Ruby Reinvented (6 page)

“Oh yes, Ms. Celestine. Everyone was very nice and Bea liked the other students. Mrs. Kearney told me that they have an immediate opening and Bea can begin once the papers are signed.”

“So it has the Ellie stamp of approval?”

I hold my breath.

“Yes, I approve.” She wraps her arms around herself. “But brrrr—it is cold! Reminds me of Russia.”

I exhale and do a little dance behind Ellie. My smile is so wide that I think it may push my ears behind my head. I switch places with Ellie so my parents can see my face.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I say, bouncing up and down in the chair.

“Wait a minute, hon.” Mom holds her hand up in front of her face. “I still need to talk to Mrs. Kearney myself.”

“Of course.” I tilt my head and put on my most grown-up expression. “But wouldn't it be best for me to just stay and start on Monday, instead of flying back and forth? I don't want to miss any more classes than I have to, and I could have my stuff sent here.”

Mom purses her lips. “It's not ideal that Dad and I can't see the place for ourselves, but I can see the sense in you staying. We really don't want you to miss any more school than necessary either. How about I contact Mrs. Kearney first thing tomorrow morning.”

I fist-pump the air. I know my mom will love Mrs. Kearney.

“Remember our deal.” Mom's face gets serious. “Good grades and FaceTime every night.”

“Yes, I remember.” I nod my head up and down.

“We'll miss you when we're home next month, Bea,” Dad says, looking sad.

“I'll miss you, too, but I'll be home in less than three months for summer.”

“Maybe we can find a time to come visit before then.” Dad's face lights up.

“Yes, maybe during that break we have in May,” Mom adds.

I bite the inside of my cheek. There's no way my parents can visit Midcoast. I don't want anyone to know who they are. Oh, and there's the small problem that I told Summer I was an
orphan
.

“Okay.” I push the thought out of my mind. “Let's talk about it as we get closer.” Maybe something will come up, and they won't be able to make it anyway. Something always comes up with my parents' crazy schedules. If there's one thing I can count on with my family, it's that nothing is ever the way it's supposed to be.

For once, I'm happy about that.

 8 

I
T'S DECORATING DAY.

We decide to pick up some linens and decorations for my side of the room I'll share with Summer. At breakfast Ellie asks the lady who runs the bed-and-breakfast where the nearest mall is. When she tells us that it's over an hour away, I almost spit out my orange juice. An hour to the nearest mall? In LA there are malls every five blocks.

“What are you looking for?” the lady asks as she pours Ellie's coffee. I breathe the scent of the coffee in, then sigh. I
have
to kick the coffee habit now that I'm with normal kids.

“Bed linens, things for Bea's new room,” Ellie says.

“Oh, there's a wonderful store that carries those things right in town,” the lady says, adding that we could walk there. Which puts a big fat smile on my face. I would just
die if Summer or that boy with the dimples saw me tooling around town in a limo.

On Monday Ellie and I go back to Midcoast to officially register. Luckily, the paperwork is all ready because Mom and Dad signed everything over e-mail.

“Welcome to Midcoast.” Mrs. Kearney smiles when the registration is complete. “I had a lovely conversation with your parents this morning. I understand your things are being shipped and should arrive by the end of the week.”

“Yes,” Ellie says. “Bea and I did some shopping over the weekend so we have all she will need until then.” She motions toward three huge shopping bags filled with bed linens, window curtains, towels, and other cute decorations I picked up on our shopping spree. Ellie tried to convince me to take the limo to school so we wouldn't have to walk while carrying all of our bags, plus my suitcase, but I begged her to let us walk, and even offered to carry everything myself. She finally gave in, and actually carried two of the bags herself.

“Great.” Mrs. Kearney picks up one of the bags. “I'll take you up to the dorms so you can get settled in.”

Mrs. Kearney gives me a card and shows me how to swipe it so the glass door that leads from the lobby to the dorm rooms opens. We take the staircase to the second floor.

“There's a teacher living on each floor, so we always have a member of the faculty nearby.” We follow Mrs. Kearney
down the hall toward Summer's—and my—room. “Your floor parent is Ms. Goldberg. She's the art teacher. The girls here love her.”

Mrs. Kearney stops at a door marked
RESTROOMS
. “This is the bathroom.” She opens the door, and we peek our heads in. “There are six sinks, six bathroom stalls, and four showers in the back. First come, first served for the showers.”

I've never shared a bathroom before. With anyone. At least it's clean. Mrs. Kearney closes the door, and we continue down the hall.

When we get to the door with the hot pink corkboard, Mrs. Kearney gives a quick knock. I'm not sure why. The dorms are empty since everyone's in class. She then puts a key in the lock, and the door to my new life opens.

“Oh, Bea, this is such a lovely room.” Ellie puts the bag she's carrying on the floor next to my bed.

It is. It
is
a lovely room. In fact, it's the best room ever because I'm going to share it with Summer and it's 3,174 miles away from Hollywood and Sophie and Damon and the paparazzi. Mrs. Kearney tells us to stop back in her office when we're done unpacking.

Ellie and I start by putting the sheets on the bed. The comforter I picked out is orange and hot pink. I hope Summer likes it.

After the posters are hung and the towels are put away on a shelf in my closet, Ellie pulls a heavy-looking box
from the corner of the room and slides it over to me.

