Olivia Bennett - The Allegra Biscotti Collection

Emma bit her lip. “I don’t know…yet. I still have to make my patterns and figure out how much I need. But I definitely want these. I just can’t buy them…today.”

Nidhi smiled knowingly. She was always patient with Emma, probably because Emma tried very hard never to waste Nidhi’s time or drive her crazy—unlike the design students. “I’ll put these on hold as long as you promise not to tell Abe. When will you come back? Saturday, yeah?”

“Yes. Definitely Saturday!”

“Wow, that’s going to be a pretty big purchase.” Nidhi’s dark eyes glinted at Emma.

“My biggest, for sure.” Emma had already done the math in her head. She turned, then hesitated. She hated leaving the lining fabric behind. She wanted to feel the material and mix and match the linings with the outer fabrics as her designs took shape. “Could I possibly get a tiny swatch of each of these?”

In one swift motion, Nidhi pulled a pair of fabric shears from a sheath clipped to the waistband of her short camel-wool wrap skirt and snipped little triangles off each bolt. With a cupped hand, she swept them off the cutting table and slipped them into Emma’s palm.

As Emma wound her way back to the front of the store, a wave of excitement washed over her. Deep in the pocket of her mocha-brown velvet trench, her fingers lightly danced over the small yet precious pieces of fabric. They were the beginning. The beginning of her first collection.

The first-ever Allegra Biscotti collection.

“I made you a schedule,” Charlie announced at Emma’s locker Monday morning.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Charlie, who never got embarrassed, looked slightly uncomfortable as he handed her a chart printed out from his computer. “It’s nothing major. Just a calendar showing how many days left and when each piece should be finished.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Emma said. “It’s not like I finish one piece and then start another. They all kind of flow together.”

“Fine, so toss it.” Charlie reached for his chart, but Emma held tight and pushed it into her locker. When her mother constantly followed up on her schoolwork, Emma found herself unendingly frustrated. But having Charlie check up on her was a nice surprise.

On Friday, Emma had run directly from school to buy the muslin. She’d spent the entire weekend working on her collection—first draping the dress forms at her studio; then creating the patterns; then mixing and matching. After much pinning and unpinning of the tiny swatches, she was able to buy the right amount of fabric. Naturally, she’d holed up in her bedroom into the night cutting the fabric with her favorite fabric shears—which meant she was more exhausted than usual for a Monday morning.

“The only thing I didn’t get to do was homework,” Emma admitted to Charlie. “But I have a plan for that. I’ll squeeze it all in during study hall and lunch this week.”

It wasn’t like she loved sitting with Ivana and the ’Bees in the cafeteria anyway. Emma figured they probably wouldn’t even notice that she was gone. As for Holly, Emma wasn’t sure if the peace offering in the auditorium was just a onetime thing. She was beginning to suspect not having Emma around made Holly’s life with her new friends much simpler.

“Any chance you’re ready for the geometry quiz this morning?”

Emma stared at Charlie. “What quiz? Oh, no. I totally forgot.” She scrambled to find her math textbook. Maybe if she glanced at the problems right now, she’d luck out and pull off a C on that one.

“Bees at three o’clock,” Charlie mumbled out of the side of his mouth. He nodded toward Lexie and Kayla, who were now standing at the other end of the hall.

Emma’s mouth dropped open.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“I…can’t believe it!” Emma gasped, peering around Charlie’s shoulder. “Lexie is wearing the exact same outfit I styled for Holly at Bloomingdale’s. Well, she switched the pink sequined miniskirt for a pink corduroy one, but otherwise it’s the same!”

“The one you told me they busted on?” Charlie asked, trying to take a peek without being obvious.

“Yes! Tell me what they’re doing,” Emma demanded.

“Holly, Ivana, and Shannon are with them now,” he reported. “And Lexie is spinning around, like she’s showing them her outfit.”

Emma could hear the girls—especially the famously loud Ivana—oohing and ahhing over Lexie’s outfit, Emma’s outfit, all the way down the hall. She doubted that any of them was giving her a single ounce of credit. Emma stood on tiptoes to sneak a look over Charlie’s shoulder again. She had to admit Lexie looked pretty fabulous. The gray mohair sweater-vest made her long dark hair look that much shinier, and the miniskirt showed off her tanned, athletic legs.

“Ugh—here they come,” Emma said, sinking back on her feet.

“Later!” Charlie said. He took off in the opposite direction.

“Coward!” Emma loudly whispered after him.Moments later, the girls crowded around Holly’s locker.

“Hi, Em,” Holly said. The other girls stood talking and giggling behind her, waiting for her to grab her books.

“Hey,” Emma replied. “Sorry, but I’m not going to be at lunch today. I need to go to the library.”

Holly popped a bubble and shrugged. “No biggie. You ready for the geometry quiz? I think it’s going to be kind of hard.”

“Uh, no. Not really,” Emma answered. How can Holly just stand there and pretend like this isn’t the most awkward moment ever? Emma wondered. She must realize that Lexie took my outfit combination, since Holly was the one who wore it first.

“Cute outfit, Lexie,” Emma ventured, hoping her subtle comment might prompt Holly to acknowledge the truth. “Really cool combo.”

Emma waited for Holly’s reaction. But she didn’t have one. Holly just continued pulling stuff out of the locker, getting ready for the first few periods of the day.

“Thanks.” Lexie beamed with genuine delight. “It’s my new favorite. Fun, isn’t it?”

“Super-fun,” Emma responded sarcastically. “It kind of looks like the one I styled in Bloomie’s, don’t you think?” She spoke to Lexie but stared directly at Holly.

“Not at all.” Ivana quickly jumped to her friend’s defense. “This outfit is much more stylish.”

Emma continued to stare at Holly. Willing her to say something. But Holly remained mute, suddenly intent on organizing pens and pencils in a case.

Emma glanced down at the geometry book in her hand, then over at Lexie’s outfit and Holly fervently lining up pencils. So this was how it was going to be. She slammed her locker shut and walked away.

She wondered if Coco Chanel had days like these.

Six hours later, as Emma pushed down on the foot pedal of her sewing machine, laying down the first stitches to the Allegra Biscotti Collection, thoughts of her so-called best friend and quizzes on congruent triangles were blissfully forgotten. She began with the jacket, joining each piece together—left side front to left side back, right side front to right side back—with flawless seams.