Claire (4 page)

“Find something?” Amandy appeared behind her, squinting at the hanging white dresses as if their brightness was hurting her eyes. A cherry-red, poppy-covered empire-cut dress swung from her finger on a clear plastic hanger.

“Yup.” Claire put her hands on her hips and turned to face her friend.

“Looks like lumpy oatmeal,” Amandy sneered.

“You like?” Sarah danced over barefoot. Her knees were semi-bent and her palms were facing out, shifting back and forth like windshield wipers. She seemed to be moving to the upbeat tempo of “4 Minutes,” even though that song had ended a while ago and now a whiny ballad was playing instead. She was wearing a blue, orange, and yellow kerchief dress. It was bohemian chic, and flattering in the relaxed sort of way that her dance was not.

“Cute.” Claire smiled and meant it. “Gold sandals would be so ah-dorable with that.”

“Really?” Sarah tugged one of her curls. “I was thinking my blue jellies. They have a perfect little kitten heel!”

Claire literally bit her tongue to keep from commenting.
Had her friends always had such bad taste? Should she intervene?
Was this how Massie felt around her?

“I thought we were meeting at the change rooms,” Sari whined. “I was standing back there forever and ever and ever and then I finally gave up and came looking for you out here, and thank goodness I did, because here you are!” Then she held a pale pink, pale yellow, and pale green paisley dress up to her long torso. She adjusted her long blond hair so that it cascaded over her shoulders, then licked her thin lips and puckered. “Mwah!”

“Ew!” Claire blurted. She was about to add that it looked like a box of Good & Plenty had melted all over the dress. But she held back when she saw Sari’s pointy chin start to tremble.

“I knew it. You
have
changed!” Amandy cried.

Sarah raised her black brows and mouthed, “Ouch!” But she didn’t say a word in Claire’s defense.

“We used to pick out the same clothes all the time, like when we both reached for those canary yellow overall shorts, or the hot pink Keds slip-ons, or that awesome hat with the plastic sunflowers on it, just like the ones that go on bikes,” Sari pouted. “Remember?”

“I do,” Claire said, solemnly at first. And then quickly managed an enthusiastic smile. “I mean, I still
do
have the same taste as you.” She reached for Sari’s dress and gripped the bristly material. It felt like the surface of the rocks they used to tan on in the Kissimmee state park, back before Amandy had done her science project on melanomas.

“
EW
means I love it. It stands for . . .” Claire paused for a moment. Extra wacky? Extremely woeful? Ever-so-wrong? “. . .
Extremely Wearable
.”

“It does?” Sari’s chin stopped quivering and her expression softened.

“Of course. What did you
think
it meant?” Claire heard her own voice but hardly recognized it. Was she acting kind or cruel? Sensitive or manipulative? Compassionate or competitive? Or had she evolved into some deviant species that was an enigmatic combination of them all? Wait until Layne heard about this. She’d be begging to draw her blood and analyze her hair and—

“It sounded to me like you didn’t like it, like because
ew
usually means ‘ew’ as in ‘gross,’ or ‘disgusting,’ or ‘that’s so awful’ or whatever, so I thought maybe you didn’t like it, which was kind of depressing, because usually we like the same things.” Sari picked at the pink heart on the left leg of her shorts.

“I
love
it.” Claire used every ounce of her acting training to sound convincing.

“Prove it.” Amandy pulled the elastic out of her ponytail. Her dark brown hair, which was always semi-damp, fell to her shoulders.

“How can I
prove
it?” Claire’s heart beat harder.
Could Piper hear it? Could Bean?

“
You
buy the dress.” Amandy smirked.

“But Sari found it first. That would be unfair,” Claire tried. “To
her
.”

“Hi. I’m Louise. Everything okay over here?” asked a short, round, brown-haired woman wearing a maroon knit cardigan over black wide-leg trousers. Both items gave off a polyester sheen under the track lights. She clasped her plump hands and grinned, trying to look patient while she waited for an answer.

“We’re fine, thank you,” Claire finally offered.

“Will you be purchasing these items?” Louise gestured toward the register in the center of the store.

“Well?” Amandy said.

“I can’t take your dress,” Claire insisted to Sari.

“Sure you can.” Sari handed it to her. “Yours is super cute. It reminds me of a Miu Miu dress I saw on Bluefly.”

