Fashion Frenzy (7 page)

M
aeve, I have three words for you—OUT OF CONTROL!” Charlotte exclaimed.

It was the Wednesday night before Katani and Maeve were scheduled to hit the road for New York City. Maeve figured her dad’s car could hold at least a dozen suitcases.

Charlotte was standing in the middle of Maeve’s bedroom, but it was hard to tell where the floor ended and the furniture began, because there were clothes flung everywhere—atop the dresser, on the floor, draped all over the furniture. Five pairs of pink shoes, from sandals to boots, were tossed on the bed. A bright pink quilted jacket lay on the pillow. Boxes full of earrings and hair accessories were heaped on the floor. Maeve was sifting through a pile of blue, pink, and purple shirts at the bottom of her closet.

Charlotte was absolutely overwhelmed by the chaos. “You’re going for a weekend, not a month!” she reminded her friend.

Maeve looked up. “Obviously!” she said. “Why do you think I’m only taking coordinating outfits? See? It might look like a lot, but it’s really just staples, Char. Bare…ugh…minimum!” She heaved, slapping down a dozen colorful shirts on her bed.

“Bare minimum! Maeve, you couldn’t wear all this stuff if you changed your outfit eight times a day!” Charlotte cried shaking her head. “You’re taking enough clothes to run the fashion show yourself!”

Charlotte had come over, at Maeve’s desperate request, to help her pack for the trip. Since Charlotte had lived all over the world, she knew all about packing efficiently. But right now Charlotte didn’t even know where to begin. Maeve seemed to think that she was taking the Queen Elizabeth 2 luxury cruise to Europe instead of making a weekend trip to the Big Apple.

Maeve had three large suitcases lying carelessly on the floor. One was already full, the second more than half full, and the third contained only cosmetics, jewelry, three large hats and half a dozen bottles of shampoo and conditioner. All of them were full-size, not travel size, and would take up tons of room in the suitcase.

Charlotte took several deep breaths and sat down on the only edge of the bed that wasn’t completely covered with clothes. Packing Maeve for a weekend trip to New York was a bigger challenge than packing for the safari she and her dad took in Africa!
Where do I even begin?
Charlotte asked herself. Perhaps she could help by getting Maeve to think logically about what she needed.

“Look, what are the things that you absolutely
have
to
take?” Charlotte asked. “You know, just put together the necessities. Let’s make a list.”

Maeve bounced up from the floor, nodding happily. “Yeah, I did that. They’re all in those suitcases, see?” Maeve pointed to the mounting piles. “I have my daytime outfits there, nighttime outfits there, and in this bag I did formal and semi-formal.” Suddenly Maeve gasped. “Oh no! I completely forgot about casual! I figured I’d only take my best, since New York is full of ritzy restaurants and stuff, but what if the fashion show is supposed to be comfy-casual…or wait…what if it’s bohemian-chic? I wouldn’t want to embarrass Katani!”

Charlotte gazed at a very flustered Maeve. She had such a good heart. But oh, she got so carried away sometimes! “Okay,” she said carefully. “Where are your formal outfits?”

Maeve nodded toward the first suitcase. “Three long dresses, two short dresses, and one skirt, in case it’s okay to wear skirts.”

Charlotte coughed. “Okay Maeve, this isn’t going to be easy. Now I want you to choose one. Just one. You might not even need that,” she added. “This is a working weekend for Michelle, remember. And I seriously doubt that you are going to eat at fancy restaurants. I mean, my guess is some hamburger places or Thai food.”

Maeve looked crushed. “But what if…?”

“ONE,” Charlotte repeated firmly. “Which do you like the best?”

Maeve took almost three minutes to decide. “The blue dress. I think.”

“Great.” Charlotte picked up the dress. “Now you can put
aaaaaall
that other stuff back,” she instructed.

“But Char—”

“Put it back, I say!” Charlotte ordered, desperately trying not to laugh.

Maeve reluctantly removed the extra skirts and dresses.

“That’s great, Maeve. Now where’s your warm jacket?”

Maeve frowned. “Huh. I didn’t think about that,” she admitted. “You really think I need one?”

Charlotte nodded. “Definitely. New York is pretty much the same as Brookline, and you know how cool it gets at night.”

