Girls Acting Catty (12 page)

“Oh, Mark. He's traveling with the show. They're doing
Wicked
all over Europe now.”

“When's he coming back?” asked Taylor.

“I don't know. He was only in LA for the play. Normally he lives in New York.”

“I'm moving to New York when I turn eighteen,” said Taylor. “Even if I don't have a record contract by then, although I probably will.”

I couldn't believe I was sitting here having a regular conversation with these girls that my friends and I had been fighting with for weeks. It didn't seem right. Even though it was kind of nice. Or at least less stressful.

“So now you have to sing with us,” said Taylor. She turned to Nikki. “Annabelle's got a great voice.”

I smiled. I couldn't help it. All this time I figured Taylor had been too wrapped up in herself to notice that I had a good singing voice too. But she did know.

We sang the song “Popular” together, which was kind of ironic. For me, anyway, since I'm not popular. For them it probably felt natural. When it was through, we moved on to some other songs from the
Wicked
soundtrack.

By the time Mrs. Stansfield called us down to dinner, we were actually having fun. Back downstairs, I didn't know where I was supposed to sit, but Taylor grabbed my hand and brought me to the far end of the table so I could eat next to her and Nikki.

“So where's Jason?” asked Taylor.

“You know Jason?” I asked. My voice rose to a high pitch when I said his name and I hoped that didn't give anything away. The last thing I needed was for Taylor to know about my feelings for the guy.

“Duh!” she said. “Ted and my parents have been friends since forever. I've known Jason since he was a geek with glasses and braces, before he turned cute, even.”

I noticed Nikki cringe a little at the braces comment, but Taylor didn't seem to.

More importantly, I had a hard time believing Jason was ever a geek. There wasn't a nerdy bone in his body. But thinking about his body made me blush. And wait a second . . . “You think Jason is cute?”

“I don't think he's cute. I know he is,” said Taylor. “Is he coming later or something?”

“He's spending Thanksgiving with his mom,” I said. “Since we're having Christmas together.”

“Oh.” Taylor seemed disappointed but recovered quickly. “You're so lucky to have such a hot brother.”

“Stepbrother,” I said. “And he's not, yet.”

We finished our food way before the grown-ups did and Taylor convinced her mom to let us have pumpkin pie, even though everyone else was still eating their dinner.

Afterward, Nikki and Taylor headed back upstairs. I didn't know if I was supposed to go too, so I stayed where I was. But then Taylor stopped and glanced over her shoulder and called, “Hey, Annabelle. Are you coming, or what?”

And somehow I knew that “or what” wasn't a real option.

chapter thirteen
terrible or not, here they come

I
figured Taylor and Nikki wouldn't be mean to me after we'd had so much fun hanging out over Thanksgiving, but I still felt nervous when I got to school on Monday morning, mostly because I didn't know what to expect. I hoped their group would finally get along with my group because I was sick of all the fighting.

But maybe nothing would change. Maybe school would continue to be a battleground, while only home territory was neutral. Maybe even that was wishful thinking. Maybe Taylor and Nikki had already forgotten about how much fun we'd had over Thanksgiving. It was four whole days ago.

As I approached my locker I saw Taylor standing nearby. I didn't want to assume she was waiting there for me, but it did seem that way, so I said hello, although kind of quietly, just in case I was wrong.

“Hola,
chica,
” Taylor said, flashing me a wide, bright smile, like we were actually friends. “I thought you might want to borrow this.” She handed over a CD— the soundtrack to
West Side Story
.

“Don't tell anyone, but I heard the drama club is doing this for the spring musical. How awesome would it be if I got the part of Maria? They've never given the lead to a sixth grader, but there's a first for everything, right? Anyway, I thought you might want to check it out. Maybe you can try out too. For the chorus.”

“Um, thanks,” I said.

“Sure. The music rocks. You can keep it for as long as you want,” said Taylor. “I already downloaded it to my iPod.”

“Great,” I said.

“And you should rent the DVD sometime too.”

“I will.”

“Or come over and we can watch it together, and maybe practice. It would be good to have someone to run lines with.”

“Um, okay,” I said, hardly believing that Taylor Stansfield actually invited me to her house. Sure, I'd already been there once, but that had been an accident.

“Or I can watch it at your place. Maybe Jason would want to see it too.” Just then she looked at her watch and said, “I've gotta motor, but I'll see you in chorus, 'kay?”

“ 'Kay,” I said, and then felt silly because it sounded as if I was copying her. Luckily she didn't say anything and just wiggled her fingers at me before turning to go.

As I was putting the CD in my locker, Rachel came up to me. “What's that?” she asked.

“Um, nothing.” I smiled nervously. It was too early in the morning to explain that I was now friends—or at least friendly with—Terrible T. And I didn't know how I was going to either, so I changed the subject. “How was your Thanksgiving?” I asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “So boring. We had to go all the way to my aunt's house in San Diego and it took forever. But at least Jackson got carsick and threw up on the way home. That was basically the highlight of the entire vacation.” The bell rang. “Gotta run. I'll see you at lunch, though.”

“ 'Kay.” I wiggled my fingers just like Taylor had. It must be contagious or something, because I totally didn't mean to do it.

Rachel tilted her head and asked, “What was that?”

“Nothing.” I hooked my thumbs into my backpack straps.

“Okaaay.” She gave me a funny look. “I'll see you later.”

“Yup. Sure. See ya.”

When I got to French, Hannah said hi to me and asked how my Thanksgiving was.

“Good,” I said. “I actually went to Taylor's house. Her parents are friends with my mom's fiancé.”

She smiled. “I know. Nikki told me.”