“But it’s not the right color. I wasn’t getting it for the pageant.” Claire bit her thumbnail. An old Kelly Clarkson song came on over the loudspeaker.

“I can make it work.” Sari piled her hair on top of her head and winked. “It’s EW.”

“Is mine EW?” Amandy asked.

“Super EW!” Sarah said.

“Does this mean you will
not
be purchasing the dresses?” asked the saleswoman.

Sari tossed the Good & Plenty dress over Claire’s shoulder and grabbed a fresh Miu Miu knockoff from the rack. “No.” She beamed. “It means we
will
.”

“Lucky for you all of the dresses you chose today are twenty-five percent off.”

Claire smile-sighed.

“Except yours.” Louise pointed at Claire. “That’s still fifty-nine ninety-five. You have wonderful taste. It’s the most expensive piece in the Barn fall collection.”

“Totally worth it.” Claire beamed, knowing her friendship with SAS was more valuable than money. All she’d have to do was walk Piper ten more times and she’d have her savings back.

Her pride, however, would be gone for good.

THE LYONSES’ HOUSE
KISSIMMEE, FL

Tuesday, August 4 2:22 P.M.

“Pull the rake closer,” Claire instructed Todd. “And wipe the sweat off your forehead—it’s giving me glare.”

Todd lifted the bottom of his red T-Odd Jobs tee and wiped his face. “Better?”

Claire lifted her camera. She took five action shots of her brother in their front yard as he fake-raked a pile of palm fronds off their otherwise spotless lawn.

This photo would represent “gardening” in the T-Odd Jobs free downloadable wallpaper series—a little something he wanted to leave for his customers after he moved. It was his way of “giving back” and showing them how much he valued their business. And it was Claire’s way of recouping some of the money she’d lost on the Good & Plenty dress.

“We got it,” Claire announced, consulting her shot list. “Moving on.”

• Car Washing/Ride Pimping

• Pool De-Bugging

• Garage Organizing & Uncool Toy Removal

• Wardrobe Consulting

• Face Painting

• Doggy Day Care

• Gardening & Flower Arranging

• Reading to Small Children

“Let’s set up for reading.”

Todd dragged his navy blue Fatboy beanbag under the small circle of shade provided by their leafy red maple. He surrounded it with X-Men action figures and a stack of Dr. Seuss books. Once in position—legs crossed and leaning toward Wolverine, Magneto, Storm, Cyclops, Sabre-tooth, and Toad—he slid on their father’s old wire bifocals. “Ready!”

Claire sighed and propped her camera. The light was poor, but she didn’t have time to make adjustments. She had walking practice with SAS in twenty-five minutes—twenty of which would be spent getting up the courage to leave the house in her registration dress—so she clicked away while Todd shifted and read aloud from
One Fish Two Fish.

“Is this the Lyons
estate
?” a man called from a brown delivery truck.

Todd burst out laughing. So did the deliveryman when he looked at the quaint sky blue home sandwiched between two other quaint homes. But Claire failed to see the humor. Since when did UPS guys make jokes about the size of people’s houses? Okay, maybe in Westchester, but
here
?

“Are you Kuh-laire Lyons?” He stepped out of the truck, clipboard in hand. The gorilla-ish amounts of white blond hair on his arms matched what was left on the sides of his sunburned head.

“Yeah.” Claire hurried toward him, her bare feet crunching down on the prickly piles of Todd’s raked fronds.

He yanked his metal handcart from the truck, then wrestled to pull a five-foot-tall wardrobe box from the back. “Where do you want it?”

“Um, inside, I guess.” Claire hurried to open the front door, standing back to allow the deliveryman to wheel the box into the small foyer.

“Sign.” He thrust a clipboard into her hands and slid the cart out from under the box. “I guess one of your
estate
butlers will take it from here.” He snickered.

“Very funny,” Claire said with a sarcastic smirk, closing the door behind him.

“Open it!” Todd urged as he rooted through the mess of papers on the white vestibule table. He found their mother’s silver-plated Bank of America letter opener and handed it to his sister.

Claire stepped up on the hallway bench to reach the top of the box and stabbed at the packing tape along the seams. A gust of Chanel No. 19 wafted out, like she had just released Massie Block from a genie bottle. Claire opened the front cardboard flaps and saw a note pinned to a white, wrinkle-free wardrobe bag. She lifted the purple card and read:

Are we hair dryers?

