Stories from New York #3 (9 page)

“I’ll text you or come and get you as soon as we’re back on track,” Mrs. Scanlon said, doubling back
toward the elevator. “Sorry! But such is life at
City Nation
!”

“That didn’t sound good. What do you think is going on?” I asked Ivy as we followed her toward the interns’ office.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe the things that happen,” Ivy told us. “Mom said one time they had special lights flown in from Paris and no electrical adapters to make them work. Nobody had thought of that. Another time there was a mouse in the studio, and the photographer just up and quit right on the spot. But usually it’s something easier to deal with. I’m sure it will be fine.”

The interns’ office was empty when we got there. We each sat down at a desk. Tally put her feet up on the desk and looked around.

“Do you think Helvetica Grenier ever had to work in a little office like this?” she asked.

“She actually did,” Ivy said. “She started as an intern in the mail room. Then she got a job as a secretary.”

“Wow. That’s impressive,” Miko said. “I wonder if—”

The door to our little office burst open, and Garamond rushed in. He looked kind of agitated, dressed all in black as he had been the day before. I wondered how many all-black outfits he owned.

“Has anyone been here?” he asked.

We looked at each other. “Since this morning?” Ivy asked.

“Since ever!” Garamond said. He was actually wringing his hands together.

“The office was empty when we got here,” Miko said. “But we only just came in.”

Garamond turned to go without a word, then stopped. “Call me if you see anything!” he said, then he rushed out the door.

Ivy and I stared at each other.

“Call him if we see WHAT?” I asked. “Do you think this has something to do with the photo shoot?”

“It can’t be a coincidence,” Ivy said. “Garamond is the one who supervises everyone on a shoot like this, and my mom did just say there was a problem.”

“You could just text your mom and ask,” Tally suggested.

“No, I don’t want to bother her if she’s in the middle of something. And this seems big. We’ll just hang out and wait like she said to.”

“Hey! I thought you guys were with the photo team this morning. How was your dinner?” came a guy’s voice.

We turned and saw Whit coming in the door holding a half-eaten bagel. He was talking to all of us, but he was only looking at Ivy.

“Oh, it was better than I remembered,” Ivy said. “You should have stayed.”

“You’re right,” Whit said, shutting the door with his foot as he took a bite of his bagel. “There’s always the lunch special.”

“Oh, are we going back to the Wok Emporium?” Tally asked, her face brightening.

“We don’t all have to eat lunch together,” I said quickly.

I couldn’t help it—now that I knew Ivy liked Whit, and I was so certain he liked her, I wanted them to get together for a lunch date. Maybe if she spent a little time alone with him, she would be able to figure out how she felt about it. I had been able to keep in touch with my friend Evelyn on Skype after she moved away—it was amazing how chatting by webcam could really make you feel like you were with somebody. Maybe Ivy and Whit could do the same. That would certainly guarantee that Dakota wouldn’t butt in.

“Well, what’s the schedule for you guys today?” Whit asked. “Maybe—”

The office door opened quickly, almost smacking Whit, who stepped quickly out of the way. It was Constantia, Helvetica’s assistant.

“Good. You’re here,” Constantia said. “Has anyone else been in this office today?”

“Garamond was just here,” Ivy said.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Constantia replied. “But…no one else?”

“Just us,” Tally said. “Is it another mouse?”

Constantia seemed to notice Tally for the first time and gave her a perplexed look. “I’m sorry?” she said. “A mouse?”

“In the studio?” Tally suggested. “Or a bat, maybe? That’s worse because they fly. I had one fly right at me once in school. I still haven’t recovered. I can’t even—”

“I see,” Constantia said. “There are no bats at
City Nation
. Where is Dakota?”

“She stopped at reception to talk to some junior editors,” Whit said. “I saw her on my way in. Do you need me to get her?”

“No,” Constantia said. “But if you see anything unusual, please phone my extension immediately.” She shut the door quietly behind her.

“What in the world is going on?” I asked.

