Glitter Girl (9 page)

“Uh, hi,” said Jules, equally awkwardly.

“You didn't want to wear any of the stuff from the gift bag?” said Kat, who saw Jules had her usual jeans and T-shirt ensemble on today. This one was pale blue and had a stick figure on the front with a giant peace sign for a head. She'd worn this one before so Kat knew that on the back of the T-shirt in some outrageously large font size were the words “Think Peace.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Jules. “Some of that stuff wasn't really me. How was the rest of the party?”

“It was okay,” said Kat simply, even though it had been one of the best sleepovers
ever.
“We tried out some other products and told Chelsea what we thought of them. I blogged a bit more. And then we all went to bed. Usual stuff.”

“Yeah. I read your blog,” said Jules simply. Kat felt a pang of embarrassment. Jules had read her review of the hat! Ick.

“You look nice, though,” said Jules. Now she was the one not quite sure what to say.

“Thanks,” said Kat. “You don't think it's too much purple?”

Jules thought Kat looked a bit like an eggplant being devoured by some kind of hideous pink bug, but all she said was, “No, you look nice.”

They didn't talk much more than that for the rest of the ten-minute drive to school. Instead, Kat looked out the window and listened vaguely to Jules's dad's classic rock station that he always listened to when the girls were in the car.

They got to the school about ten minutes early, so most of the kids were still outside the building, milling around and talking. Jules and Kat got out of the Prius and slammed the doors shut. Looking out into the mass of students, they had one simultaneous reaction:

“O…M…G.”

Wendell Willkie Junior High had been transformed into Glitter Girl Central. Every flavor of lip gloss was represented; every color of nail polish adorned someone's fingers or someone's toes. Girls were happily posing for pictures that they took with each other's Glitter Girl slam cams. And the hats! How many girls were wearing those Glitter Girl engineer's hats? Kat couldn't count them all. There had to be a hundred at least, and that was just in the eighth grade alone.

“Is this amazing or what?” said Kat.

“It's something,” Jules had to admit.

“I guess Chelsea knows what she's doing.”

“This isn't about Chelsea,” said Jules. “This is about you, Kat. You must be very proud.”

Kat was proud. Sort of. But in a way, it was a little creepy to see how many girls all looked the same. All of this because of what she had written on her blog less than forty-eight hours ago.

“Good day, ladies.”

Kat and Jules turned around and froze. Standing before them was a completely transformed…Ms. Donovan? She had highlights in her hair and her trademark glasses had disappeared, replaced by contact lenses! For a change she was wearing a dress that didn't look like it could be pitched on a campground. And was that blue eye shadow?

“Ms. Donovan. Look at you. Wow! You've changed!” said Kat.

Ms. Donovan's cheeks flushed a little.

“Well, it occurred to me that I've had the same haircut since fifth grade, so I took your advice, Kat. I did the highlights, and while I was at it, I thought, what the heck…contacts!” Ms. Donovan's voice lowered. “I even bought some Glitter Girl. The eye shadow. I happened to be at the mall yesterday with my nieces. They begged me to go to the Glitter Girl shop—which, by the way, they loved—and talked me into it. Mouthwash, they call the shade. What do you think? Do I look okay?”

“You look—different,” was all Jules could bring herself to say.

“But in a good way, right? You don't think the eye shadow's too much on an old gal like me?”

No, it didn't look bad to Jules. In fact, Ms. Donovan looked kind of pretty. But that wasn't the point.
This
was her Shakespeare teacher who practically spoke in iambic pentameter! And yet this maven of the Renaissance had caved in to Kat's pressure—the hair, the contacts, even the Glitter Girl! It would make your head spin if you weren't so busy throwing up.

“I think you look way cool, Ms. Donovan,” said Kat, speaking up. “And the eye shadow rocks!”

“Well, thank you, Katherine. And I like your hat! I'm sorry I gave you a hard time about Glitter Girl. It seems like everything turned out okay, and the girls do seem to like it.” Ms. Donovan turned to go, then quickly turned back.

