Mia nodded. “Sure.” She plugged in her flat iron and Cleo’s mom’s curling iron.
Caylee spoke. “Did you want to do the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures?”
“How could I forget? Thank you, Caylee, Chief Operating Officer of Cleopatra Enterprises, Inc. What would I do without you?”
Caylee fluttered her eyelashes. “You’re welcome. And I don’t know.”
Cleo found Dad telling Mom about his soccer team’s game in the living room. “Dad! We need you and your camera in our makeover salon. Right away.”
Dad hopped up and saluted. “Yes, boss.” He pulled her into a hug. “But not until I get one of these!”
Cleo let him hug her, then hurried back to the family room. Amelie and Anusha were settled in the “salon chairs.” Caylee and Mia clipped towels around their shoulders like smocks.
Dad came in with his camera and took all of their “before” shots. As soon as he was done, Cleo focused in on her work. She curled Anusha’s hair a section at a time, her vision taking shape. She felt like a stylist on Fortune, helping Anusha to “make an impression” and tell the world who she was!
“Ooo! That turned out so cute!” Tessa said of Anusha’s hair when Cleo had finished.
“Simple, yet elegant,” Cleo said and handed Anusha the mirror.
Anusha smiled shyly at her reflection. Cleo had curled her shoulder-length hair into ringlets and then swept up the sides and secured them with rhinestone-studded star clips. “For just seven dollars the clips can be yours. We’ll put your name on them, of course. I seem to recall your name means ‘beautiful morning star.’ ” Cleo was working her magic.
Anusha nodded and her smile widened. “Okay,” she said.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” Cleo found the jar of glitter powder. “A little sparkle for the beautiful morning star?” she asked.
Anusha nodded again.
Cleo dusted the powder on Anusha’s brown skin, giving it a sparkling sheen. She held the brush over Anusha’s head and tapped it all around on her hair, as well. “Perfecto!” Cleo declared. Anusha giggled. She looked in the mirror once more and then it was Caylee’s turn.
While working on Caylee, Cleo sensed the conversation dragging. The silences were becoming longer and more obvious. She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. “Who else watches Fortune?”
None of the girls did, except Caylee, of course, who only watched it with Cleo. Some of the girls’ moms did.
“You’re going to love it!” She found the menu and went to the first recorded episode she had saved from the past week. “Caylee and I have been so busy working on Passion Clips, I haven’t had time to watch the show every day like I usually do.”
Most of the girls watched, although now and then some of them would talk when it wasn’t a commercial, which annoyed Cleo, but she let it go. She was having a Passion Clips party with nine girls and everyone was having fun!
At the end, Mia and Cleo did each other’s hair. When they were done, and all the “after” pictures had been taken, and Mom and Dad had oohed and aahed over how pretty they all were, and Josh and Jay had made a scene about how girly they all looked, it was time for pizza. And they were famished!
Thankfully, Mom took Josh and Jay upstairs for an Iron Man movie, and Barkley was locked in with them, or dog slobber would have been all over the pizza.
While the girls ate, they talked about how Max Peacock had gotten in trouble in PE for running around with his pogo stick as if it were a lance, challenging people to joust; and about how gross Rowdy Jimmy Ryerson was. At lunch that day, he had snorted a spaghetti noodle up his nose.
Tessa had been sitting next to him. “He had one end hanging out his nose, and the other end coming out of his mouth. He pulled it back and forth like floss!” The girls all shrieked in disgust. Cleo did too, although honestly, when she’d seen him doing it, she’d been impressed.
After that, it was quiet except for the pizza being gobbled. Chewing became the loudest sound in the room. Everyone looked at everyone else. The room exploded with laughter.
When it got quiet again, Amelie spoke: “What’s it like being adopted?” She was looking at the picture of Cleo’s family on the wall. The room was silent again, except for the sound of pizza crusts moving around in people’s mouths. Cleo’s ears felt plugged with cotton. Her brain felt fuzzy and her chest got tight. Normally, she felt great about being at the center of a group’s attention, but not like this.
