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  Avery plopped herself in the lime swivel styling chair. “I like my ponytail,” she pouted. “But if it will make you happy…”

  “Hey!” Charlotte called out. “Look, everybody.”

  Avery jumped out of the chair and stood on tiptoe to see over her friend’s shoulder.

  “Avery!” Katani waved her hairbrush and a bottle of glitter, then gave up and looked out the window too. “Isn’t that Yuri?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” said Charlotte. “I’ve never seen him so dressed up before. I wonder…”

  The Russian fruit seller was walking up to Charlotte’s front door wearing a dark blue suit, a spiffy red tie, and carrying a single red rose.

  “Ooh—he’s got a flower!” Katani said, the palms of her hands pressed against the window.

  The melodious bong of the doorbell echoed up to the Tower.

  “Should we answer?” Charlotte asked.

  “What if it’s for you, Char?” Avery joked as she bounced up and down on her toes, trying to get a better look.

  “It’s not for me, Avery.” Charlotte knew whom the rose was for.

  “Talk about romantic,” said Katani.

  “Look!” Charlotte pointed out the window. “It’s for Miss Pierce.”

  The BSG peered down at the sidewalk just in time to see Charotte’s landlady, the very shy astronomer who never left her basement lab, step out the front door. Charlotte almost didn’t recognize her in the breezy light blue dress, her hair done up in a glamorous French twist. She took Yuri’s arm and smiled up at him.

  “Very interesting,” said Katani, tapping her index finger against the windowsill. “Love is definitely in the air.”

  “Hey, girls!” Maeve’s fiery hair suddenly appeared at the top of the ladder-like stairs, followed by glittering earrings and the top of a pink spaghetti-strap dress with an embroidered yoke. Maeve jumped off the final step, twirled around on one of her pink-heeled sandals, held up her arms, and bowed, tossing her red curls dramatically.

  “Oh, Maeve,” Charlotte said. “You’ve definitely got some serious fabulosity going on!”

  “Thanks! This is all so exciting! It’s almost as wonderful as going to a premiere of my very own blockbuster movie!” Maeve bowed again. “But, wow, have I got some huge news! I mean, huge! Huge! Huge! I just saw Miss Pierce and Yuri together like they were going out on a date! And get this! He gave her a red rose. That proves he’s totally into her.”

  “We know!” Charlotte said. “I saw them together the other night, too.”

  “Do you think they’ll get married??” Maeve exclaimed. “Oh, that would be so enchanting!”

  It was unbelievable. Miss Pierce never left her computer monitors, stars, and secret NASA assignments, but now she was going out on a date with Yuri the human bear.

  Avery sat back down in the swivel. “I still think they’re too old.”

  “Avery!” Katani exclaimed. “Old people can fall in love.”

  Maeve spun around so that the skirt of her dress flared out around her. “But I have some more news! Extra-super-front-page-special-announcement-huge! Dillon is coming to walk me to the dance! And he’s going to wear the baseball tie clip I found for him! I’m so happy, I could just die! Isn’t it great?”

  “Wow, Maeve, that’s…awesome!” Charlotte looked around for support, but Katani was brushing Avery’s hair like it took all her concentration.

  “What’s a tie clip?” Avery asked.

  “It’s a little clip that a man uses to hold his necktie to his shirt,” Katani explained. “My dad has some. Does Dillon even own a necktie?”

  “Of course!” Maeve proclaimed, imagining Dillon in a full suit and tie, wearing a silver tie clip that matched her earrings. They were walking together up a pathway lined with rosebushes to her very own mansion in the Hollywood hills. Maeve danced around in the lime green swivel chair, lost in her fantasy. Dillon leans down and plucks a rose, just for me! Then he whispers in my ear…

  “Are you okay? Maeve?” Charlotte did not belong in the Hollywood Hills. The roses faded.

  “I’ve never been better, darling!”

  “It’s really too bad Izzy couldn’t be here,” Charlotte sighed, relishing the feeling of being in her favorite place in the world with the friends she loved best.

  “I brought a camera!” Maeve reached into a tiny purse that looked like it couldn’t even hold a tube of lipstick, and fished out a slim silver case. “It’s my mom’s. She said to take tons of photos! Let’s take one right now, for Izzy.”

