2:10 PM
December 5th
Claire stood in front of her open locker, barely taking the time to appreciate the twenty strands of Nerds Rope candy Layne had hung for her. Usually she loved Layne’s surprise locker gifts, but today Claire had more important things on her mind.
Suddenly Comma Dee’s low voice came through the loudspeaker and broke Claire’s concentration.
“Hey, OCD, this is Comma Dee, yeah, you know me …” she rapped. “I just want to give a shout out to the six glamour girls who are city-bound to model for the Teen Vogue holiday issue. Hey, Alicia, if you’re still here, I have a joke for you. Tell this one to your new fashion friends. … What do you call Seven jeans for fat chicks?”
Claire heard a chorus of moans and groans echo through the halls. The only things the students loathed more than Comma Dee were her jokes.
“Give up? I’ll tell ya. … The new Seven jeans for fat chicks are called Eights. Get it? EIGHTS? That’s all for now. Have fun and don’t forget Comma Dee when you’re famous.”
Claire checked her watch and slammed her locker shut. She heard a few of the Nerds come crashing down inside but decided to deal with them on Monday, along with her neglected history assignment.
She tossed her backpack over her shoulders and sprinted down the hall. Alicia’s limo was waiting in the school parking lot and she didn’t want to be the last one to arrive. What if they left without her?
“Slow down.” Claire heard a familiar voice behind her. “Did you see your locker present?”
Claire stopped and turned around. “Oh my God,” she gasped when she saw Layne’s face. “Who did that to you?” Claire covered her mouth with her palm and shook her head in utter disbelief. “Was it Massie?”
Layne held her head high as she walked past a huddle of snickering girls. If she wasn’t blind to their finger-pointing and deaf to their name-calling, she sure was acting like it. She caught up to Claire and smiled with pride.
“Walk with me.” Claire grabbed Layne’s arm and tugged her down the hall. “I’m late. And besides, you need to get out of here.”
“Why?” Layne asked as she got pulled through the halls by Claire. “Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?”
“Do you know what you look like right now?”
Claire was referring to the headgear that was fastened around the back of Layne’s neck and hooked into her upper molars. The metal wire around her face was covered with refrigerator magnets and dangling key chains; some flashed pink and green lights. It looked like a decorated Christmas tree branch was in orbit around her jaw.
“Tanya Fuchs said I look like I crashed into Spencer Gifts. But I think I look festive,” Layne said, holding her Hello Kitty magnet in place as Claire pushed her toward the back door. “Why are we going out here? Aren’t you getting picked up in front of the school?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want anyone else to see you like this,” Claire said, noticing the white-and-blue World’s Best Mom pin that Layne had fastened between Homer Simpson and a goggle-eyed frog.
“Why?” Layne giggled.
“Because I like you,” Claire snapped.
“Awwwww.” Layne smirked. “You’re tho thweet,” she teased.
“It’s not funny, Layne.” Claire looked straight into Layne’s narrow green eyes. “Everyone is laughing at you.”
Layne stopped walking. Claire stopped too and turned around to face her.
“What?” Claire stomped her foot and held out her pink Baby G-Shock watch. “I’m late.”
“Claire, did I shove you out some back door when you showed up on the first day of school wearing white Keds and overalls?” Layne asked.
“That’s totally different.” Claire started walking again. She could hear Layne inching up behind her. “People thought I was out of style, not out of my mind.”
“True.” Layne chuckled. “Well, anyway, now will you believe I don’t care what people think of me?” She swung her canvas Sunshine Tours bag back and forth like a giddy little girl.
“Oh yeah.” Claire suddenly felt a rush of admiration for her quirky friend. She waited for Layne to catch up to her before continuing on to the parking lot. They walked in comfortable silence until Claire felt a drop of moisture land on her face.
“Did you feel that?” She looked up at the sky, hoping it wasn’t about to rain. This was her first big trip into Manhattan and she didn’t want anything to block her view of the skyscrapers.
“Oh, sorry,” Layne said, wiping a pink droplet off Claire’s cheek. She immediately stopped swinging her bag. “I have a Popsicle in here.” She patted the stained canvas. “It must have melted.”
Claire giggled. “You reaaally don’t care what people think, do you?” They both burst out laughing at Layne’s sticky bag.
They were still laughing when they rounded the side of the school and stepped onto the paved parking lot. Claire spotted Dean and Alicia immediately. They were both standing with their arms crossed in front of the open car door.
“Hurry,” Alicia screamed.
“Coming from the girl who moves slower than detention,” Layne murmured.
Claire giggled, then started to run. Layne was following close behind.
“What are you doing?” Claire huffed and puffed. “Don’t you have class?”
“I want to give you a proper send-off.”
Claire could feel herself getting annoyed all over again. “You don’t have to.”
