The only thing more fun than shopping for glittery things to wear during your everyday life is shopping for glittery things to wear on special occasions. This included glitter dresses, glitter purses, glitter shoes, glitter jewelry (obviously), and glitter tiaras. Bree’s stepsister, Ariana, once told her that tiaras weren’t really appropriate to wear to social occasions unless you’re royalty like Kate Middleton, but Bree disagreed. That might be the only fashion advice where Bree thought Ariana was totally wrong.
Anyway. Bree had already touched all the above items at the Playa del Mar Mall, where Malia, Dot, and Bree were browsing for stuff to wear to their epic party. They still hadn’t found any new money, and they still hadn’t booked any new jobs, but Dot’s mom was always telling them about the power of visualization, so they decided to try it out. Visualization is where you picture amazing things that haven’t happened yet, and you feel how happy you’ll be once they happen, and then, kind of like magic, they come true. If they made friends with all the things they couldn’t buy yet, they reasoned, then soon enough maybe they could buy them. The more they visualized, the closer they would be to the bash of their dreams.
“It’s a thirteenth birthday party, not a sweet sixteen,” Malia said, eyeing the extra-large crown on top of Bree’s head.
“Yes, and this party is whatever we want it to be, remember?” It was true. They had encouraged each other to think big. Still, Bree took the tiara off her head and placed it carefully back on the shelf, next to a bunch of other sparkly hair items. “I’m coming back for you,” she whispered, low enough so no one else could hear.
“This is depressing!” Dot chimed, appearing from behind a rack of dresses. “I know we’re supposed to be visualizing or whatever, but I still can’t afford any of this, never mind the fees for a party. I think we might benefit from a break.”
Part of the problem was that they were in Lovely Days, which was a bridal store, and a place where they did not belong. They couldn’t go back to browsing at Phoebe’s, for fear of running into evil Camilla, so they were forced to settle for the next best thing. Lovely Days sold bridal gowns, of course, and also fancy dresses people wore for things like proms and sweet sixteens and actual bat mitzvahs. Everything was sparkly! But everything was expensive.
“Let’s go to the cat café!” Bree suggested. The cat café was a newer addition to the mall and had quickly become her favorite place. She loved it even more than the toy store, partially because she could be totally open about how much she loved it.
“Why do they call it a cat café?” Malia asked as they walked toward it. “They have cats but no food. And you definitely can’t eat the cats.”
“It’s definitely not a café,” Dot confirmed. “It’s more like a cat party that humans can crash.”
They opened the doors to MeowTown, and Bree’s heart practically exploded with joy. There were orange cats and gray cats and white cats and black cats and black-and-white cats and even one hairless cat, which was kind of scary-looking but Bree still loved it, of course, because it was a cat.
“This entire room is like one big histamine,” said Dot.
“What’s a histamine?” Bree asked.
“It’s an organic compound that produces a response in the body,” Dot responded.
“STOP SPEAKING SCIENCE,” commanded Malia. Ever since Dot had been accepted into the honors science class at the start of the school year, she had a tendency to nerd out even more than usual about sciencey things. No one else ever understood what she was talking about.
“It’s, like, the technical name for the thing that makes people feel allergic to stuff,” Dot explained.
“HI, GERALDINE!” Bree yelled, scooping up a gray tabby. Bree had met Geraldine the last time she came to the cat café, with her little sisters and brother. Bree smushed her face into the cat’s soft, soft fur.
“How do you already know their names?” asked Dot.
“She comes here a lot,” said Malia, before Bree even had a chance to answer.
Dot sat down on one of the benches and distantly petted an orange cat, using just two fingers. “Hello, kitty,” she said in a businesslike tone. The cat meowed back at her.
Malia clapped her hands. “So, guys, now that we’ve visualized, we should really talk about our plans moving forward. Bree can hopefully turn cat sitting into a regular side gig. And it sounds like Mabel wants somebody to hang out with, to water her plants or . . . whatever. But both of those things pay basically no dollars. And neither of these things are what we set out to do—babysitting.”
