"Good evening, Westchester." Alicia sniffled. "This just in: After a long night of severe torture and humiliation, Alicia Rivera has announced that she is leaving the Pretty Committee and starting her own. As of tomorrow she will be looking for new best friends. She has already a.s.signed Olivia Ryan the role of beta, but there is still plenty of room for others. So if you want to be part of the Unbelievably Unbelievably Pretty Committee and you want to conquer Ma.s.sie Block, go to OCD tomorrow and wear something cute. Alicia will be scouting all day. This has been Alicia Rivera. Thanks and good night." Pretty Committee and you want to conquer Ma.s.sie Block, go to OCD tomorrow and wear something cute. Alicia will be scouting all day. This has been Alicia Rivera. Thanks and good night."

Alicia reached under the fleece and wiped away her last tear. Finally it would be Ma.s.sie's turn to cry.

DR. JUICE D DRIVE-THROUGH.

7:55 AM AM.

November 18th Isaac stopped the Blocks' Range Rover in front of the big plastic nurse in the Dr. Juice parking lot. He rolled down his window and pushed the red heart in the middle of her white hat. She opened her synthetic blue eyes.

"Welcome to Dr. Juice. I'm Nurse Feelfine. What can Dr. Juice get for you today?" Her voice was soothing and kind.

"One extra-large Slim," Dylan shouted into the nurse's mouth.

"Medium Focus," Kristen yelled.

"Medium Comfort," Claire said. "Please."

"One large Strength and Power blend," Ma.s.sie said. "Sugar-free."

But if guilt-free had been an option, she would have ordered that.

Ma.s.sie spent all night wondering if she had been too harsh on Alicia. In the three years they had been BFFs, Alicia only cried that hard once-when she had broken her ankle s...o...b..arding on a field trip to Stowe, Vermont. But Ma.s.sie kept reminding herself that Alicia started all of this. And there was no telling where she would take it now that she'd been so humiliated. Could she ever top the mural?

Isaac pulled up to the front window and paid for the juices.

"Here you go," he said, handing the cups to the girls in the backseat.

"Thanks, Isaac," they cooed.

Ma.s.sie took a long sip of Strength # Power. The cold, fruity mixture tasted like summer. It was perfect on such a dreary winter morning. "Yum," she said after she swallowed. She lifted the straw to her mouth and was enjoying another long sip until a sudden blow to her arm knocked the cup away. Pink mush shot all over her chin.

"Orange Uggs, no punch backs," Claire yelled after she whacked Ma.s.sie on the arm. "Look." She tapped the window and pointed to a high school girl with her jeans tucked into her orange Ugg boots. She was swinging a key chain around her finger while she walked across the Dr. Juice parking lot.

Ma.s.sie's mouth hung open while drops of Strength # Power dripped down the front of her fluffy white coat.

Kristen and Dylan busted out laughing. And soon everyone was cracking up.

"We only punch when we see Burberry," Ma.s.sie said, wiping her chin on Claire's backpack. "Not Uggs."

"Then I just made up a new game," Claire said, talking a long sip of Comfort.

"I like it." Ma.s.sie searched the parking lot for more Uggs.

Kristen banged on her window. "Black Uggs, no punch backs," she said, whacking Dylan.

"Wrong." Dylan punched Kristen. "Those are FUggs. Fake Uggs."

Everyone laughed again.

"Carpool's been fun lately," Ma.s.sie said. She was about to say, "now that Alicia's gone," but didn't want to mention Alicia's name because they were having such a good time without her. "Claire, is this more fun than riding with Layne?"

"It's definitely different." Claire smiled and took another sip of juice.

Ma.s.sie leaned back in her seat and grinned. She was proud of Claire for making up a game. "Speaking of Uggs, who wants to go holiday shopping Sat.u.r.day?"

"It's only Tuesday," Claire said.

"So?" Ma.s.sie shrugged. She liked to firm up her plans for the weekend as early as possible; even the thought of too much time alone made her nervous.

"I can't," Dylan said. She opened the mini-fridge in the back of the Range Rover and pulled out a small box of Rice Krispies. She tore the package open with her teeth. "My mom is taking me and my sisters to St. Bart's for a three-day Caribbean getaway." She stuck her tongue in the box. When she lifted it out, it was covered in the tiny rice puffs.

