by Chloe Taylor
“I’m so excited for tomorrow,” Priti said. “We’re totally going to win. I’m sure. Especially now that Zoey is making accessories for our outfits.”
“She is?” Kate said. “Can’t wait to see them!”
“Well, they’re not ready yet,” Zoey said. “But I’ve got the designs all worked out.”
“She’s using that cool material we found in the hat closet,” Priti said.
“Let’s put a top coat of glitter polish on our nails to match,” Libby suggested.
“Great idea!” Priti exclaimed. “Or maybe just glitter on the tips . . . like a sparkly French manicure.”
“You’re asking for less sparkle?” Zoey asked Priti. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”
Priti laughed. “Very funny, Zo. But, seriously, wouldn’t that look cool?”
Kate, whose style was usually a little more understated—and whose mom was a little more conservative when it came to fashion—wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.
“Do we have to add glitter polish? It’s going to be weird enough to have my nails painted red and silver without having them sparkle, too.”
Kate’s usual nail color pick was a barely there pink, and even then she usually took it off within a day or two.
“Come on, Kate! It’s only for one day. You can take it off tomorrow night if it bothers you,” Priti coaxed.
“Okay.” Kate sighed. “I guess I’ll have to take some sparkles for the team,” she said.
“That’s our girl,” Zoey said. “Always a team player.”
When their nails were dry, Libby’s mom drove them to the Flynn house for a final rehearsal of their karaoke routine.
While Libby was searching for “Be Yourself” on her MP3 player, Zoey told her friends about what Ivy said about her mom’s dress.
“Why would she say something like that?” Kate exclaimed. “I don’t get it!”
“That’s because you’re nice,” Zoey replied. “Your life’s mission isn’t to make someone else miserable.”
“I don’t understand why she always seems to pick on you,” Priti said. “What have you ever done to her?”
“Nothing,” Zoey said. “At least nothing I know of. I try to ignore her like everyone says. ‘If you don’t react, she’ll stop.’ But she doesn’t. She keeps going. If anything, she’s getting worse.”
“Zo, I know you don’t want to tell your dad about what’s been going on, but I think you should,” Kate said, her brow creased with concern.
“Kate’s right,” Libby said. “It’s out of control.”
“But don’t you think that’ll just make things worse?” Zoey asked.
“She’s already making you miserable,” Priti pointed out. “How can it get much worse?”
Zoey could think of plenty of ways. But she started to think maybe her friends were right and it was time to talk to her dad.
“I guess I’ll talk to him when he gets home tonight,” she said. “I just hope he doesn’t go overboard—you know, going to see Ms. Austen and making me shut down Sew Zoey. That would be worse thing ever.”
“I can think of something worse,” Priti said quietly.
“What?” Zoey asked, exchanging concerned looks with Kate and Libby, as if to say, Did you hear that?
Priti’s expression changed from downcast to perky in a flash. “Oh, who knows!” Priti said. “I’m just being dramatic. Forget about it. You know, we really need to practice our karaoke routine. Especially since Ivy, Bree, and Shannon are competing, too, and we don’t want to lose to them!”
That would be the worst, Zoey thought. She didn’t want to lose to anyone, but beating those girls was a matter of pride.
“No way!” Libby said. “Come on, let’s do it!”
Priti grabbed Kate’s and Zoey’s hands, dragging them onto the imaginary stage. They practiced the routine for an hour, stopping when Mrs. Flynn brought them milk and cookies to keep them going. Then she sat on the sofa to be their audience for another run-through.
She clapped loudly when they finished.
“Great job!” she said. “I’d run through the dance sequence in the bridge one more time—that’s the only part that’s a little shaky.”
Priti made them run through it five more times, not just once. Zoey was exhausted and starving for dinner by the time Mrs. Mackey came to drive her and Kate home.
“My feet hurt,” Zoey complained as she slid into the backseat of the car. “I still have to make the accessories tonight too.”
“Do you want me to come over and help after I finish my homework?” Kate asked.
