Revenge of the Wannabes (2 page)

Normally Alicia wouldn’t have cared what Meredith the Mouse thought. Her tiny bland features and her oatmeal-colored skin made her hard to notice, even when she was the only other person in the room. But at that moment Alicia thought Meredith’s opinion was just as important as a pretty person’s.

“Me too,” Alicia replied to her red toenails as she padded across the cold tiles toward the showers. “Maybe you could say something to Sondra.”

“I totally will,” Meredith said. “I promise.”

And that gave Alicia hope.

While she washed her hair with Glisten shampoo, Alicia made a mental note to try and convince the other girls in her class to speak to Sondra too. She was determined to lead again.

Alicia took her time drying off, knowing Olivia would wait for her.

“You were
better
than J.Lo,” Olivia said when Alicia walked over to her locker. Alicia was surprised to see that she was still wrapped in a towel, tugging on her silver lock. Olivia turned the dial again and yanked down, but it wouldn’t open. “Ugh! I am spacing on the combination. This totally sucks.”

“You really think I was good?” Alicia asked, towel-drying her hair.

“Do cows
fly?
” Olivia said, letting go of her lock and looking at Alicia with a warm smile.

Alicia stopped drying her hair and raised her eyebrows.

“No.”

“Oh.” Olivia looked confused. “Wait, I got that wrong. What I meant was
yes
. You were awesome.”

Alicia exhaled and opened her locker.

“You had perfect timing and you didn’t miss a step,” Olivia said, still tugging on her lock.

“And what about how you called Sondra ‘sir’?” Catherine butted in, then snorted at the thought. She had huge dimples and a cute round face that reminded Alicia of a cherub. “Rivera, this class would
so
suck without you.”

Alicia put her hand on her heart and shook her head slowly. She wanted her public to know that she was truly grateful for their support.

“Heeelp,” Olivia whimpered. “I can’t re-mem-ber my locker combo.”

Alicia reached for her yellow quilted Chanel makeup bag, unzipped it, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Here.” She handed it to Olivia.

“What’s this?” Olivia smiled, forgetting her lock for a minute. “A secret note?”

The other girls stopped dressing and watched Olivia with curiosity and envy. She turned her back to them and quickly unfolded the paper.

Olivia glanced down and saw a series of numbers, then lifted her head and smiled at Alicia. “What would I do without you?” She turned to face her lock, spun the pink dial three times, pulled it down, and snapped it open.

Meredith, Catherine, and a few other girls started clapping and cheering. Alicia climbed up on one of the wood changing benches and bowed.

When Alicia stepped down, Olivia gave her a big hug and said, “You really are my friend, aren’t you?”

Alicia reached into the deep outside pocket on her green alligator Prada bag and pulled out a sheet of stickers from
Lucky
magazine. She ran her Vagabond Red nails along the
nos
and then
maybes,
knowing Olivia was anxiously awaiting her response. After a few more moments of playful teasing, Alicia peeled off a
yes
and stuck it to Olivia’s arm.

“Yes! I’m a
yes
,” she said, holding her arm out for everyone to see. “Does this mean I can start going to Massie’s Friday night sleepovers?”

Olivia’s question hurt more than an eyebrow wax. Alicia wondered if all this time Olivia was using her just to get in with Massie.

“Massie has a strict GLU policy for her sleepovers and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Alicia said, avoiding Olivia’s hopeful eyes.

“What’s a GLU policy?” Olivia asked.

Most of the other girls had their jackets on and were leaving, but Alicia noticed Meredith and Catherine lingering by their lockers, hoping to hear her explanation.

“A GLU is a Girl Like Us,” Alicia responded, sounding bored.

“How does someone become a GLU?” Olivia pressed down on the
yes
sticker before sliding her arm inside her navy peacoat.

Meredith and Catherine stopped masking their interest and moved in closer.

“You can’t
become
one,” Alicia snapped. “Massie, Kristen, Dylan, and me are the only GLUs.”

“Who made up
that
stupid rule?” Meredith squeaked.

“Massie,” Alicia said, then slammed her locker shut.

“Well, don’t you have any say in who you hang out with?” Catherine asked.