Whit shook his head. “I have no idea, but I bet you anything by the time Dakota gets here she’ll know all about it. She always gets the gossip first, and she was having a very intense talk when I saw her on my way in. She always knows who to talk to when something is up.”

“That’s so funny that you said that about the
mouse, Tally,” Whit continued. “Rumor has it that actually happened a few years ago, and they had to shut the entire shoot down because the model got hysterical.”

“Oh, it’s totally true, Whit. My mom was there!” Ivy said. “It wasn’t the model that got hysterical. It was the photographer!”

“That’s hilarious,” he said. “Notice how Constantia said to Tally, ‘There are no bats at
City Nation,
’ but she didn’t say there were no mice?”

“Yes!” Ivy said. “Apparently that was the only time anyone can remember seeing Constantia lose her cool. The photographer took off, and they had to get a junior editor to take the pictures. He was actually a really great amateur photographer, and after that shoot he ended up going professional. All because of a mouse.”

“I don’t suppose we could use that story in
4 Girls
, Ivy?” Miko asked.

“I have a feeling probably not,” Ivy said. “Helvetica wouldn’t like it.”

The door flew open again, and Dakota came in, her eyes gleaming. She stopped short when she saw us, or rather when she saw Ivy and Whit standing together.

“What’s up?” Whit asked. “There’s something going on, and I know you know. You
always
do. Something’s up with the shoot, right?”

Dakota shrugged, then smiled, looking very pleased with herself.

“Come on. Tell us what you found out,” Whit pressed.

“Is it a mouse?” Tally asked. “There aren’t any bats here, so if you heard that, it isn’t true.”

“Seriously, Dakota, what’s the deal?” Miko asked. “Whit said you always hear what’s going on before anyone else because you know all the people to talk to. Do you or don’t you?”

Dakota’s smile got bigger. “Oh, I do,” she said. She perched herself on the edge of a radiator cover beneath the window.

“Dakota, stop fooling around,” Ivy said. “What’s going on?”

Dakota glanced at Ivy, ignored her, and turned to Whit instead.

“Okay. So the big photo shoot scheduled for this morning has been very hush-hush, right? There’s a supercelebrity that nobody was supposed to know about, but
I
know who it is.”

“Quincy Vanderstan,” Ivy said.

Dakota frowned. “Well, everyone knows
today
,” she said. “I’ve known for, like, weeks. Anyway, they were worried she wouldn’t show up because she had to fly in late last night. They wanted her here at eight this morning just to be sure there was enough time to
get her ready even if she was late. They had a B-list celeb lined up just in case.”

“And she didn’t show?” asked Whit.

Dakota leaned forward and touched his arm.

“No, Whit, she
did
!” Dakota said. “She showed up right on time with her mother, who’s her manager. But something happened, and she got really mad. Garamond was trying to fix whatever the problem was, but while all that was going on, Quincy…
disappeared
.”

“Disappeared?” Tally cried. “You mean she was kidnapped?”

“Oh please,” Dakota said. “This is reality, not
Law & Order
. I mean she disappeared herself
on purpose
. She took off. That’s why everyone is so upset. One of the highest-profile shoots of the year, there’s a documentary film crew wandering around, and Quincy Vanderstan is gone.”

“She could be anywhere,” I said. “This is one of the biggest cities in the world. They should call the police!”

“Oh no. She couldn’t have left the building,” Whit said. “That would be impossible—the only way out is taking the elevator to the main lobby, and you have to turn your guest pass in to security when you leave. Plus, when there’s a celebrity in the building, they make sure security is really well informed. You wouldn’t know it, but they probably have extra people at the desk and are being supercareful that everybody gets checked going in
and
out.”

“That’s right. She’s definitely somewhere here in the building,” Dakota agreed.

“So that’s why Garamond and Constantia were going room to room and questioning people,” Ivy said.

I didn’t know whether to feel excited or disappointed. It wasn’t every day you got to see real movie-star drama unfolding behind the scenes! But I also really wanted to meet Quincy. And if the shoot was off, obviously so was our chance to ask questions.

