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makeup and basically let off steam—all four of us were so giddy and so freaked out that we couldn't stop talking about tonight. Brooke even
got her mom to call Keiran's mom and beg her to let Keiran get out of babysitting so she could do some primping with us. Brooke is usually pretty good at swaying the parents on things.
    Yesterday that job fell to our new boss, Susan. Once we said we were on board for the show, she called our parents to thank them for saying yes and to invite them to dinner with her and a few executives in Greenport on Friday night. Our parents accepted and, of course, they had a ton of questions: What kind of show is this going to be? How do we film an episode? Will this interrupt our schooling? How were they going to keep us from becoming overindulged reality TV brats (yes, they're thinking of you, Paris Hilton)? Since Susan's vision revolves around me—something that still seems surreal and disconcerting—my parents were especially concerned about my schedule and how I would manage my job at Milk and Sugar, work as entertainment writer for the school paper, study for exams,
and
shoot a TV show at the same time.
    Susan wowed every last one of them, including Hallie's parents, who were more than a little skeptical about having their daughter spend all her time filming something without them. Susan explained in painstaking detail how our filming schedule would work, what kind of commitment we'd be making, what our paychecks would be like, even though she'd be discussing that with each of us privately—you name it andSusan had an answer. Our parents were so chill by theend of dessert that they even agreed to let us go to the Fire and Ice party without them (which is great because who wants to meet the Jonas Brothers with their mom?). Susan promised to keep a close eye on us and to meet with all of us again next Wednesday to go over any new concerns we might have. She's hoping we can sign contracts as soon as the end of next week.
    Everything is happening so quickly that I feel like I've dropped into a Disney princess movie and found my happily ever after in twenty-four hours! I can't believe it was a week ago that Susan dropped the bomb on me and now we're zipping along in Brooke's brother's banged-up Jeep Cherokee to go to some swanky eatery in the Hamptons for the Fire and Ice Network soirée. (Susan offered to send a car for us, but since Todd was going this way anyway, we declined. Mom said it wouldn't be right for us to take advantage of Susan's generosity when we weren't officially employees yet. I guess, but it would have been nice to show up in a Hummer limo.)
    “We're going to be home by midnight, right?” Keiran sounds nervous as she chews on a strand of her hair. Brooke insisted on giving Keiran a full makeover for tonight's party. Keiran has on bronzer, smoky eye makeup, and flat-ironed hair. Brooke also made Keiran wear one of her own ensembles—she's always letting us “shop” from her closet—so now Kiki's in a cute black halter top and sparkly heels that go well with her skinny pants. “If I'm home even
two
minutes after midnight, I'll be grounded for a month.”
    “Would you stop worrying?” Hallie leans over and hugs her, smacking Keiran in the cheek with her dangly silver earrings. Hallie has her hair up tonight, and little wisps hang down her neck. She opted to wear Brooke's super-short multicolored sundress, the one Brooke wore to her cousin's wedding last month. The dress barely fits Hallie, who has more curves than any of us, but the look works. “We will not let you miss curfew, okay? Todd is picking us up at 11:15.”
    Todd grunts in agreement. Unlike his sister, Todd is anything but a fashionista. He spends all his time working on cars in the family's barn, so he's always covered in grease from head totoe. Underneath all that dirt, he's kind of cute in a scary, bad-boy kind of way, with his short dark brown hair and big brown eyes and his biker-chic wardrobe. He