Your Life, but Sweeter

by Crystal Velasquez

  “She keeps saying ‘we,’ ” Jessie interrupts you, “but it was all my idea. I’m the one who thought we should chase him. They just followed along. Lena didn’t want to go, but we sorta talked her into it.”

  “I could have said no,” Lena offers. “You two aren’t the boss of me.”

  “All right,” Amanda says, holding her hand up to stop you. “I think I get the picture.” She turns to the policeman, who is standing by with an amused smirk on his face. “I’m so sorry to have wasted your time, Officer. Thank you for all your help.”

  “No problem,” he answers, waving away her thank-you. “Just doing my job. I’m glad this had a happy ending. It’s like they said in the play by that Shakespeare guy that my daughter was just in. Oh man, what was it?” He snaps his fingers, trying to jog his memory.

  “All’s well that ends well?” Lena offers, her face lighting up at the mention of the Bard.

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s it,” the officer says, pointing a stubby index finger at Lena. “All’s well that ends well. Aw, you shoulda seen my daughter in that,” he says, tapping Amanda’s arm with one heavy hand and smiling from ear to ear. “She was really great. A real star, that one.” Then he quickly clears his throat and gets serious again. “But ladies, do me a favor: Stay outta trouble while you’re visiting my fair city, or next time things might not end so well, capisce?” He lowers his head but raises his bushy eyebrows.

  You and your friends nod over and over again, probably looking like bobbleheads. “Yes, sir,” you say, speaking for all three of you. He can consider you scared straight.

  The officer nods, tips his hat to Amanda, and heads back to his squad car. “Good day, ladies. Stay safe out there.”

  He speeds away, the red and white lights on his roof spinning as he merges into traffic, and then he’s gone—leaving you with a still very stressed-out Amanda.

  “So … what now?” you ask, not sure you even want to know the answer.

  Amanda shoves one hand into her coat pocket, tapping her chin with the other. “I haven’t decided yet. What you guys did was not too bright, but I’m glad you told me the truth. And I understand that you want to see celebrities while you’re here, but that’s not the most important thing in the world. It’s not even the coolest thing to do in New York.”

  You are all agreeing with Amanda, but something in Jessie’s body language says that she’s not completely convinced.

  “You know what?” Amanda says, smiling as if she’s just been struck by sudden inspiration. “I was going to take you to see Times Square or F.A.O. Schwarz, but now I think I have a better idea.” She steps off the sidewalk and holds her arm straight up in the air. At first you think she’s doing her Superman impression or something, which seems weird. But then you realize that she’s hailing a cab. In seconds, a big yellow taxi with two rows of leather seats pulls up and you all pile in, Amanda snagging the seat next to the driver.

  “Where to?” he asks Amanda.

  She tells him an address, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

  “Where are we going?” Lena asks nervously, watching the cab driver dart in and out of lanes as if he’s playing some racing game on Wii.

  “She said it was better than Times Square,” answers Jessie. “So … maybe the Empire State Building? Or … oh! Maybe we’re heading to the Village? That would be sweet!”

  Amanda turns around. “Nope. Someplace even sweeter.” She smiles mysteriously, and that’s all she says as you zoom down the street.

  You left the museum in hopes of seeing way more of New York than your class was going to see on the field trip. But so far, all you’ve seen are a crowded subway station and a faux Nick Jonas. And since you chose to ignore Amanda’s directions to stay put in order to do a little celebrity stalking, she now thinks you need to get your priorities straight. You have no idea where she’s planning to take you, but if it’s sweeter than Times Square, it must be out of this world. Bring it on!

  QUIZ TIME!

  No quiz this time, sister. You’re being held captive in a New York City cab and there’s no getting out now. So just strap on your seat belt and hang on for the ride to this page.

  Your name might as well be SpongeBob, because you’re just a touch self-absorbed. While it’s true that everyone is the star of his or her own life, in your movie, you’re the star, the supporting cast, the writer, the director, and the crew! It’s great that you find your life so interesting and that you value your own experiences. But there’s a whole world out there that is just begging you to sit up and take notice.

