Best Friends for Never Read online

  “It gives me great pain to announce—” She paused.

  Murmurs and whispers grew out of every corner of the room. She cleared her throat and continued.

  “OCD is going UNIFORM. The head of our fashion department, Pia Vogel, will fill you in on the details because frankly, I'm too upset to speak.”

  The assembly hall erupted into a chorus of “no way's!” and “not fair's,” but Principal Burns cleared her throat in the microphone and the room was hers once again.

  “I don't know who I'm more disappointed with, the girls who started this or the ones who followed them,” she said as she backed away from the podium.

  The sound of bodies shifting in their seats filled the room as the entire grade turned to find Massie. She felt a wave of prickly heat creep up her entire body. For the first time in her life she didn't want to be the girl everyone in the room was staring at. But unfortunately, she was.

  OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

  TEACHERS' BATHROOM

  10:01 AM

  November 3rd

  For the moment Massie was safe. The last stall in the teachers' private bathroom was the only thing that stood between her and a furious mob of seventh graders. She wasn't completely sure how much blame her classmates were going to place on her. She wasn't stupid enough to linger after the assembly to find out. As soon as Principal Burns clapped and dismissed everyone, Massie squeezed her way through the crowd and ducked out of the emergency exit undetected. She was so desperate to escape she left her cell in the basket, figuring she'd buy a new one after school. At least she had her PalmPilot. There was a lot that needed to be said.

  CURRENT STATE OF THE UNION

  IN OUT

  Alicia and Olivia Uniforms Massie, Kristen, Alicia, and Dylan Freedom, self-expression, personal style

  Massie, Wanted Dead or Alive Me

  Massie imagined being forced out of her table in the Café by a bunch of angry girls in uniforms and having to eat with the teachers for protection. She was fighting back the tears when the bathroom door opened and someone walked in. She stepped up on the toilet seat while gripping her bracelet so the charms wouldn't clang together and give her away.

  She did her best to stay quiet and managed to avoid breathing for twenty-two seconds straight. The intruder wasn't using the toilet or the sink. She seemed to be hovering for no apparent reason.

  Leave, she thought. LEAVE!

  The standoff made Massie anxious. She hated being stalked and would have preferred getting caught to this nerve-racking, not to mention bo-rrring, exercise in endurance. She lowered herself off the toilet as slowly and silently as she could. Once both feet were on the ground, she held her hair back and bent down so she could take a peek under the stall.

  She could feel the blood rush to her head as she hung her face upside down, but discomfort was the furthest thing from her mind. Especially once she saw what was on the other side.

  “Ahhh!” Massie screamed when she saw the huge blue eye looking back at her.

  “Ahhh!” the eye screamed back.

  It didn't look like teacher eye because it didn't have any black mascara boogers floating in the corners.

  “Open the door,” the eye said.

  Massie recognized that chipmunky voice. It was Claire.

  “Is it safe?” Massie asked.

  “Yes,” Claire whispered. “All the teachers are outside, trying to break up the protest.”

  “Protest?”

  “Yeah, Layne is leading a March for Uniform Reform. Come look. You can see it from the window.”

  Massie opened the door. She didn't bother looking outside.

  “Does everyone want to kill me?” Massie asked.

  “Gabby and Bella said something about finding you and hanging you from the flagpole by your three scarves, but I think you can take them. Kristen and Dylan are worried—”

  “What about Alicia?” Massie asked. “Is she looking for me?” She immediately regretted the question.

  “No,” Claire said. “She's with Olivia at the Starbucks kiosk. I passed them on my way over here. By the way, I have your phone.”

  Claire carefully passed her the Motorola. Massie thought that was the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done for her, but she said nothing.

  “I came alone. You have nothing to worry about.” Claire spoke as if she had just read Massie's mind. “I saw you sneak out of the emergency exit.” Her smile was big and genuine. “Isn't it funny that you and I will be dressed the exact same every single day?”

  Massie had to fight the urge to hurl her phone at Claire's head. If she hadn't spent three hours over the weekend gluing purple rhinestones to the front of it, she would have.