“Yes, please!” Zoey yawned. “I’m not sure I’ll get them all done otherwise.”
Zoey called for her dad as soon as she walked in the door, hoping to talk to him about the Ivy situation before dinner. She got Marcus instead.
“Dad’s not here,” he said. “He had to work late again. He said to say sorry it’s been such a crazy week. I’m going to order pizza from Villa Camillo. Do you want any extras? Garlic knots? Salad? Toppings?”
“No.” Zoey sighed. Now that she’d made the decision to tell her dad her problems, she wanted to talk to him. Now. Tonight. Before anything made her change her mind about it.
“You okay?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah. Just tired,” Zoey said. “And I have to make accessories for tomorrow. Kate’s coming over later to help.”
“Okay—you go sew. I’ll give you a shout when the food gets here.”
Zoey dragged herself up to her room, tired and miserable. She’d been so looking forward to Spirit Week, but instead of boosting her spirits, it had left her down in the dumps.
She turned on her laptop to check her blog and her e-mail before she started cutting fabric for the accessories.
There were more nasty comments on her blog from usernames she didn’t recognize.
Zoey had enough. She went to the administrator page to block the new users. This time she saw that there was a way to delete the blocked user comments from her blog. She pressed delete and breathed a sigh of relief. When she looked back at her blog, the mean comments were gone.
At least all her regular readers were supportive of her, telling her she was right to block the users who weren’t being constructive. Still, Zoey wished she didn’t have to deal with blocking anyone at all.
Her e-mail, at least, brought her quite a nice surprise—a note from Allie Lovallo, the teen who lived nearby and wrote the Always Allie Accessories blog. She said she was soooooooooo excited about the Très Chic feature and asked Zoey if she wanted to meet. Best of all, she suggested meeting at A Stitch in Time because it was her favorite store!
Zoey wrote back:
I’d love to meet you! A Stitch in Time is my favorite store too! I have to check with my dad though, because I don’t have my license yet since I’m only in 7th grade. Maybe this weekend?
She pressed send and then went to her worktable and picked up her scissors. Working carefully from the patterns she’d made from her designs the night before, she cut the material for four scarves, four cuff bracelets, and four small fascinators to go in each of her friends’ ponytails.
The fascinators were going to be the most fiddly, so Zoey got to work on those first. She could have Kate hem the scarves when she came over later.
Zoey was so involved with carefully sewing the sequin fabric around the wire structures she’d created that she didn’t even hear Marcus calling her to tell her the pizza arrived. When he burst into her room, she was so surprised, she pricked her finger.
“Ouch! You scared me!”
“Didn’t you hear me shouting?” Marcus asked.
“No. I was trying to make sure the fabric sat flat instead of puckering.”
“So your ears don’t work when you’re sewing?” Marcus asked with a grin.
“I was concentrating,” Zoey explained, putting down the fascinator she was working on.
“Well, come concentrate on dinner before the pizza gets cold.
”
Over dinner, Zoey told Marcus about Allie’s e-mail.
“I can drive you if Dad’s busy,” he said. “As long as he says it’s okay for you to go meet some random girl off the Internet.”
“She’s not random,” Zoey argued. “She’s going to be in Très Chic’s online feature on teen designers. Just like me.”
“Whatever. You haven’t met her before and Dad needs to say it’s okay.”
“I know,” Zoey said, taking a bite of pizza.
The doorbell rang. Zoey started to get up, but Marcus said, “Finish your slice. I’ll get it.”
He came back in with Kate.
“I’m done,” Zoey said, getting up and putting her plate in the dishwasher. “Can’t wait to show you the fascinators!”
After Kate ate a slice of pizza—she was always game for a snack—they went to Zoey’s room to look at the hats.
“Wow, these are amazing!” Kate said. “How did you do that?”
“Not easily!” Zoey admitted. “They were a lot harder than I thought they’d be. It’s taken me forever just to do three because I couldn’t get the fabric to lie flat. And I still have all the other things to make.”
