Tangled #3 Page 9

  Clearly they’d gone home and changed after school. Lizbeth wore a studded chambray shirt, her dark hair pulled back, and long, metallic earrings that almost grazed her shoulders. Kristen wore a pink, silver, and black patterned jacket with a short black skirt and a long, layered pink-and-silver necklace.

  Lizbeth looked away shyly as the camera focused on them, but Kristen kept her head high and gazed around the salon as if it were her country and she was its queen.

  “Hey, you guys,” I said. “Early for a reason?”

  “Well, Kristen had been talking about doing her nails in neon,” Lizbeth began, “and we were meeting you here, anyway, so we just figured, you know.” She looked a little guilty and embarrassed.

  “Kristen, don’t you already have a hair appointment for tomorrow?” I asked her.

  “You’re the one who asked us to meet here,” she said. “Besides, I get easily bored with my color.”

  “Right,” I said and grinned.

  When I came back from getting my friends settled at the manicure station with their drinks, I saw that Cecilia and her Head Honchos had left. Mom was at the front telling Megan she had some errands to run and she’d be back in an hour or so, and I realized I missed my chance to ask her about Cecilia’s recommendations. I wondered how nervous she was about it.

  The entire salon seemed to let out a deep breath once the door closed behind Mom. No more boss, no more Cecilia, and no more Head Honchos.

  “Micks, can you do me a favor?” Megan asked. “I’m so hungry but I haven’t been able to move since Cecilia and her team got here. Could you watch the front for five minutes while I run next door to CJ’s to grab a muffin and some tea?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Do you know what happened with the recommendations?”

  “No idea. Sorry, Mick. You’ll have to ask yor mom. There aren’t any appointments coming in right now,” she said, looking at the schedule on the computer. “So you should be good.”

  I took my place behind the counter. I liked working reception. It felt a little like being in charge.

  “Did the cameras catch you before they left?” I asked Kristen.

  “No,” she said. She slumped in her chair. “Tomorrow is my last chance. I have to make it count.”

  While Kristen and Lizbeth were having their nails done, I asked them what they wanted to do tonight. We talked about sneaking into a scary movie, but Lizbeth admitted she was too chicken—of the scary movie and of getting busted.

  “Can’t we just see that new love-letter movie?” she asked.

  “We’ll ask Eve when she gets here,” I said as the phone rang. “Hello, Gorgeous!” I answered.

  “Confirming a delivery for Cecilia von Tressell,” a sharp, businesslike voice said.

  “Here? For Cecilia?” I asked.

  “We’ve got the buttercream she ordered. Just confirming the address.”

  “Oh, right. She’s already left but she’s staying at . . . ,” I said, shuffling through the papers on the desk. What hotel had Cecilia said she’d be staying at? “The Bradford!” I said, suddenly remembering. “She’s at the Bradford.”

  “So we should send this over there?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “Do you need the address?”

  “Nope, we got it,” he said. “Have a good night.”

  I hung up the phone, feeling very professional. “Cecilia must have ordered cupcakes,” I told Lizbeth. “Buttercream.”

  “Yum,” Lizbeth said.

  My stomach rumbled. Maybe I should jet to CJ’s for something sweet when Megan got back.

  CHAPTER 16

  That night, we all decided to see a romantic comedy, agreeing that if we were going to make it a girls’ night, we should go all out. We had an hour before it began, so we hit up Sephora to test the samples and browse the new products.

  “Mickey, what do you think?” Lizbeth asked, having just tested a deep green shadow on one eye.

  “Better than the light green,” I said, peering closely at her. “But still . . . I’d try a dark blue.”

  She clutched the wand with green power still on the tip. “But the green is calling to me!”

  “Eve would look good in the green,” I said. “Her skin tone is perfect for it.”

  I picked up the shadow Lizbeth had been using. “Want me to put this on you?” I asked Eve, reaching for a disposable shadow brush.

  Eve took a quick look at the color, then shook her head.

  “It’ll look so pretty on you,” I coaxed. “If you like it I’ll buy it for you.”

  Eve gave me a funny look. “Thanks,” she said. “But that’s okay.” She paused before continuing, “Why are you being so nice to me?”