No one else here was adopted. Everyone waited to hear her response.
She shrugged. “It’s no big deal. And it’s all I’ve ever known, so …”
“So you were adopted as a baby?” Lily asked.
“Uh-huh.” Cleo kept her eyes on the piece of pepperoni in front of her mouth.
“Do you know why your parents didn’t keep you?” Mia asked. Cleo shook her head.
“Were they young?” Steffy asked.
“Kind of.”
Amelie’s question had opened a floodgate. Suddenly, they all had something they wanted to know about her adoption.
“My cousin’s adopted,” Tessa said. “My parents told us it’s just another way some people get a family. It’s not better or worse—just different.”
Cleo was feeling different all right. And it seemed as if her brain had stopped sending messages to her mouth. For once in her life, she had no idea what to say.
“Jeremy’s lucky, I think,” Tessa continued. “He’s got four parents who care about him.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmine asked. “Four parents?”
“Oh, because he knows his birth parents. He does things with his birth dad sometimes, and his birth mom comes to a lot of our family things.”
“Isn’t that awkward?” Mia asked.
This conversation was awkward, and Cleo wanted it to end. Now.
Mia turned to Cleo. “Do your birth parents come to your family events?”
“Maybe she doesn’t really want to talk about this,” Caylee said quietly.
Thank you, Caylee.
“Do you?” Mia asked.
Cleo would be calm, cool, and collected—professional. Like Fortune. “Like I said, it’s no big deal. Who wants ice cream?” She jumped up.
Everyone cheered at the suggestion of dessert.
“I’ll get the sundae bar set up. Put your trash in here.” She held up the bag Mom had left them and hurried out of the room.
The rest of the night she tried hard to forget about the conversation. It’s no big deal, she repeated to herself. She folded paper fortune-tellers along with everyone else, but how could a little piece of paper tell her what she really wanted—needed—to know? What would it be like to meet her birth dad? Did she really want to do that? And where was her birth mom? Would she ever meet her?
After the lights were finally out and the whispers had been replaced by slow, heavy exhales around the room, Cleo snuck up to her bed and grabbed Beary. She went to her brothers’ slightly ajar door and called quietly, “Come here, Barkley.” His collar jangled as he shook out his body. He appeared at the door.
“Hi, boy!” she said, hugging him around his neck. He licked her face. She led him downstairs and between still bodies in sleeping bags. She scooted into her bag and squeezed Beary to her chest. Barkley plopped down alongside her. He sniffed her face and sneezed twice, probably from the glitter powder.
Dad had told Cleo once that dogs could smell if another dog had come from the same gene pool—if they were related by blood.
That would be a totally different kind of superpower. Cleo wished she had it.
She said a short prayer that she would know what to do about meeting her birth dad. If she did meet him, a relative-sniffing superpower wouldn’t be necessary. He’d be able to tell her all about her birth family. So was she ready for that?
Cleo awoke to high-pitched shrieks.
Amelie ran in place on the love seat. “A mouse just ran across
my sleeping bag!” She gripped her crossed arms. “Ew! Ew! Ew!”
Everyone started screaming. A few girls burrowed into their bags; several others jumped onto the couch. Caylee sprang into the recliner without touching the floor.
Cleo stood quickly. Her sleeping bag slid to the ground. Barkley was gone. “Where?” she shouted. The mouse had been at large for weeks. Why did it have to choose now of all times to make its grand appearance?
“It went under there!” Amelie pointed in the direction of the couch. Lily, Jasmine, Steffy, and Mia, standing on the couch, squealed and hugged one another in fright.
Rosa sat up in her spot. She rubbed her eyes. Apparently, she was just getting the memo that a rodent was on the loose in their sleeping quarters. “It’s just a mouse. What’s the big deal?”
Cleo looked at Rosa. Now here was a girl with some sense. How had she and Cleo never become friends? After this experience, Cleo would have to change that.
