Landry in Like

by Krysten Lindsay Hager

  I went to look and realized it was a Skylar notebook that said, “Perfect for solving mysteries or writing your own,” on the label. I had to have it.

  “Pencil case, schmencil case. I need this notebook,” I said.

  “Definitely. You write. You must get it. I’ll see if my mom will take me to the store later and maybe I can get the other game. What do you think about us playing them together? Then we could solve two mysteries instead of just one… or is this something you want to do by yourself?”

  “It would be more fun to play them together. Okay, I’ll get the game, the book, and the notebook.”

  After we hung up, I decided to call Tori and tell her about the Skylar stuff. She and I always used to go together to buy the latest mysteries. She was going to lose it when she heard there were now computer games. Tori picked up the phone and I filled her in.

  “Oh yeah, I already got the B&B one,” she said. “I’m halfway through it. It’s pretty good though.”

  “Oh, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I dunno, I thought you were over that stuff,” she said. “Didn’t think Skylar Halston was your thing anymore. I gotta go. My grandma’s calling on the other line. See ya.”

  I felt kind of weird after my conversation with Tori, so I ran over to show Mom what I found.

  “I want this pencil case for writing stuff. Look at the tiny magnifying glass,” I said.

  “And a future writer needs a place for her pens and pencils. I’ll buy it for you,” she said

  “Honest?” Who was this woman and what did she do with my mother?

  “Well, let’s just say the fact you said, ‘pencil case’ for writing and school supplies as opposed to ‘makeup bag for lip gloss,’ made me happy,” she said.

  We went over to the café and got hot chocolate (a vanilla soy latte for Mom), turkey club sandwiches, and split a giant lemon bar. Mom flipped through a business magazine, while I flipped through a magazine with Talisa on the cover.

  When we were done, we went up to the counter. After I paid for my purchases, Mom told me to go wait by the door for her to check out. I went to look at the sale books by the door and she walked up.

  “Kid, you impressed me so much today, so there may be some surprises in the bag.”

  “What? Who are you? Seriously, where’s my real mom? Unless you plan on always being this generous, and then I’m not sure how much I care where that other lady is,” I said smirking.

  “And there’s the girl I know,” she said laughing. “Let’s just say you wanting to spend your money on books is something I can get behind, and the fact you’re interested in classics? It’s like a parents’ dream. I’d love to see you follow in my footsteps with studying business, but I can see you have your own path and reading is your thing, so… well, my dad always said books and knowledge were a good investment.”

  “Can I see the bag?”

  We went to the car, and I saw Mom had gotten me all the Bronte sisters’ works in the classics series.

  “Thank you, thank you,” I said as I started taking pictures of the book covers with my phone.

  “What are you doing?” Mom asked.

  “Posting the books on my social media page. Ooh, when I get home, I’ll take a picture of them spine out on my shelf. It’ll be so cute with the hardcovers all matching. See how the ivy on the spines links up so they all look connected?”

  “I didn’t notice that in the store. Cute.”

  I took pics of the Skylar stuff I bought, too, but just posted that picture on the social media site where I followed a ton of book bloggers and readers. I knew if I put it on my regular page then Yasmin or someone would say, “Aren’t those books for, like, younger readers or something?” But then it started to bother me that I was hiding something I liked, so I decided to post it anyway. Within a minute, I started getting “likes” on the Skylar picture. I saw Kyra, my new friend from the Wild Card American Ingénue webisode wrote, “I am obsessed with Skylar Halston mysteries!!” Even Arianna Seymour posted three pink hearts in my comments section. Apparently, I wasn’t the only Skylar fan. Then I saw it… on my public site where I post all my pictures… a comment from…. Talisa Milan.

  Hi Landry. I’m a big Skylar Halston fan myself. Grew up on those mysteries. xxx Talisa

  I had been following Talisa’s account since, well, since forever, but after the Ingénue Wild Card experience, I had tagged her in the picture my mom took of Talisa, me, and Jem Jade. I saw it said she was following me after that, but I thought it was just her publicist running her site or something. This was major. MAJOR.