  “Because you’re my friend!”

  “You can buy me something,” Kristen offered, holding a fistful of lip gloss, mascara, and blush. “I have my big debut tomorrow for the cameras. When the opening credits for this episode roll, it’s going to say, ‘And introducing . . . Kristen Campbell.’ ”

  “I’m sure it will,” I told Kristen. “But you’re not the one who’s down.”

  When Eve had met us at the salon, her eyes had looked a little sad. She kept checking her phone, too, as we walked to the mall. I knew she was still upset about Jonah, but I wanted her to focus on having fun with us girls.

  “What’s wrong?” Kristen asked her.

  “Nothing,” Eve said.

  “Something’s wrong,” Lizbeth said. “Is it Jonah?”

  Her face flushed pink and she said, “Who cares about Jonah?”

  “Um, not you?” Lizbeth said, looking at her carefully.

  “Exactly. I’m going to wait outside,” she said. She turned and walked out of the store.

  The second she was gone, Kristen and Lizbeth dropped their makeup and came up to me.

  “What’s that about?” Lizbeth asked, looking worried.

  “Do we need to hunt down Jonah Goldman and whoop him?” Kristen asked. “Because if he did something to her . . .” She pounded her fist into her hand, which would have been funny if the situation weren’t so awful—and avoidable.

  A blind person could see how upset Eve had been when she’d gotten Jonah’s text. But even worse, I was pretty sure he hadn’t planned to totally cancel on her. I’d let her think that. Now Eve was as miserable as I’d ever seen her, and we were all worried about her. This girls’ night was not turning out the way I’d planned at all.

  “Come on,” I said, and we went outside to find her.

  Eve was sitting on a bench not far from the store, checking her phone.

  Kristen and Lizbeth sat down on either side of her. I hovered nearby. My stomach cramped up, seeing her there so sad, knowing it was all my fault. I started seriously thinking about texting Jonah and asking him to meet us here. I had to do something to fix what I’d done.

  “Eve, come on,” Lizbeth said gently. “Tell us what’s wrong.”

  She took a deep breath. “It’s just that Jonah and I were supposed to go out tonight. Just us. On a date. But he bailed at the last minute and I can’t figure out why. He just sent me this text that was like, Sorry I asked. Later. I don’t get it.”

  “Well, maybe something came up?” Lizbeth suggested. “Mickey, you’re his best friend. Did he say anything to you about Eve or tonight?”

  “I—I don’t know. I mean, not really.” My face began to burn. Great. I’d ruined everything and now I was lying about it. Sometimes I wished there were a how-to guide to being a good friend. HOW TO NOT MAKE YOUR BEST FRIEND THE MOST MISERABLE PERSON IN THE WORLD BY LYING TO HER AND HOW TO FIX IT IF YOU DO—that was the article I needed at the moment.

  Eve looked up from her phone and said, “You told me he said he had plans with Kyle.”

  “Yeah,” I said. I really didn’t want to lie anymore. But now I felt stuck. “He did—he said something like that. Kyle said something, too.”

  Eve held my gaze for a moment as if I might say more. But I didn’t.

  “I don’
t like Jonah upsetting you, no matter what the reason,” Lizbeth said. She rubbed Eve’s back, a sweet gesture I wished I’d thought to do.

  “He’s a jerk,” Kristen said.

  “No, he’s not,” I said quickly. They looked at me like I’d just betrayed Eve, so I added, “I just mean, I’m sure there’s a good reason. One we don’t know yet.”

  “Whatever,” Kristen said, unconvinced. “He better run and hide if he sees me coming, that’s all I’m saying.”

  “Thanks, you guys,” Eve said. “Sorry I’m being such a downer. I really am glad we planned tonight. It’s been a while since we’ve hung out, just the girls.”

  “Your friends will always stick by you when the boys don’t,” Kristen said, the spokeswoman for Girl Power.

  “Maybe we should head toward the theater,” Lizbeth said. “We can distract ourselves with popcorn and previews.”

