Mackenzie Blue (9 page)

Zee typed,
Mayb u can help me come up with a list of
suspects,
but before she could send it, Ally wrote,

How could Ally think about shoes at a time like this?

 

Adam stuck his head into Zee's bedroom as she was snipping the last uneven hairs from her bangs.

“Please, please don't embarrass me,” Zee said to her brother's reflection in her mirror.

“Don't you think
I
should be telling
you
that?” Adam asked.

“No,” Zee answered, putting down the scissors on her cream-colored vanity.

The night of the Brookdale Fall Music Festival had finally arrived. Zee, Chloe, Kathi, and Jen had planned where they'd meet up, what they'd wear, and where they'd sit—right near the stage, thanks to the people Kathi's dad knew.

“Remember our deal,” Zee told her brother as she slipped on a pair of hoop earrings. “You sit on the lawn for the concert. At all other times, keep at least ten feet back.”

Adam leaned against the door frame. “No problem. As cool as it would be to hang out with a bunch of seventh graders,” he said sarcastically, “I know when I'm not wanted.”

Zee turned around in her chair. “It's not that you're not wanted,” she said. “Tonight's just a big deal for me. I want to hang out with my friends and not feel like I have a chaperone.”

“C'mon. You're lucky Mom and Dad let me take you
instead of them. I promise not to act like a parent,” Adam said.

“Or…?” Zee coaxed.

“Or a big brother.”

“Thanks.”

Outside, Zee opened the door to Adam's car. She carefully picked up an old cheese-globbed burger wrapper and added it to the collection in the backseat. There was no way she was going to mess up her brand-new denim miniskirt—Dad said it was okay to wear since she had on a pair of leggings underneath—because of her brother's revolting habits. “You know, they actually make trash cans now,” Zee said.

“If you'd rather not get a ride, that's okay with me,” Adam said.

“No, it's fine,” she told him. “I'll just avoid making contact with any surfaces.”

As Zee buckled her seat belt, she got a text message. “It's Chloe,” she told her brother.

“We're not late, are we?”

Zee read the message. “We don't need to pick her up for the concert.”

“Why not?”

Zee stared at the words—

“She didn't say.” Frustrated, Zee dropped her Sidekick into her purse and stared at the car window. Why couldn't Chloe go? she wondered. Half the time, Zee could almost read Ally's mind—and the other half of the time, Ally told her
everything
. It was different with Chloe. Was she hiding something from Zee?

 

Just as the girls had discussed, Kathi and Jen were waiting by the main gate. Even from a distance, Zee could see the passes, spread out like a fan, in Kathi's hands.

“I loooooove your hair!” Kathi said as Zee got close. Zee turned around to look behind her, but besides Adam, no one else was there.

“Me?” Zee asked, pointing to herself.

“Of course, you,” Kathi said. “Who else would I mean?”

Everybody,
Zee thought. Although Kathi had been way nicer to her over the past week, she had never complimented Zee's style before.

“I've always admired the color,” Kathi said. “It's…” She turned to Jen.

“Vivid,” Jen said. “Like a penny!”

“Exactly.” Kathi nodded and smiled. Then she looked around. “Where's Chloe?”

“She couldn't come,” Zee explained.

“Why not?” Kathi asked.

“I don't know,” Zee said.

“Didn't she tell you?” Kathi pressed.

“No.”

“You're like her best friend.” Kathi made a face like she'd just bitten into a lemon. “Don't you think that's weird?”

Zee did, but how could she say that? Chloe was her friend—at least she thought so. “I…uh…don't think she had time.”

Kathi handed Jen and Zee their tickets, then walked over toward where Adam was standing—ten feet away. “Oh no!” Zee shouted, chasing after her. “He has his own ticket for the lawn.”

“He might as well use Chloe's ticket since she's not here,” Kathi said, flashing him a princess-perfect smile. “Besides,
seniors shouldn't have to sit on the lawn.”

From behind Kathi's and Jen's backs, Zee looked at her brother and stiffly shook her head in an urgent no. Adam plucked the ticket from Kathi's hand. “Thank you, Kathi.” Then he whispered to Zee, “You don't expect me to pass up a front row seat, do you?”

“Yes!” Zee hissed back, her eyes growing wide with panic.

“I'll make it up to you. I promise.”

“Let's go get some food before we sit down,” Kathi suggested.

“Great idea!” Adam said.

As they walked toward the concession stand, Zee nudged Adam in the ribs.

Adam got the hint. “Get me some buffalo wings!” he called out, dropping behind. “With extra sauce.” Zee gave him a thumbs-up.

When the girls got to the food line, Kathi turned to Zee and said, “You must have been soooo embarrassed by that note on the music room board.” Zee felt herself turn bright red. After all this time, she had thought everyone had forgotten about the note. It figured that Kathi would bring it up. “Why would someone write that?” Kathi asked. “It was really mean.”

“Well…uh…ummm,” Zee stammered, trying to find
a way to avoid telling Kathi it was a quote from her diary. “I don't know.”
Duh.

“I'm just glad nobody's done anything else to you.”