“Okay, okay.” Maeve went downstairs and came back with her favorite parka.

“How about walking shoes?” Charlotte asked, looking at the mountain of shoes on the bed.

Maeve wrinkled her nose and pointed at her closet. “Walking shoes? Ew. Very uncool.”

“Very important,” Charlotte said as she picked up a pair of comfortable-looking pink sneakers and handed them to Maeve. “You know everyone in New York walks everywhere. Besides, you’ll be standing on your feet at the show. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

“You sound like my mom!” Maeve wailed as she flung herself on the bed.

“Awesome,” Charlotte said. “After a whole day of helping models with their clothes and hanging up stuff and running errands, you’ll want to kiss
these shoes.” She tossed them in Maeve’s suitcase.

“Please, Charlotte! I would never kiss shoes that have touched pavement. Gross.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes and looked nervously at the three suitcases. “Okay.” She sighed. “It’s time to be ruthless.”

They reached several compromises. Charlotte agreed to let Maeve take a pair of rhinestone-studded shoes to match the blue dress ICOF (Maeve’s acronym for “in case of formal”). In return, Maeve agreed to leave the majority of her pink shoe collection at home. Instead of the dramatic floor-length nightgown, Maeve packed an oversize T-shirt for pj’s. Charlotte, in exchange, allowed Maeve to take one hat (it was better than nothing) and a pair of long silk gloves. Maeve packed several sets of underwear and socks and reduced the toiletries to a toothbrush and toothpaste, dental floss, shampoo, conditioner, and soap. Charlotte approved the final load, except for one thing: “What did I tell you about the big curlers, missy of the already curly hair? They stay!”

Maeve insisted that she couldn’t cut down on her clothes unless she brought more accessories to “dress them up.” She sorted out earrings, rings, bracelets, scarves, and two handbags, and also packed six pairs of pants, two pairs of jeans, eight shirts, and three sweatshirts. The results were now sloppily stuffed into two of the wheeled suitcases. Charlotte knew she’d open them up again to wrinkles galore, but she didn’t bother mentioning it, or Maeve would probably pack an ironing board and iron as well!

Two hours later they’d significantly lightened Maeve’s
travel wardrobe. Maeve, frustrated, was near tears because she thought she should be taking much more. Charlotte, exasperated, couldn’t get Maeve to understand that she
could
actually survive on even less.

“Really, Char! I don’t know how you managed to travel all over the world,” Maeve complained. “You might not know this, but I have a really hard time throwing fashion out the window. This is terrible! I’m going to be a disaster in front of all those models and designers in New York—I just know it!”

“I promise, they won’t even notice your clothes,” Charlotte assured. “They’ll be way too wrapped up in the show and how they look. When you’re lugging this stuff up and down the streets of Manhattan, you’ll be
thanking
me. If you had let me do the packing, I bet I could have gotten everything into one bag!”

Maeve looked horrified. “No girl with any fashion sense could get it all in one bag!” she insisted. “Do you hear me? I have two words for you, Char—
NOT POSSIBLE
!”

A Gift from Kelley

Another Beacon Street Girl with more fashion sense than she knew what to do with
had
managed to get it all into one bag. Katani carefully checked off the last item on her list and inspected her neatly folded wardrobe. She was just about to close her black carry-on suitcase, confident that she had plenty of clothes for the weekend, but she counted off her list one more time: Two pairs of pants, her favorite jeans, and some vintage striped trousers (in case Michelle had the energy to take them out for
dinner). Everything had been neatly ironed and folded. Katani packed three shirts that matched both pants and four scarves she’d hand-painted herself to dress them up. She’d rolled the scarves in fresh tissue paper, so they’d stay wrinkle-free in her suitcase.

She decided on two pairs of comfortable shoes, ankle socks, pajamas, and underwear, plus some jewelry and scarves for accessorizing. She could wear her heavy duffle coat in the car. Katani also had plenty of toiletries and they were all practical, travel-size bottles. She’d also remembered a travel alarm clock.

“More than enough,” she said out loud. She zipped the bag shut, wiped her hands together, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was finally finished packing.

“Hi, Katani!” Kelley shouted, bouncing into their room.

