Stories from New York #3 (8 page)

“Okay, now that I finally have you alone, what is the deal with Whit? How come you’ve never mentioned him?” I asked as I jumped onto my bed and faced Ivy.

Ivy smacked her hands over her face. “I had no idea Whit was going to be there,” she said. “I knew we’d be seeing Dakota, but I didn’t know Whit was interning this year.”

“So?” I pressed. “How well do you know him?”

“Well, like Whit said, all three of us had been in school together since kindergarten. My mom and Whit’s mom and Dakota’s dad all started working at
City Nation
around the same time, and we were all enrolled at the Montessori school a few blocks away. So we were sort of friends the way you are when you’re little, right? Like people you might not necessarily get along with when you’re older. Like I
said, Dakota’s supercompetitive, and she always has been. But we coexisted
okay
. Then, for some reason, she kind of turned on me last year. She stirred up a bunch of trouble and got a group of girls to stop talking to me, then she tried to get Whit on her side and to get his friends to stop talking to me, too. For, like, no reason. But by then, my parents already had this plan to move, and after a month or so most people were forgetting they weren’t supposed to talk to me, so I just kind of let it go. But it really upset me. To this day, I have no idea what set her off.”

“Any chance it might have been Whit?” I asked.

“What? Why would you say that?” Ivy asked, though her cheeks were starting to turn pink again.

“Well, I was kind of getting the impression that
she
likes Whit,” I said. “And Whit obviously likes you. So…”

Ivy’s cheeks flushed bright red then. “He
obviously
likes me? Where did that come from?”

“Well, just from the way he acts around you,” I said. “Like how he looks at you when someone else is talking. He pays attention to you. He just kind of gets sparkly when you’re around.”

“Sparkly?” Ivy repeated, laughing.

I laughed, too. “No, I know, but you know what I mean, right?”

“About sparkly? In a bizarre way, yes. But you think Whit might really like me?”

“I’m just telling you the vibe I was getting,” I said. “Would that be a good thing? If he liked you?”

Ivy looked thoughtful. “It sure would have been if I hadn’t moved,” she said. “But he lives three hours away from me now. I mean yeah, obviously it would be a good thing, but…it would be kind of a bummer, too.”

“New York’s not that far away,” I pointed out. “And your mom is working here again now. Who knows—you could end up spending the summer here. It could happen, right?”

“It could, I guess,” Ivy agreed. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I
do
know,” I said. “You were pushy with me when I didn’t want to do anything about Benny Novak, and you were right! He ended up asking me out. So now I’m being pushy with you about Whit.”

Ivy smiled at me.

“Thanks,” she said. “I really was surprised to see him. Everything was happening so fast.”

“Yeah, what a long and crazy day,” I said.

“And it’s not over yet,” Ivy reminded me. “We’ve still got work to do. What is taking Miko and Tally so long, anyway?”

Ivy started fiddling with her cell phone.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’m texting them.”

I laughed at Ivy’s laziness. “Don’t strain yourself or anything,” I said.

I could actually hear Tally’s squeals in the next room, and moments later the door to our room burst open and they came in.

“Sorry we took so long,” Tally apologized. “Miko was helping me try on those things of hers. She brought so many clothes, I’ll have something new to wear every day! I’m glad I forgot my suitcase!”

Miko rolled her eyes. “And I watched the video I shot today. I should be able to upload it with just a few easy edits I can do on my laptop,” she said.

“Awesome,” Ivy told her. “Okay, so are you guys ready?”

“Explain it again,” Tally said.

“We’re going to answer questions people have posted on the blog, but instead of typing them like we usually do, we’re going to record our responses on video.”

“I’ll set up the webcam shot. Paulina, why don’t you pull the blog up on your laptop?” Ivy said. “I hope people actually posted questions. I didn’t want to look beforehand because I want the whole thing to feel spontaneous, you know? Like the readers are really interviewing us. Okay, everybody squish together on the bed.”

“Don’t forget to leave room for Ivy,” I pointed out as Tally sprawled beside me.

“That’s good. This will get all four of us. I’m turning the camera on.”

Seconds later, we were all squeezed in next to each other on the screen, smiling at the webcam.

“
4 Girls
here,” Ivy said. “We’re coming to you from our hotel on West Forty-Second Street, and boy, have we had a long day.”

“Later tonight we’ll post an article and a video about our experiences in the editorial and design departments at
City Nation
today,” I added. “Be sure to check back for those. In the meantime, we’ve got a little free time, and we’ve been dying to check the blog to see who’s got questions for us.”

I had my laptop open, half on my lap and half on Tally’s. I had already opened the blog and clicked through to the thread we’d started for questions and answers. I was relieved to see four questions had already been posted. I nudged Tally, and she cleared her throat.

“Okay, question one is from Puppyfan29. ‘I saw a movie about someone working at a magazine in New York, and they showed all the people as either mean or snooty. What are the people at
City Nation
like?’ That’s a great question. Thanks, Puppyfan. I feel like we met all kinds of different people today. The
people in the editorial department were all different ages, but I would say I saw more people that were dressed kind of quirky or stood out in some way. Definitely everybody is really smart.”

“The design associates I met were all super well-dressed, no big surprise,” Miko said. “I guess they could sort of appear intimidating at first, but they were all really cool and nice to me. I think they’re all just really psyched to work at
City Nation
.”

Satisfied with our answers, I read the next question.

“‘From what you’ve seen so far, do you think
City Nation
is a cool place to work? Would you want to work there?’ Good question from PinkyPie. I’d have to say yes to both.
City Nation
is known for its writing, current events pieces, photography, fashion coverage, and editorials. If you’re a creative person and you want to work for a really high-level group, I think you’d be crazy to
not
want to work there. As some of you know, Ivy’s mom does work there, so maybe Ivy wants to add something more.”

