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Authors: Melissa de la Cruz

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BOOK: Birthday Vicious
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Ashley crouched and began unwinding the Sunfish's rope, wishing she had a jet-setting model mom like A. A., who let her daughter do whatever she wanted. Or strict, hyper parents like Lili's, who would never, ever go back on their word. Or even Lauren's new-money parents, who at least grasped the importance of showing off your wealth. Instead she was stuck with selfish richie-rich hippies who were so busy being in love with each other they forgot what really mattered in life. Like the fact that their only daughter was turning thirteen!

“Hey—you might not want to go out right now. The weather's about to turn.” A boy's voice, sounding like it came from under the docks, made her jump out of her skin. Ashley lost her grip on the rope she was picking at and plopped down hard on her butt.

“Excuse me?” she squeaked, hoping she hadn't embarrassed herself with that little tumble. A head appeared over the nearby ship railing—it was a boy with dark hair, a crinkly smile, and a nut-brown tan—a total stud.

“Sorry to startle you.” He grinned and stepped down from his boat. He was tall, around her age, dressed in
faded jeans, Nike vintage sneakers, and a blue cotton sweater. “I'm Cooper.”

“Ashley.” She clambered to her feet, out of breath from all that marching along the path, not to mention the fright from hearing a voice from nowhere.

“I was just doing some barnacle scraping,” he explained, gesturing at the boat moored next to the
Matilda
. It was even bigger, a brilliant white with the name
Flown the Coop
spelled out in large red letters. At least Cooper's parents cared enough to name their yacht after
him
! “I saw you getting ready to go out on the Sunfish, and . . . uh, sorry if I startled you, but it's going to get real choppy in a minute. You don't want to get out there and . . . you know.” He made a motion with his hands that indicated a capsized boat.

“Oh yeah.” Ashley waved her hand at him like it was no big deal. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Anytime,” he said.

Ashley put her hands on her hips and looked put out. “I wish the weather wasn't so bad. I was really looking forward to getting out there today.”

“It was nice earlier. Where were you?” he asked teasingly, eyes sparkling. God, he was cute! Why hadn't she ever met him before?

“With my stupid mom.” Ashley felt a bit self-conscious talking about her problems, but she was disappointed that she wasn't going to get out to the ocean, and she felt like venting.

Cooper nodded. “You guys fought?”

“A little.” Ashley shook her head. “I just hate my parents sometimes.” Maybe complaining about your family wasn't the best way to attract a guy, but Ashley just needed someone to talk to at the moment.

“My parents can get kind of annoying too. And I don't even see my mom that often,” he told her, a wistful note in his voice.

Ashley nodded, idly watching the seagulls duck and dive into the water. His parents were probably just like hers, too rich to care. “I was looking forward to getting away for a little bit,” she announced a tad melodramatically. “Don't you feel like everything”—she gestured to indicate the entire bay in front of them—“is just too much sometimes?”

“Totally.” He smiled again and started ambling away down the dock. “Take care,” he called.

She was looking at the lighthouse in the far distance and didn't notice he was leaving. “Wait a sec!” she cried. She wasn't letting Mr. Yacht Club Hottie make his
escape
that
easily. “Do you . . . do you live near here or something?”

“Yup.” Cooper nodded, pointing in the opposite direction from Ashley's house.

“I was just thinking,” said Ashley, feeling nervous all of a sudden. And when was she ever nervous around boys? She made boys nervous, not the other way around. “I mean—I don't even know if you're free or whatever. But I'm, like, having a party? For my birthday? Would you like to—I mean, it's in a couple of weeks. The party, I mean.” What was wrong with her? Why was she talking like that—making everything a question when it was a statement and not being able to ask the question she did want to ask?

But she needn't have worried. Cooper seemed to get the gist. “Sure.” He nodded.

It was only after Cooper had flashed his dazzling smile again, only after he'd loped off into the sunset, only after Ashley finished retying the Sunfish's rope and started making her way back through the marina, that she remembered one crucial point.

Her party was canceled.

Huh. So maybe she would have to go back home and tell her mother that after much careful consideration, the
smaller, more intimate gathering Matilda had proposed was acceptable after all. So maybe there would be no tigers jumping through hoops, no crowd-pleasing entrance on a Vespa, no seven-foot-tall big-top birthday cake.

