Mallory and Mary Ann Take New York (4 page)

Suddenly I have a great idea. I add a big cowboy hat, oversized sunglasses, and long hair with bangs.

“Does hair count as part of the outfit?” Mary Ann asks.

“It's a wig!” I explain.

Mary Ann frowns again. “I don't know. I'm not sure I like the hat and the glasses. Do you really think you need all that?”

I study my design for a long time.

“I
really
think I need it,” I say to Mary Ann. I'm not sure why, but I just have a feeling I do.

“OK,” Mary Ann finally says like she's still not 100% sure she agrees with me, but she'll go along with it anyway.

I smile at her. “I guess I'm done!”

“Me too!” says Mary Ann.

I study her design. It's good, but it could use a little something extra. “Do you think
you
need to add something else?” I ask.

Mary Ann shakes her head like her design is fine the way it is. She takes a coffee mug of colored pencils off of my desk an d hands it to me. “Time to start coloring.”

When we're done, we write our names and addresses on top of our designs and slip them carefully into envelopes. Then we add stamps and lick them shut. We carefully copy Fran's address on the outside of our envelopes.

I take a deep breath. I'm tired, but I'm excited too. “I guess we're finished,” I say.

Mary Ann shakes her head. “Not yet. We still have one more thing to do.”

She pulls me by my arm as she walks outside. She stops in front of my mailbox.

“Put it in,” says Mary Ann.

I take a deep breath. “Do you think there's any chance one of us will win?” I'm sure a lot of people are entering this contest.

Mary Ann looks at me like a teacher looking down at a student over the rim of her glasses, even though she isn't wearing any. “I think we have as good a chance as anybody.”

She takes the envelope out of my hand and lays both envelopes carefully in the mailbox. “We'll never know if we don't send them in,” says Mary Ann. Then she crosses her fingers for luck. “Off they go,” she says with a smile.

I cross my fingers too. “Off they go,” I say back.

Then I plop down on the ground. Now all we have to do is wait and see what happens.

Fact #1: For the past four weeks, Mary Ann and I have been spending a lot of time by our mailboxes.

Fact #2: My brother, Max, says all the time we've been spending by our mailboxes has been wasted time. He says there's no way either one of us is going to win any contest.

Fact #3: George, the mail carrier, arrives in approximately ten minutes.

“Hopefully today will be our lucky day,” says Mary Ann. She plops down on the ground under my mailbox.

I plop down beside her. We've been waiting so long to get a letter from Fashion Fran saying one of us won the Design Your Dream Outfit contest. At first, I was worried about what would happen if one of us won. Now, I just hope one of us does. I'm sure we could figure out a way to both go on the show. I really want today to be our lucky day, but maybe my brother is right. Maybe we aren't going to win anything.

Mary Ann grabs my arm and points down the street. “Here comes George!”

He stops his truck in front of our house. “Good afternoon, girls.” George smiles at us and pulls out a stack of mail. He hands it to me. He hands the next pile to Mary Ann.

When Mary Ann and I first started waiting, we told George what we were waiting for. For the first few weeks, he stayed while we looked through the mail to see if we got anything from Fashion Fran.

I guess George got sick of waiting, because he doesn't stay anymore.

After George drives off, Mary Ann and I start looking through our piles of envelopes.

Boring … lots of ads and bills. Mary Ann leans over my shoulder. “Nothing in mine. Did you get anything?” she asks.

I shake my head from side to side. “Just plain envelopes.” I keep flipping through the stack. When I flip to a shiny gold envelope, I stop. There's something different about this envelope.

Mary Ann leans in like she senses there is something different too.

I drop the rest of the mail I'm holding and turn the envelope over. Mary Ann and I both see a New York City return address.

“It's addressed to Miss Mallory McDonald.” My voice is barely a whisper.

“Mallory, open it!” I can tell Mary Ann is trying to stay calm, but her voice sounds shaky.

I carefully pull back the flap on the envelope. Mary Ann and I both hold our breath as I pull out a thick sheet of gold paper. I'm almost too scared to look. Mary Ann grabs my arm. Slowly, I unfold the paper and start reading.

“You won!” Mary Ann grabs me. She starts screaming and jumping. “You won! You won! You won!”

I would scream and jump too, but I'm too shocked to scream or jump. I can't believe I won.

When Mary Ann stops screaming, I unfold the letter to my parents. I start reading it out loud. Lots of stuff about hotels, plane tickets, addresses, and dates.

“Forget that!” says Mary Ann. “You won and
we
get to be on the
Fashion Fran
show!”

Mary Ann is my lifelong best friend.

We do everything together.

We paint our toenails the same color.

We chew the same kind of gum.

We like the same TV show.

We wear matching pajamas.

We say things three times.

We've gone together on vacations and to summer camp.

And we have a pile of scrapbooks that we made together.

I have always done everything with Mary Ann. We have lived next door to each other almost all of our lives. The first pinky swear we ever made was when we swore to always be lifelong best friends. I love Mary Ann with all my heart, but sometimes she says things that scare me.

And this is one of those times.

She taps me on the shoulder like she is talking and wants my full attention.

“You won the contest, and we get to be on the
Fashion Fran
show!” This time when she says “we,” she holds up her pinky like she wants to make sure I remember the pinky swear we made:

“If one of us wins, we'll figure out the rest.”

“I don't see how we're going to pull this off,” I say to Mary Ann. My voice is almost a whisper.

Mary Ann crosses her arms across her chest and shakes her head like she's disappointed she even has to explain this to me.

“Mallory, when we were five, we made a pinky swear that we would share all our Halloween candy.

“Even though I got two pumpkins full of candy and you only got one, I shared all my candy with you.

“I kept my pinky swear!”

Mary Ann keeps talking. “When we were seven and you were scared to go to school, we made a pinky swear that we would sit next to each other in class no matter what.

“I was the one who had to convince mean, scary Mrs. Barton to put our desks next to each other.

“I kept my pinky swear!”

Mary Ann keeps talking like she's nowhere near done. “And when we were nine, we made a pinky swear to always paint our toenails the same color.

“There have been times when I didn't like the color you picked. But I painted my toenails the same color as yours. I KEPT MY PINKY SWEAR!”

Mary Ann gives me a what-kind-of-best-friend-would-you-be-if-you-didn't-keep-your-pinky-swear look.

“A pinky swear is a pinky swear,” she says.

I take a deep breath. I know a pinky swear is a pinky swear.

I just don't know how I'm going to keep this one.