“Certainly we must have more leads,” Dot chimed in. “Let’s list all the families we’ve sat for in the past. Who can we call and check in with?”
“Um . . . the Woo kids?” Bree asked.
“According to Chelsea’s calendar, they’ve been using Seaside on the regular. But it couldn’t hurt to ask,” said Malia.
“Bree, what about the parents of your little siblings’ friends? Do you think we can reach out to some of them?”
Before Bree had a chance to answer, a lovely voice interrupted them.
“Excuse me, did I hear you girls talking about babysitting?”
Bree looked up to see a woman standing before them, holding a white longhaired cat. That alone would have been enough to make Bree love her, but she also looked really pretty and soft and nice, kind of like an angel from a movie. The woman’s hair was blond and curly and she was wearing a short-sleeved pink sweater that was sort of fluffy. Bree wanted to pet her, and then pet the cat she was holding, and then give both of them a big hug.
“Yes!” Bree exclaimed. “I’m Bree, and this is Dot and Malia—I mean, Alia. The three of us have a babysitting club.”
“It’s so nice to meet you. My name is Wendy Blatt, and my son and I recently moved to Playa del Mar.”
“Wendy! That’s such a nice name,” Bree said. “It’s actually my favorite name, because of Peter Pan.” Dot shot her a look like that was a weird thing to say, but Wendy just smiled sweetly.
“Thank you,” she said. “When I was growing up, I never met another Wendy, but now that I’m an adult I really like it. Anyway, my son, Aloysius, just turned five.”
Bree had definitely never met anyone named Aloysius, like, ever, but she didn’t say so.
“He’s a very sensitive soul,” Wendy continued. “Very bright for his age, and it’s been tough on him to be the new kid. Adjustments can be so hard, and kids aren’t always the nicest.”
It reminded Bree of back when she had been the new kid. That definitely wasn’t easy. It was right after her mom had married Marc, and she was just getting used to living in a new house, in a new town. On top of it all, once school started she’d spent the first few weeks feeling confused and friendless. Then one day, the chorus teacher, Ms. Hedinger, made everyone sing “Ging Gang Goolie” in front of all the first-graders at the harvest assembly. Bree grew flustered and forgot the words. She was about to cry, but Dot and Malia were standing on either side of her, and they sang extra loud to make up for it. Bree had been able to move her mouth, silently mouthing the word “watermelon” over and over again, and everything had been fine. That was the first time she knew her friends were wonderful.
“Anyway, Aloysius has been staying at the after-school program, and participating in some extracurriculars for gifted children, but I think it would be best if he could work on his hobbies in a quiet environment.”
“That sounds like a perfect plan,” said Dot, folding her hands in her lap and nodding confidently.
“Ideally, I’d love to find someone to watch him after school every day, just until I get home from work. Maybe you girls could spend some time with him, and if you all get along, we can figure something out?”
“Yes!” they all said in unison. What could be better than a smart kid with an interesting name and quiet hobbies? Well, Bree supposed cat-sitting would be better, but this was pretty great, too.
“In fact, you can meet him right now. There he is!” Wendy motioned to a far corner of the café, where a little boy sat alone, perfectly quiet. He wore all-black clothes, like a tiny poet, and he was surrounded with cats. Like, two cats were perched on his lap, and another was wrapped around his shoulders like a furry scarf. Bree seriously admired his skills. Was he some kind of cat whisperer?
“Hey there, Aloysius,” said Malia.
“Hello,” he said, so quietly they could barely hear him. His eyelashes were so long that when he blinked, it looked like butterflies were fluttering down his face. He seemed like a sweet kid, and quite possibly, the ideal client. They made plans for a trial babysitting job the very next day.
“Wow,” Bree breathed as soon as they’d left the cat café. “Visualization really works.”
“I think that was more like happenstance.” Dot shrugged.
Whatever it was, how lucky were they? Just when they thought they might be out of business, their dream client had walked right into their lives. Holding a cat! Bree couldn’t help but feel like this was meant to be.