Ever since their parents had agreed to let Katani go to New York, Kelley had barely left Katani’s side. She always seemed to be there, asking if Katani would play checkers with her, watch TV with her, or read to her before bed. Katani knew Kelley was getting more and more worried about her going away. She had tried to be soothing, saying she’d be home very soon, but Kelley wouldn’t have it. She didn’t want Katani leaving, period!

Also, because Kelley was so anxious about Katani’s trip, she tended to be louder and more boisterous than usual. But Katani refused to get upset with her. The mere idea of being mad at Kelley made Katani feel terrible. Though Kelley could be annoying, she loved Katani unconditionally, and Katani loved Kelley just as much.

“Hi, Kelley,” Katani replied to the enthusiastic greeting. She hoped Kelley wouldn’t ask about her suitcase.

But Kelley noticed it right away. “What’s in that, Katani? Is it something very beautiful and luscious?” Kelley loved to repeat the words she heard in TV commercials.

“Not luscious,” Katani answered. “They’re just some of my clothes. You know. Jeans and stuff.”

“Why did you put them in the case?” Kelley asked, crossing her arms and giving Katani her
I’m smarter than you think
look. “They’re supposed to go in your drawers.”

Katani hesitated. “Well…I put them in the case so I could carry them. For when I go to New York City.” She hoped if she kept her answer low-key, it wouldn’t upset Kelley.

Kelley looked at her for a long moment, and then her dark eyes started to fill up.

“Oh, Kelley!” Katani said, coming close to hug her. To her relief, Kelley let her. “It’s okay! I’m going to find some luscious things to bring home to you, and we can play with them together, all right? It’ll be so much fun!”

Kelley still stood a little stiffly. Her eyes were wet, but she managed to sniffle and ask, “What kind of luscious?”

“Well—uh—” Katani thought for a minute. “I don’t know yet. What would you like?”

Solemnly, Kelley said, “Do they have luscious horses in New York City?”

That wasn’t exactly the question that Katani expected. She remembered one of Maeve’s favorite movies set in New York in which people rode in a horse-drawn carriage around Central Park. “Yes, I think so…,” Katani answered slowly. She knew what would be coming next.

“Then I want you to bring home a beautiful, luscious horse,” Kelley said seriously. “I want it to be purple.”

Katani cracked up. “I will!” she agreed, laughing. “I’ll bring you the most luscious horse in New York City, okay? It isn’t going to be a real horse, but I promise it’ll be beautiful all the same. I’m not going to tell you what color though. It’ll be a surprise.”

Kelley wasn’t laughing. She studied Katani for a moment, and then she straightened up and announced proudly, “I have a surprise for
you
, Miss Bossy!”

Kelley bolted over to her bed and started rummaging around. The space at the head of Kelley’s bed was filled with her treasures—stuffed animals, favorite books, and lots of pictures and special projects she’d made in her art therapy classes. It was crammed with so much junk that Katani wondered how Kelley could find anything.

Once Kelley finally spotted what she was looking for, she bent way over the headboard and made a mighty snort to retrieve something. Then she turned around and skipped back to Katani.

“Here’s the beautiful luscious horse that I made, Katani,” she said with an outstretched hand. “It’s for you.”

It was a crude-looking ceramic pin in a garish gold color. It had taken Kelley almost a week to mold into a horse, and then she’d painted it bright gold. The horse had black eyes and a white mane, but it was mostly the strange shade of gold that made it stand out a mile. Kelley had chattered about it for hours when she first brought it home. She was extremely proud of it.

“Take him to New York, Katani,” she said. “If I can’t go with you, my horse can. Take care of him and wear him every day, okay?”

Katani gulped. For such a fashion-consious girl, she cringed at the thought of wearing a homemade clay pin—especially in the high-fashion world of New York! But it was Kelley’s gift to her, she reminded herself. This was Kelley’s way of showing her love, and it meant a lot to Katani. Some things were just more important than fashion.

Katani tenderly cupped the pin in her hand. “Oh Kelley,” she said. “He’s beautiful. I promise I will wear him every day.”

“I know,” Kelley replied. “Because he’s a beautiful, luscious horse.”