“Actually…,” Zee began, “I think someone took my diary the first day of school.”

Jen gasped.

“No way,” Kathi said. “That's awful.”

Zee told Kathi and Jen about the text she had gotten at Marcus's party.

“That must have ruined your
whole
evening,” Kathi said. “Who do you think it was?”

Zee shook her head. “I don't know, but—”

Kathi cut Zee off. “
I
think it was Chloe.”

“Yeah,” Jen said. “She's new
and
she carries a homemade bag.”

Huh?
It was the weirdest reason Zee had ever heard for accusing someone of theft. Owning a glue gun didn't make Chloe a criminal! “Well…I think Chloe's bag is really cool. I decorated mine, too,” Zee said.

Kathi gave Jen a disgusted look, then stepped in front of her. “Oh, your bag is adorable! But it's just decorated. Chloe's is made from scratch.”

Even though Zee didn't get why sewing qualified a person for the FBI's Most Wanted, she didn't feel like arguing. Still, talking about the bags made Zee's mind flash. She had let Chloe hold her bag on the first day of school. Then, the day the note appeared on the whiteboard, Zee and Mr. P had left Chloe all alone in the music room. Did Chloe really have to use Zee's bathroom before Marcus's party, or was she looking for something—to steal?

Zee reached the front of the line and placed her order: “Buffalo wings and french fries, please.” Since Mrs. Carmichael almost never let Zee and Adam eat junk food, they looked forward to the chance to eat out and get what they wanted.

Kathi and Jen got their food, too. As they headed back to their seats, Zee recognized a few older students from Brookdale Academy. Of course, Kathi actually
knew
them and talked to them like they were her best friends. The smell from the fries teased Zee's nose, but with her snack in one
hand and Adam's in the other, even one bite was impossible. It seemed to take forever to get across the lawn as they creeped from one person to the next. Until finally they were on their way.

“Hey, Kathi!” a voice called out.

Screech!
Putting on the brakes, Zee turned to see who Kathi's latest fan was. Marcus! Finally someone
she
knew, too!

“Did Landon come with you?” Kathi wondered. Of course, Zee had the same question, but there was no way she was going to ask.

“No, he heard there were going to be some monster waves tonight, so he's surfing.” Zee tried not to let on, but she felt as disappointed as Kathi looked. “I checked out the music blogs,” Marcus continued. “Someone said The Crew was amazing, so I got a ticket at the last minute. How'd you find out about the concert?”

Zee looked at the other girls. What would they tell Marcus? They had kept the concert a secret. Zee panicked. “Did you know Mr. P was in the band?” she asked Marcus. Her voice squeaked from the strain of trying to remain calm.

“Mr. P who?” he asked.

“
Our
Mr. P,” Zee explained. “Mr. Papademetriou.” The panic disappeared a little.

Marcus stepped back. “Are you serious?” he shouted. “That's really cool. Did he tell you about the show?”

Welcome back, Panic.
“Well…uh…umm…,” Zee stammered.

“Actually”—Kathi blocked Zee—“
I'm
the one who told her about it. I know the right people.”

If Marcus was impressed, he didn't show it. He looked from Kathi to Zee to Jen. “Where's Chloe?” he asked.

“She didn't come,” Jen said quickly.

“That's too bad,” Marcus said.

Jen pouted and crossed her arms. “Yeah, well, we need to sit down.” Which was a relief to Zee since the fries and buffalo wings were getting so heavy they were threatening to abandon ship.

“I'll come with you,” Marcus said, looking around the lawn. “Where do you want to sit?”

Kathi waved her ticket in the air. “We're in the front row.”

“How'd you get up there?” Marcus asked. “I heard everything except the lawn has been sold out for weeks!”

“It helps if your father is one of LA's top business managers,” Kathi reminded him.

“Well, have fun,” he said.

Zee said good-bye, then followed Kathi to their seats,
where Adam was waiting and, judging from the way he grabbed for his wings, very hungry.

Before long, the lights went down and the music began.

The Crew was awesome. Zee, Jen, and Kathi were out of their seats dancing almost the entire time. But whenever Adam got up to play air guitar, Zee regretted the great seats. Zee imagined a neon
SUPER DORK
sign over her brother's head, shining so bright that Ally could see it all the way from Paris. At least it was dark in the amphitheater. Mr. P probably couldn't even see them.

After the concert, the band came to the side of the stage. A crowd quickly swarmed around them.

“Let's go get Mr. P's autograph,” Kathi suggested.

“Why don't we just talk to him on Monday?” Zee said. “I don't want to wait behind all these people.”

“Who says we're going to wait?” Kathi asked. “Follow me.” Zee and Jen did, and Adam stayed close behind. “Excuse me…Excuse me,” Kathi said as she pushed her way through the fans.

A thrill of excitement rushed through Zee. “Cool beans!” she said.

Jen nodded and leaned toward her. “It's fun to hang out with Kathi,” she said. “She knows how to get what she wants.”

Of course, getting elbowed and stepped on by the other fans wasn't great, but Zee quickly forgot about her aches and pains when she reached the front.