“Really? Then why were you acting as if someone Tasered you the minute he came outside?” Charlie asked.
“No big reason.” Emma shrugged. “I just didn’t expect the ball to wind up in my lap, that’s all. What if it had hit me in the head? I could’ve gotten a concussion or something.”
“Doubtful, but whatever,” Charlie said, reaching for his bag. “Hey, when you get home, you should write all this stuff down in case Allegra gets asked to do another interview.”
Emma laughed as she took her bag from him. “Come on, get real. Paige is so not going to buy this stuff. She has met zillions of fashion designers. She’s never going to believe ‘I am a citizen of ze world!’”
“Does Allegra have an accent now? We didn’t discuss that part. We should probably work on getting our stories straight,” Charlie joked as he started down the steps.
“Charlie, I’m being serious!”
“Well, why shouldn’t Paige believe it? I think Allegra’s answers were really good. And Em, for the most part, they were all true. Paige loves Allegra’s clothes, or she wouldn’t keep trying to find out more about her. Right? Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?”
Chapter 7
Style Showdown
“These gold leggings are amazing!” Kayla gushed. “Look at the cute zipper at the ankle!”
“I don’t know, Kay,” Ivana said. “Not everyone can get away with leggings.”
A glittery-pink frown quickly spread across Kayla’s glossed lips. She let the leggings swing back into line with the rest of the clothes on the rack.
Only twenty minutes in, and Emma had long since moved past the shock that she was actually spending a Saturday shopping at Bloomingdale’s with Ivana and the Ivana-Bees. Annoyance had come and gone, too. At this point, the best she figured she could hope for was numbness. The frustrating thing was that she had no one to blame but herself.
When Holly first suggested a group shopping quest a couple of days earlier, Emma could tell she fully expected Emma to say no. But it seemed like the perfect chance to make good on her private promise to try harder with Holly’s friends. Maybe, she hoped, Ivana was one of those girls who acted totally differently outside school. And Emma had to admit she’d loved the look of genuine happiness on Holly’s face when she said she’d go.
Besides, Emma liked Bloomie’s, with its bright lights and art-deco, black-and-white-checkered shiny tiled floor. Following the girls through the maze of the cosmetics department to reach the escalator, she’d inhaled the overwhelming scent of perfume, which had brought her back to the yearly fall pilgrimage with Mom to buy an itchy dress coat for the holidays.
“Let’s go to the boutiques on the top floor,” Emma had suggested, as they entered and ascended the escalator in a pack.
“Can you afford Gucci?” Ivana literally looked down on her from her spot two steps above.
Emma could feel her face turning red. “I just like to look.”
“Yeah, well, we like to shop,” Ivana said. “It’s way more fun.”
Emma glanced over at Holly, hoping she’d back her up. Or at least share an eye-roll. But Holly was staring intently over the edge of the escalator, down at a rack of multi-striped scarves as if there were going to be a pop quiz on their stripe patterns at the top.
So Emma and the girls got off at the trendy floor.
One identically cut piece after another, Emma thought, as she flipped through seemingly endless racks of straight-leg stretchy jeans and solid-color sweaters without a single interesting design detail.
“Oooh, how about these?” Shannon asked the group, holding up a pair of leggings that were fashioned to look like jeans. Emma held back a shudder. Horrible, they were just horrible.
Ivana stepped over to inspect. “These are pretty good,” she declared. “They’re not my kind of thing exactly, but they could work on you. Maybe they’d make you look like you have some curves.”
Lexie pulled out a long, clingy T-shirt with a low-cut V-neck in a silver and black stretch material.
“What about this?” she asked, holding it up to her body. She cocked her head to look at herself in a mirror. “Hot or not?”
“Totally hot!” Shannon said.
“Yes!” Kayla agreed, nodding like a bobble-head doll. “Your body would look killer in that top. And I could do your makeup! My mom just gave me this new eyeliner that’s all sparkly. It would look great with your dark brown eyes.”
“You could wear that cute fedora you just got with it,” Holly added. “You know, to add a little mystery.”
It took all of Emma’s strength not to let a look of disgust overwhelm her face. Why was Holly fawning all over Lexie like that?
Lexie continued admiring herself, clearly not ready to give up the spotlight just yet.
“Do you think Jackson would like it?”
“Jackson is going to flip.” Shannon giggled.
“He might like it,” Ivana added. “Or, he might not.”
Emma stiffened. Maybe she was imagining it, but Emma swore that Ivana had just given her a knowing look. What if Holly had spilled the beans and told Ivana that Emma was interested in Jackson? No, Holly wouldn’t do that, Emma reasoned. She would never betray Emma’s trust like that… would she?
“I don’t know,” Lexie said, returning the top to the rack. “I think I can do better.”
“Than Jackson or the shirt?” Ivana quipped, sending the ’Bees into giggles.
As the girls moved on, Emma trailed behind. She was bored with the racks and racks of jeans, leggings, draped cotton tops, and long V-necked cardigans that she was sure were already in healthy supply in each of the girls’ closets. There has to be a way to make this more fun, she thought.
“Hey, you guys,” Emma began hesitantly. “How about we be each others’ fashion stylists? We could put together outfits for each other and then put on a little fashion show in the dressing room.”
“I love that idea!” Holly enthused. She gave Emma a supportive look.
“So fun!” Shannon said.
“I think so, too,” Kayla added.
There was no mistaking Ivana’s look of annoyance as the girls grew excited about Emma’s idea. Clearly she didn’t think this was the greatest idea ever.
“That could definitely be fun, but I think we could make it even more interesting,” she said, the power and volume of her voice commanding everyone’s attention back to her. “Why don’t we turn it into a little friendly competition? I don’t know…like maybe me against Emma, and the best stylist wins.”
Emma swallowed hard. She couldn’t believe that Ivana was challenging her. But if I can win at anything, I can win at a style showdown.
“Let’s do it,” she replied.
“Great,” Ivana said. “Now we need to choose models. Since it was my idea, I pick first. Okay?”
“Sure,” Emma said.
The girls—including Holly, Emma noticed with shock—posed and preened to show Ivana their modeling skills.
“Umm, I want…Lexie,” Ivana declared. Lexie yipped with pleasure and bounded over to Ivana’s side.
“Holly,” Emma said. Holly would’ve automatically been Emma’s first choice no matter what, but Emma couldn’t shake off the vibe that Holly seemed disappointed that Ivana hadn’t picked her.
“What about me and Shaye?” Kayla asked Ivana.
“You two are the judges,” Ivana instructed. “Okay, then. How about Emma and I get twenty minutes to pick clothes for our models?”
“I only need fifteen,” Emma countered confidently. If anyone has the advantage here, it’s me, she thought. For once, she felt totally in control with Ivana.
“Fine. Fifteen minutes to grab clothes, then we meet back in the dressing room—the one by the coat section because that one has a little seating area with mirrors. We’ll then get another ten minutes to dress our models. Does that work for everybody?” Ivana didn’t bother waiting for answer. “Good. Let’s go!”