Invasion of the Boy Snatchers (16 page)
As they walked down the hall, everyone stared at Nina’s feet. Claire couldn’t help filling up with pride. She’d done it. She’d actually come up with a plan that would show everyone how lame Nina really was.
Eventually, the whispers turned into pointing. While they walked, Claire snuck a peek at Nina to see if she was starting to sense the negative attention. But if she was, she showed no signs of it. Her head was held high and her strides were long and confident despite the two different heels.
Finally the ultra-stylish Sydney Applebaum and her best friend, Emma Levy, approached Nina. Claire could hardly control her excitement. She wanted to remember everything so she could tell Massie and Alicia everything without missing one humiliating detail.
“Cool shoes, Nina,” Sydney said.
“Totally.
J’adore
the two different colors,” said her best friend, Emma. “Could you be any more fashion-forward?”
“
Gracias.
” Nina smiled and waved. “Glad you like them.” She admired her own feet.
“We totally have to go to shopping in Spain this summer,” Sydney said to Emma as they passed by.
Claire rolled her eyes.
The après-lunch bell rang and the halls started filling up again.
“Thanks for your help, Claire.” Nina waved goodbye.
“Where are you going?” Claire asked. “Don’t you have fifth period?”
“
Sí,
but I have to go to the DJ booth to see what my cousin wanted.”
“Oh yeah.” Claire moped back to her locker, wondering how she would explain to Massie and Alicia that she’d helped Nina start a new trend.
“Claire Lyons?” Principal Burns crowed.
“Yes?” Claire turned around. She had never heard the principal say her name before.
“I have a report saying that you and Miss Block spent your lunch hour hiding behind a vending machine, stealing dollar bills. Is that true?”
Claire felt a wave of dizziness, like she was slipping into a wavy TV dream sequence.
“Uh, no. We weren’t stealing money.”
“Well, that’s not what I heard,” Principal Burns said. “Everyone is starting to say that you and Massie may be the cat burglars.”
“But that’s not—”
“Either way, you and Miss Block will have another detention after school. And that’s final.” Principal Burns turned on her rubber heels and squeaked off down the hall.
When Claire arrived in Mrs. Peckish’s room after school, it was colder than it had been that morning. And instead of bitter coffee, everything smelled like egg. Claire shivered in her seat, wondering if Strawberry and Kori were responsible for this.
The door flew open and Massie strutted in with a grin on her face. Claire loved Massie’s ability to make detention seem like something she’d chosen for herself.
“Strawberry and Kori,” Massie mouthed to Claire as she took her seat.
Bing, bang, bong.
The announcement bell sounded over the loudspeaker.
“Will all staff please report to the teachers’ lounge for an emergency faculty meeting,” said Principal Burns.
Mrs. Peckish sighed then shrugged. “That’s me,” she said. “You two better be here when I get back.”
“We will.” Massie tried to sound as sweet as possible.
After the door clicked shut, Claire turned to Massie. “Will it bother you if I take a shower tonight? I need to wash this day off of me.”
“Go right ahead. If you promise to pick your clothes up off the floor, I might even let you take one tomorrow.”
“Really?” Claire joked, even though she was serious.
“Yup.” Massie’s eyes drifted off for a second. “Hey, I’ll make you a deal.”
Claire turned to face Massie.
“If you let Bean come back in the room, I’ll let you take first shower every day.”
“But it wasn’t my idea to get rid of her—it was your mom’s,” Claire insisted. She couldn’t believe they were back on the Bean topic again.
“Well, what if you tell her it really was a cold after all?” Massie suggested. “And for the rest of the week, you’ll sleep in the bathtub.”
“What?”
“I’ll fill it with sleeping bags and cashmere blankets, and you can have all of my down pillows except for one.”
Claire tapped the bottom of her chin with a Bic pen. The more she thought about it, the less crazy it seemed. Not only would she be able to shower again, but she could sleep in darkness and cry about Cam as loud as she wanted.
“Deal.”
They stuck out their hands to shake but quickly drew them back when the door flew open. Claire and Massie turned and faced the front of the room and folded their hands on their desks.
“It’s just me,” Kristen moped. Her pink Wet Seal V-neck was splattered with what looked like french fry grease. And she looked utterly exhausted, as if the pressures of life had finally managed to beat her down.