Alicia stuffed her pink knit scarf and hat into her bag and quickly put on her gray wool coat. She was desperate to get away from their questions, because she didn’t like the answers any more than they did. “It’s Massie’s party, so I guess she gets to decide who goes, okay?”

“Then why don’t
you
have the parry?” Olivia said, rubbing Burt’s Bees lip balm across her pouty lips. “Then we can all go.”

It sounded like a simple solution, but it was beyond complicated. Everyone knew Massie owned Friday nights in the same way that MTV owned the Ten Spot. She had claimed the night; therefore it was hers.

“It’s so funny, ’cause I always thought
you
were the one that made all of the rules.” Catherine zipped her ski jacket. “Not
Massie
.”

Alicia should have been surprised that Catherine and Meredith knew so much about her best friend, considering they didn’t even go to Octavian Country Day School, but she wasn’t. Everyone knew Massie.

“Why?” Alicia wasn’t sure if she had just been complimented or insulted.

“Well, you’re prettier, you have a ton of friends, your clothes are all designer, the Briarwood boys are in love with you, and you’re an amazing dancer,” Meredith said, running her fingers through her limp hair.

“It’s true,” Catherine added. “I bet if you had sleepovers, they’d be so awesome. I always tell my friends about the funny things you say in class and they all want to meet you.”

“And your house is way bigger than Massie’s,” Olivia added.

Alicia’s heart felt like it was beating faster than a hummingbird’s and her armpits started to sweat. “You know, maybe I haven’t been living up to my full potential,” she said out loud, more to herself than to the others.

“Not even close.” Olivia threw her arm around Alicia.

“Hmmm,” was all Alicia could say.

Had she been eclipsed by Massie’s shadow all these years? Was the world waiting for her to step out on her own and shine?

“Why
shouldn’t
I be able to have my own sleepover?”

It was the first time Alicia had considered doing something new on a Friday night. She smiled to herself when she thought of how jealous Dylan and Kristen would be for not thinking of it first. “You know, now that I think about it …” Alicia tapped her chin with her index finger. “It’s not natural for
anyone
to stay ‘in’ for more than three years. Even Burberry’s out again.”

The girls jumped up and down and hugged each other, excited to be in on the start of something so new.

“And how cool is it that some of us go to different schools?” Catherine said. “That’s never been done before.”

“What should we plan for our first night?” Meredith asked Alicia. “Name something you’ve always wanted to do.”

Alicia clapped. “How ’bout we give you a makeover?”

Meredith leaned in toward the mirror and examined her face, but Alicia was too excited to notice. “My mother was just in Spain visiting my grandparents and she brought back a ton of European makeup. You should see my bathroom right now. It’s so Sephora.”

“Are you going to invite Massie?” Olivia asked.

“Oh my Gawd, how much fun would
that
be?” Meredith said.

“It would be great. Massie is sooo good at putting on makeup. Have you ever seen her at the MAC counter?”

Alicia rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe they were talking about Massie again.

“No, I wish,” Meredith said. “Have you?”

“No,” Olivia admitted. “But I
heard
she’s even better than the people that work there.”

“Didn’t they ask her to quit school so she could work with them?” Catherine said.

“That’s what I heard.”

“Why are you guys so ob-
sessed
with Massie Block?” Alicia asked. What she really wanted to say was, “Why are you guys more obsessed with Massie Block than you are with me?” But she stormed out of the locker room instead.

The girls chased after her.

“What’s wrong?” Olivia called. “What did we do?”

Alicia poured herself a glass of cucumber-infused water from the pitcher by the receptionist’s desk and waited for Catherine and Meredith to catch up. She was only going to say this once.

As soon as Meredith and Catherine arrived, Alicia spoke. Her voice was crisp and controlled, but on the inside she was shaking.

“I am about to put my social life on the line to host a sleepover party for you and all you can talk about is Massie Block,” she announced, tossing the cup full of water into the trash. “News flash, I’m not the head of her fan club, okay?” Then she took off again.

The sound of the girls’ feet following her lightened Alicia’s mood.

“We’re sorry—we’ll never mention
her
again,” Meredith shouted.

“Yeah, never,” Catherine said.

“Come on, wait up,” Olivia pleaded.

