and Zoey could already see a she’d paired the skirt with a long red trench coat and leopard-print boots. Fierce. Zoey loved it.

  When everyone had finished and presented their lookbooks to the group, Sean suggested they vote by silent ballot, and as everyone passed up small scraps of paper to the front, she began to feel nervous. She wasn’t sure if she should want to win, because she was the most experienced person there, or if she shouldn’t want to win, because she was one of the leaders, and therefore it would be like a teacher getting the best grade on a test. She settled for silently hoping Ivy wouldn’t win, and feeling kind of bad about it.