Best Friends for Never (18 page)

“Awww, awww,” said the heckler.

Mild laughter.

“And the finalists are … Alicia Rivera and Olivia Ryan and Massie Block, Claire Lyons, Dylan Marvil, and Kristen Gregory.”

She continued by congratulating all of the other girls on their hard work, but no one was listening. They were already halfway out the door and eager to cast their votes.

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
SAGAMORE HALL

8:15
PM

November 8th

Massie couldn't believe she was standing with her arms around Claire, Kristen, and Dylan, jumping for joy.

Claire!

One month ago she never would have thought it possible.

“Come on, let's go vote.” Massie felt around the inside of Bean's pink Coach doggie bag and pulled out a thimble and her purple nail polish. It was warm because the puppy had been sitting on it.

“What are you gonna do with that?” Claire asked, pointing to the Urban Decay bottle.

“I'm going to paint my thimble purple before I drop it in the box,” Massie said. “For good luck.”

“Hey, Mass, will you vote for us?” Dylan asked. “Kris and I have a little business to take care of.”

The two girls giggled and dropped their thimbles in Massie's palm.

“Sure,” Massie said with a knowing smile, “anything to help the cause.”

The three girls shared a laugh before Kristen and Dylan turned back toward the empty assembly hall and crept inside.

“Massie, if you guys have another trick planned to embarrass me in front of—,” Claire started to say. Massie cut her off before she could finish.

“Claire, do I look like a total female dog?”

“Wait, Massie, I'm not calling you a
total bitch,
” Claire said. “It's just that in the past, you guys have—”

“Fine, I'll admit it.” Massie stopped walking so she could paint her thimble. “Dylan and Kristen have something fabulously nasty planned, but believe it or not, it has nothing to do with you.”

Claire looked wary.

“Tormenting you is so September.” Massie locked eyes with Claire. “It's out.”

“Does that mean I'm
in?
” Claire asked. Her blue eyes were wide and full of hope.

But Massie didn't answer. She blew the polish on her thimble and patted it with her index finger to make sure it was dry. “Let's vote.”

Alicia and Olivia were already in the crowded lobby, campaigning for votes and complimenting the
Teen People
editors on their outfits.

Massie's first instinct was to campaign harder, but when she saw the number of thimbles in her box, she realized it wasn't necessary. They were leading by at least thirty. Massie kissed her purple thimble and dropped it in along with Kristen's and Dylan's. She looked at the picture that was taped to the side and giggled. She looked normal—gorgeous, in fact—but Claire's eyes were crossed. On purpose! The photographer had offered to reshoot the picture, but Claire insisted on leaving it. She said it would make people laugh.

Claire spent the rest of the break comforting Layne. Massie went to check in with her competition.

Alicia and Olivia were standing by the voting table.

“You know what's funny about the word
thimble,
” Olivia said between sips of Perrier. She was talking to a boy who was about to cast his vote. “It sounds like I'm trying to say ‘symbol,’ but I have a lisp.” She giggled to herself. “I thined up for band and now I'm thdudying the thimbles. Thounds like I'm lisping, right?”

Massie watched as the boy rolled his eyes. He dropped his thimble into Massie's box.

“Thtupid,” Alicia called after the boy. Massie laughed, but Olivia was too upset to join her.

“You know, Massie,” Olivia said. “Your team totally has an advantage because you have four people and we only have two, which means you'll get more votes because you have twice as many family members on your side as we do.”

“Yeah, but you have a plastic surgeon, a shrink, and three of your father's secret girlfriends, so we're about even.” Massie turned on her rubber platforms and left to find her parents.

The lights in the lobby began to flicker and Pia's assistants shepherded people back to their seats.

Once everyone was inside, Principal Burns returned to the podium.

“Can I please have the finalists up here onstage,” she said. “Oh, and all cell phones off.”

At that exact moment someone in the audience got a call. Their phone's ring tone was set to the tune “Pop Goes the Weasel.”

Everyone laughed and searched for the guilty party.

Principal Burns put her hands on her hips and scanned the audience.

“It was him,” shouted a young girl with a mousy-colored bob. She pointed to Derrington.

