Best Friends for Never (15 page)

“Kristen,” Massie panted. “Do you know where Alicia is? She's not answering her phone.”

“No.” Kristen checked her Coach watch, just like she always did when she was asked a question she couldn't answer. “I don't think she's back from the sample sale yet.”

“Didn't she go at like eight in the morning?”

“Yeah, but Olivia wasn't in math, so I guess they're still in the city, looking for uniform ideas,” Kristen said.

“She went into the city with
Olivia?
” Massie asked.

“Yeah, I thought you knew that.”

Massie shook her head.

Everything around her felt still and a rush of heat burst through her body like fireworks exploding. She usually knew where Alicia was at all times. Now the only thing she knew was that she didn't know anything.

Even though her ears were ringing, Massie heard a frantic voice say, “Has anyone seen Massie Block?” The voice sounded really upset. “It's an emergency.”

Massie could not believe that she was seconds away from dealing with an “emergency.”

“This year sucks,” she said to Kristen.

“Yeah, well, it's about to get worse,” Kristen said. “Look who it is.”

“You're not going to believe this.” Claire stopped in front of Massie's seat. She didn't seem to mind that everyone was waiting for her to get off the bus so they could leave.

“What?” Massie rolled her eyes and tried to look bored. She stole a quick glance at herself in the rearview mirror. She looked good and was glad she had applied a fresh coat of gloss before she got there.

“Our uniforms are gone!” Claire cried. A bubble of saliva formed between her lips when she spoke.

“What do you mean,
gone?
” Massie pulled Claire into an empty seat so they could have some privacy.

“IwantedtoshowmyuniformtomymomthismorningsoIwenttogetmytrashbagand—”

“Slow down,” Massie snapped. “I can't understand you.”

“Inez threw them out! She thought they were trash.”

“What? NO! Why?”

“'Cause they were in trash bags!” Claire shouted. “Remember, you didn't trust me. You thought I would peek at your masterpiece. Well, now your masterpiece is probably on its way to a furnace to in Peekskill burn up.”

Massie caught herself wondering how Claire, a girl from Orlando, knew that trash in Westchester went to a furnace in Peekskill, but she was too upset to ask.

Her chance to become famous for leading a style revolution at OCD was gone.

Massie suddenly felt sorry for the white tennis skirt she spent half the night sewing. It was probably in the back of a smelly trash truck buried in rotten eggs and poo-covered diapers, wondering how it got there. The more she thought about it, the more Massie felt sad for everyone: her mother, who took her shopping after school for the material; her proud father, who couldn't wait to see his daughter's masterpiece; Bean, who sacrificed her nightly walk; and even her mannequin, which stood by her all night while she worked. She considered feeling sorry for Claire, but there just wasn't room. She was full.

Claire sniffed and wiped her palm across her moist nose. “It was the first thing I ever made. And it was pretty good.”

“Well, I was on my way to making history,” Massie said, as if her loss was ten times bigger than Claire's.

“You sew pretty fast,” Claire said. “You could probably get something together by Saturday night.”

“That's in four days! Do I
look
like I'm from Moscow?”

“No.”

“Then why do you think I'd be into Russian?”

Claire laughed. Massie smiled back. She had tried the joke before on Dylan and Kristen and they didn't get it.

“Maybe if we do it together, we could—”

“Not a chance,” Massie interrupted. “I want to go down in history alone.”

“Hmmm,” Claire said.

“What?” Massie gathered her hair in a ponytail and then let it drop back to her shoulders.

“I was just thinking. Nah, forget it. You'd never go for it.”

“WHAT?” Massie snapped.

“Wouldn't you love to stand onstage in front of the
Teen People
editors in a brand-new outfit when you present the school with your, I mean
our,
new creation?”

“
Kuh-laire,
I am so not doing this with—” Massie paused. She leaned closer and whispered, “Are you saying you'll call off the bet if I let you partner with me?”

Just then Massie noticed Claire was a full inch taller than she was. She looked down at her feet and noticed the girl was wearing a pair of high-heeled black Capezio dance shoes with
white sweat socks.
At that moment Massie actually found herself missing the Keds.

