"Five-letter word for 'in this day,'" Kristen said.

"Today," Ma.s.sie said. Ma.s.sie said.

Dylan stomped her foot. "You never let me me guess." guess."

"We don't have time," Ma.s.sie told her. "We only have this booth until six-thirty PM PM."

"Are you sure this spray tanning isn't poisonous?" Kristen pushed the instructional video back in the VCR so she could watch it again.

"Stop." Ma.s.sie hit eject and grabbed the tape. "This is so easy. The only thing you have to worry about is the Lohan tan."

"What?" Kristen shrieked. "I'm not doing this." She grabbed her Miss Sixty jeans off the changing room floor and started getting dressed.

"Relax." Dylan laughed and pulled the jeans off Kristen's leg. "You won't get it unless you're an obsessive spray tanner like Lindsay Lohan. She is so orange, I swear she must have self-tanner coming out of her shower nozzle."

"Just make sure you rub everything in and you'll be fine," Ma.s.sie said. Kristen reached for the video, but Ma.s.sie pulled her arm back before she could get it in the VCR again. "It couldn't be easier. Watch me."

Kristen, Dylan, and Ma.s.sie squeezed into one of the narrow silver cylinders and forced the accordion-shaped door shut. The s.p.a.ce outside the actual spray area was no bigger than a phone booth, but Ma.s.sie didn't mind the cramped quarters if it would get Kristen to put a little color on her pale body. The holiday parties were quickly approaching and it was important to Ma.s.sie that they look better than anyone else in the room.

Ma.s.sie dropped her towel and hit the big green On b.u.t.ton outside the gla.s.s door. She waved goodbye to her friends and stepped inside. One second later she was blasted by a smelly cold brown mist. When the spray stopped, she turned around and let the second batch coat her back.

"That's all there is to it," she said, reaching for her towel so she could rub the muddy solution into her legs. She didn't even stop to answer her phone.

"Can you grab that?" Ma.s.sie asked Dylan. "My hands are sticky."

Dylan pulled Ma.s.sie's phone out of her black leather Coach bag and checked the caller ID.

"It's Alicia," she said. "Should I hit ignore?"

"No, I bet she's having a guilt moment at Teen Vogue Teen Vogue and wants to beg for my forgiveness." Ma.s.sie grabbed the Motorola out of Dylan's hand and flipped it open. One of the purple rhinestones Ma.s.sie had glued to her phone fell off and bounced along the tin floor of the booth. She was instantly reminded of the way her charms had scattered across the cla.s.sroom in her daydream. Ma.s.sie squeezed her eyes shut to squash the memory. Her phone continued to ring. and wants to beg for my forgiveness." Ma.s.sie grabbed the Motorola out of Dylan's hand and flipped it open. One of the purple rhinestones Ma.s.sie had glued to her phone fell off and bounced along the tin floor of the booth. She was instantly reminded of the way her charms had scattered across the cla.s.sroom in her daydream. Ma.s.sie squeezed her eyes shut to squash the memory. Her phone continued to ring.

"You think Alicia knows my mom's been trying to put a stop to the uniform thing?" Dylan asked.

"There's only one way to find out," Ma.s.sie said. "Lean in." Once their three heads were pressed together, Ma.s.sie hit talk.

"Hullo," she said.

"Hey, it's Alicia. I'm in New York City. ..."

Ma.s.sie rolled her eyes.

"I know you're mad at me, but I just wanted to let you know I'm not having the sleepover party anymore."

"And you want to get invited back to mine, right? Well, it's too late. It starts in two hours-you'll never make it back from 'New York City.'" 'New York City.'" Ma.s.sie did her best to imitate Alicia's obnoxious tone. Ma.s.sie did her best to imitate Alicia's obnoxious tone.

Dylan put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Relax, Ma.s.sie," Alicia snapped. "I don't want to go to your lame sleepover. If I wanted to spend my night doing arts and crafts, I'd babysit a six-year-old. Besides, Olivia and I are going to the Beyonce concert tonight."

"No fair," Kristen mouthed.

"Alicia, do I sell fertilizer?" Ma.s.sie asked.

