Fifteen Candles (15 page)

Alicia couldn't move. She couldn't even sway, though the rhythm of the song was sweet and infectious, like Justin Timberlake meets Alejandro Sanz. Even though she wasn't wearing the dress, and even though all these people hadn't come out to celebrate her, hearing Gaz sing a song that he'd written for her, on the beach, under the moon and the stars, Alicia couldn't help feeling that this was her night, too.

After the father-daughter
vals
, Sarita's father took the microphone to thank her family and friends for joining them all on this special occasion. Gaz made a beeline for Alicia, held her hand, and walked her backstage. Then he kissed her, quickly, softly, gently,
suavemente
. A kiss that left no doubt that it was the first of many more to come.

Then, as though it had all been part of the plan, Gaz kissed her once more, and the band began their rocking two-hour set. Alicia did periodic checks to make sure that everything was okay, but whenever she could, she stood backstage, closed her eyes for just a moment, listened to Gaz singing, and pretended that he was kissing her again.

Just before the clock struck midnight, Alicia found Sarita and her mom sitting side by side on beach chairs on the wettest part of the sand. They were both barefoot, holding their shoes; as the tide came in, it splashed warm water around their ankles.

“Hi, Sarita and Ms. Lopez,” Alicia said. “I hope you're having a good time.”

“Oh, my God,” Sarita said. “Are you kidding me? This is the best night of my life. I'll never forget it as long as I live. I'm telling you, Alicia, you can read about
quinces
. You can go to a million of them. But you'll never know how magical it is until it happens to you.”

Alicia felt a twinge of jealousy that she suspected she'd been fighting back for a long time. Why had she chosen a trip over a
quinceañera
? Looking at all the people dancing and Gaz playing hard-core reggaeton onstage, she felt sad. She'd missed out on all of this, and now there was no going back. The only thing she could do was to make Amigas a huge success, so that more girls like Sarita could get the
quinces
of their dreams.

Alicia reached into her purse, took out an envelope, and handed it to Sarita's mom.

“What's this?” she asked.

“Your change,” Alicia said. “I promised you we'd come in on budget, and we managed to come in
under
budget. That's a check for fifteen hundred dollars.”

“You keep it,” Sarita's mom said.

“No, please, it's the least I could do, considering you took such a big chance on us.”

But Ms. Lopez shook her head. “It's an investment. For your business. You've certainly earned it.”

Alicia's mind was racing. Fifteen hundred dollars in pure profit. They could rent an office. Buy equipment. Take out advertising. Or maybe she could put it in the bank and start planning their next
quince
, which she had no doubt would be coming up soon. She was all out of business cards, and so were the other members of the group. Though she had the sneaking suspicion that Gaz—in protest against the club's name—had thrown his away.

Walking back to the dance area, she saw Carmen, who came up to her and threw her arm around her best friend's shoulder.

“You did good,
chica
,” Carmen said.

“So, you would hire the Amigas?” Alicia said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“Of course,” Carmen said.

“Excellent,” Alicia said. “Because your fifteenth birthday is only a few months away, and I've got
lots
of ideas.”

I'm grateful to Jane Startz, Christy Fletcher, and Melissa Chinchillo for inviting me to be part of Amigas Inc. Thank you to Wendy Lefkon and Elizabeth Rudnick for making my words shine as brightly as a
quince
's tiara.
Besos y abrazos
to Cecilia and Toño Ortega, Diana and Buster Richards, Keith and Digna Downs—you make me proud to be Panamanian and proud to be a Latina. Finally,
mi corazón a Flora y Jason.
No hay palabras.

—V.C.

A big thanks to our two wonderful editors, Elizabeth Rudnick and Wendy Lefkon, and to my devoted agent and dear friend, Amy Berkower. With deep gratitude to Veronica Chambers for helping to bring these wonderful characters to life.

—J.S.

When I first came up with the idea for
Amigas
I thought about the
many Latina women who, like Alicia, Jamie, and Carmen, had started
out as entrepreneurial teenagers. Who, through hard work, imagina
tion, and dedication, were able to take their passions and talents and
become role models and successful adults. For me, Jennifer Lopez is
such a woman. She has incredible drive and an amazing work ethic,
qualities she shares with the girls in
Amigas
. They, too, needed an
equal amount of determination to turn their
quince
-party-planning
business into a huge success.

So, to get a better sense of this connection, I sat down with Jennifer,
and we talked about
quinces
and what it was like for her to be a
Latina girl growing up in New York City.…

—J. Startz

1.
Did you have a
quince
? If so, what was it like? If not, did you celebrate this rite of passage in any other way? As an adult, do you ever regret this decision or wish that you had had one?

