Between Us (13 page)

“I was very jealous,” Bailey said. “Accept?”

Olivia nodded. “Accept.”

Bailey turned to Hannah. “Same five. Accept?”

Hannah nodded. “Accept.”

“So what did you need me for?” Gus called as he strode toward them with his box of monster makeup in one hand.

“Hannah will explain everything. I have slightly less than a million more apologies to make,” Bailey answered.

1.
    
Do something with your friends.

2.
    
There is no #2.

Bailey adjusted her bright green headband. It matched her leg warmers exactly. All it took to create a costume for Eighties Day was raiding her mom's closet. Her mom saved everything! She'd had enough stuff to create awesome eighties outfits for Hannah, Olivia, Tess, and Vivi.

She peeked into the main office. Ms. Durban met her gaze and gave her a fast thumbs-up. Bailey sent a text to Taylor.

go time.

Taylor lumbered around the corner, then staggered into the office wearing Bailey's dad's red letterman
jacket from when he was on the basketball team in high school. Hannah grinned at Bailey, then followed Taylor, her iPhone in her hand.

Bailey waited until she saw Taylor stumble over to the counter and face-plant on top of it. Ms. Dunbar gave a loud scream. It didn't sound at all fake! Principal Lopez burst out of her office.

Time for another text. This one to Olivia and Allison.

go!

Two seconds later they came lurching down the hall. As soon as they did, Bailey hit the play button on her iPod, and Michael Jackson's “Thriller” exploded out of the minispeaker.

She had already programmed the names of the second wave of dancers into her phone. She texted
go!
as Taylor, backed by Olivia and Allison, began jerk-walking towards the principal, Hannah filming the whole thing.

Mr. Paulson came rushing down the hall. “What's the—” he began. Then he saw the line of seven zombies, including Vivi and Tess, staggering down the hall towards him. He burst out laughing, then ran over and joined them.

Bailey hadn't been expecting that, but Mr. Paulson
rocked it. He did every claw swipe, head turn, foot stomp, and bend in sync with the other dancers. Taylor led Olivia and Allison back out of the office just in time to move into place in front of the zombies. Olivia tripped over—well, it seemed like nothing. Didn't matter. Zombies were klutzy.

Bailey texted a
go!
to the next wave. Principal Lopez came to the office doorway and watched as the hall filled with the dancing undead. They looked awesome, thanks to Gus's lessons in how to apply zombie makeup.

One last wave, and it was done. All the kids straightened up and walked away, heading to their lockers as if nothing unusual had happened.

“Can't have a better start to Eighties Day than a ‘Thriller' flash mob,” Mr. Paulson called, applauding. No one responded. They all acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Bailey was so proud of them. And of Hannah for thinking up the idea and capturing it all on her phone.

“Do you think your friends could be persuaded to do a repeat performance at the three lunch periods? I can arrange late slips,” Principal Lopez said.

Bailey turned to her cousin. “Hannah?”

“Absolutely,” Hannah said.

A crackle of static interrupted math class a few minutes before the last bell. “It's time to announce our Spirit Week winners,” Principal Lopez announced over the intercom. “The eighth graders are our champs!”

Through the walls of the classroom, Bailey could hear the cheers from the class next door, obviously a class filled with eighth graders. “And our new sixth grade class came in second.” Bailey's class exploded into cheers. Hannah and Bailey gave each other a high five. “We've also tallied the votes for the MVP of each class,” the principal continued.

Bailey tried to decide who she thought would win. Maybe Taylor. He'd done an awesome Michael Jackson during all three of the lunch encore performances of “Thriller.” Maybe Vivi. She'd won their lunch period's game of Pictionary. She could draw anything! Maybe Daniel, who'd been Vivi's partner. Hannah definitely had a great shot. She'd been amazing at their lunch period's Name That Tune contest, plus she and Tess had gotten second in the costume contest, and everybody knew the “Thriller” flash mob was her idea.

“And now our sixth-grade MVP.” Bailey realized she'd been thinking so hard she hadn't even heard who the upper-grade MVPs were. “We actually have a tie.
That's a first for us. I hope the winners will agree to share the two tickets. In no particular order, please give it up for Hannah Sullivan. And for Bailey Broadwell. Your classmates have decided you both deserve Most Valuable Player honors. All you MVPs come down to the office after class to pick up your prizes.”

Bailey couldn't believe it. She'd started off the week pretty strong, earning those points for most original costume, and she'd brought those suckers in, but she'd blown the tiptoe challenge, and everybody knew it wasn't because her legs gave out. It was because she'd started a fight with her cousin.

“You realize your mouth is hanging open,” Hannah said when the bell rang.

Bailey shut it. “I'm shocked,” she admitted. “By me getting MVP, not you getting it,” she added quickly.

“You whipped the flash mob into shape,” Hannah told her. “And this morning, you were like a drill sergeant. You made sure everyone got into makeup and was in the right starting positions. You even brought a backup iPod and a backup minispeaker. I guess your lists can be a force for good.”

“I hope so,” Bailey answered as they headed down the hall. “So, um, can I ask you a favor?”

“I guess so.” Hannah sounded a little wary.

“Olivia loves Katy Perry. If I won the tickets, I was planning to take her to make up for the not-so-great birthday day of adventure,” Bailey began.

Hannah's eyebrows shot up. “And you want me to give my ticket to you, so you and Olivia can go?”

“No!” Bailey exclaimed. “No. I was just thinking . . . maybe you and Oh could go. I think you could probably manage to have fun without me. I could make you a list, if it would help.”

Hannah laughed. “It would be hard. But I think we could do it.” Her face got serious. “I'd feel bad if Olivia and I went without you.”

“I'll make a list of ways to console myself,” Bailey promised. “It's okay. Really. There's just one thing.”

“What?” Hannah asked.

“You do actually like Katy Perry, don't you?” Bailey asked.

“Love, love, love her!” Hannah assured Bailey as they walked into the office. Principal Lopez was waiting for the MVPs.

“Hold it!” called a boy—Bailey thought it was Clay, photographer for the blog—as the principal handed one concert ticket to Bailey and one to Hannah. “Got to preserve the moment.”
Snap!
He took their picture.

“I know you're Hannah Sullivan,” he said, then
turned to Bailey. “Sorry, I don't know your name.”

“I'm Hannah Sullivan's cousin,” Bailey answered.

“She's Bailey Broadwell. And one of my best friends,” Hannah added, throwing her arm around Bailey's shoulders.

“Nice!” Clay snapped another picture as Bailey and Hannah both gave huge smiles.

CARI SIMMONS
once wished on her birthday candles that she would write a book—and it came true! She lives and writes in Portland, Oregon, and this is her first series.

MELINDA METZ
is the author of over sixty books for teens and kids, including the YA series Roswell High (based on the TV show
Roswell
) and
Echoes
. Her middle grade mystery
Wright and Wong: The Case of the Nana-Napper
(co-authored by the fab Laura J. Burns) was a juvenile Edgar Award finalist. Melinda lives in Concord, North Carolina, with her dog, Scully, a pen-eater like the dog who came before her.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

More titles in the Picture Perfect series:

Book #1: Bending Over Backwards

Book #2: You First

Book #3: Best Frenemies

Cover art © 2015 by Cathi Mingus

Series cover design by Steve Scott

PICTURE PERFECT: BETWEEN US
. Copyright © 2015 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015938897

ISBN 978-0-06-233674-3

EPub Edition © July 2015 ISBN 9780062336750

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