In my kitchen, Amber Sweeny, the smartest person and prettiest girl in our grade, swept her blond hair out of her face, leaned back in her chair, and blew a perfect saliva bubble.
"How do you do it?" I asked.
Amber flashed a brilliant smile. "I don't know. I just do."
"How come mine keep popping on the tip of my tongue?" my friend Andy Kent asked.
"Your saliva's not wet enough," Amber replied. "How can saliva not be wet enough?" asked my friend Josh Hopka.
"All I know is that if it's too wet, you can't make the bubbles," Amber explained. "And if it's not wet enough, you can make them but they pop on the tip of your tongue."
She rolled her tongue and another perfectly clear saliva bubble formed on the tip. She gave a little puff and the bubble took off and floated down to the table where it popped.
"Show-off," Josh grumbled.
"Hey, check this out." I pointed at a photo of a sleek red sports car in the magazine I was reading. "The Ferrari Superrossa."
"Who cares?" Andy said. "It's just a car."
"It's not just a car," I corrected him. "It's the fastest and most expensive car in the world."
"It would be so cool if you had one," Amber said dreamily.
"What's the point?" Josh asked. "It would just sit in the driveway. You can't drive."
"Jessica could drive it for him," Andy said. "She just got her license, didn't she?"
"Yup." I nodded.
"Jessica can drive?" Amber asked in awe. Jessica may have been my older sister, but to us she was still a kid.
"She'll do anything to use the car," I said. "Yesterday she took Lance to the veterinarian, picked up the dry cleaning, and even went grocery shopping ."
"That's so cool," Andy said. "We'll have our own taxi service."
At that exact moment Jessica came into the kitchen. She had the mail in her hands. "Exactly not!"
"But you'll get to use the car," Josh said.
"Forget it," Jessica replied as she sorted through the letters. "There's no way I'm going to be Jake's personal chauffeur."
My sister tossed me a bright pink envelope. "This one's for you, Jake."
The return address said Supermodel Today magazine.
"Get real." I tried to hand it back. "It has to be yours."
"From Supermodel Today?" Jessica shook her head. "Not a chance. I wouldn't be caught dead."
I dropped the unopened letter to the table. "Neither would I."
Amber picked up the envelope. "If no one else is going to open it, I guess I will."
She pulled out a pale pink letter and started to read: "Congratulations, Jake Sherman, you have won Supermodel Todaymagazine's 'Personal Assistant to a Supermodel Contest.' "
Jessica clasped her hands. "Way to go, Jake!"
"It's a joke," I said.
"Looks real to me." Amber handed me the letter. It smelled like perfume. "It's not a form letter or anything. Someone named Fiona Charm signed it."
Amber was right. The letter appeared to be directed only to me. Fiona Charm was the beauty editor.
"This is weird," I said. "It says that I'll be able to work with the supermodel right here in Jeffersonville. I don't get it. How did this happen?"
I heard what sounded like snickers and looked up from the letter. Josh's and Andy's faces were red, and they were covering their mouths with their hands as if they were trying really hard not to laugh.When Andy and Josh enter Jake in a contest where he gets to be a supermodel's assistant, Jake starts to feel miserable. He's forced to do boring and terrible things, like get vegtables for Lanny Shanks, a famous supermodel--and he doesn't even get to meet her. But Jake gets to do a little more than meet her when the Mini-DITS do their stuff, and he switches places with Lanny! Now Jake is a supermodel with amazing hair and legs. He can't even believe that he's being TRAPPED in a supermodel's body! Jake soon discovers that being a supermodel isn't the best. You barely have time to eat, and weirdos like Principal Blanco will do whatever it takes to marry you.
