Best Friends For Never Part 17

Kristen beamed with pride when she saw his response. "Seeee," she said.

ALICIA: PARENTS R AWAY. PARENTS R AWAY.

DERRICK: COOL. COOL.

ALICIA: WANTED 2 HAVE HOT TUB PARTY. WANTED 2 HAVE HOT TUB PARTY.

DERRICK: WHO'S GOING? WHO'S GOING?.

ALICIA: ME ME.

DERRICK: TIME? TIME?.

"What time are you supposed to play soccer?" Alicia asked Kristen.

"Four thirty," Kristen said. Her smile faded.

ALICIA: 4:30 4:30.

DERRICK: I'LL B THERE. I'LL B THERE.

"Looks like we have our answer." Dylan dabbed on a bit of lip gloss. "He obviously doesn't like you very much."

Alicia turned to face Dylan. "What time are you supposed to meet him on Wednesday?"

"Six," Dylan said. "Why?"

But Alicia didn't answer.

ALICIA: SORRY, MADE A MISTAKE. HOT TUB ON WEDNESDAY AT SIX. STILL COOL? SORRY, MADE A MISTAKE. HOT TUB ON WEDNESDAY AT SIX. STILL COOL?.

DERRICK: WOULDN'T MISS IT. WOULDN'T MISS IT.

"And that, my friends, is what you call a dirtbag." Alicia dropped her phone into her Prada and got up to check on Ma.s.sie's progress. "You can take the guy out of the Halloween costume, but you can't take the Halloween costume out of the guy."

Ma.s.sie hurried out of the dressing room. She didn't want to miss Dylan and Kristen's reactions.

The girls were silent. They couldn't even bring themselves to look at each other. Kristen crossed and uncrossed her legs and Dylan helped herself to a handful of mints from the silver dish on the magazine table that was in front of them.

"I can't believe him," Dylan said. "He was so excited to go into the city with me."

"Yeah, about as excited as he was to play soccer with me," Kristen said.

Dylan grabbed another handful of mints and slid the dish toward Kristen. She shook her head no and smiled thanks.

"I'm such an idiot," Dylan said.

"For thinking Derrington would like you?" Kristen said.

"NO!" Dylan snapped. "For letting him come between us."

"I know." Kristen uncrossed her legs and turned to face Dylan. "We have to get back at him."

"Yeah," Dylan agreed. She slapped her hand against her heart and closed her eyes, slowly shaking her head. "What were we thinking?"

"We weren't."

"Hug?"

"Hug."

The girls hugged and vowed never to let a guy come between them again, especially a horn dog like Derrington.

"Does this mean you two will join my team and be my models?" Ma.s.sie asked. She had jeans in every wash hanging over her shoulders and bright-colored tops draped across her arms. "We can rehea.r.s.e tonight."

"Does this mean we have to be nice to Claire?" Kristen asked.

"I hope not," Dylan said. "I'm still mad at her for IM'ing us from Ma.s.sie's computer." She turned toward Ma.s.sie. "She totally had me convinced that you thought I was fat."

"And that you wanted us to wear jean shorts and tights to school," Alicia said.

"I still can't believe you thought I would actually send IMs like that," Ma.s.sie said.

"So then why do we have to be nice to her?" Dylan said.

"Because she'll thread all of our needles since she doesn't have any nails," Ma.s.sie said. "So try not to p.i.s.s her off or we'll we'll have to do it." have to do it."

"Done."

"Done."

Ma.s.sie was waiting for Alicia to say "and done" but then remembered she wasn't part of their team.

"By the way, Alicia, can I have your bag?" Kristen was staring at the black-and-white Abercrombie model that was swinging back and forth in Alicia's hand.

"Sure, you can have the skirt too if you want," Alicia said, handing it over. "I don't really like it."

They waited by the doors near Neiman's for Ma.s.sie's driver to pick them up. As always, Isaac pulled up in the Range Rover exactly on time.

They spent the ride singing to the radio and gossiping about the annoying girls in their grade, just like they always did. But something felt different. It was the first Friday night in over a year that Alicia wasn't sleeping over at Ma.s.sie's.

They pulled up to the black iron gates in front of Alicia's house and Isaac helped her gather her bags.

"Have fun at the sleepover. I'll miss you guys," Alicia said as she backed out of the SUV. "I hate that I have to compete against my best friends in the entire world. This whole thing sucks." She contorted her face into a pouty frown.

But Ma.s.sie wasn't buying it. Alicia's brown eyes sparkled and danced a little too much for someone as tortured as she had just claimed to be.

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL.

SAGAMORE HALL.

6:45 PM PM.

November 8th Backstage, the models were panicking. Some had stage fright. Others simply refused to put on their uniforms because they thought they looked fat or they didn't want to change in front of Eli.

Claire stood by the refreshments table and licked chocolate icing off her fingers.

Ma.s.sie came over to grab a bottle of Smart Water.

"Well, this is it," Ma.s.sie said. She looked incredible. Her straight hair was loose and wavy and she looked like a French model in her new outfit, a frilly see-through cap-sleeved s.h.i.+rt with a beige cami underneath and a peach skirt that swished and swayed when she walked. And she was already wearing the black beret they'd promised to save for the show.

Claire saw that exact outfit in Teen Vogue Teen Vogue when she was researching design ideas. The skirt alone cost $350. when she was researching design ideas. The skirt alone cost $350.

