Revenge of the Wannabes Read online

  “I think it’s at home.” Claire’s head was throbbing.

  “Let me look,” Massie ordered, coming closer.

  “Oh, here it is,” Claire said. She was relieved Massie didn’t know about the three mix CDs Cam had burned for her. “It got stuck in the mesh cell phone pocket.”

  “Hurry up,” Massie said, snapping her fingers. “Alicia is going to be here soon and we have a lot to do.”

  Claire felt like she was watching herself in a dream when she placed the note in Massie’s open palm. It was covered in tiny rips and smudges from being read so many times. The familiar cherry Blow Pop stain in the bottom-right corner triggered a hot feeling behind Claire’s eyes that always came right before her tears. Cam had given her that Blow Pop and written, Have a sweet day, in tiny letters along the stick.

  Massie crumpled up the note and walked toward the cans of paint. Claire quickly looked at Kristen and Dylan for help, but their heads were down.

  “Say goodbye,” Massie said. She held her fist above the green paint, then opened her hand. The note bobbed on the surface, refusing to sink. Everyone ran over and stood above the can with their mouths open, except Massie. She reached for the nearest paintbrush and stabbed the stubborn note until it sank.

  Claire took a deep breath, hoping the rush of air would suck back her tears. She would never get to look at Cam’s perfectly neat, all-caps handwriting again.

  “There,” Massie said with a warm smile. “That should help.” She tossed the paintbrush on the floor. “When I dump a guy, I like to destroy everything he ever gave me. I find it really cleansing.”

  “… ks,” Claire said. She tried to say, “Thanks,” but it wouldn’t come out.

  All Claire could think about while they finished painting in silence was how to keep herself from sobbing. She told herself that Cam was a lame wannabe and that Massie was only looking out for her, but that didn’t get rid of the feeling in the pit of her stomach or the stinging behind her eyes. And it especially didn’t erase the mental image she had of Cam’s note, sitting all alone at the bottom of the can, covered in green paint.

  A knock on the door startled them all. It was the first sound they had heard since Massie’s Maroon 5 CD ended.

  “It’s showtime,” Massie whispered to her friends. “We’ll be right there!” she shouted.

  The girls scurried around the barn, straightening and tidying. They knew Massie wanted this to be perfect. Once everything was in its place, Massie yanked opened the door.

  “Oh,” she said when she saw who was on the other side. “I was expecting someone else.”

  “Who could possibly be better than me?” Todd said.

  “What do you want, Todd?” Claire asked her brother. She prayed he wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her.

  “I just thought you ladies would be hurting for a little male companionship.”

  “This is GLU headquarters,” Dylan said.

  “What does that mean?” Todd said, poking his head inside to have a look around.

  “It means Girls Like Us,” Massie said, closing the door. “No boys allowed!”

  But Todd stopped the door with his foot. “Whoa, what did you do to the walls?”

  “Get out,” Massie said, smacking his foot away. Todd lost his balance and fell on the grass. Massie slammed the door shut and leaned against it to make sure he couldn’t force his way back in.

  His incessant banging filled Claire with sadness. Todd was just lonely. Her friends in Florida didn’t mind having him around and he was obviously missing that. Claire missed it too. But she didn’t dare ask Massie to make an exception to her “girls only” rule. Claire didn’t want to give Massie any reason to kick her out, especially when she had to work so hard to get in.

  “Leave us alone,” Massie shouted.

  The knocking continued.

  “Go away,” Kristen and Dylan shouted.

  “It’s me,” a voice said. “Alicia.”

  “Oh,” Massie mouthed.

  The girls smoothed their hair and got into position. Massie looked at them to make sure they were ready. When she decided they were, Massie threw open the door.

  Showtime!

  THE BLOCK ESTATE GLU HEADQUARTERS

  8:10 PM

  November 17th

  “If this is a bad time, I can leave,” Alicia said.

  “Why would you say that?” Massie had one of her infamous I’m-about-to-take-great-pleasure-in-destroying-you smiles on her face. Her lips were shut, the corners of her mouth were curled up, and her eyes sparkled with a devious glint.