“Yup,” Claire said. “The bet will be over.” She shifted her weight from her left foot to her right. “But you'd have to
really
partner with me this time. Not like you did for the Halloween party. This time you have to
mean
it.”

“Hmmm.” Massie tapped her French-manicured finger-nail against her bottom lip. “Let. Me. See.”

Claire let out an impatient sigh.

“'Kay, I'll do it!”

Claire's face lit up.

“But I'm only doing this for fashion,” Massie added. “And for our mothers, of course.”

“Really?” Claire turned on her high heels and made her way toward the front of the bus. “'Cause I'm doing it to win.”

Claire pushed her way through the aisle and bounced down the steps of the bus. She ran all the way back to class on her tiptoes to keep from spraining her ankle. Her blond hair whipped across her face, but she never stopped to fix or tie it back. She didn't seem to care.

Massie watched Claire at that moment as if it were the first time she had ever seen her. And in a way, it was.

THE BLOCK ESTATE
FRONT LAWN

3:58
PM

November 6th

Todd Lyons bolted off the Briarwood Academy bus in a flurry of flying juice boxes. He picked one up off the ground and whipped it back on the bus before the driver could get the door closed.

“That's for you, Dick,” Todd said. He was doubled over, laughing.

“My name is Richard!”

Massie watched the bus pull away from behind a thick oak on her front lawn. She had been walking Bean and was in no mood to see Todd. She'd taken cover behind the tree and decided to wait there until he was inside the house.

He walked up the driveway, kicking the white stones beneath his feet with every step. The sound made Bean jumpy.

“Shhh.” She covered the dog's mouth with her hand.

Todd was almost at the house when the bus pulled up again. It hissed when it stopped and screeched when the doors opened. Someone was getting off.

“Hey, Todd, wait up.”

Massie poked her head out from the side of the tree to see who it was.

“TODD!”

“
Cam?
” Massie said to Bean. “EhmaGOD.”

Cam ran up the driveway toward Todd and the two stopped and talked. Massie darted behind another tree, hoping to get closer so she could hear what they were saying. There was enough grass between her and Cam to do at least twenty cartwheels. She couldn't make out a single word. She couldn't smell his Drakkar Noir, couldn't look into his blue or green eye, and couldn't tell what kind of sweater he was wearing under his leather jacket. All she knew for sure was that his skinny butt looked
ah-dorable
in his dark wash Diesel jeans.

She watched Cam tilt his shoulder so his green canvas messenger bag could slide off and fall to the ground. He dropped into a squat and fished around inside until he found what he was looking for: a CD-shaped case wrapped in what looked like a bunch of rubber bands. He pulled it out and handed it to Todd, who put it in his knapsack immediately.

Cam gave Todd two friendly slaps on the shoulder and ran toward the street. Todd stood and waved goodbye, looking just as smitten as Massie did.

She waited until Cam was halfway down the block before she jumped out from behind the tree. “Todd,” Massie shouted. “How was your day?”

“It just got better, my pet,” he said. “How was yours?”

“Wasn't that Cam Fisher?” Massie quickly glanced at Todd's knapsack, hoping to get a look inside, but it was zipped up.

“Yeah.” Todd started walking toward the guesthouse and Massie followed.

“Why was
he
here?” Massie thought if she sounded annoyed, Todd wouldn't pick up on her crush.

“No reason,” Todd said. “Hey, wanna come over and play Tony Hawk's Underground?”

“I would love to, but I have to give Bean a bath.” Massie put the dog on the ground and fanned the air. “It's been a while and she's starting to smell like feet.”

“Let me help.” Todd reached down to pat Bean, but the dog ran and hid behind Massie's legs.

Massie couldn't play this game for one more second. She knew Cam had dropped something off for her and she wanted it. Todd was probably holding Cam's love gift hostage because he was jealous.

“Todd, darling.” Massie put her hand on his shoulder and they stopped walking. She glared at him with her amber eyes until a bead of sweat formed above his upper lip. “I know what's in the bag and I want it.”

“What?” Todd grabbed onto the straps of his backpack with both hands.

“Just give it to me,” Massie said.

“You want it?” Todd asked.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“YES!”

“Ohh-kayyy.” He slid the bag off his shoulders and stepped closer to Massie.

She could feel her hands getting clammy.

“Ready?” Todd asked.