  Katani nodded. “I’m almost done with Ave’s hair.”

  Charlotte and Maeve watched with admiration as the Kgirl put the finishing touches on her latest makeover subject. Finally, Katani gave Avery a thumbs-up, and she bounced out of the chair.

  “Ta-da!” she shouted, and looked in the mirror. Katani had turned her hair into a shimmering cascade, like a waterfall at midnight.

  “I guess we really are princesses,” Avery admitted.

  “Say cheese!” Maeve exclaimed, and held out the camera with one arm.

  The flash caught Avery with her eyes closed and cut off half of Katani’s head. “Try again! Try again!” she shrieked, looking at the preview window.

  It took at least twelve more tries before they got the perfect picture.

  “I’m going to frame that and put it on my writing desk!” Charlotte exclaimed. “It’s the perfect memory for a perfect night.”

  Not one of them thought for a second that everything might not stay perfect…. The night had only just begun.

  CHAPTER 16

  Have a Heart

  Isabel waited for Kevin at the entrance to Jeri’s Place, the homeless shelter in Brookline. The small gray building at 76 Parker Street seemed deserted from the outside, but inside the swinging glass doors, Isabel knew, it was buzzing with life. She had been there before.

  In her first weeks at AAJH, she’d offered to help Maeve make blankets for a community service project at Jeri’s Place. But the two of them were so hopelessly disorganized that “Project Thread” almost didn’t happen. Lucky for them and the shelter, Katani had stepped in and helped them deliver a pile of colorful fleece blankets as promised.

  “Hey,” Kevin greeted her.

  Isabel spun around and watched as he came walking toward her from behind the building.

  “Were you waiting long?” he asked.

  Isabel suddenly felt a little awkward. She hoped Kevin didn’t think she was mean or something for wanting to go to the dance instead of keeping her promise.

  She shook her head and rolled a pebble under her sneaker.

  Kevin smiled.

  Mmm…good sign. Isabel smiled back.

  “Umm…I’m really sorry you had to miss the dance,” he said, looking down at his feet.

  “It’s okay.” Isabel gave him a reassuring smile.

  “We’re good then?” he asked.

  “We’re good,” she said with a nod, then gave a little tug on his jacket. “Let’s go in.”

  Kevin opened the door and gestured for Isabel to go in first. “Wow,” he exclaimed, seeing all the people milling about. “I had no idea this was such a big deal.”

  “These events mean a lot to the people who live here,” Isabel explained. “It makes them feel that people remember them. That’s what the owner told Maeve and me when we were here for Project Thread.”

  “Well, I’m happy to be here.” Kevin squeezed her hand.

  A little shocked, Isabel turned away and quickly took off her coat and hung it on a hook near the door. She was suddenly glad that she was wearing her favorite jeans and the green sweater that Elena Maria said “makes your skin glow.”

  Right then she thought, my friends are all dressing up in shimmery gowns and fancy jewelry… but somehow that didn’t matter anymore. There wasn’t time to feel sorry for herself. Kids of all ages and sizes had swarmed into the carpeted lounge, their laughter and high-pitched voices surrounding the two seventh graders.
r />   One of the kids, Isabel noticed, carried a fleece blanket from Project Thread. She couldn’t wait to tell Maeve. It would make her feel so proud. For all of Maeve’s dramatics, she really did have a heart of gold.

  In a common room off to the right, Isabel could see more kids and even a few adults. They were playing board games, reading books, and flipping through magazines. By the far wall, a group clustered around a large TV.

  When Isabel had first visited, she’d worried that everyone might be sad and quiet. It had come as a surprise how bright and cheerful everything was. Now, she couldn’t imagine Jeri’s Place any other way. She waved to the girl with the blanket and pointed out a sign on the wall to Kevin.

  “I made that on the computer,” she said. It described Project Thread and gave a phone number for anyone who wanted to participate.

  Kevin nodded. “You and your friends have done a lot to help. I only started getting involved when my cousins in Florida lost their home in a hurricane. They had to stay in a shelter for a few weeks, and it wasn’t as nice as this one.”

  Isabel frowned. “I didn’t know that!”