  Alicia recognized the look on Massie’s face and wanted to turn around and chase Dean and the limo down the street. But she’d watched him back out of the Blocks’ driveway. He’d be long gone by now.

  “Welcome to GLU headquarters,” Massie said, giving Alicia a once-over. Alicia stuffed her sweaty palms in the back pockets of her pants.

  “Don’t you look faaancy,” Massie added.

  Alicia was wearing a blue satin cap-sleeve blouse, gray velvet pants, and square-toed boots, her Dixon stretched across her shoulders like a shrug. She felt ridiculously overdressed compared to Massie, who was in Splatter Sweats and sheepskin slippers. When did she buy those anyway? It felt weird seeing Massie in something new. They usually shopped for everything together.

  “Uh, I was just out for dinner with my parents,” Alicia said, avoiding Massie’s suspicious glare.

  It smelled like paint inside the horse barn and Alicia stuck her head in to see what was going on. But Massie shifted her body and blocked Alicia’s view.

  “We’re glad you decided to come.”

  We? Alicia had assumed it would just be the two of them. But she should have known. Massie was never by herself.

  “Well, you e-mailed me saying you made a tribute to our friendship. How could I not come for that?” Alicia rolled her shoulders back, showing off her perfect jazz posture.

  Massie smiled sweetly. “Thanks.”

  “I’m glad you’re ready to apologize,” Alicia said. “I totally miss—”

  “Who said anything about apologizing?” Massie stepped back to reveal Kristen, Dylan, and Claire.

  “Oh, hey.” Alicia waved at Kristen and Dylan. It felt weird not hugging them. “Claire, hi, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

  Claire smiled uncomfortably and looked down at her cuticles.

  “We had some extra room this week,” Massie said, practically spitting the word extra at Alicia.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Alicia said, unsure of what to say next. She had left her coat in the limo and was starting to feel a chill. “Can I at least come in?”

  Massie stepped aside.

  The place was a mess. The floors were covered in newspaper, and paint cans and dirty brushes were lined up against the wall. Four Dr. Juice cups had been stacked on the rungs of a gray stepladder, and CDs and empty jewel cases were scattered everywhere. “Has your mother seen this place?” Alicia asked. She remembered the time Massie got grounded and couldn’t go to Six Flags because she didn’t pick Bean’s chew toys off the floor of her bedroom.

  “Yup, she’s fine with it,” Massie said.

  Alicia felt like a stranger. So much had changed in the few days. It was like she didn’t know Massie at all anymore.

  “Don’t you want to know what this tribute is?” Dylan asked, ripping open a bag of baked Doritos.

  “Given.” Alicia tried to steady her voice.

  Massie snapped her fingers and Claire shut out the lights. The room was completely black and Alicia’s heart started racing. She wanted to scream but kept telling herself they were only trying to scare her.

  Someone had flicked on a floor lamp. “Thank you,” Alicia heard herself say. Long shadows were cast against the walls and Alicia could hear the wind howling through the open window. Suddenly a cold hand brushed against her face.

  Alicia jumped and whipped her head around. “Who’s that?”

  Kristen giggled.


  “Ehmagawd, Kristen, you scared me.” Alicia slapped her hand over her heart.

  But Kristen didn’t say a word. She just stood there twirling a purple satin blindfold around her index finger. The front said DIVA AT REST in white rhinestones.

  Kristen pulled back the thin black elastic and slipped the blindfold over Alicia’s eyes. Everything went dark again.

  “You guys, this is so stupid.” Alicia heard the panic in her voice. They probably did too.

  “We want this to be a surprise,” Kristen said.

  Everyone started whispering.

  “What’s happening?” Alicia stomped her foot. “What is this?”

  She felt Kristen’s clammy hand on her arm. “Just follow me,” Kristen said. She started pulling Alicia across the barn.

  Alicia’s mouth went dry and she was desperate for a fresh coat of gloss. She tried to stay calm by imagining herself telling this story to Harris Fisher while they were at the Strokes concert. But that only made her more anxious. She still had no idea what shoes to wear.