“Kuh-laire,” Alicia shouted. “Everyone’s waiting.”
“Ugh,” Claire said in total frustration. She started running again, too frazzled to care if Layne was behind her or not.
“Ehmagawd,” Alicia squealed when she saw Layne. “It looks like you barfed up a waiter’s suspenders from TGI Friday’s.”
Kristen, Dylan, Faux-livia, Strawberry, and Kori stuck their heads out the window of the limo. They burst out laughing when they saw Layne’s headgear.
Claire looked at Layne out of the corner of her eye. Layne was smiling.
“That’s a pretty good one,” Layne said. “For you.”
“Help,” Claire mouthed to Alicia when Layne wasn’t looking.
Alicia winked at Claire and held up her index finger to let her know she’d be a minute. She disappeared inside the limo and came out dragging her lime green snakeskin Prada bag. She opened the side zipper and pulled out one of her signature knockoff Louis Vuitton scarves.
“Layne,” Alicia said. She sounded like a kindergarten teacher about to discipline a bad student. “I’ll make you a deal.”
“Yeah,” Layne said. She looked bright and cheery, like she had no idea she was embarrassing herself.
“If you take that antenna off, right now, and promise never to wear it to school again,” Alicia said, waving the scarf in front of her eyes, “I’ll give you my very last Louis.”
Layne tapped her index finger against the bar of her headgear as if she were carefully mulling over the offer.
“It’s totally worth it,” Alicia said, sounding like a desperate salesgirl working on commission. “It allows you to hang out with us whenever you want.”
Claire knew Layne was wondering how she could be friends with such a conceited girl and felt slightly embarrassed for having bought into Alicia’s rap.
“Whenever I want?” Layne cracked her knuckles.
“When-ever,” Alicia said, anxious to close the sale.
“Fine.” Layne took off her headgear and clipped it around the handle of her Sunshine Tours bag. Alicia placed the scarf in Layne’s open palm.
“Thanks, I totally needed this.” Layne stuffed the scarf into her bag. It was covered in gooey pink liquid when she lifted it out.
Alicia gasped.
“Oops, my Popsicle melted and I ran out of tissue,” Layne said. She tossed the sopping wet Louis at Alicia. “Have fun on your shoot, Claire,” she called over her shoulder as she walked away. “Call me when you get back.
” “I will,” Claire promised with a huge grin on her face.
Claire avoided Alicia’s eyes when she slipped into the limo.
“How can you be friends with her?” Alicia asked when she sat down.
“How could I not?” Claire giggled.
“Let’s go, Dean,” Alicia called into the front seat. “We want to get there before dark.”
Claire sighed, relieved that Alicia had changed the subject.
“Aren’t we waiting for Massie?” Dean asked into the rearview mirror.
“She’s not coming.” Alicia raised the glass divider between them.
Claire was tempted to ask how Massie was going to get there but decided not to. Why should she care? They were no longer friends.
Alicia clapped once they started moving and bounced up and down in her seat. “We’re off!”
“Yippeee!” Strawberry, Kori, and Faux-livia bounced and cheered. Kristen and Dylan said nothing. They didn’t even bother looking up from the pages of US Weekly to see what all the excitement was about.
Eventually the yelling got to them. Dylan turned to Alicia. “Why are they here?”
“Yeah, they’re not even modeling,” Kristen added.
“Uh, we can hear you.” Strawberry clenched her fist.
“Good, so maybe you can tell me why you’re coming to New York,” Kristen said.
“Because they are my friends,” Alicia said firmly.
“Whatevs,” Dylan said, returning to her US Weekly.
Claire watched Strawberry and Kori examine the contents of the fridge, play with the stereo, and fiddle with the sunroof. She felt like she was watching herself three months ago.
“Where are your scarves?” Alicia asked the girls. They looked up at her with the startled expression of someone who just realized she left her homework assignment on the school bus. “I thought you were going to wear them around your necks.”
“I did.” Faux-livia beamed, pulling her turtleneck sweater to one side.
“I have mine around my ankle,” Strawberry said, lifting up her winter white cords. “How cute is it there?”
“Mine is around my wrist,” Kori said. “I thought it looked good with my beaded bracelet.” She slouched down and shook her wrist so the beads knocked up against the scarf.
“And yours?” Alicia turned to Kristen and Dylan.
They both tapped their bags and grinned, making it very clear to Alicia that they refused to play by her rules.
“Fine,” she said, immediately turning her attention to Claire.
“I forgot about the neck thing.” Claire pulled the scarf out of her back pocket and began to tie it. “Sorry.” She felt a little stupid following an order from Alicia but knew she wasn’t on the same level as Kristen and Dylan. She was still relatively new and had to play along.
“That’s better,” Alicia said with a satisfied smile. “Now, who has gossip?”
No one said a word.