  “I would rather keep our bet going for another year than wear the same stiff white shirt and itchy kilt as everyone else.” Massie scratched her leg at the thought.

  “You should design the uniforms,” Claire said. “You have the best style in the school and you get straight A's in fashion class.”

  Massie could feel the blood rush back to her face. What a perfect idea, she thought. Then everyone in the grade will be wearing something I created. I'll be a legend.

  Massie wondered what kind of logo she'd put on her label. Would it be a crown or a photo of Bean? Would her line be exclusive to OCD students or would she offer her creations to the masses? Would Cam be impressed?

  “I'll talk to Pia about it,” she said, trying to downplay her excitement. “I bet she'll let me. My parents donate so much money to OCD as it is. And if they want more, I can just ask my dad to build a design studio or something. By the way, why did you follow me here?” Massie asked.

  “I dunno,” Claire said. “I thought you could use a friend.”

  “Puh-lease, what's in it for you?”

  “A friend.”

  Claire's answer was so pure and simple it caught Massie off guard. She folded her arms and squinted, searching for signs of insincerity on Claire's face. She couldn't find any.

  “If you want, you can come over after school and help me think of some ideas.” Massie was surprised to hear those words come out of her own mouth.

  Claire looked as shocked. They both stood perfectly still, each wondering if she had imagined what Massie had said.

  “You know, for our mothers, of course,” Massie said. She swung her Prada messenger bag over her shoulder. “Maybe you'll finally get a cell phone out of it.”

  “It's worth another try,” Claire said.

  Massie led the way out of the bathroom and onto the battlefield to fight for something she believed in very deeply: her personal style.

  THE CAFÉ

  STARBUCKS KIOSK

  2:04 PM

  November 3rd

  Massie waited for Alicia, Kristen, and Dylan to add the necessary amounts of Equal and cinnamon to their lattes before giving them the update.

  “Requesting permission for twenty gossip points,” she said, then casually blew on her chai tea.

  “Twenty points?” Alicia screeched. “That means you either have a copy of our science test or Britney's getting married again and you scored us an invite.”

  “Britney Foster's getting married?” Olivia asked. “She's a grade below us.”

  “NO, Britney Sp—”

  “Isn't she sooo hilarious,” Alicia jumped in. But no one was laughing.

  “My news will be released to the public in an assembly tomorrow morning, but if you want to hear it now, it will cost you twenty,” Massie said

  “Done,” Dylan said.

  “Done,” Kristen said.

  “Done,” Alicia said.

  “Done,” Olivia said.

  “Is there an echo in here? I thought I heard an extra ‘done.’” Massie looked around the Café. If she had been speaking to Alicia, she would have asked her why Olivia was there. “Anyway, after the assembly, while everyone was protesting—”

  “Yeah, where were you? We were looking everywhere,” Dylan said.

  “I ran st
raight to Pia Vogel's office to have a word with her about the whole uniform thing.” Massie decided to leave out the part about hiding in the bathroom.

  “I hope your word was ‘totally unfair,’” Olivia said.

  “That's two words.” Kristen rolled her eyes.

  “Oh.”

  Massie didn't tell them she talked to Pia about designing the uniforms herself. Because Pia's answer was no. Massie only told them how the conversation ended.

  “So after a lot of back and forth, Pia finally agreed to hold an OCD uniform design contest. She even said she'd call the editors at Teen People and ask them to do a story on the winner. There will be a fashion show on Saturday. That's when the voting will take place.”

  “How awesome!” Olivia clapped and bounced up and down. She stopped when she noticed no one else seemed excited.

  “This week? That's totally unrealistic.” Kristen rubbed her eyes. “How are we supposed to design something that quickly?”

  “I know, it sucks, but they want to start the uniform thing ASAP,” Massie explained. “I tried to fight it, but Pia wouldn't budge.”

  “This whole thing sucks,” Kristen said. “The last thing I need is more homework this week.”

  “Yeah.” Dylan frowned. “I have over thirty hours of unwatched shows piling up on my TiVo. Now I have to learn how to sew?”

