Shucked (13 page)

Her eyes narrowed. She looked me up
and down like a cop checking out a person of interest. “I’m going to trust you
two, but don’t make me sorry.”

The train whistle screeched behind
us. Smoke filled the platform as the train slowed to a stop.

“Train’s here, Mom.” Becky threw out
her arms and gave her mom a big hug. Funny, I would have thought the parent would
be comforting the child, but it was the complete opposite. Becky rubbed her
mom’s back. “We’ll call you a few times today. Feel free to track my phone.
We’re not going to do anything stupid, right, Tabitha?”

I nodded, giving Mrs. O’Connor a
little wave of my hand. Glancing back at the train, I said, “We’d better go.
Don’t want it to leave without us.”

Mrs. O’Connor held on to Becky for a
long second, then let her go. She smoothed out her dress and smiled. “Have a
good time, girls.”

Becky and I clasped hands, waved, and
jumped onto the train. We collapsed into a bench seat, giggling.

“Oh my God, I was afraid for a second
that she wasn’t going to let me go! She’s never done that before. Your mom must
have been some piece of work, Tabitha, to get her so riled up.”

I kept the smile plastered on my
face, but inside I felt somber. Mom hadn’t told me anything about her childhood
and I’d always been too selfish to ask. She probably wouldn’t have shared it
with me anyway. My mom was too secretive, as evidenced by her involvement in
this Japanese incident with the dogu.

“I mean, I knew they had some
adventures,” Becky continued without skipping a beat, “Mom’s told me a few
things. But doesn’t it make you wonder what the two of them did?” She rubbed
her hands together. “I’ve got to dig for more info. Clearly there’s a lot we’re
missing out on. I’m not the most adventurous girl on the planet, but I do like
living vicariously through others. Maybe your mom and my mom were like some
kind of Thelma and Louise. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure
who Thelma and Louise were. I’d caught on to most of the pop culture
references. I might have lived out of the country, but I didn’t live under a
rock. I almost always had Internet. And I read Perez Hilton a lot, but I’d
missed out on whoever Thelma and Louise were.

The fields zipped past us as the
train barreled down the tracks. The farmland slowly gave away to suburbs.
Trailer parks, tract homes, grocery stores. It was like a big slice of American
apple pie at high speed. Within an hour, the city appeared over the horizon.

I took in a deep breath. Even though
I’d spent every summer at my grandparents’ farm, I’d never been to Chicago. It
was glorious. The Willis Tower stood watch over the whole city, like a sentry. Europe
had the history in its ruins, but Chicago was like a beacon of industrial life
and energy. I wanted to jump out of the train and embrace the city.

It was immediate love.

“You like it?” Becky asked, resting
her chin on my shoulder so we could both see out the window. “I never get sick
of the view. Only a few more minutes and we’ll be at our stop. You got
everything? If it’s left on the train, we’ll never see it again.”

I patted my hoodie, feeling my iPhone
and money in the interior pockets. “Got it. So, what’s going to happen today?
Is it going to be totally glamorous?”

Becky laughed, her glasses bouncing
around on her cheeks. “No. Modeling is anything but glamorous. It’s hours of
makeup and then more hours of standing and posing in awkward positions while
they take about a zillion pictures. You’re going to be so bored.” She grabbed
my hands. “But I’m glad you came with me. I’ve never shared this with any of
the other girls at home. They wouldn’t understand and they’d probably just make
fun of me. I know you won’t do that.”

“Absolutely not. You accepted me from
the first moment, not caring that I was a snarly little beast who didn’t trust
anyone.” I still didn’t trust anyone else, but at least I’d made space in my
heart next to Mimi and Gramps for Becky. It was about time too. I needed a
friend desperately and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect fit, even though we
were complete opposites.

The train stopped and Becky jumped
up. “Let’s go. Are you prepared to enter into my secret world?” Her smile could
have burnt out a football stadium of lights with that wattage. “Prom dresses are
very sexy, you know. It’s my job to sell them, so let’s put on our confident
faces and make that company a lot of money!”

Chapter Twenty

Becky wasn’t kidding. The first half
of the morning was excruciating. I’d never worn more than a little mascara, but
the amount of makeup they put on Becky would have kept an entire high school of
glamour girls equipped for a month.

“What do you think?” Becky asked.

The makeup artist tapped Becky on the
shoulder, holding a stained sponge between her thumb and forefinger. “Quiet.
You’ll ruin the effect.”

“It’s pretty incredible,” I said, feeling
proud of myself for coming up with an adjective that sounds great, but really
referred more to my dumbfounded amazement at her transformation.

The braids were gone, her hair now
falling in gentle waves past her shoulders. It glistened in the bright lights
of the makeup room, as if she was surrounded by magic. I knew Becky was pretty
under those braids and glasses, but I was starting to feel a little self-conscious
in my jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie. I crossed my feet at the ankles. Even my
purple Chucks felt clunky and ugly.

After another few minutes under the strict
eye of the makeup lady, she released Becky to the photographer. Becky stood in
front of a green screen that would magically insert her into any setting the graphic
artists needed. I imaged streamers, balloons, and a disco ball. Music pulsed
from a nearby speaker, streaming iPod music through a Bluetooth connection.

The director called out instructions,
Becky flashed a smile, coming to life with the music and atmosphere. Her smile put
the harsh lights in the room to shame. Becky was such an old pro. If I was in
front of that camera I’d be biting my lower lip, looking around nervously, and
fidgeting more than a Pomeranian on crack.

Becky did everything they said,
posing in a million different ways, yet the smile never once left her face. Even
through multiple dress changes, she truly enjoyed herself and I understood
that. When I practiced my taekwondo, there was very little that could bother
me. It was that high self-help gurus were always preaching about. I’d found mine
and so had Becky.