“What are you doing here?” Massie whispered.
“I got too close to the Bunsen burner in science class and my water bra exploded. Do you know they’re actually filled with oil and not water?”
Claire and Massie started cracking up.
“It’s not funny.” Kristen wiped her eyes. “My mother is going to kill me.”
“Why should you get in trouble for burning your bra?” Claire asked. “It was an accident.”
“Well, that part was but the rest wasn’t,” Kristen added. “I had hot oil dripping down my chest, so I took off the bra under my shirt and threw it across the room.”
Even Kristen laughed at herself this time.
“Ladies, what’s all the ruckus about?”
The girls faced forward and stopped laughing immediately.
“Relax,” Dylan said. “It’s just me.” Her face looked like she had dipped it in a bowl of melted Skittles.
“What are
you
doing here?” Kristen looked disgusted.
“I kept sneezing in art, and every time I blew my nose my makeup would come off,” she explained.
“So?” the girls said.
“So, Vincent caught be rubbing a green pastel on by eyelids and a red one on by lips.” She tried to blow her stuffed-up nose, but nothing came out.
Kristen slammed her hands down on her desk. “Aren’t pastels poisonous?”
“Vincent seems to think they are,” Dylan said. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Hey, guys.” Alicia sounded bubbly when she walked into the room.
“No way!” Massie clapped her hands.
“What did
you
do?” Dylan asked.
“Nothing,” Alicia said.
“Then why are you here?” Claire asked.
“Because everyone else is.” Alicia strolled over to the empty desk beside Massie and slowly lowered herself into the seat. “Plus it’s the first chance I’ve had to get away from Nina since she moved here. She keeps talking about the new trend she’s started in footwear. It’s so ah-nnoying.” Alicia glared at Claire, obviously blaming her for Nina’s latest success.
“Sorry,” Claire sighed.
“Why?” Massie asked. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Claire murmured.
“She’s right about that,” Alicia said. “We’re right back where we started. The only thing Operation Toe Jam did to Nina was make her more popular.”
Normally, Claire would have defended herself. But she couldn’t. Alicia was right.
“Kuh-laire,
what happened
?” Massie asked again.
“Silence!” Mrs. Peckish clapped her hands as she walked back into the classroom. “I want silence.”
Luckily for Claire, that was exactly what she got.
Tuesday, February 10th 4:30
P.M.
Massie leaned against the thick wooden door inside the school, pushed it open, and stepped into the OCD parking lot. “Free at last!” She lifted her arms and spun around. The wide bell sleeves on her purple wool coat let in the cold air and stung her bare arms.
An ah-nnoying car horn was honking in the distance, but Massie didn’t care. She was just so happy to be out of that stinky detention room. “Here’s Isaac.” She pointed at the round headlights on the Range Rover as it pulled into the lot. “Who wants to go shopping for dresses? The Love Struck dance is three days away, and if I’m going solo, I have to look ah-mazing.”
“I can’t believe I’m going alone,” Claire mumbled, looking at the cracked asphalt, slowly shaking her head.
“I can’t believe
Massie Block
is going alone.” Kristen shook her head. “What if everyone thinks you’re a loser?”
“They won’t when they hear my new philosophy on school dances.”
“What philosophy?” Kristen asked.
“You gotta be single to mingle!” Massie shouted.
Claire and Alicia hollered their support. Massie lifted her palm in the air and the girls exchanged high fives.
The mysterious horn was still honking.
Dylan lowered herself onto the curb and sat down. Her forehead was beaded with sweat and her voice was weak. “Don’t pretend you’re excited to be dateless.”
“Who’s pretending?” Massie asked
The noisy horn finally stopped. A slamming car door and the sound of heels clacking on the pavement took its place.
“Dylan, do you think we’re going to look like losers because we have dates?” Kristen asked.
Dylan shrugged and rested her cheek on the frozen ground.
“What are you doing?”
“Cooling off,” Dylan moaned. “It must be two hundred degrees out tonight.” The bright headlights on the Range Rover shone in her face as Isaac pulled up along the curb. “Look how strong the sun is. We should be indoors.”
The girls started giggling.
“We’re you waiting long?” Isaac asked as he held the door open for Massie.
“About a half-hour,” she lied. “But I won’t tell Mom if you take us to the mall.”
