WANG HOUSE
DYLAN'S ROOM
11:06 AM
JULY 14, 2013
"Are you gonna pack at some point?" Dylan asked, a teasing smile playing her bold features.
"I guess." Kristen rolled out of bed. The corners of her mouth were turned down and her eyes were bloodshot.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine. I was just thinking..."
"What?" Dylan sat on the edge of the air matress Vera had dragged up from the basement for Kristen.
"I feel like I should go visit my mom."
"Isn't she in a coma, though? Like, no offense at awl or anything, but she won't even recognize you, will she?"
"Well, that's why I was thinking there's no point in going." She smoothed back her slightly greasy hair. "But I feel horrible not going to see her. Especially going away. I mean, what if something happens and I didn't say goodbye? Do you know how that will make me feel?"
Dylan nodded and widened her eyes, projecting her annoyance. She did know, too. Lloyd had been flown out to California yesterday, and was probably at this very minute carting Merri-Lee and that son of a bitch Marcus or whatever the fuck his name was around L.A. It made her sick.
"And I kind of want to get her approval. I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like if I go, and tell her awl about the trip we're planning to take and stuff, and the universe doesn't give me a sign that I shouldn't, then I'll feel like she's saying it's okay. That I can. That I have her blessing." She sighed. "It sounds totally ridiculous, doesn't it?" She managed a quiet, shaky laugh, and suddenly buried her face in Dylan's shoulder. "My mother's in a coma," she sobbed. "In a coma. My own mother's in a coma. I might never see her ah-gain. She'll never be the same ah-gain. I can't go awn this trip, Dyl. I don't know what I was thinking."
Dylan caressed her friend's back, between her shoulder blades. "I really do think you need to get away from awl this, Kris. You're welcome to stay here, you know that, but I think you'll be happier with Kemp."
"I just don't know." She gestured toward Dylan's closet. "Can I look?"
"Be my guest. But I don't know what will fit you. You might have better luck with Kuh-laire's stuff."
Kristen slapped her on the shoulder. "You're perfectly thin, Dyl."
Dylan drew back, her mouth in an O. "Excuse you! I was, in fact, implying that you, my darling, are quite overweight."
She laughed, a real smile blossoming. But she tore it off her face and mock-pouted, sticking out her stomach as far as it would go. She still looked skinny. "Look at my beer belly."
Dylan patted it. "I think you're pregnant. Girl or boy?"
"What about Kemp Junior?"
"You're insane. But seriously, are you going to go or nawt? Cuz you have to tell him if you changed your mind."
"I think I'm gonna stawp by Massie's house, get some cute clothes, go visit her, then tell Kemp whether or nawt I'm going. Good idea?"
"Perfect," declared Dylan. "Then wanna get some ice cream to celebrate?"
She grinned. "Why nawt?"
I don't know, calories?
RIVERA MANSION
MASTER BEDROOM
11:41 AM
JULY 14, 2013
"Vamos, Melinda." Alicia scooped her baby sister into her arms, leaving Zachary to lie on his back in his cerulean-blue plastic Diane von Furstenburg cradle and cry. It had already been proven that the twins couldn't stand leaving each other, but Alicia had always been selfish. Smiling, she ran her hands over baby Melinda's fluffy dark locks, satisfied that she would take after her older sister.
Melinda kicked and screamed, her raw baby voice reverberating through the house. No one was home to hear it.
Alicia set Melinda down on her bed, carefully placing her head on a soft golden pillow and arranging her tiny body. The dolls that she'd had when she was younger, the ones that were made to look like real babies, she'd thrown around and banged against walls. So she was determined to prove she could be mature with a real child.
She opened her desk drawer and grasped the sheet of paper that gave her permission to have an agent. She'd gone to Kristen and asked her friend to forge the signature, not because her parents would have said no, but because they still weren't home. The only other person in the house (other than her new siblings) was their housekeeper, Marina, who took care of the babies and left Alicia alone, as she'd been ordered. Alicia had no clue where Ally and Len even were.
She headed downstairs to the family office, not the one where her father worked in complete peace and quiet, but the one the entire family used when they needed to, say, fax something.
Alicia logged on to her account, scanned the lease into her Documents, and opened Microsoft Word. File, Print, Fax. She followed the wizard, clicked next about eight times and OK another six, then watched as the paper uploaded and zoomed through her phone lines to Karen's machine. Almost immediately, a message came back, asking if Alicia could meet with Karen at some point that day.
Reluctantly, she said she could and closed the computer.
"Melinda, cariño, nunca ser bueno en algo," she advised.
Her big dark eyes were questioning. "Aah?" she gurgled.
"No vale la pena tratar con esto." She swiveled the chair back, got to her feet, and went back to her room, once again propping Melinda up on her bed. "¿Qué me pongo?"
