"I ran straight to Pia Vogel's office to have a word word with her about the whole uniform thing." Ma.s.sie decided to leave out the part about hiding in the bathroom. with her about the whole uniform thing." Ma.s.sie decided to leave out the part about hiding in the bathroom.

"I hope your word was 'totally unfair,'" Olivia said.

"That's two two words." Kristen rolled her eyes. words." Kristen rolled her eyes.

"Oh."

Ma.s.sie didn't tell them she talked to Pia about designing the uniforms herself. Because Pia's answer was no. Ma.s.sie only told them how the conversation ended.

"So after a lot of back and forth, Pia finally agreed to hold an OCD uniform design contest. She even said she'd call the editors at Teen People Teen People and ask them to do a story on the winner. There will be a fashion show on Sat.u.r.day. That's when the voting will take place." and ask them to do a story on the winner. There will be a fashion show on Sat.u.r.day. That's when the voting will take place."

"How awesome!" Olivia clapped and bounced up and down. She stopped when she noticed no one else seemed excited.

"This week? That's totally unrealistic." Kristen rubbed her eyes. "How are we supposed to design something that quickly?"

"I know, it sucks, but they want to start the uniform thing ASAP," Ma.s.sie explained. "I tried to fight it, but Pia wouldn't budge."

"This whole thing sucks," Kristen said. "The last thing I need is more homework this week."

"Yeah." Dylan frowned. "I have over thirty hours of unwatched shows piling up on my TiVo. Now I have to learn how to sew?"

Ma.s.sie was determined to sell them on the idea since she was responsible for the entire mess.

She laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Alicia asked. "They're right-this whole thing blows."

"You guys crack me up," Ma.s.sie said. "I love when you do that thing where you pretend to miss the point. I fall for it every time."

Olivia looked relieved.

"I mean, Kristen, you of all people must be psyched about this. You'll never have to switch outfits in the car on the way to school ever again. If you design the winning outfit and it becomes the school uniform, your mother will have have to let you wear it," Ma.s.sie said. Kristen's navy blue eyes sparkled at the very idea. to let you wear it," Ma.s.sie said. Kristen's navy blue eyes sparkled at the very idea.

"And Dylan, Philippe, your mom's wardrobe guy, can help you. You won't even have to touch a piece of fabric."

Ma.s.sie could tell her friends were warming up to the idea.

"Alicia, the other day you said you wished more people dressed like you. If you win this contest, everyone will. will."

"That was the first time Ma.s.sie spoke directly to Alicia all morning.

"When I left Pia, she was ordering T-shirts that said OCD Puts the U in Uniform," Ma.s.sie said. "She wants to give them out on the night of the show."

"It kind of sounds like fun," Dylan said.

"You deserve more than twenty points for this, Ma.s.s," Kristen said. "You saved us."

"It also means we only have a couple of weeks left to wear our new fall clothes." Alicia smiled.

"Speaking of which, I need to recall anything I've lent you in the last six months." Ma.s.sie tightened her three scarves. "I'm desperate for something new to wear."

The girls nodded. Now if only Ma.s.sie could get rid of Olivia and keep Derrington from coming between her friends. Just then, as if on cue, Alicia's cell phone vibrated.

"Look, it's from Derrington." Alicia tilted the tiny screen toward Olivia. "He wants to know what's up."

"How cute of him." Olivia gathered her long blond hair and tossed it behind her head.

Kristen and Dylan instinctively turned to each other to roll their eyes but looked away once they remembered they weren't speaking to each other.

"Ma.s.sie, he's asking if you're around," Olivia said, looking at the screen.

Why couldn't it be Cam?

"Ma.s.sie, he wants me to thank you for the party," Alicia relayed. "He had a blast."

"He already thanked me, so how 'bout I just credit that one to your account?" But Ma.s.sie's clever comeback was lost on Alicia. She was busy typing and giggling with Olivia.

"He's sweet." Alicia snapped her phone shut. "I'm sure he'll make one one of you very happy." of you very happy."

"Whatever, I don't want your sloppy seconds," Kristen said. "I'm going to get started on my design."

"Same," Dylan said. "I'm thinking of doing something reversible so it will be like having two uniforms instead of one."

"That's what I was going to do," Kristen said. "You heard me talking about that after the a.s.sembly, didn't you?"

"NO!" Dylan shouted. "I haven't listened to anything you've said all day."

Ma.s.sie rolled her eyes as she gathered up her books. At least no one was mad at her her. She knew she'd find a way to fix things and bring them all together again. She just needed a little time.

The bell rang and the girls tossed their cups in a nearby trash can.

"What are you going to design?" Dylan asked Ma.s.sie.

"I'll figure it out in American history," she said. "I do some of my best scheming in that cla.s.s."

