Sewing in Circles (7 page)

My outfit managed to survive without any wardrobe malfunctions on the rides, and it turned out that my friend also likes gingham shirts, so we matched!

“I know it's only Tuesday, but I still haven't heard anything back from Daphne,” Zoey complained to her dad and Marcus at dinner.

“Wait . . . didn't I just drive you to FedEx to send her the box on Friday?” Marcus asked.

“Well, yeah,” Zoey admitted.

“And like you say, it's only Tuesday,” Marcus pointed out. “Give your poor fashion fairy godmother a break!”

“Yes, but—”

“She's a very busy lady, Zo,” Dad said. “And
this has happened before, remember? You were all stressed out because you hadn't heard from Daphne, and it turned out she was out of the country visiting fabric manufacturers in China.”

“I know.” Zoey sighed. “This just feels . . . different somehow. And I want to be in her pop-up shop
so badly
!”

“Don't worry,” Dad told her. “I'm sure Daphne will come through, just like she always does.”

Even though she tried not to think about it constantly, Zoey wasn't very successful. Not only that, she checked her e-mail at every possible opportunity, to see if Daphne had sent anything yet. Finally, on Thursday she checked her phone at lunchtime, and saw an e-mail from Daphne Shaw in her in-box.

“Daphne finally wrote!” she exclaimed, opening the e-mail to read to her friends.

“ ‘Dear Zoey,' ” she read. “ ‘Thank you for being so wonderfully prompt with the samples. I'm sorry to say that I—' ”

Zoey faded into silence as her eyes scanned the end of the sentence. It wasn't good news.

“Don't leave us in suspense!” Priti said. “She's sorry to say
what
?”

Zoey stared blankly at a spot of spilled milk in the center of the table.

“She's sorry to say that she wasn't taken by any of the pieces I sent—they aren't up to my ‘usual level of creative innovation.' ”

“Ouch,” Libby winced.

“Oh, Zoey . . . ,” Kate said.

Zoey tried to hide how crushed she felt, but it wasn't easy. She never thought she'd get a rejection like that from her mentor. Not from Daphne.

“It's not the end of the world,” she said, attempting to convince herself more than anyone else. “She gave me an idea of what she's looking for, and she's letting me submit a few more designs.”

“Well, that's good!” Priti said. “She's giving you a second chance.”

“But what if my second chance isn't good enough?” Zoey worried. “Can you imagine how awful it'll be with Ivy? She heard me telling you about the pop-up shop, and now if Daphne doesn't like any of my designs, she'll think I was lying! And
even though she's been nicer to me lately, I bet that'll be all it'll take to get on her bad side again.”

“You can't live your life worrying about what Ivy's going to think,” Libby said. “Or what she's going to do.”

“And why shouldn't your second chance be good enough?” Kate asked. “Daphne's loved all your work before.”

“I don't know.” Zoey sighed. “I just can't believe that both things I was looking forward to so much have fallen through—the gift fair and now Daphne's pop-up shop. From now on, I'm not going to talk about anything exciting until it actually happens!”

That evening, after telling her dad and brother about the disappointing news, Zoey went to her bedroom to work on new ideas. She sat at her worktable, pencil in hand, trying to come up with some fresh clothing designs for the pop-up shop, based on Daphne's guidance. Normally, she had so many ideas, it was hard to get them out of her head and onto the paper fast enough. But with her confidence rattled, every time she started to sketch, she
second guessed herself.
What if it turns out awful? What if it's not up to my usual level of creative innovation? What if I'm just not good enough?

She heard the phone ring but was busy worrying, so she let Marcus get it.

“Zo! It's for you!” he shouted.

When she picked up, the woman on the other end introduced herself as Mrs. Perry and said she was one of the organizers of the gift fair.

“We've had a cancellation, and we'd like to offer you a booth, if you're still interested,” she said. “Are you?”

Finally! Some good news!
Zoey thought.

