Winter White (6 page)

Mira noticed the saleswoman watching the girls’ exchange with interest. The pile of clothes Mira had left were still in the woman’s arms. Mira took the clothes from her. “I changed my mind,” she said, and dumped the sweaters, jeans, and dress on the counter. “I’m going to take everything.” She deserved some new clothes for putting up with Savannah. “I have to get going, though, so if you could ring me up, that would be great.”

“Where are you off to? Another tabloid interview?” Lauren asked with an evil glint in her eye.

“God, no,” Mira said, and tried to smile. “
Teen Vogue
called this morning and offered Izzie and me a fashion layout in the magazine.” Savannah’s eyes widened, so she kept going. “They want to know the real story, not the silly rumors people are spreading.”

“
Teen Vogue
?” Savannah repeated slowly, almost tripping over her own words.

Mira nodded. Was it her imagination or did Savannah look jealous? “I am meeting our publicist to discuss whether we’re going to take it.” She looked at Lea’s surprised expression
and laughed to herself. “I mean, who knew
Justine
and
Teen Vogue
would be fighting over us? We might do
People
, too.” She made a mental note to call Callista later and persuade her to get them in a magazine. Any magazine!

“Wow, you do sound busy,” Savannah said, pushing the cheer back into her voice. “So busy that you probably don’t even miss having a boyfriend like Taylor. Did you hear Taylor officially asked Millie out?”

“He gave me this.” Millie thrust her arm at Mira, showing off a thin silver bracelet with a dangling starfish. Taylor had given her one just like it when they started dating. “Savannah helped him pick it out.” Savannah’s smug smile returned.

Mira had to hand it to Savannah. She knew how to twist the knife. For a moment, Mira thought the boyfriend talk and the bracelet would make her crumble. Instead, she quickly recovered. “Cute, Millie! I’m surprised Savannah helped him pick that one, though.” She frowned. “The one Taylor got me tarnished quickly.” Millie paled, making Mira feel slightly bad, but she couldn’t back down now.

The saleswoman handed Mira the credit-card slip, and Mira turned away from the girls to sign. “Speaking of jewelry, I’ve been meaning to buy myself something nice to wear for all these magazine interviews. I just have to find the time. My publicist said
Teen Vogue
needs days for an interview and photo shoot. They even want me to paint a picture for them to put in the story. Can you believe it?”

“No, I can’t,” Savannah said without thinking. When Mira turned around again, she noticed Savannah’s posture was stiff as a board.

Mira collected her bags and walked past the others. “See you at school!”

Savannah looked jealous!
Mira thought with glee as she hurried down Main Street toward Corky’s before Savannah could retaliate. She couldn’t stop replaying their conversation in her head. The look on Savannah’s face when she mentioned
Teen Vogue
, Millie’s reaction to what she said about Taylor’s bracelet… those moments were priceless! Her friends had made her feel as worthless as a cockroach the past few weeks, but now she felt like she could take on the world.
Who needs those girls, anyway?

You do
, a small voice inside her head said.
Maybe you don’t need Savannah, but you do need some friends
, the voice reminded her. Mira’s run slowed to a crawl. Since their big fight, she hadn’t had anyone to talk to or hang out with. She shopped alone, avoided parties, and spent most of her nonschool hours in her room. That wouldn’t do.

She and Izzie had made strides in the friendship department, but Izzie still wasn’t someone who would go for manicures or sit with her and gush over a picture of Taylor Lautner’s abs in
Us Weekly
. She missed doing that stuff.
How are you going to survive cotillion without friends or a date?
the voice taunted.
Your debut is going to be ruined
.

By the time she made it to Corky’s, the popular fifties-style diner practically all of Emerald Prep hung out at, the high she’d been on from taking Savannah down a peg had disappeared. When she slid into an empty booth and looked over the menu, even the famous sweet-potato fries didn’t look appealing. She had no desire to sing along with the popular song blasting from the jukebox. She held the menu in front of her face and tried not to feel sorry for herself. The menu was quickly pulled from her hands.

