by Chloe Taylor
“No wonder you’re in the advanced class,” Kate said. “We’re just beginners.”
“Well, break a leg,” Zoey said.
Josie looked taken aback, and Zoey realized she might not understand that it was a theater expression.
“It’s a theater phrase that means ‘good luck,’ ” she said. “I don’t really mean for you to break a leg.”
“Oh, je vois!” Josie said, clearly relieved. “You too, then. Break your leg.”
Zoey giggled. She knew what Josie meant, even though she hadn’t got the expression quite right.
When Kate and Zoey’s class took the stage, Zoey was ready to sparkle. She started off fine and was enjoying performing until she caught sight of Gabe in the audience—and realized he must be there to see Josie, because she hadn’t told him about the recital. When she’d seen Gabe in the audience at the karaoke competition in school, he’d made her feel more relaxed, but this time—this time it threw her off her routine.
Kate glanced over at her, worried, since she missed a few steps.
Zoey took a really deep breath. Gabe or no Gabe, the show must go on! she told herself. She got back on step and made sure not to look in his direction again. The rest of the performance went well.
When the show was over, Priti and Libby were waiting to see Kate and Zoey. Priti was wearing the goth-inspired outfit Zoey had made for her, and she glowed, despite wearing the dark fabric.
“You guys were awesome!” Libby said. “I can’t believe you just started taking tap!”
“The accessories added to the wow factor,” Priti said. “Just like the cool moves I showed you.”
Zoey caught sight of Josie and Gabe. They were hugging. It made her jealous, but she also realized they were kind of a cute couple.
Priti followed the line of Zoey’s gaze.
“Is that why you got distracted?” she asked. “Because you saw Gabe?”
Zoey nodded.
“But, Zo, you only started liking him recently,” Libby pointed out. “For all you know, it was after he started having a crush on Josie.”
That was true, Zoey thought. She’d liked him as a friend before, but not liked liked him. “You’re right,” she said. “Maybe I should just try to be happy for Gabe and Josie.”
“Well, you can try right now, because they’re coming over here,” Kate said.
“Zoey, you broke the leg very well!” Josie said.
Gabe looked confused, but Kate and Zoey laughed.
“You too, Josie,” Kate said.
“How’s the Etsy site going?” Gabe asked Zoey.
“Pretty well, thanks,” Zoey said. “I’ve had more page views and questions about products since you took the new pictures. And I’ve had some orders from Bryn Allen’s friends, but I’m not sure if that’s because of the pictures or because of Bryn and her star power.”
“Definitely the pictures,” Gabe joked.
“Yeah, definitely.” Zoey smiled. Gabe was a good friend. She was going to make a big effort to be happy for him and Josie. “Thanks again for taking them.”
Zoey and Josie were waiting in the lunch line on Friday when Ivy walked into the cafeteria with Shannon and Bree.
“Can you believe what she’s wearing?” Ivy said loudly, pointing at Zoey’s tent dress.
Zoey ignored her, as usual.
“I still can’t believe she won Best Dressed last year,” Bree said.
“I know, right?” Shannon added.
Zoey couldn’t believe it. Shannon was joining in with Bree and Ivy after Zoey had spent so much time helping Shannon pick out outfits.
Josie looked at Zoey and whispered, “Are they speaking about you?”
Zoey nodded.
Josie turned to face Ivy, her hands on her hips.
“I can believe Zoey won Best Dressed,” she said. “She is very . . . how you say it? Fashionable. In Paris, she would fit right in.”
Ivy stood with her mouth hanging open. She wasn’t used to being talked back to.
“Well . . . maybe she should go live in Paris, then,” Ivy said.
“I’d love for Zoey to visit me, anytime,” Josie said. “The shopping is formidable.”
“Thanks,” Zoey told Josie afterward. “That was awesome!”
“It’s nothing,” Josie said. “It’s what friends do, non?”
Zoey thought about all the times that Shannon had stood by and said nothing, or joined in when Ivy had been mean to her.
“You’re right,” she said. “It’s what friends do.”
