Style Squad

Key Largo

***

And so we picked up my friends' families. Vera's parents and her little sister, Via; Sandra's parents and her little brother, Sam; and Lexi's parents, along with her other brother, Jordan, and her two little brothers, Evan and Joey.

"I just discovered that this limo has wifi!" Vera said, reclining in her blue seat.

"Ugh, great! I'm almost out of data!" Sandra replied.

It's not a long drive to Key Largo. Only about 15 minutes. I was staring out the window, watching the buildings go by. I'm not sure if I should be excited for this trip or not.

"Elisa?" Lexi broke my thoughts.

I looked at her. Her hair was tied up into a bouncy high ponytail. "Are you okay? You seem distracted."
      
I pause. "Yeah, I'm... fine."
      
"Okay..." Lexi says, disbelief in her voice. She pulls out her phone and starts typing.
      
"Elisa, when I girl says they're 'fine', that usually means that they're not." Sandra looked up from her phone. Vera took out her earbuds and Lexi stared at me.
      
"Heh, umm..." I stared out the window again. It looked like we were going to the mall, not Key Largo.
       
"Doesn't it look like we're going to the mall?" I said, quickly changing the subject.
       
"Yeah!" Vera said, noticing that I didn't want to talk about me.
       
"I've been to Key Largo before, and this is not the way there," Lexi added.
       
We sit in silence for a minute.
      
"Ugh, Elisa, what's wrong?!" Sandra exclaims, nearly jumping out of her lavender seat.
       
I feel my cheeks turn red. "I, um, I don't really want to be famous!"
       
Lexi's eyes widen. "Why not?! We weren't really popular before, and now we're the talk of the state!"
       
I sigh. "You don't understand! We are 8th graders! We aren't in school! Instead, we're running a business!"
      
Vera took her earbuds out again. "Need we remind you that we're expanding across the country? We're halfway to rich!"
       
I sigh again. "Yes, this is wonderful, but I'm still nervous! I have major anxiety!" I choke. I close my eyes. When I opened them again, however, my friends acted as if nothing happened.
      
"Elisa? Eliiiiisaaaaa?" Lexi turns to me, her ponytail swinging.
       
Oh.
       
Oh!
      
I imagined everything.
       
"Are you alright? You totally dozed off for a sec!" Vera said, concerned.
      
"Guys! We're at the mall!" Sandra shouts before I can respond to Vera. I open the window.
      
Sure enough, the Dolphin Mall is right outside.
      
Sonja pokes her head through the window I opened.

"Hi, girls! Before we go to Key Largo, we need to stop at the mall!"

"Um, for what exactly?" I ask.

"To stock up on your merch, obviously!"

Lexi's eyes widen. "Why? We already packed our stuff."

Sonja cocked an eyebrow. "We're going to be surrounded by paparazzi! So we need to wear our brand!"
    
It's not your brand, Sonja, I thought.
    
Before we knew it, we were entering Style Squad. There were girls everywhere.
    
"Hey, everyone out! The ladies of Style Squad need to make clothes! Sorry for this, so all of you will receive your clothes for absolutely free!"
     
And so everyone left.
     
Lexi whispered to me, "I don't really want to make this much clothes. This is a personal vacation!"
     
Oh.
     
Oh!
     
She's right!

"Hey, everyone!" I called. All the girls and their parents looked at us. Sonja shot me an evil glance.

"Okay, so you guys must be very confused. First of all, we're not making clothes for ourselves at the moment. So feel free to come back and continue your designs, for free! Sorry for the confusion!"

The girls cheered and ran back into the store.

Sonja came over to me and whispered. "You made a big mistake, Elisa. Don't forget that your friends are hiding something from you. Something about a former friendship."
    
Um, what?!

"What do you mean?"

Sonja laughed. "Honey, everyone knows. I'm going to let your friends open up to you."

She turned on her heel and sashayed away.

My head was spinning. What the heck are they hiding?! I'm getting more and more suspicious.

Little did I know!

***

We returned to the Style Squad limo (after getting Starbucks, obviously!) to drive to Key Largo.

But even a Strawberries and Crème Frappuccino couldn't make me feel less anxious. Somehow, I had a bad feeling about this trip. I felt like a lot of drama was about to happen.

Remember when I said that I don't skimp on the details?

This is going to be one of those parts of the story.

Because, trust me, a lot of things happened in this trip.

Reader, this trip changed me... for the worse.

I sat back in my seat, pale pink Starbucks treat in my hand. Lexi, Sandra, and Vera were chatting up a storm. I just stayed silent and plugged my phone charger into one of the USB units in my seat. This limo is so high-tech!

I decided to check my IG. Scrolling through photos of Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, my favorite YouTubers and their dogs, and my friend's photos, I came across one of Marcella Diamond's pics.

It was a picture taken from the interview.

Of course, we all looked happy.

Marcella's smile lit up the photo.

Lexi was twirling a lock of hair around her finger, smiling softly.

Sandra was acting a little sassy, with her feet up on the coffee table and a smirk on her face.

Vera was obviously laughing. She has one of those laughs that make you super happy.

And I...

I was grinning at Marcella.

Come to think of it, I never remembered this moment. Was this a picture that was taken before Marcella started acting like a jerk? No, that couldn't be it. She was mean before the photo shoot. When was this picture taken? We looked like lifelong friends, Marcella and I.
     
This was the caption:

It was so exciting to meet w/ @StyleSquad and get to know them! Check out their feature in the September 2017 edition of FFM! Love y'all! 😜😘💖😉💎

I sighed. Marcella is a fake. That's a fact.
   
I quickly unfollowed her.
   
But not before I saved the photo to my Camera Roll.

"You okay, Elisa?" Sandra asked.

I looked up and smiled. "Yeah," I lied.

***

A few minutes later, we arrive at the hotel. Vera's sister, Via, was running around with Sandra's brother, Sam. Evan, Lexi's nine year old brother, was saying, "This isn't really a vacation, we're fifteen minutes from home!" Jordan, Lexi's older brother, was playing with Joey, her three year old brother.
     
We stepped out of the limo and gasped.
     
The hotel was gorgeous.
     
From where we were standing, we could see the crystal clear water on the powdered sugar-like sand beach. Colorful umbrellas and people in bathing suits dotted the shoreline.
      
The hotel had four buildings, each one six stories tall. They were a beige-tan color, with burnt sienna roofs. Each room seemed to have a balcony.
     
I could also see that there was a large pool with a water slide!

"OMG, this is going to be great!" Sandra squealed.

I smiled and nodded. Hopefully!