“Hel-lo!” Mia scoffed. “Just a mouse? Who knows what it was doing in the middle of the night while we were innocently sleeping. It could have chewed off pieces of our hair for its nest or pooped in our sleeping bags!”
Anusha gasped. Tessa screamed. They shot from their bags and joined those already on the couch.
“I agree with Rosa,” Cleo said. “Caylee sleeps with a bigger rodent every night.”
“Tye-Dye’s in a cage.” Caylee sat tightly curled in the recliner. “That’s totally different!”
Something small, gray, and furry scampered along the wall and disappeared behind the media center.
Cheese sticks and Chili’s!
Everyone, except Rosa, screamed again. Even Cleo. She couldn’t help it. It was just so … mousy.
“What’s going on?” Mom appeared at the doorway in her robe, bed head and all. It dawned on Cleo that it was early. Really early. The sky was still darkish. Next door, Miss Jean’s rooster crowed.
“It’s the mouse,” Cleo said forcefully, hoping Mom heard the frustration in her voice.
“The mouse?” Mia looked aghast. “It, like, lives here? You knew about it and you didn’t kill it?”
“Everyone, pack up your stuff.” Mom took charge. “Party’s moving.”
Cleo grabbed her sleeping bag, making sure Beary was stuffed out of view. She helped Anusha, who seemed the most afraid to leave the couch, carry her things. She whispered to Mom as she passed, “You have to get more traps in here—today. This is a social catastrophe of ginormous proportions from which I may never recover!”
“Exaggeration won’t help the situation, Cleo.”
Cleo ignored her and passed through the kitchen to the living room. No one sat on the floor. They perched on the couch, the rocking chair, the dining chairs, or the fireplace’s built-in brick bench, their feet curled up underneath them.
“Hey! Who’s ready to star in a commercial?” she said with forced enthusiasm. No one raised a hand. They just glanced nervously at one another.
“Come on. We’re not going to let a little mouse stop us!”
Caylee put her feet down first. “I’m ready.”
Yes! Her faithful friend and business partner, coming through again.
“Caylee, you stay here with Amelie, Jasmine, Steffy, and Mia. Mia, you can use the bathroom through there to touch up everyone’s hair.” She pointed to the archway that led to the bathroom and spare bedroom-office.
“I’m not going back into the mouse pit to get the irons.” Mia looked disgusted.
“I’ll get them,” Cleo said. “Anusha, Lily, Rosa, and Tessa, bring your clothes and come with me. We’ll get ready in my bedroom.” She had cleared the floor Friday morning, so it was decent.
Cleo ran and got the irons. No sign of Mickey, thank goodness.
She gave the flat iron to Mia, and took the curling one for herself, saying they’d switch when they were done using them. She told her group to follow her and headed for the stairs.
“A little morning excitement, huh?” Dad said as they passed through the kitchen. He was getting the coffeemaker going and had out all the stuff to make chocolate chip pancakes. Good. Chocolate chip pancakes should win her back a few social points.
“Not exactly the kind I was hoping for,” Cleo said, feeling irked. She stomped up the stairs. At the doorway to her room, she stopped. Tipped on its side, on the floor near her desk, lay the mealworm container with the lid off. Oat bran was everywhere.
“Is that what I think it is?” Tessa asked.
Cleo hurtled across her room. She picked up the empty container. “Those little termites!” she hollered.
“Mealworms aren’t termites,” Lily said. “Are they?”
Cleo pushed past her friends and went to her brothers’ closed door. Pound-pound-pound. “Josh! Jay! What did you do with my mealworms?”
No answer.
“Mom! Mom! Josh and Jay stole my science as-signment!”
The door opened a crack. “No we didn’t.” It was Josh.
Cleo pushed all the way in. Barkley got to his feet, his tail wagging and his muzzle covered in evidence. Oat bran. “Barkley! What did you do?” She sensed the other girls standing in the door behind her.
“It’s not his fault.” Jay stood next to Barkley, his arm draped over their black lab. He dropped his chin and mumbled, “Sorry, Cleo.”