"Aah," Melinda repeated, holding up her hands, beginning to weep.
"Bien," Alicia sighed, turning away from her new Ella Moss ensemble to feed Melinda her bottle. As she did, she caught sight of her vibrating, flashing phone. She saw it was Massie, calling from France, and immediately picked up. "Hey, Mass!"
"Ehmagawd, I've been wanting to call you for, like, two days and my mom was really mad cuz she said I wasn't spending enough time with the family so she took away my phone and it was horrible. But that's nawt the point. I told you about Alex, right?"
"No."
"Oh. Right. I told Kristen."
"Why Kristen?"
"Cuz she was the one who FaceTimed me."
"Oh. Well, you should have told us."
"Nawt the point!"
"So what is?"
"We got in a fight!"
"Who? You and Kristen?"
"No! Alex!"
"Which is... who?"
"This kid I met. Apparently, his family knows mine, but I didn't know that. So anyway, I was totally crushing, and I think he might have been too. But then I lied to him."
"Why?" She balanced Melinda on her hip and cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder, feeling very responsible.
"Cuz he really likes riding horses! So I said I did too. But then he started asking awl these questions and of course I didn't know the answers."
"Why don't you start when you come back? Riding horses?"
"I will! But right now he knows I lied."
"Oh. Got it." She dropped the phone on her bed and put it on speaker. "So what are you going to do?"
"That's why I called you. You had a boyfriend!"
"That's true. But we never broke up, really. I mean, we did, but I was sick from awl that drinking and he was older and cheating and awl that shit and it was different."
"I know what you mean." Massie's voice was now booming through Alicia's iPhone speaker.
Melinda started really crying, and threw the bottle of baby formula milk at the wall. It left a dent.
"Joder!" Alicia cursed. "Fuck, Mass, I gotta go."
"No, wait! I need you to tell me-"
"Sorry! Gotta go." She scooped the screaming Melinda up and sprinted downstairs, shoving the baby into Marina's unsuspecting arms. The housekeeper fumbled and finally had Melinda's head up against her shoulder. "¿Puedes tomar? Gracias."
Marina nodded and patted Alicia's sister's head. "Fácil, fácil," she crooned, bouncing her hip.
Alicia ran back up and redialed. "Okay, Mass, tell me more."
"I don't know what to do!" she cried. "He hates me!"
"He doesn't hate you. He's probably just a little pissed."
"That helps." She rolled her eyes. "He's coming over ah-gain in an hour, and he's the only kid my age."
Alicia shook her head. "Sucks for you, Mass. You shouldn't have lied. You have to be yourself."
"Guh-reat!" Now it was Massie's turn to throw something. Her glass iPhone flew across the room, bounced off the edge of the door, and hit the thin carpet. The call crackled and disconnected.
Alicia officially had no parents in the house and nothing to wear to her meeting with Karen. Her Alpha was mad at her, she couldn't even take care of her own sister, and Zachary was still crying. She hadn't seen Josh for a week at least, she hadn't seen her friends for longer. She even missed Claire. This was getting ridiculous.
HUDSON VALLEY HOSPITAL CENTER
LOBBY
12:36 PM
JULY 14, 2013
Kristen didn't know whether or not she could just check the open directory on the receptionist's desk and take the elevator to her mom's room. Vera's older daughter, Cecilia, had dropped her off in a gray Toyata Prius, not the car she was last reported driving, so as to avoid any unwanted cameras. But now Cecilia had left, and Kristen was alone.
Eventually, she approached the woman whose nametag read Nurse Janice Clank.
"Can I help you, darling?" She was wearing too much bright pink lipstick, some of which was smeared over her large front teeth. Her brown eyes were done up in thick, thick eyeliner, and her cheeks were drowning in rouge. Her four-inch long nails were painted orange, and it was clear she'd had at least a couple of boob jobs. Her voice was loud and proud and slightly startling.
For a second, Kristen forget what she was there for, but then it occured to her. She dropped her head, then lifted it, finally opening her mouth. "I need to see my mother."
"Is she visiting a patient?" Nurse Clank inquired, leaning over. Her giant black necklace clacked against her desk.
"No, she is a patient."
"How old are you, sweetie?"
"12."
"Perfect. Just the age." With a huge smile, she gave Kristen a name-tag to fill out with a hospital pen that was chained to the desk.
Quickly, Kristen scribbled her name, age, patient she was visiting, and her relationship to said patient. She got stuck at floor and room. "May I look at the directory?"
"Of course." Nurse Clank pushed the heavy book across towards Kristen.
She flipped through, searching for her mother's name, running her finger along the pages. Finally, she found her, but the words wiggled in front of her eyes. She blinked hard and refocused. Ms. Marsha Miller, Floor 3, Room 194. "Thanks, Nurse Clank."
