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in what they do.” Emma’s mind was spinning. “I can show some of the dresses I used in the pop-up shop and maybe even the Tahitian Sunset collection I did for Madison .”
    “Yeah, well…no. You have to show original clothes that fit in with their Goin’ Green theme,” Charlie explained
    “I need to design and sew all new outfits?” Emma felt her heart beat quicken. “And this benefit’s on February seventh? That’s in less than five weeks!”
    “You can do it, Em. You love a challenge,” Holly called through the phone’s speaker.
    That was true. She’d had to work fast on all her other Allegra designs and they came out great. “Okay, and I can get Francesca to work the booth at the benefit, you know, be the representative for Allegra Biscotti. Everyone loves her Italian accent.”
    “About that, there’s one more thing. A wee bit of info.” Charlie shrugged sheepishly. “Tiny, really.”
    “How small?” Emma asked suspiciously.
    “It’s all relative, isn’t it?” Charlie stalled.
    Emma tapped the toe of her boots.
    “The clothes need to be shown,” Charlie said quickly, as if saying it faster would ease the shock. “Each designer has to produce his or her own mini runway show.”
    “What?” Emma shrieked.
    “You know, a runway show. Where models wearing your clothes strut down a catwalk with music and visual effects.”
    “I know what a runway show is.” Emma heard her voice squeak. “You expect me to mount a full original fashion show? Me ?”
    “Yeah. I promised you would. Or Allegra Biscotti would.”
    Emma closed her eyes. What had Charlie gotten her into?

 
CHAPTER 3
    REUSE, RECYCLE
    “T here’s no way. No way,” Emma shook her head. “I can’t do a professional fashion show. You’ve got to back out of it.”
    “Absolutely not!” Charlie cried. “Em, do you realize what I had to do to get you in? Think about it. I’m some teen kid. Okay, I’m an extraordinary one, but still, it wasn’t easy, even for me.”
    “And you think doing a fashion show is easy?” Emma’s voice still sounded unnaturally high.
    “I never said that.” Charlie placed both palms on the table and locked eyes with her. “You said you wanted this. Really wanted this. I made it happen. And not on my own. I had to show them pictures of your designs, tell them about all your successes so far. You did all that. You can’t chicken out now that it’s hard.”
    “You like a challenge,” Holly reminded her through the speaker.
    “I’d like it better if it were easy,” Emma said.
    “Pretending to be a sophisticated high-couture fashion designer who is at least ten years older than you and comes from Italy is never going to be easy. Face it.” Charlie had no problem giving it to her straight. “But it is fun, right?”
    “Right,” Emma agreed. “But what if this is too much too soon?”
    “Then you fail. Allegra Biscotti goes bust. She moves to a villa in the Alps and is never heard from again and in five years, Emma Rose emerges as a fresh, never-before-seen designer.” Charlie had it all figured out. “If you fail, it’s still a win-win.”
    “I’m not going to fail.” Emma hated that word.
    “I’ll help,” Holly offered.
    “Me, too. I can organize the whole thing,” Charlie said.
    “We could pull this off,” she said hesitantly. Emma had never been to any of the high-profile Fashion Week shows, but she’d streamed them on her computer. She knew that, most of all, a fashion show hinged on the clothes coming down the runaway. That she could do. That’s what she wanted to do.
    Charlie reached for a pen and a piece of scrap paper. “I’ll start a list. First up, Holls, can you find cool fashion shows on YouTube? I kind of need a visual, so I know what’s what.”
    “You’ve never seen a fashion show?” Holly asked.
    “Why would I?” Charlie asked.
    “Oh, no,” Emma groaned.
    “Keep the faith. This will be awesome,” Charlie promised.
    “What about Paige?” Emma