Best Friends for Never (8 page)

Claire opened her mouth like she was about to say something big, but before anything came out, she took off. Massie saw Layne get up from her seat by the bathrooms and chase after her. Massie secretly hoped Claire wouldn't tell on her, but she was too mad at the moment to try and stop her.

“To the Dirty Devils,” Massie said, raising her glass of lemon water.

“To the Dirty Devils,” they all repeated back.

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
NURSE ADELE'S OFFICE

8:42
AM

October 31st

Claire burst through the door of Nurse Adele's office. She turned to her whenever she needed a sympathetic ear at school.

“Claire, is someone after you?” Adele asked.

Claire wanted to laugh, but she was too distraught.

“You know how you told me to stand up to Massie?” Claire said. “Well, I did.”

“And?” Adele said.

“Let's just say she was taller,” Claire said.

“What happened?” Adele asked.

“It's nothing. Just a little confusion over a costume. I really just came to say hi and wish you a happy Halloween.” Claire knew she had started this fight with Massie by giving her phone number to the LBRs, but she was too ashamed to admit it to Adele.

Claire took a handful of candy corn from the glass dish on Adele's desk and dropped them into her mouth. The taste reminded her of her friends back home in Orlando, and she wondered what they would be dressing up as this year.

“I thought I'd find you here,” Layne said as she entered the office. “Are you okay? I could tell by the way you bolted out of the Café that things didn't go so well with Massie. Did you ask Adele if you could look through the rack of clothes in the lost and found? You know, maybe you can actually go as ‘lost 'n' found’ or something.”

“Do you still need a costume, Claire?” Adele asked. “Because you're more than welcome to take—”

“No, that's okay.” Claire didn't want Adele to think the only reason she came to visit was to look for clothes. “I still have the Powerpuff Girls costume I wore last year. I'll just be Blossom again.”

Claire hated the way Layne was looking at her. Tilted head, wide eyes, crossed arms, and a do-you-want-to-talk-about-the-pain look on her face. Claire knew her friend was only trying to help, but she needed to get her confidence back, and a good cry wasn't part of that process. A few minutes alone in her bedroom with a mirror and a few nobody-can-bring-me-down songs and she'd be better than ever. Now if only Layne would stop staring at her… .

The next girl to throw open the door was Amber Ryan. She was hunched over and holding her side as if she'd just crawled off the front lines of a battlefield.

“Nurse!” she cried. “Call 411.”

“Why? Do you need a local listing?” Layne asked.

Claire covered her mouth in a desperate attempt not to crack up.

“Amber, do you mind if I take a look?” Adele said.

Amber shook her head, then wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. She lifted the side of her sweater slowly, bracing the nurse for a hideous sight.

Claire and Layne leaned down to peek at the wound just when Adele did and they all bumped heads. Claire burst out laughing, which made Amber start to cry all over again.

“Shhh, it's okay,” Adele said. “It's only a scrape. A little disinfectant and you'll be just fine.”

Amber's sobs were reduced to light tears, which gradually became sniffles.

“What happened?” Adele asked.

“I tried to cut my sweater with scissors and I slipped,” Amber said, as if that was as common as dropping her books on the way to class. She must have noticed Nurse Adele's puzzled look, because she continued explaining without even being asked.

“Massie and her friends came to school today in these really amazing super-skimpy ripped tops and everyone's been trying to do the same thing to their clothes,” Amber said. “I feel like such an idiot.”

“For trying to follow them?” Layne said. “Well, you should.”

“NO, for cutting myself,” Amber said. “Shari, Mel, Trina, and Shannyn cut their shirts, no problem.”

Nurse Adele frowned.

“You mean other girls are doing this?”

“Everyone is,” Amber said. “You would too if you saw how good it looked.”

Claire could tell Adele was fuming because her nostrils were flared. She didn't even offer Amber a giant Hershey's Kiss from the Feel Better Closet when she was done. Instead she stormed out of her office.

“Where are you going?” Claire shouted after her.

“To speak to Principal Burns,” Adele called back. She marched down the hall toward the administrative offices. “This is a school. NOT a runway.”

“Looks like Massie's in for a pretty scary Halloween,” Layne said with a smile.

“I love this holiday.” Claire reached for one more handful of candy corn before heading off to her next class.

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL BURNS'S OFFICE

1:27
PM

October 31st

“I told you we'd get in trouble,” Kristen whispered to her friends. She was holding her stomach and rocking back and forth as if she had food poisoning. “My mother is never going to let me leave the house again. I'm going to be homeschooled.”

