The Clique_ Charmed And Dangerous_ The Clique Prequel Part 14

"What's an LBR?" asked Alicia.

"Loser beyond repair," Ma.s.sie stated.

The girls cracked up. Ma.s.sie half smiled, unsure whether they were laughing at her or with her.

"Can I use that?" Alicia's big brown eyes widened with hope.

"Me too?" Dylan asked.

"And me?" Kristen wondered.

"Sure." Ma.s.sie beamed. Ahnna always thought that term was stupid.

Not that Ahnna mattered anymore. A new year was about to start. And with a new year came new ideas. Ideas from her notebook that Ma.s.sie resolved to turn into realities. Things like: * Weekly sleepovers at my house. * Weekly sleepovers at my house.* Lists about what was in and what was out.* Rating systems. Possibly out of ten. To gauge looks and outfit-fabulousness.* Award points for gossip.* Carpools to school, chauffeured by Isaac.* Carpools to the mall, chauffeured by Isaac.* Carpools to parties, chauffeured by Isaac.* Carpools to spray-tan appointments, chauffeured by Isaac.* Carpools to Starbucks, chauffeured by Isaac.* What Would You Rather challenges.* Boy/girl parties.* Wardrobe summits.* Hair summits.* Makeup summits.* Accessory summits.* Product summits.* School supply summits.* Technology summits.* Shopping summits.* Social invitation acceptance summits.* Favorite color summits.* Favorite snack summits.* Favorite celeb summits.* Crush summits.* Party summits.* Hair removal summits.* Hair extension summits.* Mani-pedi summits.* Eyewear summits.* A black pug named Bean.* Designated lunch table, with me at the head.* Walking order, with me in the middle.* Headquarters for GLUs (Girls Like Us).* Bedroom makeover. Royal purple, please.* Loser makeovers.* Spa days.* Vacation packing lists.* Slang that only they would understand, like LBR, GLU, beta, HART, jobby, POTI, POTO, sand-me-down...* And of course, NO MORE THAN FOUR.

"Fifteen seconds until midnight!" Merri-Lee announced.

The camera operator lifted a giant Sony onto his shoulder and flicked the switch. A red light illuminated on the side of the lens. "We're live."

Below, the crowd was getting anxious, like caged animals sensing a storm.

Noisemakers were buzzing. Streamers were being tossed. Champagne corks were popping.

Outside the hangar, the less fortunate were already hugging, probably for warmth. Ribbons of air billowed from their frostbitten noses as they lifted their heads in reverence to the giant designer clutch.

"Here we go!" Merri-Lee shouted into her mic, her voice amplified throughout the party. "Ten!... Nine!..."

Everyone shout-counted along while the hydraulic platform lowered in perfect time with the sparkling Yves clutch. Ma.s.sie waved at the crowd below, like a queen overlooking her royal subjects.

Ehmagawd! This was the moment Hermia was talking about. Ma.s.sie's palms tingled with joy. She was finally feeling This was the moment Hermia was talking about. Ma.s.sie's palms tingled with joy. She was finally feeling it it! Flanked by fashionable girls and waving at the ma.s.ses while they literally looked up to her. This was her fate! She was living her destiny. She was...

The platform lowered a few more inches.

... WAIT! Would her reign expire once they reached the ground? Was this what she had been working toward her entire life? A ten-second ride beside a giant handbag? Was this it for her Would her reign expire once they reached the ground? Was this what she had been working toward her entire life? A ten-second ride beside a giant handbag? Was this it for her it it?

Ma.s.sie reached into the pocket of her dress and gripped her purple stone, silently asking it if there was any more to this seemingly magical night.

"Eight!... Seven!... Six!..." Dylan count-shouted at the crowd below.

Alicia wiped hair out of her lip gloss.

"Five!... Four!..."

Kristen covered her exposed b.u.t.t with her free hand.

"Three!... Two!..."

The bag and the platform touched down in the center of the dance floor.

"One!... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

A live performance from ThRob rocked the house via satellite while everyone embraced.

The girls crammed together again for another four-way hug. They melded together like different-colored metals.

