The Secret Crush (13 page)

 

“Oooooh! I love this part!” Zee ran over to her computer and turned the speakers up full blast. Zee and Chloe bopped, bounced, and sang along to the music at the top of their lungs. Chloe and Jasper had written this song, then Conrad and Marcus had mixed the music and uploaded it on to the Beans' blog. The whole cast would sing it live at the performance.

Chloe held a braid of white, blue, and yellow streamers in her hand. She and Zee were decorating Zee's bedroom for the costume party. “How are we going to hang these up?” Chloe asked. “We're not tall enough.”

“Maybe Adam could help us,” Zee explained. “He's freakishly tall.”

“He's not a freak,” Chloe said, blushing.

“You don't know him like I do,” Zee said. She picked up her Sidekick and called Adam on his cell phone in his room.

“Speak to me,” Adam said, picking up the phone.

“Can you help us?” Zee asked.

“What do I get?” Adam answered.

“The reward of knowing you did a good deed.”

“So…you're saying you'll owe me?”

“Fine,” Zee said, pushing the button to end the call.

“Is he coming?” Chloe asked, her voice wobbling a little.

“Yes.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Chloe panicked. “I gotta make sure my hair looks okay.” She tossed the streamer into the air and hurried into the bathroom off Zee's bedroom.

“Don't worry about it. He hasn't brushed his hair in a week,” Zee called out to her. Then she added, “It's probably been that long since he washed it, too.”

Chloe was silent the entire time Adam was in the room. She just stared at him—unless he faced her, then she quickly looked away.

After Adam left, Zee pointed to Chloe's shirt and asked, “Is that drool?”

“Not hardly,” Chloe said. “I accidentally splashed myself in the bathroom.”

“If you say so…,” Zee said and laughed. “We should put on our costumes now before everyone else gets here.”

Chloe changed into a soccer uniform and tucked a ball under her arm. “This is what I wore for my old team in Atlanta.”

Zee grabbed a huge yellow T-shirt that she'd decorated with horizontal black stripes. She pulled it on over black leggings. “Can you help me stuff these old towels in my shirt?” she asked Chloe.

“What are you?” Chloe asked.

“You'll see.”

When the girls were done, Zee said, “Buzzzzz,” then slipped a black plastic hairband over her short red hair. Two giant springs, each with a black ball at the end, swung in the air and knocked into the other.

“Oh, I get it!” Chloe exclaimed. “You're a bee.”

“Yup. My dad suggested it, because I've been so bee-Zee lately.”

The doorbell rang, and Chloe and Zee hurried to answer it.

“Peace,” Kathi said and held up two fingers when Zee
opened the door. Her straight brown hair was parted in the middle and fell over each eye. In addition to a tie-dye T-shirt, she wore her thrift-store blue jeans. “My mother almost went gray when she saw me, but what could she do? It's just a costume, right?”

“I don't know, Kathi,” Zee teased. “I think those jeans are now officially part of your wardrobe, since you wear them every chance you get.”

Kathi giggled. “I can't help it, considering how good I look in them.”

Jen followed Kathi through the door. She had on black glasses that slid down her nose and a red-and-white-striped shirt that she had buttoned to the top. Her pants were belted up high as if they were supporting her boobs. “I'm a nerd,” Jen snorted. “Do you want me to fix your computer?”

All of the girls burst into hysterical laughter. Then Jen moved to the side so Zee could see Missy.

“Wow!” Zee was stunned. Missy wore a beautiful plum-colored sari with a green-and-gold border.

“Are you Indian?” Chloe asked.

“Technically, no,” Missy said. “My brothers and I were born in this country. So was my mom. But her family is from India, and so is my dad.”

“So when do you wear that dress?” Kathi asked.

Missy shrugged. “This is the first time. It's been hanging in my closet ever since my grandmother gave it to me,” Missy said.

Mrs. Carmichael burst out of the kitchen into the hallway. “Hello, girls,” she said. “Is anyone hungry?”

“Groovy!” Kathi said like a hippie. Mrs. Carmichael gave her a perplexed look. “I mean, yes, please.”

Zee led the way into the dining room. Food covered the table. There was a large plate arranged with sliced fruit. Yogurt and hummus dips and spreads sat beside a tray of sliced cucumbers, julienne carrots, asparagus, and broccoli. Breads, crackers, and rice cakes were ready to be topped with about ten different kinds of cheeses.

“Who else is coming?” Missy asked.

Zee and Chloe burst out laughing.

“What's so funny?” Missy wondered out loud.

“Mrs. Carmichael always makes a ton of food when people come over,” Kathi explained.

“She can't help herself,” Zee said.