  “Mom, Talisa just commented on my post.”

  “Talisa, who?” she asked.

  Um, how many people named Talisa did she know? “Milan, the model.”

  “Oh wow, that’s great.”

  I asked her what I should write back.

  “You could ask her what was her favorite of the books.”

  “Can you imagine if I get to be on the set of the photo shoot with her and we could talk about the books in person?” I said. “Maybe she’d let me… brush her hair.”

  Mom burst out laughing. “Okay, you might want to keep that to yourself so she doesn’t call security.”

  “Mo-om, I was kidding!” I said. “Well, sorta, although I bet her hair feels like spun silk, unlike mine which feels like hay dried in the sun.”

  “Hey, now. You have my hair, which means you have to get the exact ratio of conditioner right so it doesn’t turn to a limp, greasy mess or, like you said, hay dried in the sun.”

  “How do you get the ratio right?”

  “Well, when you get older, your hair doesn’t get oily as fast as it does at your age, so I don’t have to worry about over-conditioning it in the morning and it going limp halfway through the day.”

  “My bangs do get greasy pretty fast.”

  “I used to use baby powder on my bangs after gym class.”

  “That’s genius,” I said. Who knew my mother had beauty secrets?

  “I never thought I’d hear you say that to me,” Mom said laughing. “I used to use this super strong astringent on my skin when I was your age. Oh, it was so awful. It probably could have stripped paint off of furniture, but I was obsessed with keeping my skin shine free. However, I did more harm than good with that stuff. I also tried using milk of magnesia as a face mask because one of the supermodels who was big when I was a kid recommended that.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Well, she said to sleep in it and you’d wake up to porcelain, glowing skin. I woke up to white, crumbling bits all over my pillow and hair,” she said.

  Scratch that off my list of things to try.

  “What about for your hair? Grandma said she caught you trying to thicken your hair with beer.”

  “Yes, that was in college and it was so nasty. I also did apple cider vinegar and it smelled awful. But white vinegar isn’t too bad as long as you rinse it to get the smell out. It helps remove all the styling residue.”

  “Sometimes I wish I had super dark hair like Devon’s. Her hair is gorgeous.”

  “She does have nice hair. I used to wish for dark hair, too, and I dyed mine a few times, but I, like you, was meant to have the color we were born with.”

  “Wait — you colored your hair? You never told me that before. You always said we should stick to what nature intended.”

  “Oh, and trust me, you should. If you saw pictures of me with red hair, you’d agree. And me as a brunette was cute for two days until it began to fade,” she said.

  “Do you have any pictures?”

  “Grandma might. The dark hair did bring out my eyes, but it just wasn’t me.”

  “What about the red?”

  “Imagine my hair if I dipped it in fruit punch. Your friend Peyton has beautiful dark red hair, but mine just appeared artificial. I should have been happy with what I had because so many girls in my dorm were bleaching their hair to get my — our color.”

  “Ye
ah, maybe, but I still want to see photos.”

  We got home and Peyton called. She wanted to know if I could spend the night and we could play the Skylar game.

  “That sounds like fun,” I said after Mom said I could go.

  “I thought we could ask a few people to come over to play, but I don’t know who else is still into the series. India never was, and Devon doesn’t read as much as she used to. Can you think of anyone?” she asked.

  “Ashanti reads the series and Thalia might be interested. Tori likes them.”

  “You want to call them and see if they want to come over? My mom said she’d be okay with a few extra people staying over.”

  I called Thalia and her mom said she was babysitting tonight, so I called Ashanti next.

  “Hey, I got a new Skylar Halston computer game, and Peyton is going to have a few people over to play it and spend the night. Would you like to come? It’ll be super fun.”

  “Oh, um… yeah, that does sound fun, but Halle just texted me about going to a new teen dance club that just opened up downtown with her and her friends tonight. They’re meeting some girls from the cheer squad there.”

  “Is Yasmin going?”

