Social Order (7 page)

The whole dance-team routine for the lacrosse game was so out of left field. Billy Reddy had mentioned to Dex that Lauren had promised to rustle up some
screaming girls for the game, and it had snowballed into some kind of cheerleader extravaganza. She was amused that Lili had taken it so deeply to heart, although she had to admit she was a bit excited to perform in front of so many boys as well.

Ashley was taking apart Olivia DeBartolo's disastrous new fur hat when the second bell rang and it was time to dash up the stairs and take their seats in etiquette class. When they filed into the classroom in the front of the mansion, Lauren noticed that the same crew who'd filmed them at the dance-team practice had already set up for the new location. There were even more people this time—Jasper and Matt were both there with walkie-talkies, and Tiffany was talking to one of the lighting guys about how the stained-glass windows would affect their shot.

Miss Charm was completely flustered, and also overdressed, wearing a peach mock-Chanel jacket with matching kilt and a crystal brooch the size of a large apple. She had much more makeup on than usual as well, Lauren noticed, and every time she moved her head, dustlike powder flew off her face.

Ashley made a big deal about getting miked up, and Lauren had to repress a grin, since she and the other
Ashleys were old pros. Filming was a lot more boring and stop-and-start than yesterday, however. Matt and Jasper were a lot more micromanaging than Tiffany had been. Matt asked Miss Charm to make her introductory speech three times before they were happy with the sound and the light. By the time Ashley got up to announce the Friendship Ceremony, class was almost half over.

Ashley explained the details of the Friendship Ceremony, sounding as if she were addressing the White House press corps. “Everyone will divide into groups, and then each group will work on a little presentation. Each group will make a banner representing their group, and everyone will stand up and say why they like each other.”

“Plus, each group has to sing a song, a theme song for their group,” Lili chimed in from the front row. Ashley's beauty-queen smile sagged for a second with annoyance.

“I was just getting to that,” Ashley said in a frosty voice. “Everyone has to choose a song about friendship and then sing it to the whole class.”

“Can we bring in music?” asked Sheridan Riley.

“No,” Ashley said firmly. Lauren knew why: Ashley
had a strong, clear singing voice and had no trouble singing in tune. A lot of the other girls would struggle without a CD playing in the background to help them out.

Overall, the idea went down pretty well. Some of the girls were muttering that they had only a week to get their presentations together, and some of the less popular girls were looking desperately around the room, wondering whose group might let them in. But nobody was going to rebel against a plan initiated by the Ashleys. And who wanted to look like a friendless whiner when there were TV cameras filming every word?

At recess, after her honors science class, Lauren returned to the bench to find Matt and his cameras already set up and all the Ashleys preening with hairbrushes and lip gloss before filming began again. Even A. A. was fixing her pigtails and checking her reflection in her iPhone.

Matt told them to start talking about their banner, and Ashley, of course, the good little soldier she was, rushed to be the first one to speak.

“So we should use canvas instead of paper, naturally,” she insisted. “That way we can sew or staple our items on and make it three-di—”

“I already thought of that,” interrupted Lili, pulling
a portfolio out from under the bench. “Here are some designs that I had put together.”

“These are great, Lili,” Lauren gushed, even though it wasn't her turn to speak. She knew that if she complimented Lili's designs, it would annoy Ashley.

“Yeah,” Ashley said flatly, giving the portfolio a cursory examination. “But I think we need to go in a different direction—I was thinking of bringing in some professional expertise.”

“What do you mean?” Lili asked, looking affronted.

“You wouldn't cut your own hair, would you?” Ashley asked. “You'd leave it to Frédéric Fekkai. Well. I don't think we should design our own banner.”

Lili looked as if it was the most obnoxious thing she'd ever heard, and Lauren had to agree. Besides, wasn't that cheating? But maybe not, since they wouldn't be graded on the activity.

“What kind of item do you want to represent you?” A. A. asked, determined to stick to her talking points.

It wasn't clear who exactly A. A. was speaking to, and both Lili and Ashley started talking at once. Ashley, who had the louder voice, won.

