Belles by Jen Calonita
Mira grabbed Savannah’s Coke and took a sip. Mira’s mom was so excited about Izzie’s Butterflies chair position, she’d already told Mira’s dad and all her friends about it. She thought it was a sign of Izzie starting to fit in. If Savannah’s plan failed, and they linked it back to Mira, she didn’t know how her parents would react. “Savannah, listen. I…”
“I saved the best for last.” Savannah leaned in confidentially. “I’m having my mom book something at the arts center that conflicts with our event! Some big, splashy party for Dad’s coastal revitalization project. She’ll offer the school so much money they can’t say no.” She looked like she’d won the lottery. “Oh, and on top of that, I got Wave Machine to agree to deejay for Izzie’s event. They’re going to cancel on her the week before,” she said gleefully. “Am I despicably clever or what?”
Mira felt nauseated. This was going too far. “Savannah, I… we can’t do this. I’m serious. This is taking things too far.” Mira felt stronger just saying the words out loud, but Savannah looked like she could spit fire.
Lea and Lauren appeared at the table out of nowhere. Mira had never been happier to see them, even if they did look like they had just come from a funeral. “Vanna, we have to talk to you.”
“I told you to stay busy.” Savannnah glanced at their empty hands. “Where are my fries?”
Lauren pulled at her chunky necklace and looked nervously at Lea. “Brayden’s here.”
Savannah’s face brightened. “Really? I didn’t know he was coming tonight.” She sat up on her knees, seeming to forget about Mira’s betrayal, and looked around. “Did you tell him I’m here, too?”
Lea shook her head. She seemed sort of frightened. “We didn’t talk to him.”
“Why not?” Savannah started to get up, but Lauren blocked her path.
“He’s with Izzie,” Lea said quietly.
“He’s with Izzie? At Corky’s?” Savannah sat down again, momentarily deflated. “Alone?” The girls nodded. Savannah looked around the room anxiously. “Can you imagine what everybody is thinking right now?” she whispered. “This is so humiliating. My boyfriend is hanging out with her while I sit on the other side of the room with my friends.” She glared at Mira. “This is your fault. You were trying to stall me so that I wouldn’t find them together!”
“I didn’t know they were here,” Mira said, watching Savannah unravel in front of her.
“You just said you’re on her side!” Her voice rose, making people stare. Savannah was never anything but refined in public, which made her being this unhinged a sight to be seen.
Lea cleared her throat. “This isn’t the first time we’ve seen them together, either.” She glanced at Lauren. “We weren’t sure if we should tell you, but yesterday, we saw them walking on Main Street.” Savannah’s face turned pink. “He, um, took her to Butter Me Up.”
Mira was paralyzed. Brayden must have gotten Butter Me Up to agree to help Izzie.
The thought wasn’t lost on Savannah. “You told him about our plan, didn’t you?” Savannah glared at Mira. “You tried to turn him against me!”
“Savannah, calm down,” Lea said, knowing the last thing Savannah wanted was a scene.
“Savannah, lower your voice. I didn’t do anything!” Mira tried to steer her out of Corky’s before she regretted it, but Savannah pushed her away and turned to Lea.
“Where are they sitting?” she asked calmly.
Lea pointed to a booth near the jukebox, and Savannah strode across the diner before Mira could stop her. She moved so fast she almost knocked down a waitress as she glided by on roller skates. Mira, Lea, and Lauren followed, watching as Savannah stopped short a few feet from Brayden and Izzie’s table. They were leaning into each other over a plate of potato skins, and they looked like they were having an intense conversation. Izzie was shaking her head and starting to get up. That’s when she saw Savannah.
“You. Go. Now,” Savannah hissed to Izzie in a quiet, menacing voice that was almost impossible to hear over Jay-Z. Izzie looked from Savannah to Mira and began to walk away without a fight, which surprised Mira.
“Savannah, what…” Brayden’s face looked guilty. He slid out of the booth, and she put up her hand to stop him.
“Girls, we’re going to need some time alone. You go deal with this,” Savannah said, pointing at Izzie’s retreating frame.
“My pleasure,” Lauren said, her eyes narrowing at Izzie as she headed for the door. Mira grabbed Lauren’s arm before she got too far.
“I’ll go,” Mira told Lauren. “She’ll listen to me.”
She headed after Izzie before the others could stop her. Izzie was already halfway down the block by the time Mira reached her. She ran through the puddles. “Izzie! Wait up!”
Izzie turned slowly, her arms crossed. She was wearing a tan hooded sweater and cute jeans with sneakers. Mira wouldn’t be caught dead in sneakers off the field, but the look worked for Izzie. She would have told her that, but Izzie was furious. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you,” Mira said, and realized as she got closer that she had no clue what she was going to say. Most of the stores along Main Street were closed, and the street was deserted. She could still hear the jukebox playing faintly from Corky’s. “What was going on back there?”
Izzie stared at a large puddle. “You can call off your min-ions. Brayden and I are just friends.” Her voice sounded strained. “And that’s all it’s ever going to be.”