“READY!” she said.

Todd stood on his toes, sprang forward, and planted his lips right on Massie's.

“Eeewww!” she screamed.

Bean barked.

Massie wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her gold satin bomber jacket. She held Bean and watched the bratty ten-year-old get away.

“Get back here,” Massie shouted.

“You want
more?
” He looked back at Massie and winked.

“No, I want what Cam gave you,” Massie said.

“Medal of Honor?” Todd asked. “Since when are you into video games?”

“Cam gave you a
video game?
” Massie didn't believe him.

“Yup, I gotta go. I'll call you later.” Todd waved. “We'll pick up where we left off.”

“Don't count on it.”

Seconds later he was gone. And he made off with a lot more than Cam's gift. Because on November 6, at exactly 4:17
PM
, Todd Lyons had stolen Massie Block's first kiss. And unfortunately, she'd never get it back.

THE WESTCHESTER MALL
LEVEL I

5:17
PM

November 7th

The waxy rope handles on the shopping bags were digging into Massie's hands, yet she found the pain exhilarating. The reddish purple grooves in the middle of her palms were like hard-earned badges of honor, proof of a shopping mission accomplished, a reminder that she was back on the scene after a grueling fifteen-day ban.

Alicia, Kristen, and Dylan had their arms full of an over-whelming amount of Coach, Lacoste, and Guess? bags, but Massie still had more.

“I wish they had shopping carts at malls,” Dylan whined. “Think of how much more we could buy if we didn't have to carry it all.”

“We should hire a shopping Sherpa.” Massie put her foot on a bench and rested her bags on her knee. “You know, some strong little guy that would follow us around all day while we shopped so he could carry everything we bought.”

“That's a boyfriend,” Alicia said. “And I'm working on it.”

Everyone giggled, but Massie cracked up. She had missed Alicia's playful divalike attitude and was overjoyed that for the moment Leesh was Olivia-free and back where she belonged.

“Where is Olivia tonight?” Massie asked, trying to sound genuinely interested.

“She has dance on Fridays,” Alicia said.

“And she
went?
The night before the fashion show? Gawd, you must be pissed. I'm sure you wanted to rehearse, right?”

“No, it's fine. She's sleeping over,” Alicia said.

“Oh.” Massie didn't know where to look.

“Can we go into A&F?” Kristen sped up and led the way.

“You're not going to find anything in Abercrombie that's cute enough to wear to the contest tomorrow night,” Alicia said.

“I know, but I need their latest shopping bag for my bed-room wall.” Kristen pointed to the poster of the chiseled half-man, half-airbrushed model in the store window and cooed, “And
he
better be on it.”

“So you're not sleeping at my place tonight?” Massie asked Alicia. She was sifting through the racks of wool cardigans and denim jackets, trying to sound casual.

“I totally forgot it's Friday,” Alicia said. She completely managed to avoid Massie's eyes. She turned toward Kristen and Dylan, who were standing on opposite sides of the T-shirt display table. “Are you guys going?”

“Given,” Dylan said.

Kristen nodded.

“Don't you have to finish your uniforms?” Alicia asked.

“We were going to finish them at Massie's,” Kristen said.

Alicia slid a bunch of hangers back and forth on the rack.

“Kristen, I thought you were going to practice your soccer kicks with Derrington tonight,” Alicia said.

“No, on Monday.” Kristen frowned. “What's with the advertisement?” She stole a glance at Dylan, who turned red with anger, then green with jealousy. Her face matched her hair.

“You're playing soccer with Derrington on Monday?” Dylan unfolded a T-shirt and held it in front of her as if she were checking the size but then threw it on the table without ever looking at it.

“Yeah, I told him I'd take him to a major league soccer game when the season starts if he helps me practice my kicks.”

“Sounds more like you're trying to score,” Dylan said.

Their constant fighting was starting to bore Massie to tears. At least if they'd been in Louis Vuitton or Sephora, Massie could wander off and shop, but Abercrombie? Ugh! The only fashionable thing in the entire store was
her
.

“I'm sure he'll tell me all about it on our long drive into the city next Wednesday night,” Dylan said.

“What do you mean?” Kristen asked. “You're not really going to the city with Derrington on a school night. Are you?”