Ma.s.sie put her hands on her hips and shouted, "You"re starting to sound as dumb as Olivia."
Alicia heard Kristen"s phlegmy laugh and couldn"t control herself any longer. "What"s so funny?" she screamed.
"I DIDN"T VOTE FOR YOU," Ma.s.sie shouted. "YOU SWITCHED OUR BOXES."
Alicia quickly searched the room with her eyes. Two of the windows were too high to reach and the other two were too narrow to fit through. She could probably beat Ma.s.sie, Claire, and definitely Dylan to the door, but Kristen would catch her. She was trapped.
Alicia looked straight into Claire"s big blue eyes, silently begging to be rescued. If anyone knew what it felt like to be on Ma.s.sie"s bad side, it was Claire. But all Claire did was look at Ma.s.sie, then at her cuticles.
"Ready for more?" Ma.s.sie asked, redirecting everyone"s attention to a big white circle on the wall. A real Ralph Lauren blazer and a pair of jeans were tacked inside the circle, just under the words OCD UNIFORM. A big red X X sliced through the whole thing. Alicia knew the hanging outfit represented her winning uniform idea, which every girl at OCD would have to wear in the new year. sliced through the whole thing. Alicia knew the hanging outfit represented her winning uniform idea, which every girl at OCD would have to wear in the new year.
"As you can see from the X X," Dylan said. "There will no longer be an OCD uniform."
Alicia raised her eyebrows.
"That"s right," Dylan said. "We had a meeting with Princ.i.p.al Burns the day after the contest and explained how you cheated. My mother came with us and made it very clear that if they went forward with your idea, she would expose the entire scandal on The Daily Grind The Daily Grind." Dylan pulled the Pucci scarf off her head and shook out her thick red hair before continuing. "And you know Burns has been terrified of my mother"s talk show ever since her story "Hidden Carbs in the Cafe.""
"So there"s no more uniform?" Alicia"s voice quivered.
"It"s done." Ma.s.sie snapped her fingers.
"Done," Dylan said.
"And done," Kristen said.
"This next painting is the future, Alicia." Ma.s.sie tapped the wall with the lacrosse stick. "As you can see, you"re sitting alone alone on a sleeping bag, which is what you get for trying to start your own sleepover." on a sleeping bag, which is what you get for trying to start your own sleepover."
Alicia was finished. She knew she couldn"t show up to school tomorrow ... or any other day. She would have to move to Spain and live with her cousins.
"And now for the last part of our tribute," Ma.s.sie said. "I think it speaks for itself."
There was more?
And there it was in big black bubble letters, Ma.s.sie"s famous State of the Union. Everyone knew she made in/out lists, but no one had ever read them.
CURRENT STATE OF THE UNION.
IN.
OUT.
CLAIRE.
ALICIA.
Claire stuffed her hands in the pockets of her overalls and rocked back and forth on her heels while the girls clapped.
"Don"t be shy, Claire," Dylan said. "Take a bow."
"No, it"s okay," Claire said, looking at Alicia.
"No, really," Ma.s.sie urged. "Take a bow."
"Come on," said Kristen.
Claire rolled her eyes and snickered. She bowed quickly and immediately straightened up.
Tears began rolling down Alicia"s face. There was nothing she could do to stop them.
"And that"s the end of our tribute," Ma.s.sie said, her voice cracking a little.
Alicia sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She wanted to drop to her knees and apologize. But it was too late for that.
"Thank you so much for being such a loyal friend, Alicia. As soon as you figure out what we did to deserve your back-stabbing, let us know."
Alicia thought she saw Ma.s.sie"s eyes starting to water, but everything looked so blurry and wet through her own tears, she couldn"t be sure. At least they didn"t know about the Teen Vogue Teen Vogue shoot! shoot!
In a flash Alicia abandoned her usual slow saunter in favor of a full-on run and darted across the barn. She slipped and slid on sheets of newspaper, but she kept on running. When Alicia finally got close to the door, the square toe of her boot got caught in the flare of her velvet pants and she fell.
Alicia, heard Ma.s.sie, Dylan, and Kristen crack up. She didn"t hear Claire but a.s.sumed she was probably laughing too.
"Maybe now you"ll stop wearing those stupid boots," Ma.s.sie said.
Alicia looked up. "They"re from Spain Spain," she wailed.
"Puh-lease. Those are about as Spanish as your father," Ma.s.sie said. "They"re more like Ugg boots, "cause they"re ugg-LY!"
This time Alicia heard Claire"s laugh. She stood up quickly, but her knees were stinging from the fall and pain made the tears come even harder.
"I can"t believe you were ever my friends," Alicia cried. Her body shook uncontrollably. She reached for the door and tugged on the heavy latch; the cold iron stung her sc.r.a.ped hands.
When Alicia finally made it outside, a brisk gust of wind slapped her in the face. Her head was pounding in perfect time with her heart. And her whole body felt sore. Of all the horrible things she"d seen, "Claire is the new Alicia" hurt the most.