I did not have a
quince
,
and looking back, I wish I had! When
you are fifteen, you don't always think about what's “special” but
more about what's “fun.” I had a great party, but now I wish I
had celebrated with a full court and every
thing. Just to think
of all the preparations, the dance rehearsals, and the the party itself—it would have been a great memory to have.

2.
Do you think more Latina girls today are having
quinces
than when you were fifteen? If so, why do you think this is?

I imagine that it might be less, due to our economy, unfortu
nately. But I truly think it all depends on the individual family.
Hopefully, every Latina girl will get the opportunity to have a
quince
or at least the choice to have one. I believe most Latino
parents start
discussing it when their daughters are young teens.

3.
You're a mom now; when your daughter Emme turns fifteen, are you planning on having her celebrate her
quinceañera
?

I would love to have one for her. But growing up in the U.S. is so
different from growing up in Mexico or Puerto Rico, where my
family is from. When you're born in a country where Spanish is
the dominant
language, it's expected that you have a
quince
,
but here we're given a choice. I'd like to give my daughter a choice
and hope she decides to have a
quince
.

4.
Which of the
amigas
do you think you are most like and why?

I relate most to Alicia. We are both passionate, creative,
fiery,
and strong-willed, but underneath it all we're softies!

5.
All the members of Amigas Inc. have very strong interests that they want to pursue professionally. When did you know what you wanted to do for a career? How did you get your start?

I always knew that I wanted to perform. I
began to book jobs
as a dancer, yet I also had dreams of singing and
acting. I feel
so blessed that I've been able to pursue all my
passions and do
what I love.

6.
You are an internationally successful businesswoman; what advice would you give to young people like the
amigas
, who want to start their own business?

Be prepared to work hard, and go for it! If you stay focused on
your goals and maintain a strong work ethic—you can achieve
anything.

7.
You are an inspiration for millions of Latina girls around the world. What advice can you give them? And what inspired you to become involved with this story?

I love the message that
Amigas
give us. Alicia and her friends are
wonderful role models for all girls, and I really responded to the
idea that even though you are young, you can still begin to fulfill
your dreams. These girls are real entrepreneurs!

“I'M SO EXHAUSTED,”
Alicia Cruz said, plopping herself down on the floor of the school gym. “How many
quinces
did we plan this summer?”

She was wearing her version of cleanup clothes: a white Ay! Vena Cava T, a pair of her dad's old cutoff shorts, and one of her mother's old Gucci belts, for some retro bling. Even on a dedicated clean-up-and-run-errands day like this, Alicia believed that you had to bring it, fashionwise. Especially in Miami, where you never knew whom you were going to run into. But it was late August, not even lunchtime, and already over a hundred degrees. And as any native-born South Florida girl knows, heat rises. Sometimes, lying on the floor was the only option for staying cool.

Soon, Alicia was joined on the wooden planks of the gym floor by her good friend Jamie Sosa. Ever the transplanted New Yorker, Jamie dressed like somebody out of a scene from the classic hip-hop movie
Beat Street
and rocked a pair of vintage black Run-DMC frames. Her long brown hair was pulled to the side in a ponytail, and on her feet she wore a pair of limited-edition, only-available-in-Tokyo A Bathing Ape kicks.

“No one ever tells you about the ugly side of party planning,” Jamie groaned, pointing to the piles of garbage and recyclables they'd spent the whole morning picking up. The night before, they'd hosted a Hoops There It Is!
quince
añera
, complete with a free-throw contest and a dunking trampoline for the birthday girl, who was already six foot two in the tenth grade and hoped to play in the WNBA. It had been a lot of fun, but it had been a ton of work. And because the school had been kind enough to let them host the party in the gym at no charge, they felt obligated to do a meticulous cleanup job.

“'Sup,” Carmen said, as she strolled into the gym. She didn't ask any questions, but just joined her friends on the floor. Carmen Ramirez-Ruben was the epitome of the girl who didn't try too hard. The fact that she was model-tall with flawless
caramelo
skin and bright green eyes gave even her understated wardrobe a pop.

“We've been working so hard all summer long,” Jamie said, “remind me: Why aren't we filthy rich?”

“Because we're still learning,” Alicia explained. “We made five thousand dollars this summer. That was huge. But we spent most of it on a new van for Gaz.”

