Revenge Of The Wannabes Part 8

"Can you hear it ringing?" Ma.s.sie whispered.

Claire nodded.

Ma.s.sie covered the mouthpiece. "We'll probably have to leave a message because it's late-"

"Lucinda Hill's office," a voice answered.

Claire gasped and Ma.s.sie raised a finger to her lips.

"Sorry," Claire mouthed. She dug into her back pocket and popped a yellow sour in her mouth.

"Uh, yeah, uh, is Lucinda Hill there, please?"

"Who's speaking?"

Ma.s.sie stood up and started pacing. "It's Ma-It's Alicia Rivera and Olivia Ryan."

"Hold."

"Hey, gorgeous, make my day and tell me you got permission to do the holiday shoot," a different voice then said. Claire a.s.sumed it was Lucinda.

"Mmmm, not yet," Ma.s.sie replied.

Claire sat perfectly still on the edge of the bed, trying not to make a sound. She didn't want to miss a single word.

"That's not why I'm calling." Ma.s.sie faced the window, reminding Claire of a high-powered executive on an important business call.

"What, then?" Lucinda sounded annoyed.

"I have a confession to make and I can't handle the guilt anymore."

"Yup," Lucida said, hurrying her along.

"Olivia and I cheated during the OCD Fas.h.i.+on Week Uniform Contest. We didn't really win. Ma.s.sie Block and Claire Lyons did. We switched the ballot boxes because we're such losers and we've never won anything before and we were desperate."

Claire's mouth hung wide open. "Nice," she mouthed enthusiastically, giving Ma.s.sie a thumbs-up.

Ma.s.sie returned the gesture and Claire felt a surge of warmth rush through her entire body. They were a team.

The two girls looked at each other, their eyes wide open, wondering what Lucinda would say next. Would she sue Alicia and Olivia for fraud? Would she call all the newspapers and expose their lies? Would she blacklist Alicia from every store in Manhattan?

"And ..." Lucinda said.

"And what?" Ma.s.sie said. "How are you going to punish us?"

"I'm not a priest," she said. "I don't care if you cheated."

Claire raised her eyebrows in shock.

Ma.s.sie opened her mouth to speak, but Lucinda cut her off.

"All I care about is that you stay gorgeous. Gain a pound between now and the shoot and I'll take a Town Car straight to Winnchester and kick your b.u.t.t."

"Uh, okay," Ma.s.sie said.

"Now what?" Claire mouthed.

Ma.s.sie shrugged and Claire could hear Lucinda's fingers clacking away on a keyboard in the background.

When the typing stopped, Lucinda said, "Alicia, you still there?"

"Uh, yeah, bad connection, sorry," Ma.s.sie said.

"When can you get me those pictures of your friends?"

"Huh?"

Lucinda sighed. "I need pictures of your pretty-in-a-real-sort-of-way friends because we're still looking for four more models."

Ma.s.sie mouthed, "Yes!" and Claire got so excited, she jumped up on her bed. But the phone cord was so short, she had to sit back down to continue listening.

"Oh, right," Ma.s.sie said. "Sorry, I forgot. I'm a total airhead."

Claire covered her mouth to conceal her laughter.

"What's your e-mail address? I'll have my friend Ma.s.sie send those to you right now. She's gorgeous; you'll love her."

As soon as Ma.s.sie hung up the phone, she hopped on Claire's bed and started jumping. "We are totally totally going to crash Alicia's modeling party." going to crash Alicia's modeling party."

Claire put the green phone on the floor and started jumping too. They bounced and giggled and held on to each other to keep from falling.

"I have to stop," Ma.s.sie panted. She fell onto the bed, rolled off, and stood up. Her hair was a tangled mess and her cheeks were flushed. "Can I take one of these?" Ma.s.sie asked. She was pointing to the row of pictures on the wall.

Claire's knees buckled. She stopped jumping and folded her arms across her chest. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone."

"I won't. I just want to scan a picture of you so I can send it to Lucinda," Ma.s.sie said.

