The Secret Crush (10 page)

 

Zee looked at her list, wondering where to put Kathi. Kathi could be a lot of fun, but Zee knew that could change faster than she could say, “Who just stuck that knife in my back?”

Then Zee had an idea. She added a third column especially for Kathi.

Z
ee shoved a pair of heart-printed pajama pants and a plain red tank top into the overnight bag she was packing for Missy's sleepover. She grabbed a pair of green pants from a hanger. Just before she dropped them into the bag, she stopped herself.
These would be perfect for Friends' Day.
She quickly substituted a shirt and a pair of denim capri pants that Zee had converted from an old pair of jeans by cutting off the bottoms and adding a wide ribbon trim.

“Clothes for tomorrow.” Zee began her mental list. “Check.
Toothbrush and toothpaste? Check and check,” she said, adding them to the bag. “Oops! I almost forgot the most important thing.” She rushed over to her dresser. “Clean underwear. Checkity check check.” She pulled the zipper closed on her bag.

 

Zee and Chloe arrived at the party together and rang the doorbell. Instead of a simple
ding-dong
, the Vasis' doorbell boomed four notes. It sounded as if a bell choir were performing right in the foyer. A woman in a simple black dress and white apron opened the door, then bowed her head slightly.

“Hi,” Zee said. “Is Missy here?”

“Right this way, miss,” the woman said formally. She led Chloe and Zee into a room with a black grand piano. Heavy red, black, and orange silk curtains hung at the windows, and colorful wool rugs covered the floor. “May I take your bags?” the woman offered.

Zee and Chloe handed theirs to her. “Where are you taking them?” Chloe called out. But the woman just smiled and walked away.

“Great!” Missy's cheerful voice came into the room as she half skipped, half walked toward Zee and Chloe. “Everyone's here.” Kathi and Jen followed behind. Then Mr.
Vasi and Missy's younger twin brothers, Zane and Steven, came into view.

“Welcome!” Mr. Vasi said, greeting the girls. “We were just about to show everyone the rest of the house.” He began to walk toward the twisting center staircase. The girls walked behind him.

“I'll show you my dad's video studio and screening room later,” Missy told Zee and Chloe.

“Where's your mother?” Chloe asked Missy.

“At the hospital,” Missy said.

“Is she sick?” Zee asked.

Missy giggled. “No, she's a doctor. She got called into emergency surgery today and she's not home yet. Sometimes brain surgery lasts ten hours.”

“
Brain
surgery? Get out!” Chloe said. “I thought that was just an expression. You know, ‘It's not brain surgery.'”

“Someone's got to do it,” Missy said, “like my mom. I'll show you where she keeps the jars with brains in them.”

Zee's stomach flip-flopped. “Really?” she asked.

“No.” Missy tossed her head back and laughed. The others joined in.
Had Missy purposely embarrassed her?
Zee wondered.

Upstairs, Missy's bedroom was as fancy as the rest of
the house. She had a plasma HDTV on the wall above her dresser. A desktop computer
and
the latest Mac laptop sat on her desk. Strings of beads hung around Missy's canopy bed. And a large wall hanging embroidered with huts, animals, people, and cacti decorated a wall.

“This room is so awesome!” Chloe said. She looked at the blue, orange, red, and yellow wire-and-bead bird statues that stood on top of Missy's dresser. “Where did you get these?”

“I brought them back from South Africa,” Missy said. “One of the women in the village where we lived used to sell them by the side of the road. That's how a lot of the people made money. I bought one nearly every week. They only cost about a dollar, but that was a lot of money to the people who came to my mother's clinic.”

“You're so lucky to have lived somewhere with such cool crafts,” Chloe told Missy. “Isn't she, Zee?”

“Yeah,” said Zee. Even though Missy's room definitely qualified as fantabsome, and she'd love to be able to make crafts like Missy's one day, for some reason Zee couldn't bring herself to tell Missy that.

“It must have been so amazing to live in Africa,” Chloe went on. “Did you see any elephants?”

“Lots,” Missy told her. “In the Addo Elephant National Park.”

“A whole park for elephants?”

“There's also a park for zebras—the Mountain Zebra National Park.”

“Get out!” Chloe said, her mouth opening wide.

While everyone else was listening and touring Missy's cavernous closet—with an entire alcove for shoes—Kathi changed into her new thrift-shop jeans.

“Aaaaah!” Jen was the first to see her best friend. Chloe gasped out loud, and Missy just looked confused by all the excitement. Zee couldn't believe how easily Kathi made a $1.00 pair of ripped jeans look like Armanis.

“Where did you get those?” Jen asked Kathi.

“They're part of her costume,” Zee volunteered.