Kellen slid into the opposite side of the booth with a grin. “Hiding from me?”

Normally, the sight of the way-cute eleventh grader who had persuaded her to take a chance on her artwork would have made her feel light-headed. His sandy blond hair, green eyes, and toned physique (thanks to cross-country and track) gave Mira plenty to stare at during sculpting class. She had been looking forward to seeing him all day, but now… She was afraid if she opened her mouth, a sob might escape.

Kellen frowned. “Oh, man, I know that look. My little sister gets it when my mom threatens to turn off
Dora the Explorer
if she doesn’t finish her breakfast. Is it your dad?” he asked. She shook her head. “Your mom?” Another head shake. “Izzie?” Third one. His right eyebrow arched slightly. “Maybe you should just tell me what happened.”

Mira spilled the story quickly as if she had been holding it in forever. “I ran into Savannah and my friends at
Prepsters. Correction: my ex-friends. And they were all ‘Oh cotillion is coming—how are you going to survive?’ I played it really well, I think, but Savannah’s right. I can’t show my face at cotillion without them. I’ll never survive rush on my own!” She was starting to get hysterical. “You can’t do a scavenger hunt without a team, and I have a terrible singing voice! There is no way I’m singing Beyoncé in front of the cafeteria without backup.” Kellen’s mouth began to twitch. “It’s not funny.”

Kellen pretended to be serious. “Nope. Not at all.”

His expression made her laugh a little. “I know I sound a little insane—”

“A little?” His green eyes were playful. She still wasn’t used to seeing him out of a school uniform. His look was definitely casual. Tees whose brand she couldn’t make out and cargo pants. Today, he had upgraded his ensemble to include a short-sleeve plaid shirt that was unbuttoned over a navy tee. It was working for him.

“I’m not crazy.” Mira pouted. “I just miss having people to hang out with.”

“Hello?” He waved a hand in front of her face. “Person hanging out with you.”

“I know. It’s just…” Kellen didn’t get it. Boys never did. Girl friendships were different. She and Kellen had a lot to talk about, but their relationship was clouded by the fact that Mira had recently realized she had a major crush on him.
“You’ve been great. I don’t know what I would have done in the last few weeks without you.”

Kellen looked at the neon wall clock across the restaurant. “What are friends for?”

Friends.
Did he mean to emphasize the word, or was she imagining it? Boys were so hard to read. “Friends are good at ordering fries and milk shakes.” Mira tapped the menu.

“Glad to see you still have an appetite.” Kellen waved over a waitress and ordered some cheese fries and two chocolate milk shakes. Afterward, he looked at her quizzically again. “So, cotillion? Really?”

“Yes, really!” she said, indignantly. “Every girl at EP who is anyone does cotillion. It’s like a rite of passage.”

“Is that what it says in the brochure?” Kellen asked, and Mira glared at him. “I’m sorry. Scholarship students don’t do cotillion. It sounds old-fashioned to me.”

Mira tried not to look as insulted as she felt. “Cotillion is an honor. People who don’t know think it is just about making your debut in this amazing dress and going to all these other dances that lead up to the big night, but…”

“There is more than one dance?” Kellen looked horrified.

“It’s fun!” Mira insisted. “It may sound strange to you, but we take etiquette and dance classes to get ready for our debut, and I’ve learned a lot in them.”

Kellen laughed. “Cotillion
classes
? Mira, you’re joking, right?”

“No!” Mira twirled a saltshaker to avoid seeing Kellen’s incredulous reaction. “It’s not just dance class. The Junior League runs the workshops and teaches you how important it is to give back to your community, how to find an internship and network.” Okay, maybe she did sound like a cotillion brochure.

“But it’s really about the dress, right?” Kellen asked. A waitress roller-skated over with their drinks and fries.

“Okay, yes.” She was flushed, and Kellen looked vindicated. “But it is more than that, too. Cotillion is a sisterhood that I’ve wanted to be part of since I was seven. My mom was a deb, my grandmother was a deb. I’ve looked forward to this day forever.” She bit her lip. “I never thought I’d have to do it alone.”

