SUN OF A BEACH TANNING SALON

6:15 PM
November 14th

“I read that in California you have to be eighteen to go to a tanning salon,” Kristen said, braiding a small clump of light blond hair by her face. “You have to show ID and everything.”

“That’s only if you want to fake ’n’ bake.” Massie took every opportunity she could to correct her know-it-all friend. “Which no one does anymore.” She pulled off her gray tights and stuffed them in her boots. “Spray tans are much more aujourd’hui. Trust me, Kristen, you’re gonna love it.”

“What does oh jor dwi mean?” Dylan asked while pushing her red hair into a paper shower cap.

“Five-letter word for ‘in this day,’” Kristen said.

“Today,” Massie said.

Dylan stomped her foot. “You never let me guess.”

“We don’t have time,” Massie told her. “We only have this booth until six-thirty PM.”

“Are you sure this spray tanning isn’t poisonous?” Kristen pushed the instructional video back in the VCR so she could watch it again.

“Stop.” Massie hit eject and grabbed the tape. “This is so easy. The only thing you have to worry about is the Lohan tan.”

“What?” Kristen shrieked. “I’m not doing this.” She grabbed her Miss Sixty jeans off the changing room floor and started getting dressed.

“Relax.” Dylan laughed and pulled the jeans off Kristen’s leg. “You won’t get it unless you’re an obsessive spray tanner like Lindsay Lohan. She is so orange, I swear she must have self-tanner coming out of her shower nozzle.”

“Just make sure you rub everything in and you’ll be fine,” Massie said. Kristen reached for the video, but Massie pulled her arm back before she could get it in the VCR again. “It couldn’t be easier. Watch me.”

Kristen, Dylan, and Massie squeezed into one of the narrow silver cylinders and forced the accordion-shaped door shut. The space outside the actual spray area was no bigger than a phone booth, but Massie didn’t mind the cramped quarters if it would get Kristen to put a little color on her pale body. The holiday parties were quickly approaching and it was important to Massie that they look better than anyone else in the room.

Massie dropped her towel and hit the big green On button outside the glass door. She waved goodbye to her friends and stepped inside. One second later she was blasted by a smelly cold brown mist. When the spray stopped, she turned around and let the second batch coat her back.

“That’s all there is to it,” she said, reaching for her towel so she could rub the muddy solution into her legs. She didn’t even stop to answer her phone.

“Can you grab that?” Massie asked Dylan. “My hands are sticky.”

Dylan pulled Massie’s phone out of her black leather Coach bag and checked the caller ID.

“It’s Alicia,” she said. “Should I hit ignore?”

“No, I bet she’s having a guilt moment at Teen Vogue and wants to beg for my forgiveness.” Massie grabbed the Motorola out of Dylan’s hand and flipped it open. One of the purple rhinestones Massie had glued to her phone fell off and bounced along the tin floor of the booth. She was instantly reminded of the way her charms had scattered across the classroom in her daydream. Massie squeezed her eyes shut to squash the memory. Her phone continued to ring.

“You think Alicia knows my mom’s been trying to put a stop to the uniform thing?” Dylan asked.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Massie said. “Lean in.” Once their three heads were pressed together, Massie hit talk.

“Hullo,” she said.

“Hey, it’s Alicia. I’m in New York City. …”

Massie rolled her eyes.

“I know you’re mad at me, but I just wanted to let you know I’m not having the sleepover party anymore.”

“And you want to get invited back to mine, right? Well, it’s too late. It starts in two hours—you’ll never make it back from ‘New York City.’” Massie did her best to imitate Alicia’s obnoxious tone.

Dylan put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“Relax, Massie,” Alicia snapped. “I don’t want to go to your lame sleepover. If I wanted to spend my night doing arts and crafts, I’d babysit a six-year-old. Besides, Olivia and I are going to the Beyoncé concert tonight.”

“No fair,” Kristen mouthed.

“Alicia, do I sell fertilizer?” Massie asked.

“No, why?” Alicia fell for Massie’s setup.

“Then why do you think I give a crap?”

Dylan and Kristen burst out laughing. Massie heard Alicia let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m calling because I want my Calvin Klein winter white blazer back,” Alicia said.

“Why?, Are you packing up? Is the Rivers family finally moving back to Brooklyn?”

Kristen and Dylan laughed even harder this time and Massie pushed them away from the phone.

Alicia ignored the dig. “I was asked to model for Teen Vogue’s holiday issue and I may want to wear it.”

Massie suddenly felt like she was falling down a well. There was a loud ringing in her ears and she felt dizzy. Was this really happening? Alicia cheated and now she was being rewarded for it? Would Kristen and Dylan like Alicia more now that she was a model? Would the rest of the school?

Massie knew her expression must have changed to one of sheer horror, because Kristen and Dylan looked at her and mouthed, “What?” over and over again.

“Nothing,” Massie mouthed back.

“Look, I gotta go, the concert is about to start,” Alicia shouted over the screaming fans in the background. “Bring the blazer to school on Monday, ’kay?”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you,” Massie said. “What? What?” Then she hung up her phone. Her entire nervous system was in a state of shock.

