A Formal Affair (11 page)

THE FOLLOWING
Monday morning at school, Carmen was relieved to see that Carolina and Patricia seemed to be back on good terms. They were at their lockers, which were right next to each other, laughing and comparing notes about their
quince
dresses. Carmen was tempted to ask what had led to this change, but she decided to leave well enough alone. After all, wasn't the saying, basically, why fix what wasn't broken? Catching Carmen's eye, Carolina held up a swatch of her dress fabric for Carmen to see. “I slept with it underneath my pillow last night,” she called out. “
Me encanta
this material.”

Patricia laughed and added, “Don't forget we're picking out my dress today after school. I need to find something just as fab. I'll meet you in the quad.”

Carmen smiled and waved. “
¡Claro!
See you then.”

There was no way on earth that she could forget about her meeting with Patricia, because she was scheduled within an inch of her life—or at least that's what it felt like these days. She'd set her phone with so many alarms and reminders that, the day before, the minute she got home, her sister Una growled, “Leave the demon phone in the kitchen. Last night, it woke me up at two a.m. When I looked at the message, it said,
Reminder: Brush your teeth.
Just because you're going
loca
, doesn't mean you have to drag the rest of the world down with you.” While normally Carmen would have liked to argue that her sister was being way too melodramatic, in this case, she was right.

Now at least she was on the school schedule, which actually was a welcome relief. At least someone else had planned that! She was about to race down the hall to her next class, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the SoBees had gathered around Patricia's and Carolina's lockers.

“Your invite arrived last night. Totally cool,” observed Maya.

“Def,” April said. “I'm so excited about your
quince
. A masked ball is just so, so chic. My father ordered my dress from New York. It's a designer original.”

“That's totally
haute
,” Dorinda added, approvingly. “Of course, my dress is vintage couture. They're red-carpet veterans. I will be bringing it to the masked ball.”

“Yeah, well, my dress is a Carmen Ramirez-Ruben original,” Carolina said, holding up a swatch of material. “She's young, she's fresh, and you can't buy her dresses in stores. So, I've got you all beat. While you were out shopping, we've been busy
creating
.”

Patricia gave her cousin a high five as Carmen walked down the hall, with a smile on her face that was bigger than Biscayne Bay. Not only had Carolina given her some crazy, unsolicited praise, but the Reinosos' joint fifteenth birthday and
quince
bash was turning into what Amigas Inc. desired for every
quince
they threw: that it be more than a party, that it be something closer to a real cultural event.

The SoBees walked away, debating among themselves as to whether Carolina's one-of-a-kind dress (albeit one made by a classmate) trumped one from a big-name designer. Just then, Jeff Giles, the sandy blond football star whom Patricia was crushing on, stopped in front of Carolina's locker.

“I got the invitation to your
quince
,” he said, his voice deep as he locked eyes with Carolina. “Sounds pretty cool. Make sure you save a dance for me.”

“I'm the
quinceañera
,” Carolina said, her tone light and friendly. “All I've got to make sure to do is be beautiful and have fun.”

Jeff looked as though he appreciated Carolina's bravado. “So, it's like that?” he asked playfully.

Carolina gave him a light punch on the shoulder, the way she did with all her buddies. She knew Jeff. He hung in the same circles, but she had always thought that he would be good with Patricia. “What it is, is a double
quince
, so I think you should make sure to dance with my cousin.”

He gave Patricia the briefest of glances and shrugged. “I'll think about it. See you later.”

As Jeff walked away, Patricia slammed her locker door, loud enough that Carolina could tell something was wrong.

“Are you okay,
prima
?” Carolina asked.

“Yeah, just fine,” Patricia grumbled. Then she turned and rushed off to class, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes and the tears that threatened to spill over. That had been one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. She could only imagine what the party would be like.

As she watched her cousin run away, Carolina felt a chill. She had done something wrong. But what?

Later, she thought, when she could get a private moment with all of the Amigas—because she knew she was going to need the wisdom of all three wise
chicas
—she would ask what was up. Was there something about turning fifteen that made a girl lose her mind? Because ever since they started the countdown to the
quince
, Patricia had been anything but cool. And Carolina was getting sick of it. Things were crazy stressful for her, too. She needed her
prima hermana
. She missed her best friend.

The next day, Patricia was back on the warpath. The incident with Jeff had really rattled her, and after stewing over it all night long, she decided that she had to intensify her efforts to win the winter formal crown and show him that she, too, was worthy of his attention. To that end she set up a huge table in the school entryway with a sign that said:
PATRICIA'S YOUR QUEEN BECAUSE SHE BRINGS THE HEAT
!

When Carolina, Carmen, and Alicia approached the table, they saw that in addition to handing out campaign buttons, she was also passing out tickets to the next Miami Heat game.

Carolina's eyes grew wide. She loved her
prima
, but she had had it with Patricia.

Apparently, Carmen agreed. “You can't give out Miami Heat tickets!” she said. “That's not campaigning, that's
bribery
!”

Alicia nodded. “Come on, Patricia. This is way above the spending limit for a queen campaign.”

But Patricia was defiant. “
Numero uno
, you guys aren't the boss of me.
Numero dos
, since my
papi
's law firm represents the Heat, I got the tickets for free. And
numero tres
, I can share said free tickets with my friends and classmates if I want to.”