Dylan and Strawberry took turns digging into a big bag of Utz pretzels while Kori and Kristen twirled their blond braids around their fingers. Claire couldn’t believe how much Dylan and Strawberry were alike. They both had the same bright hair and loved eating, while Kori and Kristen had identical hairstyles and were both great athletes. For a split second Claire wondered if Alicia had tried to re-create Massie’s Pretty Committee by finding Dylan and Kristen look-alikes but decided that would be way too psychotic, even for Alicia.
“No one has any scoop?” Alicia said. “I’ll give ten gossip points to the first good piece.”
“Yeah, who has some juice?” Faux-livia echoed.
“What are gossip points?” Kori asked.
“You get points for good gossip,” Kristen explained, sounding over it. “The better the gossip, the higher the points.”
“What do you get with the points?” Strawberry asked. “Stereos and stuff?”
“This isn’t the American Express Membership Rewards program,” Dylan snapped. “At the end of the week the person with the most points wins.”
“There’s no reason to yell,” Strawberry said.
“There is if you’re going to ask stupid questions.” Dylan opened her mouth and showed Strawberry her pretzel-covered tongue.
Claire and Kristen laughed.
“Gross,” Strawberry said, whipping the pretzel bag at Dylan’s face.
“Stop it!” Alicia snapped.
Everyone was quiet until Kori broke the silence. “So what do we win?”
“Five-letter word for satisfaction,” Kristen said. “Can also be a pack of lions.”
“Huh?” Faux-livia asked.
“Pride,” Claire said with a degree of modesty in her voice. She was tired of all the fighting.
“But wait.” Alicia shot her index finger in the air. “Maybe I should start giving out prizes. You know, change it up a little.”
“Love it!” Faux-livia shouted.
“That’s stupid,” said Dylan. “Do you really want to buy a new gift every single week? And what if you win? Do you buy yourself a gift? Then what?”
“Yeah, it worked perfectly the old way,” Kristen said.
“Just like everything else,” Dylan said under her breath.
“So how many gossip points did Todd Lyons get?” Faux-livia asked.
Alicia kicked Faux-livia in the shin.
“OUCH!”
“Sorry,” Alicia said, her eyes wide and pleading.
“It’s okay.” Faux flashed a forgiving smile.
“Todd who?” Claire asked.
“Your brother, stupid.” Faux obviously didn’t clue in to Alicia’s warning.
“What did Todd do?” Kristen asked.
“Oh, is Todd that kid who eavesdropped on Massie’s sleepover and then told—” Kori stopped talking after Strawberry’s fist jabbed her ribs.
“Ehmagawd, you got our secrets from Todd?” Dylan said.
“Not Massie?” Kristen asked.
All Alicia could do was shrug.
“He’s so dead,” Claire said, just to make sure she wouldn’t get blamed for her brother’s crime.
“We thought Massie told you,” Dylan said.
“It may have been Massie,” Alicia said. “I can’t remember. That was so last week.”
Dylan and Kristen stared out the window in silence for the next ten minutes. Dylan scraped salt chunks off the pretzels with her thumbnail while Kristen re-braided her hair. Claire could tell they were thinking about all the terrible things they had said about Massie. She would have felt guilty too, but she wasn’t mad at Massie for spilling her secrets, she was mad at her for stealing Cam. And that was never going to change.
“Wait, I have some gossip,” Faux announced.
Claire couldn’t believe anyone could be so oblivious to tension.
“What?” Alicia asked, obviously over it.
“Shay Goldhar peed in her pants after lunch yesterday,” Faux said. “She had a big wet spot on the back of her jeans.”
“That wasn’t pee,” Strawberry said. “She fell in a puddle during lunch. There were at least ten witnesses.”
“Well, I heard it was pee.”
“I heard that too,” said Kori.
“Sorry, no points,” Alicia said.
Faux crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to sulk.
While they were arguing, Claire saw Kristen and Dylan text messaging. She knew exactly who they were speaking to and what they were saying.
“I can’t believe we left without her,” Claire heard Kristen whisper to Dylan.
Dylan squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She felt terrible about it.
Their thumbs moved at high speeds as they sent messages to Massie. Claire watched them bite their nails and exchange worried glances while they waited to see if Massie could ever forgive them. Suddenly they both smiled and sighed. They were back IN.
“Yes!” Dylan said softly. She reached for the bag of pretzels and dug in. “She’s on her way into the city.”
Claire mouthed, “How?”
“Harris,” Dylan mouthed back.
“Who else?” Claire asked.
Dylan shrugged.
Claire felt her stomach drop. Was Cam there too?
Kristen and Dylan looked relieved when they slipped their cell phones back into their bags. They sat up in their seats and touched up their lip gloss. They finally seemed excited for the weekend to get started. And Claire couldn’t wait for it to end.