“No,” I say, trying not to curse. “Heaven does not want to come to their party, Mom. It’s a bunch of twelve-year-olds.”
“She won’t be there as a guest. She’ll be there as a vendor. They are gonna make T-shirts, but Stella said if I hired a face painter or a balloon animal guy, she would file for emancipation. The twins are too cool for face paint, but they aren’t too cool for temporary tattoos. What do you think, Heaven? I’ll pay you, of course.”
I watch Heaven as she scrambles to come up with an answer. I desperately want her to say no. I know she hates being put on the spot like this and I don’t want her roped into another Cristine Ford extravaganza. Eight different emotions go across her face before she answers.
“Uh, I’ll have to talk to my parents since it’s like, a job,and I should probably talk to Miss Yeun since she’s my mentor.”
“Oh sure, and I’ll talk to them too. Settle on a rate and I’ll make sure you have all the supplies you need. Also!”
“Mom, we gotta go. Please.”
“Just one more second. I had an idea. One of our mutuals is a tattoo artist, WitchyLamb.”
“Oh yeah, I know her,” Heaven says.
“Well, she did a huge campaign with Pentip a few years ago for their body pens. I’ll talk to your parents, of course, but maybe we put out feelers to the pen company to get a little ad revenue for you.”
“Oh,” Heaven says, blinking, and I’m scrambling to think of a way to pull her out of this conversation. Working the slumber party is one thing. I don’t think Heaven (or I!) had any clue my mom was going to try and put her on to a brand deal out of nowhere.
“Mom. No,” I say.
“Um, can I think about that? I don’t think I have enough followers to get an ad deal. Also, I really want to talk to Mrs.Yeun. I’ve never used those pens before, and I don’t want the first time I try them to be on a bunch of twelve-year-olds.”
“Of course. Smart. You talk to your people. I’ll talk to your people, but you’ll work the party?” Mom says, not letting up.
“Yeah, if my mom says it’s okay. It could be good practice.” Heaven looks over at me, this hopeful look in her eyes, and I know this is totally on me. I told Heaven I’d help herwith all this stuff leading up to her apprenticeship. I can’t bail on her now, especially if she wants to do it. If she can deal with my sisters and their friends, she’ll be ready to take on the toughest tattoo client. I give in, nodding and giving her my best look of reassurance.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here too,” I say. “I’ll be your assistant if you need one.”
Instantly Heaven’s shoulders relax. “Okay.”
“Great!” Mom says. “Off to the mall you go.”
“Sorry about that,” I tell Heaven as we walk out to her car. “She can be a little or a lot pushy.”
“Oh, is that where you get it from?” She laughs. I scowl at her and then laugh a little myself.
“This is different. I’m trying to hide from her.”
“Well, I need more followers, so she can help with that. And you said you’ll be at the party, so we can hang out, right?” Heaven says. We stop at the car and she turns in my direction. Suddenly, I realize what’s really important here. Heaven actually showed up after we kissed and she’s talking about hanging out with me again, in the future. Even if my mom is technically paying her, she still wants to be around me.
“Yeah, it’ll be okay.” I look down at my cast so I don’t look at Heaven’s lips, so I don’t accidentally kiss her again right in front of our doorbell camera. And then I’m annoyed all over again.
“I do wish she wouldn’t post my cast. I was feeling like you decorated it just for me and now it’s going out to Cristine’s millions of followers.”
“You want me to run back inside and knock her phone out of her hand?”
“No,” I sputter out laughing, though that would be hilarious to see.
“You want me to draw something else just for you and we can smuggle it into your house so your mom doesn’t see it?”
I can’t help the smile that spreads out over my face. “Yes, please. I’d like that.”
“You got it. Come on.”
We climb into Heaven’s car and head off to the mall in Century City, which is in fact still there even if Mom ate up a good ten minutes of our quality time.
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