  Times Square is even more amazing than you thought it would be. Everywhere you look are flashing neon signs, video billboards for all the hottest clothing lines and Broadway shows, and tons of restaurants and souvenir shops. As you walk down the busy sidewalk next to Amanda, you weave through groups of tourists from all over the world—some speaking German, some speaking Japanese, some speaking languages you don’t even recognize! Every few feet you are handed a flyer for a comedy club or an electronics store. And in the middle of all this chaos is a pedestrian plaza where people are sitting outside, lounging at little plastic tables as if they were in a café in Paris during the summer instead of New York City in forty-degree weather.

  “Wow, how cool is this?” you ask Lena, who has been awfully quiet since you left F.A.O. Schwarz. She must still be thinking about the cute duet you played with Amanda on the keyboard. That will definitely go down as one of the best moments of this trip for you.

  “Uh-huh,” she says now.

  “Yeah,” Jessie adds. “It’s superfab. I just wish we had gotten here in time to see you-know-who at you-know-where.”

  When Amanda told you she was taking you to Times Square, Jessie immediately requested that you head straight to MTV Studios to see if you could catch a glimpse of Nick or, if you were really lucky, get his autograph. But when you arrived, the guard downstairs told you that Mr. Jonas had left five minutes before. Even worse, the guard wasn’t sure where Nick’s next promotional stop would be. Bummer. In a city this size, he could be anywhere! After that, Lena didn’t want to hear any more about it, having listened to Jessie obsess over him all morning.

  In your opinion, a celebrity sighting would have been cool, but you’re just as happy getting to hang with Amanda, who has turned out to be cool and funny and who seems to think you’re awesome too. You have been talking her ear off nonstop since the duet. (Someone had to pick up the slack, since Lena is being such an introvert and Jessie is busy mourning her missed opportunity.)

  “Where are we going now?” you ask Amanda.

  “Well, since I already took you to one famous toy store, I figured we should continue the theme. Everybody stick together!” You cross a noisy intersection and see the big Toys ’R’ Us sign lit up in green, yellow, red, and purple. Leading out of the oversize revolving door is a line of people stretching down the block.

  “You have to wait on line to get in?” Jessie asks, her eyes widening. “It’s like getting into an exclusive party or something.”

  Amanda giggles a little and explains that there isn’t usually a line, but around the holidays, shoppers descend on this store as if it’s the last glass of water in the middle of a desert. “The line is to make sure no one gets trampled.”

  “Trampled?” Lena slows her walk. “Are we sure we want to go in there?”

  “Definitely,” Jessie insists, taking a place on line. “Check out what’s inside!”

  You take a peek through the thick glass windows, shielding the glare of the sun with your hands. “Is—is that—a Ferris wheel?” you stammer.

  It is! Right smack in the middle of the store is a huge yellow Ferris wheel with little carriages built for two.

  The line moves pretty quickly, and when you get downstairs to the Ferris wheel entrance, there’s another line. But it’s worth it. As soon as your crew gets to the front of the line, you jump into an M&M-themed car with Amanda, leaving Jessie and Lena to share the Cabbage
Patch Kids car.

  “This is sick! Do you come here every day?” you ask Amanda. “I would come every day if I lived here.”

  Amanda laughs out loud. “I don’t think my professors would approve if I skipped class every day to ride a Ferris wheel.”

  “Oh, right. School.” You rub your chin between your fingers. “I think I would just get a laptop and Skype with the professor from here.”

  “Note to self: Get a laptop and learn how to Skype,” Amanda says, grinning.

  “Lena could show you. Since she started her blog, she’s picked up a ton of computer skills.”

  “She writes a blog?” Amanda asks, surprised. “I didn’t know.”

  “Yeah,” you go on, “and you should read it. A lot of it is about me. Maybe she’ll turn it into a book one day and I’ll be famous!”

  Amanda chuckles again. You can tell you are totally cracking her up. Too bad you don’t live in New York. If you did, you and Amanda would probably hang out all the time.

