After school, it was pouring outside. There was nothing good on TV, so I went to read in my room. I was supposed to be reading Lord of the Flies but instead was looking at an article on room makeovers. Maybe it was time I did something with my room. It looked like a teenager and a little kid shared it. Part of the room had stuffed animals, and the other part was makeup, books, and magazines. I decided to take down the poster of the cartoon ballerina kitty, but I left the one of the kitty in the basketball uniform on the wall.
I packed away most of my stuffed animals — but not my blue mouse — and then took the boxes into the basement only to bring them back up an hour later. My room was just blah and empty without them. Besides, it wasn't as if I had people clamoring to come over, and Ashanti still had a lot of toys and cute stuff in her room. She had a deck of kitty cards that we played with in her room. I even bought a deck of the puppy cards so we could play war with both decks. Our longest game lasted until two in the morning. And we both had mini gumball machines. There was only one kind of gum that fit in the thing and I practically had to eat the whole container to get one decent-sized piece of gum, but it was cute.
I wished I had a room like the one in the magazine, though. Everything in the magazine room was orange-and-white, which was funny, since I had an orange-y-peach room for a few days a couple of months before. I didn't like it at the time, but seeing how amazing this room was, I almost wished I had kept it. Of course, the room in the magazine also had a matching orange laptop, a white-and-orange glass table, an orange love seat made up of little connecting circle pillows, an orange TV set, and a huge orange-and-white loft bed just for hanging out. I'd probably have to spend a lot to get that look. The only orange things I owned were the cap from an orange highlighter I lost, a stuffed tiger, and an orange-juice-flavored lip balm. Not exactly enough stuff to decorate with.
It would just be nice if my room had some kind of theme. Devon's room looked like her personality with all her books and music posters. Peyton's room was pink and girly, so it didn't look like her, but it was big and she had cool furniture. She even had a daybed/couch thing for sleepovers.
My furniture was from my mom's old bedroom set. The dresser and armoire were all mirrors, so I could always see my reflection whether I wanted to or not. It was kind of cool, but it wasn't like I got to pick it out myself. If I could pick out my own stuff then I'd want my room to look like the orange-and-white room in the magazine or the lavender-and-baby-blue room I saw in Young and Fun. That used to be my ideal bedroom, but I didn't have a built-in bookcase, a big walk-in closet, or a sitting room. What I had was a small square-shaped room with a closet I could technically walk into, but that was all it had going for it unless you were into the string lights I had around my nightstand.
I had painted my room the same color as the Young and Fun room, but it didn't look like that room at all. It was kind of like when I went to get my hair cut like Savannah on As the Days Roll On. It wasn't as if I expected to walk out of the salon looking like her twin, but I thought I'd look something like her. No, I didn't have her amazing cheekbones or her dark-brown cat eyes, but I thought I'd look a little bit like her.
I started reading compatibility horoscopes online and wondering what Vladi's sign was. Would it be weird to ask him? He might think I just wanted to know when his birthday was, or he might realize what a weirdo I was that I wanted to see if we were "meant to be" according to the stars. I noticed that I had a new message and clicked the mailbox.
To: Albright@alphamail.com
Subject: Sweatshirt
Hi Landry,
Thanks again for letting me borrow your shirt. I can drop it off at your house this week if you want or if you're free we could meet up at the mall or something. Let me know if you want to hang out.
Kendall
A high school girl was asking if I wanted to hang out with her? Um, yeah! I wondered if she meant we'd be hanging out with some of her friends, because I'd probably do something stupid in front of them because I can't be normal for even two seconds. But maybe it would just be the two of us, and she'd teach me makeup tricks, help me pick out clothes, help me fit in at the high school next year, and be the big sister I never had. And maybe eating chocolate fudge brownies prevents hurricanes. I decided to write back right away in case somebody else asked her to do something or she came to her senses.
From: Albright@alphamail.com
Re: Sweatshirt
Hey Kendall,
How are you? I'd be happy to meet with you. Just let me know where we should-
What was that? Was I from the Victorian era or something? It sounded like my great-great-grandmother wrote that. Okay, trying it again.
Hey Kendall,
What's up? I'm free this week if you want to get together. Just let me know where you want to meet.
See ya,
Landry
I thought about giving her my phone number, but I didn't want to look desperate and clingy — even if I was. I waited online for half an hour to see if she wrote back, but my mom bumped me off when she had to use the computer.
"Can't you use your phone to send that e-mail?" I asked.
"I can't type well on that tiny screen," she said. "Did you finish your homework?"
I made a face. What was the point of homework anyway? To give me something to do so I didn't run off and join a gang? It wasn't like I learned that much from it. I did math homework every night, and I still didn't get anything we had done all year. Homework in high school was something I needed to ask Kendall about. We heard the classes there were harder, and there was a lot more public speaking where they had students memorize speeches. High school sounded overwhelming, yet everybody seemed to get through it. Maybe there was a secret handbook I missed with advice on how to deal with it all.