Style Squad

Hannah Star vs Style Squad

After Hannah, her posse, and Damian walk away, I fall against the table, my throat tight. I let out a little sob.

A few minutes later, we start to hear Hannah's voice floating over the buzz of the gym. It seems like she's being loud on purpose.
     
"...and, Hannah Star will travel all across the world, performing anywhere and everywhere! I'll be famous! Of course, Laura, Kate, and Mia will be famous, too, but mostly me! I really hope you fabulous judges will give the first place prize to me, since it'll be a bore to look at these other projects. I assure you, the other projects are totally juvenile compared to mine!"

Lexi sighs, exasperated. "I just can't believe her. She's a real-life Regina George. Only... younger!"

"We still have a little time before we need or present our project." I say, smoothing down my blouse. These business clothes are so not me. "Let's go get a quick snack."

We leave the main part of the gym and find the vending machines. Nobody else is out here. Inserting a dollar into the machine, I get a Hershey's chocolate bar with almonds. As soon as it falls to the bottom, I take it out and take a huge bite, savoring the creamy chocolate and the crunchy almonds.

"Oooh... chocolate. Are you sure you're okay?" Sandra asks, pushing the buttons on the vending machine to get a bag of chips.
     
I swallow the chocolate and sigh. "Yeah... I'm kinda getting used to the fact that Damian and Hannah are dating."

Vera opens her bag of Fritos and eats a couple. "I'm so sick of Hannah thinking she's better than everybody. Her business isn't even a business! It's a scheme to make sure that she gets famous!"

"Yeah! And she won't even give credit to Laura, Mia, and Kate!" Lexi exclaims, her mouth full of pretzels.

"And if the judges don't think her project is ten out of ten, her daddy will make sure his baby girl wins!" I mumble, stuffing the rest of the chocolate bar in my mouth and throwing the wrapper in the trash can.

"We should get back to our project board," Vera says, taking a mint out of her purse and popping it in her mouth. We finish our snacks and go back into the gym.

***

"Okay, girls, show us what you've got," Mr. Crimson says, cheerfully. There are three judges; Ms. Darwin, (they found her!), Mike LeTrou (the principal of the elementary school part of my school), and Hannah's dad. Mr. Crimson seems happy to judge our project, but he keeps glancing at his watch. Like he's waiting to finish up this "project judging" so he could award the first-place prize to Hannah.

I clear my throat and pull out my flash cards. "Judges, I am Elisa Lopez. And these are my friends: Lexi Mezen, Sandra Sawdon, and Vera Jones. We present to you our business— Style Squad!" Lexi presses a button on her phone and an upbeat, runway-model type song starts playing. Boomp-a boomp-a boomp bada boomp-a. Sandra starts bobbing her head, and Vera giggles and elbows Sandra. She stops bobbing her head, takes a laser pointer out of her purse, and uses it to point at the first part of our board as we took turns reading and explaining our project.

***

"That was easier than I expected," Lexi said after the judges had moved on.

She was right. Usually, I get nervous when presenting something in front of the class. But with my friends there, it was so much easier.
        
A few minutes later, Principal Princeton announced that the judges had finished judging and were going over the scores. The butterflies in my stomach felt more like bats, zooming around and around and making me more nervous by the second. Vera, Lexi, and Sandra looked anxious as well.
        
We were called into the auditorium for the award presentation. Principal Princeton stood at the podium, the judges standing behind her. There was a trophy on the floor by the podium, and Ms. Darwin was holding three envelopes that probably held the money. Mr. Crimson was smiling a huge, movie-star smile, totally overpowering Ms. Darwin and Principal LeTrou. I can see so much of Hannah in his face. However, unlike Hannah, he's a pretty good person. I don't know where Hannah got her personality from.
        
"Welcome to the award ceremony for the 7th Grade Business Project fair! The judges and I agree that there were many great projects out there today. Thus, they found it extremely difficult to decide on three winning projects. Remember, students, even if you don't win, just know that you tried your hardest and that I think your projects were spectacular!" Some kids in front of us giggled at that last statement. We all know Principal Princeton didn't really look at all our projects.
         
"Ms. Darwin? Will you present the third-place prize winner?" Principal Princeton continued.
         
Ms. Darwin came up to the podium, her wavy brown hair flowing past her shoulders. She pushed her glasses up her nose and said, "The third-place prize is this two-foot tall trophy and a check for 500 dollars. The winner of this prize is... Christina Albans, with her business, Chrissy Cakes!"
         
