Revenge of the Wannabes (17 page)

Massie rolled her eyes and grabbed her cell phone out of the pocket on her green Juicy hoodie. She flipped it open and saw that it was 8:19
PM
… almost twenty minutes late! She snapped it shut and heard another purple rhinestone land on the new light beige floors.

Kendra hung the blankets over the thigh adductor machine. “It’s going to be great having a home gym, isn’t it?” She walked toward Massie, her kitten heel slippers clacking against the floors with every step she took. She put her thin, bony arm around Massie’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Isn’t it?”

“I guess,” Massie said, looking around the barn that used to belong to her horse, Brownie.

When the horse was little, Massie had covered the walls with posters of young fillies that she thought Brownie would find sexy. She drew pictures of big grassy fields and rainbows for her horse and tacked them into the soft wood around his stall. She even buried her old shirts in the haystacks so Brownie would always know that Massie was close by. But now the white stallion lived at the upscale stable Galwaugh Farms. And the only thing left from Massie’s past was the mural she had painted with Kristen, Dylan, and Claire.

“I can’t wait for the mirrors to go up,” Massie said, turning her back to the wall.

“It’s a shame we have to cover up your painting,” Kendra said, admiring her daughter’s mural. “It was such a neat art class assignment. We never did anything like that when I went to OCD.”

“I already handed in photos of the mural, so I don’t need it anymore.”

“What did Mrs. Nish think of it?” Kendra asked.

Massie walked over to the fridge, pulled a piece of ziti out of the pasta bowl, and dropped it in her mouth. She casually dropped one for Bean, hoping her mother wouldn’t notice. “She said it was very effective. I think I got an A.”

“That’s great, sweetie,” Kendra said in a relaxed tone.

Usually her mother’s voice sounded strained and anxious. “What else are you doing in school these days?”

Massie watched as her mother lowered herself onto an exercise bench. She crossed her legs and leaned forward, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. It was like she was about to watch one of her favorite Lifetime movies.

“We’re learning all about J. C.’s campaigns and how he did everything because he wanted to be popular and famous,” Massie said.

Kendra jumped to her feet. Her inner-peace moment was over.

“They’re teaching you that Jesus Christ did everything to be
popular?”
She sounded ready to sue.

“No.” Massie crinkled her nose and looked at her mother like she had gone mad. “Julius Caesar.”

“Ohhh,” Kendra said, sitting back down again. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. “Go on.”

“He wanted to be known for being a great leader,” Massie said. “He even wrote about all of his campaigns in a journal and sent his books to Rome so people would know his name throughout history.”

“Sort of like you when you were younger,” Kendra said, a soft smile forming on her tight face. “You used to keep those in-and-out lists. They were
so
cute.”

“Ehmagawd, I still do that,” Massie said in a burst of uninhibited excitement. “Me and J. C. are so the same.”

“And don’t you love Caesar salads?”

Massie rolled her eyes and looked at the door. “Thanks for the blankets, Mom. You probably want to get back to the house before the rain, right?”

“Rain?”

Massie looked at her Steve Madden sheepskin slippers and nodded. With any luck, Kristen and Dylan would be arriving any minute. And she didn’t want them to know her mother had been in GLU headquarters, even though technically Kendra was the owner.

Kendra hurried over to her daughter and kissed her on the forehead. “Have fun, my little Caesar. You too, Bean.” She shook the dog’s paw.

After her mother had left, Massie lifted Bean onto her lap. “Bean, if I’m going to conquer Alicia, I have to create loyalty among my troops. It’s the only way to keep them from leaving me and joining her army. Julius probably did the same thing.”

Bean barked three times.

“What? What’s wrong? I’m not hurting anybody this time. It’s a
nice
plan,” Massie pleaded.

“Who are you talking to?” Kristen said as she pulled open the sliding glass door.

“No one.” Massie’s face turned red.

“Heyyy.” Dylan and Kristen scurried over to hug Massie.

“Did we come to the right place?” Dylan said, looking around. “The barn looks totally different.”

“How much did this whole thing cost?” Kristen looked at the free weights, exercise machines, balls, ropes, and mats strategically placed around the room. She slowly moved toward the row of plasma TVs that hung above each of the four cardio machines as if she were in awe of their beauty. “Seriously, how much?”