But maybe there would be something better. One very important, very handsome guest.

You couldn't invite a guy to a party if there wasn't one, could you?

8
IS IT BIRTH-DAY OR BIRTH-WEEK? FOR THE ASHLEYS, ONE CELEBRATION IS NEVER ENOUGH

LILI PUSHED OPEN THE GLASS
door of blowfish Sushi and beamed at the black-clad hostess. This was more like it—no crummy diners
this
weekend; no unpleasant posers from inferior schools, either. Max was a sweetheart, but sometimes Lili had some serious doubts about his taste. He would probably think Blowfish Sushi was overly trendy and pretentious. But what Max thought didn't really matter. Not on this particular Sunday night, anyway.

“I have a reservation for four,” Lili told the hostess. “Under Ashley Li.”

“One of your party is already here, Miss Li.” The girl was wearing a really cute mini and gladiator sandals.
When Lili grew up, she was going to run her own nightclub, and this was
just
the kind of outfit she'd wear as she cruised the place every evening, making sure everything was perfect. “Please follow me.”

Lili spotted A. A. at the Ashleys' favorite table near the back of the restaurant, close to the black-lacquered sushi bar with its reed-seat bar stools and giant exotic fish tank. This restaurant had the Ashleys' SOA, so it was the perfect choice for one of their ritual events—the prebirthday gift exchange. It was a school night, but even her uptight parents understood the importance of such an event and made an exception.

“Hi, pretty!” Lili called, dropping her mother-of-pearl evening bag into the nearest empty chair and stretching to air-kiss A. A. Even sitting down, A. A. looked long and lean in a black silk L.A.M.B. jumpsuit that probably looked good on only two people in the world—Gwen Stefani and A. A.

“Hey, pretty!” A. A. responded. “I love that color on you.”

“Thanks.” Lili knew this wasn't just flattery—she loved her new outfit. She'd convinced her mother to take her to New York last weekend, and Lili had scored a hot Thakoon dress, right out of the showroom.

“Hey, guys!”

They looked up to see Lauren making a beeline for the table, followed by a boy carrying a gigantic gold box with a huge red bow on it.

“Hi, pretty!” A. A. and Lili chorused, making Lauren turn pink. Lili leaned over to kiss her on both cheeks—without touching, of course, because nobody wanted red lip smudges all over their face. Lauren was so eager to be greeted that she bumped noses with A. A.

Lili wasn't sure if it was touching or pathetic, the way Lauren still wasn't comfortable with being an Ashley. Maybe it wasn't
that
surprising. Lauren was new to this game, while the other Ashleys had been queens of Miss Gamble's for years. Sometimes it felt like they'd been
born
into royalty.

“You guys all know Christian, right?” Lauren asked, blushing more deeply as she introduced tall, blond, and handsome standing next to her, who put the gift on an empty chair.

“Oh yeah, we met at Lauren's last week, right?” A. A. asked pleasantly.

But Christian looked confused. “I don't think so,” he said with a puzzled smile.

“No, we totally met—you and Lauren had just come
back from . . .” A. A.'s voice trailed off, as it was only then that she noticed that behind him, Lauren was shaking her head so vigorously her earrings were in danger of falling off.

Lili tried to hide a smile. Obviously A. A. was thinking of Lauren's other boyfriend. She sized up Christian from head to toe. She'd met Alex the other week, and this one was definitely a looker too. That girl sure got around.

Lauren kissed her boyfriend good-bye and sat down next to Lili. “Is Ashley here yet?” she asked.

Tonight they'd present Ashley with her Big Gift, saving smaller presents for her actual birthday and a third round of gifts for the night of her party. This tradition had been established in fifth grade, and the only thing different this year was the fact that Lauren was there. Lauren was so thrilled to be included that she'd volunteered to pick up Ashley's birthday gift herself.