“By the way, Jules!” Ms. Donovan said, pushing a strand of highlighted hair away from her face. “There won't be any Shakespeare Club today after school. Coach Scofield and I have a date, that is, a faculty meeting to attend.”

Just as Jules was making a valiant attempt at digesting this information, the second bell rang. Time to get to class.

“I'll let you know about the new date for Shakespeare Club. It'll probably be next week sometime!”

As Ms. Donovan scurried down the hall she passed Coach Scofield, who was walking the other direction heading to the gym. And right on cue, Scofield swiveled his head around and watched the new-look Ms. Donovan move down the hall. Ms. Donovan must have sensed it, as Kat could see that she slowed down and was putting a little extra “cute” into her step as she walked away from him. This all during passing period, no less!

Jules looked at Kat, who was looking quite smug. And it irritated Jules more than a little bit. She shook her head as she turned and headed to class. Had the entire population of Willkie Junior High gone
insane
?

It was the absolute best day ever.

Everywhere Kat went, kids were stopping her, telling her how cool she looked or that they had read her blog (her traffic was up 500 percent!) and had gone out to buy Glitter Girl stuff. She had even gotten a text from Chelsea congratulating her—telling her every single item at the temporary Glitter Girl store they'd put up in the mall next to Ya-ya's Yogurt had sold out and that she, Kat, was responsible.

Kat didn't know if that meant she would be picked as the Face of Glitter Girl, but she knew it couldn't hurt. And it definitely went a long way toward subduing the extreme irritation she was feeling at having to wear that stupid hat all day long. It was hot, it was annoying, and who knew what it was doing to her hair? Why did she even bother using her root-lifting spray that morning? Habit, she supposed. Anyway, Kat didn't dare take the hat off, even for a second, for fear of what she might find up there. Oh well, life was good in spite of the stupid hat, and she couldn't imagine how it could possibly get better.

Then she walked out the front doors of Willkie at the end of the school day and knew—oh yeah, life could definitely get better.

Kat usually hit the Sip N' Suds with Zoe and Darcy on Mondays. However, Jules's Shakespeare Club meeting had been canceled due to Ms. Donovan's suddenly coming down with a case of the “cools” so Kat was going to grab a ride home with Jules's dad instead. She really wanted to get home and cruise the Internet to see if she could get an idea of how the Glitter Girl launch campaigns in other cities had gone. She had thought about asking Chelsea but didn't want to seem overeager or desperate. Her mom always said, “Desperation is an emotion felt by losers. Winners feel expectation.” Not that Kat
expected
to win, but she was sure hoping for it.

But her excitement to hop on her computer had been replaced by a whole other emotion she wasn't entirely familiar with—something like that feeling in the pit of your stomach just before you go over the first drop of a really high roller coaster.

Because when she walked out the front door of the school, instead of the Prius sitting at the curb waiting for her and Jules, she saw a classic red Mustang. Leaning against it was Kyle, his arms crossed over a white T-shirt that was so tight it showed the beginnings of his fifteen-year-old muscles. Because that's how old he was now, fifteen. In all the Glitter Girl fuss, Kat had forgotten it had been Kyle's birthday that weekend too. As Kat walked down the stairs toward him, he held up a set of car keys to prove it.

“Just got my learner's permit on Saturday. Want to go out for that burger?” asked Kyle.

And there it was. With those words, Kat's whole being began a free fall down the first hill of that impossibly tall roller coaster. Her face flushed, her heart leaped into her throat, and she felt a hot surge course through her body.

“Sure, but I have to be home by six. Adams totally slammed us with homework,” she said casually so as not to betray her eagerness.

“Not a problem,” said Kyle as he opened the front passenger door. Kat slipped in, smiling ear to ear.

“All righty, put your hands at nine and three o'clock and prepare to pull away from the curb, just like we practiced,” came a voice from behind them. Kat's head swiveled around and she discovered that Mr. Finch was planted in the backseat. Ugh! Darn Indiana and its restricted licenses for teens! Kyle's dad
had
to
be there, and unless there was an act of the legislature in the next five minutes, he wasn't going anywhere.

“Wait for me!” called Jules from the curb, hopping into the backseat next to her dad. Another passenger! Kat fumed in the front seat. Some date!