This seemed to be code for, “Everything is okay now, and I can be nice to you, again.” Like I passed some test I didn't even know I'd signed up for, which was lucky, because I'd never had any problem with Hannah. And now we didn't have to ignore each other anymore.

“I also heard that your mom is getting married and you get to be the maid of honor,” she said. “You're so lucky. I got to be a flower girl once, but that was years ago. Being the maid of honor is much cooler. As long as you like your future step-dad, that is.”

“Yeah, he's a good guy. A little dorky, maybe, but nice.”

“My dad got married last year and I can't stand my stepmom,” Hannah said. “She's a total neat freak. Their house has wall-to-wall white carpet, and no one is allowed to wear shoes inside. She and my dad shuffle around the house in matching beige slippers. Plus, she has a teddy bear collection that she keeps in the living room. It's pathetic. Luckily, I don't live with them, though. I only have to go there every other weekend.”

When the final bell rang our teacher asked us to hand our homework forward.

After class, Hannah and I walked out together. We passed Jesse in the hallway, sucking on a lime-flavored lollipop and swinging her ponytail. She said hi to Hannah but not to me. I didn't mind, though, because she didn't roll her eyes or give me a dirty look, or anything. In fact, she didn't seem surprised to see me walking with Hannah. It was like word got out that I was cool. Or at least good enough to be civil to.

I was kind of worried about seeing both Taylor and Rachel in PE, but it turns out that Rachel had to skip her last two classes of the day so she could get braces.

Without her around, it meant I could talk to Taylor without having to explain myself. The thing is— I'd decided that Taylor wasn't anyone I wanted to be enemies with. She was cool and funny and she did this great impression of Ms. Chang, hiking her shorts up past her belly button and walking with her toes turned out and even blowing a fake whistle.

She didn't even seem upset when Ms. Chang caught her and made her run four laps around the football field as punishment— an entire mile. “It's no biggie,” she'd said. “I need the exercise.”

The next morning Taylor hugged me hello, as if we were lifelong BFFs. She also told me that my hair looked cute.

When she passed me in the hall after first period she said she loved my outfit. I must admit, it was a nice change from being asked why I was dressed for the circus. But the real shocker came at lunch, when she waved me over to her table and said, “Hey, you should eat with us today.”

“Um, really?” I glanced toward my regular table, where Rachel and Yumi were just sitting down. Three Corn Dog Boys launched paper airplanes at the other end.

Taylor noticed me looking and grinned slyly. “If you're allowed to, I mean.”

Nikki and Jesse laughed while Hannah looked away, pretending not to hear.

“I can eat lunch with whoever I want.”

Once I said it I had to ask myself, did I even want to eat lunch with the Three Terrors? Who didn't actually seem so terrible anymore. I mean sure we'd all been in this big huge fight, but everyone deserves a second, er, third, chance, right?

Anyway, it was only one lunch.

A single meal.

Forty-three minutes.

I looked at my friends again. None of them noticed me talking to Taylor and for that I was glad. But what was I so worried about? Why was I making such a big deal out of something so small? And who's to say I can't branch out and make new friends?

“Here.” Taylor slid over on the bench seat to make room for me.

Now I had no choice. It would be rude not to join them. At least that's what I told myself, shrugging like it was the easiest thing in the world, as I sat down next to her.

“This is Jesse,” Taylor said, jutting her chin out to the Jolly Green Giant, who was busy dipping cucumber slices into ranch dressing.

“Hi,” I said, as if I'd never seen her before.

“Hey,” she replied, pretending also as she swung her ponytail back and forth.

“And I know you know Nikki and Hannah,” Taylor went on.

Hannah smiled at me, encouragingly, while Nikki seemed a little wary.

The cafeteria looked different from here. Their table had more shade and they didn't have to share it with anyone. If my friends asked, I'd tell them I was doing research. Maybe I could write an investigative story for the school paper:
Lunching with the Popular
Crowd
.

Or maybe I'd figure out why Jesse was so into the color green.

Winter break was still three weeks away, but she was already wearing a T-shirt with a Christmas tree on it. And it's not like Jesse had that perky Christmas-spirit personality.

Taylor must've noticed me staring because all of a sudden she said, “It's okay to ask her.”

“What?” I unpacked my lunch, embarrassed to be so obvious.

Jesse kicked Taylor under the table and widened her blue eyes.

“Cut it out,” said Taylor. “Just tell her.”

“Really?” asked Jesse. “You promise that won't cancel the whole thing.”

Taylor shook her head. “Nope, I promise. Annabelle is cool. She has immunity.”

“What's going on?” I asked.

“You're positive?” Jesse seemed worried.

Taylor ignored her and turned to me. “You're wondering why she always eats and wears green, right?”

It's like she read my mind. “Um, I guess I noticed it.”

“Everyone notices,” Taylor said, prodding Jesse with her elbow. “That's the great thing about it!”

“Ow,” said Jesse.

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. I know that didn't hurt. So will you tell her?”

“It's because of Taylor,” said Jesse. “She said if I wore and ate something green every day at school for three months— and didn't tell anyone except for our friends— she'd take me to Rosarito with her for Spring Break.”

I glanced at Taylor, trying to figure out if this was some sort of joke, but she just sat there looking proud and smug.

“I came up with the idea this summer,” Taylor explained. “It's because Jesse hates the color so much. I figured, what could be a better challenge?”

This seemed pretty weird. I didn't know what to ask first. “What's wrong with green?” I finally settled on.

“Gross things come in green,” said Jesse. “Brussels sprouts, broccoli, frogs, slime, snot . . .”