  “Yeah, it was really hard on them.” Kevin turned slowly toward a young woman who was making her way through the sea of kids. It was Lorelei, the daughter of the director of Jeri’s Place.

  “Oh, great! You guys made it!” She grinned at Kevin and Isabel, her eyes bright. “The kids are so excited.” That did it for Isabel. Any remaining thoughts of the Valentine’s Day Dance flew out the window. She was ready to make hearts…lots of them.

  “Look what I made for you!” A little boy held up a construction paper heart to Isabel, while the girl with the blanket clung to one of her legs.

  “Thank you.” Isabel smiled at the kids.

  “Do I get anything?” Kevin joked.

  “Okay, you can have this!” Another little boy, probably only four years old, handed him a piece of paper decorated with a scribble of blobs and lines.

  “Is this you?” Kevin asked.

  “Me and Mommy!” said the boy.

  Lorelei called to the kids. “Listen up, everyone! The art teachers, Kevin and Isabel, are here. Let’s all go to the workshop room.”

  The kids laughed and jostled Kevin and Isabel as they made their way to a large, airy room with huge windows. A flurry of excitement built inside Isabel’s stomach as she surveyed the workshop room. Construction paper, tissue paper, markers, crayons, glue, scissors, and various other art supplies sat on long tables flanked by gray folding chairs.

  “So what do you need us to do?” Kevin asked Lorelei.

  “There are a few different projects,” she said. “I’ll be at this table helping the kids draw cards for their parents, another volunteer is helping them make their own chocolate lollipops, and you two can take over the heart magnet table,” Lorelei pointed to a table covered with newspaper, cups of paint, and lots of plain white ceramic shapes.

  “We made the shapes in molds yesterday with the older kids,” Lorelei explained. “All you have to do is help them paint, and tomorrow we’ll use the glue gun to stick magnets on the back.”

  Ten minutes later, Isabel found herself handing out paintbrushes with one hand while helping a little girl with wavy red hair almost like Maeve’s mix white paint with the dark blue to make light blue.

  “I’m making an Easter egg!” she announced.

  “It’s Valentine’s Day, dummy,” scowled a boy across the table. He was a few years older, and had decided to paint his magnet like a robot.

  “My name’s not Dummy. It’s Sylvia. And this is a Valentine Easter Egg.” She continued painting happily.

  Isabel placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “It’s very beautiful! Your mom is going to love her magnet.”

  “I know,” said the girl. “But I’m not really good at art,” she whispered.

  Isabel sat down in an empty chair next to the girl and shook her head. “Yes, you are! Look, hold your brush like this.”

  She guided the girl’s tiny fingers to make a squiggly line across the middle of her egg, and was rewarded by the girl’s blinding smile. “Thanks, Izablue!”

  “Izablue? Why Izablue?” Isabel laughed.

  “Because, silly.” The little girl looked up from her egg, and in a very serious little voice explained: “Blue is my favorite color, and you are my favorite teacher. You belong together.”

  Isabel reached over and hugged Sylvia, telling her, “you’re the best.”

  Mama was right, she realized. Helping out at Jeri’s Place is worth missing the Valentine’s Day Dance. Here she was really making a difference, brightening the lives of little kids doing something she liked best—art.

  Isabel waved at Kevin. He was sitting across the table, helping the boy with the robot magnet clean up a huge blob of black paint he’d spilled on the table. Kevin glanced up and gave her a quick smile.

  “Who is that boy smiling at you?” Sylvia asked.

  “He’s my friend Kevin,” Isabel said as she ruffled the little girl’s hair.

  “He looks nice,” she pronounced, and went back to painting her Valentine’s Easter Egg.

  “He is nice…very nice.” Isabel looked over at Kevin, his head bent close to the little boy who was at that moment crying because some of the black paint had dripped onto his shirt.

  Isabel took a deep breath. One of the most popular boys at Abigail Adams Junior High would rather volunteer to teach art at the local homeless shelter than go to a school dance. I hope my friends are having as much fun as Izablue!

  Isabel chuckled to herself and dipped her paintbrush into a lovely shade of sky blue paint.

  Ready, Set, Go

  At six o’clock, the doorbell rang again. Charlotte ran downstairs to greet the dance posse.