“I dunno, like a million dollars or something; who cares?” Massie said, waiting for them to apologize for keeping her waiting.

“Dylan told me to ask,” Kristen said.

“I did not,” Dylan snapped.

Kristen laughed her phlegmy laugh, then Massie joined in. She forgot all about how late they were. Nothing made her happier than laughing with her friends and she didn’t want to waste another minute of their sleepover being mad.

Massie noticed Dylan staring at the mural. “Why were you talking to her in the halls the other day? It’s like you miss her or something.”

“Please.” Dylan sat down on her sleeping bag and unwrapped the chocolate on her pillow. She popped it in her mouth and continued speaking. “I miss my retainer more than I miss
her.”

Kristen lay beside her. She pulled open her A&F overnight bag and took out a book of crossword puzzles, a Bic pen, and a mini-flashlight. She placed them on the floor beside her. “Yeah, and I miss the T. J. Maxx cardigan my mother makes me wear to school more than I miss her.”

“So what were you talking about?” Massie crouched down and stuck her thumbnail into her chocolate.

“We told you a billion times,” Kristen said. “She was bragging about some date she had with Harris Fisher, like that was supposed to impress us.”

“Yeah, try going out with a guy in
our
grade,” Dylan said, peeling the silver wrapper off a Hershey’s Kiss. “Now,
that
would impress me.”

“Puh-lease. She’s not really hanging out with Harris,” Massie said, passing around a vase of licorice. “Is she?”

“She’s going over there tonight,” Dylan said. “Or at least that’s what she said. We all know what a liar she is.”

“Besides, if Harris
is
hanging out with Alicia, it’s probably because he knows he can’t get
you,”
Kristen said.

“Too true.” Massie slapped her thigh with a Twizzler. “I’m over those Fisher boys, especially Cam.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Kristen said, sitting up on her knees.

“Well, it’s a secret.” Massie tore her licorice into tiny pieces.

“About who?” Dylan reached for the chocolate on Kristen’s pillow. She unwrapped it without taking her eyes off Massie.

“Me.” Massie lowered her eyes. So far, her plan was working perfectly.

“Ooohhh, tell us.” Dylan’s green eyes widened and her cheeks turned the color of her hair. Massie thought her friend looked pretty and almost felt guilty for manipulating her. But she was in the middle of a war.

“I can’t,” Massie said. “It’s personal.”

“Eight-letter swearword for
bull crap,
please.” Kristen pounded her fist on the floor. “I thought we told each other everything.”

“Yeah, well, this is different.”

“Why don’t you trust us?” Dylan asked.

“Ever since Alicia betrayed me, I don’t trust anyone,” Massie said. “And now that I know you’re talking to her, I really can’t trust you.”

“We’re not talking to her,” Kristen insisted.

Massie ignored her and continued. “Alicia is a gossip master. If anyone could get you to talk, it would be her. And if she knew my secret, I’d be so over.” Massie shook her head. “No. No way, I can’t.”

“Oh, please, we’ll do anything,” Dylan said.

“Hmmm.” Massie scratched her head. “Well, I guess if you told me your deepest, darkest secrets, I could trust you.”

“Okay,” Dylan said without even thinking about it. “Tell us everything—don’t leave one thing out.” She lay facedown on her sleeping bag and propped herself up on her elbows.

Kristen did the same.

“No way,” said Massie. “You first.”

“I dunno, mine is
really
top secret,” Kristen said, twirling one of her blond braids around her finger. “What if you tell?”

“You have my word that as long as we are friends, I will never tell.” Massie held out her pinky.

“But what if we stop being friends?” Dylan chimed in. “Are you going to tell then?”

“I guess this means we’ll have to stay best friends forever,” Massie said.

“Done,” Kristen said.

“Yeah, done,” Dylan agreed.

“Okay,” Massie said, holding out her pinky. “I, Massie Block, swear that as long as we are friends, I will never repeat what I am about to hear to any soul, living or dead. Not even for gossip points.”

Kristen and Dylan repeated the pledge and the three girls locked pinkies. Massie breathed a sign of relief. Now her friends would never leave her for Alicia or anyone else. Never.

Massie leaned over and grabbed Kristen’s pen and book of crossword puzzles. She tore a page out of the book and pulled off the blue pen cap with her teeth.

“Hey,” Kristen snapped. “What are you doing?”