Ma.s.sie turned away in disgust. "What about you, Kristen?"

"I'll be at the mall; I just won't be shopping. But if you buy any gifts, I'll be happy to wrap them for you."

"Yuck," Ma.s.sie said. "How much character do you have to build before your parents let you have your life back?"

Kristen shrugged and turned to face the window.

"What about you? you?" Ma.s.sie said to Claire. She couldn't imagine shopping alone with Claire and immediately regretted asking her. She knew Claire couldn't afford to shop in the good stores and even if she did, her taste was so fifth grade. But then again, maybe it was time to embrace Claire completely, not just as an Alicia subst.i.tute.

"I would love to go with you, Ma.s.sie," Claire said. "But every Sat.u.r.day, I go to the movies with Layne."

She couldn't even get a commitment from Kuh-laire! Claire was supposed to worship her. Everyone was. Alicia might have cheated, lied, and deceived her, but she would have never said no to a shopping trip. Ma.s.sie took a long sip of Strength # Power.

"Unless," Claire said, leaning forward in her leather seat. "Unless we invite Layne to come with us."

Ma.s.sie wanted to shout, "I adopted you, NOT that Salvation Army-loving fashion don't!" But she didn't. She needed Claire now that Alicia was gone. If Claire left her, people would definitely think she was losing her grip on the Pretty Committee. And that would be way worse than being seen at the mall with Claire and Layne.

"Has Layne ever shopped at a mall before?" Ma.s.sie asked. "Does she know that everything they sell is new? new?" She couldn't resist.

Kristen and Dylan laughed.

"Forget it," Claire said to her thumbnail. "Maybe Layne and I should just stick to our regular plan."

"Oh, come on, I was kidding," Ma.s.sie said. She couldn't believe she was begging to go shopping with Claire and Layne. This was all Alicia's fault. She tried to take another sip from her Dr. Juice cup, but it was all gone.

"Let's just do it another time," Claire said.

"That's probably better," Ma.s.sie said. "I've been meaning to get my highlights retouched."

Isaac turned into the OCD parking lot and stopped the Range Rover right behind the Riveras' limo. Ma.s.sie watched from the corner of her eye as Alicia and Olivia stepped out. They both had the exact same super-straight hairdos and Ma.s.sie wondered if they'd gotten j.a.panese perms over the weekend. That was something Alicia always said she wanted to do with Ma.s.sie. Ma.s.sie. But that was then. ... But that was then. ...

OCTAVIAN C COUNTRY D DAY S SCHOOL S SYNCHRONIZED S SWIM C CLa.s.s.

1:55 PM PM.

November 18th The humid air clung to Alicia's skin like a cashmere sweater. Every time she stepped out of the chilly locker room and into OCD's indoor pool area, she'd close her eyes and pretend she was walking along one of the beaches in Spain. Unfortunately the Ajax-y smell of chlorine was a cruel reminder that she was about to spend the next forty-five minutes in an Olympic-sized toilet learning how to swim in a circle and wave.

Normally Alicia cursed this cla.s.s because Ma.s.sie, Kristen, and Dylan scored pottery as their elective and she got stuck learning synchronized swimming with Claire Lyons. But nothing was normal about this day.

A greasy film of leave-in conditioner trailed behind Alicia as she swam closer to Claire.

"Stay in formation, Alicia," Miss Kuznick said, her pinched voice echoing off the white tile walls.

Alicia swung her legs back into the center of the circle, trying her hardest to avoid touching the water-wrinkled toes of her cla.s.smates.

"Look to the right," Miss Kuznick barked.

This put Alicia in direct contact with Faux-livia's left ear.

"Did you find anyone?" she whispered.

Miss Kuznick clapped. "And to the left."

"Coral McAdams kind of reminds me of Dylan," Faux-livia whispered into Alicia's right ear. "She could work."

Alicia strained her eyes so she could sneak a peak at the big-boned girl without moving her head. "You mean Strawberry? Strawberry?"

Faux-livia blinked once instead of nodding to avoid falling out of sync.

"Hmmm." Alicia tried to imagine hanging out with Coral after she had made fun of her all semester for having over-hennaed hair. It was a bright, syrupy shade of red.

