Husky by Justin Sayre Page A

and smiles and nods. He’s the perfect buffer.
    Ellen messages again. Charlie asked if I was coming. I guess I am, so I type,
YES
. All Caps. See, Ellen, I can be mean like you. At least on the Internet. 
    I need to take a shower. Music today. I’m going to take my time.

    After the shower, I get dressed a lot slower than I would any other day. Nanny doesn’t even scream up the stairs to tell me to get on with it, and I know she’s there, because I hear Jock’s TV blasting. She maybe saw how sad I was after Sophie left yesterday, and she’s letting me slide along. I could even stay in bed. Maybe I should.
    It would be a lot easier.
    I’m sitting in my underwear, trying to pick something to wear, but nothing looks right. Not even the new stuff we just bought. Nothing fits the way I want it to, I have nothing to impress Allegra with. Or to even get her not to hate me. Nothing makes me into someone who’d impress Allegra. And I need to, because Allegra, as a popular girl, is somebody who decides adjectives. She’s cool and rich, and people know who she is. Not everyone, but most, and most want to either be around her or be like her on their own. Being a
Cool
girl gets you that sort of power. And I’m scared of it. Nothing is working, and I’m starting to sweat.
    By eleven, I still don’t have socks on and there’s a pile of clothes on my floor of every failed outfit. I’m supposed to be at Ellen’s by twelve. In Brooklyn in August, it gets too hot to think. You have to wear a uniform of simple and breezy stuff or you’ll sweat your face off. And I can’t sweat today, I need to be a perfectly nice and funny friend to Sophie. Someone who should definitely be invited to Sophie’s birthday makeover. Allegra decides that too.
    So I put on extra, extra deodorant, just in case.
    When I step through the door, up the stairs comes Nanny’s booming voice.
    â€œDucks, don’t you need to be dressed by now? The day’s wasting away down here.” I knew it was too good to be true. There’s only so much time she would let me waste.
    â€œI’m getting a shower,” I yell back down.
    â€œYou’ve already had one. Now, enough is enough!” Nanny yells back up, but I make it to the bathroom before I can hear the rest.
Enough is not nearly enough when my word could get decided today or I could lose my best friend
, I think with a thousand other awful thoughts as I turn on the water.
    I stand in the shower for a long time, thinking about things I should do, or say, who I can be other than myself. How can I make both of them happy? Can Ellen even be happy? It’s going to be a big balance that’s already getting me nervous. Ellen’s not going to handle it well if I’m super nice to Allegra or if I try too hard with her. I know we don’t like her, but Ellen knows about adjectives, she’s theone who told me, and she knows how important it is. The water isn’t helping.
    I have to do something. I’ll go to the bakery and get cupcakes and take them over. That’s how I’ll get Allegra to like me right off and not seem fake to Ellen, because my mom owns the bakery, so of course I’ll bring something. It’s a nice thing to say sorry for being so late. By the time I get out of the shower and get dressed there’re another six messages from Ellen. Three
Where are you
s, two
Get here now
s, and one solid row of exclamation points. And even one actually from Hannah. But I need to head to the bakery and decide what to bring, then go the eleven blocks back over to Ellen’s. I definitely will be late and Ellen definitely will be mad. But the cupcakes will help. They’ll have to.
    I quick-ride my bike down to Sweet Jane because by the time I get everything together, I’ll be really late. I’m almost an hour late right now. But riding my bike fast will definitely make me sweat. When I get into