"No problem, honey."
Kristen crossed the lobby, smoothing her Visitor sticker over her pale purple Chloe shirt. She got into the elevator with a middle-aged man holding a bouquet of roses, and a mother with two young boys, who were wrestling and yelling. The young blonde woman looked terribly harried. On the second floor, nobody got in. On the third floor, the man with the flowers and Kristen got out, and an African-American woman supporting an older lady stumbled in. Kristen held the doors open until they were situated. Then she checked the directional signs and started off toward Room 194, walking briskly.
A nurse stopped her anyway. "Excuse me, do you have permission to be up in Intensive Care?"
She nodded shyly.
"May I see?"
She fingered the peeling corner of her pass.
The nurse knelt and checked for Clank's signature. "How old are you?"
"12," she replied.
"Alright. But be careful, sweetie: Intensive Care is not always the best place to be." With a firm face, she hurried off, clutching her clipboard and gabbing into a walkie-talkie.
Intensive Care. Her mother was in Intensive Care.
She took a huge breath and tried not to breathe in the strong, sterile scent that was threatening to overpower her. It just reminded her she was in a hospital, and why.
Her phone went off.
"Hello?"
"You're okay, right, Kristen?"
"Who is this?"
"It's Cecilia, silly! I dropped you off 20 minutes ago! Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't think I'm supposed to have my phone awn, though, so I'm gonna go. Can I call when I need to be picked up?"
"Sure, but we've got a photo shoot in Scarsdale in two hours. So if it's after that, you're gonna have to ask someone else. Cool?"
"Thanks, Cecilia." Smiling gratefully, she hung up. Dylan was lucky to have two amazing godsisters.
AUNT JEAN'S HOUSE
BATHROOM
7:08 PM
JULY 14, 2013
Kendra knocked on the door, then let herself in.
Massie grabbed the towel that she'd just let drop to the floor and haphazardly covered herself. "Mom! You can't just walk into a restroom! I just showered."
"Sorry, sweetie. Aunt Jean wants to know if you'll help make some salad. We're going to a very formal dinner tonight at the Carsons', and she's bringing some food."
"Um, since when do I cook?" Massie rolled her eyes and wrapped the cloth tighter over her breasts. "Gawd, get out already!"
"I'll tell Aunt Jean. She'll be disappointed."
"Like I care." She walked down the hallway toward the room she was staying in. She had to look uber-nice tonight for Alex. She was sure he was still mad, and she had to get back on his good side.
She made sure the door was securely locked before hanging the towel over a bedpost and opening the sliding door of the closet she was using.
A pretty brown Agnes B. dress was waiting. It was a bustier-style ouftit, with a peplum skirt. Perfect for impressing Alex. But did she have the right shoes?
She slipped the chiffon dress over the head of her Massiequin, which she'd reassembled the second she'd gotten to France. She zipped it up, and, still not wearing anything, dropped to her hands and knees to dig through her Gucci suitcase. The closest she got were gold Blahnik mules. She stuck the Massiequin's feet into the shoes, then stepped back and cocked her head.
Lightbulb!
She opened the side pocket of her Victoria Beckham case and extracted her jewlery box. A pull-out compartment held her collection of gold accesories. She slipped on a charm bracelet her father had given her when she turned seven (it still fit her bony wrist) and a matching necklace. Then she found her M brooch. She gathered a handful of excess ruffles, artfully twisted them into the shape of a rose, then pinned it up over her chest.
She shot a picture off to her friends, and received immediate respones.
Alicia: 9.5
Dylan: 9.6
Kristen: 9.4
Claire: 9.8
Good enough.
BODY ALIVE DANCE STUDIO
MRS. FARSON'S OFFICE
1:19 PM
JULY 14, 2013
"She should be here in a minute," the teacher declared, watching the door impatiently.
"You can go to your meeting. It's okay." Dylan grinned. She knew her coach kept a stack of candy hidden in her top-right drawer of her desk, the only one she kept unlocked.
There was a knock.
"Oh, thank the Lord." She hopped up and rushed out of the room.
The Gamma was left staring at the tall, slim, brown-haired woman who had just entered. She had a melodic voice as she greeted Dylan. "My name is Molly Greyson. You remember me, right?"
"Of course." She'd been enthralled by Molly the moment they'd met. With her quiet personality, twinkling eyes, and kind laugh, she'd made Dylan feel completely at ease.
"I am to be your agent. I think we could work well together, don't you?"
"I do," she agreed with a smile.
"Good." Molly handed over some papers. "I can't talk about anything with you until your parent or legal guardian signs these."
"Um..."
"What's wrong?"
