Pink & Green is the New Black (17 page)

She squeezes me back, just as tight. “Me too, Luce. I hope you know how much I love you.”

Downstairs, Mom, Dad, and Grandma are all sitting at the table. There's a steaming platter of eggplant Parmesan and an overflowing bowl of spaghetti. Claudia's favorite meal. Plus, there's a wooden bowl of Caesar salad.

“How's everyone?” Dad asks, serving the salad.

Mom launches into another story about Adrienne's crazy animals. At this point we've started tuning her out. Grandma tells us about this lady who seems to come in for a spa treatment every single day. And that's when I realize it's been a long time since I've been at the pharmacy and the spa. I miss it.

“That reminds me, I need to talk to you guys about the spa,” I tell them. “Remember when you said it was okay for everyone to get their makeup done there for the Masquerade?”

Mom and Grandma look at each other.

“You said yes,” I remind them.

“Okay. We said yes.” Grandma puts some eggplant onto Claudia's plate.

“I want to come up with a schedule so we make sure everyone has enough time and gets what they want. And I want to make sure all the staff is working that day.”

They assure me that they'll take care of it, but I get nervous they'll forget. “I'll come in tomorrow after school. I want to talk to everyone. We have less than a month, and the spa might already have some bookings.”

“Sounds good, Luce.” Mom smiles and twirls some spaghetti around her fork.

Later I go to bed, but I can't fall asleep. I keep thinking about Yamir e-mailing Claudia. I want to get up and ask to see the e-mail, but that's probably a bad idea.

In a way I feel better that Yamir does care—in his own weird, Yamir way, at least. But it's also complicated. I already told Travis I wanted to give things with him a chance. And maybe it's too late to fix things with Yamir now anyway.

I toss and turn the whole night. I am going to be so tired tomorrow.

Lucy's tip for surviving eighth grade:

Be nice. Always be nice.

It turns out I don't have much
time to think about Yamir or anything else, really, for the next few weeks. I'm too busy getting ready for the Masquerade. At first I was always nervous that Erica was going to turn on me and tell everyone how I basically lied about Yamir. Plus, I was worried she was going to tell Travis terrible things about me. But then one day I realize that she can't. That she won't. She needs me to help plan the Masquerade. She needs me to get the spa ready and have all the staff prepared. She needs me to give the amazing discount.

Sometimes all you really need is to be needed.

“How are things with Elias?” I ask Erica after lunch.

“Amazing, actually.” She smiles. I doubt they're really that amazing. But Erica only has two answers to how things are going—amazing or terrible. “We've been hanging out a ton.”

“Oh, that's so great.”

“Yeah, he'll be at the Masquerade.” She smiles. “I guess I'll be the only one with a high school date.”

“I guess so.” Even though she needs me, she still finds a way to push my buttons.

“But Zoe's so glad you're with Travis. Apparently Gavin was always kind of weird with girls, but now that Travis has a girlfriend, he felt he should step up his game.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask.

“I guess. He's still a little weird, though.”

The truth is, I haven't hung out with Travis that much. We text at night sometimes, and chat in school, and we've gone for ice cream a few times. That's pretty much it—and that's okay. It may sound heartless, but I don't think about him that much when I'm not with him.

“I gotta get to class,” I tell Erica. “So meet me after school and we'll go over to the spa together.”

“Got it.”

Sunny's already seated when I get to science. “Are you coming to the spa after school?” I ask her. “Erica wants to finalize everything with the spa director.”

“Sure.”

Things have been fine with us, but not amazing. Not our usual friendship by any means.

“Look, I'm sorry about what happened,” I say, even though I still don't think it's my fault. “I think Yamir and I are both to blame. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, but my feelings were hurt for a long time.”

“Yeah. You're right.” She turns to look at me, and it seems like it's the first time she understands what I'm saying. Like we may have had a breakthrough.

“I guess I just wanted you and Yamir to go to the dance together, and Evan and me to go together. And I know it's bizarre, because he's my brother and you're my best friend. But it just seems like the four of us should go together. The Masquerade is our last hurrah.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean. I was so obsessed with making this last semester of middle school perfect. It was, like, the most important thing ever.” I move my desk closer to hers. “But it's so not our last hurrah. It's just the beginning.”

“You think?”

I nod.

“What if everything changes when we get to high school?” Sunny asks me. “It's so big, and we may not have classes together. And Evan can meet other girls. And Yamir could fail out!”

I burst out laughing when she says that. It's kind of funny but also kind of sad. Yamir doesn't work so hard in school. He always does well anyway, but that could change.

“But seriously, what if we don't get to have lunch together anymore?” Sunny asks.

“I won't be able to play ‘guess the spice' anymore, then!”

Sunny frowns. “But it's our favorite game!”

Sunny and I started this thing where I guess the spices that are in her Indian-cuisine lunches. I've gotten pretty good, and I've learned so many new spices.

“Sun, some things may change, but not everything,” I tell her.

“How do you know?”

“I just know. We'll always be BFFs. No matter what. We've made it this long. I mean, things changed when we went from Old Mill Elementary to Old Mill Middle. And we stayed BFFs through it all.”