“I swear it wasn't,” he shouted. The audience laughed. “I left my phone in my father's Mercedes.”

Principal Burns stared him down anyway, for good measure.

“Before we announce tonight's winner, I would like to thank Pia and—”

Doo doo, doo doo, doodoodoodoodoo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo …

Everyone turned to look at Derrington.

“I swear,” he said. He put his hand on his heart and laughed nervously.

“Then why are you finding this so amusing?” Principal Burns asked.

“I'm not.” He laughed again. His face turned bloodred.

Doo doo, doo doo, doodoodoodoodoo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo …

Finally Principal Burns stepped down from the stage and stormed over to Derrington. She forced him to stand up while she frisked him, which made the whole room erupt.

Derrington shook his head and put his face in his hands while the bird lady plucked at him with her long, bony fingers.

People were clapping, cheering, and “aww-awwing,” but no one got more pleasure out of the scene than Kristen and Dylan, who had duct-taped the ringing cell phone to the bottom of Derrington's seat during intermission. They dialed it up one last time just to see what would happen next.

Doo doo, doo doo, doodoodoodoodoo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo …

Principal Burns followed the ring tone to the bottom of his chair and yanked it loose. She held it proudly above her head like it was her first Oscar and the whole room gave her a spirited round of applause. She personally dragged Derrington out of the assembly hall.

“Take over, P,” she shouted over her shoulder to Pia.

“Sorry 'bout that,” Pia said. She lowered the microphone to her mouth. “Okay, let's bring those boxes out here and announce tonight's winner.”

Her assistant struggled as she tried to carry both boxes at the same time, but no one thought to help her. They were all too nervous to think of anyone but themselves.

Pia walked around the box with Massie and Claire's picture on it and then examined the one with Alicia and Olivia's photo. She was obviously doing it for dramatic purposes because everyone knew the thimbles had already been counted backstage.

“I feel like I'm going to barf,” Massie said as she squeezed Bean to her chest.

Claire was too busy chewing her fingernails to respond.

“With 102 thimbles, we have Massie and Claire,” Pia said.

The two girls started jumping up and down. They reached for Kristen and Dylan, who immediately started bouncing with them.

“And with 136 thimbles, we have Alicia and Olivia. Congratulations, you are the winners of the OCD Fashion Week Uniform Contest. Looks like it's blazers, jeans, and tie belts from here on out!”

Massie stopped bobbing. Alicia started.

“How is that possible?” Massie asked. She immediately thought of Cam and how badly she wanted him to see her win.

“I bet all the boys voted for them.” Kristen wiped a tear from her eye.

Claire was just as shocked. “But we had
way
more than them during the break.”

Alicia and Olivia were kissing their hands, then waving to the audience.

“Ew,” Dylan said. “Could they
be
any more conceited?”

“Did you see my parents jump out of their seats when Pia announced our names?” Kristen wiped another tear away.

“No, but I saw them sit back down again when she announced Alicia and Olivia's,” Dylan said.

Kristen's tears came harder and Dylan hugged her.

“Stop or you'll make
me
cry,” Claire said.

Dylan and Kristen held out their arms and welcomed Claire into their pity party.

Massie refused to look defeated. Not in front of all these people, and especially not in front of Alicia. Instead she slowly inched her way toward the ballot boxes to take a closer look.

The sound of applause and hip-hop music swirled around inside her head and she had to keep reminding herself that it wasn't for her. Now all she had to look forward to were a bunch of cheesy one-liners like “You're
all
winners” and “You're lucky to have made it that far.” Looks of pity from her parents' friends and offers to go for ice cream were minutes away from becoming her reality. It wasn't fair. They worked so hard. TWICE!

“There has to be a mistake,” Massie said to herself. She bent down to examine the evidence.

Her own purple thimble was in the box with Alicia and Olivia's picture.

“Look,” Massie said as she pointed her discovery out to her teammates.

“Why did you vote for ALICIA?” Dylan snapped.

“I didn't, airhead!” Massie said. “Gawd, don't be such an
Olivia.
”

“They must have switched our pictures,” Claire said.

“Ehmagod,” Dylan yelped. “You're right.”

“Let's tell Pia,” Kristen said. “Quick, grab the microphone. Tell everyone.” She darted toward the podium.

