4:47 PM
November 25th
Claire stepped out of the Blocks’ Range Rover, right behind Massie. It had been her fourth time carpooling as an official member of the Pretty Committee and so far, no one had said a single mean word to her. The hardest part had been trading in her gummy bears and sours for those healthy Dr. Juice drinks Massie was into. But it was a small price to pay.
They stood on the lawn between their two houses before parting ways for dinner.
“So you’re telling me you didn’t notice anything weird about Kristen and Dylan today?” Massie asked, shifting back and forth in her new gold ballet flats. “Nothing at all?”
“They were a little quiet,” Claire said. “Maybe they’re upset because we said we would do our homework together again tonight.”
“But we’ve been saying that since last week,” Massie said. “It’s never bothered them before.”
“Well, I dunno,” Claire said, searching her mind for the right thing to say. Massie was finally confiding in her and Claire didn’t want to let her down. “Maybe they don’t like having me around.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Claire regretted saying them. What if she was right?
“Puh-lease,” Massie said. “If I like you, they like you.”
“Oh,” Claire said. Something about Massie’s answer didn’t sit right with her. It left an empty, almost hungry feeling inside her stomach.
“Anyway, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Massie shook her hand in the air like she was waving hello in fast motion. “Wanna work in my room tonight?”
“Sure. I’ll burn a new CD.”
“Perf. I’ll call you after dinner.” Massie’s smile reappeared. “Cheers, big ears.”
“Same goes, big nose.” Claire giggled and the girls took off in opposite directions.
Claire burst through the door to the guesthouse and stood
shivering in the hallway. Once her hands stopped shaking, she began
peeling off her layers. These days she wore a long john shirt, a
turtleneck sweater, a cardigan, her yellow raincoat, and two
scarves to keep warm. Her winter coat was still at Cam’s. He had
e-mailed her at least a dozen times to let her know he had it, but
Claire simply replied, Thx 
, and other blasé things like that. She
secretly liked that Cam had something of hers and hoped he wouldn’t
burn it out of spite. Besides, Massie promised to take her coat
shopping on the weekend, which was only three chilly days away.
“Score!” Claire heard Todd call from the living room. The explosive sound of the cheering crowd made Claire roll her eyes. She didn’t understand why boys got so excited over video games. Then she thought of Cam again. Would it ever stop?
Claire hung her second scarf on a plastic hook inside the front closet.
“You are such a gawd!” she heard another voice yell.
Claire crinkled her eyebrows in utter confusion. It was a girl. That meant an actual female was hanging out with her brother. Claire kicked off her Keds and hurried toward the living room.
A silky black ponytail hung over the back of the couch. Claire could feel her heart starting to race, as if it knew who the girl was before she did. As Claire crept closer, she became engulfed by a thick cloud of Angel perfume.
“Alicia?” she said. “D-did we have plans today?”
Todd sighed and hit pause on the game.
“No,” Alicia said casually, as if it wasn’t completely freakish for her to be hanging out with Claire’s ten-year-old brother.
“So, why are—”
“She’s my guest,” Todd said, putting his hand on Alicia’s knee. Claire couldn’t help chuckling when Alicia picked it up like a stinky sock and dropped it back on Todd’s leg.
Alicia tilted her neck back so her face was upside down when she spoke to Claire. “Harris is pretty into video games, so I thought I’d come here to get a little practice.”
“Wait, who’s Harris?” Todd asked, tossing his new cordless controller on the brown couch.
Alicia ignored him. “I bet Massie is practicing too.”
“Huh?” Claire was tired of looking at Alicia’s upside-down head and walked around to the front of the couch. “Why would Massie be practicing? She thinks video games are for boys who suck at sports.”
“Because Cam loves them,” Alicia said.
“So?” Claire felt a rush of prickly heat all over her body. It made her palms itch.
“So,” Alicia said with a trace of “duh” in her voice. “Massie likes Cam.”
“She does not!” Claire shouted a lot louder than she meant to. But the thought of being double-crossed at this point seemed beyond evil. Even for Massie.
“Then why did she make you dump him?” Alicia shouted back.
“Because he’s a wannabe and she thought I could do better.” Claire tried to sound convinced as she lowered herself onto the glass coffee table. She had no idea who to trust and it was making her knees feel weak.
“Alicia’s right,” Todd said.
“How would you know?” Claire snapped.
“He was eavesdropping on GLU headquarters when Massie told Kristen and Dylan.” Alicia’s tone would have been the same if she was talking about her class schedule.
Suddenly memories of Massie talking about Cam flashed in Claire’s mind with sharp clarity, as if they were photographs she had taken with her digital camera. She began scrolling through them one at a time. …
The big smile on Massie’s face when Claire said she’d ended things with Cam, Massie’s offer to buy Claire a new coat so she could avoid seeing Cam, the heartless way Massie destroyed his letter, the BO rumor, and the constant “checking in” to see if Claire returned any of Cam’s e-mails. The images came faster and faster until they played like a horror movie. Claire could feel the tears starting to come.
Alicia bit her lower lip and put her hand on her heart to show how sorry she was for Claire. But that brought little comfort. Lately it seemed like everyone was pretending to care about Claire when they were really just scheming and backstabbing.
“Maybe this will help.” Alicia pulled a scarf out of her pocket. “Wear it to school and no one will mess with you ever again.”
Claire dabbed her eyes with the silky cloth. She wanted to know how a stupid scarf could possibly protect her, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. All she wanted to do was get to her bedroom before Todd saw her cry. He’d never let her live it down.
Claire stood up without saying another word to either of them and made a run for the stairs. When she got up to her room, she slammed the door and locked it behind her. Then she marched straight over to her window, pulled the string, and lowered the curtains so Massie couldn’t see her. She ripped the phone jack out of the wall and wrote an IM away message that said, I am sick. Please do not disturb. Claire didn’t want to hear from Massie now, after dinner, or ever again.