four
I have nothing to wear,” Nicole moaned.
“Right, you only own half the clothes in the mall.” Mimi pawed through Nicole’s closet. She considered a skimpy camisole. “Nah. Screams of trying too hard.”
“Hurry up, Meem,” Nicole muttered. “He’s gonna be here any minute.” She bit nervously at a hangnail.
“Are you and Jack a thing?” Suzanne asked. “I thought he and Heather—”
“Ancient history,” Mimi reported. “Nicole and Jack are an about-to-be thing. He has a massive crush on her.”
Nicole snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“This. This is it.” Mimi held up a little floral dress. “It’s perfect. Demure, yet sexy—”
“I never wear that. I look like a cow in that.”
“You do not, do not argue, go put it on,” Mimi insisted.
Nicole grabbed the dress and hurried to the bathroom. Off came the sweats, on went the dress. She looked in the full-length mirror to see if she looked fat. She did. “Okay, you look like barf,” she told her reflection.
Two sharp raps sounded on the bathroom door. “Nico, he’s here,” Mimi hissed. “And he’s with Eddie. Move it!”
Oh, God. No time to change. Stuck in her fat dress, Nicole tore the scrunchie from her hair and got to her room just as Mimi and Suzanne were shoving the last of her mess into her closet.
“I am so fat,” Nicole moaned. “Someone please starve me.”
“You’re not fat,” Mimi said. “Sit down. And act natural.”
Nicole heard Jack and Eddie talking sports as they came down the hallway. She struck a nonchalant pose on a chair as Little Bit ushered them into the room.
“It’s usually messier than this,” Little Bit informed them. “Things actually grow under my sister’s bed.”
Jack’s easy smile lit up his face. “Hey. Nice house.”
“Thanks.” Nicole tried to match his offhand tone. “So, what’s up with you guys?”
“Same old same old, you know,” Eddie replied.
“We’re rehearsing. For the talent show thing,” Mimi said.
“If we’re interrupting—” Jack began.
“No, no, you’re not!” Nicole insisted. She took a deep breath and forced herself back into casual mode. “I mean, we were just taking a break, anyway.”
Little Bit shined her thousand-watt smile at Jack. “I neglected to introduce myself. I’m Nicole’s sister, Elizabeth.”
Jack looked amused. “Hello, Elizabeth. How old are you?”
‘Older than I look.” Little Bit executed a perfect regulation Chrissy hair toss. Excruciating. Her little sister was flirting with Jack.
Nicole jumped up. “You were just leaving, Little Bit.” She pointed her sister toward the door, then turned back to Jack. “Sorry. I know she’s a pain in the—”
“Oh my gosh, Nicole!” Little Bit shrieked.
Nicole spun around. “What?”
“The back of your—”
“What?” Instinctively, Nicole reached behind her. Instead of hitting dress, she felt nothing but bulging panties. While she was changing clothes, she had somehow stuffed the hem of her dress inside her panties. Oh, God. She yanked her dress out and smoothed it down. Too late. Eddie was falling all over himself laughing, which meant he and Jack had seen everything. She wasn’t even wearing cute bikinis—she had on the baggy old-lady panties her mom had bought her.
“Those are the butt-ugliest undies I ever saw!” Eddie gasped, between peals of laughter. Burning with humiliation, Nicole dropped down on her bed and stared at the polished wood floor as if there was something there worth seeing.
“Oh, Eddie, grow up,” Mimi chided him. “What are you, six?”
Nicole risked a peek at the guys. Tears of mirth were rolling down Eddie’s cheeks.
“Cut it out,” Jack told him, but it was obvious he was trying not to laugh, too.
“You could go snow-blind from lookin’ at those two big ol’ white moons, man,” Eddie howled.
“My sister does not have a big moon butt!” Little Bit insisted, which made Eddie convulse anew.
Jack flicked his hand against Eddie’s back. “Like you’ve never done anything embarrassing. How about when you came out on the soccer field trailing, like, a yard of toilet paper?”
“That’s cold, Polin.”
Little Bit folded her arms. “You deserved it, Eddie. You were being extremely immature.”
Great. Her little sister was defending her. Nicole wanted to crawl into her closet with the rest of her mess.
Mimi spotted Nicole’s copy of Anne Frank’s diary on her desk, and picked it up. “Read this yet?”
“Got it covered.” Eddie smirked. “Saw it on cable.”
Mimi groaned. “You are such a Neanderthal. It happens to be amazing.”
“It is, I read it last year,” Suzanne agreed.
Little Bit grabbed the book from Mimi. “Does it have any dirty parts?” She started flipping through the pages.
“Yo, aren’t you a little young for that?” Eddie asked.
“I happen to be extremely mature for my age.”
“I’m only, like, thirty pages into it so far,” Jack said.
“Me, too,” Nicole agreed. “Who has time?”
“Oh my gosh, listen to this!” Little Bit exclaimed. “ ‘We are shut up here, shut away from the world, in fear and anxiety, especially just lately. Why, then, should we who love each other remain apart? Why should we wait until we’ve reached a suitable age? Why should we bother?’ ”
“No way was that in the movie,” Eddie said.
Little Bit shrugged. “What difference does it make? ”It’s a big fake. Anne Frank didn’t even write it.”
“Ignore her,” Nicole pleaded. “It’s just some stupid thing we saw on the Internet. She’s trying to show off.”
“I am not.” Little Bit folded her arms defiantly. “That man was a historian, Nicole. He knows way more than you do.”
Jack tugged playfully at Little Bit’s ponytail. “Go, girl. Don’t let ‘em dis you. Think for yourself.”
Little Bit shot Nicole a smug look. “Well, some people don’t care about thinking for themselves.”
“Yo, whatever,” Eddie said. “Who cares?”
“So listen,” Jack began. “About the talent show thing. Maybe at the party afterwards, the five of us could hook up. You up for it?” He looked at Nicole.
Her stomach bungee-jumped with happiness. She went for casual. “Sounds fun.”
Jack’s face lit up. “Yeah? Great!”
Nicole executed a regulation Chrissy hair toss, batted her eyelashes, and smiled seductively. For once, she pulled it off. She felt poised on the cliff of possibility, ready to spread her wings for the first time. And fly.
NOTES FROM GIRL X
CAUTION!!! WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
Day 4, 11:25 p.m.
... and that is exactly what happened. God, life is so weird. One minute, I’m dying of embarrassment’ cuz J saw my putrid panties. The next minute I’m dying of happiness‘cuz he asked me to hang out after the talent show.
Girl in the Middle: After everyone left, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was so much cuter than I had been just a few hours before. What is it: amazing, scary, or wonderful, how quickly your life can change?
Bliss: I will remember what happened today for the rest of my life. Today is the day I was transformed by love.
Heavy Ick Factor: Transformed by love???
Frightening Thought du Jour, Part Three: If love transforms, then who was I when neediness oozed off me like stale sweat? When J didn’t know I existed, it made me feel like I didn’t exist. Color me pathetic, boys and girls.
Tomorrow: I will see J.
Tonight: He will make love to me in my dreams.