  What would the other girls do if they were in her place? Would they go along with it like she was? Would they resist? Dylan would probably burp or do something disgusting to make them all laugh. Or she’d threaten them, saying her famous mother would expose them on her morning talk show. Kristen would come up with some fact about how blindfolding people could lead to an untimely death and they would apologize immediately. Claire would keep her cool, never letting on that they were scaring her. Massie would outsmart them all and escape.

  The smell of paint fumes was making her nauseous. “Okay, enough,” Alicia said. “What is this?”

  “The writing is on the wall,” Dylan said.

  “Huh?” Alicia said.

  “The writing is on the wall,” Dylan repeated.

  “See?” Kristen yanked the blindfold off Alicia’s head.

  “Ouch, watch the elastic.” Alicia rubbed the back of her head.

  “Sorry.”

  Alicia looked at her boots while her eyes adjusted to the light. Finally she looked up. She felt like she had on her fifth-grade field trip to the Museum of Modern Art, trying to make sense of the abstract shapes and colors painted on the wall in front of her.

  “This mural represents our friendship over the past few weeks.” Massie sounded like a museum tour guide.

  Alicia’s mouth hung open.

  Massie grabbed Kristen’s lacrosse stick and pointed to the drawing of a catwalk. “Over here on the far left, we have the OCD Fashion Week Uniform Contest.”

  Alicia looked at a painting of two girls. One had dark hair and enormous boobs; the other had wavy blonde hair and a bandage across her nose. Alicia knew they were meant to be her and Olivia. They each had bubbles over their heads like in comic books. Olivia’s said, We’re losers beyond repair. How R we going 2 win? Alicia’s said, Cheat.

  “That’s crazy,” Alicia said. “You can’t prove that!” She lifted her chin and tried to look cool. But her mind was screaming with panic. They knew! When did they find out? How long had they secretly hated her?

  “What’s that?” She pointed to a massive purple blob.

  “That’s our proof,” Massie said.

  “What?” Alicia screeched.

  “Remember how we voted by putting a thimble in the box of the team we thought should win?”

  Alicia nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the wall. Where could this possibly be going?

  Massie continued. “I painted mine purple for good luck.”

  “So?” Alicia hissed, getting impatient. This next part had nothing to do with her.

  “So your box had a purple thimble in it.” Massie’s face turned dark red.

  “You voted for me?” Alicia shook her head in disbelief. “Why?”

  Massie put her hands on her hips and shouted, “You’re starting to sound as dumb as Olivia.”

  Alicia heard Kristen’s phlegmy laugh and couldn’t control herself any longer. “What’s so funny?” she screamed.

  “I DIDN’T VOTE FOR YOU,” Massie shouted. “YOU SWITCHED OUR BOXES.”

  Alicia quickly searched the room with her eyes. Two of the windows were too high to reach and the other two were too narrow to fit through. She could probably beat Massie, Claire, and definitely Dylan to the door, but Kristen would catch her. She was trapped.

  Alicia looked straight into Claire’s big blue eyes, silently begging to be rescued. If anyone knew what it felt like to be on Massie’s bad side, it was Claire. But all Claire did was look at Massie, then at her cuticles.

  “Ready for more?” Massie asked, redirecting everyone’s attention to a big white circle on the wall. A real Ralph Lauren blazer and a pair of jeans were tacked inside the circle, just under the words OCD UNIFORM. A big red X sliced through the whole thing. Alicia knew the hanging outfit represented her winning uniform idea, which every girl at OCD would have to wear in the new year.

  “As you can see from the X,” Dylan said. “There will no longer be an OCD uniform.”

  Alicia raised her eyebrows.

  “That’s right,” Dylan said. “We had a meeting with Principal Burns the day after the contest and explained how you cheated. My mother came with us and made it very clear that if they went forward with your idea, she would expose the entire scandal on The Daily Grind.” Dylan pulled the Pucci scarf off her head and shook out her thick red hair before continuing. “And you know Burns has been terrified of my mother’s talk show ever since her story ‘Hidden Carbs in the Café.’”

  “So there’s no more uniform?” Alicia’s voice quivered.