  We gathered up our bags and headed toward the theater. On the way, we passed by the arcade. There, at the front near the door, I saw the one person I wanted to avoid. Jonah was playing a hunting game with Kyle, shooting at the screen with laser guns.

  I wasn’t sure what to do.

  If Eve and Jonah saw each other, nothing good would come of that.

  Jonah was concentrating on the game, which meant he wouldn’t see her as we walked by. I had to make sure Eve didn’t see him. Otherwise this whole thing—including my friendships—would blow up in my face.

  “Have you guys ever been to that store?” I asked, pointing in the opposite direction of the arcade.

  “Yeah, Mickey,” Kristen said. “We shop there all the time—preparing for our retirement.” She laughed.

  I looked at where my finger was pointing. The only store in the vicinity was a place that sold orthopedic shoes and elastic-waist pants, and only in black, beige, or white.

  “It’s actually kind of cool,” I said, feeling the sweat gather on my upper lip. We were walking closer and closer to the arcade. “The stuff there is really, um, comfortable.”

  “Hey!” a voice called. “Eve!”

  The girls all turned back toward the voice. I tried to keep walking, but nobody followed.

  “Jonah?” Eve said.

  “Hey, Jonah,” Kristen said, folding her arms and stalking toward him. “We were just talking about you.”

  “Really?” he said, looking nervously between her and Eve.

  Eve wouldn’t look at him. She kept her eyes focused firmly on the floor.

  “Yes, we were,” Kristen said. She was ready to fight. This was not going to go well.

  “Hey, guys!” I said as brightly as I could. “We’re on our way to see Letters of the Heart. You can come if you want.” Like they’d ever step foot in a theater showing a movie like that? No way. “We better go—it’s starting soon!”

  “We have, like, half an hour,” Lizbeth reminded me.

  “Popcorn and all that,” I tried.

  “Yeah, don’t let us keep you,” Kyle said. “You guys have fun.” He looked at me and shrugged. I knew he was trying to help and I tried to give him a grateful look back.

  “Maybe we should go,” Kristen said. “Because when we make plans, we don’t break them. Come on, Eve.”

  Kristen started to tug Eve away but Eve, who looked mad and confused and sad all at once, finally looked Jonah in the eyes. She looked like she was about to say something but couldn’t decide where to begin.

  “Wait,” Jonah said. “Do you maybe want to meet up after the movie? In the food court or something?” He looked at Eve, then he looked at all of us.

  “Jonah, no one—” Kristen began.

  “Kristen,” I interrupted. “Don’t.” But she was already off and running.

  “You had your chance to hang out with Eve. You can’t cancel on her and then still hang out with her. That’s not cool.”

  Jonah’s brow furrowed. “Cancel? I didn’t cancel,” he said.

  “We saw the text,” she replied.

  Eve finally spoke. “I showed them because I was upset. You don’t just bail on someone you have plans with.”

  All I could think was, Oh my gosh. This is really happening.

  “I didn’t bail,” Jonah said. “You did.”

  “What?” Eve said, almost laughing. She quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened her texts. “Then what’s this about?” She scrolled through old messages before reciting: “ ‘Forget roller-skating. Sorry I suggested it.’ ”

  Jonah’s eyes bulged out of his head. “What about your text back to me?” He scrambled to get his own phone about of his pocket, then read aloud. “ ‘Okay, never mind I guess. I’ll just hang with the girls.’ That is canceling.”

  “Because you already had!” Eve said.

  “No, I didn’t,” Jonah said. “I just said forget roller-skating.”

  “Yeah, but by then you’d already made plans with Kyle to hang out. And why did you say forget roller-skating, anyway?”

  “I hadn’t made plans with Kyle,” Jonah explained as I seriously started to sweat. “I had plans with you. And I canceled skating because of—” He paused, lowering his voice. “Because I didn’t know it had such bad memories for you.”

  Aww. Jonah really was a sweet guy. His tone made me realize how much he cared for Eve. And that made me the worst friend in the whole world.

  “Bad memories?” Eve asked. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your old best friend? And the fight you had?” he said. “And what made you think I already had plans with Kyle?”

  I felt like I was going vomit. Or maybe pass out. I definitely couldn’t move.