“So where are we headed?” asked Jules.

Ten minutes later, Jules stood deposited at the end of her driveway—feeling like so much discarded baggage—as the Mustang drove off.

She had waited all day for an apology from Kat. And if not that, at least a chance to ignore the incident and let things go back to normal, which had sort of been how they handled all their disagreements since the days of yore when they were still drinking out of sippy cups. But instead, Jules was left to stew in the backseat with her dad all the way home. Kat had barely spoken to her.

As Jules walked up the driveway to her house, she thought about just how complicated things would get if her brother and her best friend actually started dating. Yuck! The very thought of it made her skin crawl. And if she were really honest with herself, which she was not interested in being at the moment, she might admit that she was feeling more than just a little bit jealous of her friend and her popularity and her perfect day. And that was
not
good.

• • •

“This is sooooo good!” Kat exclaimed as she sipped on her nonfat Mangolade smoothie across from Kyle in a booth at Oh Donna's! '50s-style diner. Ten minutes earlier, Kyle's dad had finally disappeared into the home improvement section of the bookstore next door with instructions to text him when they were ready to leave, so it was almost like a real date now, which made the two teenagers relieved and a little nervous at the same time.

“Yeah, they're delicious,” agreed Kyle. “And wait 'til you get a load of the french fries at this place. They're fantastic.”

“I think it's so cool that your dad restored that car for you as a surprise. You must have been totally stoked when he gave you the keys this morning.”

“Yeah. I have to say that as days go, this is one of the best ever,” Kyle said in a dreamy sort of way that made Kat fairly certain he was including being here with her as part of that awesome day. Her stomach filled with butterflies as her whole being took another plunge on that internal roller coaster.

“So tell me about building those houses,” Kat said, hoping to calm the butterflies with some conversation and another sip of her smoothie.

“It actually turned out to be pretty cool,” Kyle said. “I thought it was going to be totally lame—you know, a bunch of vegetarian goody-goodies running around with hammers and nails who didn't know what they were doing. There was some of that, but most of the volunteers were actually fun to hang out with. It made the work go a lot easier. And you know what the best part was? Seeing the families move into their new houses at the end. They were so grateful. Some of them even cried, they were so happy to have a place to call their own. It really made me feel good about what I had done all summer.”

“Wow, that sounds really nice.”

“Plus, I won a free Xbox in the employee raffle so, you know, that helped too.”

Kat laughed at Kyle's joke but at the same time was impressed with the boy sitting across from her. He didn't seem at all like the annoying jock that Jules was always complaining about. “Yeah, we have to do some kind of volunteer work for school this year,” she said, “but I soooo have no idea what I should do.”

“Well, I think the program needs some local volunteers. You want me to give you the information?”

“That would be totally cool,” Kat said, even though she didn't know a hammer from a stewed tomato.

“Maybe we could figure out a time to go together,” Kyle said, smiling, “as long as you don't mind my dad in the backseat.”

Kat smiled back at Kyle. Their eyes met for a moment, and then she looked away shyly.

Now that Kyle's dad was out of the picture, she had to admit that as first dates go, this had to be one of the best ever. She'd read about nightmare first dates in some of her teen magazines. All kinds of horrible things went wrong, like getting a huge zit on the end of your nose right before, or finding nothing to talk about and having awful awkward pauses, or saying something totally stupid or, OMG!, passing gas or burping in the middle of a kiss. But nothing like that happened on this date. No siree.

They ate burgers and played a few games at the Funtasia Family Arcade, where Kyle won her a plastic key chain with a heart on it, which she immediately hooked onto one of the belt loops on her jeans. They did a round of goofy golf, and Kyle had even put his arms around her to help her sink a putt on that really hard hole in the giant whale's mouth under the waterfall. And no one had a zit, and no one passed any bodily gases, and never once did they
not
have something to talk about. It was like they had known each other their whole lives, which, in truth, they had.

• • •

The sun was just beginning to set as Kyle pulled the Mustang toward the end of the cul-de-sac. It was 5:57 p.m. Right on time.