Gaz Colón, who had been resisting lying on the floor, looked over at Alicia with an eyebrow raised. He'd recently been promoted to assistant manager at the Gap, where he worked part-time. To mark the occasion, he'd dressed for work in a new pair of pressed khakis, a plaid shirt, and a camel-colored tie.

“Hey, the Amigas crew didn't buy
me
anything,” he protested, taking a towel from his gym bag and joining the others on the floor. “The van is for our business. We need it for running errands, picking up flowers, catering.…”

“Shuttling disoriented
abuelas
from the wrong address…” Alicia said.

“To the right address,” Gaz said, reaching out and squeezing her hand.

Jamie rolled her eyes. “Are you guys still in the middle of that—what do you call it?”

“Flirtationship,” Gaz and Alicia said at the same time.

“Is that even a real word?” Carmen asked. “Flirtationship?”

“It's real to us,” Gaz said, still holding on to Alicia's hand.

“And it means… ?” Carmen asked.

With Gaz holding her hand, Alicia felt the temperature in the room go up ten degrees. But she composed herself and replied, “It means we flirt. And we hold hands. But we don't go any further.…”

“Because our friendship is the most important thing,” said Gaz, completing her sentence.

“Color me cynical,” Jamie said. “But your ‘flirtationship' sounds a lot like dating to me.”

Alicia replied, “Our business, not your business.”

“As opposed to
quinceañeras
, which is all of our business,” Carmen said. “Can you believe that a simple plan to help the new girl in town put together her
quince
has grown into such a huge business?”

“Well,
quinces
are major,” Alicia said.

“Especially in Miami,” Jamie said.

The
quinceañera
, or Sweet Fifteen, was more than just a birthday party. In Latin families, the fifteenth year marked a major coming-of-age ritual: it was when a girl became a woman. Just three months before, the group had helped a new friend, Sarita Lopez, plan her big celebration. This was after Alicia decided to start Amigas Incorporated and roped her crew into helping. Along the way, Alicia, their de facto team leader, went a little
quince
-zilla, but in the end they'd all learned a lot about starting a business while keeping your friendships intact. Luckily it had all turned out well and now their in-boxes were flooded with girls who wanted them to plan their
quinces
, too.

Alicia sat up and pulled her iPhone out of her purse. “Anyone up for a trip down memory lane?” Gaz, Jamie, and Carmen gathered around her, eager for an excuse to postpone cleanup. From the beginning, Alicia had been videotaping the parties they planned with her iPhone and putting the two-minute clips up on YouTube. They were Amigas Inc.'s best form of advertisement—and
their
favorite form of entertainment.

She went to YouTube and called up a video of Sarita getting ready for her big day. She was dressed in a Juicy Couture orange hoodie, a white tank, and navy blue shorts. Smiling at the camera, she said, “Well, everybody, it's my big day. It's not even noon yet, but we've all been up for hours. My cousins and
tías
are in the living room, working on the favors.”

The camera followed her into the small living room, where no fewer than thirty relatives sat on every available space, filling favor bags, making phone calls, and taking pictures.

Sarita was seen going into her bedroom. “My
damas
are getting their hair and makeup done in here,” she said.

In the sunny yellow bedroom, seven teenage girls in robes and slips crowded around the full-length mirror on the closet wall.

Sarita explained, “There are seven
damas
, or girlfriends. There are seven
chambelanes
, who are your guy friends. And the
quince
—that's me—makes number fifteen! And of course, I have to give a shout-out to the Amigas for hooking the new girl up with the dopest
quince
in town!”

The clip ended, and Alicia scrolled through the Amigas YouTube clips until she found the next one. “Do you guys remember Ana Mary?”

“You mean, the Queen Bee?” Gaz asked, sarcastically.

On-screen, a girl stood in the ballroom of a downtown hotel. Black and yellow streamers covered the wall, and barrels made to look like oversize honeycombs overflowed with sparkling apple cider.

“Those honeycombs were a nice touch,” Carmen pointed out.

“Jamie's idea,” Alicia said. “We should get you a T-shirt that says,
Innovator in the House
.”

Jamie grinned. “That's a T-shirt I'd wear.”

Alicia hit play on Ana Mary's YouTube clip.

“Hello, hello,” Ana Mary said, flipping her long straight hair. “My colors are yellow and black, because my favorite animal is the bumblebee.”

“She says it like a bumblebee is a pet,” Jamie said, shaking her head.

“I've always liked bees, because I kind of see myself as the queen bee,” Ana Mary said, her mouth full of braces. “Mess with me and you'll get stung….”

To be continued…