Alicia reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
"Dean!" she shouted into the tiny speaker.
"I"m sorry; I do not recognize that name. Please try again," said the recording.
"Dean," she shouted three more times. But the phone didn"t know what she wanted because she was crying so hard.
Alicia"s thumb shook as she dialed Dean"s number and she kept hitting the wrong numbers. Finally she got it right and Dean"s phone started ringing.
"Pick up, pick up, pick-"
Suddenly Alicia felt someone grab her shoulder. She was about to scream when a gloved hand quickly covered her mouth and silenced her.
THE B BLOCK E ESTATE O OUTSIDE GLU H GLU HEADQUARTERS.
8:47 PM PM.
November 17th "Shhh," said a kind voice.
Alicia whipped her head around and saw a skinny boy dressed in all black. A dark ski hat and big women"s sungla.s.ses covered his face.
"Todd?"
"You know my name?" He beamed.
"Given," Alicia said, pulling a piece of black glove fuzz off her lip.
"This is my best friend, Nathan."
Alicia lowered her eyes one more time. Nathan was pet.i.te and fragile. His disguise was the same as Todd"s, except he wore a shower cap and a blue gel eye mask.
Alicia wanted to laugh, but more tears came instead.
"Why the crying, angel?" Todd asked. He held out his sleeve and Alicia wiped her nose on it.
When she lifted her head, a shiny streak of snot glistened on his black fleece Patagonia.
"Sorry "bout that," she sniffed.
"No prob," Todd said, smiling at the stain. "I"ll sell it to Nathan."
Tiny Nathan giggled, then punched Todd"s leg.
"Ew, why?" Alicia said.
Todd rolled his eyes. "You"re like the hottest girl at OCD." "Shut up," Alicia said, hoping he"d continue. She was desperate for a compliment, even if it was coming from Claire"s younger brother. "If I"m so hot, why does everyone worship Ma.s.sie so much? What makes her her so great?" so great?"
Tiny Nathan squeaked, "Afraid," then buried his head in his hands.
"He"s right," Todd said, throwing a protective arm around his little buddy. "Ma.s.sie always used to make my sister cry. And what she did to you tonight was way worse than anything she ever did to Claire."
"I know, but-wait," Alicia said. "How do you know what they said?"
"I have an eavesdropping problem," Todd said, taking off his big J.Lo sungla.s.ses and stuffing them in the side pocket of his black jeans. "But I"m working on it."
Tiny Nathan giggled.
"You"re way cooler than Ma.s.sie, if you ask me," Todd said, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.
Alicia smiled.
"I thought you were in looove with Ma.s.sie," Tiny Nathan said.
"That was before." Todd grabbed Alicia"s hand and kissed it gently.
Alicia rolled her eyes and giggled before pulling her hand away.
"You"re the future of the Pretty Committee-Ma.s.sie is over," Todd said. "Like, if she"s c.o.ke, you"re C2."
Alicia was about to ask how he knew they called themselves the Pretty Committee but quickly remembered his "eavesdropping problem."
Todd unzipped his fleece and handed it to Alicia. She hadn"t realized she"d been shivering. "Where"s your jacket?" he asked.
"In the limo." Alicia draped Todd"s coat over her shoulders like a shawl, steering clear of the snot streak.
"So you"re rich too? Hmmm." Todd smoothed imaginary chin hairs and nodded. "You should start your own group. Call it the Unbelievably Pretty Committee."
Nathan-giggled.
"I"ve been thinking about it." Alicia could feel her confidence coming back. "I have a lot to offer. For starters, I won"t be mean. I"ll take my girls shopping every day, I"ll introduce them to Briarwood boys, and I"ll let them eat candy."
"Will you let us hang out with you?" Todd asked.
Alicia slapped Todd on the back. "Given!" She leaned down and patted Tiny Nathan on top of his shower cap.
When she looked up, a set of high beams shone directly into her eyes. Alicia covered her face immediately. If Todd saw how puffy and red her face was, he might think twice about calling her the prettiest girl at OCD.
Dean pulled the limo into the Blocks" circular driveway. He must have seen her call even though they"d never spoken.
He honked twice.
"Bye," Alicia shouted as she sprinted for the limo. She turned quickly and blew the boys a couple of air kisses.
"Great b.o.o.bs, by the way," Todd shouted.
Alicia scowled and folded her arms across her chest. She started crying again. How could she have been stupid enough to trust them? All this time they were probably working for Ma.s.sie.
"I love the square toe," Todd said. "It"s cool."
Alicia turned around and smiled at the misunderstanding. "Ohhh." She unfolded her arms and stuck out her foot. "Thanks. They"re from Spain."
For most of the ride home Alicia was in a daze. Her eyes felt swollen and her body felt weak from exhaustion. She curled up on the backseat and buried her head under Todd"s fleece.
"How much time do we have, Phil?" Alicia whispered so Dean wouldn"t hear.
"You"re live in three ... two ..." said imaginary Phil. He gave Alicia the signal to begin her newscast.