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chrissy clap her hands over her mouth and run down to the stage, her black cornrows bouncing behind her. She picked up the statue in one arm, shook the hands of all the judges with her free hand, and then accepted the envelope with the 500 dollar check in it. Chrissy is known for being an incredible baker, making everything from scratch. She was grinning, her dark face lighting up like the sun and her blue braces shining in the spotlight.
         
Principal LeTrou came up to the the podium next, as Chrissy took a step back with her trophy. "The second-place prize is a scale model of your business, which will be given to the winner in about three weeks, and a check for 1000 dollars. And the winner is... Marcus King, with his business, King Laboratories!"
        
Marcus's friends whooped and cheered for him as he walked up to the stage. Marcus is a total science nerd. He used to be made fun of for that, but he eventually accepted that. He shook hands with the judges and took his check.
        
Okay. There's one more prize. We can still win this, Elisa. We have one more chance. Just calm down... I buried my face in my hands, trying to calm myself by breathing. Lexi squeezed my shoulder and Vera smiled at me. Sandra was staring at the stage, waiting for Mr. Crimson to announce the winner.
        
"And finally, the first-place prize is a check for 4000 dollars and a unit in the Dolphin Mall where the winner will open their store! I know, it seems unreal! The unit is in between the Starbucks and the DSW, one of the most coveted places for a business. And that's pretty sweet, too, since our first-place winner is a group of four girls." He paused for a second, grinning at the audience.
        
Wait. He said a group of four girls. My group has four girls in it! But so does Hannah's group. Of course she's gonna win, that's her father up there presenting the award! Out of instinct, I grabbed Vera and Lexi's hands and squeezed them. Vera then grabbed Sandra's hand, and we just sat there, on the edge of our seats, holding each other's hands and waiting to hear Mr. Crimson announce the winner. A few rows down from us, I saw Hannah whip out her mirror and apply a fresh coat of lip gloss. She and her posse were already making their way down to the stage, as if they'd already won. Ugh.
        
He cleared his throat and leaned into the microphone. "So can the group called Style Squad please come up to the stage to receive their prize?"

***

"What?!" I screamed. My hands were shaking as I stood there in shock, the crowd cheering. Vera, Lexi, and Sandra were jumping around and screaming. They then pulled me in for a group hug. Tears sprung to my eyes as we walked down to the stage, where Principal Princeton and the judges were clapping. Looking behind me, I saw Hannah and her group standing in the same places they were, in total shock. Hannah was the one who looked most pale. Her face of shock quickly turned into that of anger, and she dropped her little mirror on the carpeted ground.
      
We got to the stage and Principal Princeton gave us each a huge hug. Ms. Darwin and Principal LeTrou shock each of our hands, and Mr. Crimson handed me the check. We're going to open up Style Squad, I thought. And there's nothing Hannah can do about it.

"Do you girls want to say anything to the audience?" Mr. Crimson said. Before any of us could answer "no" (we don't like public speaking), someone else shouted out.

"I have something to say!"

I whip my head around and gasp. Hannah is standing at the edge of the stage, a look of pure rage on her face. Her dad sighed. Stomping up to us, Hannah screams into the mic, so everyone can hear her. "Daddy! You promised me that you would make sure that I won!"

Mr. Crimson rubbed his forehead with his thumb and middle finger. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart, but I decided not to."

"Why?!" Hannah screeched. Her angry face was slowly turning into a sad face.

"Because your business wasn't really a business. There was no office, no employees, no nothing. It was as if you were already a celebrity and 'Hannah Star' was your own personal tour. However, these girls right here," he gestured to Vera, Sandra, Lexi, and I. "They had a business worthy of opening."

Hannah gives me a death stare. "Oh! So their project was so much better than your own daughter's?"

Mr. Crimson nods slowly.

"Okay then!" Hannah screamed, marching right up to me.

And then, she kicked me in the stomach, growling.

The air is knocked out of my body and I fall to the ground, gasping and holding my arms over my stomach. Tears form at the corners of my eyes. Screams come from the audience. Vera and Sandra were immediately at my side on the ground, while Lexi (the bravest girl I know) is up, screaming curse words at Hannah in Spanish. Hannah's face is white and her green eyes are huge, as if she was just realizing the consequences of her actions. Mr. Crimson and Principal LeTrou grab her by the arms and wrestle her off the stage, while Ms. Darwin runs to the nurse's office.

"Don't worry, Elisa," Principal Princeton coos, her blue eyes filled with tears. "She won't ever bother you again. Not while I'm in charge."