Stitches and Stones (3 page)

“Yes, please!” Priti said, and the girls swapped lunches.

Zoey waved as she saw Libby approaching the table with her hot lunch tray.

“Hi, guys!” Libby said, sitting down next to Zoey and taking a bite of pizza. The orchids on her hat bobbed up and down as she chewed. “Isn't Hat Day so fun? How's your morning been?”

“Good,” Zoey replied. “Can you believe even Mr. Dunn wore a propeller hat? He actually smiled today.”

“Yeah, I know!” Libby said. “Too bad he had to ruin the fun with a pop quiz.”

“Ugh.” Priti groaned. “I have that later.”

“Well, at least you'll have a new hat to cheer you up,” Zoey said, handing her the pillbox hat.

Libby removed the fascinator from her own head and handed it to Zoey. “And here's the fascinator for you!”

Kate showed up just then, and they all compared notes on their mornings.

“I'm getting used to my hat,” Kate said, opening the smiley-face lunch bag Zoey made for her when
she got her braces off. “If it were easier to wear a ponytail with it on, I wouldn't mind wearing it every day.”

“I can't wait to wear the fascinator,” Zoey said. “Can one of you help me put it on, since I don't have a mirror?”

“I will!” Priti exclaimed. “But . . . aren't you going to have to take it off as soon as you get to class?”

“Yeah, but I want to take a picture for Aunt Lulu,” Zoey said. “She would go gaga for this hat!”

Zoey's aunt was like a surrogate mother to her, ever since Zoey's own mother passed away when she was a baby. Aunt Lulu ran an interior design business out of her home. Over the summer, she taught Zoey to sew, and the rest was history.

Aunt Lulu had just left for Italy for a furniture design show, so she was missing the Hat Day spectacle. Her fourteen-year-old dog, Draper, was staying at a kennel while she was gone because Zoey's dad was too busy to take care of him. Zoey missed both of them terribly.

While Priti fussed with Zoey's hair and the fascinator until everything looked perfect, Zoey looked
for signs that Priti might be ready to talk about her not-so-perfect situation at home. Priti seemed like her usual upbeat self.

“There you go!” Priti said, grabbing Zoey's phone. “Smile!” she added as she snapped a photo to show to Zoey's aunt.

“Thanks!” Zoey said. “How do I look?”

“Bee-yoo-tiful!” said Kate.

“Tall,” said Libby, with a sly smile. “Almost as tall as me.”

“I wish.” Zoey sighed. “But it's not exactly easy to see over, is it? Kind of like Gabe's top hat. Did you see it?”

“He looked supercute in that, didn't he?” Libby observed.

“Yeah,” Zoey agreed. “He did.”

Her feelings about Gabe, Lorenzo, and the whole idea of boys and crushes were still pretty confusing, especially since the dance—when she thought dancing with Lorenzo would be the most romantic thing ever, but had actually had more fun dancing with Gabe. For now, it was easier to focus on creating cool designs than worrying too much about boy stuff.

When lunch ended, the girls all went their separate ways. Zoey was in science when the assistant principal, Mrs. Diaz, called her into the hallway and told her to report to Ms. Austen's office. She wasn't smiling, but Zoey shrugged it off. She figured maybe her blog friend and mentor, Fashionsista, had sent another parcel to her via Ms. Austen, as she had in the past.

Zoey stopped in the bathroom on the way to Ms. Austen's office, to put the fascinator back on properly. She loved that Mapleton's principal, Ms. Austen, had a great sense of style. Zoey wanted to make sure her special Spirit Week outfit looked just right.

Ms. Austen was waiting for Zoey outside her office. She was wearing a striped boatneck top and a beret with slim black capris and black flats.

“I love your outfit!” Zoey exclaimed. “It's
très français
!”

“
Merci
, Mademoiselle Zoey,” Ms. Austen replied, but without her usual enthusiasm. She opened the door to her office and ushered Zoey inside. Zoey was
getting the feeling that this wasn't about a package from Fashionsista or about something good. It was a feeling that was confirmed when she saw Libby sitting by Ms. Austen's desk, her hair streaked gray with some whitish powdery substance, and her eyes red and puffy from crying.

“Libby! What happened?” Zoey exclaimed. They'd only just recently parted from each other in the cafeteria after lunch.

“That's what I was hoping to find out,” Ms. Austen said, sitting behind her desk, a grim expression on her face.

Zoey was confused. She'd do anything for Ms. Austen or Libby, but she didn't know what was going on.

“I put on the pillbox hat after you gave it to me at lunch and went to my next class,” Libby explained, taking another tissue from the box on Ms. Austen's desk to dab at her damp eyes. “But then I had to take it off when class started and . . . well . . . saw
this
.” She pointed to the mess on her hair and clothes. “Someone put what looks like baby powder in it, and it got all over my hair, my clothes, and the
desk, which was bad enough, but then . . .”

Libby started tearing up again, and Zoey put her arm around her for comfort.

“But then people started laughing and pointing, and I started crying in front of the whole class.” Libby sniffed. “That's the worst part of all.”

Zoey understood how she felt. She'd hate to cry in front of Ivy. But she didn't think telling Libby that was going to make her feel any better.