Ivy nodded. “Yes to everything Paulina said, but also it can be tough. They expect you to be the best because
they
are the best. So if you want to work at
City Nation
, you have to stay on your toes.”

“Now one more question, from CaptainPony,” Miko said, leaning forward to read the screen. “‘Have you found out who is going to be on the cover
yet? Are you still each getting to ask that person a question?’ We still have no idea, but the photo shoot is scheduled for tomorrow, so keep checking back. When we know, you’ll know!”

“So that’s about all we have to report for tonight,” Ivy said. “Tomorrow we’re due back at
City Nation
at nine
AM,
and we’re prepared for anything. Whatever happens, we’ll be sure to keep all of you in the loop. Until then, New York hellos from your favorite
4 Girls
.”

Tally blew a kiss, and Miko and I waved, then Ivy got up and switched the webcam off.

“Cool,” she said. “I think that went well.”

“It did,” I said. “Though I feel like I sound funny when I talk on camera.”

“Oh no, you sounded like a pro!” Tally reassured me.

“Mmm, if you say so,” I answered. “Wow, I’m really exhausted.”

“We should all get some sleep,” Ivy said. “I was serious when I said we have to be prepared for anything tomorrow. It’s going to be a long day, and we all have to be at our absolute best.”

Ivy went to say good night to her mother. I yawned, changed into my pajamas, and crawled into bed. I was only too glad to get some rest, but my mind was racing from all the crazy excitement of
City Nation.
The faces of Garamond and Constantia and Bob and Vicky and Helvetica herself floated through my mind.

Be prepared for anything
, I told myself. I was running one hundred different versions of what “anything” might be when I finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

“Now, the thing with a photo shoot day is it’s all about the schedule, but we almost always end up off schedule,” Mrs. Scanlon explained to us as we walked out of the hotel still munching on our breakfast pastries. “And one of the things that happens more often than you think is the person we are supposed to be shooting is late or misses a flight and can’t make it at all. But Garamond has just texted me that she’s arrived in the office safe and sound.”

“So now can you tell us who it is, Mom?” Ivy said.

Mrs. Scanlon smiled as we stopped at the corner to wait for the light. “It’s Quincy Vanderstan.”

Tally gasped and smacked both hands over her mouth.

“Quincy Vanderstan?” Miko said. “Wow!”

I had to agree. WOW indeed.

Quincy Vanderstan was the It Girl of the Year. She had rocketed to fame recently as the plucky and beautiful sidekick in
The Time Lord
, a popular sci-fi show. She had been in two feature films since then, both shot this year, and now it seemed her face was everywhere.

“And we’re really each going to get to ask her a question for
4 Girls
?” I asked, dodging out of the way of a man with a briefcase shouting into a cell phone. It was morning in Manhattan, and everyone was rushing to work.

“That is still the plan,” Mrs. Scanlon said. “What we’ll be doing first is going to a pre-shoot meeting. While Quincy is being fitted in wardrobe and having her hair and makeup done, we go through the checklist for every department, right down to making sure lunch is taken care of. There’s nothing like waiting until the last minute, only to discover that the person doesn’t eat meat or can’t stand fish. We have to make sure everything is set. You’d be surprised how many times we get ready to go and find something really basic has been forgotten. Once we had a big shoot scheduled in Central Park. Fourteen models, three photographers, over a hundred dresses. But no one got a permit from the city to do the shoot—they shut us down. That’s basic stuff, but somehow it slipped through the cracks. You’ll see all the departments
reporting in, except for the people working to get Quincy ready.”

I tried to take in everything she was saying, but my mind kept going back to Quincy Vanderstan. What question should I ask her? What did I even have to say to somebody that famous?

There were lots of people going into the lobby with us—everybody carrying coffee or a bagel and looking fresh-faced and ready for another day. We had to stop at security again and get new photo identification badges, but soon we were packed into an elevator on our way up to the office. It smelled like perfume and coffee and blueberry muffins.

Mrs. Scanlon took us to the same floor we had first come to yesterday. The receptionist was already there signing for a package while answering the phone and looking as if she had never left her desk all night, except for the fact that she had on a different outfit. When she saw Mrs. Scanlon, she waved us through, still talking on the phone.

“So we’ll be in the main conference room with the lighting designer and…oh, hang on.”

Her phone was ringing, and she answered it quickly.

“I am going to scream when I see Quincy Vanderstan,” Tally told us.

“Tally!” Miko and Ivy said simultaneously.

“Oh, I don’t mean out loud,” Tally corrected. “I’m going to scream inside my brain.”

“Guys, seriously, now that we know who she is, we need to come up with our questions. I think we should all share them in advance to make sure two of us aren’t going to ask the same thing,” I suggested. “I know we all came up with possibilities, but that was when we had absolutely no idea who the person was. I honestly don’t like any of the ones I thought of.”

“You’re right,” Ivy said. “Let’s…” Her voice trailed off. Her mom had just gotten off the phone and was standing with one hand pressed to her head.

“Mom? Is everything okay?” Ivy asked.

Mrs. Scanlon dropped her hand away from her face. “Oh, there’s just a bit of a problem, apparently. I was just telling you these things happen, but it’s awfully early in the morning for things to go wrong. Anyway, I’ve got to go help sort this out. Under the circumstances, I think it might be better if you didn’t come along for the pre-shoot meeting just yet. Hopefully this will all get set right shortly. Can I ask you all to just sit tight for a bit?”

“Sure. We can go to the intern room and wait there,” Ivy said.