by Chloe Taylor
“We’ll see,” Marcus said.
Zoey threw a sofa cushion at him for being such a grump.
“Stop it, Zo! Dad will have a hissy fit because you’re ruining our perfect home impression!” Marcus joked.
The doorbell rang.
“Oh my gosh! That must be her!” Zoey squealed. “Quick! Put the cushion back in place!”
“Argh. Zoey’s getting as bad as Dad,” Marcus said, groaning. “I’m going to have to move if this keeps up.”
She ran to open the front door.
Bryn Allen—the Bryn Allen—stood on the doorstep.
“Hi—Zoey?” she said.
“Yes! You look the same as you do on TV!” Zoey said. And then she blushed because she’d planned to play it cool and professional, but she hadn’t exactly gotten off to a great start.
Fortunately, Bryn just laughed.
“Funny how that works—because it’s plain old me who is on TV,” she said.
Then they both laughed, and Zoey felt less silly.
“Come on in,” she said.
“I love your house,” Bryn said as they walked inside. “It’s so . . . neat. My house is a total mess.”
Zoey giggled. “It’s not normally this neat. Dad made us clean up to make a good impression on you.”
Bryn smiled. “Tell your dad it was worth it. I am seriously, very impressed.”
Marcus wasn’t a big watcher of teen-girl shows, so he took meeting Bryn in stride. But Allie was a different story.
“Hi . . . I’m . . . A-Allie,” she stammered. “I’m a huge f-fan.”
Allie was normally so confident and articulate. Zoey couldn’t believe how starstruck she was all of a sudden—even worse than Zoey was!
“Hi, Allie! Great to meet you!” Bryn said.
“Allie makes really great accessories,” Zoey said, figuring if she got Allie talking about her work, she’d be less nervous. “She brought some over to show you.”
“I th-thought you could pick something you like—I mean, only if you want to, that is,” Allie said. “You don’t have to.”
Bryn looked over the accessories Allie had displayed on the table.
“I’d love to pick something,” she exclaimed. “The problem is deciding what to pick! They’re all so cool.”
Allie smiled, visibly relaxing a little.
“You can take more than one, if you’d like,” she said. “I love your show so much, it’s the least I can do.”
Bryn picked out an adorable embroidered purse and a hair accessory.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you?” she said.
“Oh, no,” Allie insisted. “They’re a gift. But . . . can we take a picture together, so I can show my friends I met you?”
“Definitely,” Bryn said.
She hugged Allie, and Marcus took a picture of them together.
“My friends are going to be so jealous!” Allie said. “Keep up the great work!”
“We’d better get on with the fitting,” Zoey said. “Otherwise, I’m not going to get my work done in time for your event.”
She and Bryn went up to Zoey’s room where Bryn’s outfit was being modeled by Marie Antoinette.
“What do you think?” Zoey asked.
Bryn looked around and said, “I love your room! It’s so homey. I spend so much time in hotels and TV-show trailers. It must be great knowing you get to spend every night in your own cozy room.”
“I guess,” Zoey said. “But it must be pretty awesome to be on TV, too.”
“Oh, it is,” Bryn said. “I love what I do. But sometimes I miss being just a regular girl, you know what I mean?”
Zoey could only imagine. But to her, Bryn seemed like a regular girl who just happened to be a big TV star.
“What about the outfit?” she said, gesturing to Marie Antoinette. “What do you think so far?”
“I love it!” Bryn said. “I can’t wait to try it on!”
“Let’s do it,” Zoey said.
When Bryn was in the outfit, Zoey pinned and marked for the alterations she would need to make.
Bryn kept cracking jokes the whole time, making Zoey laugh so hard, she was afraid she was going to stick her with straight pins by mistake. She could just imagine the Celebrity magazine story: “TV star turned into a pincushion by giggling seamstress.”
“You know, I was thinking . . . ,” Bryn mused, finally taking a break from the jests. “What if we put a few more rivets here? I think that would look really cool.”