"Stawp!" demanded a familiar girl's voice. "Stawp right now!"

Ma.s.sie broke away from the group and turned around. Shauna, Briana, and Lana stood behind their plaid leader. Their arms folded across their chests, eyes squinted in contempt. They seemed still compared to the celebratory chaos swirling around them.

"The Ahnnabees Ahnnabees?" Kristen whispered.

"Kr-isten," Ahnna hissed.

Ma.s.sie gasped. "You know know them?" them?"

"Unfortunately." Kristen rolled her eyes.

Alicia giggled. "It's the Mad Plaider."

"If they stood in a line, they'd be a caterplaider," Kristen joked.

"Burrrrrr-berrrry!" Dylan burped.

"Burberry dresses, no punch-backs." Ma.s.sie playfully punched her new friends.

They all cracked up and exchanged high fives.

"Um, yeah, that's so funny I forgot to ditch you ditch you!" Black eyeliner was smudged under Ahnna's eyes and her forehead glistened with sweat. She looked like she had just been microwaved. "I wanted to leave you here, but my dad wouldn't let me."

Ma.s.sie stared at her blankly. Hadn't they already left her?

"We're driving you home tonight, re-mem-ber?"

"Oh," Ma.s.sie mumbled, her spirits falling like the YSL bag. She felt like Cinderella, forced to return to her humdrum life after a night at the ball.

"My dad can take you home," Alicia offered. dad can take you home," Alicia offered.

"He can?" Ma.s.sie's insides jumped up and high-fived each other.

"Given." Alicia smiled, looking more beautiful than Ahnna ever could.

"And what are you gonna do at school?" Ahnna asked. "You know, when you have no friends."

Shauna, Lana, and Brianna giggled.

"She's transferring to OCD," Dylan chimed in. "So she can be with us."

"We don't have to wear those ugly plaid uniforms you're trying to pa.s.s off as designer, either," Alicia added. "We can wear whatever we want."

"Personal style is encouraged," Dylan told Ma.s.sie.

Alicia giggle-nodded in agreement.

Ahnna rolled her eyes while roving cameras captured the hugs and kisses being given out all around the party.

"Really?" Ma.s.sie's mind expanded like an elastic waistband. There would be no end to the clothing combinations she could try. Outfits! Accessories! Boots! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat.u.r.day, Sunday! Her life as a weekend wardrobe warrior would be over. She'd finally be able to showcase her flair seven days a week. Bust out of that itchy restrictive PMS uniform like the Incredible Hulk. Let her fashion flag fly! Ma.s.sie's mind expanded like an elastic waistband. There would be no end to the clothing combinations she could try. Outfits! Accessories! Boots! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat.u.r.day, Sunday! Her life as a weekend wardrobe warrior would be over. She'd finally be able to showcase her flair seven days a week. Bust out of that itchy restrictive PMS uniform like the Incredible Hulk. Let her fashion flag fly!

"And school doesn't start for another three weeks, so you have tons of time to shop," Alicia added.

Ma.s.sie dug a silver-polished fingernail into her palm. Was this really happening?

"Me and V can go with you if you want?" Dylan made two V V's with her fingers.

"Who's V?" Ma.s.sie asked, hoping it wasn't Dylan's BFF. These girls were too good to share.

"Visa." Dylan shrugged matter-of-factly, her emerald green eyes shimmering like sun on the Caribbean Sea.

"I'll bring..." Alicia struggled to make an A A and an and an X X with her fingers. She looked like a break-dancer trying to master sign language. "AmEx." with her fingers. She looked like a break-dancer trying to master sign language. "AmEx."

"I can help you with the school application," Kristen offered.

"Really?" Ma.s.sie asked, searching their eyes for glimpses of insincerity and finding none. Instead, she saw three girls smile-nodding. They seemed as genuinely grateful to have met her as she was to have met them. "I'm in!" she shouted over the sounds of blowers, kisses, and laughter.

"Yayyyy!" The girls hugged again.

Lana, Briana, Shauna, and Ahnna's jaws hung slack, like they were watching a movie about skinned kittens. A movie that needed to end.

