Bead-Dazzled Read Free

breathing room. She headed toward a table of drinks set up in the far corner of the room. Charlie followed.
    As a waiter dressed in a black collarless shirt poured her soda, Emma watched the other girls in her grade circle Ivana’s group, eager to be included in the conversation. Eager to breathe in her self-important air.
    “Ivana is all-powerful,” Charlie noted.
    “Gross,” Emma muttered. “Those girls are like minnows trying to play with sharks.”
    “Actually it’s fascinating.” Charlie leaned against the back of a sofa and watched Ivana gesture wildly with her willowy arms. “She’s like some mythic evil goddess. She has what everyone wants. She wears the crown of popularity.”
    “It’s not a pretty crown,” Emma joked.
    “You could design a crown for her. A whole outfit even.”
    “A crown made of thorns and a long black dress made of the itchiest wool ever!”

    “And would that be part of the new Allegra Biscotti collection?” Charlie teased.
    “Never. Allegra only designs beautiful, happy clothes for beautiful, happy people. The Ivana-evil-goddess dress is all Emma Rose.” Holly left the Ivana cluster and joined them as they wandered from room-to-room. Emma thought Kayla and her mother’s style was a bit harsh, but she had to give the decorator credit. She loved the combination of bold, graphic fabrics with the simplicity of the furniture.
    They stopped in a small room off the back hall. A shiny white desk took up most of the space. A huge silver-framed bulletin board with oversized photos of the Beautylicious products covered one wall. This must be Kayla’s mom’s office, Emma thought.
    “Let’s hang here,” Charlie said, pulling them all onto a squishy, striped sofa in the corner. He gazed at his cell phone’s screen. “Five more minutes til midnight.”
    “We should make New Year’s resolutions,” Holly said, kicking off her shoes.
    “That’s lame,” Charlie clicked the stopwatch icon on his phone to start a countdown.
    “No, it’s not. It’s important. If you say it out loud, visualize your dreams, they’ll come true,” Holly insisted. Emma loved that Holly was so spiritual. She believed in karma and fate and love-at-first sight. Emma was much more practical.
    “This year I want to put myself out there,” Holly said. “I want to raise my hand more in class, join more clubs, maybe even try out for the play or do some performance thing.”
    “Really?” Emma was impressed. Back in first grade, Holly had been so shy. She’d refused to speak to any adults, including their teacher. Obviously she wasn’t like that anymore, but this resolution was a big change. “That’s so great. You’d be killer on a stage, Holls. What about you, Charlie?”
    “I want to be part of something bigger.”
    “Bigger than what?”
    “Bigger than Downtown Day. Bigger than school and homework.” Charlie leaned forward. “I want to do something that means something, you know?”
    Emma nodded. She did. “Totally.”
    “And you, Ems?” Holly asked.
    “Allegra Biscotti.”
    “Charlie smirked. “Of course. But what?”
    “This year has been crazy. I mean, six months ago I was just this middle school girl sewing dresses in the corner of my dad’s lace factory. And now…” Emma thought about having her designs featured in Madison magazine, about making a dress for the most-talked about Sweet Sixteen that was photographed for The New York Times Style section, about setting up her own design studio, about her successful pop-up shop in SoHo. “Well, now I’m also Allegra Biscotti.”
    “The sleek and sophisticated Italian fashion designer,” Charlie finished. He’d been in on it since the beginning.
    “That’s me.” Saying it still felt unreal to Emma. The kids at Downtown Day saw her every day, yet she was so far below the Ivana-popularity meter that they barely knew she was there. As Allegra Biscotti, the fashion world and press had taken notice, yet none of them had ever seen