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Chapter 2

I RECOGNIZED HALF THE FACES AT THE TASTING ANTOINE AND Trez, orked at Dr Jay&039;s in the Bronx Hiro Wakata, a board under his arh to hile parking an airplane with orange flashlights The Silicon Alley crew, led by Lexa Legault behind chunky black eyeglass fra an MP3 player (made by a certain co pies) Hillary Winston-hyphen-S slummed her way over from Fifth Avenue, and Tina Catalina, whose pink T-shirt bore a slogan in English clearly composed by someone who spoke only Japanese All of the

I always felt a little out of place at these things Most kids ive away their opinions for free, thrilled just to be asked, so they never roup circuit As a result, Jen and I were the youngest people in the room We were also the only ones eren&039;t dressed to represent She was in Logo Exile unifore My non-brand T-shirt was the color of dried chewing guray of a rainy day, ht ahead Like a spy trying to blend into the crowd or a guy painting his apartroup, which I figure is like showing up drunk to a wine tasting

Antoine bumped my fist with his usual, "Myat the basketball under her ar way too hard But when his eyes caught her sneakers, they filled with pleasure

"Nice laces"

"I saw them first," I said firmly I&039;d already phoned the picture to Mandy, but if Antoine got a good look at the across the Bronx like a nasty flu Or maybe they&039;d fizzle; you never knew

He spread his hands in surrender and kept his eyes above her ankles Honor aht Jen here To impress her? She was more likely to be seriously uniht? Besides a handful of azines?

"New girlfriend, Hunter?" Hillary of the Hyphen was also checking out Jen but in a co over at Jen&039;s Logo Exile ense, and black shoes all had first and last naold buckles, and, like her, came from Fifth Avenue She saved ht There wasn&039;t an old one"

"Not as old as you, I&039; a beat

Antoine whistled and spun on one heel with a squeak, clearing the deck I pulled Jen over toward the chairs at the far side of the conference rooe of Hillary&039;s hundred-dollar claws (per hand)

"Hi, Hunter Thanks for co" Mandy was in serious client-wear, red and white and swooshed all over She was peering down at the conference room&039;s control panel, perhaps intimidated by its spaceship complexity She pressed a button, and blackout curtains ju across the sixtieth-floor view of Central Park A tentative stab later, wooden panels slid apart on one wall, revealing a TV that probably cost h but was much flatter

"This is Jen"

"Nice laces," Mandy said, not bothering to look down, giving raph tucked into her clipboard, headed for mass production

I sat Jen down and whispered, "She approves of you"

"This is all very weird," she answered

"Duh"

Hillary Hyphen, who had recently reached the big two-oh, an to fade

The ad was set in the standard client fantasy world It was nightti et and slick and beautiful, blue highlights glea lamorous job to the beat of so older than Hillary One of thea beautiful ears, and the last one (the wo ih puddles reflecting Don&039;t Walk signs

"Oh, I get it Run," Jen whispered

I chuckled There are only about twelve words in the client&039;s language, but at least everyone is fluent

Guess what? The three models were all headed to the same cool bar, which looked like a cross between a velvet couch factory and an operating roo thrilled to see each other, energized by their gla is fun," I whispered

"Fun is good, &039; Jen agreed

The ad ca their beers untouched, having decided to keep ether? Wouldn&039;t that be a little aard? Whatever

The lights came up

"So" - Mandy spread her hands - "what do we think about &039;Don&039;t Walk&039;?"

It&039;s funny that ads have titles, like little movies But only the people who shoot them - and people like me - ever find out what those titles are

"I liked the motorcycle," Tina Catalina said "Japanese street bikes are way back"

Mandy&039;s eyes went to Hiro Wakata, Lord of All Things with Wheels, who gave her the Nod, and she checked off a box on her clipboard I&039;d thought Aurus had decided otherwise

"Skate reeeks nodded The Gerht shoes," Trez said, just to fill a brief silence He and Antoine would have approved theo Shoes that didn&039;t make it in the Bronx were shipped off to Siberia, or New Jersey, or so wasn&039;t really about the shoes It was about how all the little elements of the fantasy world added up or didn&039;t

"Was that Plastique, where they wound up?" Hillary Hyphen said "That club is so last April"

Mandy checked her clipboard "No, it&039;s someplace in London" That shut Hillary up The client was very clever, shooting the street scenes in New York and the interiors on another continent You never wanted too ets old so fast

"So we liked it?" Mandy asked the group "Nothing felt wrong to you guys?"

She looked around expectantly Spotting cool was only half our job Theuncool before it made trouble Like a race-car driver, the client worriedevery lap

The room stayed silent, and Mandy started to lower her clipboard happily to the table

Then Jen spoke up

"I was kind of bugged by the -black-woed unco the eyes on her

"Yeah, I knohat you h I didn&039;t

Jen took a slow breath, collecting her thoughts "You know, the guy on the uy on the bike hite The woman hite That&039;s the usual bunch, you know? Like everybody&039;s accounted for? Except not really I call that the -black-woman formation It kind of happens a lot"

It was quiet for anothersigh of recognition

"Like the Mod Squad!" she said

"Yeah," Hiro chimed in, "or the three y offu whose title ends in an X, counts as a brand, and therefore will not grace these pages

The floodgates broke More comic books, movies, and TV shows tumbled off everyone&039;s lips, a dozen stuffed-full pop-cultural -black-woman formations until Mandy looked ready to cry

She s I should have known about?" she said sharply, sweeping her eyes around the table

An unhappy silence fell over the conference roooes wrong in a certain series of secret agent filht push a button on the control panel and ould be ejected, chairs and all, out the roof and into some lake in Central Park

But Antoine cleared his throat and saved us all fro whatever before"

"Me neither," said Trez

Lexa Legault had been tapping at her wireless notebook and said, "I got nothing Zero relevant hits on" She nae nuet very far telling this story if I can&039;t say "Google")

"It&039;s not a big deal," Jen said "It just popped into my head, you know?"

"Yeah, like atches The Mod Squad any her eye roll with an exquisite glare at Jen Hillary looked happy, at least, to see us kids put in our place

The flush in Mandy&039;s cheeks began to fade She hadn&039;t let the client miss a trend, a vital new concept, a youthquake This was just soht that hadn&039;t existed before today&039;s s wrapped up and Mandy paid ave me a cold look, and I realized that I was in trouble So to spread By the very nature of the le anonyet this advertise new turn of phrase made it look its dated as a seventies cop show

Mandy&039;s look was telling ht an Innovator to a cool tasting, where only Trendsetters were allowed

Chapter 3

AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID THERE ARE THE INNOVATORS

The first kid to keep her wallet on a big chunky chain The first to ay-too-big pants on purpose To wash jeans in acid, stick a safety pin in so, or wear a hooded sweatshirt inside a leather jacket The uy ore his baseball cap backward

When you meet them, most Innovators don&039;t look that cool, not in the sense of fashionable, anyway There&039;s always so off about them Like they&039;re uncoo Exiles, trying to get by with the twelve pieces of clothing that are never in or out of style

Except, like Jen&039;s laces, there&039;s always one thing that stands out on an Innovator So new