“I could do that,” Zoey said.
“And maybe add a little more lace around the edge here?” Bryn suggested.
“Um . . . sure,” Zoey said, taking notes and marking on the fabric.
By the time Bryn had finished, Zoey had a list of little changes Bryn wanted made to the outfit, which added up to quite a bit of extra work beyond fitting for size.
“So when should I come back for the next fitting?” Bryn asked. “The event is next week.”
Zoey looked at the list and wondered how she was going to get it all done. She had to get it all done. She was a professional, and this was a big break!
“Give me a few days,” she said.
“Great, I’ll be back in two days,” Bryn said. “It’s so much fun working with you, Zoey. It’s like hanging out with a friend!”
As soon as Bryn left, Zoey got straight to work on the alterations. She was busy adding the new rivets when Kate dropped by.
“What was Bryn Allen like?” Kate asked.
“She’s really nice,” Zoey said. “It’s like she’s just a normal girl, like you and me, but also a star. And she’s as funny in real life as she is on TV.”
“That’s cool,” Kate said. “I always imagine stars are different somehow—like they come from another planet.”
“That’s the other kind of star,” Zoey joked.
“Ha, ha!” Kate laughed. “So I was thinking, do you want to go to the movies? Everyone says the new one at the Main Street Cinema is really great, and there’s a show at three.”
Zoey hated to have to say no to Kate again. But she knew she needed all the time she had to spare to finish the alterations for Bryn in time.
“I can’t,” she said.
Kate’s face showed her disappointment.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Zoey rushed to explain. “Bryn asked me for lots of little changes to her outfit, and I have to get those done, plus the regular alterations, before she comes back in two days.”
“I understand,” Kate said. “Well, I don’t want to hold you up from your work. I’ll see you later, Zo.”
As she went back to work on Bryn’s outfit, Zoey felt torn. She missed hanging out with Kate and felt bad that every time Kate asked to get together, the answer was always no. She knew Kate was upset with her, and she hated upsetting one of her best friends. Why was it always so hard to get everything done and keep everyone happy?
CHAPTER 9
Starstruck
You know what’s so cool? When you meet someone famous and you expect them to be totally different from you, because, you know they’re famous and on TV, but actually they’re really down-to-earth and cool. That’s what it was like meeting . . . BRYN ALLEN (!!!) when she came to our house for a fitting. I know! Bryn Allen was in our house! I can hardly believe it myself. Even Dad was freaking out, making us clean like crazy. But Bryn was so nice—and really funny. And she’s coming back in a few days for another fitting. I think I have to pinch myself!
In the meantime, I’m just work, work, working to make sure I get everything done. I just hope all work and no play doesn’t make me a dull girl. Or worse yet, a bad friend . . .
When Priti showed up at school that following Monday after Bryn’s fitting, Zoey was shocked to see her dressed in “former Priti” style—brightly colored clothes with sparkly accent accessories. Zoey’d gotten so used to seeing her friend in her new dark look that she wondered what happened.
Kate and Libby
, however, were thrilled.
“Priti! It’s so great to see you looking like yourself again!” Libby exclaimed.
“I know, right?” Kate agreed. “Color suits you so much better.”
Priti regarded her friends in awkward silence.
“I’m not wearing these clothes by choice,” she said finally. “I don’t want to dress this way. It might be how you see me, but it’s not how I see me right now.”
“What happened?” Zoey asked. “Why are you wearing your old clothes?”
“My mom went to put a treat from her food blog into my backpack last night as a surprise,” Priti said with a sigh. “And she found the black outfit I’d packed to change into today at school. She got really mad and asked me if I was wearing all-black outfits to school, even though she and my dad told me I wasn’t allowed.”
“Oh no!” Libby exclaimed. “What did you do?”
