& Lulu Chu __link__: 2010 Kimmy Kimm

Then Lulu burst out laughing. “You look like a junior stockbroker.”

Kimmy was the architect. She was tall, with a planner color-coded in six shades of gel pen, and she knew that the key to their future was visibility. Lulu was the heart. She was small, quick to laugh, and could make a friendship bracelet out of dental floss and sheer will. 2010 kimmy kimm & lulu chu

But after the contest, sitting on the curb outside the mall with a shared soft pretzel, Lulu leaned her head on Kimmy’s shoulder. “We were the best, though.” Then Lulu burst out laughing

And for two girls with two names that sounded like they belonged on a bubblegum pop album, that was more than enough. Lulu was the heart

Their project that July was the mall’s “Teen Talent Meltdown,” a karaoke contest held in the atrium between a Cinnabon and a Spencer’s Gifts. They weren’t singers, but they didn’t need to be. They had a two-part harmony on “Love Story” by Taylor Swift that they’d perfected in Lulu’s basement, singing into hairbrushes while the wall-mounted AC dripped onto a pile of Seventeen magazines.

The problem was the costumes. Kimmy wanted matching sequin vests. Lulu wanted to go as “chaos fairies” with ripped tights and fake eyelashes. They argued for three days via BBM, the little “R” for Received taunting them both.