  Massie was determined to sell them on the idea since she was responsible for the entire mess.

  She laughed out loud.

  “What's so funny?” Alicia asked. “They're right—this whole thing blows.”

  “You guys crack me up,” Massie said. “I love when you do that thing where you pretend to miss the point. I fall for it every time.”

  Olivia looked relieved.

  “I mean, Kristen, you of all people must be psyched about this. You'll never have to switch outfits in the car on the way to school ever again. If you design the winning outfit and it becomes the school uniform, your mother will have to let you wear it,” Massie said. Kristen's navy blue eyes sparkled at the very idea.

  “And Dylan, Philippe, your mom's wardrobe guy, can help you. You won't even have to touch a piece of fabric.”

  Massie could tell her friends were warming up to the idea.

  “Alicia, the other day you said you wished more people dressed like you. If you win this contest, everyone will.”

  “That was the first time Massie spoke directly to Alicia all morning.

  “When I left Pia, she was ordering T-shirts that said OCD Puts the U in Uniform,” Massie said. “She wants to give them out on the night of the show.”

  “It kind of sounds like fun,” Dylan said.

  “You deserve more than twenty points for this, Mass,” Kristen said. “You saved us.”

  “It also means we only have a couple of weeks left to wear our new fall clothes.” Alicia smiled.

  “Speaking of which, I need to recall anything I've lent you in the last six months.” Massie tightened her three scarves. “I'm desperate for something new to wear.”

  The girls nodded. Now if only Massie could get rid of Olivia and keep Derrington from coming between her friends. Just then, as if on cue, Alicia's cell phone vibrated.

  “Look, it's from Derrington.” Alicia tilted the tiny screen toward Olivia. “He wants to know what's up.”

  “How cute of him.” Olivia gathered her long blond hair and tossed it behind her head.

  Kristen and Dylan instinctively turned to each other to roll their eyes but looked away once they remembered they weren't speaking to each other.

  “Massie, he's asking if you're around,” Olivia said, looking at the screen.

  Why couldn't it be Cam?

  “Massie, he wants me to thank you for the party,” Alicia relayed. “He had a blast.”

  “He already thanked me, so how 'bout I just credit that one to your account?” But Massie's clever comeback was lost on Alicia. She was busy typing and giggling with Olivia.

  “He's sweet.” Alicia snapped her phone shut. “I'm sure he'll make one of you very happy.”

  “Whatever, I don't want your sloppy seconds,” Kristen said. “I'm going to get started on my design.”

  “Same,” Dylan said. “I'm thinking of doing something reversible so it will be like having two uniforms instead of one.”

  “That's what I was going to do,” Kristen said. “You heard me talking about that after the assembly, didn't you?”

  “NO!” Dylan shouted. “I haven't listened to anything you've said all day.”

  Massie rolled her eyes as she gathered up her books. At least no one was mad at her. She knew she'd find a way to fix things and bring them all together again. She just needed a little time.

  The bell rang and the girls tossed their cups in a nearby trash can.

  “What are you going to design?” Dylan asked Massie.

  “I'll figure it out in American history,” she said. “I do some of my best scheming in that class.”

  It seemed like everyone had fallen for Derrington's unkempt good looks except Massie. How could anyone like a boy who always wore shorts, even in the winter? His kneecaps were constantly purple from the cold and for Massie, love could never be that blind. Cam, on the other hand, made his fashion statement with a beat-up motorcycle jacket. It was one of the many things he had inherited from his older brother, Harris, who was a senior at Briarwood. Cam's love of The Strokes, the Godfather movies, and soccer were also Harris hand-me-downs. But the jacket was his favorite. The worked-in brown leather was filled with cracks and oil stains, but Massie saw beyond the filth because the vintage piece was the perfect mix of rugged and soft. Just like Cam.

  Bean was the only living creature that knew about Massie's crush. And she hated how pathetic Kristen and Dylan looked, fighting over a guy who didn't necessarily like either one of them. For the time being she would have to come up with an excuse to contact Cam all by herself.

