The Pretty Committee Strikes Back Part 15

"What about Doose?" Claire joked once they were all outside.

"Women and children first," Ma.s.sie said.

"That lesson was killer." Alexandra shook the water off the top of her head.

"Itreallywas," Carrie agreed.

"I still want to know when when you got all of this experience," Dylan said. you got all of this experience," Dylan said.

"Given," Alicia said.

At this point, Ma.s.sie didn't care what they wanted. She had given them their twenty dollars' worth and was back on top. Her work here was done.

"Oh no," Livvy squealed once they were safely outside. "There are boys over there. Do you think they heard us?"

In the distance Kemp, Plovert, Cam, Josh, and Derrington were playing Hacky Sack with an ice ball under the porch light in front of the dining pavilion.

"No way, they're too far. Look." Dylan cupped her hands around her mouth and softly said, "Hey, boys!"

They all stopped and turned to face her.

"I guess sound really travels out here in the wild." She shrugged.

"What if they heard?" Alexandra said.

"Impossible, we were inside," Ma.s.sie said. "Now let's get away from the igloo before Mr. Myner catches us. If he knows we melted it, he'll-"

"Hey, Block," Derrington shouted. "How about that kiss now?" The boys laughed. "Look." He pointed to the sky. "It's dark out."

Ma.s.sie felt the heat of everyone's stare on her cold cheeks.

"It's not cla.s.sy to do it in public," Ma.s.sie shouted.

"Always an excuse." Derrington turned his back on her.

"Hey, that's not cool," Alexandra shouted. "She didn't give you an excuse at the holiday parties."

He turned back to face them.

"And she went straight to tongue," Livvy added. "You skipped right over the close-lip stage, so what are you complaining about?"

Ma.s.sie appreciated the MUCK girls coming to her rescue but they needed to stop. Now. Now.

"What are you talking talking about?" Derrington started walking toward them. about?" Derrington started walking toward them.

"Come on," Ma.s.sie said to her friends. "Let's go. The last thing you girls need is to be sucked into one of our lovers' quarrels." She pulled Livvy's arm and started walking toward her cabin. Her heart was pounding and her mouth went dry. Ma.s.sie suddenly felt disconnected from her body, like she was watching herself from above.

"Ma.s.sie, what are they talking about?" Derrington insisted. "Have you been kissing someone else?'

Ma.s.sie cringed when she heard Derrington call her by her first name. He must have been really p.i.s.sed. "Keep walking," she told the girls.

"I swear, if you've been making out with some other guy while I've been waiting, I'll-" Derrington continued.

The girls stopped. "Let's go," Ma.s.sie insisted.

"Whatdoeshemeanwaiting?" Carrie asked.

Derrington was standing beside them now. Clouds of steam shot out of his mouth as he fought to catch his breath.

"I want to know who you've been tongue-kissing." Derrington looked deep into Ma.s.sie's eyes.

"Just you." Ma.s.sie's voice quivered.

"Me?" Derrington lifted his eyebrows. "Ha!" "Ha!"

Ma.s.sie's throat got even drier as she felt the tears gathering behind her eyes.

"You mean you two have never kissed?" Alicia said. "At all?"

"She won't even let me give her a peck on the cheek-" Derrington unpinned Ma.s.sie's rhinestone M M brooch from the bottom of his shorts and threw it in the dirt. He lifted his Timberland and crushed the brooch from the bottom of his shorts and threw it in the dirt. He lifted his Timberland and crushed the M M into the cold, hard ground, then turned away and stormed off. into the cold, hard ground, then turned away and stormed off.

Ma.s.sie bent down to rescue her pin. She hoped a brilliant explanation for all of this would come to her before she straightened up again. But it didn't.

"I want my money back," Carrie whined. It was the first time Ma.s.sie actually understood what she was saying.

"You are more fake than those designer handbags on Ca.n.a.l Street," Alexandra said.

"I love those bags," Olivia piped up. "They really look real, don't they?"

Alexandra glared at her.

"I am not fake fake," Ma.s.sie responded deliberately. "He's lying because he's upset."

"Puh-lease," Livvy scoffed.

She turned and walked away. Carrie, Alexandra, and Olivia followed.

Dylan, Alicia, and Claire stayed behind. They stared at Ma.s.sie while the others marched off in a huff. Despite the crisp night air, Ma.s.sie's armpits were sweating. She was beyond humiliated and fought the desperate urge to drop to her knees and beg for forgiveness. At this point she didn't care if they revoked her alpha status forever, as long as they didn't give up on her completely.

"I know what you're thinking, and I can totally explain." Ma.s.sie knew the only way she'd ever win them back was by telling the truth. But could she really admit that she felt threatened by Nina? Or that she'd been scared to kiss Derrington? Or that the thought of not being on top was more terrifying to her than pretending to be something she wasn't?

Dylan and Alicia glared at her. They shook their heads like disappointed parents and slowly walked toward her. Claire inched forward with them but looked more strained than angry, like she was holding in a poo.