“Good,” Mira said, and Izzie’s face darkened. “I just mean he’s taken. If Savannah thought anything was going on between you two, she’d make your life hell.”
“Aren’t you two doing that already?” Mira winced. “I’m not an idiot. I know you two called all the stores and told them not to work with me. Thanks for volunteering to help.”
Mira shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t know how far Savannah was going to take things. I came here tonight to warn you. I wanted to confess,” she explained. “I want to help you.”
“And why would you want to do that?” Izzie asked. “I know you don’t like me.” Now it was Mira’s turn to look away. “It’s fine, but stop pretending. The pep squad act has got to go.”
Mira’s eyes narrowed. “I was trying to be nice. It’s called being a good hostess! You’re the one who didn’t want to give me or our family a chance. They’ve been nothing but good to you since you got here, and all you’ve done is make a mess of everything!”
“With your help!” Izzie shouted back. Their voices echoed in the empty street. It had started to rain again, and they stood there, staring each other down. Izzie wrapped her arms around herself. “You really think I want to muck things up, Mira?” Izzie asked quietly. “I’ve been killing myself to make things work with your family, but you and your friends sabotage me at every turn! My family is at stake, too. I don’t want Grams kicked out of her nursing home. Where else is she going to go?”
Mira didn’t understand what Izzie was talking about. This is how it was with Izzie—one moment Mira wanted to strangle her, the next she wanted to give her a big hug. Having her around left Mira with such a mixed bag of emotions. She thought about how she could make things right, once and for all. “Look, we don’t have to like each other, but let me help you. I’m sorry about the stores, okay? I’ll book catering. Just say the word. But watch yourself with the DJs.” Izzie’s eyes narrowed. “Wave Machine is going to call you. Savannah told them to cancel on you right before the event.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m telling the truth,” Mira insisted. “I know how Savannah works. That’s why I’m warning you about the DJ and about hanging out with Brayden—”
“Forget Brayden!” Izzie sounded exasperated. “Worry about your own screwed-up relationship!”
“Excuse me?” Mira said, the anger kicking in again.
“Your relationship with Taylor is sweet, but it lacks substance. Just like you,” Izzie said smugly. It was t
“I have plenty of guts!” Mira snapped. She pulled her coat tight as the rain fell harder.
“I know what I see,” Izzie said, her tone changing from anger to sadness. She pulled her sweater hood over her head and without another word disappeared down one of the alleys behind a shop, leaving Mira alone with her thoughts.
She was still shaking when Taylor’s mom’s BMW pulled up to the curb, sending water splashing in every direction. Mira jumped back to avoid getting mud all over her new jeans. Taylor slid out of the front passenger seat and grinned at her. Mira hadn’t seen him in three days. She’d stayed home sick ever since their fight.
“Babe, why are you out here without an umbrella? You’re going to get sick again.” He opened an umbrella and held it over them as the rain pelted down on the plastic. Mira leaned into his chest, feeling dazed. You’re like a puppy, always at Taylor’s and Savannah’s beck and call. Was that really how she behaved? She couldn’t get Izzie’s voice out of her head. “Are you okay?” Taylor asked.
“I just had a huge fight with Izzie,” she said. “It was awful. I came down here early to make things right with her, but it blew up in my face.” She sighed. “Twice. Before that, I had a fight with Savannah, too. She said I was conspiring with Izzie and Brayden behind her back.”
“Were you?” Taylor rubbed her shoulders.
Mira pulled away. “No. How could you even ask me that?”
He hesitated. “It’s just… You’ve been a little off lately. Making amends with Izzie? Why would you do that?”
“She’s my cousin, Taylor,” Mira said as if it should have been obvious. She stepped into the rain, away from the shelter of the umbrella, almost as if she couldn’t stand another second by his side.
“Okay, forget it.” Taylor pulled her hand. “I don’t want to fight. Ryan is saving a booth for us at Corky’s. We should get going.” They began walking down the street as if the matter were resolved, but she felt annoyed. Why was she letting Taylor dictate again? And why was she listening?
“I thought we were spending tonight alone,” Mira said, hearing the sound of a lone car as it splashed through the puddles. “I really wanted to talk to you in private.” She stared at his blue eyes. She had messed things up with all the boys she cared about, including Hayden. He was still mad at her for what had happened to Izzie on Tryout Day. Taylor was her boyfriend. She had to try to fix things.
Taylor kicked at a puddle near them. “Seriously, Mira. More talking? We tried talking after I found you with those art geeks, and look where that got us. Can’t we just go out with the team like we used to and have a good time tonight?”
That was not the response Mira was looking for. “I just thought—”
“You thought.” He shook his head. “You think this relationship is all about you and your feelings.” He sounded more annoyed than she would expect. “Well, it’s not. My life is football. You used to watch me play, hang with the guys’ girlfriends, be with the team.” He ran a hand through his hair, which she used to like so much. Now she thought it looked oily. “But now, you’d rather hang out with those art geeks. What were you doing in there, anyway? Ryan’s girlfriend says—”
Mira wished she could knock him on his butt so hard that he couldn’t get up. But she was too much of a lady to do that. “I don’t care what Ryan’s girlfriend says!”
