Leading Ladies #2
Authors: Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Text copyright © 2012 by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Printed in the U.S.A.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
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ISBN 978-1-101-55236-0
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Grosset & Dunlap
An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
For friends: Marnie, Shelagh, Terry,
plus me makes FOUR
“Of course they're staring. We're famous now, ya'll, remember?”
I rolled my eyes at my friend Tally, but at the same time, I couldn't help looking around to see if she was right. And she was. Everyone in the cafeteria really
was
staring at
us
.
“Maybe they're staring because you've got a piece of toilet paper stuck to the back of your pants,” Ivy suggested, her pale-blue eyes glinting with fun.
As Tally squirmed around in her seat to get a better look at her backside, Ivy caught my eye and winked. I grinned back at her.
“Nobody is staring, and there's nothing stuck to your pants,” Miko said, tucking a strand of her long, glossy, black hair behind one ear.
Miko sounded like she was in a bad mood, which came as no surprise. She'd been acting out of sorts for days. In fact, the last time I could remember seeing Miko smile was at our victory ice-cream celebration five days earlier.
The four of us had had a lot to celebrate that night. We had just won a middle-school competition to fund our own magazine,
4 Girls
. At first, none of us had been thrilled to learn that the principal wanted us to work together on the project. We were a strange group: a mysterious New Girl (Ivy, who's now my best friend), a Drama Queen (Tally, getting more dramatic by the minute), Miko (Queen of the Prom-Queens-in-Training), and regular old me. It seemed like we had almost nothing in common, but somehow the combination of our personalities was
magical
. The first issue of
4 Girls
was so good that we won the competition and enough funding to do more issues for the rest of the school year. Every four weeks we'd get to tell the other students what was most important to them. It was
so
cool.
Now the whole school was talking about
4 Girls
and about the four of us. In a way, Tally was rightâon the day our very first issue came out, we sort of turned into instant celebrities.
But we'd barely had a chance to let it all sink in when Miko told us she might not be able to continue working on the magazine. She said it was because she had too much homework and a National Honors project coming due on top of everything else. I knew Miko had a lot on her plate and that her parents were really hard on her about academic stuff. But the thought of our star designer leaving
4 Girls
practically gave me a panic attack. Could three girls handle the work of four?
Well, she hasn't quit yet
, I thought, crossing my fingers under the table. Maybe it would help if I could show Miko that we weren't going to have the same kind of superstressed, down-to-the-wire rush to finish this issue. We knew what we were doing nowâwe were Pros.
“So listen, I'm caught up on all my class work, and I'm totally ready to jump into issue number two,” I said enthusiastically. “I mean, seriously, you guys. You can really count on me to do whatever it takes.”
“Great, Paulie,” Ivy said. “In that case, do you think you might be able to swing by my house and do a little vacuuming? And maybe some light dusting while you're at it?”
I stuck my tongue out at her.
“That is
soooo
sweet of you, Paulina,” said Tally earnestly, pulling her mane of wild, blond curls loose from a faded, purple cloth elastic. “Because I for one am going absolutely nuts. Did y'all know the auditions for
Annie
are only a week away? The waiting is killing me. I swear, I don't know how they expect any of us to function!”
“Wait, this is you
functioning
?” Ivy asked. “Okay, I definitely don't want to be around when you're not functioning.”
“Oh, no one does,” Tally said cheerfully.
On top of being a Drama Queen, Tally was a world-class space cadet, and she knew it. But she never minded when someone kidded her about it. That was one of the many things I really liked about her.
“Anyway, guys, we need to get down to business,” Ivy said. “Everyone's read the e-mail I sent last night, right? Are we pretty clear on what each of us needs to do?”
“Wait, which e-mail?” Tally asked.
I rolled my eyes and tossed a grape at her, then snuck a peek at Miko. She was pushing some pasta salad around on her plate, a frown clouding her perfect features.
“The e-mail confirming the topics we're covering for the next issue, like Homecoming? And the auditions and rehearsals for
Annie
? Ring a bell?” I asked.
Tally gave a little squeal of delight. “We're doing the issue on
Annie
? What a
great
idea!”
“It was
your
idea, Einstein,” Ivy said. “And we're not doing the whole issue on
Annie
. Just a feature. You and Paulie are doing that part. Miko and I will handle Homecoming Week, which will give us plenty of material. Did you even skim my e-mail, Tally?”
Tally looked genuinely confused now. “Which e-mail?” she asked again.
I sighed.
“Boy, I'm glad it's Friday,” I said.
“Is it Friday today? Yay, it's Friday!” Tally exclaimed.
Ivy smacked her hand to her forehead. “Oh, now I've got that awful song stuck in my head,” she groaned.
“Oh, you mean the one that goes
Friday, Friday, yesterday was Thursday, tomorrow is Saturday
. . . ,” Tally sang.