Alicia stopped, then sighed and turned to them with a forgiving smile that said, “Your begging worked.”

The girls apologized one last time for hurting her feelings before they said their goodbyes.

“Call and let us know what time to be at your house tomorrow night,” Meredith said.

“Wait,” Olivia said. “Don’t we have the
Teen Vogue
interview tomorrow?”

“Oh my Gawd, I almost forgot.” Alicia fluffed up her hair. “We’re going to New York City tomorrow. The fashion editor at
Teen Vogue
is doing a big story on us because we won a uniform design contest at our school last week.”

“I know,” Meredith said. “We heard all about it. That’s sooo cool.”

“Does this mean the sleepover is off?” Catherine asked, her dimples slowly fading.

“No, it just means we’ll have tons of great stories to tell you when we get back.”

Catherine’s dimples popped back on her face and Meredith put her hands over her mouth and jumped up and down.

“Don’t forget to call us later,” they called back to Alicia as they pushed through the heavy glass doors and ran outside to meet their parents.

“I won’t.” Alicia waved goodbye to her dance friends.

A gust of freezing winter air smacked her cheeks and made her eyes water. She was relieved to see her father’s driver, Dean, waiting in their limo. It meant she didn’t have to stand alone in the cold thinking about what she had just done.

Alicia still felt chilled a half hour later when she sat down to dinner with her parents. The six-bedroom estate often felt big and lonely, especially when Alicia’s cousins and grandmother weren’t visiting from Spain. The staff had the night off and it was one of those rare occasions where Alicia, her mother, Nadia, and her father, Len, were alone in the house. Nadia had done her best to make the big house feel like a home with music, cinnamon-scented candles, and authentic Spanish cuisine.

“What
is
this?” Alicia slid a dark, salty chunk of meat across her gold plate with the side of her knife.

“
Cordero asado
and
escalivada Catalan,
” Nadia said.

“Ohhh.” Len sounded impressed. “It’s delicious.”

“What is
that?
” Alicia asked.

“Roast lamb and roast vegetables.” Nadia smiled with pride. Her perfectly white teeth looked like pearls against her dark olive skin and her red lipstick made them seem even brighter. She hadn’t modeled since she’d left Spain and moved to Westchester, fifteen years ago, but Alicia thought she still could.

“It’s good.” Alicia tried to be polite, but she had no appetite. Every chunk of dead meat on her plate was a reminder of what she would be when Massie found out about the sleepover.

They sat around the rectangular glass-and-cast-iron table, eating to the frenzied rhythm of Spanish music Nadia had brought back from her last trip to Barcelona. The singer’s voice sounded like a groggier version of Ricky Martin’s. She knew her father felt the same way when he casually pressed the bottom arrow on the remote control to lower the volume.

“I know what you’re doing,” Nadia said to Len.

“What?” Len smiled. “I love this song.” He winked at Alicia.

“Can I be excused?” Alicia said. She forced a piece of roast zucchini down her throat. “I’m full.”

“Homework?” Len asked, his face becoming serious. The flecks of gray in his full black hair made him look handsome, not old.

“Yeah, I think a few girls from dance are going to sleep over tomorrow night, so I want to get my room ready.” Alicia pushed her chair away from the table and tossed her napkin on her plate. She wanted to escape before they could ask her the one question she was hoping to avoid.

“Why are you doing that
now?
” Nadia asked, looking at the clock on the microwave.

Alicia was relieved. That wasn’t the question she was afraid of.

“Because I have the
Teen Vogue
interview tomorrow, so I won’t have time to set up before they get here.” Alicia turned to leave.

“Wait, isn’t tomorrow Massie’s sleepover?” Nadia asked. Faced with the dreaded question, Alicia tried to look casual by picking invisible pieces of lint off her black cashmere turtleneck.

“She isn’t sick, is she?”

“No.” Alicia turned to face her mother but spoke to the bottle of red wine in the center of the table instead.

“Is she jealous because you beat her in the uniform design contest and you’re going to
Teen Vogue
without her? I bet she is and she’s giving you a hard time, right?” Nadia raised her wineglass and toasted herself. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s catty women.”

“Puh-lease, she’s not
jealous.
This has nothing to do with the design contest.”