"Um, Ahnna, are you a pinata?" Ma.s.sie asked.

"No," Ahnna scoffed.

"Then, um, why are you hanging around?"

Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen burst out laughing.

"That's it!" gasped Ahnna. "Your PMS days are over!" The Ahnnabees stormed off in a plaid fury. Angry and out of sync with the celebration, they fought their way toward the exit, vanishing like a toxic fart in a lily-scented summer breeze.

"Thank Gawd." Ma.s.sie beamed, turning her back on them, this time for good.

"You know," she mused, linking arms with her new friends, "we should have a sleepover every Friday night at my house, to honor the night we first met."

"Done," Alicia said.

"Done," Dylan said.

"And done," Kristen said.

For the first time in her life, Ma.s.sie felt complete. No more trying to sell good ideas to bad people. From now on she would be heard, respected, revered. She had attracted the necessary pieces and was finally feeling it it! She would start fresh at a new school and transform her girls into the stuff legendary cliques are made of. Hermia had been right about everything....

Almost.

Only four pieces had come together, not five. But Ma.s.sie decided to let that go. She had bigger things to worry about. Like what to name their group. But she'd worry about that tomorrow. Tonight all she wanted to think about was the endless amounts of fun that lay ahead. No fights. No stress. No pressure. No joiners!

Arms still linked, Ma.s.sie led her new friends into the heart of the party. Like a human charm bracelet they all moved as one, each girl linked to the next. Each girl a valuable piece of gold.

KISSIMMEE, FLTHE LYONS RESIDENCESat.u.r.day, January 1st12:07 A.M. A.M.

After seven minutes of fussing with the timer on the digital camera, the flash went off.

"Cheese." Claire tried to smile. But it was too late. Her commemorative New Year's Eve photo had been taken. Instead of being surrounded by her best friends, donning homemade crowns and sugar-induced grins, she was alone on her bed. Glitter was sprinkled everywhere. Her h.e.l.lo Kitty boom box was totaled. Discarded costumes lay in heaps like land mines. Sugar snacks hardened like unwanted candy on a movie theater floor. And sc.r.a.ps of paper, scissors, and different-colored glue sticks were strewn across her white s.h.a.g rug. This was how Claire had left her room when they snuck out. Back when she had hope. Back when she was happy. Back when she was a winner winner.

The sound of the local news playing and replaying the clip of her being dragged away by her parents seeped through her lime green bedroom walls.

"Oh, that poor girl," snickered Carmen Ballucci, Kissimmee's famed anchorwoman-slash-1992-pageant-winner. "Let's watch that again, shall we?"

"You are so bad," chided her coanchor, Benton Newmarket.

"I can't help it." She giggled. "It's so-"

"Hilarious?" offered Benton.

"Yes." She beamed. "Roll the clip! Last time, I promise."

"Ugh!" Claire smacked her daisy-covered duvet in frustration. She could practically see Carmen's goofy smile. Her fake white teeth horsing forward. Her heavily shadowed lids fluttering with delight. Her flipped blond bangs bouncing with glee.

Claire covered her head with a pillow, but it didn't matter. She could still hear everything. The humiliating scene marked her brain like a giant skull-and-crossbones tattoo.

"What's happening?" asked Theo. asked Theo.

"Wait." Rob said. Rob said. "Is this a payback prank?" "Is this a payback prank?"

"I wish," Claire mumbled. Claire mumbled.

"Looks like you're gonna have to kiss something else at midnight," Judi Lyons snapped. Judi Lyons snapped. "Perverts," "Perverts," she shouted. she shouted.

"Mom!" Claire gasped. Claire gasped. "Don't do this to me!" "Don't do this to me!"

"I'd hate to be her her father," Benton the newscaster stated. father," Benton the newscaster stated.

Claire's dad pounded the wall. "Tell me about it!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Claire pounded back as if the walls were an extension of her own stupid self. The self that convinced her she could get away with such an elaborate stunt. The self that wished, more than anything, that she had.

Her mother pounded back twice. "You'll be sorry all right, when we send you to boarding school boarding school."