Ma.s.sie quickly glanced over her shoulder, hoping Mr. Myner might be nearby just in case the girls saw to it that she never moved again without the help of a full-time nurse and a wheelchair. But they were all alone ... surrounded by miles of dense forest ... where no one would ever hear her scream ... or find her remains or- All of a sudden, Ma.s.sie felt Dylan's arms tighten around her torso. Her grip was so tight, Ma.s.sie thought she might have punctured a lung.

"I'm so glad you were lying." Dylan bear-hugged Ma.s.sie.

"What?" Ma.s.sie sniffled, then wiped her eyes on Dylan's green cashmere scarf.

"I hated that you had all of this boy experience and didn't tell us."

"Me too." Alicia pouted and jumped in on their hug. "I was so sad. I totally thought we were drifting."

"Puh-lease! We're so not drifting." Ma.s.sie wanted to cry with relief. "I would never make out and not tell you. I just didn't want the other girls to know our private Pretty Committee business, so I was throwing them off the trail. I thought you knew what I was doing. If I knew you believed me, I never would have-"

"Oh, puh-lease." Dylan chuckled. "We totally knew. You're just such a good actress we started falling for it."

"Yeah." Alicia widened her eyes. "You're incredible."

Claire smiled softly, shook her head, and looked out at the lake.

"I promise, I'll tell you when it happens." Ma.s.sie paused and looked back at Derrington's cabin. "If it ever does."

"It will." Claire finally spoke.

"Yeah, don't worry." Dylan threw her arm around Ma.s.sie. "Come on, let's go back and get changed for the bonfire reading. We'll make you look ah-mazing so Derrington will beg for your forgiveness."

"Nah, you guys go ahead." Ma.s.sie smiled. "I don't feel like sitting in the cabin right now. I'll meet you at the fire pit."

"You sure?" Alicia sounded concerned.

"Totally." Ma.s.sie tried to sound chipper so they wouldn't suspect that she was afraid to face the angry MUCK girls. "I just need some fresh air. It's good for the pores."

Alicia gave Ma.s.sie a hug. Claire and Dylan joined in.

Ma.s.sie, who was usually the first one to break away from a hug, held on to her friends as tight as she could.

Claire was the first to loosen her grip. "We'll see you at the fire pit," she said.

"Cool." Ma.s.sie smiled as her friends turned to walk back to the cabin.

Ma.s.sie waited until they were out of sight before making her way back. She was furious at herself but wasn't exactly sure why. Was it because she felt the need to be something she wasn't? Or was it because she was stupid enough to get caught?

She crept behind the cabin and found a lone birch tree that looked like it needed some company. Ma.s.sie ran her cold palm along the soft white bark but immediately stopped when she chipped her French manicure. Couldn't anything anything go right? go right?

She leaned against the trunk of the tree and then lowered herself until she was seated on the cold ground beneath it. Her sudden need to write was overwhelming. Ma.s.sie peeled a layer of white, papery bark off the tree, pulled a purple glitter pen out of her coat pocket, and poured her heart out.

Ma.s.sIE BLOCK'S CURRENT STATE OF THE UNION.

IN.

OUT.

The Pretty Committee The MUCK girls Keeping my mouth shut!

Open-mouthed kisses Doose Derrington

When she was done, Ma.s.sie folded the bark and stuffed it in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Psssst," someone called to her from behind a nearby bush.

"Hullo?" Ma.s.sie heard her own voice tremble. Were the MUCK girls spying on her? Did they have weapons? "Who's there?"

"It's me," a girl's voice answered.

"Me who?"

Ma.s.sie heard a familiar phlegmy laugh. Was the trauma making her hallucinate?

"Kristen?" she whispered into the dark, cold night. she whispered into the dark, cold night.

Kristen stepped out from behind the bush and giggled. She was wearing her green-and-white OCD soccer uniform.

"What are you doing doing here?" Ma.s.sie hugged her friend as hard as she could. here?" Ma.s.sie hugged her friend as hard as she could.

"I used the money you gave me from MUCK to buy a ticket on Adirondack Trailways," Kristen said.

"What about all of those Presidents' Day sales?" Ma.s.sie couldn't resist a lighthearted tease.

"We already have all that stuff-it's so so last season." last season."

"How did you know where to find us?"

"My memory skills are incredible now," Kristen said. "I looked at your itinerary last week and the Forever Wild campgrounds address was at the top. And I remembered it."

Ma.s.sie smiled and hugged Kristen again to hide her tears. It was nice to be in the company of someone who didn't know what had just happened.

"I can't believe your mom let you come here," Ma.s.sie said. "She thinks my my house is far." house is far."

"Well ..." Kristen stuck her finger through the green Puma sweatband around her wrist. "She kinda thinks I'm away with the soccer team. So no one can know I'm here."

"I know how you feel." Ma.s.sie looked over her shoulder to make sure the MUCK girls weren't spying on them.

"You do?" Kristen sounded pleasantly surprised.

Ma.s.sie nodded. Kristen smiled. She could have told her friend what had happened, but why ruin the moment with more talking? Especially when they both seemed so satisfied just being together.

Ma.s.sie opened her arms and threw them around Kristen.

Claire had been right: sometimes there was no need for words.

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE THE GIRLS' BUNK.

Monday, February 23rd 9:29 P.M. P.M.