"Oh," Claire said. "Cool." She jumped off the bed and landed on the floor with a thud. "Let me get you a better one."

Claire pulled a shoe box out of her closet, tore off the lid, and quickly flipped through a stack of pictures. She couldn't believe Ma.s.sie thought she was pretty enough to model. Her hands shook with excitement.

"Here, send this one." Claire held out a shot of herself sitting on the hood of a red convertible. She was hugging her knees to her chest and smiling brightly. Her legs were golden brown and her blond overgrown bangs were falling in her eyes. It was her favorite picture.

"Thanks," Ma.s.sie said. "I have some good ones of me, Kristen, and Dylan back in my room. I'll go send them now."

"Good luck," Claire said.

"Bye!" Ma.s.sie called, slamming the door behind her.

The minute Claire was alone, she went straight for her computer and read Cam's latest e-mail one more time ...

C,U COMING TO MY SOCCER GAME 2MORROW? IF U DO, LOOK UNDER SEAT #27. THERE WILL B A SWEET SURPRISE WAITING THERE 4 U. OH, THANKS FOR SENDING THAT PICTURE OF YOUR TOE. ... AND NO, I DON'T THINK IT LOOKS LIKE A FAT MAN'S THUMB.C Claire wasted no time writing back.

C,I'LL BE IN SEAT #27. BTWTHNX FOR THE SOURS. I 8 THEM ALL.[image] C C Claire was bursting to tell Cam she and Ma.s.sie were going to be models but held off. She wasn't quite ready to stop accepting his sugary candy.

BRIARWOOD A ACADEMY S SOCCER G GAME.

4:25 PM PM.

November 15th The glare from the stadium lights blinded Alicia and kept her from seeing Briarwood score the winning goal. But she heard all about it from the announcer.

"The Tomahawks kick b.u.t.t once again thanks to their star forward, Derrick Harrington," a man's voice bellowed through the speaker towers. Everyone jumped to their feet and waved their orange-and-blue flags. Alicia and Faux-livia waved their pink knit mittens.

"Whoo-hoo!" Derrick shouted. His teammates lifted him up and carried him toward the bleachers. They rubbed his s.h.a.ggy blond hair and sprayed him with Evian water. When they put him on the ground, Derrick turned his back to the crowd and pulled down his shorts. They cheered and hollered while he stuck out his tiny white b.u.t.t and wiggled it back and forth.

"That makes standing out here in the freezing cold almost worth it," Alicia said, putting her mitten back on her hand.

"I don't care how immature everyone says he is-I think he's cute," Faux-livia said. think he's cute," Faux-livia said.

"He could could be if he stopped wearing shorts all the time." Alicia sat down on the cold metal bleachers. "I've never seen him in long pants. Not even at dances. His knees are be if he stopped wearing shorts all the time." Alicia sat down on the cold metal bleachers. "I've never seen him in long pants. Not even at dances. His knees are purple purple from the cold." from the cold."

Faux-livia sat down and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her red puffy coat.

"He reminds me of my old yellow Lab, Smash," Faux-livia said. "I think it's the brown eyes and the blond hair. ..."

"Probably." Alicia never asked Olivia to clarify. It usually just confused her more. Besides, Derrick was walking up the cement steps and she didn't want to miss her chance to greet the star player.

Alicia crouched down, pretending to pick something off the ground, and swiped a quick coat of light pink gloss across her lips. "Nice game!" she called out when she resurfaced.

"Yeah, you were so on on today, Derrington," Faux-livia shouted. today, Derrington," Faux-livia shouted.

Alicia quickly elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ow," Faux-livia said.

"You're lucky you're wearing that coat or it really would have hurt," Alicia whispered.

"Why'd ya elbow me?"

"He doesn't know know we call him we call him Derrington, Derrington," Alicia said through her teeth. "When you're talking to him, use his real real name." name."

"Sorry." Faux-livia rubbed her side. "I thought he'd think it was funny how we blended his first and last name together."