“True.” Sunny puts her head down on the desk. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

Soon Mrs. Diver comes in and it's time for class. Sunny picks her head up, and I smile at her and she smiles at me. Knowing smiles. Smiles that mean everything will be okay.

Sunny and I are back.

Sunny's mom drives us over to the spa and she's nice to me, the way she always is. I was a little bit worried she'd be upset
or mad about Yamir. Sunny sits in front, and Erica and I sit in back.

Soon we're at the spa. Mom, Grandma, and Penelope, the manager, are waiting for us in the reception area. I wonder if Mom and Grandma had to warn Penelope about Erica.

“Lucy!” Penelope stands up and hugs me. “And you must be Sunny and Erica?”

It feels funny that Penelope doesn't know who Sunny is. Sunny used to know all the pharmacy employees, because we used to be together at the store all the time. I guess we're busier now. Maybe that's why Sunny's so worried about things changing once we're in high school. Things have already started changing.

“Follow me, girls. Can I get you anything?” Penelope asks.

“I'd love some of this fruit water,” Erica says. “How fancy!”

“Of course.”

When we first started planning the spa, I knew we had to have water with fruit. It's the most elegant, delicious drink. Today there's a pitcher of water with apple pieces and orange pieces. We all fill up tall glasses and follow Penelope to her office.

A seat is set up for each of us with a special Pink & Green spa pad and our signature pink pens.

This feels very official. I wonder if Mom and Grandma
told Penelope to take this seriously, or if she knew to do it on her own.

“So I've already blocked off the whole day of the Masquerade. All our cosmetologists will be working, and we won't be booking any other appointments,” Penelope says. “I just need to know what time the event starts, so we know when to schedule the appointments.”

I look at Erica.

“It starts at seven in the evening.” Erica sounds so formal that it's hard for me to keep a straight face.

“Okay, and how many people will be getting their makeup done?” Penelope asks.

“Well, people are still signing up,” Erica explains. “We should have that by the end of the week. We'd like the whole grade to come in, but we obviously can't force them.”

Penelope smiles. “Right.”

“There are ninety-seven kids in the grade,” Erica says.

“Well, we have six treatment rooms,” Penelope says. “And we can always make room for people to get makeup done in the reception area if need be. We'll make it work.”

I start to get nervous. Imagine if everyone wants their makeup done. And then what if people show up late and mess up the whole schedule? If Grandma's around, she'll get super stressed. There will be yelling.

This suddenly seems like a lot to take on.

“Thanks so much,” Erica says.

“No problem.” Penelope looks at Sunny and me. “Do you have any questions?”

Sunny shakes her head. “I don't think so,” I say.

“Don't worry, Lucy,” Penelope says, smiling. “It's going to be perfect.”

I guess Penelope could read my mind. Or my facial expression.

Lucy's tip for surviving eighth grade:

Go with your gut feeling.

I get home and there's an
e-mail from Travis:

Yo LD.

Are we coordinating costumes for the Masquerade? What's the deal? Wanna come over tomorrow after school?

—T

Wow. I hadn't even thought about coordinating costumes. I don't know if I want to coordinate with Travis. The thought of it seems cheesy and potentially awkward. I don't know him well enough to do that.

Maybe it was easier the way Yamir's class did it last year. No dates. They all agreed on that, and everyone was cool with it. Now there's all this pressure. Will Sunny and Evan wear
matching outfits? Will Zoe and Gavin? I really don't know.

And what about the AGE girls? The Masquerade is getting close and they still don't have dates.

So much to worry about. So little time.

I call Sunny with a new plan. I need her to go along with it. She probably will. But Erica's an issue. I have a feeling she's going to hate this idea.

I don't know what I'm thinking, but I call Sunny's house phone instead of her cell phone.

And Yamir answers. He obviously knows it's me, because they have caller ID. I can't hang up. I have to talk. I don't have a choice.

“Hey, Yamir. Is Sunny there?”

“Yeah. Hold on.”

I guess I didn't expect much more than that when I heard Yamir's voice on the other end of the phone. Or maybe I did. I really don't know.

“What's up?” Sunny asks. She sounds all out of breath.

“Are you okay? What's wrong?” I ask her.

“I'm fine.” She laughs. “I was trying on clothes. It's a major workout for me!”

It's true. Sunny's closet is pretty big, and she has to dig all the way to the back to find some stuff.

“So, Travis e-mailed me to ask about coordinating costumes
for the Masquerade, and it got me thinking,” I tell her. “I want to veto dates. There's no way everyone's going to have a date. And it's not fair.”

“That's kind of crazy, Luce. You can't tell people what to do.”

“But people can still dance together,” I say. “The thing is, it doesn't need to be, like, a major date event. If people pair off, that's okay, but they don't have to make a big deal ahead of time.”

“I don't know. I think people are gonna be disappointed.”

“You mean you think Erica is going to be disappointed?”

“Well, yeah.”

We go back and forth with this, and the more we talk, the more I realize how urgent this is. There's no way I can guarantee that everyone in the grade has a date. But there's no reason for people to be miserable either.