“Don’t you have homework?”
“We finished it in detention.” Massie slid across the leather seats.
“Well, no daughter of mine is going shopping after a detention!” a woman shouted.
Kristen turned and looked over her shoulder. “Mom?”
Massie opened her window so she could hear better.
“That’s right.” Mrs. Gregory was clenching the wooden cross on her necklace.
Massie leaned across Claire and stuck her head out the window so she wouldn’t miss a thing. Kristen’s mom looked the same as always, wiry gray roots spreading across the top of her mousy brown bob. Her bangs were heavy and cut straight across her forehead like Buster Brown’s and her facial features were small and plain.
“When did you get here?” Kristen had one foot inside the Range Rover and one on the ground.
“I came as soon as I heard about your striptease in science class.” Mrs. Gregory sounded mad. “I’ve been honking for the last fifteen minutes.”
Dylan lifted her head off the pavement and giggled like a drunk. “Mrs. Gregory’s a goose. She honks!” She fell back down.
Mrs. Gregory let go of her cross and bent down toward Dylan. “Is she on drugs?”
“NyQuil,” Dylan slurred, and then giggled again.
Isaac adjusted his black leather driving gloves, then crouched down. After a few manly grunts, he managed to lift Dylan over his shoulder, like a fireman. He used his free hand to open the back hatch, then spread her out across the very backseat.
“Let’s go, Kristen Michelle. Your father is waiting to talk to you.”
“Lehp,” Kristen muttered as she lowered her foot onto the ground. She waved goodbye slowly and then followed her mother to their fuel-efficient Chrysler.
“Mrs. Gregory sucks,” Alicia said as she stepped into the Range Rover.
“Does this bean I win da bet?” Dylan called from the backseat. She sounded delirious. “Are we at the ball yet?”
“You’re not going to the mall.” Isaac started the engine. “I’m taking you home.”
Dylan started laughing hysterically. “Where did all of these pink snakes come from? And why are they wearing swim goggles?” Then she began to weep. “Those are my goggles.
Mine!
”
Isaac stepped on the gas and sped all the way to Dylan’s house. He carried her up the thirty stone steps that led to the front door of their mansion and left her in the tender care of her housekeeper, Flora.
“I can’t believe she would go to school with the flu,” he said when he got back in the car.
“She hates missing out.” Massie shook her head. “She’s been like that forever.”
Isaac reached in the glove compartment and took out a pack of Lysol hand wipes. He cleaned his gloves and the steering wheel, then handed some to the girls so they could disinfect the backseat. “Where to next?” he asked.
“The Westchester Mall,” Alicia announced
“Massie?” Isaac waited for her to give the final approval.
“The Westchester!”
Alicia bounced up and down in her seat and clapped.
“Hey, did you guys know that shoe sizes are different in Europe than they are in Westchester?” Claire put in.
“What?” Alicia asked.
“Yeah, like a six there is really a five here,” Claire explained. “Cause when I took Nina to try on all the shoes, none of the sixes fit her. They were all too big.”
“So maybe she’s a five,” Massie said. “Who cares?”
“But during the sleepover she
told
us her boots were a six,” Claire insisted. “Don’t you remember when Kristen and Dylan tried them on at the sleepover? They’re both fives, and the boots were way too big for them.”
“Gawd,
CSI
much?”
“I’m just wondering why she would lie about the size of her feet?”
“It’s so funny that Nina is even into boots,” Alicia pointed out. “She used to be such a dorky dresser. She was even worse than—” She looked at Claire. “I mean, she used to wear jellies and socks to restaurants.”
“Ew,” Massie said.
“Her sisters were the ones who were into footwear. They’re, like, famous for their style. Everyone copies them, and twice a year they auction off last season’s boots and use the cash to buy more. They raised enough money last year to fly to Paris and shop there.”
“Maybe that’s why they keep calling.” Massie smiled. “Maybe Nina stole their boots, just like she stole my lip gloss.”
“And my boyfriend,” Claire sneered.
“No, wait—you might be onto something.” Alicia’s brown eyes were wide with wonder. “Whenever I get back from Spain, I’m always missing a few of my favorite things. But I always blamed the baggage handlers at the airline. But what if it was Nina all this time? What if she’s a
gato
burglar?”