“Let me off here,” said Mr. Finch from the backseat when they were still half a block from the house.

Kyle thought it might be some kind of test. “But I'm not supposed to—” he objected.

“I imagine you can navigate the rest of the way on your own, son,” his father said, putting a firm hand on Kyle's shoulder. “Besides, I need to go check with O'Shea Building Supply to see if my drywall's in. Good night, Kat.”

“Good night, Mr. Finch,” said Kat, who was as unprepared as Kyle to be left alone so suddenly.

Kyle looked at her and shrugged and slowly maneuvered the car into the Connors's driveway, which Kat thought was so gallant. He could have just parked it in his own driveway which was, after all, just a few yards away, and made her walk. But no. He was a true gentleman and proved it further by getting out of the car and rushing over to open her door. He handed Kat her backpack, and they finally hit their first awkward pause. It wasn't like Kat was surprised. She had been thinking of this moment the whole entire date.

She wondered if he would want to kiss her—secretly hoping with all her heart that he did. And if he did, how would she know it? Would he ask her first, like they showed you were supposed to do in those health training videos at school? Would he just move in with his head tilted at an angle? Or would there be that kind of magnetism she had seen a million times in romantic movies where the guy and the girl would just look into each other's eyes and find themselves locked in a sort of invisible tractor beam that would pull them slowly together until their lips met, their eyes closed, and the deed would be done? Then there was the issue of tongues—would there be tongues involved? And if there were, her stomach lurched as she suddenly worried that she might not be good at it!

Kat and Kyle looked at each other a moment. Kat finally broke the silence.

“Thanks. I had a really good time.”

“Yeah. Me too. Would you, uh, like to go out again sometime?”

“I'd love to.”

That was all the encouragement Kyle needed, because at that moment he went in for the kiss. It happened faster than Kat would have imagined. She almost didn't see it coming but that didn't matter because somehow, maybe on a cellular level, she was ready for it. And her lips met his with the sort of perfection in timing usually reserved for those triple axels in ice skating that ended in a flawless landing on exactly the right beat of music.

The kiss was soft and sweet and on the lips, without tongues. And it lingered for a moment, allowing them both to feel the warmth and excitement of it. Kat felt herself go all light in the head and was sure she was floating outside her body. When they finally pulled apart it was at exactly the same moment, so it didn't seem that one of them had chosen to end the kiss before the other.

Kat looked into Kyle's warm brown eyes that reminded her a lot of her favorite milk chocolate pudding. She felt a little embarrassed at what was at this point in her life the most intimate moment she had ever shared with another human being. Feeling her cheeks burn and her ears get hot, she quickly took her backpack and headed up the sidewalk. She heard the engine of the Mustang roar to life and paused to look back. Kyle waved as he drove the fifty feet from her driveway to his, parked the car, and went inside.

She turned back, took a deep steadying breath, and headed up to her house, which suddenly looked different to her. Her house that had seemed so huge most of her life suddenly seemed a little smaller. The steps that she once had to struggle up could easily be taken two at a time. The handrail that had felt so huge in her hand now fit so comfortably, as if it had been custom made just for her. Yes, something had changed, like maybe she was suddenly bigger. She didn't know when it happened. But she knew that at this moment, she noticed it. She wasn't a little girl anymore. And she really liked the feeling.

She bounded up the front steps, two at a time, and stopped in her tracks when she saw Jules sitting at the far end of the porch in the porch swing.

“Holy cow, Jules! You scared the life out of me! Have you been there the whole time?” asked Kat.

“Be nice to my brother, Kat. He's not just another accessory,” said Jules.

Kat was appalled. Not only because Jules had been witness to her intimate moment, but because she would even make such a statement.

“Jules. How could you say that? You know me,” said Kat defensively.

“I thought I did. I'm not so sure anymore,” replied Jules and then got up and walked past Kat, down the steps, and into the darkening street.

Kat stood there stunned. She had no idea where this attitude was coming from. Okay, maybe she did. But she didn't want to think about it right now. The whole thing gave her a big, fat headache. She knew the cure and went into the house and headed straight to her computer.