  As you get to the top of the wheel, you take in a view of the whole store … and it rocks! You can see people strolling past on every floor, a lot of them staring at the Ferris wheel with wonder. And you can hear the roar of the mechanical T. rex on the lower floor in the Jurassic Park section. You pull out your camera and scoot closer to Amanda. “We’ve got to get a picture of us with all this behind us,” you say. You hold out your arm as far as you can, aiming the camera at yourself. “Say cheese!”

  “Cheeeese,” Amanda repeats, holding up a peace sign behind your head to give you rabbit ears. You hope Jessie and Lena are having as much fun in their car as you are in yours.

  When the ride finally comes to an end, you climb out, feeling jazzed. You also feel like your bladder is about to explode. Amanda walks the three of you through the section with all the baby supplies to the ladies’ room. She says she’ll be waiting right outside while you girls “powder your noses.”

  “Oh man, this is so much fun,” you shout to Lena and Jessie from inside your stall. “I can’t wait to see all the pictures. I got a really good one of Amanda and me on the Ferris wheel.” You come out of your stall and walk over to the sink to wash your hands. Lena is already there, drying her own hands with a rough brown paper towel. “And I wasn’t sure I’d have much in common with a college kid, but Amanda is so easy to talk to. Don’t you think?”

  Lena glares at you and you can see the muscles in her jaw pulsing. “I wouldn’t know,” she says through clenched teeth. “I’ve barely gotten to say two words to her all day because somebody I know has been stuck to her like superglue!” With that, she storms out of the bathroom, leaving you in utter shock.

  Jessie then swings open her stall door and inches out, wincing at what she just overheard.

  “Uh … I’m confused. What’s with her?” you ask, genuinely puzzled.

  “You mean you really don’t know?” Jessie asks while she washes up.

  “Enlighten me.”

  “Well,” Jessie says, drying her hands and then reaching up to tighten her ponytail, “we’re only here for one day, which means Lena has only one day to see Amanda. And don’t take this the wrong way, but you have been totally hogging her.”

  “Me? What about you! You’ve been talking to Amanda too.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve been way worse. I haven’t said anything because I figured you’d get the hint eventually, but you just haven’t noticed.”

  You are outraged! How could she accuse you of being so oblivious? “How do you figure I’ve been worse?”

  “Let me count the ways,” Jessie says, counting off on her fingers. “In F.A.O. Schwarz, Lena was going to play that duet with Amanda, but you jumped in front of her. Just walking around, you’ve been right next to Amanda the whole time and talking to her nonstop. And then we get here and you jump into the Ferris wheel car with Amanda without even asking Lena if she wanted that spot. And now you start bragging about how much fun you’re having with Amanda and how you two took a picture together … I mean, what did you expect? Lena’s pretty mild-mannered, but a girl can only take so much.”

  “But—but I was talking to Amanda about Lena on the Ferris wheel.”

  Jessie tilts her head sympathetically as if to say, Aw, you poor clueless dope. “Think about it this way.” Jessie holds her hands out, palm side up, as if they are scales. “If I had the choice between someone talking to Nick Jonas about me”—she lowers her right hand—“or me getting to talk to him myself”—she lowers her left—“which one do you think I’d pick?”

  Without even having to think about it, you tap her left hand, sinking the imaginary scale with the weight of your hand. “Eureka! I think she’s got it,” Jessie says in a game-show-host voice to a phantom audience.

  “But I just think Amanda’s awesome, that’s all. I wish she were my cousin.”

  “Yeah, but she’s not your cousin. She’s Lena’s.”

  You’re floored. Have you really been that clueless all day? You thought Lena seemed extra quiet ever since you left the museum. Now that you think back on it, she didn’t really seem all that thrilled when you and Jessie decided to tag along. And so far, Amanda was taking you all to do things that she thought you and Jessie would like. If it were just Lena and her cousin, they probably wouldn’t even be in Times Square right now. They’d be off touring Amanda’s college campus, maybe, talking about the future—and Lena would be on cloud nine.

  You’ve been so wrapped up in your own good time that you didn’t even realize you were ruining Lena’s.

  “I guess I’d better go apologize,” you say. “I don’t think she wants me to talk to her, though.”

  “Try singing your apology, then,” Jessie jokes. “It always works on Glee!”