When Shannon called Zoey on Sunday and asked if she wanted to hang out, as if nothing had happened, Zoey was taken aback.
“Don’t forget, Daisy wants you to make her a special outfit,” Shannon said. “She’s been bugging me nonstop, asking me when you can make it for her.”
Zoey thought about how she’d hesitated to speak up when Bryn kept asking her to make so many changes and how even though it was uncomfortable to have the conversation with her, it was the right thing to do. She realized it was way past time for her to let Shannon know how she was feeling.
“Shannon, I’m not so sure I want to hang out anymore,” Zoey said, “because it seems like you only want to be my friend when you need something—like fashion advice or for me to make an outfit for Daisy, so she’ll stop bugging you.”
“I—”
“I don’t want to be your secret stylist,” Zoey continued. “And it hurts when you just stand there when Ivy says mean things about me, or worse, when you join in. So if you can’t be up front with Ivy and Bree about the fact that we’re friends, then I don’t want to hang out anymore.”
Shannon was quiet, and then she said, “I’m sorry, Zoey. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just didn’t think about how it would look to you, I guess.”
Zoey wondered how Shannon thought it would look to her. How could she have imagined it would feel anything but bad to have Ivy saying such nasty things?
“I have to think about it,” Shannon continued. “I want us to be friends again, but I’m just not sure I’m ready to go public yet.”
Hearing that was a big disappointment, but it made Zoey all the more glad that she’d finally spoken up about how she felt.
“Okay,” she said. “Well, the door is always open if you change your mind. And tell Daisy I will make her an outfit when I have the time.”
“Thanks, Zoey,” Shannon said. “And . . . I’m sorry.”
“Whoa, Zo,” Marcus exclaimed when Zoey came into the kitchen after her conversation with Shannon. “You need to turn that frown upside down.”
“I can’t,” Zoey said. “It doesn’t feel so great when you find out that you’ve been wrong about a friend.”
“Let me guess,” Marcus said. “Shannon?”
“Yeah.” Zoey sighed.
“Things might still change,” Marcus said. “But in the meantime, you’ve got some great other friends, right?”
“The best,” Zoey said. “They aren’t ashamed of me.”
Just then Allie burst through the back door, waving a magazine.
“Zoey! Look!” she said, putting a copy of Celebrity magazine on the table in front of Zoey and Marcus.
Right on the cover was a picture of Bryn Allen—wearing Zoey’s outfit!
“Oh my gosh!” Zoey exclaimed. “My outfit is on the cover!”
Buttons scampered around her feet, barking excitedly.
“What was that about someone being ashamed of you?” Marcus grinned. “Anyone in their right mind would be proud to be friends with up-and-coming designer Zoey Webber.”
“I know I am!” Allie said.
Zoey looked at the magazine cover and clutched it to her chest. Shannon might be ashamed of being friends with her, but she was feeling pretty proud of herself!
CHAPTER 12
Celebritation!
I almost fell off my chair when Allie came over with Celebrity magazine yesterday, and there was a picture of Bryn Allen wearing the outfit
I made her ON THE COVER!!!! Can you imagine? Dad says he’s going to frame it for me, so I can hang it over my worktable, next to Marie Antoinette.
It was just as great to see Priti wearing the original design that inspired Bryn’s outfit at my tap recital. It looked great on her, and, well, it made me realize that she doesn’t need all the glitzy accessories because Priti has an inner sparkle all her own. That’s what makes her Priti!
It’s strange—just when I think things couldn’t possibly get any more exciting, something even more awesome happens when I least expect it. That’s what inspired today’s design. It’s like Sew Zoey has helped me to climb to ever-higher peaks. If only I could peek into the future to see what happens next!
A few days later, Zoey was called down to Ms. Austen’s office.
“Congratulations,” Ms. Austen said. “I hear one of your outfits made the cover of Celebrity magazine. Very exciting!”
Zoey couldn’t quite picture Ms. Austen reading Celebrity magazine.
“I know!” she said. “I’m already getting a lot more hits on my blog and my Etsy store.”