It seemed like everyone had fallen for Derrington's unkempt good looks except Ma.s.sie. How could anyone like a boy who always always wore shorts, even in the winter? His kneecaps were constantly purple from the cold and for Ma.s.sie, love could never be wore shorts, even in the winter? His kneecaps were constantly purple from the cold and for Ma.s.sie, love could never be that that blind. Cam, on the other hand, made his fashion statement with a beat-up motorcycle jacket. It was one of the many things he had inherited from his older brother, Harris, who was a senior at Briarwood. Cam's love of The Strokes, the G.o.dfather movies, and soccer were also Harris hand-me-downs. But the jacket was his favorite. The worked-in brown leather was filled with cracks and oil stains, but Ma.s.sie saw beyond the filth because the vintage piece was the perfect mix of rugged and soft. Just like Cam. blind. Cam, on the other hand, made his fashion statement with a beat-up motorcycle jacket. It was one of the many things he had inherited from his older brother, Harris, who was a senior at Briarwood. Cam's love of The Strokes, the G.o.dfather movies, and soccer were also Harris hand-me-downs. But the jacket was his favorite. The worked-in brown leather was filled with cracks and oil stains, but Ma.s.sie saw beyond the filth because the vintage piece was the perfect mix of rugged and soft. Just like Cam.

Bean was the only living creature that knew about Ma.s.sie's crush. And she hated how pathetic Kristen and Dylan looked, fighting over a guy who didn't necessarily like either one of them. For the time being she would have to come up with an excuse to contact Cam all by herself.

After school, she found his e-mail address in her deleted messages folder and was glad she hadn't erased his RSVP from her files.

After twenty minutes of writing and erasing her message, she settled on: HEY, CAM,JUST WONDERING IF YOU LEFT A PAIR OF SHIN GUARDS HERE AFTER THE HALLOWEEN PARTY. RENNY WHITE WAS THE ONLY OTHER GUY DRESSED AS A SOCCER PLAYER AND I REALLY DON'T WANT TO CALL HIM 'CAUSE HIS VOICE SOUNDS LIKE SNUFFLEUPAGUS AND I LAUGH EVERY TIME I TALK TO HIM.[image] -MB -MB Ma.s.sie read the e-mail three times before sending it. She prayed Cam hadn't actually lost his shin guards because she didn't have any to give him.

Her e-mail dinged immediately and Ma.s.sie's heart leapt. Cam had replied. Ma.s.sie put on a thick coat of lip gloss and fluffed up her hair before opening it.

MB-I HAVE MY SHIN GUARDS. THNX. I LOL'ED WHEN I READ ABOUT RENNY. I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT TOO. HEY, THERE'S A RUMOR GOING AROUND THAT OCD IS GOING UNIFORM. TRUE? ALSO HEARD IT'S YOUR FAULT. IF IT IS, THAT'S PRETTY COOL.I LIKE TROUBLEMAKERS.[image] -C -C "Oh my G.o.d, Bean," Ma.s.sie gulped as she lifted her dog onto her lap. "He practically admitted he likes me! Now what?"

Ma.s.sie hopped up from her chair and paced around her room, Bean still in her arms.

"It can't end like this. It may be weeks before I talk to him again. What if he forgets he likes me?"

The sound of Bean's panting kept Ma.s.sie from feeling alone.

"I wish you could talk. But I guess if you could, I wouldn't tell you anything, so maybe it's better that you don't."

Ma.s.sie sat back down in front of her computer and went for it.

IT'S A GREAT STORY. CALL ME IF YOU WANT TO HEAR IT. IF NOT, I'LL SEE YOU SOON.-MB[image]

Ma.s.sie was proud of her last response. It was an invitation for him to call her, but at the same time she made it seem like it didn't matter if he took her up on it.

Her phone rang seconds later. She answered.

"Hi, Ma.s.sie?"

It was Cam.

"Are you eating?" Ma.s.sie asked. "I can hear you chomping on something."

"It's Big League Chew."

"Grape?"

"Yeah," Cam said. "How did you know?"

"It's what you always chew."

Ma.s.sie was so charged with energy she wanted to scream. She stopped pacing long enough to sit down at her computer and do a quick search on The G.o.dfather The G.o.dfather just in case it came up ( just in case it came up (a 1972 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola ... zzz ... zzz ... zzz ...). Luckily it never did.

They talked about their cla.s.ses, their families, and their favorite Web sites. He even asked what it was like having "the new girl" around all the time and said he "totally felt her pain" when she explained what a drag it was. There were only two awkward silences in the entire thirty-seven-minute conversation and he promised to make her a CD mix of his favorite Strokes songs. If his mother hadn't called him to dinner, they would have talked all night.