  “Uh, yeah,” she said.

  “Oh well, that sounds fun, too,” I said.

  “Maybe another time,” she said. “I’ll text you tomorrow, okay? Bye.”

  I stared at my phone, which said, “Call Ended.” Well, Halle had asked her first, and who wouldn’t want the chance to hang out with high school girls? Okay, so I’d run to the bathroom at the thought of it, but for someone like Ashanti, this was a dream come true and where she belonged. But… if it had been me and someone asked me to go to the dance club, I would have asked if she could come along. Ashanti never even said, “Hey, you want me to ask those guys if you can come, too?”

  It was only one night out, but it seemed like she was doing something so grownup. Meanwhile, I was getting excited about playing a computer game with a book character I had been into since grade school. Why would she want to hang out with me? And was it weird I was more excited to spend the evening playing this game and eating snacks with Peyton than the idea of hanging out with cheerleaders at a club?

  Chapter 18

  Peyton called. “India just asked if I wanted to go to the teen club with her cousin Valine and Valine’s friends,” she said. “Devon is going to her grandparents’ this weekend, so she can’t come and she wants me to go.”

  I felt like someone punched me.

  “I’m texting her that you’re coming over. Oh, okay, they said you could come, too,” she said.

  Peyton and I had always been able to tell each other everything, but things were changing now and I was feeling younger and more scared of going to high school by the minute. Still, she was one of my best friends, so she should understand my feelings or at least not laugh at me, right?

  “Can I ask you a question? Are you psyched about going?”

  “No. Is it lame I’d rather play Skylar Halston all night and make cupcakes?” she asked.

  “This is why we are best friends,” I said.

  She laughed. Ashanti, used to be into that kind of stuff, too. I wondered if she was too grown up for it now that she had her cheer friends.

  “So are you sure you want to bake cupcakes and play the Skylar game, or do you want go with those guys?” I asked.

  “Maybe we can go with them some other time, but tonight is Skylar night and I just don’t feel like putting on makeup and wearing anything other than my fleece sleepy pants and a sweatshirt, you know?” she said. “So, see if anyone else wants to join us to play and I’ll tell India we’ll skip going this time, okay?”

  I texted Thalia who wasn’t sure if she could come because her parents weren’t home. Then it hit me. I could still ask Tori. As much as I wanted to just hang out with Peyton, because then we could talk more freely, I thought this would be a great chance for Tori and I to sort of reconnect again. With so many of the girls getting into the whole club thing, it would be nice to hang out with someone with similar interests and I had mentioned the game to her earlier. I dialed her number.

  “Hello, Tori?”

  “Yeah?” she said.

  “I wanted to know if you wanted to come over to Peyton’s to play the B&B mystery game tonight. Her parents said it was fine, and you can spend the night if you want.”

  “I’m almost finished with it, so it might be kind of boring for me,” she said.

  “Oh, okay. Well, maybe another time.”

  We hung up and I felt queasy. Then she called back.

  “Hey, Landry? Ericka just texted me that she can’t hang out until later, so I could come over to Peyton’s for a little bit if that’s cool.”

  She already had plans with Ericka? “Um, yeah, that works. I’m going over to Peyton’s now, so see you in a bit.”

  I called Peyton and told her what Tori said.

  “So Tori is just filling time until Ericka is free again?” she asked.

  That was kind of what I had been wondering, and it hurt to hear it said out loud. “Well, she did have plans with Ericka first, so…”

  “Okay, whatever. I’m going to put the pizza order in now. Is there anything Tori hates on hers?” Peyton asked.

  “Yeah, she hates all kinds of peppers but loves mushrooms and Canadian bacon.”

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that because I’m not a fan of Canadian bacon on pizza. By itself, sure, but on pizza, I dunno,” she said. “I’m going to get cherry cola to drink, that cool?”

  I got my sleepover stuff together, put the cupcake mix and frosting container in my bag, and Mom dropped me off at the Urich’s house.