“But I love them so much, I'm going to wear them to the International Skate Center tonight!” Kathi explained.

“Did you get them on Rodeo Drive, in New York City, or in Paris?” Jen rattled off Kathi's favorite shopping spots.

“Actually, they're from Brookdale Thrift Shop,” Kathi said. “Zee and I went together.”

Jen looked like she would faint right there, and
Zee wondered if it was because Kathi was wearing someone else's old clothes or because Kathi and Zee were bonding.

 

“You know you can't do it. You'll make a mistake.”
The Beans girls circled the ISC roller rink in a group, singing the chorus to one of the songs Mr. P had helped Kathi write.
“'Cause love can be hard, and you've got just one take.”

“Then comes the part where Conrad raps while we dance,” Kathi said.

“Oh, my gosh!” Jen said. “He's so good.”

“Ooooooh!” Kathi teased, and the other girls joined in.

“I don't like him like that,” Jen protested. “I just think he's a good rapper.”

Out of nowhere, a body whizzed by, so close it nearly knocked all of them down like a row of dominoes. Conrad! And following close behind him were Landon and Marcus.

Chloe turned around. “Is Jasper here, too?”

“He's over there!” Zee said, pointing. A few feet back, Jasper slowly skated toward the group. He couldn't stop his feet from rolling in opposite directions.

Zee and Chloe waited for their friend. When he finally caught up, Zee grabbed one of his arms while Chloe held on to the other. The girls held him up and dragged him along. “I thought this was just going to be girls' night,” Chloe said
to Jasper. “Did you know the guys were coming here?”

“I think not,” Jasper said. “We were all going to go bowling. When I mentioned to Conrad that you guys would be here, he decided he wanted the lads to come, too.”

Ahead, Zee saw Landon grab Missy to keep her from falling. Without thinking, Zee immediately let go of Jasper to try to hurry to Landon and Missy. But Jasper lost his balance without Zee's support.

“Criiiiiikey!” Jasper cried.

“Zee! Help!” Chloe held his arm tight and began to zigzag awkwardly to keep both of them standing.

“Oops!” Zee said, grabbing Jasper's arm, which was flailing off to the side.

When the girls managed to steady Jasper, Zee told him, “Maybe you could sort of hang out near the side for a while—until you get used to the skates.”

“Yes, I suppose I could use a rest,” Jasper agreed.

As Zee and Chloe guided their friend to safety, Zee watched the others. Kathi, Jen, and Missy whizzed around in a group. Conrad, Marcus, and Landon stuck together, too—except each time they passed the girls, Conrad pretended to try to ram into them. Kathi and Jen always managed to steer out of the way, but he surprised Missy each time, and she wobbled. While Conrad and Marcus raced off, Landon steadied her before catching up with the others.

“I need to get over there,” Zee said, although she'd only meant to think it.

“Go on, then,” Jasper said. “Both of you.”

“Are you sure?” Chloe asked.

“Of course, I am. Frankly, it was getting quite embarrassing being dragged along.”

“Let's go,” Zee said, looking at Chloe and gliding into the crowd.

“Look out!” Chloe warned.

Zee turned just in time to see Conrad heading straight for her. “Oh, no!” Missy called. Zee swerved out of Con
rad's way, but Missy grabbed her arm anyway. Down Zee went—right on her butt.

Conrad raised his arms in the air. “That wasn't my fault. I didn't even touch her.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry,” Missy apologized to Zee. She reached out her hand to help Zee up. But when Zee took it and began to stand, she just landed on the floor again. Missy let go to keep from falling, too.

“Ohmylanta!” Zee was glad she'd worn a pair of cropped leggings with her short flared skirt. She didn't need the entire ISC to know she was wearing her “Wednesday” underwear on Friday.

Other skaters began to gawk.

“Here!” Missy held out both palms to Zee. “Maybe if you use both hands.”

“No, I've got it!” Dodging other skaters, Zee crawled on her hands and knees to the side, right next to where Jasper was still standing. He helped her up.

When Zee looked up, Landon was headed right for her.
Please, please, please,
she silently begged.
Please tell me Landon didn't see that
whole humiliating scene.
“Hi,” Zee said when he reached her.

“Are you okay?” Landon asked. “I saw what happened.”

“It figures,” Zee said.

“What does?” Landon asked.

“Oh, nothing.” By now, the rest of the Beans had come over to make sure she was all right. “I think I just need a break.”

“Me too,” Missy agreed. “Let's go get some pizza.”

The girls left to return their skates and get dinner while the boys headed to the arcade.

“It feels so strange to start at a new school so late in the year,” Missy said once the girls sat down.