“Where did this come from?” I study the box at my feet.

“I had it shipped to Mrs. Kearney's office. I asked her to bring it up here when you registered. Open it,” she says, smiling.

I lift up the flaps and peer inside. Ellie's prized vintage Singer sewing machine peeks out at me.

“Oh, Ellie!” I gently lift the sewing machine out. It weighs a ton, but I hold on to it as if it's made of glass. “I can't take this.”

“Don't be silly.” Ellie waves her hand. “Of course you can.”

“But it's your sewing machine. I know how much you love it.”

“Meh.” Ellie shrugs. “You use it more than I do. I want you to have it.”

“Really, Ellie? You sure?” I hug the sewing machine to my chest like it's my long lost teddy bear.

“Yes, Bea.”

“Thank you, Ellie, thank you!”

“Just promise me you will use it, eh? Promise you will keep making those beautiful clothes.” Ellie looks me right in the eyes.

“I promise.” And I really, truly mean it.

I put the sewing machine on the corner of my desk, then throw my arms around Ellie and squeeze.

“Let's go, bubela.” Ellie releases me and turns toward
the door, her voice shaky. “You didn't come all the way here to sit in your room with an old lady.”

I lock the dorm room door, and Ellie and I make our way back to Mrs. Kearney's office. Ellie's flight leaves this afternoon, and while I'm sure I'll miss her bunches, I can't wait to start my new life here.

“You're just in time for lunch, Bea,” Mrs. Kearney says when she sees us. “I'll take you over to the cafeteria when you're ready.”

I walk Ellie to the main office, and out onto the front lawn. The limo's parked just down the road, and I look around to be sure nobody's watching. When I'm sure we're alone, I give her another giant hug.

“I'm going to miss you, Ellie.” I feel tears bubbling up, and I squeeze my eyes tight shut to keep them from flowing out.

“Oh, Bea.” Ellie kisses my forehead. “I will miss you so very much.”

We stand there hugging for a few more seconds, and then she takes my shoulders and looks right in my eyes.

“Bea, you are a beautiful person. You just be yourself and you will be very happy here.”

I nod and wipe a tear away with the back of my hand. Ellie hugs me again, and then shuffles off to the limo.

I blink a few times, take a deep breath, and reapply my lip gloss before going back to Mrs. Kearney's office, where she's waiting to take me to lunch. I know I should be hungry, but I
can't help feeling a little sad. Even though I'm exactly where I want to be, it was hard to see Ellie go. Harder even than leaving my parents. Ellie's been with me forever, and suddenly my stomach feels empty, and not because it's lunchtime.

I follow Mrs. Kearney to the cafeteria. It actually smells pretty good, and as we get closer, my stomach growls a little. Summer spots us and waves me over.

“Hey!” She gives me a hug. “They told me you'd be starting today.” Summer's wearing black leggings under a pink polka-dotted skirt. Her striped sweater has every color in the rainbow on it
except
pink. And, just like on Friday, her socks don't match.

“I hope you don't mind,” I say. “I decorated my side of the room a little.”

“That's super awesome.” Summer pulls me to the end of the cafeteria line. “I was sick of looking at a half-empty room.”

I smile. Summer hands me a tray and picks a bean burrito for herself. The pizza looks especially cheesy, but since Summer's getting the burrito, I get the burrito too. I'm just about to get a soda, but Summer chooses water. I look around. Maybe kids here don't drink soda. Just in case, I get the water. At least Mom would be happy that I made a healthier choice.

I follow Summer to a circular table with six chairs. She takes one, and I take the seat next to her. Even before I can sit down, the most glamorous girl I've seen yet at Midcoast
Academy slams her tray on the table and sits down on the opposite side of Summer. She stretches her legs out onto the empty chair next to her, showing off skinny jeans that fall straight into a pair of black knee-high leather boots. The boots are expensive, but they don't say anything about the girl wearing them, except that she spent a lot of money.

“Can you believe Mrs. Turner? That assignment is the
worst
.”

Summer shrugs. “It's not that bad.”

“Are you kidding me,” the girl says. “I'll never get it done on time.” She looks like she's about to say something else when she notices me.

“Oh, hi.” She flashes me a smile, but it's one of those closed-mouth smiles that don't show her teeth. She's wearing very shiny lip gloss, so it looks like her lips are glued together.

“Hi.” I smile back.

“Cassandra, this is Bea. Bea, this is Cassandra.” Summer takes a sip of water.

“Is this the new girl?” Cassandra asks Summer, as if I'm invisible or something.

Summer takes a huge bite of burrito and nods.

“Cool,” Cassandra says. “You look familiar.”

“I do?” I look down at my plate. My parents do a pretty good job of shielding me from the paparazzi, but every once in a while a photo sneaks out.

“Yeah, but you're from California, right?”

“Uh-huh,” I say.

She squints her eyes and stares at me for a few seconds. I say a silent prayer that she doesn't read tabloids or look at celebrity gossip online. “It must have totally sucked for you to leave California to come here,” she finally says.

“Nope. I was looking forward to a change of scenery.” I keep looking down at my plate, carefully cutting my burrito with my plastic fork. I look over at Summer, who has just picked the whole thing up with her hands. I probably would have done that too, if Cassandra weren't staring at me.

“But it's totally boring here.” Cassandra polishes her apple.