The Real American Idol

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The next day at school, Variel and Dulce arrived on their scooters. It was pretty weird seeing just the two of them since Mirabela is usually with them, but she was sick.

"Hey, Variel, Dulce," Miley waved.

"Hola, Miley, Lily," Variel said. "How was Nancy's party?"

"Oh, it was amazing," Lily gushed. "Nancy had a big poufy dress with her hair in curls, and she showed a display of her dad's new jewels."

"Doesn't surprise me," Dulce sniffed.

"Well, you should've come to the party to see for yourself," Nancy said. "But no matter—you can still come to Daddy's store in the mall to see his Christmas jewels."

"We'll pass," Dulce said. "Even if we could afford any of those pieces of jewelry, they're too fancy for our taste."

"Whatever," Nancy scoffed.

Soon enough, the school day started, and Nancy had just reached her geometry class when she heard her classmates talking—and none of them were talking about her party or her father's jewelry designs.

"Hello, fellow schoolmates," Nancy said arrogantly. "Anything interesting you want to talk about?"

"Well, we've been talking about our study plans for midterms," a girl said.

"Yeah, we're pretty swamped," a boy chimed in.

"I see," Nancy said. "Anything else? Maybe something important?" She really wanted to hear her classmates talk about her party.

"Well, I'm thinking about getting a tutor because one look at these problems and my head spins like a tornado," the boy said.

"Anything else?" Nancy asked impatiently.

"Well, I still need to figure out how to find X, Y, and Z in this problem," the girl said.

Nancy was sick of waiting, and she figured she should bring up the subject herself. "What about my party last night and Daddy's brand-new line of Christmas jewelry?" she asked.

"I didn't go," the boy said.

"I did, and the party was okay," the girl said.

Nancy was shocked. "By 'okay', you mean awesome, right?" she asked.

"No, it was just okay," the girl said.

Nancy was dismayed that someone would say that about her party. "But you liked Daddy's line of Christmas jewelry, right?" she asked. "They were pretty."

"Pretty pricey—actually, monstrously pricey," the girl said. "I mean, you'd have to be a trillionaire just to buy one Ambrose ring."

Nancy couldn't believe that someone wouldn't say that they loved her father's jewelry, but she was sure that at least someone in this school liked them.

Later, in 3rd period, Lily was in her biology class, and she was excited to talk about Nancy's party.

"Hey, all," Lily beamed. "Wasn't Nancy's Sweet 16 party just the sweetest 16 party you've ever, ever seen—and what about that new line of Christmas jewelry?"

"The party was okay, Lily, but have you seen the prices of the Ambrose jewelry?" a girl asked. "I mean, $20,000 for just one bangle?"

"Yeah, but it was pretty," Lily said.

"Pretty pricey," the girl said.

"More like hideously pricey," a boy said. "Honestly, why would Ambrose charge that much for just one little piece of jewelry?"