Squad Goals by Erika J. Kendrick

Author:Erika J. Kendrick [KENDRICK, ERIKA J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2021-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

Last night’s heavy conversation with Fortune left me craving a big dose of comfort food. So the next morning I pad over to my candy stash in my middle drawer and that’s when I see the note Cappie scribbled for me. It’s taped to the mirror above my mouthwash:

Needed to get started early. See you out there.

See you out there?

I slide down the wall and bury my head between my knees. But then after a few seconds of pouting, I decide to handle this maturely. Instead of obsessing over Cappie’s choices, I’m going to make some big-girl choices of my own. So I take the liberty of borrowing her curling wand to tackle my hair. Decided: Not only am I going to act more mature, I’m going to look it, too.

Fortune used to have a sparkly vanity in her room and I’d sit cross-legged on her bed and watch her as she got ready in the morning. So I grip the wand and take clumps of my hair at a time, smoothing them around the barrel, just like I’ve seen her do. It seemed to take her forever to get each curl just right, but it was always worth it. I don’t have that kind of time today, so I jumble all my hair around the grooves of the wand one last time and spritz it all in place.

Then I apply some shimmery makeup around my eyes. I swivel the brush around the purple eye shadow and swipe it across my eyelids a few times. When I’m done, I take a step back and survey the new and improved me. For some reason, I don’t look as polished as Fortune always did. In fact, I look more like a cross between a raccoon and a clown.

I decide to wipe off some of the face paint and keep the rest. Then I grab two giant fistfuls of Kleenex and stuff my training bra, smushing my baby boobs to the center of my chest. It isn’t exactly a secret that I’m the vice president of the famous itty-bitty committee. And even though the tissue is making my bra lumpy, I’m already feeling more mature and HoneyBee-ready.

I nod to myself in the mirror and race out the door to the sandy volleyball court.

I fly through the Daffodil Field, trying to hold my hair together. Coach told us that she was so impressed with how hard we’ve been working that she was rewarding us with a volleyball game as a change from our normal practice routines. I’m thrilled to have a break from practice, but I’m even more pumped for everyone to see the new, improved me.

The volleyball court is in the middle of a big rectangular sand lot surrounded by grass that had been plopped right between the football field and the dorms.

I’m feeling pretty confident as I prance over to Cappie, who’s standing coolly next to the net waiting for her turn to get in the game. Brooklyn, LuLu, and Winnie are just a few steps behind her.

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