Beauty (26 page)

You’re Never Too Old for a Muppet Show

“HUDSON TEXTED ME to come to Rockwell Park,” I told Ashley and Blair as we finished up at the salon. At the last minute I’d told them I changed my mind about the knuckles, and they’d happily agreed to skip it. “You guys want to go?”

Rockwell Park was more a field than a park, just a wide stretch of grass with bleachers on either side. It was mostly used for Little League games—except at night, when the bleachers became a hangout for Miracle High students.

“Might as well,” Ashley said. She shrugged, like it was no big deal. And for her it probably wasn’t. She’d probably been to Rockwell Park tons of times. But this was the first time I’d ever been invited. You would think I’d be used to all these firsts by now, but it was like they kept sneaking up behind me, getting me every time.

There was already a group gathered by the bleachers when we got there. Mostly it was juniors, Hudson and Brandon and all their friends, but there was a small group of sophomores, too: Tyler Merryweather, Brittany Crawford, Sarah Jacobs, Josh Wilson, and
Kemper
? My heart skipped a beat in my chest. What was Kemper doing here?

Kemper’s eyes widened when she saw me, traveling from me to Ashley to Blair. “Wow,” she said dryly, walking over. The colored strand in her hair was now a light blue color. She must have dyed it just that day. “You look
really
sick, Mol. Like, deathly ill. I don’t know how you’re even walking.”

Ashley rolled her eyes at me—like
what’s her problem?
—but I ignored her, pulling Kemper off to the side. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Kemp. The truth is, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and I just wasn’t up for going to school today. But after everything that happened yesterday, I wasn’t sure if you’d—”

“Don’t worry about it, Molly,” Kemper interrupted. “You don’t owe me any explanations. Really.”

“Kemp, I—”

But Kemper acted like she hadn’t even heard me. Turning on her heels, she walked away, leaving my half-spoken words hovering in the air between us. I thought about following her, grabbing her shoulders, and making her listen to me, but then Hudson came over and slipped his arm around my shoulder. “You look really pretty tonight,” he whispered in my ear.

I smiled up at him. “You like the nails?” I held up my hand. He took one look at my neon pink nails and burst out laughing.

“Now that makes up for the lack of pink yesterday.”

“Thought so.” I glanced over at Kemper. She was standing with Josh, laughing at something he was saying. I wondered if she had come with him. It felt so strange not to know.

“Hey, Molly!” Brandon Miles was standing on the top row of the bleachers, arms raised in the air. “Ready to be amazed?”

“What’s he going to do?” I asked Hudson.

“Just wait.” Hudson squeezed my shoulders, leading me over to the bleachers. “You’re not going to believe it.” We sat down next to each other, looking up at Brandon.

“One. Two.
Three
!” On three, Brandon threw himself off the bleachers in a perfect back flip, landing gracefully on the grass behind the bleachers.

“Whoa,” I gasped as several people broke out in applause and cheers.

“His parents made him take gymnastics as a kid,” Hudson explained.

“Thank you, thank you.” Brandon took an exaggerated bow. “My next performance will be at my party this Friday.” He paused expectantly.

“You’re having a party on Friday, Bran?” Brittany asked

“I am.” Brandon hopped back up onto the bleachers. “My parents had to go out of town at the last minute.” He pumped a fist in the air. “It’s going to be my biggest one yet.”

“All right,” Zach Martin cheered. “About time, Brandon! You haven’t had a party for months.” Everyone laughed as talk turned excitedly to Brandon’s party. I’d never been to one of his parties, but I’d heard about them. Everyone had. They were supposed to be legendary.

“Big weekend,” Hudson commented as Ashley and Blair scooted over next to us. “Brandon’s party Friday night, prom Saturday night …”

I leaned back on my elbows, letting my hair dangle behind me. “Lucky for you, I’ve got Red Bull for blood.”

“I knew I liked you for a reason.”

“Hudson!” Brandon yelled out from the other side of the field. “Come here for a sec. I’ve got something with your name on it!” He waved two beer bottles through the air.

Hudson jumped up. “Be back in a few,” he said, giving my shoulder a quick squeeze before heading across the park to Brandon.

He’d only been gone a few seconds when Josh wandered over. “Hey Molly,” he said, dropping down next to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kemper crossing the field toward the bathrooms on the other side. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good.” I looked over at him. I had so many questions I wanted to ask him—Was he here with Kemper? Was it a date? How mad at me was she?—but I couldn’t find the courage to ask even one of them.

“So,” he said. He shifted awkwardly in his seat. “You going to Brandon’s party Friday?”

“Looks like it.” An idea popped into my head suddenly. “Are you?”

Josh shrugged. “Maybe, we’ll see.”

“You have to go,” I said. “It should be fun. You can’t miss it.” I gave him my most persuasive smile, the one that made Seth’s friends fawn all over me.

“Okay, okay.” Josh laughed. “I’ll be there.” Kemper was crossing back to the bleachers now, and Josh stood up. “I should, um …” He nodded toward Kemper. “See you later?”

“Sure,” I said. I tried not to look at Kemper, but I couldn’t help letting my eyes flicker in her direction, just once. She was more stomping than walking now and her mouth was set in a tight line. She didn’t look happy.

“What was
that
about?” Ashley demanded the second he walked away.

“What was what about?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I thought you were into Hudson.”

“I am.”

“Then why did you just, like,
insist,
that Josh come to Brandon’s party?”