Lili thought Lauren was probably trying to make up for the fact that she'd been totally flaky lately—she hardly joined them for lunch anymore and seemed to have some kind of meeting, appointment, or extra class every day. And just yesterday she'd practically run away when Lili saw her at Gino's. Lili had gotten
a special dispensation to go off campus to get doughnuts for the Honor Board meeting. She'd been surprised to see Lauren there, and even more surprised when Lauren booked as fast as she could in the other direction. What was going on with that girl? It wasn't as if Lili was going to slap her with a demerit. They were friends.

“You'd better sign the card,” A. A. reminded her as Lili settled into her seat, tucking the tiny evening bag behind the small of her back, the way her mother always did. “Ashley'll be here any minute.”

“I had it designed exactly as you specified,” Lauren told Lili, producing a thick marbled envelope from the shopping bag at her feet.

“You went to the Venetian place?” Lili scrutinized the envelope. This was the first time she'd handed this task over to someone else. “You asked for the handmade paper?”

Lauren nodded, her long sleek chestnut hair swinging.

“And I asked them to use thirteen different colors in the marbling, because it's Ashley's thirteenth birthday.” Lauren beamed. Then her face fell.

Lili looked around. What was up? At the doorway was a girl from school, one of those nobodies—Sadie
something, who'd recently returned from wherever . . . oh yeah, Lili remembered now. “Check it out! Isn't that Boogers Graham?” Lili nudged A. A. and smirked.

“Oh, hush.” A. A. laughed.

Lauren didn't join in the laughter and stared at Sadie with a shocked expression.

A. A. peered at Sadie more closely. “You know what, she looks different.”

“Yeah, out of our awful uniform she actually looks normal,” Lili conceded. The Ashleys had discovered that the key to looking good was to accessorize the uniform to the extreme, so that it was forced to look flattering. Wearing a simple black top and blue jeans, with her hair pulled back, did wonders for Sadie's looks.

Sadie was about to leave the restaurant with her family but turned around and stared at their table intently. Then she began heading their way.

“I've, uh—I've got to go to the bathroom!” Lauren declared, pushing her way past Lili and hurrying to the ladies'.

When Sadie arrived at their table, she looked confused.

“Can we help you?” Lili asked, not trying to be rude, but seriously, who invited her?

“No.” Sadie shook her head. She looked at Lauren's empty seat and blinked. “Huh.”

Lili and A. A. exchanged shrugs as Sadie walked away. Lauren returned to their table after what seemed like an inordinately long time.

A. A. took a sip of virgin sake from a tiny, cerulean blue cup. “Hurry up, Lili—she's here!”

Lili capped the gold pen Lauren had handed her and quickly returned the card to its envelope. Sure enough, Ashley was sashaying toward them, looking like a streak of gold herself. Her blond hair was loose, apart from one long braid wound around her head like a band, interwoven with a filmy gold ribbon. She wore a layered, Grecian-style silk dress, which she informed them was vintage, and Halston. She must have spent all day getting ready—no wonder she'd skipped school that day.

“My mother met Rachel Zoe at a celebrity fashion benefit last month,” Ashley told them after the obligatory double kisses. “And Rachel told her this look would be perfect for me.”

“She was right.” A. A. grinned.

“You look like a movie star,” Lauren agreed.

Lili had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Why did A. A. and Lauren always have to be such kiss-asses
when Ashley was around? Had they forgotten about AshleyRank already? Maybe Lili should remind them who was currently wearing the crown.

She picked up the giant box wedged into Ashley's seat and lifted it onto the table, Lauren quickly moving the delicate sake cups out of the way.

“For me?” gasped Ashley, feigning surprise. She slipped into her seat and thrummed the box with her gold-tipped fingernails.

“I brought this with me,” Lauren said, offering her a ceramic letter opener, “so you can look at your card without getting your nails dirty.”

“So sweet!” Ashley was certainly in a friendly mood tonight. Lili was amazed by how long she spent looking at the card, counting the different colors in the delicate marbling and reading the calligraphy message (“To the fairest of them all”) aloud several times. This was kind of strange: Usually Ashley dispensed with the card in ten seconds because she couldn't wait to rip her gift open.

“Don't you want to see what's in the box?” A. A. asked. Her puzzled expression suggested that she was surprised as well. Was this the new, modest, number-four-with-a-bullet Ashley?

BOOK: Birthday Vicious
9.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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