"No, why?" Alicia fell for Ma.s.sie's setup.

"Then why do you think I give a c.r.a.p?"

Dylan and Kristen burst out laughing. Ma.s.sie heard Alicia let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm calling because I want my Calvin Klein winter white blazer back," Alicia said.

"Why?, Are you packing up? Is the Rivers family finally moving back to Brooklyn?"

Kristen and Dylan laughed even harder this time and Ma.s.sie pushed them away from the phone.

Alicia ignored the dig. "I was asked to model for Teen Vogue Teen Vogue's holiday issue and I may want to wear it."

Ma.s.sie suddenly felt like she was falling down a well. There was a loud ringing in her ears and she felt dizzy. Was this really happening? Alicia cheated and now she was being rewarded rewarded for it? Would Kristen and Dylan like Alicia more now that she was a model? Would the rest of the school? for it? Would Kristen and Dylan like Alicia more now that she was a model? Would the rest of the school?

Ma.s.sie knew her expression must have changed to one of sheer horror, because Kristen and Dylan looked at her and mouthed, "What?" over and over again.

"Nothing," Ma.s.sie mouthed back.

"Look, I gotta go, the concert is about to start," Alicia shouted over the screaming fans in the background. "Bring the blazer to school on Monday, 'kay?"

"Sorry, I can't hear you," Ma.s.sie said. "What? What?" Then she hung up her phone. Her entire nervous system was in a state of shock.

"Share, please," Dylan pleaded as she opened the door to the booth. "What did she say?"

"Oh, nothing, just that she got a job MODELING FOR TEEN VOGUE! TEEN VOGUE!"

"Huh?" Kristen screeched. "How?"

"I have no idea." Ma.s.sie was so furious, she put her green dress on inside out.

"Maybe she's just a hand model or something," Dylan offered.

"That should have been us, us," Ma.s.sie said. "If we'd won the contest, we we would have been at would have been at Teen Vogue Teen Vogue this afternoon and this afternoon and we we would have been asked to model. Not would have been asked to model. Not her. her."

"It's not fair." Dylan pressed the on b.u.t.ton outside the tanning chamber and stepped inside. She closed her eyes and waited for the spray.

Ma.s.sie was so blind with rage, she didn't notice that Kristen was fully dressed. Suddenly her problems were much bigger than showing up at a holiday party with a pale friend. Her entire reputation was in jeopardy. What would people say when they found out Alicia was asked to model and she wasn't?

Ma.s.sie was silent for the next fifteen minutes. Once they were in the Blocks' Range Rover, she finally said, "The time is now."

"Huh?" Dylan said, grabbing a bowl of low-sodium cashews out of the minibar.

"Payback."

"You mean we can finally stop being snakes that lie in the weeds?" Dylan said, recalling Ma.s.sie's strategy.

"Yup, let's pounce."

"Thank G.o.d." Kristen sat up in her seat. "Can I get a seven-letter word for vengeance?" vengeance?" She threw her palm in the air and the others high-fived it. She threw her palm in the air and the others high-fived it.

"What's the plan?" Dylan asked.

"I'll tell you at the sleepover tonight," Ma.s.sie said. She needed time to think.

Isaac stopped the Range Rover in front of the luxurious Montador building.

"This is me." Kristen opened the car door and waved to her doorman. "I'll see you after dinner." The overhead light in the car popped on. "Ma.s.sie, what's wrong with your face?"

Ma.s.sie reached in her bag and pulled out her Chanel compact.

"Ehmagawd," she screamed. "Alicia got me so p.i.s.sed, I never finished rubbing in my tan."

Dylan and Kristen immediately started laughing.

"It's not funny," Ma.s.sie said, wiping her face. She pulled her dress away from her body and looked down at her stomach. "I'm all stripy. I look like a candy cane!"

"'Tis the season," Kristen said.

"That's even worse than the Lohan," Dylan said.

"Isaac, we have to stop at Dr. Juice," Ma.s.sie barked toward the front seat. "I need a large Calm immediately. Then drop me off at home so I can exfoliate."

"What about me?" Dylan asked.

"Isaac will take you last," Ma.s.sie said, examining her uneven arms. "This is an emergency."

