Fabriella Starr

Chapter Four

Ariella burst out of her closet posing in a hot pink party dress. One of her latest and greatest designs she hoped her audience would go crazy over. The one shoulder beaded bodice was an eye snatcher, and what girl wouldn't love fun and flirty ruffles. She spun around so Mae could get the full twirl effect. "What do you think? Perfect, right?"

Mae's mouth bunched to one side of her face. Her thinking face. "Too much pink, not enough sparkle."

Ariella's pose deflated like a punctured parade balloon. "That's the fourth outfit you didn't like."

"It's not that I don't like them. I just think you can do better. This is your first fashion show. Your moment to shine." Mae wiggled her fingers in an arc in front of her face to emulate the shimmer Ariella was missing.

Ariella placed her hands on her empire waistband. "You're right. This is my one big chance to prove myself. I have to give it all I've got." She held out her palm. "Hand me the golden needle."

Mae moved to Ariella's lab-table-by-day sewing-table-by-night and plucked the golden needle from her pink, star-shaped pin cushion. She ceremoniously handed it to Ariella.

Ariella carefully pinched it between her thumb and index finger and held it out in front of her. "It's about to get fabulous."

If she wanted to impress her fellow students and potential fans, she couldn't showcase looks from the past. She needed something fresh. She would have to start from scratch. She opened the cabinet attached to the foot of her bed and pulled out a roll of blue, sequined fabric. She cut off a couple yards then laid it out on her lab/sewing table. She bought it herself with money she saved up from birthdays and allowances. The easy part was ordering one online with features that satisfied her seamtressy needs. The hard part was racing to the delivery man before her parents could get to him and lugging it up the stairs to her room while convincing them she didn't need help with her new astronomy kit. Who puts stairs in a condo?

Once she finished cutting out pattern pieces, she and Mae pinned the pieces together. This was the easy part, yet Mae still managed to pin her sleeve to a sleeve. Twice.

After all of the parts were pinned together—and repinned together—it was time to sew. Ariella sat at her sewing machine and got to work. Piece by piece, the outfit started coming together. She looked at Mae to get her reaction so far. Mae gave her the OK sign, her fingers wrapped in bandages from all of the accidental pinpricks. It was a good thing Ariella was doing the sewing. She didn't have bandages big enough for those hazardous mistakes.

Finally, after hours of stitching, snipping, and tripping—it could get a little messy in there when creativity took over—her project was complete.

Ariella and Mae admired the finished product sitting beautifully on a headless mannequin.

"Now that's perfect," Mae said.

Excited about her brilliant work of art, Ariella agreed. This one was being saved for the finale.

A knock on the door sent Ariella's elated heart to the pit of her stomach. Alarmed, she and Mae locked eyes. Her parents! They rushed to gather the scattered fabric and thrust them back inside the bed cabinet. Ariella slid her supplies off the lab/sewing table and into its drawer. Then she placed a microscope cover that read "Science Rocks" over her sewing machine. Once all traces of fashion were hidden, Mae tossed her the lab coat. Ariella slipped it on and answered the door wearing a wide smile.

Ren stood in the doorway, puzzled. "Why is your face all glittery?"

Ariella shot Mae a panicked look. Mae slapped her hands over her mouth. Ariella was on her own. "Uh...We were pretending that we were on Mars." She brushed the glitter from her face. "It's Mars dust." She sprinkled some on the top of Ren's head.

Ren didn't look convinced but decided not to bother with Ariella's teenage weirdness and let it go. Good. Because that's all she had. "Anyway...There's some strange boy downstairs looking for you."

"Strange boy?" Ariella led the way down the small wrought iron staircase and Mae followed close behind.

Downstairs, Caleb stood in the middle of the living room wearing a white Swirly Go Round uniform and a hat shaped like an upside down strawberry ice cream cone. He looked worried.

"Caleb?" Ariella took in his outfit as she reached the last step. "We really need to talk about your taste in style."

Caleb pulled at the name inscribed on his shirt. "This is my work uniform. Do you really think I would wear this on my own free will?"

"Yes," Mae said. "Yes, we do."

Ariella had a better question. "How'd you know where I lived?"

"My sister. She scared the school receptionist into giving her your address when she heard you were in the talent show. I came to warn you."

Ariella laughed and swatted away that info like a harmless fly. "Please. She does not scare me." She nervously glanced behind him at the door. "She's not coming too is she?"

"Not yet," Caleb said. He actually looked serious. "But don't be surprised if you can't open your front door Friday night."

Great. Not only did she have to prepare for an entire fashion show, but now she had Torin to look out for. If she knew it was going to cause this much stress, she would have never signed up. Oh wait. She did. Ariella turned to Mae. "You see why I didn't want to do this?"

"Because you were insecure about showing off your clothes, thinking that no one would like them, which could potentially kill your career."

Ariella gave her a blank stare. "KITY, Mae."

Mae didn't get it. "Huh?"

"Keep It To Yourself."

Caleb looked intrigued. "You make your own clothes, too?" That explains it. There was no way he purchased that ensemble in stores.

"Yeah, but too bad no one's going to be able to see them. I'm dropping out of the show." Ariella flopped onto the sofa, the portrait of defeat. She was starting to look forward to it too. She worked so hard on her new looks. Now they were going in the closet with the rest of her designs, waiting for their moment to shine.

Caleb sat next to her and Mae book ended her other side. "Don't let my sister get to you. If you have talent, you should share it. You may not be as creative as me, but who is. You too deserve your moment in the spotlight."

Ariella thought it over. "I do." Why should she let Torin get all the glory? She was just as talented, and she was going to show it. "You know what? I'm going to do this. This Friday, the show is on!"

"What's happening this Friday?" Her mom entered the front door followed by her dad who was carrying a telescope. They were returning from their daily firmament check up on the roof. Even off the clock, you couldn't keep their heads out of the atmosphere.

Ariella hopped to her feet. She had to think of something quick, but how was she going to fix this without spilling the truth? "Uh. I'm going to uh..."

Caleb stood up. "She's going to be in the—"

"Science fair!" Ariella blocked Caleb from view. "I'm going to be in the science fair."

Her dad's thick brows wrinkled. "Isn't it a little early in the year for a science fair?"

"Dad, is it ever too early for science?"

Her dad's face relaxed as he considered this. "I guess not. We'll be there."

"Can't wait," her mom said smiling as they went upstairs.

Mae shook her head in disappointment. "How unfair is that? The science fair is on the exact same day as the talent show."

"There is no science fair." Caleb faced Ariella, his suspicious eyes loaded with questions.

"But there will be." Ariella glanced between the two wearing an innocent, and hopefully working, grin. "Does anyone know how to build an active volcano?"

***

Things just got complicated. Stay tuned to see if Ariella can patch things up!

-Love, Charly