“Savannah and her friends can’t be the only ones doing it,” Kellen said, and pulled a gooey fry from the plate.

“They’re not, but…” Mira was pretty sure she knew everyone in her cotillion class. It was usually the same girls year after year. There was no way Izzie could get in this late in the game, not that she’d agree to doing it, either. “I just want to have a good time. I don’t want them to ruin it.”

“They can’t ruin it if you don’t let them,” Kellen said between bites.

Kellen didn’t get it. Cotillion was supposed to be special. She wanted to try on dresses with her friends, and talk about escorts and—
escorts
! Every deb needed an escort, and if
Kellen was hers, then there was no way the evening would be a failure. “I do know one way to keep the night from being a total disaster,” Mira said, picking at a fry. She tried not to sound eager. “I need to find an escort. You know, like a date. But I can’t ask anyone—they have to ask me.”

“You are not allowed to ask someone to your own dance?” Kellen looked confused.

“Technically no,” Mira said. She watched as Kellen stopped chewing. “It’s tradition for escorts to be assigned a girl. But if a guy knows a girl is going to cotillion, he can ask her on his own, too. I just hope someone wants to ask me.” She pretended to stare at the jukebox.

Kellen took a long sip of his milk shake before saying anything. He seemed to be deep in thought. Maybe he had gotten her subtle hint and was going to ask her to cotillion right now!

“I wouldn’t worry about a date too much,” he finally said, chewing on another fry. “I’m sure they’ll assign you an escort if no one volunteers.”

Mira’s hands clenched tightly. Boys. Sometimes they were so clueless.

The heated discussion continued even after Hayden pulled into their driveway and everyone got out of the car. Izzie chose to walk behind him and Mira—out of the line of fire—which was a smart move because Hayden was about to say the one thing he knew would make his sister’s head explode.

“I forgot the world revolves around Mirabelle Monroe.”

“Excuse me?” Mira’s wavy hair bounced angrily as her head whipped around to look at Hayden. Izzie thankfully suppressed a smirk because two seconds later Mira gave Izzie a look that said,
Can you believe he said that?

Izzie replied with her own look, the one she’d patented over the last few weeks to deal with problems of the Mira variety. Those included, but were not limited to, Mira asking whether her headband matched her outfit (Izzie didn’t have a
clue), if Izzie knew where Mira had left her favorite pair of flip-flops (nope), and whether Izzie would choose Team Peeta or Team Gale if she was on a deserted island and could only pick one boy to spend the rest of her life with (Peeta, of course!). Mira didn’t really want an answer—she had already formed her own opinion—but Izzie noticed that if she just nodded and gave “the look,” Mira was satisfied.

“Izzie thinks you’re overreacting, too!” Mira took “the look” to mean that Izzie agreed. “Any girl in my situation would want to know the same thing!”

Hayden winked at Izzie. She knew he was trying to get Mira fired up on purpose. “You’re right.
Of course
, Kellen asked about you during cross-country practice. What else would he be doing? Trying to improve his time? All he wanted to talk about today was you,” Hayden said patronizingly. “Is that what you want to hear?”

Mira played with the strap on her messenger bag. “Well, it would be nice, but I guess he did have other things to think about.” Her face turned pink, and it looked like her cheeks might explode. “So, did he?” she asked again. “Ask about me, I mean.”

Hayden stopped walking and gaped at her. Izzie started to crack up, which made Hayden roar.

Mira stopped short, too, and stared at them both as if they were nuts. “What? Hayden never answered my question!”

Hayden finally managed to stop laughing. “Sorry, sorry.
It’s not wrong, but he didn’t ask me about you.” Mira’s face fell. “Don’t sweat it. I would never ask a guy about his sister if I liked her, either.”

“So you
do
think he likes me?” Mira asked.

“I…” Hayden looked at Izzie wearily. “A little help here?”

Izzie backed away, swinging her army-green messenger bag. “Don’t ask me. I’ve got my own boy issues.”