"Zoey, if your listening, I'm sorry... beeeep... Zoey, pick up, please?...beeeep...Zoey, please don't
ignore me, I'm sorry!...beeeep." Zoey's mother raised her eyebrows at Zoey.
"That boy sure is annoying, isn't he?" Zoey's mother commented, erasing the messages that were
left on the answering machine.
Zoey sighed. "No mother. He just sort of hurt my feelings yesterday when I told him...that I was
in a beauty pagent."
Zoey's mother laughed lightly. "You? In a beauty contest? I can hardly picture that," she said,
walking lightly out of the room.
Zoey followed her, smiling sadly. "Sure...you used to enter me in them all the time... remember
mom?"
Mrs. Fielding sat down on the couch, as her eyes got misty. "Yes...well...those were the days
when you were younger," she looked her daughter up and down. "And cuter."
Zoey scowled. "Gee, thanks mother. I feel so loved," she said sarcastically.
Mrs. Fielding narrowed her eyes at Zoey. "You will not use that tone of voice with me, young
lady, I am your mother."
Zoey scoffed again. "Not a very good one," she muttered, walking out of the room, and
stomping up the stairs to her room. By then, tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She
picked up the phone, and dialed the famliar number.
"Hello?"
Zoey sobbed, a hiccup escaping her lips.
"Zoey? Is that you?"
"Taylor, she's awful!" Was all Zoey could manage to get out.
"I'll be right over, Zoey," Taylor said, slamming down the phone.
Chapter Eleven