"You look really good," Claire said. She looked down at her new red moccasins and wished her mom had let her buy something with a low heel instead.

"Thanks," Ma.s.sie said. "What happened to your hand?"

"Doughnuts." Claire looked embarra.s.sed.

"No, the Band-Aids." Ma.s.sie adjusted her beret to give it more of a tilt.

"Oh, I got a few blisters from threading all those needles last night. But it's no big deal. I had fun," Claire said. "Especially when we did the fas.h.i.+on shoot. I can't wait to e-mail those pictures to my friends back home."

"Yeah, it was fun." Ma.s.sie sounded surprised. "I can't believe we stayed up until four o'clock in the morning. Thank Gawd Gawd for espresso machines." for espresso machines."

"And Dylan's farts," Claire said. "They kept me alert for hours."

Ma.s.sie cracked up. Claire laughed too, then rubbed her tired, burning eyes. She felt better than she had in a long time.

"Well, at least they finally forgave me for sending those IMs," Claire said.

"Yeah, and all all you had to do was sew their uniforms and make them popcorn while they watched E! for three hours straight," Ma.s.sie said. you had to do was sew their uniforms and make them popcorn while they watched E! for three hours straight," Ma.s.sie said.

"It was worth it."

"What are you doing doing here?" here?"

Claire turned to see one of Pia's b.u.t.t-kissing teacher's a.s.sistants approaching. She held a clipboard and had a walkie-talkie clipped to the side of her Sevens. "Why aren't you in hair and makeup?"

"We're not models," Ma.s.sie said. "We just happen to look ah-mazing ah-mazing."

"Well, it says right here that you both signed up for model's robes." She flipped through the pages on her clipboard.

"We don't want people to see what we're going to be wearing," Ma.s.sie said back.

"But you're just presenting." The a.s.sistant sounded confused.

"That's what you think," Claire said.

Claire and Ma.s.sie rehea.r.s.ed their lines one last time, checked in on Kristen and Dylan in the makeup chairs, and then snuck over to the curtain to peek out at the audience.

The DJ was already blasting music to the house. The show was still fifteen minutes away and the seats were already full.

"Opening night of The Producers The Producers on Broadway didn't look half this packed," Ma.s.sie whispered to Claire, their heads poking through the red velvet curtain. "Look-there are the editors from on Broadway didn't look half this packed," Ma.s.sie whispered to Claire, their heads poking through the red velvet curtain. "Look-there are the editors from Teen People. Teen People. Front row center." Front row center."

"G.o.d, there are so many photographers." Claire bit down on her thumbnail.

As impressed as she was by the turnout, Claire really only cared about seeing one person. She searched the audience, looking for the mess of black hair, the slouchy posture, and the brown leather jacket.

"Girls, you should be with your models," Princ.i.p.al Burns cawed.

Claire had never seen Burns at such close range before. With her pointy hook nose and her tiny eyes she really did did look like a buzzard. look like a buzzard.

"The show is about to start and I need you in your places," she said. "Now, fly!"

The girls giggled all the way to their places. They couldn't believe the bird lady actually told them to "fly."

Everyone was lined up according to the order of their appearance onstage. Ma.s.sie, Dylan, Kristen, and Claire were last.

"I hope people don't fall asleep before our turn," Dylan whispered.

The hairstylist had glossed each one of her red ringlets individually so they glistened and bounced. Her already piercing green eyes had gotten the smoky treatment from the Bobbi Brown makeup artist. They were glowing.

"Trust me, we're in the best position," Ma.s.sie said. "Right after we go, the audience votes. So if we make it into the finals, we'll be fresh in their minds."

"Wow, we got lucky," Claire said.

"No, we didn't," Ma.s.sie said. "I called Pia last night and asked for this spot."

"And she just gave it to you?" Kristen kept her neck perfectly still as she talked to keep the tower of blond hair on her head from collapsing.

"Don't forget, this whole contest was my my idea," Ma.s.sie said. "It was the least she could do." idea," Ma.s.sie said. "It was the least she could do."

The music stopped and the houselights fell. The room was surprisingly quiet except for the sounds of people s.h.i.+fting in their seats and folding their programs while they got comfortable. But as soon as Princ.i.p.al Burns took the mike, they exploded with applause. The sound made Claire think of frying bacon.

The pink lights from the runway seeped through the cracks of the curtains and cast bars of color across the girls in the wings. Claire scanned the line, stealing glances at her compet.i.tion.

Layne and Eli were standing beside each other, swaying back and forth, letting their shoulders gently collide over and over again to an inaudible rhythm that must have been playing inside their heads. Claire couldn't wait to brush shoulders with someone of her own and immediately thought of Cam.

"Good luck," Layne whispered to Claire when she caught her staring.

"You too," Claire mouthed back. She meant it. She had missed Layne over the last few days and couldn't wait for Fas.h.i.+on Week to be over so things could go back to normal. Even if it meant wearing something Eli was about to model.

Alicia and Olivia oozed confidence. Olivia's new nose was powdered to perfection and her blond hair was blown stick straight. It touched the small of her back. Her sky blue eyes were surrounded by black liner, which somehow made them look more piercing and focused. And Alicia was the exact opposite. Her dark, rich features looked soft and warm in comparison but equally as powerful. She was even more beautiful than Olivia but in a less obvious way.

Claire watched Kristen and Dylan fussing with each other's hair, fighting gravity to make sure every silky strand was in its proper place. We're going to lose, We're going to lose, she thought. she thought.