“You deserve it, Zoey,” Ms. Austen said. “You’ve been working very hard.” She pulled a small padded envelope out of her desk drawer. “It looks like someone else has been noticing your hard work too. You’ve got a present from Daphne Shaw. Her assistant called yesterday and said they were mailing something to school overnight. They didn’t want to send it to your house in case no one was home to sign for it.”
Zoey hadn’t told many people that Fashionista was Daphne Shaw, but Daphne had told Zoey to loop in Ms. Austen. Zoey opened the little parcel, and inside was a necklace with a pendant made of a miniature copy of the Celebrity magazine cover. The card attached said:
Congratulations on reaching another milestone—your first celebrity cover shot! Onward and upward!
—Daphne Shaw
“I can’t believe she knew about it and had this made up already!” Zoey exclaimed.
“It looks like your fashion fairy godmother keeps close tabs on you,” Ms. Austen said. “You’re lucky to have such a wonderful mentor.”
“I know,” Zoey said, genuinely grateful as she put on the necklace. “I’m lucky in lots and lots of ways.”
A few days later, Aunt Lulu and John were back from their Caribbean getaway. They came over for dinner that night to share stories about their trip and to pick up Buttons from “camp.”
“We got you a cuatro,” John said, handing it to Marcus. “The band at the hotel recommended this one.”
“Cool!” Marcus said, strumming it to test the tuning. “Thanks!”
“Make lots of great music,” Aunt Lulu told him. “And this is for you, Zoey.”
She handed Zoey a package. Inside was Caribbean coral reef batik fabric in beautiful shades of dark blue and turquoise.
“Ooh! I love it!” Zoey said.
“I can’t wait to see what you make from it,” John said. “You’re so creative.”
“She is,” Aunt Lulu agreed. “Just like her mom.”
Zoey wished she had more memories of her mother. Aunt Lulu was the closet thing she had to a mom, being her mother’s sister. She and Dad were great, telling her stories about her mother and how she was so creative, making her own clothes and experimenting with designs. But it wasn’t the same as having a mother to talk to and share things with every day.
“Oh! I almost forgot!” Aunt Lulu said, reaching into her bag and bringing out a copy of the Celebrity magazine with Bryn Allen wearing Zoey’s outfit on the cover. “I was relaxing on the plane, reading Celebrity magazine, when all of a sudden I saw that the outfit Bryn Allen was wearing on the cover was made ‘by her friend Zoey Webber of Sew Zoey!’ ”
“She practically jumped out of her seat,” John said. “I almost got a lap full of hot coffee!”
“Well, it’s not every day I see my niece’s design being worn by a TV star on the cover of Celebrity magazine,” Aunt Lulu said. “I was excited. Can you blame me?”
“Of course not, honey,” John said, gazing at Aunt Lulu fondly. “I was pretty excited myself.”
“You should have seen Allie when she brought it over,” Marcus said. “She was flipping out too.”
“It was a red-letter day for all of us,” Dad said.
Zoey showed her aunt and John the necklace Daphne Shaw sent to commemorate her first celebrity cover shot.
“You really are going onward and upward, Zo,” Aunt Lulu said. “I’m so proud of you.”
“That makes two of us,” John said.
Aunt Lulu and John exchanged meaningful looks.
“Speaking of the two of us,” Aunt Lulu said. “We have some big news to announce.”
“What’s that?” Zoey asked.
“While we were on vacation, John asked me to marry him,” Aunt Lulu said, a radiant smile lighting up her face.
“And your answer was?” Marcus asked.
“Fortunately for me, her answer was yes,” John said.
“Oh my gosh! You’re getting married?!” Zoey exclaimed.
“Looks like it,” Aunt Lulu said. “We’re going shopping for a ring this weekend.”
“And she already promised me she would,” John said. “No backing out now, Lulu!”
“I’ve already bought a cake to celebrate,” Dad said, going to the fridge and taking out a cake that had “Congrats, Lulu & John!” written on it.
“Wait . . . but how did you know, Dad?” Zoey asked.
