Lucy's tip for surviving eighth grade:
Be patient.
I wait and wait for an answer from the school board, even though I don't even know how they're going to get in touch. They could e-mail it, or real-mail it, or just send Mrs. Deleccio some kind of teacher memo. I have no idea.
But Friday afternoon rolls around and there's still no answer. I guess it takes time.
"What are we doing this weekend?" Sunny asks me after school.
"You tell me," I say. "You always come up with the better ideas."
"I'll tell you what we're doing," Erica Crane says, plopping herself down on the bench next to me. "We're starting the prep for Eighth-Grade Masquerade. And you, Lucy Desberg, are joining the team."
"Huh?" Sunny asks, taking the word right out of my mouth.
"We need you, Lucy."
"I'll explain," Zoe says, jumping into the conversation. Zoe's new this year, and she's been Erica's sidekick since her first day at Old Mill. She moved from Long Island, so Erica thinks she's fancy, and Zoe finds Erica completely hilarious.
They're a match made in heaven.
"You're the makeup guru, right?" Zoe asks.
This is the most she's said to me all year. How does she know I'm the makeup guru?
I shrug. "I guess."
"Come on, Lucy. Of course you are." Sunny rolls her eyes.
"Anyway, so Erica and I are on the planning committee for student council, and we would like to bring you on as our makeup consultant," Zoe says. "Sunny, you can come on too. Maybe help with publicity?"
I look at Erica and Zoe, and then at Sunny. Erica and Zoe never talk to us, but now they seem to have a whole plan laid out. It feels like they're recruiting us for some secret mission.
"Sounds good to me," Sunny says. "We need another extracurricular, Lucy."
"We do?" I ask. Is this really my best friend Sunny talking?
"Sure. Why not? And the school board proposal is pretty much over. What else are we going to do?"
I nod. I guess she's right. I hadn't thought about that, and suddenly I feel all anxious to start planning. I love having projects! Plus, if I don't have something to do, I might end up spending all my time worrying about Yamir.
"Great, then it's settled," Erica says. "Lucy, we're going to need a pre-event visit at your spa. Okay? Talk to my assistant to set that up."
"Your assistant?"
She nods. "Yeah, Zoe Feldman. She's right here."
"You're Erica's assistant?" I ask, but she's too busy typing something into her phone to notice.
Finally our bus comes and we say good-bye to Erica and Zoe. It almost feels like what just happened is some kind of weird dream. I guess it's good to be wanted, though. And that's probably the nicest Erica has been to me since kindergarten. Maybe Zoe is a good influence on her.
"It'll be fun," Sunny says when we're on the bus. "I mean, we might as well get involved. We're only going to have one Eighth-Grade Masquerade."
"You're so right, and that's totally how I've been feeling lately," I tell her.
"Explain?"
"That we're only going to be in our last semester of middle school once. And we have to make it awesome. Actually, more than awesome. We have to make it perfect," I explain.
She looks at me. "Yeah, but-"
"No buts," I say. "We have to."
When we get to my house, my parents are in the kitchen drinking coffee.
"Hey, Luce. Hey, Sunny," my mom calls to us. "Happy weekend."
"Hey," I say back, and Sunny and I go upstairs.
"Is that weird?" Sunny asks when we're in my room with the door closed. "I mean, having your dad around so much? I know it's been like this since the summer, but still."
"Nah." I throw my backpack under my desk. "It's nice. Just little things, like how he helped me with the math homework the other night. Video-chatting on the computer is great and everything, but it's much better to go over complicated problems side by side at the kitchen table. I feel really lucky that he's around."
"That's so great," Sunny says. "Especially since your dad is really good at math."
I run downstairs to grab us some snacks, and when I get back Sunny squeals, "Oh my God, did you see this picture Claudia posted online?" She's on my bed using my laptop. I run over to see what it is, and there's a picture of Claudia and Bean smooching in front of some fountain.
"They're really in love," I say. I didn't like Bean much at the beginning, but I kind of love him now. He's a part of the family, and even though I won't see him for a while, I can't really imagine things without him.
"They're totally gonna get married, right?" Sunny asks. "How cool is that? They're on their own, in college, in love. It's like a dream."
It's hard to be jealous of my sister, since I'm so happy for her. And also I kind of feel like things will work out for me one day too. When I'm older. I bet I'll have a cool boyfriend when I'm in college.
"Do you think Evan and I will go to college together?" Sunny asks.
"I think it's too soon to tell. You guys have all of high school to get through."
"That's true."
"So, what should we do tonight?" I ask. "Annabelle said something about going to see that movie about the magician. But I'm not sure I feel like it. There's always Friday night rec, but we just went last week."
"Yeah, but we can go again."
Friday night recreation is an Old Mill tradition. I guess parents were worried their kids would become delinquents, so they had the teachers open the middle school to let kids hang out there. Some play basketball and others just sit around chatting. There's usually pizza and chips and soda. It's pretty fun, actually.
"Ask Evan if he's going," I say.
Last summer I was all annoyed that Evan and Sunny spent so much time together, but for some reason it doesn't bother me as much anymore. It feels like Evan is just another friend now. They're really good at balancing their time together and their time with their friends. It's admirable-but also kind of frustrating, since I seem to be failing at my own relationship.
"Okay, I'll call later. He has tennis after school."
Sunny knows his whole schedule, like they're some kind of married couple.
I go downstairs to get more snacks, and then Sunny tells me I have a text message.
I immediately hope it's from Yamir, even though I've been feeling better about things since our accidental phone call. He wished me luck, and as sad as it sounds, I can live on that for a while.
"It's Erica," Sunny says, rolling her eyes.
"Erica?" I look at my phone.
Wondering if we can check out the spa tonight to start preparing. Zoe, me, you, and Sunny. Let me know.
"So, let's go," Sunny says. "We don't have anything else to do."
"I have to ask my mom and grandma. There may be an event tonight."
Sunny says, "You used to know everything that went on there. You're totally slacking."
I hit her gently on the arm. "Ha-ha. I'm not slacking. I'm just in school, and they have staff to take care of things. I did my job, and now I can relax."
"Okay, so text her back. This is gonna be fun."
I don't know about fun, but I guess it can't hurt. Unless Erica is trying to trick us or humiliate us. But I think she's moved on from her silly pranks. She seems really serious.
I call Grandma at the pharmacy, and she tells me it's fine as long as we don't disturb the customers. This is a change too. Normally she'd make sure she or Mom was there with me, but I guess she trusts me more these days. She knows I can handle it. Plus, Charise is working the pharmacy counter until nine o'clock, and there will be a few people doing late spa treatments. It's not like we'll be totally alone.
Erica and I text back and forth, and we agree to meet there at seven. I tell her that we can only stay an hour. Truthfully, we're allowed to stay until closing at nine, but I don't want to commit to that many hours with Erica Crane.
Improvements or not.
