Next Door to a Star (6 page)

Chapter Nine

Simone didn’t call me back that night or the next day. It rained all day so I couldn’t go to the beach, and Charlotte had a stomachache so she couldn’t come over. I went into the family room to plug the TV in, but Grandpa was already in there watching
Charmed Lives
.

“You
do
watch this show?” I asked.

“Do not let your grandmother know. She thinks I’m in here taking a nap,” he said, looking nervously behind him. “Charlotte’s grandfather got me into it last year.”

I found out Grandpa didn’t like Chandler’s sister, and he thought Lance was Chandler and Madison’s half-brother, so neither girl would end up dating him.

“See, Lance keeps talking about how he came to Orchard Valley to find his long lost sisters,” Grandpa said. “That’s gotta be Madison and Chandler.”

“Maybe that’s why they’ve never dated. I mean, Chandler’s dated every other guy on the show, but not Lance.”

“Yup, those writers think they can pull one over on us,” he said, nudging me. “Not likely.”

We heard Grandma coming and he turned off the TV.

“What are you two up to?” she asked.

“Nothing, talking about this rain,” Grandpa said. “Crazy, crazy weather we’re having.”

“Uh-huh,” she said and walked out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, he turned the TV on. “Don’t worry, I paused it first,” he said. “We won’t miss a second.”

I smiled.

***

Simone hadn’t called me by Monday, and Charlotte was still not feeling well, so I stayed inside again. Aunt Faith took me to the library after lunch and we were the only two people in there besides the librarian. There were two beat up chairs in the back, so Aunt Faith and I sat and read old copies of
InStyle
and
Life and Style
for a while. There was a whole article on summer jewelry, and it seemed like every teen celeb had dangly earrings on in the magazine.

“Faith, when did you get your ears pierced?” I asked.

“I don’t remember. I think I was thirteen. Why?”

“I want to get mine done,” I said.

“I’m surprised you don’t have pierced ears already. Most girls your age who want them, have them. Have you asked your parents?”

“Mom thinks I’ll get some weird infection or something,” I said. “But I’ll take care of them, and they’re my ears.”

“What about your dad?” she asked.

I shrugged. “He doesn’t care, but he thinks it’s kind of stupid.” Actually, what Dad had said was, “What kind of moron puts holes in their head?” Then my mom pointed out she had pierced ears and he shut up pretty quick.

I asked Grandma if I could get my ears pierced when I got home. I thought she’d freak out, but she was also surprised I didn’t have them pierced already.

“Would you take me to get them done?” I asked. My parents couldn’t object if Grandma was onboard with the idea.

“I will if your parents okay it,” she said.

“They don’t think I’m mature enough though. It’s not fair,” I said to Aunt Faith. “Everybody’s got pierced ears but me. Even Lily has earrings.”

“That’s true, the little one does have them,” Grandma said, and she and Aunt Faith exchanged a knowing look.

“So it’s really important to you?” Aunt Faith asked.

I nodded. “I’m the only girl I know of in high school that doesn’t have her ears pierced.”

“Well, I was younger than you when I got mine done and it turned out okay for me, but you have to promise to take care of them and get it done by a doctor,” she said.

She called a couple of doctor’s offices, but none of them pierced ears.

“What about trying Slater’s Jewelry Store? They’re reputable,” Grandma said. “But I had no part in this if your parents ask.”

***

Aunt Faith took me to the jewelry store the next morning and a woman named Michalina sat me down and showed me how to turn and clean the earring posts. Michalina asked if I had any questions about cleaning them, but all I wanted to know was if it would hurt.

“It might pinch a little. Some people don’t feel a thing, but others say it feels like a little poke. Nobody’s ever died in my chair,” she said laughing.

I sort of wanted to leave, but I had come this far and I couldn’t walk out the door a like little kid. Besides, I’d never get this chance again if I left. I got in the chair and said a prayer.

Michalina had me pick out a pair of earrings and told Faith the 14k gold ones were the best. She made a dot on each ear with a marker and asked me if the marks seemed straight. I nodded and she loaded the piercing gun. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

“Ready?” she asked.

I bit my lip and nodded. She placed the gun against my earlobe.
Punch!
It felt like she had stapled my ear. I put my hand up to see if I was bleeding.

“Are you okay?” Michalina asked. She and my aunt were staring at me. I wondered if I could go the rest of my life with one ear pierced or would it look weird? I decided to get it over with. Michalina pierced my left ear and it hurt worse than the right. I thought I was going to fall out of the chair from the pain.

“See? You hardly felt a thing,” Michalina said.

Yeah, I loved feeling like the earth was swaying underneath me. My ears were throbbing, and I was so lightheaded Aunt Faith had to help me out of the chair. Michalina asked if we wanted to look at earrings, but I thought I might pass out and I wanted to go home. I leaned against the counter as my aunt paid. Michalina came over and gave me a hug. She reminded me to clean and turn my posts and gave me a bottle of cleaning solution.

“Are you okay?” Faith asked when we got in the car.

“It hurt worse than I thought. Still, I’m glad I didn’t have Simone do it,” I said.

“Ew.” She shuddered. “Promise me you won’t put any more holes in your ears. I don’t want to see you in a month with three holes in each ear.”

I promised I wouldn’t get any more piercings. I wanted to say there was no way I’d ever go through that again, but I didn’t want her to get upset. I had to act like it was no big deal so she wouldn’t feel guilty for taking me behind my parents’ backs. I flipped the visor mirror down so I could see the earrings.

“Do you regret it?” she asked.

“No, it looks nice, don’t you think?”