The two
amigas
exchanged worried glances. They were used to dealing with
quince
-zillas. They knew the meltdowns that occurred when either a girl hated her dress, or when there were a hundred relatives flying in from the Dominican Republic, or when the birthday girl's family loathed her beloved
chambelán
. They were experienced in these delicate matters and had handled them all with grace and care. But the on-and-off war between the Reinoso cousins, highlighted by the fight for the winter formal queen title that just coincidentally overlapped with the lead-up to their
quince
, was brand-new territory; they really wished someone would toss them a road map. But until a
quince
fairy dropped an instruction manual in their lap, they were on their own.

Carmen tried to reason with Patricia. “Regardless of whether they were free, there's a line from here to the beach filled with C.G. kids waiting to get their Heat tickets, and I have to say that as a member of the winter formal committee, I'd consider this a form of bribery.”

Patricia smiled sweetly, but her tone was icy when she replied. “Well, report me, and let the principal decide.”

Up to that point, Carolina hadn't said anything. She had just stood there, eyes wide, her emotions running from hot to cold and back to burning. But now she spoke, her voice full of sadness and resignation. “This has gone too far. I can't have a
quince
with her. The party is off.”

By lunchtime, the entire school was aware of the renewed conflict between the cousins; it seemed as though everyone had taken sides. And in the strangest twist of all, the SoBees decided that Patricia was the girl to back. Apparently, they had been very impressed by the ticket stunt.

“I told my dad that if we can't go to Cabo for Christmas, then we might as well stay home,” the Amigas overheard Patricia saying from the SoBees' table a few feet away.

“Oh, Cabo sounds nice,” said Dorinda.

“And warm,” April whined as she ate tiny spoonfuls of frozen yogurt. “For whatever reason, my father insists we go to Vail for Christmas every year. I'm a black-diamond-level skier, I admit, but I look much cuter in a bikini than I do in a parka.”

The SoBees all giggled in their usual
look at us, we're laughing
way, but it was particularly dispiriting to see Patricia chuckling right alongside them.

Things had gone from bad to worse…much,
much
worse.

That evening, Alicia, Carmen, and Jamie met to discuss how to save the joint Reinoso
quince
. They gathered at their favorite thinking spot—Alicia's family pool. Each girl sat perched on a beach towel at the pool's edge, bare feet dangling in the water.

“It's not just the
quince
,” Carmen said. “These are two cousins who really love each other, and yet they are at each other's throats.”

“So, how do we get them to work it out?” Alicia asked.

“I have no idea,” Jamie shrugged. “I mean, really? All this drama about being winter formal queen…Am I the only one who's seen that wicked scary seventies movie
Carrie
, about the girl with telekinetic powers who wipes out her entire senior class on prom night?”

“I think it is about a lot more than the crown,” Carmen said softly. “They are smart girls; there has to be something they aren't telling each other. Something that maybe is big enough to cause all this craziness.”

Jamie was silent, her thoughts going back to Patricia's crush confession. She had promised not to say anything, but…

Two hours, a pitcher of
agua fresca
, and a plate of empanadas later, the girls still hadn't figured out a solution to the problem.

Just then, Gaz opened the patio door and walked out to the pool. His dark hair kept falling over and covering his eyes, but it made him look handsome and alluring.

He looked at the girls lounging poolside and laughed. “Hard at work, as usual.” His remark was met with three splashes, and he threw up his hands and retreated to the patio table.

“So,
chicas
, fill me in,” he said, to put a stop to the attack.

Alicia explained the situation.

Gaz listened carefully; he was always good at listening, even when the topic was extra girlie—like
quince
drama. Then he said, “You can't fire your family. Put them in a room until they're ready to talk it out and work it out.”

Alicia stood up, gave him a big hug and a kiss on the forehead, and said, “You are a genius. But you do know what your brilliance means, right?”

Gaz sighed. “It means you're canceling our date tonight.”

“Not canceling,” Alicia insisted. “Postponing. We'll go out tomorrow. I'll treat. But I really think I've got to deal with this situation now, before it gets even more out of hand.”

Gaz hugged Alicia close as she walked him to the front door. Watching them leave, Carmen allowed herself to feel a pang for the time when she had had a steady boyfriend and she, too, had known the easy comfort of a boy's embrace. Then she thought of Maxo and wondered how he kissed. And how he hugged. Then she shook her head. She had to focus. They had an intervention to plan.

The girls got to work immediately. Jamie called Patricia and asked her to come over to Alicia's. Carmen called Carolina and asked her to do the same thing.

Twenty minutes later, Carolina arrived.

Patricia rang the bell seconds later. “What is she doing here?” she asked, indignantly.

“Come on, P.,” Carolina said. “You're not this girl. Just stop, already.”

“Oh, just like I'm not the girl who should be winter formal queen,” Patricia snapped.

Carmen raised a hand, her expression stern. “Enough about winter formal queen!”

Alicia led the two girls to her family's Florida room, and using Gaz's words, she told them, “Try as you might, you can't fire family.”

She settled them at a mahogany coffee table with a pitcher of virgin
mojitos
and urged them to work it out.

For the first twenty minutes, there was nothing but silence. Then Carolina and Patricia started yelling at each other, really getting into it. The
amigas
, listening from the other side of the door in the kitchen, wondered more than once whether they should step in and break it up.

But eventually, the screams died down, and then some soft mumbling could be heard, as Patricia and Carolina seemed to come clean about how each had always envied the other's gifts and abilities.

“You've always been the golden girl in the family,” Patricia pointed out. “Everybody adores you.”