When Ma.s.sie hung up the phone, she was ready to burst. Even though they made no solid plans to see each other (ugh!), Cam promised he would call her again and Ma.s.sie believed him.

"Bean!" Ma.s.sie hugged her dog. "I wish I could be friends with myself so I'd have someone to jump up and down with right now."

Ma.s.sie closed her blinds to make sure Claire couldn't see into her bedroom and then hopped up on her bed. She jumped twice and let out a big "whoo-hoo," but that was the extent of her victory dance. She felt stupid celebrating alone.

THE BLOCK ESTATE.

LIVING ROOM.

6:36 PM PM.

November 3rd "If you want to work in the same room as me, you're going to have to set up behind there." Ma.s.sie was pointing to the brown suede couch on the far side of the living room. "And I'll work behind this one."

Claire wasn't going to argue. She walked over to her couch and emptied her plastic bag of material on the cream-colored carpet. This was Claire's big chance to spend alone time with Ma.s.sie and maybe, if things went well, she'd be in in by the end of the night. by the end of the night.

"So what's your uniform idea?" Claire felt weird talking to Ma.s.sie with a piece of furniture between them.

"Do you seriously think I'm going to tell you?" Ma.s.sie snapped. She didn't say it in a mean way, like, "Do you seriously think I'm going to tell you?" you?" She sounded like she just wasn't going to tell She sounded like she just wasn't going to tell anyone. anyone.

Ever since Pia announced the contest that morning, the entire grade became secretive and paranoid. Bathroom stalls were used as phone booths by girls who wanted privacy while talking to their "outside contacts." The Cafe was practically silent during lunch. It was like someone had accidentally hit mute on the otherwise bustling scene.

Claire thought about her old school in Orlando and felt a pang of sadness. There, a design contest would have had everyone running around sharing ideas and teaming up with partners. But at OCD, where the students were the kids of CEOs, politicians, and celebrities, no one cared about creativity or teamwork. They cared about winning.

Pia invited designers and dressmakers to teach sewing clinics and pattern-making workshops after school. And Claire signed up for them all. The extra studying would be worth it if she won the design contest and could hear herself being referred to as something other than "the new girl with Keds."

After the first workshop, called "Sew What?" Claire decided on a uniform that was all about comfort and simplicity, something she thought the overdressed OCD girls should finally consider. She wanted to make a velour skirt that would fasten with a pull string instead of a zipper. A hoodie, with the OCD Phoenix on the right side of the chest, would replace the blazer. T-shirts and sneakers would also be part of the comfy overall image. And of course everything would be in the school colors, navy blue and maroon. Claire was confident that once the seventh graders got a taste of casual dressing, they would thank her until the end of time.

For the next half hour the girls worked without talking, the only sound in the room the squeak of scissors cutting through fabric. After a while Claire peeked out over her couch. Ma.s.sie was measuring her mannequin. She wore a pair of red Juicy Couture sweats and her hair was piled on top of her head. Even though she seemed ready for bed, Claire thought Ma.s.sie looked pretty.

"I see you watching me," Ma.s.sie said without even turning her head.

"Uh, I was just-"

"Claire, do you work at a grocery store?" Ma.s.sie asked as she was wrapping her tape measure around her mannequin's waist.

"Huh? No," Claire said.

"Then why are you checking me out?"

Claire flopped back on the carpeted floor behind her designated couch and tried to make sense of the patterns that stared back at her. She wished Layne could help, but she had already joined forces with Eli.

Layne had invited Claire to team up with them, but Claire had politely declined the offer when she heard their plan. Layne wanted Eli to be her model.

"Are you serious?" Claire asked them. They were in an art supply store after school, waiting for Eli to decide on a sketch pad.

"Claire, uniforms strip away our freedom of expression by forcing everyone to look identical," Eli explained. He flipped opened an Utrecht notebook and rubbed a sheet of thick paper between his thumb and index finger.

Claire was trying really hard to pay attention, but all she could focus on was Eli's chipped navy blue nail polish.

"So we're taking that idea one step further by saying why not make all all of us look the same, boys included," Eli said. He looked at the price sticker on the inside of the notebook and put it back on the shelf. of us look the same, boys included," Eli said. He looked at the price sticker on the inside of the notebook and put it back on the shelf.

"Isn't that genius?" Layne looked really proud.

The only words Claire could think of at that moment were dripping with sarcasm, so she stuffed her mouth with the last of her gummy supply to keep herself quiet.

"Did you hear that Eli is going to be Layne's model?" Claire asked from behind her couch.

"No way!" Ma.s.sie shouted back from her side of the room. "Is she really?"

"You mean he?" he?"

"No, I meant she. she." Ma.s.sie giggled.

Claire laughed too.