Claire said, “No,” as she flipped the card over.

Then there’s no need for outlets!

“How did she know I was at an
outlet
?” Claire wondered aloud.

“What is it?” Todd looked up at his sister as if admiring the Statue of Liberty.

Claire unzipped the bag and anxiously dug her hand inside. The textures were unmistakable. Denim, silk, beading, ruching, leather, suede, buttery-soft cotton (Splendid!). “It’s a gift from my fashion gawdmother!”

“For what? Staying away all summer?” Todd snickered at his not-so-funny jab.

“She must have sent these for me to wear to the
ball
!” Claire thank-hugged the box as if it were Massie.

“What ball?” Todd ducked under Claire’s arm and peered inside the box. “Whoa!”

“Long story.” Claire nudged him back. She was so excited she didn’t know what to do first. The clothes
felt
great. She couldn’t wait to play her Miley Cyrus CD and try them on. But more than that, she was excited times ten by the gesture. Massie must have truly considered her a BFF if she had gone to the trouble of sending such an extravagant gift. Everything her parents had told her about Massie was right:
“She only acts mean because she’s insecure. And lashing out makes her feel safe. On the inside she is a caring, thoughtful person who will show kindness and let down her guard once she knows she can trust you with her feelings.”

Well, it was beyond clear from the size and thoughtfulness of the gift that that time had finally come. Not only would Claire dominate the style rounds of Miss Kiss, but she could return to Westchester and Octavian Country Day School knowing for certain that she was 150 percent
in
.

“How jealous will Sarah, Sari, and Mandy be when they see this?” Todd asked, licking his devil-red lips in pleasure.

Claire’s insides dipped like she was careening down Magic Mountain. “Ugh, I forgot about
that
.” She hopped down off the bench to the floor. Had the ceramic tiles been that chilly a few minutes ago?

“Why so sad?” Todd put his clammy palm on Claire’s tanned shoulder.

“Since when do
you
care?” Claire wiggled out from under his grip.

“A depressed employee is bad for business.”

At that moment Claire would have traded every dime she’d ever made for a neutral friend to talk to. Someone who didn’t care what she wore, whom she hung out with, or where she shopped. But Layne was at a weeklong science clinic with some friends from her summer school class. And Claire was dead to Cam.

Unfortunately, it looked like Todd would have to do.

“Long story short,” she began, “I’m auditioning for Miss Kiss on Saturday, and Massie sent me a box of ah-mazing clothes to wear. But if I wear them, Sarah, Sari, and MandywhonowgoesbyAmandy will say I’ve become ‘all Westchester’ and that I think I’m too cool for Dress Barn, so I have to wear . . .” She lifted her finger, letting Todd know she’d be back in a second. After a quick dash to her bedroom closet, Claire returned with the EW dress.
“This.”

“It looks like someone barfed jellybeans on it,” Todd giggled.

“I
know
.” Claire stomped her bare foot in frustration.

“So why not let them pick dresses from the Massie box too?” Todd suggested, swiping his red hair off his still-shiny forehead.

Claire paused. For the first time in ten years, her brother had said something constructive. But after a second of contemplation, she shook her head.

“I can’t. They’ll think I don’t like the dresses they bought and that I’m—”

“What’s this?” Judi Lyons asked as she bounced downstairs in her lemon yellow tennis dress. She hadn’t played in years, but she thought the pleated mini was still flattering and hated to see it go to waste. The sun had turned her shoulder-length brown hair dark blond (“free of charge!”), and she had decided to “go with it” until she returned to Westchester.

“Clothes.” Claire beamed with pride. “From Massie.”

Judi smacked her own forehead. “That reminds me, Kendra called.”

“Why?”
Claire asked, hoping the Blocks hadn’t suddenly decided to rent their guesthouse to another family.

“The message said something about hoping I don’t mind the intrusion. She must have been talking about this box.”

“Tell her we don’t mind!” Claire urged.

“I will.” Judi kissed the top of Claire’s head—a kiss that said,
I am happy you’re happy.
She palmed the white wicker vestibule table. “Shoot. My keys are upstairs. Be right back, then we can head out.”

“Where are you guys going?” Todd screeched. “We’re in the middle of shooting!”

“I told you I had walking practice at Dipper Dan’s.” Claire threw the Good & Plenty dress over her shoulder as if it was a dirty towel. “And I already got the reading shot.”