Some of the guys’ girlfriends were okay, but it was their life’s mission to worship the team. They were the first at every pep rally, the first to make posters for the games, the first at every victory celebration at Corky’s. Didn’t any of them want their own lives? Mira had been wondering a lot about that lately. She liked having space. If Taylor wanted to be that suffocating, then maybe, she realized, she didn’t want to be with him.
“I’m not Ryan’s girlfriend,” she said, her voice softening. “I’m yours, and I should be allowed to do what I want, too. You’re right. I have been hanging out with the art geeks,” she admitted as he looked at her strangely. “I’m taking art classes. Two, actually, and I haven’t told you because I didn’t know what you’d say, but you know what? Now I don’t care.” If she had to tell him about it on a street corner before they met the team of annoying pep squad girlfriends, then fine. “Mr. Capozo says I’m really good, and if I work at it, I could someday make a career out of it.” She was getting pumped up. “Maybe I could illustrate children’s books! There’s so much I haven’t thought about before.” If that wasn’t guts, she didn’t know what was.
“Who are you?” Taylor asked, letting his arm drop and the umbrella in the process. They both felt the rain pelt their faces and Taylor quickly held the umbrella up again. “You’ve been taking art classes and you didn’t tell me? What does that say about our relationship?”
“Um, well, you’re the one who keeps throwing around the words art geek,” Mira said, her voice tight. “Can you see why I would be afraid to tell you?”
“God, Mira!” He walked around in a huff, and Mira flinched. Boyfriends were not supposed to yell at their girlfriends that way. “I have enough stuff to deal with,” Taylor growled. “I don’t need the guys ribbing me about you now, too.”
“You’re not the only one who has stuff going on,” she said, getting upset. “It hasn’t exactly been easy having a new person live with us, especially when my dad is getting ready for the biggest campaign of his life. But of course, we don’t talk about that stuff because you don’t come to any of my family events.” She couldn’t resist the jab. Her heart was racing. This conversation was spiraling out of control. She felt like she was on a train and she couldn’t signal the conductor to let him know it was her stop.
She exhaled deeply and tried to clear her head. When she looked at Taylor again, she felt like she didn’t know who he was anymore. “Maybe we should take a break,” she admitted to him and to herself at the same time. It hurt saying the words out loud. “This isn’t working.”
“This isn’t working for me, either,” he said stiffly, even if he did look a little wounded.
“Dude! What are you doing out here?” Kyle Warnes, the team’s second-string quarterback, and his girlfriend, Riley Danford, walked up behind them, cuddling under a polka-dot umbrella. Both Mira and Taylor were startled. “Ryan’s got us a booth and he says it’s jammed. You guys coming?”
“Yeah,” Taylor said, staring at Mira. He at least handed her his umbrella. “I’m coming alone.”
Kyle and Riley looked back at Mira questioningly, but she stared straight ahead and watched the back of Taylor’s football jacket disappear down the street. Her heart was pounding and she was still shaking, but for the first time in a long time, she finally felt like she had done the right thing.
Twenty
“Iz, I think I have feelings for you,” Brayden had said.
Two seconds before that they had been laughing so hard that her milk shake was coming out of her nose, and then Brayden had stopped laughing and had said that: “I think I have feelings for you.”
Izzie’s head was still spinning a day later. Brayden was all she could think about. She kept playing the evening over and over again in her head and wondered if there could have been a different outcome.
Corky’s was Brayden’s idea. Izzie had purposefully avoided going there after Violet had told her the diner was a popular EP hangout, but Brayden had insisted, saying they had to celebrate.
Izzie had just booked a venue for the Falling into You Fest. Make that a second venue as an alternative to the school arts center. After all the problems she had the day before with booking vendors, Izzie suspected Savannah would mess with the event location, too. Sh
“I need to find a barn,” she had said to Brayden, stopping him at his locker. He smelled like coconut, which reminded her of summer, his suntan lotion, and surfing all in one. The effect was dizzying.
Brayden’s mouth twitched. “A barn? Let’s rewind. ‘Hey, Brayden, how are you?’ ”
“Sorry, but I need help and fast.” She looked away as a few football players walked by and stared at her. “I have a feeling the arts center is going to fall through, and if I don’t have a plan B, then those cute Butter Me Up cupcakes will have nowhere to be served.”
“That would be tragic,” he agreed. He put his history and math books into his backpack and looked at her oddly. “Does the arts center falling through have anything to do with Mira and Savannah?”
“Friends rule number one, remember?” She leaned against his locker. “No discussing the S word.” They’d agreed to that after what had happened at Butter Me Up. Brayden was pretty upset when he realized Savannah had been sabotaging Izzie, and Izzie still felt bad for questioning his choice in girlfriends. It seemed easier to avoid the topic completely.
Brayden ran his fingers through his hair and grinned. “Forgot our friends rules already. So a barn, huh? What about the one on campus? EP has its own farm, you know.”