“We’ll draw names to see who goes first,” Massie said. She wrote Kristen’s name twice and Dylan’s once. Massie was willing to share her secret; she just didn’t want to go first. She crumpled up the three pieces of paper and put them in her palm. She held it out for Kristen. “You pick.”

Kristen reached out her fingers, plucked up a ball of paper, and quickly opened it. “Ugh, I got me!”

Massie closed her fist and rolled onto her stomach. “Go ahead.”

Kristen sat up and crossed her legs. “I don’t really have anything.”

“Forget it, then,” Massie said.

“Okay, wait, now that I think about it, there’s this one thing. …”

Kristen’s aqua eyes searched their faces. “You swear you’re not going to tell?”

“Swear,” Massie and Dylan said at the same time.

She sighed heavily, then began. “’Kay, well, you know how you pick me up every morning at the Montador for carpool?”

“Yeah,” Massie said. Her heart started to pick up speed.

“Well. I. Kinda. Don’t. Really. Live. There.” Kristen spoke slowly, checking their faces after each word.

“Huh?” Dylan said.

“I live next door in the Brickview Apartments.”

“Ew, why?”

“We’re poor.”

Bean buried her face in her paws.

Massie didn’t know what to say next and wished she had turned on the stereo before they started. Was Kristen making this up? She looked at Dylan to see her reaction.

“I shouldn’t have told you,” Kristen said, rolling onto her stomach. She pulled her pillow over her face and kicked her legs.

“Yes, you should have,” Massie said as she processed the news. Everything suddenly started to make sense: the after-school job, the obsession with money, the lack of designer clothes. … “Wait, I thought your dad was a famous art dealer.”

“He
was,”
Kristen said into the pillow. “Heostllfhismoney-aewyearsoverore.”

“What?” Dylan ripped the pillow away from Kristen’s face.

“I said …” Kristen wiped her eyes. “He lost all of his money a few years ago. That’s why I’ve never invited you guys over before.”

“I always wondered about that,” Massie said. “I just thought your parents were too uptight.”

“Well, they are.” Kristen looked at her fingers. “But that’s not why I never had you over.”

“How can you afford OCD?” Massie asked.

“Scholarship,” Kristen said. “Why do you think I’m always studying?”

“I just thought you were a geek,” Massie said.

Kristen let out a small phlegmy chuckle. “You know the OCD benefit at your house every year?”

Massie nodded, afraid of what she might hear next.

“Last year the money went to me,” Kristen said.

“No way, that’s so cool,” Massie said.

“I can’t believe no one knows this but us,” Dylan said.

“Actually, Claire knows,” said Kristen.

“Kuh-laire?” Now Massie was
really
shocked. “She knows one of your secrets before I do?” Massie felt dizzy. She stood up and walked to the fridge to get some Perrier.

Kristen stood up and followed her. “I
thought
I was telling you one night when we were IM’ing, but it was the time Claire got on your computer, so—”

“And she never told anyone?” Massie said, yanking open the fridge door.

“Nope,” Kristen said. “Not a soul.”

“What an idiot—you know how many gossip points she could have scored?” Dylan said, walking toward them.

Kristen put her hands on her hips and glared at Dylan.

“Kidding.” Dylan pushed past Massie and grabbed a virgin piña colada out of the fridge.

“Claire was really cool about it,” Kristen added.

“Impressive,” Massie said with a distant smile. She turned back to Kristen and held out her arms for a hug. “Great secret, Kristen; you have our trust.”

Kristen hugged Massie back.

“My clothes are your clothes.”

Dylan put down her frothy drink and joined them. “Yeah, and I’ll totally give you half of my allowance.”

“I’m not third world.” Kristen cackled, then wiped her eyes. “But thanks.” She pulled out of the group hug. “Okay, who’s next?”

“I’ll pick the next name,” Massie said. She made a show of mixing the remaining two pieces of paper by shaking them around in her hand like a pair of dice. Finally she stopped and read one. “Dylan.”

“’Kay.” Dylan sat down on one of the white leather stools at the juice bar. She tapped her nails on the marble countertop a few times before she spoke.

“Come on,” Kristen urged.

“I’m thinking!” Dylan said. She took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly before she finally spoke. “Okay, so you know how I told you my mother is taking me and my sisters to St. Bart’s tomorrow?”