I could feel the force of Rose’s enthusiasm through her texts. For once, my energy level matched hers, my fingers flying on my phone as I texted back:RIGHT?????????!!!!!
I need to process this. Are you home? Can I come over?
It was Monday afternoon and both of us were off KoBra duty.
Yeah, come over
An hour later, we were sitting in my room, Flo in my lap while the fan rattled inches away from us.
“Nothing? You said nothing,” she said, her voice flat.
I fiddled with Flo’s collar, irritating her. One paw pushed my hand away. “Well, I wasshocked. And then his grandparents came in the room!”
She groaned. “Hamlet, what the heck? Why would he say that with hisgrandparentsaround?”
“I don’t think he was planning it. It just seemed to slip out.”
“Either way, terrible timing.”
“Agreed.” I let go of Flo, plopping down backward onto the bed.
Rose propped her chin on the edge of my bed. “Do you feel the same way?” she asked.
I stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I mean, yes, I like him. But…love?”
“I know. So serious.”
“SO serious!”
The breeze from the fan lifted my tank top off my belly, making the fabric flutter for a second. “I feel like that guy in a rom-com who freaks out over the obviously perfect-catch girl having feelings for him. Like, why am I obsessing over a love declaration from a nice guy?”
“Rom-com main characters are old. You’re sixteen. Love declarations are weird.”
This was stressing me out, and my room started to feel oppressive. Rose seemed to pick up on this and said, “Let’s do something fun today.”
“Yes and yes.”
Her eyes narrowed in concentration. “You know, there’s a list of all the trucks entering the competition on the website.”
I sat up. “And?”
“Maybe we can check them out. See what we’re up against.”
My mind took that suggestion and spun through other ways to make it more interesting, like prank roulette. By the time it landed on an idea, I was brainstorming.
***
“Is a wig completely necessary?” Rose asked, her voice low and skeptical.
I browsed through the wig bin at my favorite thrift store. “Isanythingever necessary?”
“Hi, Clara!” The woman behind the counter waved at me, her eyebrows drawn high and dramatically, her fake mole shifting on her upper lip as she smiled widely at me.
I waved back. “Hey, Erin!” I glanced at Rose next to me. “I’ve purchased many a disguise here.”
“I am very muchnotsurprised,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she picked up a neon orange bob with her fingertips.
“We’re spies today. We need to be fully covert,” I said, eyeing an electric blue pixie wig.