  After school, she found his e-mail address in her deleted messages folder and was glad she hadn't erased his RSVP from her files.

  After twenty minutes of writing and erasing her message, she settled on:

  HEY, CAM,

  JUST WONDERING IF YOU LEFT A PAIR OF SHIN GUARDS HERE AFTER THE HALLOWEEN PARTY. RENNY WHITE WAS THE ONLY OTHER GUY DRESSED AS A SOCCER PLAYER AND I REALLY DON'T WANT TO CALL HIM 'CAUSE HIS VOICE SOUNDS LIKE SNUFFLEUPAGUS AND I LAUGH EVERY TIME I TALK TO HIM.

  -MB

  Massie read the e-mail three times before sending it. She prayed Cam hadn't actually lost his shin guards because she didn't have any to give him.

  Her e-mail dinged immediately and Massie's heart leapt. Cam had replied. Massie put on a thick coat of lip gloss and fluffed up her hair before opening it.

  MB-

  I HAVE MY SHIN GUARDS. THNX. I LOL'ED WHEN I READ ABOUT RENNY. I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT TOO. HEY, THERE'S A RUMOR GOING AROUND THAT OCD IS GOING UNIFORM. TRUE? ALSO HEARD IT'S YOUR FAULT. IF IT IS, THAT'S PRETTY COOL.

  I LIKE TROUBLEMAKERS.

  -C

  “Oh my God, Bean,” Massie gulped as she lifted her dog onto her lap. “He practically admitted he likes me! Now what?”

  Massie hopped up from her chair and paced around her room, Bean still in her arms.

  “It can't end like this. It may be weeks before I talk to him again. What if he forgets he likes me?”

  The sound of Bean's panting kept Massie from feeling alone.

  “I wish you could talk. But I guess if you could, I wouldn't tell you anything, so maybe it's better that you don't.”

  Massie sat back down in front of her computer and went for it.

  IT'S A GREAT STORY. CALL ME IF YOU WANT TO HEAR IT. IF NOT, I'LL SEE YOU SOON.

  -MB

  Massie was proud of her last response. It was an invitation for him to call her, but at the same time she made it seem like it didn't matter if he took her up on it.

  Her phone rang seconds later. She answered.

  “Hi, Massie?”

  I
t was Cam.

  “Are you eating?” Massie asked. “I can hear you chomping on something.”

  “It's Big League Chew.”

  “Grape?”

  “Yeah,” Cam said. “How did you know?”

  “It's what you always chew.”

  Massie was so charged with energy she wanted to scream. She stopped pacing long enough to sit down at her computer and do a quick search on The Godfather just in case it came up (a 1972 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola … zzz … zzz … zzz …). Luckily it never did.

  They talked about their classes, their families, and their favorite Web sites. He even asked what it was like having “the new girl” around all the time and said he “totally felt her pain” when she explained what a drag it was. There were only two awkward silences in the entire thirty-seven-minute conversation and he promised to make her a CD mix of his favorite Strokes songs. If his mother hadn't called him to dinner, they would have talked all night.

  When Massie hung up the phone, she was ready to burst. Even though they made no solid plans to see each other (ugh!), Cam promised he would call her again and Massie believed him.

  “Bean!” Massie hugged her dog. “I wish I could be friends with myself so I'd have someone to jump up and down with right now.”

  Massie closed her blinds to make sure Claire couldn't see into her bedroom and then hopped up on her bed. She jumped twice and let out a big “whoo-hoo,” but that was the extent of her victory dance. She felt stupid celebrating alone.

  THE BLOCK ESTATE

  LIVING ROOM

  6:36 PM

  November 3rd

  “If you want to work in the same room as me, you're going to have to set up behind there.” Massie was pointing to the brown suede couch on the far side of the living room. “And I'll work behind this one.”

  Claire wasn't going to argue. She walked over to her couch and emptied her plastic bag of material on the cream-colored carpet. This was Claire's big chance to spend alone time with Massie and maybe, if things went well, she'd be in by the end of the night.

  “So what's your uniform idea?” Claire felt weird talking to Massie with a piece of furniture between them.