  Peyton opened the door as soon as Mom pulled into the driveway. “Oven’s preheated. Let’s get to making cupcakes,” she said.

  We went into the kitchen and started to work on the cupcakes as Peyton’s dad hooked her laptop up to the TV in the living room so we could play the game on a bigger screen.

  “Hey, Mom,” Peyton said as her mother cleaned up the flour spill around her. “Would you guys ever give me an advance on my allowance if I did extra chores or something?”

  Mr. and Mrs. Urich exchanged a nervous look. “What for?”

  “So I could download the next Skylar game in the series,” she said.

  Her parents glanced at each other again. “So not to get clothes to go to that teen dance club place Devon invited you to?”

  “No, I just want to get the new game. I checked online and there are four out right now.”

  Her father was smiling as he pulled out his wallet “Here, take my credit card and download all of them. Go nuts.”

  “The games are like thirty bucks a piece. Are you sure? I don’t want to be your maid forever,” Peyton said.

  Her dad laughed. “No, it’s on me.”

  “Why? I’m scared. What am I promising in return?” She crossed her arms in front of her

  Mrs. Urich cracked up. “Honey, when you brought up that dance club, your father and I had mini panic attacks. I know it’s safe and all, but we just hate to see you grow up too fast. So if you guys want to stay in and play these games, then we are more than happy to indulge you. Have fun.”

  “Best. Parents. Ever,” Peyton said hugging them. Tori arrived while I was putting the cupcakes in the oven.

  “Hey, Landry, your phone is getting a text. Want me to check it?” Peyton asked.

  “Sure,” I said, hoping it was Ashanti saying she changed her mind and was on her way over.

  “It’s from Thalia. She wants to know if it’s still cool if she comes over,” Peyton said.

  “Do you mind?” I asked.

  “Nope, I’ll call her myself.”

  The pizza arrived and we took it into the living room. Peyton said Thalia told her that she couldn’t spend the night, but she was on her way with some snacks from her dad’s candy store.

  “Is that why you invited her, Landry?” Tori asked.

&nb
sp; “No, of course not,” I said, taking a slice of pizza. What kind of person did she think I was?

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to make it sound bad. It’s just something Yasmin said.”

  “What did she say?” I asked. That first bite of pizza wasn’t sitting so well.

  “You know how she is,” Tori said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, don’t breathe a word of this, but Yasmin was talking and you know how everyone kisses up to her — well, she said you were hanging around with Thalia to make yourself look better.”

  Peyton choked on a mouthful of cherry cola.

  “Um, you do know Thalia is my friend, right?” I said.

  “Yeah, I do, it’s just… well, you know how Yasmin can be, and everyone goes along with whatever she says. Lately, Ericka has been following her every word, too.”

  I nodded but was afraid that anything I’d say might get back to Ericka. In the past, Tori could always be counted on to keep a secret, but lately things had been so weird that I didn’t know where her loyalty was — to me or Ericka. After all, weren’t they best friends now? I guessed they were, and I didn’t talk to Tori every single night after school anymore like we used to. In my eyes, Ashanti and Peyton were my two closest friends.

  “Whatever. Let’s just get the game set up so we can start playing when Thalia gets here,” I said.

  Thalia arrived and we watched the intro to the game. A voice, Skylar, came on and told us all about her mysterious visit to the B&B and outlined the case for us. Then the screen made it look like we were in the car driving up to the old inn.

  “Oh cool, it’s like we’re actually Skylar ourselves and we see from her point of view,” Thalia said.

  “I love this so much. Look at the graphics. This is so awesome,” Peyton said.

  “Wait until you get to the rooms,” Tori said. “You can hunt for clues in the closets and stuff. Oh, and Sterling’s room has a — never mind, you’ll see. No spoilers.”

  Tori knew we needed a notebook to write down the clues, so she had brought one with her. Peyton controlled the game with the keyboard, but she said we could all take turns. My hands were greasy from the pizza, so I was content with just watching and picking questions for Skylar and Sterling to ask the other B&B guests.