  “It’s done.” Massie snapped her fingers.

  “Done,” Dylan said.

  “And done,” Kristen said.

  “This next painting is the future, Alicia.” Massie tapped the wall with the lacrosse stick. “As you can see, you’re sitting alone on a sleeping bag, which is what you get for trying to start your own sleepover.”

  Alicia was finished. She knew she couldn’t show up to school tomorrow … or any other day. She would have to move to Spain and live with her cousins.

  “And now for the last part of our tribute,” Massie said. “I think it speaks for itself.”

  There was more?

  And there it was in big black bubble letters, Massie’s famous State of the Union. Everyone knew she made in/out lists, but no one had ever read them.

  CURRENT STATE OF THE UNION

  IN OUT

  CLAIRE

  ALICIA

  Claire stuffed her hands in the pockets of her overalls and rocked back and forth on her heels while the girls clapped.

  “Don’t be shy, Claire,” Dylan said. “Take a bow.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Claire said, looking at Alicia.

  “No, really,” Massie urged. “Take a bow.”

  “Come on,” said Kristen.

  Claire rolled her eyes and snickered. She bowed quickly and immediately straightened up.

  Tears began rolling down Alicia’s face. There was nothing she could do to stop them.

  “And that’s the end of our tribute,” Massie said, her voice cracking a little.

  Alicia sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She wanted to drop to her knees and apologize. But it was too late for that.

  “Thank you so much for being such a loyal friend, Alicia. As soon as you figure out what we did to deserve your backstabbing, let us know.”

  Alicia thought she saw Massie’s eyes starting to water, but everything looked so blurry and wet through her own tears, she couldn’t be sure. At least they didn’t know about the Teen Vogue shoot!

  In a flash Alicia abandoned her usual slow saunter in favor of a full-on run and darted across the barn. She slipped and slid on sheets of newspaper, but she kept on running. When Alicia finally got close to the door, the square toe of her boot got caught in the flare of her velvet pants and she fell.

  Alicia, heard Massie, Dylan, and Kristen crack up. She didn’t hear Claire but as
sumed she was probably laughing too.

  “Maybe now you’ll stop wearing those stupid boots,” Massie said.

  Alicia looked up. “They’re from Spain,” she wailed.

  “Puh-lease. Those are about as Spanish as your father,” Massie said. “They’re more like Ugg boots, ’cause they’re ugg-LY!”

  This time Alicia heard Claire’s laugh. She stood up quickly, but her knees were stinging from the fall and pain made the tears come even harder.

  “I can’t believe you were ever my friends,” Alicia cried. Her body shook uncontrollably. She reached for the door and tugged on the heavy latch; the cold iron stung her scraped hands.

  When Alicia finally made it outside, a brisk gust of wind slapped her in the face. Her head was pounding in perfect time with her heart. And her whole body felt sore. Of all the horrible things she’d seen, “Claire is the new Alicia” hurt the most.

  Alicia reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

  “Dean!” she shouted into the tiny speaker.

  “I’m sorry; I do not recognize that name. Please try again,” said the recording.

  “Dean,” she shouted three more times. But the phone didn’t know what she wanted because she was crying so hard.

  Alicia’s thumb shook as she dialed Dean’s number and she kept hitting the wrong numbers. Finally she got it right and Dean’s phone started ringing.

  “Pick up, pick up, pick—”

  Suddenly Alicia felt someone grab her shoulder. She was about to scream when a gloved hand quickly covered her mouth and silenced her.

  THE BLOCK ESTATE OUTSIDE GLU HEADQUARTERS

  8:47 PM

  November 17th

  “Shhh,” said a kind voice.

  Alicia whipped her head around and saw a skinny boy dressed in all black. A dark ski hat and big women’s sunglasses covered his face.

  “Todd?”

  “You know my name?” He beamed.

  “Given,” Alicia said, pulling a piece of black glove fuzz off her lip.

  “This is my best friend, Nathan.”

  Alicia lowered her eyes one more time. Nathan was petite and fragile. His disguise was the same as Todd’s, except he wore a shower cap and a blue gel eye mask.