Alicia knew Faux was right. But Ma.s.sie made up Derrington, and Alicia didn't want Olivia to get credit for it. Of course she could have lied and said the nickname was her idea, but Ma.s.sie would find out. She always did.

"Yes!" Alicia murmured when Derrington and three of his teammates stopped in front of their seats. "You guys were sooo Beckham-y today." She tilted her head and smiled sweetly.

"Thanks, Alicia," Chris Plovert said as he lifted a bottle of Gatorade to his mouth. A line of blue juice dribbled down his chin.

"Hey, Alicia, look," Danny Robbins said, pointing at Chris's face. "He likes you so much he's drooling."

Chris punched Danny's lanky arm, then used the sleeve of his team jersey to wipe it away. "You're the one who's always looking for her in the stands," he said.

"It's your older sister I'm looking for," Danny said, flas.h.i.+ng a mouthful of silver braces.

The two boys started giggling and punching each other. A few other guys on the team heard them joking around and forced their way into the tight circle.

Alicia was enjoying the rush of confidence that always came from so much boy attention. That, combined with her recent experience at Teen Vogue, Teen Vogue, made her feel unstoppable. She scanned the bleachers to make sure Ma.s.sie, Claire, Dylan, and Kristen were still there. They were. And they were looking straight at her. made her feel unstoppable. She scanned the bleachers to make sure Ma.s.sie, Claire, Dylan, and Kristen were still there. They were. And they were looking straight at her. Perfect! Perfect!

"Relax, boys, you're too old for her," Derrington mumbled. He put his sweaty arm around Alicia.

"The eighth grade is so not not too old for me." Alicia wiggled to free herself from his grip. She ran her fingers along the inside of her pink knit cap and casually loosened a few strands of black hair. She knew they'd look s.e.xy blowing around her face. too old for me." Alicia wiggled to free herself from his grip. She ran her fingers along the inside of her pink knit cap and casually loosened a few strands of black hair. She knew they'd look s.e.xy blowing around her face.

"What about the eleventh grade?" Harris Fisher asked.

Alicia reached into her bag and peeled off a yes yes sticker. She pressed it against the sleeve of his leather jacket. sticker. She pressed it against the sleeve of his leather jacket.

"We love eleventh graders." Faux-livia's navy blue eyes stayed fixed on Harris.

The boys giggled and punched each other all over again.

Cam rolled his two different-colored eyes. "Ignore him. He's a complete stranger."

Alicia smiled and looked down at the gray cement. There wasn't a girl at OCD who hadn't heard of Harris Fisher. He was Cam's hot hot older brother. He had older brother. He had two two gorgeous green eyes, whereas Cam only had the one. gorgeous green eyes, whereas Cam only had the one.

"What about Ma.s.sie? Does she like older guys too?" Derrington asked.

Alicia pretended she didn't hear Derrington's question and quickly changed the subject.

"You better be nice to us because we may not be around for much longer," Alicia said. She casually unb.u.t.toned her gray coat so they could see the Dixon she was wearing around the top of her jeans.

"Why, where are you going?" Derrington mumbled, not noticing that her b.u.t.t was wrapped in black mesh.

"Yeah, where are you going?" Faux-livia asked. Her eyes were wide with panic.

Alicia squeezed Faux-livia's hand. "We got a modeling contract with Teen Vogue Teen Vogue and they might want us to drop out of school and move to Manhattan." She tried to sound blase. and they might want us to drop out of school and move to Manhattan." She tried to sound blase.

"Really?" Derrington sat down on the bleacher beside Alicia and put his arm around her. "Did Ma.s.sie get one too?"

"What is your obsession?" Alicia snapped. "This has is your obsession?" Alicia snapped. "This has nothing nothing to do with Ma.s.sie." to do with Ma.s.sie."

"Sorry." Derrington jumped to his feet. "I just thought because you're such good friends-"

"Well, you thought wrong." Alicia folded her arms across her chest.

"She is is pretty enough to be a model," Cam chimed in. pretty enough to be a model," Cam chimed in.