Parallel Parking by Natalie Standiford

Author:Natalie Standiford [STANDIFORD, NATALIE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316089036
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

“Can I look in the mirror now?”

Lina surveyed her handiwork. Rex stood before her dressed in black jeans, boots, a black T-shirt, and a black jacket, with a couple of studded leather bracelets around one wrist. Lina had dragged him downtown to Rutgers Street after school on Friday for a makeover. He actually owned the black clothes; he’d just never worn them all at once before. The boots were new—she’d ordered him to buy them.

Now they stood together in the local Sephora, where makeup samples were free and plentiful. Rex wouldn’t go for the cakey white base, but he let her line his eyes and darken his blond eyebrows. Still, something was missing. She checked the picture of Donald Death, which she’d brought along for reference.

“Lina? Can I look?” Rex asked. She hadn’t allowed him near a mirror for fear that he would stop her before she was finished.

“Not yet,” she said. She dug a jar of her own hair putty out of her bag and got to work on his Leave It to Beaver haircut, the one Ramona found so vomitous. She spiked it out as best as she could.

“There,” she said. He was no Donald Death—and really, what sane person would want to be? But the old preppy Rex was gone, buried under a ton of hair goo.

“Can I see now?” Rex asked.

“Um, better not.” Lina took him by the arm and pulled him out of the makeup store before he passed another mirror. She didn’t want him to freak out.

Lina had arranged to meet Ramona at Ruby’s, a café down the street. She didn’t plan on showing up, however. Goth Rex would show up instead.

“Do you really think this will work?” Rex said. “It seems kind of silly.”

Deep down, she had serious doubts. She said a silent prayer of thanks for Walker—laid-back, easygoing, adorable Walker. No makeover required.

“It’s a long shot,” Lina said. “But Ramona really likes Goth-y punk guys.”

Lina peeked through the plate glass window of Ruby’s. Ramona sat alone at a table with a cup of tea.

“There she is,” Lina said. “Go!”

She opened the door, gave Rex a shove, and ducked away from the window. She counted to three, then peeked.

Rex stood at Ramona’s table. Ramona looked up. She seemed confused at first, as if she didn’t recognize him. Good, good, Lina thought.

Then Ramona started laughing. Not a good kind of laugh. Head thrown back, mouth wide open, chains jiggling. Rex looked pained. Ramona said something and shook her head. She was still laughing when Rex walked out onto the sidewalk.

“She said I can’t pull the Goth thing off,” he said. “She called me a poseur.”

He stared at his reflection in the plate glass. He tried to rub off the eyeliner. “I look like an idiot.”

Lina felt terrible. “Rex, did you ever think that maybe Ramona’s not the girl for you?”

“She is,” Rex insisted. “She just doesn’t know it yet. You’re not giving up already?”

“Well…” Lina said. The thought had occurred to her.

“Don’t—please,” Rex said. “She’d like me if she got to know me—I know she would.

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