“When Libby explained to her teacher that you and she had switched hats at lunch, Mrs. Brennan called me in to investigate,” Ms. Austen explained. She leaned forward and looked Zoey straight in the eye. “I have to ask this, Zoey. Did you do this, thinking it might be a funny prank to play on Libby? After all, it's your hat.”

Zoey's face expressed all the horror she felt that Ms. Austen would think she'd do something like that to one of her best friends, that she'd think upsetting Libby like this was funny in the tiniest way.

“No way!” she protested. “I would never . . .” Zoey turned to Libby. “You believe that, don't you?”

Libby nodded. “I never thought it was you. I told Mrs. Brennan, but she said it was ‘just a little too convenient.' ”

“For the record, I didn't think it was you either, but I needed to ask the question, just to be one hundred and ten percent sure,” Ms. Austen said. She stood up and walked around the desk to sit perched on the end, next to Zoey.

“So what did happen?” Zoey asked.

“I looked up what class you have before lunch, Zoey, and I noticed Ivy, Bree, and Shannon are in that class with you. Did you put on the hat after gym?”

“No . . . I didn't,” Zoey answered. “I was too hot and sweaty after playing basketball, and I didn't want to get it dirty, since it's Priti's mom's hat.” Zoey paused, lowering her eyes. “I guess it's too late for that, now. What am I going to tell Mrs. Holbrooke?”

“Don't worry, sweetie. Baby powder will come out. She'll understand,” Ms. Austen reassured. “But do you think it could have been the usual suspects? Could they have put baby powder in your hat during gym?”

Knowing Ivy and her crew, Zoey thought they might have had something to do with it, but it wasn't like she actually
saw
anyone doing anything, and she wasn't about to be a tattletale. So she just shrugged and said, “I don't know,” then remembered that Bree had reminded her to put her hat in her locker. “Actually, Bree
was
kind of nice to me today.”

Ms. Austen held her gaze for a moment and then stood up.

“Well, I think I might just ask them to come to my office and have a chat, just in case,” she said.

As much as Zoey wanted Ivy to get in trouble if it
was
her behind the prank that upset Libby so much, she had a sinking feeling that somehow Ms. Austen having a chat with Ivy and her gang was just going to end up making things worse.

“I'll give you each a pass to go back to class,” Ms. Austen said. “Zoey, perhaps you can accompany Libby to the restroom first and help her clean up.”

“Sure,” Zoey said, taking her pass and Libby's and picking up the powdery pillbox hat from the desk.

“I don't want to go back to class,” Libby confessed to Zoey when they entered the nearest restroom. “I'm so embarrassed about what happened.”

Zoey was busy wiping the remaining powder from the pillbox hat with a paper towel.

“
You
shouldn't be embarrassed,” she said. “The person who did this is the one who should be.”

Placing the hat carefully on the edge of the sink, she said, “How about I help you get the powder out of your hair?”

“Thanks.” Libby sighed.

Zoey combed her fingers through Libby's hair, fluffing out the particles of powder.

“You know, I think that prank was aimed at me,” she said. “Except I was too hot after gym, so I didn't put the hat back on before I gave it to you.” She hugged Libby. “I'm really sorry it ended up being you.”

Libby hugged her back. “It shouldn't have been either of us,” she said. “It was a dumb thing to do.”

“I know. I'm just sorry . . . you know . . .”

“I know,” Libby said. “It's not your fault. Thanks for helping me get cleaned up.”

“Well, it's not all gone, but it'll come out in the shower. At least you smell really nice!” Zoey said, getting Libby to crack a little smile.

They both headed back to class, neither one of them feeling too good about the situation. Zoey was too worried about the fallout from Ms. Austen talking to Ivy, Shannon, and Bree.

When she met Priti and Kate later that day, the school was already buzzing with rumors.

“I heard Ivy made Bree do it by threatening not to be her friend anymore if she didn't,” Kate said.

“Well, apparently, Ms. Austen gave
all three of them
a very serious warning and said if she can find proof that they're responsible, or if they misbehave again, they'll be in big trouble,” Priti said.

Although part of Zoey knew it was a good thing they'd received a serious warning from Ms. Austen, another part felt anxious, wondering if Ivy would end up retaliating. She felt like she would need to look over her shoulder for the rest of Hat Day.

Then Zoey ran into Libby in the hall. Libby looked upset again.

“Libby! Are you okay?” Zoey asked. “I thought you were feeling a little better.”

“I got in trouble,” she said. “I didn't want to take my hat off for class, because I was afraid people might laugh at my hair. So my teacher gave me a detention for tomorrow.”

“But . . . that's not fair!” Zoey exclaimed. “I'm sure if you explain to Ms. Austen . . .”

“I'm on my way to see her now,” Libby said. “I'm going to ask Mom to pick me up.”

As she walked to her next class, Zoey's fists were clenched around her notebook. Hat Day started off being so much fun, and now Libby was upset and going home, all because someone was mean and played a stupid prank. It just wasn't fair. Zoey thought back to how ladylike and grown-up she and Libby had felt in their hats earlier that day . . . before Libby was the victim of that very unladylike prank. Maybe the whole thing was meant to be a joke. But seeing Libby that upset just wasn't funny.

Still, tomorrow was Twin Day. Zoey and her friends had worked hard on their costumes. It was bound to be a better day. It had to be.