  “What fight are you talking about?” Eve asked. “Mickey told me that you—”

  That’s when everything went into hyperfocus. Technicolor. All on me.

  “Wait,” Eve said, turning to face me. “What’s going on?”

  “Hmm?” I said as if I’d just popped in the conversation. “What’s that?”

  “What is this roller-skating story?” she demanded.

  “Um, well . . .”

  “And why did you tell her I already had plans with Kyle?” Jonah asked.

  “See, I . . .”

  “It was my idea.” We all turned to look at Kyle, who stepped up beside me. “I told Mickey we had plans, and I guess she told Eve. I’m sorry, Jonah. I just thought it’d be cool if we could hang out.”

  Jonah looked at Kyle for a moment. Then he shook his head. “Dude, that’s cool of you to try to step in and all,” Jonah said. “But I know Mickey. And this is all her.”

  “No, it’s not,” Kyle said. “It was both of our idea. That’s the truth.”

  “This whole roller-skating story?” Jonah said to Kyle. “No way did you come up with that.”

  Eve glared at me.

  “Eve . . . ,” I tried.

  But she stood rigid, shaking her head the tiniest bit, still a combo of emotions—anger and disbelief. “I can’t believe you,” she said.

  “Look, you guys,” I said, my heart racing as I tried to explain. “I promise I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this. I swear. I just—well, you’ve been spending a ton of time together. I just missed you, that’s all.”

  “Save it, Mickey,” she said. “You totally tricked us! No, it wasn’t a trick. It was a lie. All lies.”

  “I know!” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

  Kristen and Lizbeth eyed me and started scooting closer to Eve. Suddenly, all my friends were on one side and Kyle and I were on the other. Them against us.

  “Listen, I’m sorry, okay?” I said. “I just wanted us all to hang out together. You have to admit you’re all acting a little crazy with this boy stuff.” I looked at Kristen and Lizbeth, too.

  “You’re one to talk!” Kristen said. She pointed at Kyle.

  “We’re just friends!” I cried.

  “I need to get out of here,” Eve said. “Jonah? You want to come with?”

  Jonah’s eyes pierced through me, full of betrayal
. Then he took Eve’s hand and they walked away.

  CHAPTER 17

  “Mickey,” Lizbeth said. “Are you insane?”

  What a great question. It could be the motto of my life: Mickey Wilson: Is She Insane?!

  “I’m so sorry about all this,” I said to her and Kristen. “I just wanted us all to hang out.”

  “By lying?” Kristen said. “Mickey, seriously.”

  “I didn’t mean to lie. It was more of a . . . a plan,” I said. As soon as I said it, though, I realized how lame it sounded.

  “A plan?” Lizbeth said.

  “Don’t just blame Mickey,” Kyle said. “It was my idea, too.”

  “But you didn’t know that I was going to tell these stories,” I said, turning to him. “About the skating BFF breakup, or letting Eve think Jonah had completely bailed.”

  “But we both agreed to a plan to get them to spend some time apart,” he said.

  He was being really sweet, trying to take some of the blame. But I knew that this was one time I had nothing to share. This was my fault.

  “You had no idea how far I’d gone with the plan,” I told him.

  “Would you two quit bickering about whose fault it is?” Kristen said. “Geez.”

  “I just don’t understand why you did it,” Lizbeth said, looking disappointed in us both.

  I looked at Kyle, wondering if he had an answer. Something that sounded better than what we’d been giving, which boiled down to us being selfish. I knew our intentions were good, but the execution . . . major fail. All I could say is, “We’re sorry.”

  “You’re going to have to do some serious groveling to get Eve to forgive you for this one,” Kristen said. “She’s so mad she—what is it, Lizbeth?”

  Lizbeth tugged on the sleeve of Kristen’s plumcolored blouse while staring into the arcade. She pointed and said, “They’re here.”

  Kristen turned to look. “Who? Where?” Then she saw what Lizbeth was pointing at.

  Matthew and Tobias were waiting in line to get change for the machines.

  Kristen started bouncing on the balls of her feet, which set Lizbeth doing the same. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” they squealed.