“That’s what I’m here for!” Kate said. “What can I do to help?”
“How about you cut out the pattern for the wrist cuffs while I finish this last fascinator, and then the scarves are easy-peasy.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Kate declared.
Zoey put on music and they both got to work.
“It’s true what they say about many hands make light work,” Zoey said when they were almost finished. “I thought I was going to be up all night!”
Mr. Webber popped his head into Zoey’s bedroom.
“Hi, honey—hi, Kate. Sorry I wasn’t home for dinner. Had to do some extra rehab with some injured players to try to get them back in playing form for the championships.”
“It’s okay,” Zoey said. “Marcus ordered pizza.”
“Marcus said you have a question for me?” her dad went on.
Zoey explained that Allie from the Très Chic online feature wanted to meet her at A Stitch in Time. Her dad agreed, as long as he could talk to Allie’s parents first and stay at the fabric store with them during the meet up. “You know, I’m sure if the folks at Très Chic give Allie their seal of approval, there’s nothing to worry about . . . but you can’t be too careful.”
“Thanks, Dad!” Zoey said.
Her dad scanned the room. “What are you two up to?”
“Kate’s helping me make accessories for tomorrow,” she said. “You know, for the karaoke competition.”
Mr. Webber came in and picked up one of the fascinators, but held it upside down.
“Wow. This is cool. What is it, exactly?”
“It’s a fascinator, Dad,” Zoey said.
“Well, that’s absolutely fascinating, but I still don’t understand what it is,” her dad said.
“You wear it in your hair,” Kate explained.
Mr. Webber held up the sparkly fascinator to his thinning hairline.
“You mean like this?”
Kate giggled. Zoey rolled her eyes.
“Um . . . no!” she said. “You should stick to baseball hats.”
“Right now, I think I’ll forego hats of any kind,” Zoey’s dad replied, “in favor of a long, hot shower. Good night, girls.”
He gave Zoey a kiss on the forehead. Zoey was thinking of asking him to wait so she could talk with him when a car horn honked outside. First once, then two more times. When she looked back for her dad, he was gone.
“That must be my mom,” Kate said. “Time to go . . .”
“Thanks for helping me, Kate,” Zoey said. “I wouldn’t have finished otherwise.”
“We’re a team, right?” Kate said. She waved her nails in Zoey’s face. “A very sparkly team!”
- - - - CHAPTER 6 - - - -
Glitter Up, Girls!
I never thought I’d say this, because I Mapleton Prep and I’m usually full of school spirit, but TGIF! I’m sooooo glad Spirit Week is almost over. It hasn’t turned out to be nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. You know when you’ve looked forward to something for a long time, and then it doesn’t quite live up to your expectations? Yup. Like that.
Maybe today, School Colors Day, will be the day that turns it all around. I’m really happy with how the accessories I made last night (with help from Kate, thank you, sparkly teammate!!) came out. How do you spice up School Colors Day? Add sequins! We found some sequined material in the hat closet at Priti’s house when we were looking at hats. Priti said I could use it, and I tried to work it as little as possible so nothing went to waste, because it’s so beautiful and sparkly! It’ll give our outfits the perfect finishing touch when it’s time for the karaoke competition, don’t you think?
Now if we can only remember all the dance moves and the words to our song! Wish me—oops! I mean, wish us—luck!
The entrance to Mapleton Prep was a sea of red and silver when Kate and Zoey got off the bus the next morning.
Morning classes passed quickly because they were on an abbreviated schedule so the students could finish early for the school assembly.
Kate, Libby, Priti, and Zoey met in the girls’ bathroom before the assembly to get dressed for the karaoke competition. Zoey had a shopping bag full of sparkly accessories to add to their School Colors Day outfits.
“What do you think?” she asked, putting a fascinator on Libby first. “Does this look right?”
“Perfect, totally, yes! And I love what you did with the fabric!” Priti exclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement. “Where’s mine? I can’t wait to put it on!”
