Is Bridgeport big enough for Kae, Robyn, Alex and Jasmine? They're all beautiful, captivating, and a little bit crazy... but there can be only one It Girl.
[ Based on the It Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar ]
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I have a surprise for you today, my little peanuts," Mrs. Silver announced at the beginning of drawing class on Friday afternoon. "You've all been working so hard, so instead of having a regular class today, we're going to have an art show. Hang up what you've been working on—let's say, the favorite three things you've done in the past few weeks—so that we can all see how talented you are." Her eyes twinkled as she picked up a large Tupperware container on her desk. "And everyone, please—take a cupcake!"
"She's always trying to fatten us up," Zendaya grumbled good-naturedly as she picked up a chocolate cupcake topped with brightly colored sprinkles. She licked a bit of frosting off her thumb.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Kae chided. Zendaya was like a size nothing. She picked up a cupcake with gooey pink frosting and set it down on her desk. "Come on—hang artwork first, eat cupcakes later. Otherwise you'll get frosting on your beautiful drawing of Jermaine."
Zendaya giggled. "That's for the figure-drawing class. Do you think we can hang those up now?"
Kae nodded. "Sure. They're due today, anyway." Kae thumbed through the stack of drawings on her shelf. Ones from both classes, portraiture and figure drawing, were mixed in with each other. She plucked out one Crayola portrait of Zendaya she'd done the other day. And then she pulled out two of the drawings that she'd completed last night: one of Rakim perched awkwardly in the armchair, pretending to be comfortable, and another one just from his shoulders up, his head thrown back in laughter. It made Kae smile just to look at them.
"How did you know Jermaine was my subject?" Zendaya asked suddenly, unrolling a sheet of thin newsprint paper.
"Lucky guess." Kae gave her a little hip-check before walking over to the white, smudged walls, filled with hundreds of thumbtack holes from previous art class presentations. She tried not to glance at Chris's shelf, with his sloppily written label, or wonder who he had chosen as his subject for the advanced figure-drawing assignment.
After the girls had thumbtacked their drawings to the wall, they stood back to admire them. Zendaya's was a dreamy-looking charcoal drawing of Jermaine lying on his side, smiling a sweet, stoned smile.
"That's really good." Kae tilted her head objectively. "He looks so sweet."
"He is so sweet," Zendaya cooed under her breath. "I love yours too. Rakim just looks so...happy."
After reclaiming their cupcakes the girls wandered around the room, examining the portraits intently. They stepped up close to peer at the brushstrokes or lines, then stepped back to absorb the full effect. Kae felt like one of those old ladies who travel to art museums in pairs and always have something to say about Monet or Hopper. As the sugar from her cupcake raced through her veins, and she and Zendaya congratulated their classmates on their portraits, Kae felt relaxed and happy. Mrs. Silver had put on some kind of Motown music and she was feeling a little swing return to her step.