“Yes! I am!” she exclaimed.

“Oh good,” Mrs. Perry said. “There's just one caveat: We'd like you to add more accessories to your offerings, because they're easier to sell as gifts. Would you be willing to do that?”

“Sure,” Zoey said—although as soon as she agreed, she wondered if it would cause problems with Allie.

“Great!” Mrs. Perry said. “We'll see you on setup day!”

Zoey thought for a few moments after hanging up the phone, then she dialed Allie's number.

“Hey, Allie—good news! I got a booth!”

“You did? That's awesome!”

“Yeah, there was a cancellation,” Zoey explained. “I was wondering—could we get together tomorrow to talk details?”

“Sure!” Allie said. “I'll come over at . . . How does ten sound?”

“Sounds good,” Zoey said.

Hopefully, Marcus would sleep late, so she wouldn't have to deal with any awkwardness between her brother and his former girlfriend. And hopefully, she'd be able to talk through the accessories situation with Allie.

Mr. Webber was reading the paper and drinking coffee in the kitchen when Allie arrived the next morning.

“Allie Lovallo! Nice to see you,” he said. “It's been a while.”

Zoey flashed her father an
Oh, Dad!
look. Did he have to make a point about the fact she hadn't
been around as much . . .
for obvious and awkward reasons
?

“Great to see you, too, Mr. Webber,” Allie said.

“Let's go in the living room,” Zoey said. “So we can talk.”

“I've got pictures of some new belts I'm going to be selling at the gift fair,” Allie said. “I can't wait to show you.”

The girls sat on the sofa, and Allie took out her phone and started swiping through photos of her newest accessories.

“What do you think?” she asked Zoey.

“They're fab,” Zoey said. “I like the one with the beads.”

“Yeah, that's my favorite, too,” Allie said. “I like it so much, I almost don't want to sell it!”

“Speaking of selling . . . um . . . One of the conditions of me getting the booth at the gift fair is that I have to offer more accessories,” Zoey said.

“Oh,” Allie said.

“Are you upset?” Zoey asked.

“No, not upset,” Allie said. “I totally understand. I just don't want to feel like it's some kind of
competition, because we're both going to be selling accessories.”

“I don't think it will be,” Zoey said. “I mean, our styles are different enough that there's room for both of us, don't you think?”

“Yeah,” Allie said. “That's true.”

“How about we just promise not to let it get weird?” Zoey suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Allie agreed. “I'm up for a No Weirdness Pact.”

Once they'd shaken on it, Zoey felt better about the whole thing, although secretly she wondered if they'd actually be able to keep to their weird-free pledge.

“Hey, Zo—Oh . . . Allie.” Marcus stood in the doorway in his pajamas, his hair standing up every which way.

“Hi, Marcus,” Allie said, standing up as if the sofa had suddenly caught fire. “I was just leaving.”

Zoey looked at her, surprised. Allie hadn't said anything about leaving until Marcus walked in the room. Zoey wondered if the awkwardness between her friend and her brother would ever end.

“Don't leave on my account,” Marcus said. “I'm going to get something to eat.”

“No, it's okay,” Allie said. “I've got a bunch of stuff to get done today with the gift fair coming up so soon.”

“How are . . . things?” Marcus asked.

“Good!” Allie said brightly. “Busy!”

She picked up her bag and car keys.

“See you soon, Zoey! I'm glad you're in the show!”

“Yeah, me too,” Zoey said, although right now, she was feeling pretty awkward about everything to be too glad about it!

Zoey spent Sunday trying to come up with ideas for accessories that would be different enough from Allie's merchandise that it wouldn't seem like they were competing. She kept coming back to the fabric bracelets—like the ones she'd made for Ivy and for her friends. They were pretty easy to make, they looked great, and they were really popular.

She sketched out several new designs to add to the ones that had been popular at school. The more
she thought about it, the more she was convinced that the bracelets were the best solution.