Zoey took it out and helped Priti put it in her hair. Kate gave Priti a scarf and wrist cuffs. Priti wrapped the scarf around her neck and tossed the ends over her shoulder with a jaunty flair.
“These accessories are so cool!” Libby said, snapping on some wrist cuffs. “You must have been up all night, Zoey.”
“No, Kate helped me,” Zoey said. “Otherwise I totally would have been up all night.”
Soon after, the entire school gathered in the auditorium for the Spirit Assembly and karaoke competition. There was red and silver everywhere!
“Thank you for all the creativity you’ve displayed this week,” Ms. Austen told the students. “I’ve been so impressed by the outfits you’ve come up with for each of our Spirit Week theme days.”
She picked up the remote for the projector.
“Let’s have a look at some of the great ensembles we’ve seen in school this week,” she said, starting a slideshow.
Zoey grabbed Kate when a picture of Kate and Libby in their Oreos and milk costume came up. “Look! It’s you!”
There also was a picture of Priti in her Decades Day costume, and Zoey in her Backward Day outfit.
“Do you think any of these will end up in the yearbook?” Kate whispered.
“Maybe!” Zoey said.
When the slideshow ended, Ms. Austen said it was time to announce the Spirit Week prizes. Zoey’s heart started to beat a little faster. It had been a challenging week, what with all the unpleasant stuff on her blog, and winning a prize for best costume would definitely cheer her up.
But as Ms. Austen went down the list of prizes, her name wasn’t called. Not once. Zoey wondered if maybe, just maybe, the comments on her blog about her having no talent were just saying the truth.
“And now, last, but definitely not least, Best Team Costume,” Ms. Austen announced. She paused a moment for dramatic effect. “Libby Flynn and Kate Mackey for milk and Oreos!”
Kate jumped up with an excited squeal, and Libby was out of her seat, embracing Kate, then Priti, and then Zoey on the way to pick up their prize certificates. Zoey was happy to cheer for her friends, and especially thrilled to see Libby with such a radiant smile on her face after the horrible Hat Day incident. As she and Kate walked back to their seats, Libby got extra l
oud cheers from her classmates in Mrs. Brennan’s class. At least something was going right in the world, Zoey thought.
“This is kind of your award too,” Kate said, giving Zoey a hug as she sat down. “After all, you designed the costumes.”
Zoey smiled, glad she had friends who appreciated her, but she was preoccupied by her nerves.
“Thanks,” she said. “Right now, I’m worried about remembering the dance steps!”
“You’ll be fine,” Kate assured her. “You’re an old pro at this now. After you’ve been on TV, doing karaoke in school should be a piece of cake!”
But as the karaoke contest began, Zoey got more and more nervous. The competition was really good. She never realized how many good singers there were at Mapleton Prep. Zoey knew she sounded okay in the shower, but it was different when she sang with a microphone. People could hear her! Priti had a great voice, and Libby’s was pretty good, but she and Kate were better dancers than singers. Hopefully, their fancy footwork would wow the audience enough to make up for their so-so vocals.
There were a few groups who went first and got a decent amount of applause from the crowd. Then it was time for Ivy, Shannon, and Bree to sing. The music started and Zoey and her friends gasped.
“You are you and I am me
And that’s the way it
All should be . . .”
They were singing “Be Yourself” by Las Chicas!
“Oh my gosh,” Zoey whispered to Kate, Priti, and Libby. “They’re singing our song!”
Libby’s lip began to quiver. “Everyone’s going to think we’re copying them!” she said.
“I don’t get it,” Kate whispered back. “They’re not really about ‘being yourself,’ you know? Why would they pick that song?”
“Hold on.” Zoey thought back to gym class earlier in the week. “I heard them say they were going to sing “Get Your Cool On.” Why would they switch songs?”
“I’m sorry to say this, but maybe they knew we chose that song and wanted to mess with us,” Priti said in a hushed voice. “But how did they know?”
Kate shrugged.
“Oh no!” Zoey said. “I think . . . I think I wrote about it in my blog.”