When she finished, everyone
congratulated each other on the shoot. The director was certain they’d find the
winning shot among the thousands they’d taken. The makeup artist used a special
towel to get all the makeup off of Becky’s face and within seconds she was back
to the girl I knew. She slipped her glasses on her face, the grin still
plastered in place.

“Becky, come over here.” The director
waved at us. The dresses Becky had worn were on hangers, draped over the
director’s arms. “I talked to the designers ahead of time. They want you to
have the dresses. You’ve done an incredible job for them over the last couple
of seasons. Consider it a tip for great work.”

“Really?” Becky jumped up and down.
“We’ve got a big dance coming up at home this weekend. It would be great to
rock a new design!”

The director laughed. “And there’s
plenty to choose from. More than enough for you and your friend to find the
perfect gown. Have a great time, girls!”

Becky turned to me. “Well? Was it
awesome or totally lame? You can tell me if you were bored. I’d understand. I
mean, staring at me for hours isn’t exactly on the tops of everyone’s list of
fun things to do. It was probably boring. Did you nap? I couldn’t see much on
the other side of the camera with all the lights and the flash going off all
the time.”

I laughed and tugged on one of her
braids. “It was great. You were amazing. Did it take you a long time to learn
how to do that or does it just come naturally?”

A blush crept across her face. “It’s
easy for me. Always has been. I mean, how hard is it to stand and smile?”

She was selling herself short. It
couldn’t be that simple. “Why don’t you tell people at school? Really? I don’t
think anyone would tease you for this.”

Becky shrugged. “It’s not who I am.
I’m the nerdy girl. The one no one looks at. If they all knew about what I
actually do on the days my mom calls me in sick, they’d tease me. In our town,
everyone has a place in life. When you know each other from birth, it’s really
hard to change who you are and still have people treat you the same way. For
the most part, I’m left alone. If they knew…”

I got it. No one wanted to accept me
as a cheerleader, either. Only Callie showed me any respect. The others barely
tolerated me.

“It’s sad they’re all so closed
minded. People can be something other than their image.”

“I agree with you. And that’s another
reason I knew we’d be best friends. You’d never judge me based on something I
did in preschool. Not just because you don’t know that I had the worst
projectile vomiting episode in the history of Springdale Elementary School,
puking all over myself, three of my classmates, and my teacher. You were ready
to just see me for who I was.”

I wanted to tell her that I’d walked
into school on last Monday with everything firmly set in my mind. All of my ideas
about teenagers guiding me to judge each of them before they even spoke. Most
of them had turned out to be true from what I could see, but Becky was exactly
what she seemed – open, honest, sweet. I couldn’t have been more relieved
she was the first person to reach out to me, just because our moms had been
friends in school. I guess I had something to thank my mom for after this whole
mess blew over.

“Let’s grab a late lunch before we
catch the train home, okay? There’s a Giordano’s just around the corner. Best
pizza you’ll ever have, I promise.” Becky yelled out her goodbyes to the crew
and pulled me out the side door into the blinding afternoon sun.

“Actually…” I worried about bringing up my side trip,
afraid Becky would be mad at me. It’s not like I set out to trick her mom. All
of this could be blamed on my mom, really.

“You want to do something else, don’t
you?”

I nodded.

“Something about the dogu, I hope,
because otherwise, I’m going to be disappointed in you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Why do you think I asked you
to come? God, Tabs, I’ve been waiting all day for you to bring it up. You must
think I’m a real loser since it took you to the last second to say something.”

“No, that’s not it. I swear!” I held
my hands up. “I just don’t want you to think I’m trying to get you in trouble.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “I’ve been
waiting my whole life to get in trouble. Besides, I already know how to disable
the tracker on my iPhone. It’s like my mom thinks she knows technology better
than I do. Not even close. I’ve taken tons of side trips when I come into the
city alone and she’s never known.”

“For real?” Somehow I had trouble
believing sweet Becky was that defiant.

“Absolutely.” She grabbed my hand. “Now
let’s go. The bus is going to leave in a few minutes. We can catch it to the
museum campus. And lucky for us, it’s free day at the museum. No one will ever
know we were there and it won’t cost us a thing to get in.” She looked down at
her iPhone. “We have one hour before the late train leaves. Let’s go!”

I laughed and followed Becky down the
sidewalk toward the bus stop.

Chapter
Twenty-One

The bus dropped us off right in front
of the museum. I’d been to a lot of museums in my life, but there was something
about the Field that had always intrigued me. I’d spent hours online reading
about its collections, dying to see Sue, the most complete T-rex ever found. No
one was fascinated with dinosaurs like Americans, probably because their
history was still so new. It gave them some grounding in the past.

We walked up the imposing stone
staircase into the classical building. A smile danced on my face. “It’s
incredible!”

“I know, right? See, we have some
awesome stuff in the Midwest.”

We walked into the marble hall. The
world opened in front of me. Two massive totems stood guard over the hall,
flanked by fighting elephants. Sue dominated the space, her massive jaws open
wide, warning visiting kids to behave. Even the smell enticed me. A mixture of
age and mold. Okay, so most people wouldn’t like it, but I wanted to drown in
it.

“Pick up your jaw, Tabs. You look
like a tourist.” Becky nudged me with her shoulder. “Besides, we don’t have
much time. Let’s go upstairs to the Asian exhibit.” She pointed to the curved marble
staircase next to us.

I nodded and followed her up the
stairs, my hand gliding on the rail. I wondered how many scientists had touched
the same worn metal.

Becky reached out and rubbed the nose
on a statue. “For luck,” she said. I repeated the motion, hoping it would work.
I needed answers on the dogu.