Style Squad

Opening Day

It's finally near the end of June. Style Squad opens today. I wake up, the Miami sunshine streaming in from one of the many windows in my room. It warms my face. I smile and get up. Today's the day, Elisa. The day you open your dream business.

I almost sprinted downstairs to eat breakfast. My mom was pressing the Cuban bread in a panini press to make tostada, and a pot of Cuban coffee was resting on the stove. My dad was on his laptop at the table. Both had taken the day off from work to come to the grand opening. Since both of my parents work six days a week, my mom from 9 to 5 and my dad from 6 to 4, it's hard to find people to watch me. I've been spending time with my friends and my Aunt Cassie. It's really complicated!
      
"Ah, there's the little entrepreneur!" Daddy said as I walked in.
      
"I'm not an entrepreneur," I said as I sat down. "We just won a contest!"
      
Mami got a plate out of the cabinet and put a piece of hot tostada on it, gave it to me, then got a mug and poured the Cuban coffee and some milk in it. While she was stirring the cafe con leche, she said, "I see. But, this wasn't an ordinary contest, Elisa. This was something out of a movie! Seriously, no ordinary school with ordinary kids would host a contest like this."

"And it wasn't a popularity contest either, so that's amazing," Daddy said, taking a sip of cafe con leche from his Puerto Rico mug. By the way, my mom's Cuban and my dad's Puerto Rican, since I didn't mention that before.

"It was the judges!" Mami added, handing me the mug. "The judges thought your project was worthy of opening!"

I smiled. My parents are always so supportive.

After I finished eating, I went back upstairs to get dressed for the big day. Last week, my friends and I designed matching shirts. The shorts that I'm wearing are the ones that I made when we were first testing the Style Squad software. Lexi, Vera, and Sandra designed similar ones, and then we made the shirts white, with the Style Squad logo on them.
        
I took a quick shower and put my clothes on. Now, to do my hair.
        
When I was finally finished with all of that, I put a little makeup on. Grabbing my purse and phone, I ran downstairs in my silver sandals. I got in the back seat of my mom's car while my parents got in the front seats. Mami started the engine and we started the drive to the Dolphin Mall.

***

My phone was buzzing with notifications when I connected to the wifi in the mall. New followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (all for Style Squad, and just Insta and Twitter for my personal account). I almost sprinted to Style Squad. A huge crowd of girls from school, some parents, some kids that I've never seen before, and my friends and Mr. Crimson. Everyone was chatting excitedly. I pushed through the crowd so I could get to the front. That's when I noticed the reporters and cameramen.

"Mr. Crimson, what's all this?" I asked, gesturing to the paparazzi.

He gave me that flashy smile. "Those, Elisa, are the paparazzi."

"Well, I know that, but why?"

"He's having them cover the event!" Lexi exclaims, doing a pirouette.

My jaw drops. I wouldn't think that the opening of Style Squad would be something that the media would cover. "Seems like we're a pretty big deal!"

"We are!" Vera says.

Mr. Crimson steps up to the podium and tapped the mic. Immediately, the crowd settled down, but I could tell the excitement was still in the air.

"Welcome to the grand opening of Style Squad!" He announced. The crowd started cheering and waving their phones in the air. For a second, I thought I saw Damian in the crowd. After blinking a couple times, I saw it was only Marissa's older brother Charlie, who's in 9th grade. So much for getting my hopes up that Hamian didn't exist anymore.
      
Mr. Crimson continued talking, explaining who he was, how my friends and I won the 7th Grade Business Project Fair, and how we're here now. The crowd listened intently, laughing at his jokes every now and then. Before I knew it, my friends and I were up on the makeshift raised stage, wearing our matching Style Squad shirts, about to open the store. As soon as the ribbons were cut, the crowd of girls surged forward, screaming. Security guards had to control the number of people going in the store. It was total chaos.
      
After a while, the crowd started to thin. We could finally get into Style Squad! We walked in and gasped. Mr. Crimson's team had done an incredible job setting up the decorations! There was a large Style Squad logo on the iPad wall, a white crystal chandelier hanging in the dead center of the ceiling, and fuzzy rugs everywhere. Mr. Crimson had privately interviewed potential employees for Style Squad. Their names were Sarah, Willow, Tiffany, Jeffery, and Anton.
    
Alice, Marissa, and Sabrina were dashing around, their arms loaded up with colorful Style Squad shopping bags. Alice saw us as we walked in and squealed. "Oh. Em. Geeee! This is literally the best store ever!" She called out.
      
"Exactly how many items of clothing did you buy?" Sandra asked, staring at Alice's many bags.
     
"I don't even know!" Alice laughed.
     
When Alice, Sabrina, Marissa, and the rest of Miami left the store, we finally got to talk to Mr. Crimson. He was in the back of the store talking to a couple of parents. When he was done, we walked up to him.

"Mr. Crimson? Thank you soooooo much!" Vera gasped.
     
He flashed one of his celebrity smiles. "Anytime, girls!"
     
"No, you have no idea how big this is!" Lexi added. "You helped us open up a store!"
      
"And a successful store, at that," I said, looking around.

"We're so grateful for this, too. I mean, we're only thirteen! In the real world, this is insane!" Sandra adds.
      
Then it hit me. This is the real world. Where girls who just hit their teens can be entrepreneurs. We have a business. Of course, everything is managed by adults, but this was our idea. A simple contest for school has already begun to grow into something so much more. We've already made so much money.

Oh.

Oh!

We're on our way to becoming rich.

What?!
   
"...totally unreal! Right, Elisa?" Vera said. I realized I totally zoned out for a second. "Um, yeah!" I responded with a grin.
     
"Selfie!" Lexi squealed, pulling out her phone. We took a fabulous group selfie, edited it, and posted it on Style Squad's Instagram.
     
I sighed, looking around. My wonderful friends, crowded around Lexi's phone, deciding which photos to keep. The constant buzzing of my phone in my pocket. I need to turn off notifications if we're becoming this popular this quickly. The Style Squad employees cleaning up.
      
Style Squad is officially a part of the mall. A part of Miami. A part of Florida!
      
Little did we know our lives would change even more than they already have in just two more months.