“Oh, that wasn’t for me,” I assured her quickly. “It’s just, Kemper’s kind of mad at me right now, and since she likes him I thought I’d do her a favor and get them both to go.” The instant the words were out of my lips, I realized what I’d just done.

“
Kemper
likes Josh?” Ashley exclaimed, sounding incredulous. I bit down on my lip, feeling awful that I’d spilled Kemper’s secret. The angry expression vanished from Ashley’s face as her eyes gleamed with the discovery of newfound gossip. “That’s hysterical. I would have thought she’d go for an AV club guy or something.”

“Don’t tell anyone, okay?” I asked anxiously. “I promised her I’d keep it a secret.”

“Don’t worry about me. I won’t say a thing.” Ashley looked over at Josh, giving him a big wave hello. She had an extra-sweet smile on, the same kind I’d seen her give Hudson at the fair.

Oh no.

What if Josh really
was
the mystery guy she liked? It was probably a good thing I’d told her about Kemper’s feelings after all, then. Maybe now she wouldn’t go after him.

“Oh. My. God. Look guys.” Blair cut into our conversation, pointing toward the parking lot. “Looks like Little Miss Piggy decided to come to the park. Do you think she brought Kermit with her?”

As Ashley, Sarah, and Brittany giggled, I looked over to see Hayley climbing out of her mother’s car. She was wearing a short pink wrap dress that stretched tightly against her stomach, a pink beaded necklace, and knee-high leather boots with sky-high heels. Something pink glinted in her hair and when I looked closer, I saw that she’d woven pink rhinestones into several of her braids. I had to admit, Blair wasn’t that far off. In all that pink, spilling out of her too-tight clothes, she did look just a little bit piggy.

It was muddy over by the parking lot and Hayley teetered a little in her heels, grabbing onto the car door for support. As soon as she caught her balance, she slammed the door shut, her eyes scanning the crowd. She brightened as they landed on someone, and she swung her arm through the air in an exaggerated wave. I followed her glance—and saw Kemper waving back as she walked over to meet Hayley. Had Kemper invited her here? After all her protesting this past week? My stomach turned a little. It was weird to think of them making plans without me. When it came down to it, I’d always been closer to both of them than they’d been to each other. Whenever they clashed, I’d been the one in the middle, making peace.

As Kemper made her way toward Hayley, a car passing through the lot skidded slightly, hitting a pile of mud. The mud went flying everywhere, flecks landing all over Hayley’s pink dress.

“Oh my God!” she squealed. She began desperately rubbing at her dress, trying to get the mud spots out. As she did, she took a step forward, landing in some of the mud that had gathered at her feet. As her shoe slid a little, it was like I was watching everything in slow motion. Kemper froze in horror as first one of Hayley’s feet flew up, then the other. Suddenly she was falling. She landed with a smack in the middle of a big gooey pile of mud.

“No. Way,” Ashley breathed. “That is too good to be true. Look, guys.” She raised her voice, so everyone on the bleachers could hear her. “It’s a pig in the mud!”

Next to her, Blair snorted with laughter. “I bet she likes to
pig
out.”

“That outfit’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” Brittany howled.

They were all laughing like crazy now, and as everyone joined in, I could feel my own laughter bubbling up in my stomach. Slowly, Hayley pulled herself back up. For a second, she just stood there, facing us. Her braided hair was dripping with mud, her too-tight dress was torn and mud-splattered, and one of the heels had popped out of her shoes. She really did look like a pig in the mud. She’d said so many horrible things to me yesterday—slung so much mud at me—and now look at her. Dripping in the stuff. My laughter broke through the surface, bursting right out of me. Frantically, Hayley spun around, sending droplets of mud flying everywhere.

“Hayl, wait!” Kemper called out.

Hayley ignored her, taking off at a run. But her gait was all wobbly with only one heel, and she only made it a couple of feet before her foot hit another slippery spot and she went flopping right back down in the mud.

“Look!” Ashley screeched. “A pig in shit!”

I was laughing so hard now I could barely breathe. All the anger I’d felt at Hayley this last week came tumbling out of me, making each laugh louder than the last. “Oink, oink!” I said. And as we leaned against each other, gasping for air, I felt our laughter filling the air, rising above and circling around us, until it felt as solid as a shield.

She’s a Royal Something

“BYE, MOM,” I yelled as I hurried out the door the next morning, careful not to let her see me.

“No breakfast?” she called back. The door gave my answer with a slam.

It was just starting to rain outside, the kind of steady trickle that lashed against you when you were riding your bike, cold and sharp. Normally I’d get one of my parents to drive me and Kemper on a day like this, but that obviously wasn’t an option today. For a second I even thought longingly of the bus, which Kemper and I had opted out of for pick-up that year. With a sigh, I pushed the button to open the garage. The rain was already starting to pick up as I slipped inside. I had just started to pull my bike out of its spot when I heard a car slow to a stop out front. I turned around to see a familiar blue Mini Cooper idling in the driveway. Rain pelted against its roof. Hudson rolled the window down a crack. “Hey, neighbor. Need a ride to school?”

I stood there as he waited for an answer, my words caught somewhere in the back of my throat. Ever since I started high school, I’d had this fantasy: it would be raining one day, too hard to ride my bike, and Hudson, taking pity on me, would stop outside my house, roll down his window, and, flashing me one of his legendary dimples, offer me a ride. All it would take was that one ride for us to fall in love. It was the kind of fantasy that was so ridiculous you didn’t even tell your best friend about it. But you did keep imagining it. Over and over and over again. And now it was actually happening. In real life.
My
real life.