“A violin for Lili, I thought—we could have a miniature made up in rosewood. And I'd have a crystal
tiara. Because, well, you know.” Ashley smiled up at the camera.

“No, I don't.” Lauren feigned ignorance. “Why a tiara?” She wanted to show exactly how vain and pompous Ashley could be.

But Ashley only smiled.

“You guys! I don't want a violin,” argued Lili, jostling to open her portfolio. “That's so dorky!” She frowned. “I was thinking, for me, a BlackBerry. I can get a faux one stitched in black leather. It'll look really cool. Or maybe I could get, like, a pair of scales to represent how I'm on Honor Board.”

Ashley made a twirling motion with her finger to indicate “big whoop.”

“Why do you always diss Honor Board?” Lili asked, sounding incredibly whiny.

“I'm not,” Ashley said, giving Lili an unexpected hug. “You know I'm just teasing, Brainiac.”

“What about you, A. A.?” Lauren asked, a bit disappointed that Ashley had backed off a prima donna scuffle.

“I don't know,” said A. A., scuffing one toe in the grass. “Maybe something sporty.”

Ashley crinkled her nose.

“How about, like, a pair of long legs? They're your best feature,” Lili suggested.

“Or a big pair of pink lips,” Ashley offered.

“Why?” A. A. was bemused.

“You know, because you've kissed all these boys,” Ashley said wickedly.

Ouch,
Lauren thought.

“No, I haven't!” A. A. protested.

“How many boys have you kissed?” Lili asked, sounding innocent but obviously seeing an opportunity to dump on A. A. as well. Votes were on the line, after all, although Lauren wasn't sure if this was the right way to get them.

“I don't know . . . ,” A. A. said miserably, trying not to look at the camera. “Not that many . . .”

“Let's review, shall we?” Ashley held up her hand and started checking off with her fingers. “At that high school party you went to, didn't you make out with a freshman from Saint Aloysius? In fact, it was two boys, wasn't it? You made out with both of them, and one of them stalked you afterward, remember?”

“Totally!” said Lili, nudging Lauren. A. A.'s cheeks were pink, and Lauren couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Ashley was really acting up for the cameras.

“And don't forget your online Romeo—laxjock. Did he turn out to be a freak, or did you kiss him, too?” Lili asked.

“You guys, you know I didn't meet up with anyone. I was right there at the dance when you collapsed,” A. A. said quietly.

“Oh, that's right.” Ashley sighed. “When I collapsed and almost died because Lili had promised to supply nut-free cupcakes and then went back on her word.”

“I didn't do it on purpose!” Lili protested. “I didn't even know you had an allergy. Why do you have to keep bringing this up?”

“I don't know. Maybe because
I nearly died
or something?”

The bell rang for third period, and Matt clapped his hands.

“This is great, girls,” he said. Lauren couldn't agree more. “You're all naturals. Next week at the Friendship Ceremony, we want you to perform last.”

By the time Lauren got to her next class, she felt invigorated. If this was all it took to make the Ashleys look ridiculous, then she could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

STYLE: 10

Spotted leaving the offices of Chiat\Day (a famous design and advertising firm) with a fat pink linen portfolio bound with a suede strap and “The Ashleys” embossed on the front.

SOCIAL PRESENCE: 10

Spies tell us she bossed around the design team with her usual élan.

SMILE: 9

Didn't look too happy to find out it would be a six-week turnaround on her Friendship Ceremony banner.

SMARTS: 10

Offered the team triple the fee if they got it done faster. Banner production confirmed!

CUMULATIVE SCORE: 39
(Hey, no one's perfect!)

STYLE: 10

Fills out an Adidas by Stella McCartney jog bra and leggings like no one else can.

SOCIAL PRESENCE: 8

Kept her cool when she noticed crazy boy stalker from last semester has resurfaced and was peeking in on dance-team practice.

SMILE: 10

Looked positively ecstatic when crazy stalker beat it after dance coach scared him away.

SMARTS: 9

Maybe next time should think twice before kissing two boys at Truth or Dare.

