Tomorrow never came. Jane was nowhere to be found all day. By Friday, I was stressing big time. The biggest thing to ever happen to me and I might not even get a shot at participating.
I waited by Jane’s locker until she showed, figuring she couldn’t avoid me that way. She was being so evasive that it was seriously freaking me out. When I didn’t want to admit something to someone, I avoided them. Which was how I knew exactly what Jane was up to.
I missed History class to stand there and wait. Then Science. I felt stupid lingering around like a bad smell but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I had done plenty of other, bigger, stupider things before. Nobody would know the difference.
At third period changeover, she finally showed up. “Truly, what are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you. What’s the status on the dress?” I was done with small talk. Something about freaking out kind of brought out the rude in me.
“It’s finished.” The two words that sent relief coursing through me. “You can come over this afternoon to see it if you want.”
I inwardly groaned. “I can’t, I have to look after my brothers and sister. Can you come over to my place?” Because I was that desperate to see the dress.
She shook her head. “It will get wrinkled if I move it, I don’t want to risk that.”
“Well I can’t make it to your place.”
“Well I’m not moving it. You’ll see it tomorrow at the competition anyway, it’s no big deal.” She shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal. Except it was. My entire future hinged on that dress. The dress I wouldn’t be able to see until just before the judges did.
What about if it was terrible? What about if she had completely trashed my design? Maybe something really bad happened to it since I saw it last? My churning stomach was telling me this was not a good thing.
But what choice did I have? I couldn’t leave my bratty siblings at home by themselves and I certainly couldn’t take them to Jane’s house. All that white, they would see it as a giant canvas to ruin.
“I guess tomorrow it is then,” I sighed. I hated the impossible situation but I really didn’t have a choice. Jane certainly wasn’t going to budge. And perhaps she was right, we didn’t want wrinkles in the dress.
“I’ll be there early,” Jane said. At least that was something. I nodded my agreement and finally went to my own classes.
But I couldn’t concentrate. I tried telling myself it would all be okay. The dress had been fantastic when I last saw it. Just because it was finished now shouldn’t change that fact. It should have only improved in its awesomeness. Right? Gosh, I hoped so.
I spent all night tossing and turning in bed. I alternated between worrying about the dress and worrying about the judges. Would they like the dress? Would they think the design was stupid? Would we be laughed out of the place? I didn’t need to sleep to have nightmares, my brain was imagining them anyway.
Morning was almost a relief but the tiredness didn’t help. I got dressed, putting every effort into my outfit as I did the rest of the competition. I wore a polka dot red dress, draping my neck with fake pearls and completing the look with a white bow in my hair. To someone else, I might have looked weird. But I knew the fashionistas would get it. The judges would totally understand what I was going for.
“I’m leaving,” I called out as I headed for the door.
Mom stepped out of the kitchen. “Where are you going?”
Like I hadn’t been talking about it for weeks? “The competition, it’s today.”
It took her a moment to access the memory before she nodded with recognition. “Oh, right. Well, have a good time. And remember that there will be a lot of great entries. Even if you don’t win, I’ll still be proud of you for entering.”
I nodded and left. So Mom still didn’t think I had a shot at winning. I wanted to prove her wrong, but a small part of me believed her. I had never won anything in my life before, it was a long shot today.
It took three subway rides and a bus to shake the encounter with Mom. By the time I entered the doors of the Academy of Design where the competition was being held, I was totally focused on the task at hand.
First off, I needed to find Jane. Holding my head up high like I owned the place, I searched through the bodies and dresses. It also gave me a chance to check out the competition.
And man, the competition was fierce.
Beautiful dresses were being readied for judging everywhere I looked. Taffeta, silk, lace, embroidery, it was all there in abundance. My confidence took a punch, that was for sure.
“Truly! Over here!” The sound of my own name snapped me back from Panic Land. I turned to see Jane holding a garment bag – our dress. My feet couldn’t get to her fast enough.
“Oh my gosh, Jane. Have you seen the dresses here? It’s crazy, they are amazing.” The words poured from my mouth without a filter.
Jane smiled. “Good thing we have our own amazing dress then, isn’t it?” How could she be so confident while I was freaking out? Ugh.
“Get it out then, come on. We don’t have much time before the judges come around,” I urged her. She gave me a look that said ‘be patient’. Patience was not my virtue.
We readied the dummy – which was just a torso in the shape of a female which dressmakers use. When I was satisfied it was clean and snag-free, Jane opened the garment bag.
She slid the dress out slowly and carefully as I held the bag and made sure it didn’t catch on any of the material. We couldn’t get this far only to ruin it before judging. That was not going to happen.
I was lost in a sea of fabric as we guided the dress onto the dummy. It was quite possibly the scariest thing I had ever done. Just one wrong move could have torn something and we would lose mega points.
When it was safely on and buttoned up, Jane and I stood back to take our first real look at it.
And I was furious.
“What have you done?” I demanded. There were several swear words I would have liked to have used but refrained considering I was dressed so much like a lady.
“What do you mean? You don’t like it?” Jane asked. How could she not see the changes she had made to my design? There was embellishments that shouldn’t have been there, an extra ruffle that was nowhere in my drawing.
I pointed out exactly what I was talking about. “These were not in my design. You added them. Without telling me.”
She had the decency to look taken aback. “I thought they made it better. You don’t like them?”
“You weren’t supposed to change the design, Jane. I spent hours on it, it was perfect as it was.” I realized my voice was too loud when the girls around me started staring. I lowered my voice. “You’ve ruined it. There is no chance we’ll win now. You’ve ruined everything.”
“Truly, relax, seriously. When I finished the design like it was, it didn’t look right. I added the pieces and it looked better. I’ve increased our chances of winning,” Jane said, trying to defend herself.
How dare she!
“Everything hinges on winning today, Jane. You just don’t get it, do you? If I don’t win today, my entire future is over. I will never have a career in fashion.”
“You’re being very dramatic-”
“That’s because this is such a big deal. It’s fine for you, you have all the money in the world and a perfect life. You have no idea what it’s like to need this.” I may have sounded like a crazy person ranting. Actually, there was no doubt I did. I was beyond caring.
Jane took a step back from me. “I don’t have a perfect life and I need this competition just as much as you do. I might not need the money but I care just as much. You’re not the only one with problems, Truly.”
“Ahem.” Neither Jane nor I made another sound. We turned around slowly, dreading the source of the interruption.
It was the judges. Three of them.
And they heard us shouting at each other.
CHAPTER 9