“I told her the truth,” Priti said. “I said that I like dressing in black, and I can’t understand why she and Dad hate it so much. It’s the only thing Mom and Dad have actually agreed on in, like, forever, which, to tell you the truth, is something that makes me want to do it even more.”
“Wow. How did she take that?” Kate asked.
“Well, she was mad at first. But eventually she calmed down, and we talked some more. She told me why she didn’t like me dressing in all black, and I told her that since she and Dad are making all these major changes in my life without me getting to have a say, the least they can do is let me choose what I wear,” Priti explained. “And after she had a chance to think about it, she said she was willing to go along with my fashion decisions. But she has to talk to Dad about it first.”
“That’s great!” Zoey said. “It sounds like your mom is listening to you.”
“It felt like that for the first time in a while,” Priti admitted. “I just hope she talks to Dad soon, so I can go back to wearing what I want to wear. I feel out of sorts wearing these clothes. They just aren’t me anymore. Or at least right now, anyway.”
“I’m sorry for not understanding about your new outfits,” Libby said.
“Me too,” Kate added. “It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just . . .”
“It’s just that we miss colorful, sparkly Priti,” Libby explained.
“That’s right,” Kate said. “The Priti whose fashion philosophy is ‘more color, more sparkle!’ ”
“She’s still there, inside,” Priti assured them. “I’m still the same Priti—I’m just wearing different clothes, that’s all.”
When Bryn came for her second fitting, Allie, who was over at the house, hanging out with Marcus, was more relaxed and less tongue-tied.
“Hey, Bryn,” she said from the sofa, where she and Marcus were watching a movie. “How are things in TV Land?”
“Pretty good,” Bryn said. She pointed to the bowl of popcorn and empty glasses on the table in front of them.
“I see your dad has chilled about keeping up the perfect house image,” she observed, smiling.
“Oh, yeah.” Marcus laughed. “You only get the special star-cleaning package on your first visit. It’s all downhill from here.”
“Good,” Bryn said. “It makes me feel more comfortable and at home if there’s at least some messiness.”
She and Zoey went up to Zoey’s room to try on the altered outfit.
It fit Bryn perfectly, but once again, she had lots of ideas for little changes she wanted.
“Could we just tweak this a little bit here, like this?” she asked, gathering the fabric at the bodice.
“And then could we adjust this here just a tad?”
“And maybe do this?”
Zoey’s cell rang. It was Kate.
“Excuse me a minute,” Zoey said, not wanting to let it go to voice mail.
“Hi, Kate,” she said. “I can’t talk now because I’m in the middle of Bryn’s fitting, but why don’t you come over?”
“Okay, great!” Kate exclaimed. “I can’t wait to meet her!”
“I hope it’s okay if my friend Kate comes over to meet you,” Zoey said after she hung up. “She’s a big fan of yours. And it’s been hard because we haven’t had so much time to hang out recently.”
“No problem. I know how that is,” Bryn said. “Balancing work and friendship gets complicated sometimes.”
And then she made a request for another “little” change. Zoey’s list was getting longer and longer.
As Zoey took notes and pinned all the adjustments, she worried that she was never going to finish Bryn’s outfit and be able to start on Priti’s if Bryn kept on like this. Not only that, the outfit was starting to look less and less like the one she designed and more like something . . . well, completely different.
Kate was excited to meet Bryn, and Zoey took a picture of the two of them together once Bryn had changed back into her regular clothes.
“It’s so great that you guys live so close to each other,” Bryn said, as she was leaving. “It makes it easy to hang out all the time.”
“Not that easy,” Kate muttered.
Zoey knew she had to get to work on the alterations for Bryn, but she also knew she had to talk to Kate.
“Let’s go have a snack,” she said after Bryn left.
Over cookies and milk, she apologized to Kate for not hanging out as much as she’d like.
“I know you said not to worry, but between Shannon, Gabe, and now your famous new friend, Bryn, it feels like you’re slipping away from me,” Kate confessed. “We’ve been friends forever—as long as I can remember. I just thought that now that I have time after school, we’d be able to hang out more.”