  “Hi, everybody,” she said as she opened the door and ushered in Dillon, Reggie, Riley, Chelsea, the Yurtmeister, Betsy Fitzgerald, Billy Trentini, Chase Finley, and Nick Montoya. Everyone looked so dressed up…. except Dillon, Billy, and Chase, who wore matching Red Sox jerseys.

  More than anything Charlotte was excited to see Nick, who wore a white button-up shirt. She glanced sideways at him as he stood close beside her. Nick’s invitation to the dance still echoed in her ears. He could have asked Chelsea, but he didn’t, she thought. He asked me…Charlotte Ramsey. I don’t know how I could have doubted him before.

  Meanwhile, the excited chatter of her friends caused the yellow Victorian to ring with energy. It’s probably been a long time since this house was crammed with so many kids at once, thought Charlotte. She hoped that Miss Pierce wouldn’t mind all the noise. But then she remembered that she had just left with Yuri. The noise wouldn’t matter tonight!

  Chelsea was carrying something in a large frame wrapped in bright tissue paper. “Hey, what’s that, Chels?” asked Avery, who had run down the stairs behind Charlotte. Chelsea just smiled mysteriously and laid the package up against the wall, warning all the kids not to touch it.

  “She won’t tell you, dude. It’s huge…like, a huge surprise,” Dillon joked as he reached over and tried to give Avery and Chelsea each a noogie on the head. They both ducked.

  “Dillon’s been trying to peek inside all the way over here,” Chelsea explained.

  As the group began heading upstairs, Dillon pulled Charlotte aside. “Where’s the little dude? He always comes to the door.” He smiled appreciatively at Charlotte’s dress. “You look nice, by the way.”

  Charlotte smiled and said, “Gee, thanks.” She was surprised that Dillon Johnson would actually notice her dress. But her smile faltered when she told him about Marty. “He’s hiding somewhere. He’s being acting really down lately. We don’t really know what’s wrong with the little guy.”

  At the top of the stairs Katani stood next to Chelsea, who had decided to wear a rose-colored dress that brought out the beautiful light brown color of her eyes.

  “Hey, where’s Marty?” Chelsea asked worriedly. She was big dog lover too. “Is he okay?”
r />   “I think he’s depressed,” Avery answered as she joined the crowd in the living room. “He just sits around all day looking really mopey.”

  “Who ever heard of a depressed doggy?” Chase Finley, Charlotte’s least favorite boy at AAJH, asked with a snort.

  “Dude, I’ve done research on the Internet,” Avery challenged, her hands on her hips. “Dogs can get depressed just like people.”

  “I can see it now,” Chase said. “Marty lying down on the psychiatrist’s couch as he talks about his childhood.”

  “You mean puppy-hood, dude,” Yurt added with a grin.

  At that moment, Mr. Ramsey walked in. “Well, it looks like AAJH is going to rock tonight. You all look great.” Charlotte looked at Katani and rolled her eyes. Nobody said rock anymore.

  Her dad high-fived a few of the boys, winked at Charlotte, then went back to his office, but not before adding, “Have a great time, and stay safe, everyone.”

  The boys laughed, but the girls all began to talk worriedly about Marty and his strange behavior. They all agreed that Charlotte should keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t get worse.

  “Maybe you should get another puppy,” Dillon offered. “I read somewhere that dogs get lonely too.”

  Maeve whispered to Katani, “Dillon is so sensitive…just like a real Prince Charming.”

  “He probably saw that on my blog….” Avery joked to the girls.

  “You read, dude?” Billy Trentini teased, a big smile spreading across his face.

  “Hey, don’t be talkin’ trash, comic book boy,” Dillon retorted as he waggled his head and shoulders at Billy like he was starring in his own music video.

  “Well, Maeve, maybe not exactly Prince Charming,” responded Katani with an arched eyebrow.

  Maeve sighed in frustration. She was just going to have to take over. Her romantic vision of a perfect Valentine’s Day Dance was not going to be ruined by the antics of two goofy boys, especially since one of those boys was her dream date. She stomped over with her hands on her hips and glared at Billy and Dillon. “I hope you boys are going to behave yourselves. We have a very important event to attend.”