"Only problem is I hear she has a temper," Faux-livia said out of the corner of her mouth. "Her face turns pink when she gets mad and that's why they call her-"

Miss Kuznick glared at Faux-livia and clapped twice.

Once she looked away, Alicia swam right up to Faux's ear. "I always called her that because I thought she shopped at Strawberry," she said. "Where else would she get those belly chains and magnetic nose rings?"

"Duck dives," Miss Kuznick instructed.

"True," Olivia said before she went underwater.

The more Alicia thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Coral was actually kind of pretty if you could get past the neon hair. She never needed braces, because her perfect teeth looked like rows of white Chiclets, and her eyes were mint green. She had a decent amount of friends and was always talking back to teachers, which gave her major hall cred. If Alicia recruited her, she would win the respect of the fashion rebels. And there were more of them in the seventh grade than Alicia cared to count.

"Good call," Alicia said to Faux-livia when they popped back up for air.

Miss Kuznick shouted, "Switch," and everyone swam toward the ladder. They climbed out of the water and padded toward the metal bench on the side of the pool. The girls who had been sitting stood up and made stride jump entries into the water. Alicia noticed that Claire and Layne were sitting on the other side of Faux.

"I want to see good strong strokes," Miss Kuznick called out to her new group, and Alicia immediately thought of Harris Fisher and his Strokes tickets. Her father promised he would have them tonight.

The idea of placing the yellow windowed envelope in Harris's rugged hands made Alicia's stomach tingle with nervous antic.i.p.ation. She couldn't wait to tell her new recruits that she'd be going to a concert with a junior; it was so alpha.

Alicia reached under the bench and pulled a Ziploc out from behind one of the metal legs that had been bolted into the ground. She held the bag behind her back and ran her thumb along the seal to open it. Miss Kuznick had caught her using a cell phone one other time while she was on the bench and threatened to throw it in the pool if she used it again. But Alicia decided to chance it. She would die if she missed a call from Harris. And she could always get another phone.

She wiped her wet hands on her burgundy-and-blue OCD towel before checking for messages.

"Did he call?" Faux-livia asked. She kept her eyes focused on the swimmers so as not to attract attention.

Alicia shook her head.

"Call him, him," Faux said.

"I don't have his number," Alicia said.

"Call Cam," Faux demanded.

Alicia was loving loving Faux today. She was turning out to be the perfect beta. Faux today. She was turning out to be the perfect beta.

"Done," Alicia said as she hit 11 on her speed dial.

Alicia lowered her head behind the bench, pretending to search for a lost contact lens while she waited for Cam to pick up. Faux-livia lowered her head too so she could listen, but Alicia pushed it away.

"h.e.l.lo, is Alicia there, please?" Cam said when he answered.

"Very funny," Alicia whispered. Her heart was pounding. "Can you talk?"

"I'm kinda in the middle of dissecting a mouse," he said. "But I guess he's not going anywhere, so yeah. Is this about Claire? Did you talk to her for me?"

"Uh, kind of," Alicia said. "I'm still working on it."

"Oh."

Alicia could hear the disappointment in his voice but didn't have time to rea.s.sure him. She pressed her mouth right up against the phone. "I need your brother's number."

"Sure, it's 914-555-04 ..."

Alicia was punching the number into her phone, trying not to let it slip out of her hands and into the puddle under the bench. "Yeah, what's the rest?"

"You wish," Cam said. "You'll get the last two numbers when you get Claire to hang out with me."

"That's so not f-" Alicia started to say before she was cut off.

"Gotta go," he said. And the line went dead.

"Well?" Faux-livia asked. She was sitting on her hands and bouncing up and down. There were deep purple rings around her eyes because her goggles had been on too tight.

Alicia busted out laughing. She aimed her phone at Faux-livia's face and snapped her picture. Her next instinct was to click over to her address book and e-mail the funny shot to all of her friends. But she stopped herself. Who would she send it to?

"Switch seats with me," Alicia said. "I have to talk to Claire for a minute." "'Kay," Faux said as they quickly traded places.

"Keep looking for a 'Kristen,'" Alicia whispered.

When Alicia sat down, Claire turned and faced Layne.