“Oh, a little bird texted me to give me the good news, but asked me to keep it a secret until she could tell you herself,” Dad said with a smile.
Dad opened a bottle of champagne for the grown-ups and poured sparkling apple cider into champagne flutes for Marcus and Zoey.
“A toast,” he said. “To John and Lulu—may the love you share now endure and grow.”
They all clinked glasses and sipped.
“I’d like to propose a toast too,” John said. “To the wonderful Webbers—for welcoming me into the family.”
“It wasn’t hard,” Marcus said. “You’re a pretty cool guy.”
“Yeah,” Zoey agreed. “You fit in easily.”
“Well, I’m looking forward making this whole uncle thing official,” John said. “I hope you feel okay about it too.”
Zoey felt a little weird about it, if she had to be honest. It was going to take some getting used to, calling him Uncle John. But she’d grown to love John almost as much as she loved Aunt Lulu, and it was great to see her aunt so happy.
Buttons put her paws on John’s knee. He lifted her onto his lap, and she licked his face. Buttons seemed perfectly happy with the situation.
“I’m more than okay with it,” Zoey said.
Okay, so the fabric of Zoey’s family was changing. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—just like updating a design to make it fresh, life sometimes needed a change of lace too.
Sew excited to keep reading? Turn the page for a sneak peek at the next book in the Sew Zoey series:
BURSTING AT THE SEAMS
Runway Ready!
Hello, readers!! So, remember when the dress I designed for Bryn Allen was on the cover of Celebrity magazine? I do! In fact, it’s hard to forget. Since then, I’ve been getting some e-mails and requests through my Sew Zoey store for more fashion forward looks. I’m not sure that’s my speed, exactly, but here’s a design that could look great on someone young, without showing too much. The problem is that making it would probably take me thirty or forty hours, which is a lot for one dress! I’d need a nice, long vacation afterward.
And speaking of vacations . . . my most favorite aunt, Lulu, is finally back in town after a romantic Caribbean getaway with her (dum dee dum) new fiancé! She and John got engaged while they were on their trip. I’m meeting her for tea and cupcakes after school to get all the juicy details. I’m SEW pumped to see her!
Zoey Webber was in heaven. She was at her favorite café, Tea Time, with a cup of oolong tea,
a pink frosted cupcake, and her aunt Lulu. Lulu was tanned and smiling as she drizzled honey into her English breakfast tea and stirred it with a spoon.
“Tell me everything,” Zoey said. “Don’t leave anything out! I want to feel like I was there too!”
Lulu laughed, and began to unwrap the bag that held her croissant. “Well, it was pretty magical. Everything about Barbados is magical, really. John and I were out to dinner, at a beautiful restaurant built on a cliff at the edge of the ocean. We were watching tiny nurse sharks swim up for chum the restaurant throws them, and when I looked away from the sharks, John was kneeling beside me.”
“And?” urged Zoey. She was so enthralled with the story, she hadn’t even touched her tea or her cupcake yet. “Did you say yes immediately, or did you cry, or what?”
Lulu laughed again. “Let’s just say my eyes were teary, but I was so happy. And I said yes right away. I think I might have even shouted it. The people sitting at tables around us applauded, and that was it.”
“Sounds perfect.” Zoey sighed with satisfaction. The story was exactly what she would have wished for her aunt, who had always been more of a second mother to Zoey since her own mom had passed away when she was very little. Although it had been somewhat hard for Zoey when Lulu and John had first begun dating, because she’d been worried she’d lose her special place in Lulu’s life, that hadn’t happened at all. Zoey felt sure that adding John Chadden to their family would make things even better.
With the proposal story out of the way, Zoey bit into her cupcake with enthusiasm. It was Friday afternoon, and a long and busy week at school had made her ravenous. She was so focused on her cupcake, in fact, that she didn’t notice Lulu wasn’t touching her own croissant.
When Zoey finally looked up, Lulu was leaning forward in her seat, her eyes bright and her lips clamped together. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“What is it?” Zoey asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Self-conscious, Zoey wiped at her mouth with a napkin, in case she was covered in extra frosting.