“What did you do?”
“I just wanted to hold one.”
“Of my mealworms? You shouldn’t have done that without asking.”
“I know.”
“So where are they? Did Barkley eat them?”
Josh looked serious. “We think so.”
Cleo crossed her arms angrily. She would have to tell Mr. B her dog ate her homework after all.
“Except for one,” Josh said.
“One?” Cleo asked. “Well, where is it?”
Jay mumbled something.
“What did you say?” Cleo couldn’t have heard him right.
“I ate it,” Jay said quietly.
“Ew!!!” More screams from her party guests.
“You what?” Cleo shrieked. Could this day get any worse? And it wasn’t even 8:00 a.m.! “Why did you do that?”
Her friends were freaking out about how gross her brother was.
Jay burst into tears and bolted from the room.
“Get back here!” Cleo yelled. “You little bug!” No way were her brothers getting DinoFormers from her after this craziness. She turned to go after him. The girls parted like the Red Sea. She was ruined!
She met Mom and Dad on the stairs. Mom had Jay in her arms. “Now what’s going on?”
“Jay and Barkley ate my mealworms!”
“What? When?” Mom tried to get Jay to look at her, but his face was buried in her neck.
“Excuse us, girls,” Dad said. “Why don’t you wait downstairs? We have some family business to tend to.”
Cleo’s friends glanced at her as they passed, seeming relieved to be released from the scene of the grisly crime. Cleo followed her parents to the boys’ room. She crossed her arms and smoldered at her family. First, the mouse. Then her mealworms. At the one time when she most wanted to make a good impression. She really did live in a pest zoo!
Dad began asking questions. Jay wouldn’t talk, so Josh became his spokesperson, telling them what Jay had told him: The night before, Jay had been curious to know what a mealworm tasted like (since Dad had said people ate them), so he ate one. He must not have closed the lid all the way, because that morning they had found Barkley with his nose in the container. The mealworms were gone.
“But we don’t know for sure that he ate them,” Dad said.
“Knowing Barkley, I think we can be pretty sure,” Mom said, eyeing the dog.
Barkley whimpered. He was either sorry or about to throw up.
“Can I go?” Cleo asked. “My guests are waiting.”
“Jay, you owe your sister an apology for getting into
her things,” Dad said.
For once, Cleo wasn’t the one in the hot seat for taking something that wasn’t hers.
Jay finally spoke. “I’m sorry, Cleo.”
“Okay.” She was still mad, but she had to know one thing. “What’d it taste like, anyway?”
Jay’s face scrunched. “Squishy.”
Cleo shivered at the thought of a wiggly Tenebrio molitor in her mouth. Disgusting.
So much for Steve Jobs and the businessworms. But maybe Jay had done her a favor. With her subjects gone, she wouldn’t have to spend any more time on that assignment!
Chocolate chip pancakes with canned whipped cream worked exactly as Cleo had hoped. Like a charm. Everything was looking up again.
She and her nine new best friends—bonded by the events of the last fifteen hours—walked to Wilson Park, laughing about how scared Amelie had looked when she’d first spotted the mouse and about Jay eating a mealworm. A mealworm! Crazy kid.
Mom and Dad were letting them go without a parent, one, because they were such a large group, and two, because Ernie Junior, Caylee’s thirteen-year-old brother, was coming along as cameraman. He wanted to be a filmmaker, so he was excited to help them with the project.
Cleo, excited to be a film director, started giving orders as soon as they got to the playground. “Tessa and Steffy, I want you on the two-person, bouncy seesaw thing. Anusha, Lily, and Jasmine on the swings. The rest of you pick a spot on the jungle gym.”
“Can I be on the monkey bars, instead?” Steffy the gymnast asked. “I can climb on top, hang upside down …”
“Okay. Mia, you go with Tessa on the bouncy seesaw.”
“That thing is for little kids. I want to be on the swings.”
Cleo huffed. Her “irk levels” were rising again.
Cleo Edison Oliver in Persuasion Power Page 10