  You come out of the bathroom fully prepared to face a scowling Lena. (Thankfully, Lena usually uses her powers for good, but she definitely knows how to kill you with a glare when she wants to.)

  But what you see instead is Lena and Amanda sitting on a nearby window ledge, hugging and laughing. They are so deep in conversation that they don’t even notice you and Jessie standing there until you clear your throat.

  “Oh, hey, guys,” Amanda says finally, sliding an arm around Lena’s shoulders. “Lena and I have been talking and … Well, I was going to take two back to meet up with your class after this, since I haven’t had enough quality time with my cuz here.” She ruffles Lena’s silky brown hair. “But how would you guys feel about coming with us to see where I work? I’m not sure you’ll like it, but Lena really wants to go.”

  You shift your feet, not sure what Lena would want you to say. “Uh … I don’t know. Lena, if you don’t want me to go, it’s cool.”

  You look at the shiny white-tiled floor. Lena stands up and crosses over to you, takes your hand, and pulls you off to the side. “Don’t be such a lunkhead,” she says. “I want you to come. And I’m sorry for biting your head off before. Amanda saw how upset I was when I came out of the bathroom and we talked about it. I guess I should have spoken up sooner.”

  “I’m sorry too,” you say immediately. “I didn’t know I was being so me, me, me.”

  Lena shrugs. “I just really missed Amanda and was a little jealous of all the time you two were spending together. But I get it. Like you said, she’s awesome.”

  You look back at your Shakespeare-quoting, blog-writing, track-running, book-loving friend and smile. “It runs in the family.”

  It may have taken Jessie to point it out to you, but you have finally come out of your self-obsessed bubble and realized you were bogarting Amanda’s time when you should have been letting the cousins bond. Now that the air has been cleared, you’re free to enjoy the rest of your day in the city—only now you’re going to do something Lena wants to do for a change. If whatever it is turns out to be half as cool as Lena, you’ll have a blast.

  QUIZ TIME!

  No need for a quiz this time. Now that you and Lena are on the mend, you’ll go wherever she leads. And right now
, she’s leading you to this page.

  Too bad you can’t be cloned, because there should be more people like you. You don’t have a self-absorbed bone in your body and are always in tune with what’s going on with the world at large, your fam, your friends, even your pet hamster. And not only are you aware of things outside your own life, you actually care about them! That attitude is the stuff philanthropists and good friends are made of. But be careful not to put yourself on the back burner. It’s okay to be just as interested in your own life as you are in everyone else’s.

  It’s official: Lena is mad at you. She won’t come out and say it, but you know the telltale signs: the pouty bottom lip; the crossed arms, as if she is literally trying to hold her anger inside; the one-word answers. Yep, you’ve been on the wrong side of Lena before and this stage is usually the calm before the storm. And you know why, too.

  After you left F.A.O. Schwarz, you started going over the triumphant keyboard duet moment in your mind. When you watch the mental instant replay, you see Amanda ask if any of you know “Chopsticks,” and you see Lena take a step forward with a gleam in her eye.

  But then (and this is the part you wish you could leave on the cutting-room floor), you jumped in ahead of Lena and stole a moment with her cousin that should have been hers. D’oh! Oh well. You can’t take it back now. What’s done is done. But the day isn’t over yet and maybe there’s still time to make amends.

  You’ve just come from the MTV Studios, where you struck out at meeting Nick Jonas. “Five minutes,” Jessie keeps saying woefully. “I can’t believe we missed him by five measly minutes.”

  “And I can’t believe you’ve been saying that for half an hour,” Lena complains. “Let it go already!”

  Jessie lifts her eyebrows in surprise. “Soo-oo-oorry,” she says, shooting you a What’s eating her? look. If you could, you’d tell Jess that you and she are both guilty of horning in on Lena’s reunion with her cousin, and then pushing Amanda to take you to see the stuff you and Jessie want to see. (Lena thinks Nick Jonas is okay, but she definitely wouldn’t have chosen to spend any time trying to hunt him down.) And considering that Lena spent so much time supporting you and Jessie when you were dealing with the choir auditions, and has sat through numerous Gossip Girl-athons when she would much rather have been checking out a play or a new book, you both owe her big-time.