"Isn't it amazing?" Avalon Greene breezed up behind Halley Brandon and gave her best friend's shoulders an affectionate squeeze.
The girls' golden retriever mix, Pucci — named after their moms' favorite designer — followed Avalon into the room and leapt onto Halley's boho-fabulous bedspread, where she began slobbering all over her new Chewy Vuiton squeak-purse.
"Amazing times infinity!" Halley's clear blue eyes sparkled as she swiveled her white egg-shaped desk chair away from their brand-new Style Snarks home page and grinned up at Avalon. Their first post since breaking free from Seaview Middle School's cyberzine, the SMS.com Daily, shimmered gold and pink from the screen of Halley's iMac.
"Take that, Miss Frey!" Avalon scoffed, grabbing Halley's hands and pulling her up from her chair.
"And that, Daily-dot-lame competition!" Halley giggled.
The girls bounced up and down as Madonna's "Material Girl" began playing through the computer speakers. Halley picked up the remote and cranked the volume as she and Avalon launched into a dance routine that predated Avalon's recent move from the gymnastics team to the cheerleading squad. Pucci barked and chased them around the room until a sound barrier — defying screech stopped the girls in mid-kick — ball change.
"Oh. My. God!" Halley's older brother, Tyler, squealed. The pale high school sophomore stood in Halley's doorway, clutching the sides of his face with his hands.
"Hey, Tyler," Halley said patiently. She tilted her head and smirked, totally unfazed by his glass-shattering volume. "What's up?"
"I thought we were having an earthquake!" Tyler bulged out his eyes and shook his head in mock horror so that his wavy dark hair flopped around his lightly freckled face. "But it was just Halvalon: The Reunion Tour." Tyler put his hand on his hip and contorted his face into an exaggerated perky smile.
"Uh, you think that was scary?" Avalon replied tersely, about to comment on Tyler's golfer-gone-wrong ensemble. But then she remembered how helpful Tyler had been with setting up the Style Snarks site the previous night and made an abrupt detour.
"What's really scary is how hot you look today. I almost didn't recognize you. That shirt is, like, full-on adorkable!" Avalon grinned. It wasn't a complete lie. The sky blue polo matched Tyler's eyes almost exactly and, combined with the faded green cargo shorts and white Chuck Taylor low-tops, did achieve a sort of geek-chic je ne sais quoi.
"This old thing?" Tyler locked eyes with Avalon, strutted toward Halley's bed, and then pivoted, supermodel style. "I was thinking of you when I threw it on, Avvy," he added in a breathy voice. "Ciao!" And with a flamboyant wave, he was gone.
"Dude." Halley giggled and shook her head. "Could my brother be more of a spaz?"
"Seriously." Avalon grimaced as she pushed a sheath of long, pale hair behind her shoulder. "You are so lucky it's not genetic."
"Yeah, except he's pretty awesome when he uses his supergeek powers for the greater good," Halley noted as she walked over to her desk and sat down at her computer. "I mean, dork or not, Ty definitely delivered last night."
"True." Avalon followed Halley to the desk so she could take a closer look at their shiny new blog for at least the hundredth time since they'd created it.
It really was beyond gorgeous. The idea for the website had come to Avalon in a moment of extreme inspiration right before bed. She'd immediately thrown on her pink Barefoot Dreams robe and cozy Ugg slippers, raced through the gate separating her family's backyard from Halley's, and gone straight up to her best friend's room. Minutes after...