“Share, please,” Dylan pleaded as she opened the door to the booth. “What did she say?”

“Oh, nothing, just that she got a job MODELING FOR TEEN VOGUE!”

“Huh?” Kristen screeched. “How?”

“I have no idea.” Massie was so furious, she put her green dress on inside out.

“Maybe she’s just a hand model or something,” Dylan offered.

“That should have been us,” Massie said. “If we’d won the contest, we would have been at Teen Vogue this afternoon and we would have been asked to model. Not her.”

“It’s not fair.” Dylan pressed the on button outside the tanning chamber and stepped inside. She closed her eyes and waited for the spray.

Massie was so blind with rage, she didn’t notice that Kristen was fully dressed. Suddenly her problems were much bigger than showing up at a holiday party with a pale friend. Her entire reputation was in jeopardy. What would people say when they found out Alicia was asked to model and she wasn’t?

Massie was silent for the next fifteen minutes. Once they were in the Blocks’ Range Rover, she finally said, “The time is now.”

“Huh?” Dylan said, grabbing a bowl of low-sodium cashews out of the minibar.

“Payback.”

“You mean we can finally stop being snakes that lie in the weeds?” Dylan said, recalling Massie’s strategy.

“Yup, let’s pounce.”

“Thank God.” Kristen sat up in her seat. “Can I get a seven-letter word for vengeance?” She threw her palm in the air and the others high-fived it.

“What’s the plan?” Dylan asked.

“I’ll tell you at the sleepover tonight,” Massie said. She needed time to think.

Isaac stopped the Range Rover in front of the luxurious Montador building.

“This is me.” Kristen opened the car door and waved to her doorman. “I’ll see you after dinner.” The overhead light in the car popped on. “Massie, what’s wrong with your face?”

Massie reached in her bag and pulled out her Chanel compact.

“Ehmagawd,” she screamed. “Alicia got me so pissed, I never finished rubbing in my tan.”

Dylan and Kristen immediately started laughing.

“It’s not funny,” Massie said, wiping her face. She pulled her dress away from her body and looked down at her stomach. “I’m all stripy. I look like a candy cane!”

“’Tis the season,” Kristen said.

“That’s even worse than the Lohan,” Dylan said.

“Isaac, we have to stop at Dr. Juice,” Massie barked toward the front seat. “I need a large Calm immediately. Then drop me off at home so I can exfoliate.”

“What about me?” Dylan asked.

“Isaac will take you last,” Massie said, examining her uneven arms. “This is an emergency.”

Kristen slammed the door and the car sped off down the street.

After the stop at Dr. Juice, Isaac pulled into the circular driveway in front of the Block estate and for the first time ever Massie wished she lived on a smaller piece of property. Suddenly the distance between the Range Rover and her shower seemed endless.

“See ya later,” Massie said to Dylan as she jumped out of the SUV with her bag in one hand and her banana, strawberry, and kava kava juice in the other.

She ran across the gravel of their circular driveway through the grass, and up the stone steps that led to the tall oak doors. Too frantic to search for her keys, Massie dropped her bag so she could pound the iron knocker and ring the bell with her elbow at the same time.

“What is it?” she could hear Kendra, her mother, shouting as she raced down the steps.

Inez beat her to it and opened the door.

“Look at me,” Massie wailed when she saw them.

“Your dress is on inside out,” Kendra said.

“No, my skin. My skin!” Massie said. “I’m uneven.”

Inez waved her hands in the air. “I have to check on dinner,” she said. This was a problem for Kendra, not her.

Massie felt her mother’s arm around her shoulders. She was gently being led into the sitting room, just off the front hallway. “Honey,” Kendra said softly when they were alone, “do you mind keeping it down? The women from my self-help book club are meeting in the upstairs parlor.” Kendra pinched the pink diamond on her necklace and slid it back and forth along her gold chain. “We’re reading Power of Now and trying to stay in a state of inner peace for just ten more minutes. Can we talk about it over supper?”

Massie opened her mouth to explain that there was nothing to talk about when a voice from upstairs shouted, “Kendra, honey, is everything okay?”

“Yes, Sudie, everything’s fine,” Kendra yelled softly.

“Well, then come back up—Mimi has something she’d like to share.”

“Coming.” Kendra placed her manicured hand on the top of Massie’s head. “Go use my new loofah; it’s in the closet beside the sauna. If that doesn’t help, I’ll take you to my aesthetician in the morning.”

“Where’s Dad?” Massie asked.

“Late meeting, he’ll be home after dinner.”

“Fine,” Massie said as she ran up the stairs ahead of her mother.

Once Massie was in her bathroom, she tore the plastic wrapper off her mother’s loofah and stepped into the steaming hot shower. She rubbed a bar of L’Occitaine shea butter soap all over her body and scrubbed.

Once Massie dried off, she combed her shoulder-length hair and slipped on her Michael Stars hot pink boy shorts and matching tank top. She sat down on her white duvet and pulled out her PalmPilot. It was time to record the day’s events.

When Massie finished typing, she looked down at her raw, red hands. Alicia had gotten the best of her this time. But the battle had just begun. And Massie was ready to fight.