Hannah was suspended for a week for kicking me. I'll admit it was a relief to have her out of my hair for a while. But now, she really seems to have it in for me. The same message is posted all over social media. Somehow, @StyleSquad tricked my daddy into opening their store!
That's it. Short, but not so sweet.
After we won the prize (I'm still shocked), Mr. Crimson helped us build a few social media platforms. We have a website, style-squad.com; an Instagram and a Twitter, @StyleSquad; and a Facebook page, Style Squad. Lexi, Sandra, Vera, and I have the passwords for the social media platforms and access to the website. Mr. Crimson says that we should update our posts often, so people know that we're still opening. Most of the parents at the school know, as well as the other stores at the mall.
***
That Saturday was the first day we were at the mall, planning the grand opening. My friends and I were at the Starbucks next to our unit, getting some caffeine before going into Style Squad and planning the design. Our favorite barista, Layla, was chatting with us as she whipped up our orders.
"So y'all are going 'full rainbow' on us, huh?" she was saying, her western accent strong. "We have two Pink Drinks, one for Elisa and one for Lexi, a Blue Drink for Vera, and a Purple Drink for Sandra."
"Don't forget that mine has extra pink coloring!" Lexi said, smiling. "My Style Squad color is fuchsia."
"Don't worry, sweetpea, I never forget," Layla replied. I really like Layla. She's almost always at the Starbucks here. She's really nice and never forgets your order, even if you order something crazy like a Venti Triple Upside-Down Mocha-Banana-Strawberry-Caramel frappuccino with exactly 20 ice cubes and a hint of mint. I'm only saying this because I heard someone order that one time, and Layla recited the order back to the lady without stuttering, then made it to perfection. Turns out, the lady just wanted to mess with her, but then tipped 30 dollars when her drink was handed to her. I heard that it was really good, too! Layla is pretty tall, with dirty-brown waves that fall past her waist, golden-brown eyes, and lovely fair skin.
"Okay, girls! Order up!" Layla says as she hands us our grande-sized drinks. Lexi smiles at her bright pink beverage and takes a sip.
"Thanks, Layla!" I call as we walk out of the Starbucks. Layla smiles and waves as she starts to make someone's frappuccino.
I get the key to Style Squad out of my purse. Unlike most of the other stores in the mall, Style Squad has a door. It's made of glass, but currently has a sheet of brown paper over it to prevent other people from seeing inside. We open in late June. At that moment, it was near the end of May. I set my drink and purse down at the little folding table that the mall provided for us and sat down in one of the folding chairs. Opening my MacBook, I go to the virtual design app that Mr. Crimson bought for us. We had put the measurements of the unit in already, so all we needed to do was build up the rest of our boutique.
"Okay. So, we have our virtual Style Squad. I know that we wanted the walls to be white wallpaper, right?" I ask.
"Right," Vera responded. "And we wanted wall decals in the colors of our logo."
I select the walls of our virtual boutique and change the color from beige to white, and the material from concrete to wallpaper-covered concrete.
"The floors should be white wood, shiny and smooth, so we can add rugs and stuff over it!" Lexi said. I quickly changed the floors to a very pretty white wood. "It says here that both the wood and wallpaper are stain-proof," I say as I take a sip of my Pink Drink. "Should we go for that?"
"Um, duh!" Sandra replied, swirling her straw around in her Purple Drink. "That way, if people spill their coffee or whatever, they wouldn't have to worry about us redoing the wallpaper."
I nod. Makes sense. "Okay, how about fitting rooms?"
"I don't think we should have any. I mean, people are going to be designing their own clothes, right?" Vera said.
"But we should have them, so they can know what size to make their clothes." Lexi added.
I add two small fitting rooms in the way back of the boutique. "How are we going to set up the iPad technology?" I ask.
"Mr. Crimson said that he'd take care of that. All I know is that there's going to be eight of them. The iPads, I mean." Lexi said. "How about a long, skinny, white table at one end of the shop? So Mr. Crimson's team can set up the iPads there."
"Okay." I place the table at the left end of the boutique, centered perfectly. "I think we should add a little seating area over in the corner by the fitting rooms. A couple of armchairs, a fuzzy rug, a coffee table, and a bench."
The girls nodded and I placed the furniture in the back corner.
***
A little while later, we are finished with the setup of Style Squad. We have what I mentioned earlier. When you walk into Style Squad, you see all the way to the back of the store, where the fitting rooms are. The curtains of the fitting rooms are the same pattern as the background of our logo. Next to the fitting rooms is the little seating area. Now, coming from the back to the front, is the rest of our store. We have multiple mannequins that will model the white clothes. We have the long white table at one end, and opposite of the table, we have eight chutes where the clothes will come out of (more info on that in a bit). We also have a little area where the cash register will be, right next to the door. It looks pretty good on a virtual scale, but we need to add some decor when all the furniture is delivered.
We hear a knock on the door. "Girls, it's Mr. Crimson!"
Vera opens the door. Mr. Crimson walks in, grinning. "How's the virtual shop coming along?"
"I think we're done!" I say, turning my MacBook so he can see what we have.
He smiles and nods. "That's great, girls! I can tell that Style Squad is going to be big." He unfolds a chair and takes a seat, sighing. "Hannah's grounded. I'm still really, really sorry that she hurt you, Elisa. If there's anything else I can do to make it up to you..."
"Mr. Crimson, just helping us open Style Squad is a dream come true! You don't need to do anything else for me." I say, folding my hands in my lap. I have a bruise on my stomach, but other than that, I'm fine.
Lexi's phone goes off. Ping. She looks at the screen, her face blank. "But, I highly suggest you take away her electronic privileges," she grunts. She shows us her phone. A social media war is taking place.
@QueenHannahC: Daddy has gone to the dark side w/ this whole "Style Squad" stuff. Their business idea is TOTALLY worthless! He's wasting his time and his money.
@Mia_Hernandez_xoxo: I agree! It's stupid! Anyone else who agrees, comment this emoji: 🙋🏽
@>KateA<: 🙋🏾
@Laura-Green2003: 🙋🏼♀️
@ChrissyCakes: why are you so mean Hannah? Style Squad is a great business and I look forward to their opening in June.
@Marcus_King: I agree w/ Chrissy. U need 2 stop picking on Style Squad bc they won and u didn't
@QueenHannahC: shut UP, Marcus and Chrissy! Nobody asked you two.
@ChrissyCakes: at least we actually won something 😏
@Marcus_King: oh! BURN!
@QueenHannahC has blocked @ChrissyCakes and @Marcus_King from this conversation.
@QueenHannahC: anyone else? Go ahead. Anybody else who even TRIES to speak out against ME will be BLOCKED!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Crimson sighs. "Don't worry, girls, I'll stop her." He folds his chair back up and leaves the unit.
YOU ARE READING
Style Squad
一般小說Best friends Elisa, Vera, Lexi, and Sandra were assigned a group project at their Miami middle school: Create a business. What started out as a school project quickly turned into something far from fictional. The girls soon opened their own store...
