In the second-floor shoe salon, Kimmie tried on eighteen different pairs of heels and finally landed on a pair of Azzedine Alaïa signature cut-out white leather booties with a four-inch heel. They cost over twelve hundred dollars and she charged them to her mother’s store credit card knowing that she’d have a few weeks before her mother spotted them on her statement. Her rationale was simple: her mother would surely be so pleased about her daughter landing Vronsky as her new boyfriend, all she’d have to do was explain how these shoes helped her get him. She’d still get in trouble, but Lolly had already paved the way for such behavior as she had been obsessed with fashion since middle school, throwing tantrums if she didn’t have the latest designers to wear. Kimmie had never cared much about everyday clothes, though her competition dresses were always Vera Wang.

Since Kimmie had started at Spence, she cared more and more about what she wore to school. Mainly because Lolly pressured her. Apparently if Kimmie dressed poorly it reflected on her. For the last six weeks Kimmie had really elevated her fashion game. Even though she was loath to admit it, she knew it was because of her newfound interest in boys, or rather, the attention she now garnered from boys since appearing on the Hot List. Kimmie denied that she cared about the dumb list, partly because Lolly had never made it on, and it felt tacky to rub it in her sister’s less critically-acclaimed face, and partly because she only really cared about one particular boy’s attention.

Kimmie wanted to believe she was dressing up for Jaylen’s party for herself, but she knew that was a lie. Perhaps if every detail was perfect, Vronsky would be so taken with her they’d spend the whole night dancing together and he’d ask her to be his girlfriend. Clearly things were getting serious between them, and the other night when she told him she liked him, he had looked into her eyes and said he really liked her, too.

Now that she was already going to get busted by her mom for the new shoes, Kimmie figured she might as well go completely rogue, deciding that she needed a little bit of flash to show her fun side. She walked out of the Chanel department with a new cross-body evening bag, a limited edition in neon-pink patent leather. If tomorrow night was to be her night, she wanted to look her best.

XVIII