“I know,” Zoey said. “But see . . . this is how my life has been since starting Sew Zoey and all my different sewing projects. I always seem to be crazy busy with one thing or another. The thing is, you usually don’t notice because you’re so crazy busy with sports.”
“I guess,” Kate admitted.
“I can’t just drop everything because now you have free time,” Zoey said. “But I swear, it’s not because I’m trying to push you away or anything like that. So, please, don’t take it personally, okay?”
“I’ll try,” Kate said. “I’ll really try.”
But on the bus ride going home from school the next day, Zoey asked Kate what she was up to the coming weekend.
“Nothing much,” Kate said. “But I’m not going to ask about getting together because I know you’re really busy.”
Zoey didn’t know what to say. She was busy. She still had lots of alterations to get done for Bryn’s outfit, and not much time to do them. But she hated to see her friend’s feelings so hurt, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
That night, she explained the situation to her dad.
“Since she can’t do sports, Kate’s taking piano lessons, but she hates them, and when she’s not doing that, she wants to hang out all the time, but I can’t because I’m busy with the stuff I’m doing for Sew Zoey,” she said. “How do I balance it all? I have to do my work to keep Bryn happy, but I want to be a good friend, too.”
“Well, Zo, I’ve been thinking that maybe you should spread your creative wings a bit—you know, all work and no play makes Zoey a dull, stressed-out girl and stuff,” he said. “I know you love sewing and blogging, but there might be other things you love too if you give them a chance.”
“Like what?” Zoey asked.
“I don’t know yet,” Dad said. “But I’m thinking we might be able to kill two birds with one stone here. I could talk to Mrs. Mackey and suggest that you and Kate figure out a class you might take together—preferably something that involves movement, since you spend a lot of time sitting when you’re sewing and blogging, and I think that’s something Kate misses right now.”
“But when will I have time?” Zoey asked, already feeling stressed about it. “I’m so busy!”
“You can spare one night a week,” Dad said. “And this way, you’ll get to
spend time with Kate, doing something fun.”
Kate loved the idea, and started looking into different alternatives that would be fun for both of them and would incorporate movement but not so much movement that it would put strain on her elbow.
“Well, yoga is out,” she told Zoey on the bus. “That’s too bad. That would be fun. Pottery looks fun, but I can’t use my arm for that.”
“And that’s more sitting, not moving,” Zoey said. “Dad wants me to move.”
“I’ll keep looking,” Kate said. “We’ve got to be able to find something that works for both of us.”
That night, Zoey popped her head into the living room to talk to her dad, who was channel surfing to see what was on.
“Wait!” she said. “Go back a few channels!”
Her father changed the channel back, and there on the screen were three people, dancing and singing. Not just dancing. Tap dancing. It looked like so much fun!
“That’s what I want to do!” Zoey exclaimed.
“Singin’ in the Rain?” her dad said.
“No, tap dancing!” Zoey said. “I have to call Kate!”
Kate loved the idea. “It’ll be so much fun!” she said. “Mom says she just has to check with the instructor and my doctor tomorrow to make sure that the moves can be modified so they won’t hurt my elbow.”
“Let’s hope they say yes!” Zoey said.
As soon as she hung up, she grabbed her sketchbook and, inspired by thoughts of tap dancing with her friend, she started drawing.
CHAPTER 10
Tap to Toe
Watch out, world! Kate and I are going to be doing a happy dance! Yes, inspired by the classic movie Singin’ in the Rain, we’re going to take tap lessons, and to celebrate, I designed these sparkly clips for our tap shoes. Wouldn’t they look great with these accessories? It’ll be fun to try something new—like Dad said, it’s good for me to spread my creative wings—but mostly I’m excited to hang out with Kate. Just you wait . . . We’re going to wow everyone at the talent show after this!
Now if I can just get all of Bryn Allen’s alterations done in time . . . Back to work!