Kristen slammed the door and the car sped off down the street.

After the stop at Dr. Juice, Isaac pulled into the circular driveway in front of the Block estate and for the first time ever Ma.s.sie wished she lived on a smaller piece of property. Suddenly the distance between the Range Rover and her shower seemed endless.

"See ya later," Ma.s.sie said to Dylan as she jumped out of the SUV with her bag in one hand and her banana, strawberry, and kava kava juice in the other.

She ran across the gravel of their circular driveway through the gra.s.s, and up the stone steps that led to the tall oak doors. Too frantic to search for her keys, Ma.s.sie dropped her bag so she could pound the iron knocker and ring the bell with her elbow at the same time.

"What is it?" she could hear Kendra, her mother, shouting as she raced down the steps.

Inez beat her to it and opened the door.

"Look at me," Ma.s.sie wailed when she saw them.

"Your dress is on inside out," Kendra said.

"No, my skin. My skin!" Ma.s.sie said. "I'm uneven."

Inez waved her hands in the air. "I have to check on dinner," she said. This was a problem for Kendra, not her.

Ma.s.sie felt her mother's arm around her shoulders. She was gently being led into the sitting room, just off the front hallway. "Honey," Kendra said softly when they were alone, "do you mind keeping it down? The women from my self-help book club are meeting in the upstairs parlor." Kendra pinched the pink diamond on her necklace and slid it back and forth along her gold chain. "We're reading Power of Now Power of Now and trying to stay in a state of inner peace for just ten more minutes. Can we talk about it over supper?" and trying to stay in a state of inner peace for just ten more minutes. Can we talk about it over supper?"

Ma.s.sie opened her mouth to explain that there was nothing to talk about when a voice from upstairs shouted, "Kendra, honey, is everything okay?"

"Yes, Sudie, everything's fine," Kendra yelled softly.

"Well, then come back up-Mimi has something she'd like to share."

"Coming." Kendra placed her manicured hand on the top of Ma.s.sie's head. "Go use my new loofah; it's in the closet beside the sauna. If that doesn't help, I'll take you to my aesthetician in the morning."

"Where's Dad?" Ma.s.sie asked.

"Late meeting, he'll be home after dinner."

"Fine," Ma.s.sie said as she ran up the stairs ahead of her mother.

Once Ma.s.sie was in her bathroom, she tore the plastic wrapper off her mother's loofah and stepped into the steaming hot shower. She rubbed a bar of L'Occitaine shea b.u.t.ter soap all over her body and scrubbed.

Once Ma.s.sie dried off, she combed her shoulder-length hair and slipped on her Michael Stars hot pink boy shorts and matching tank top. She sat down on her white duvet and pulled out her PalmPilot. It was time to record the day's events.

CURRENT STATE OF THE UNION.

IN.

OUT.

Dr. Juice Starbucks Loofahs Spray tans Rivers Riveras Q: Seven-letter word for vengeance Q: Eleven-letter word for mercy A: Revenge A: Forgiveness

When Ma.s.sie finished typing, she looked down at her raw, red hands. Alicia had gotten the best of her this time. But the battle had just begun. And Ma.s.sie was ready to fight.

THE B BLOCK E ESTATE G GUESTHOUSE.

7:17 PM PM.

November 14th After almost three long months of living in the guesthouse on the Blocks' estate, Claire Lyons had finally started to feel at home. It was a smaller, more rustic version of the grand stone mansion Ma.s.sie and her family lived in. And Kendra had used the cottage to store antiques and paintings that weren't impressive enough to display in the main house. But Claire didn't think there was anything second rate about it. In fact, now she liked her new home even more than her old one in Orlando. Suddenly they were reclining in cushy leather chairs-no more stiff wicker. They could sip root beer floats from heavy crystal fountain gla.s.ses instead of mismatched plastic ones. And family game night no longer felt like a tired tradition. It was an event.

"Todd, it's your turn to pick," Judi Lyons said to her son as she burst through the swinging kitchen door and joined her family in the living room.

Claire heard the soothing hum of the dishwasher in the background and knew that meant her mother was finally ready to play.