Mallory and Mary Ann Take New York (7 page)

But that's not what Holiday said.

All she said was, “Sorry, girls. Mallory won the contest.” As if it was something we should've already known.

Then she pushed her chair back from her desk. She took a deep breath and looked at her watch like what I was saying was not something she had time to deal with.

My mom and Colleen looked at each other and shook their heads. They apologized to Holiday and said something about how they hadn't known I would ask such a thing.

At that point, I gave Mary Ann an
I-don't-know-what-else-to-do
look.

Mary Ann gave me a
make-your-sad-puppy-face
look.

I made it.

But it didn't work.

That's when I tried dabbing my eyes like the idea of Mary Ann not going on the show with me was enough to make me cry.

Even Mary Ann looked like she was going to cry.

But that didn't work either.

Holiday just shook her head. “Girls, only Mallory can go on the show. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else who entered the contest if we bent the rules. I'm sorry, but modeling on
Fashion Fran
is not something the two of you will be able to do together.”

Then Holiday looked at her watch again and stood up. Our moms stood up too. I knew it meant the meeting was over.

But Mary Ann and I just slumped down in our chairs and looked at each other.

Like I said, both of our names belonged on the Unhappy List.

Ever since we left Fran's studio yesterday, Mary Ann and I have been doing two things.

Thing One: Seeing New York.

Thing Two: Playing the Quiet Game.

Actually, we have been doing a third thing, which is fighting. But I can't tell you about the third thing until I tell you about the first two.

It's not hard to figure out why we were doing the first thing, which was seeing New York.

The reason we were doing the second thing—playing the Quiet Game—was because Mary Ann was not speaking to me.

It started when we left Fran's studio. Mary Ann said we would have to think of a way she could be on the show with me.

I told Mary Ann I didn't think we could do that. I reminded her that I already asked Holiday if she could be on the show with me, and Holiday said no.

Even our moms said it was silly to keep talking about this.

But it was the only thing Mary Ann wanted to talk about.

So I explained again that I tried talking to Holiday. I told her I made my best sad puppy face. I reminded her that I even pretended to cry and that nothing I did worked.

I didn't know what else we could do.

Then Mary Ann got mad.

She said something about “trying harder” and not speaking to friends who don't keep their pinky swears. And that's when she stopped speaking to me. Since she stopped speaking to me, I had no choice but to stop speaking to her.

So, like I said, we played the Quiet Game. We played it the whole time we were seeing New York. Which, to be honest, did not make seeing New York as much fun as it should have been. We kept playing the Quiet Game until we started fighting.

Keep reading and you'll see what I mean.

The first place we went was the Statue of Liberty. We took a ferry to get there. Once we arrived, we took a tour of Liberty Island. We ate in the restaurant and shopped in the gift store. We bought Statue of Liberty snow globes for Max and Joey and Winnie. We bought postcards for ourselves. We took lots of pictures.

Sounds like fun, right? Not exactly. While we were ferrying and touring and eating and shopping and photographing, we were also not saying a word to each other.

And that made our moms mad.

They said that while we were at the Statue of Liberty, we should not be thinking about a TV show. We should be thinking about things like freedom and liberty and justice for all.

I said (to our moms, not to Mary Ann) that we
were
thinking about those things. We just weren't talking about them.

Then Mary Ann said (to our moms and not directly to me, but I think she wanted me to hear what she was saying) that all people should have the liberty and freedom to go on TV with their best friend.

We also went to Times Square.

When we got there, Mary Ann and I looked at all the lights and signs, and believe me, there are a lot of lights and signs to look at. We watched a group of actors perform a song from a musical. We went into what I am sure is the largest Toys “R” Us on the planet, and we got to ride a real Ferris wheel and eat in a real ice-cream parlor inside the store.

Sounds great, right?

Not completely.

All of this looking and watching and riding and eating would have been great, except that while Mary Ann and I were doing all of this, we were not saying a word. At least, not to each other.

My mom said that all of this not talking was getting ridiculous.

Mary Ann's mom said that we were ruining the trip of a lifetime.

But even though they said these things, Mary Ann still would not talk to me, so I had no choice but to still not talk to her.

Another famous place we visited was Central Park. It is a very old, beautiful park. There are lots of trees and flowers and statues and fountains. There is a zoo, and there are horse-drawn carriages that will take you on a ride through the park.

I bet you are thinking that it would be really hard to do anything but have fun when we were surrounded by trees and flowers and statues and fountains and a zoo, and taking a horse-drawn carriage ride (which is what we did) through the park.

But if that is what you thought, you thought wrong.

While we were doing all of that stuff at Central Park, Mary Ann and I were still not talking to each other.

I actually tried talking to her.

While we were on the horse-drawn carriage ride, I told her that I was sorry it did not work out that we could both go on the show. I told her that I really wanted us to both go on the show together. I told her I would NEVER break a pinky swear, but this is one that is not possible to keep.

When I said that, Mary Ann just looked the other way. I think it was her way of saying (or not saying) that she was very upset.

To be honest, I was starting to get just as upset as she was.

That's when the Quiet Game we were playing ended. And the fighting started.

When we left Central Park, we went to Johnny's Pizza for lunch.

Johnny's Pizza was filled with tables covered with red-checkered tablecloths. The restaurant was packed with people eating pizza that looked and smelled delicious. Mary Ann and I got in line with our moms to order our pizza.

When it was our turn to order, I said, “Let's get mushroom.”

Mary Ann said, “I want pepperoni.”

“I said, “You love mushroom.”

Mary Ann crossed her arms across her chest. “Not anymore,” she said. “I can't stand mushrooms on my pizza.” Then she made a face like just the idea of mushrooms on pizza was enough to make her sick.

And that's when I got mad. Really mad! Mary Ann has been eating mushrooms on pizza for as long as I can remember. It seemed to me that someone who had been eating mushrooms all of their life wouldn't suddenly stop liking mushrooms.