“Stop it,” Miko said sharply.
Tally's voice abruptly broke off. She looked at me and Ivy. “What did I do?” she mouthed.
I shrugged, then looked back at Miko. Something about the look on her face gave me a bad feeling. The feeling she was about to quit then and there.
“So we're all good, right?” I asked hopefully.
Miko bit her lip, not meeting my eye.
“Look . . . ,” she began.
No!
“Like I said, now that we know what we're doing, the next issue really won't be as muchâ”
“Look,” Miko interrupted. “I'm sorry, Paulina. It's nothing personal or whatever. But I can't do this. I told you guys last week I might not be able to. It's justâbetween my extra credit stuff and violin lessons, I'm stressed out enoughâbut this National Honors project is due four weeks from today. I just don't have time for anything else.”
“What do you mean?” Tally asked.
“She's quitting,” Ivy said, the irritation clear in her voice.
Ivy and Miko weren't all that crazy about each other to start with. After our big win last week, I had thought they were starting to get along a little, but they were still far from being friends.
“I think Miko just means she needs us to step up for her for a little while, which I can totally do,” I volunteered. “If I can figure out the design software, I could evenâ”
“No, Ivy's right,” Miko interrupted me. “I'm quitting.”
My heart sank. It wasn't like this came as a huge surprise, but I had really been hoping we could avoid it. It was clear to me that the main reason
4 Girls
had been such a success was the combination of
all four
of us. We each brought something totally unique to the group. Without Miko, I was afraid
4 Girls
would fall apart.
My disappointment must have been obvious in my expression. Miko caught my eye for an instant. She almost looked sad. Then she looked away. She stood up, clearing the remains of her lunch.
“I have to go,” she muttered.
“Miko, wait,” I said. “Listen, I totally understand what you're saying. This is a stressed-out month for you. But please don't quit right
now
. What if we say that you're kind of stepping back for a whileâsort of taking a little leave of absence until you get your honors project turned in. The three of us can handle putting this issue together. You wouldn't have to do anything right now except maybe answer a question or two about the design program if I have trouble figuring it out. Then, when your project is finished, we can talk about it again.”
Miko looked torn. I could tell she wanted to just quit right now and have it over with. But I needed her to stay in our group, even if we had to work without her this time.
“Please, Miko?” I begged. “Just call it a temporary leave and agree to talk about it again when the timing is better?” I knew I sounded a little pathetic. But right then, I didn't care.
Miko held my gaze for a moment, shifting her weight from one foot to another.
“Okay,” she said at last. “A leave of absence, then.”
“Great!” I cried. I looked at Ivy. I could tell she didn't
quite
share my enthusiasm over Miko's decision. But I also knew she would back me up either way. “We've already got a clear game plan for the next issue,” I continued. “We can handle it no problem, right, guys?”
“Handle what?” Tally asked.
Ivy just shrugged.
“Okay, then,” I said, feeling relieved. It wasn't a
perfect
solution. But for now, Good Enough was good enough for me. “We'll be fine.”
“This doesn't mean I'm not going to have to end up quitting, anyway,” Miko warned.
“I know,” I said.
But it's going to be fine
, I told myself.
I knew it was going to be fine because I would
make it
fine. Somehow, at the end of the month, I was going to figure out a way to get Miko back on board 100 percent.
“Anyway, I need to go,” Miko said.
Miko stood up and made a beeline for the door, walking so quickly she went right past the table of PQuits where her best friend, Shelby Simpson, was waving to get her attention. Shelby turned and shot me a look that said, “What did you do to her?”
Shelby had never liked me. I used to avoid her and all the PQuits, but now I really didn't care. I
did
care about Miko, though. In the last month, I had even come to consider her a
friend
. At least an Off-the-Radar kind of friend. When the PQuits were around, she was only nice, not overly friendly. But you had to start somewhereâeven with friends. Ivy couldn't stand that Miko was practically embarrassed to be with our group. But I could. I didn't
like
it, but I got it. Most of the time.
“Wait, so is Miko quitting or not?” Tally asked.
“She's not,” I said firmly. “She's just taking a break.”
“After which she will almost certainly quit, anyway,” Ivy said, “and
4 Girls
will become
Formerly 4â
”
“Ivy, cut it out,” I said. “There are still four of us, and it's going to stay that way. We just need to work around Miko's schedule for a couple weeks. I'm telling you, she'll be back.”
Ivy began to peel a banana.
“It's nice that you believe in her, Paulie,” she said. “But don't get your hopes up.”
It was too late for that. My hopes were already
way
UP. We were going to put together an
amazing
second issue, and we were going to get Miko back. If Ivy wanted to be all glass-half-empty about it, that was fine. I was glass-half-full all the way.
Maybe
that's
why we work so well together
, I thought. Which was good, because we did have a lot of work to do.
And I, for one, couldn't wait to get started.