"My mother is Merri-Lee Marvil," Dylan started. Molly stood silently, and Dylan thought about how to explain this without sounding as though she was bragging. "You probably know she's in Cali right now with my two older sisters, sponsoring Pop and Lolly."
"Continue."
"I'm ahbviously living here in Westchester. I'm staying with my godmother, Vera Wang, and her two daughters. Can she sign this, or do I have to send it out to my mom?"
"I'm sorry, Dylan, but I'm pretty sure the rules state that your mother would have to sign it, unless she actually appointed Ms. Wang as your legal guardian, which I doubt she did."
"Okay, thanks." She accepted the papers. "When should I get these to you?"
"I'd like us to have our first official meeting on the twentieth, if possible. I can call you to set things up if you'd give me your number."
"914-503-1093," she recited quickly.
"Got it." Molly typed it into her Contacts under Dylan Marvil. "So I'll phone you in a few days, and if you can just bring the papers straight to the meeting, whenever we schedule it, that would be fabulous. Do you think you can get that done?"
"Probably."
"Fabulous. Until then..." Molly stuck out her hand, and they shook.
ORLANDO
HILTON HOTEL
1:33 PM
JULY 14, 2013
When Claire woke up, her mother was holding a soaking wet, freezing cloth over her forehead. Her father and Todd were nowhere to be found. She struggled and batted the towel off of her. "That's f-f-freezing. Get it awf me."
"Oh, Claire, thank goodness. We were going to have to take you to the hospital if you were asleep any longer."
"What?" She glanced around. Warm summer sun was streaming through the windows. She judged the time to be a litte after noon. Was she still at Universal? Weren't her parents mad at her? She pushed the blankets off her chest.
"Sweetie, you passed out right as Jay was ordering food for us at the amusement park. Don't you remember?" she asked anxiously.
"No," Claire answered honestly. "Nawt at awl."
"Goodness," Judi sigh-repeated. "Should we- Hold on, your father's calling." She clicked Accept on her phone. "Hi, honey... Yeah, Claire just woke up... She seems okay... Yeah... Okay. Sure... I think we should hold off on that... Alright, see you later." She hung up and turned back to Claire. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?"
"Fine." She crinkled her forehead. "But I don't even know what happened."
"You've been dozing on and off for about two days," Judi told her worriedly. "We thought heat stroke."
"Why aren't I in the hospital then?"
Judi exhaled. "Your father didn't think it was a good idea," she replied stiffly.
Even in her state, Claire knew not to push it. But her mind began working at a furious rate. Had she made herself sick with all this stress about her friends? They should be sorry. She would never speak to them again. She'd return to Westchester with her real friends, who cared, and Kate, Sarah, and Sari could hang out in stupid old Orlando.
HUDSON VALLEY HOSPITAL CENTER
ROOM 194
1:45 PM
JULY 14, 2013
Kristen had been forced to wait for an hour while the nurse (who had shown up at just precisely the wrong time) checked her mother's vitals. Then there had been tests, and they'd asked the Delta to sit in a hard plastic chair and promptly forgot about her. And now, as the workers cleared out to leave her alone with Marsha, she could hear a nurse discussing something in an urgent voice with her mom's doctor. She cocked her head toward them and listened hard.
"This doesn't seem good," she heard a woman say. "In fact, all tests and studies say that she should never have gone into a coma, much less still be in a vegetative state."
"I can look them over when I go home tonight," she heard another lady reply. "Is her heartbeat steady?"
"Quite, and so is her pulse. So is everything. Everything. Other than the drinking, she was remarkably healthy."
"Well, the drinking can do it sometimes. Are you sure there was no liver damage?"
"There was, but nothing extensive. As I said, nothing that could have caused her to fall into this coma."
There was some shuffling of papers. "Interesting," the second voice mused. "Thanks, Mary, I'll check that up. Maybe I'll take her obs myself next time."
"I'll take her out of my schedule then, if you can. There's a man up in 216 who doesn't seem to be improving as he should, and his wife's been up my ass to figure it out. Like, lady, I never went to medical school."
There was laughter, and then the sound of shoes moving two different directions down the hallway.
Kristen licked her lips and approached her mother's bed. "Hey, Mom," she greeted her softly, with a sad smile. She stroked Ms. Miller's hand. "You remember Kemp? Well, he's my boyfriend now. He has been, actually, but I didn't want to tell you. So he invited me to the Carribbean with his family, and, well, I said I would. So do you think I should?" Then, for some crazy reason, she felt as though her mother had asked where she was living. So she said, "I'm staying at Vera Wang's house with my friend Dylan Marvil. Remember her? She can keep me there the entire summer, and by then you're supposed to be as good as new, I think. But anyway, can I go with Kemp's family?"
No lightning strike, no gunshot, no screams.
"I guess it's okay with you then. Thanks, Mom."
She could have sworn Marsha smiled.