CUMULATIVE SCORE: 37

STYLE: 10

Looked especially chic arriving for French conversation on Monday afternoon.

SOCIAL PRESENCE: 10

We gotta admit, she's got a certain
je ne sais quoi
!

SMILE: 7

Wheezing French professor keeps inserting herself in conversations made for two.

SMARTS: 9

Kudos to a girl who can flirt in two languages!

CUMULATIVE SCORE: 36

STYLE: 9

Speaks softly but carries a Céline handbag.

SOCIAL PRESENCE: 9

From head lunch table to the Bench of Judgment in a week! Who knows how high this one is going to go?

SMILE: 6

Current bemused expression an improvement on look of total anxiety.

SMARTS: 8

Aligning with the Ashleys is the smartest move she's made.

CUMULATIVE SCORE: 32

“SO HOW ARE YOU FEELING
right now?” the production intern was holding a microphone just off camera, and Lili made sure to talk slowly to be understood. It was halftime at the Gregory Hall–Saint Aloysius varsity lacrosse game, and in a few minutes Lili would be out there dancing her butt off for the crowd. Right now they were taping a “confessional” for the reality show. Jasper had explained that since they weren't going to mike them up during the performance but tape them from afar, they wanted to get their thoughts on the action beforehand.

“I'm really pumped. I like seeing hard work pay off,” she said.

The day was gray and rainy and the game was tied at four all. Saint A's had managed to bus in dozens of cheering supporters, but only half of the upper-form girls from Miss Gamble's had bothered to show up.

Standing in a muddy field didn't sound like a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, even with the promise of boy watching. To muster interest, Lili had started a rumor that the person behind AshleyRank would be revealed at the game, not that it had helped much. There were a bunch of younger girls who looked like sixth graders watching the game, probably there to cheer on someone's older brother. Oh well. Nothing was going to spoil her moment of triumph. Coach had come up with a brilliant routine as usual, and they were going to dazzle the halftime crowd.

Lili looked straight at the camera, hoping it captured her good side. “To be honest, I'm a little nervous.”

“But aren't you used to performing?” the intern prodded.

“Yeah, but this is different.”

Really, Lili wanted to dazzle one player in particular. The junior high match was already over, but the players were still around, most of them seated in the sidelines with their helmets off, resting and eating oranges. She'd
already found Max on the far right corner of the field, wearing his red and black Reed Prep uniform. This little routine was All About Max, as far as Lili was concerned. She'd never been this sweet on a boy, unless you counted Zac Efron when she was in fifth grade.

She debated whether to reveal her crush on national television. Why not? Maybe it would garner her more votes. Surely a girl in love was always a sympathetic character.

“I'm nervous because a boy I really like is here,” she said finally. She looked over her shoulder.

Max looked so incredibly darling today in his lacrosse uniform, with his giant padded gloves and crimson helmet, especially when he was pounding up and down the field. He'd scored two goals and four assists in the game. The Reed Prep Lions had beaten the crap out of the Gregory Hall Wolverines. And he could speak French! (Well, sort of.) He was amazing. She was glad to see he wasn't going anywhere.

Lili had arranged special dance-team outfits made for the occasion in Gregory Hall colors, blue and gold, designed by her cousin who used to work for Isaac Mizrahi. But the craziest thing about this performance was how easy it was to keep it from Ashley. Ashley
was utterly preoccupied with having her own way on the banner and song and speeches for the Friendship Ceremony next week. And when she wasn't personally supervising the hand-stitching of every item, she was hanging out after school with loverboy Tri. With Ashley so busy, keeping the secret was easy—the hardest thing was finding time for rehearsals in Lili's own schedule.

“Let's go!” A. A. was jumping up and down in excitement, or maybe just to stay warm, since their outfits were a bit skimpy. Lauren looked a bit sick with nerves, especially when she noticed the size of the crowd. Lili knew extreme action was necessary. If Lauren was nervous, she'd make mistakes. And there was no way Lili was going to have the dance team made a laughing stock today. They were the Ashleys, after all, even if one of their usual members was AWOL.