“Don't you end up throwing out a lot of food?” Missy asked.

At that moment, Adam stepped into the dining room. “Hello, seventh graders,” he said. He picked up a plate and started piling on fruit, crackers, and cheese.

Zee turned to Missy. “This is my brother, Adam—or as we like to call him, the human garbage disposal.”

Everyone filled their plates and sat down.

“I think we should just wear these costumes for the musical,” Chloe joked.

Kathi crunched on a carrot stick. “I plan to,” she said seriously. “Without the giant peace sign, of course.”

“And Mr. P should wear my sari for one of the scenes where he plays a woman,” Missy suggested.

“Ohmylanta! You know that part where he's the nosy neighbor,” Zee asked. “We should make him wear a ridiculous blond wig with a dress.”

“And those beige knee-high nylon socks they sell at the drugstore!” Jen added.

“And black shoes with thick soles,” Chloe suggested.

“And giant boobs,” Missy put in.

“You guys!” Kathi shrieked. “Don't do that to him!” But she laughed as hard as everyone else.

“So, do you guys just want to look at the whole script and figure out the costumes for each scene?” Zee asked.

“Then Zee and I can buy or make whatever people don't already have,” Kathi suggested.

“I think that for the big hip-hop dance scenes, all the girls should dress alike,” Missy said. “Except Zee could have
something to make her stand out as the lead.”

“And Kathi, too,” Jen added. “And we definitely should do the same kind of thing for the boys.”

“That's pretty easy,” Chloe said, “since they'll wear football uniforms.”

“Except we need to figure out something special for Landon,” Zee pointed out.

“Maybe he could carry a football?” Missy asked as if she was afraid to make the suggestion.

“Cool beans!” Zee said. Zee looked around the table and remembered Missy's skating party. Obviously, the other girls had thought about Zee's ideas.

Ohmylanta!
Zee thought.
They weren't the problem. I was.
“To teamwork!” Zee said, holding her cup high in the air.

“And to making Mr. P look as ridiculous as possible,” Chloe added.

“No way!” Kathi squealed while everyone laughed.

 

After dinner, the girls watched part of the first season of
Project Runway
on DVD, then went up to Zee's room to put on pajamas.

“What should we do now?” Zee asked. She wasn't tired anymore.

“Well…at my old school, we used to play a game
called Secrets,” Missy suggested.

“How do you play that?” Jen asked.

“You have to tell the group something you've never told anyone,” Missy explained.

“I'll go first,” Kathi said, fingering the white fake-fur trim of her pink sleeping bag. “I'm afraid of not being perfect.”

“I thought you liked being perfect!” Jen said, shocked.

“I just worry about all that stuff for my parents,” Kathi told her. “They think it makes them look bad if I mess up.”

“Ugh! I know. My parents want me to be a doctor like my father,” Jen said.

“Don't you have to be really good in science to be a doctor?” Zee asked. Jen was Zee's lab partner, and Zee was usually the one in charge of measuring everything properly and making sure beakers didn't break.

Jen hung her head. “Yes, but I don't care about science. I want to be a writer.”

“Well, I know this might sound crazy to you guys now, but I was really worried that everyone would hate me,” Missy confessed.

“No way!” Kathi said in a fake shocked way. Kathi was a good actress, but Zee didn't think her performance was very convincing.

“It's probably really hard to come to a new school,” Zee said.

Missy nodded, then turned to Chloe. “What's your secret, Chloe?”

Chloe bit her lip. “I don't know.”

“Come on, Chloe,” Zee coaxed. “Don't get shy all of a sudden. You must have a secret.”

“I do,” Chloe said, “but it's really someone else's secret, so I can't say anything.”

“Whose?” Zee asked.

“I guess you'll have to invite 'em to your next sleepover if you want to find out,” Chloe said. Then she looked at Zee. “What about you? What's your secret?”

“I guess my secret isn't really a secret since
everybody
knows I almost kissed Landon—then got grounded.”

“If you ask me, you got off easy,” Jen said. “My parents would ground me for
life
if I kissed a boy.”

“My parents don't have to say anything,” Chloe put in. “No way am I interested in kissing any boys.”

“Not even Marcus?” Zee asked. How could Chloe have a crush on someone and not want to kiss him?

“No way.” Chloe made a disgusted face. “I've got better things to do.”

“Well, even though I never have, I would
like
to kiss a
boy,” Kathi said. She turned and smiled at the other girls.

Zee had always thought Kathi and Landon had kissed when they were going out last year.
If Kathi never kissed Landon,
Zee thought,
maybe he's never kissed anyone
.
I'll be
his
first kiss, too!