She nodded and told me to drop hints to Grandma about wanting diamond earrings for my upcoming sixteenth birthday. I couldn’t wait to show Simone. I wished I could have gotten cooler earrings. I didn’t realize I was going to have to wait so long to change them, but as soon as I could, I was going to go downtown and buy a pair of dangly palm tree earrings like Simone’s. Grandma was waiting by the door when we pulled up. She pulled my hair back with her hands.

“Maggie, do these studs look even to you?” she asked, squinting. My aunt rolled her eyes and said they were straight.

“Are you sure?” Grandma asked, tilting my head up. “They look off to me.”

“Yes, Ma. Perfectly even. They look nice, Hadley,” Aunt Maggie said. She held Lily up to see and Lily put her hands up to touch them. I backed away since my ears were already sensitive and I didn’t need somebody swatting at me.

I called Simone to tell her about my ears, but she was in a weird mood.

“Do you want to come over?” I asked.

“I’m like, super busy. Maybe another time.”

I went over to Charlotte’s house instead.

“Why are you smiling so weird?” Charlotte asked.

I had put my hair in a ponytail so she could see my earrings better. “Notice anything?” I asked.

“Yeah, you’re acting like a freak,” she said.

“I got my ears pierced. Aunt Faith took me this morning,” I said.

She peered closer and asked if it hurt. I didn’t want to act like a kid so I said it didn’t.

“It looks okay, I guess. I mean, if you like them that’s all that matters, and at least you didn’t let Simone do it,” she said.

Her grandpa had made some lemonade and his hands shook as he poured it for us. He asked if I wanted to stay for lunch and said he’d make us mini pizzas. I called my Grandma’s house to check and asked if I could have lunch over here. I was in luck because Aunt Maggie answered and said I would miss out on a fresh batch of her tuna salad.

“Oh, your friend Simone called,” Maggie said. “She wanted to get together today.”

I bit my lip. Simone wanted to see me. I could pretend I had to go home and then call her, but I did like spending time with Charlotte and her grandpa.

“So? Can you stay?” Mr. Lidstrom asked when I hung up the phone.

“Yup, sure can,” I said. “Thanks for having me.”

I decided to stay longer after lunch, and Charlotte and I worked on a collage she wanted for her wall of pictures from magazines.

I didn’t call Simone until after dinner, and then, when she came over, she said Pilar and Morgan were acting weird around her.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, I went out to dinner and a movie with my mom the other night. Connor wanted me to come over and watch movies with Lucas, Nick, Morgan, and Pilar, but it was my mom’s birthday, so I went with her instead,” she said. “I mean, it would be wrong to leave her alone on her birthday.”

“So what happened?” I asked.

Simone picked up Jack the Bear. “I’m not sure. All I know is Morgan told me we were going to have to find somebody new for me to like because Pilar was going out with Connor now.”

“Wait—after
one
night?”

“Yup,” she stared up at me with her round blue eyes. “I can’t believe they would go behind my back like that. But you know, the other day we all went to the beach and she kept talking to him and touching his arm.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s so obvious. I think she’s jealous because Lauren’s coming to visit me.”

I nodded.

“I swear, everything had been fine until the party. Connor kept trying to kiss me and I didn’t mind at first, but then it seemed like it was all he wanted to do. I felt weird because he wanted to be alone and I wanted to go back to the party. He even called me a ‘little girl.’ What a jerk,” she said, picking fuzz from the bear. “And I think Morgan only got him and Pilar together because Morgan and I had the same shorts on at the party, and Connor said I was hotter in them.”

“Did he say it in front of her?” I asked.

“Not
right
in front of her, but I’m pretty sure she heard. And she didn’t seem too thrilled when Nick started asking me questions about you. Then, when the guys went to watch a baseball game, they went past this channel that was showing a movie I was in years ago. I only had a tiny part in it, but Connor seemed impressed and I think it made Pilar and Morgan mad. I didn’t even want to watch the stupid movie.” She sighed and put Jack the Bear down. “I used to have a bear like this. Except mine was a girl bear with a princess hat.”

“What happened to her?”

“I guess she ended up in the garage. I put a lot of my kid stuff in boxes when we moved,” she said.

“When did you guys move here?”

“A year ago, after I stopped working and then my parents got divorced. Sort of why I went out with my mom for her birthday.” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “She’s been upset because she found out my dad’s marrying his girlfriend,” she said.

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I said it might be cool to have a new stepmom. However, that wasn’t the right thing to say, because she gave me the coldest look.

“The woman will
not
be my stepmom,” she said. “My dad never spends any time with me, but now he’s talking about putting his house up for sale and getting a bigger place in case they have kids.”

“Does he live nearby?” I asked.

“About a half-hour, but he never comes here. I
always
have to go there, and then he usually leaves to go out or something. The worst thing is my mom was pregnant two years ago.” She sighed. “Then she lost the baby and my parents started fighting a lot.”

Simone got super quiet and stared out the window until I suggested we walk down to the docks and get a Tropical Icy.

“I dunno. I don’t want to run into my friends there. I’m not ready to deal with all that drama. It is cool if we stay in and watch TV or something?”

I nodded and we went downstairs and made root beer floats.

“This summer officially stinks,” Simone said, licking root beer foam off her upper lip. “All my friends hate me, my dad’s a jerk, and now I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

“Did Morgan sound mad when she called?” I asked.

“No, it’s…I don’t know how to explain her. She acts like she’s your friend one minute, and then she says something totally mean to you. The day after the party we all had plans to go to the beach, but Morgan called and said they weren’t going, so I stayed home.” She licked the ice cream off the end of her straw. “But then I found out they went to the beach without me.”