“That was supposed to be our biggest story,” I said to Ivy.

“What was?” Dakota asked.

“We were going to sit in on the photo shoot and each ask Quincy a question for our magazine,” Ivy told her.

“No way,” Dakota said. “I’ve seen the memos. That’s a totally closed set. They never would have let you in. I begged Garamond to let me be an assistant just so I could watch, and he said no to me.”

“Well, they did,” Ivy said. “It was all set up—my mother is coordinating the whole piece and doing the interview herself. Why do you look so surprised?”

“Because you’re only getting special treatment because of your mother,” Dakota snapped. “And she’s managed to mess this up pretty well. Helvetica is going to kill her and Garamond when she finds out about this.”

“Hey, Dakota, come on. That’s not fair,” Whit said. “Quincy Vanderstan is the one that messed this up, not anybody else.”

“Whatever,” Dakota said. “You know how it goes, Whit. When something goes wrong, somebody at
City Nation
gets the blame. That’s just the way Helvetica works.”

“Your mom might get in trouble for this?” Tally asked. “But she’s so nice, and she’s been working so hard. It’s not fair!”

Ivy looked genuinely distressed, and Dakota did not look sorry about that. She kept finding reasons to touch Whit. This time she nudged him with her foot.

This whole thing is about Whit
, I thought. I was sure that was why Dakota turned nasty on Ivy last year, too. If I had noticed Whit seemed to like Ivy, Dakota couldn’t possibly have missed it.

“Ivy, I’m sure it will be fine,” I said.

“That’s a nice thought, Paulina, but that’s not how things work around here, and Ivy knows it,” Dakota said. “Helvetica comes in at eleven on Tuesdays, and if Quincy isn’t at that shoot, somebody is going to be in
major
trouble. Do you have any idea how much money the magazine loses when they have to cancel a big shoot? Plus, there’s the fact that there won’t be a cover story.”

“Maybe we should go and look for her,” Tally suggested.

“Tal, we can’t do that. If Garamond and Constantia can’t find her, how could we? We can’t
even find our own way around,” I pointed out.

“Ivy knows her way around,” Tally said.

“Not that well,” Ivy replied. “I’ve visited plenty of times, but that’s different.”

“Dakota, you seem to know things nobody else does,” Miko said. “You might think of places even Garamond and Constantia won’t. I’ll bet you could find her.”

“Probably. If I felt like it,” Dakota said, sitting back down on the window ledge. “But I don’t really. There’s nothing in it for me.”

“Because you can’t,” Ivy said. “Please. You’re an intern. You think you could find somebody the entire company is looking for, when nobody else can? You’re full of it.”

Dakota stood up and put her hands on her hips. “No, I’m not,” she said. “I’m telling you, I could find her if I felt like it.”

“Prove it,” Ivy shot back.

“It would be really cool if you did find her,” Whit said. “Can you even imagine what an epic story that would be? The day Dakota Whittier found Quincy Vanderstan. Forget the mouse—people would talk about it forever.”

Dakota stared at Whit for a moment. “You know what? You’re right. Okay, here’s what I think. There’s still a little time. Helvetica will be here at
eleven. That leaves an hour and a half. I bet I can figure out where Quincy went and find her before then. Convincing her to go back to the shoot—that’s another story.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s put our heads together then. We’ll worry about what to say to her when we find her.”

“Oh, it’s
we
now?” Dakota asked.

“Let us help you,” I said carefully. “A group of people working together is better than one person on her own.”

Dakota looked uncertain, but she finally relented.

“Whatever,” she murmured.

“Maybe we should start by thinking about what we know about Quincy,” Miko suggested.

“Right!” Tally agreed. “It’s like Mrs. Scanlon said. We’re all acting, all the time. Quincy is just acting like herself now. I’ve read tons of interviews and stories about her. We just need to take that information and pretend we are Quincy. Where would I go if I was Quincy Vanderstan and I was at
City Nation
and didn’t want to be found?”