“No, don't,” Massie commanded. “Don't tell anyone about this. Not yet. I need to think.”

“But—,” Claire said.

“Let's lie still in the weeds like animals do when they're about to kill. Then, when the time is exactly right, we'll pounce.”

“Easy, Crocodile Hunter,” Dylan said. “You're freaking me out.”

“You have to trust me,” Massie insisted. “I promise we will make them pay for this. We just have to think of the perfect plan.”

“Fine,” Kristen said. “But I can't believe we're going to let her get away with it.”

“We can always have my mom do a story about this on
The Daily Grind,
” Dylan said. “By Monday afternoon the whole country will know that Alicia and Olivia are criminals.”

“Yeah, and I'll have my dad make sure this whole uniform thing never happens. I'll ask him to build a wing here or something,” Massie said. “And when the time is right, we'll show everyone who the
real
losers are.”

Massie hoped her I've-got-everything-under-control act was convincing because on the inside, she felt ill. Alicia had gone from being her best friend to her biggest enemy in less than five minutes, leaving her too hurt to be angry and too angry to be hurt.

“Hey, Massie, nice going,” Alicia said. They were back-stage, gathering their belongings. “You totally gave us a run for our money.”

Massie had a lump in her stomach and could barely look Alicia in the eye.

“The weeds,” she mouthed to the others over her shoulder, but she was also reminding herself.

“I consider this victory a win for all of us,” Alicia said. “I mean, we're still best friends, right?”

“Of course, we couldn't be happier for you,” Massie said through her teeth.

“By the way, I have some gossip,” Alicia said. “But I won't ask for points. Consider this one a gift.” She was twirling a ruby-and-gold ring on her index finger.

“Uh-huh.” Massie sounded bored.

“Someone likes you,” Alicia gushed. “A lot.”

“Really?” Massie asked. “Who?” She tried to sound uninterested, but her insides were thumping and pounding. Cam liked her. Cam, with the green and blue eyes, liked her. Not Alicia, not Olivia, not Dylan, not Kristen, not some eighth grader, but her. The night was almost good again.

“Derrington,” Alicia said.

“What about him?” Massie asked.

“He
likes
you. He told me himself. But he begged me not to tell you, so don't tell anyone, 'kay?”

“Really?” Massie crinkled her eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Alicia said. “My gossip is always right. Why?”

“For some reason, I thought you were going to say Cam,” Massie said nonchalantly.

“No, he likes someone else, but he still won't say who it is,” Alicia said.

Massie looked at the rhinestone-covered Keds on her feet. Nothing made sense.

“So what are you going to do about Kristen and Dylan?”

Massie's brain was reeling and she suddenly felt very thirsty.

“Wouldn't he rather like Kristen or Dylan?” Massie asked.

“He told me he only made plans with
them
'cause he thought you'd be there.” Alicia seemed thrilled by this news, but Massie couldn't understand why. “So what are you going to do?”

“I'm going to go find my parents and maybe grab some ice cream,” Massie said. She walked away from Alicia in a daze.

If Cam didn't like
her,
then who
did
he like? She was too overwhelmed to get to the bottom of it tonight, but tomorrow she would launch a full investigation. And when she found out, she would fight that girl to the finish.

FRANKIE'S BISTRO
UPSTAIRS DINING ROOM

9:30
PM

November 8th

Todd stood up and raised his virgin colada high in the air.

“I'd like to make a toast,” he said as he tapped a fork against the side of his glass. “To the greatest designers on the planet …”

“To the greatest designers on the planet,” the Blocks and the Lyonses repeated, looking at the two girls at the end of the table.

“Abercrombie and Fitch,” Todd said.

Todd was pelted with a few half-eaten dinner rolls and dirty napkins. The parents never would have allowed that if they hadn't been in the restaurant's private upstairs dinning room.

“No, really,” he said. “Even though I voted for Alicia, I think you guys did an amazing job tonight.”

A butter packet hit the side of his head, courtesy of Massie.

“I love it when you get angry, my pet,” he said.

Jay and Judi Lyons rolled their eyes at their son's behavior as they tried to keep themselves from laughing.