They were all seated on The Bench, an antique church pew that was pressed up against the wall outside Principal Burns's office. They could just barely hear her clipped tones as she called their parents, one by one, to tell them about the “incident.”

“This is so stupid,” Massie said. “My parents raise so much money for this school and
this
is how they treat us?
Puh-lease!
”

“Don't worry.” Dylan hooked a red curl with her pinky finger and tossed it away from her face. “I'll have my mom dedicate a whole episode of
The Daily Grind
to this injustice.” Whenever Dylan didn't approve of a situation, she threatened to have her famous mother expose it on her hit morning show. “She hates when people try to force their beliefs on others, especially when it involves the arts.”

“Enough talking, girls, this is an office, not a birthday party.” The cranky secretary whipped off her tortoiseshell glasses and twirled them around her index finger. When she finished glaring at the girls, she slid the glasses back on her head and returned to her computer.

“She thinks she's in the Wild, Wild Westchester,” Massie whispered.

The girls giggled.

“One more sound and I'll blast the air-conditioning,” the secretary said. “Your half-naked bodies will be frozen solid in under ten seconds.”

Massie slowly opened her phone and the other girls did the same, except for Kristen. She was too busy twisting long pieces of blond hair around her shaking fingers.

MASSIE:
LOOK AT THE DOOR.

DYLAN:
WHAT?

MASSIE:
THE SIGN. READ IT.

ALICIA:
P. BURNS. SO?

MASSIE:
SO C A DR.

All three girls burst out laughing, which made Kristen turn purple with rage.

“If she hears you laugh, she'll get even madder,” she said, pointing to the principal's office.

“What's she going to do?” Massie asked. “Dress us to death?”

“Precisely, Ms. Block,” Principal Burns said.

Massie's jaw dropped when she saw the tall, scrawny, gray-haired woman standing above her. Rumor had it that Principal Burns picked orange peels out of the garbage can and ate them because they were packed with antioxidants. To keep from getting scared, Massie tried to picture her digging through the trash. It wasn't working.

“Each of your parents has been notified, and they will deal with you however they see fit,” she continued. “But as long as you are in
my
school, you are to dress like young ladies, NOT Vegas showgirls.” She lifted her watch right up to her eyeballs and checked the time. “Please report to Nurse Adele's office immediately and cover yourselves up with the garments she keeps in the lost and found. If I see so much as a fingernail uncovered, I'll have you all arrested for indecent exposure. Now go!”

The girls left in silence and did what they were told. Unfortunately, Claire had taken anything remotely decent over the last few weeks, so there wasn't a lot to choose from. After sifting through last season's rejects Massie, Kristen, Dylan, and Alicia emerged in time for fifth period. They still turned heads when they walked down the hall, but this time it was for all the wrong reasons.

Massie wore a bright red T-shirt that had a chocolate stain right above her left boob, which unfortunately matched the pair of XXL mustard-colored cords that she had to hold up when she walked.

Alicia found a floor-length denim skirt and paired it with a Gap jean shirt. Alicia called it a “rodeo-chic” look, but Massie simply referred to it as “rodee-oh no, you didn't!”

Dylan was forced to squeeze into a pair of Sevens that she had to leave unbuttoned because they were too small. She matched them with a long tie-dyed T-shirt that covered up the open fly.

Kristen was the only one who got to wear decent clothes—she changed back into the leave-the-house outfit she had stuffed in her locker earlier that morning.

“Having strict parents finally paid off,” she said to herself as she buttoned up the itchy tweed blazer her mother had bought her at Macy's.

On their way to class they passed two girls wearing torn T-shirts and miniskirts.

“Those ripped shirts are sooo out,” Massie hissed as she passed them.

“Already?” one of the girls asked.

“Try to keep up, will ya?” Massie walked past them, knowing they were memorizing her outfit, trying to get a handle on the latest trend.

She couldn't wait for Monday, when half the girls in her grade would be dressed like Winnie-the-Pooh.

THE BLOCK ESTATE
THE GUESTHOUSE

6:05
PM

October 31st

Claire watched from her bedroom window as London Dorsey and her team of loyal manservants ran around the backyard, making sure every last corpse was in place. The house was filled with the sweet smell of her mother's caramel apples, but not even
that
could calm her down. The party was less than an hour away and Claire was still in her school clothes. Knowing that her brother and his incredibly tiny friend Nathan were behind closed doors putting the finishing touches on their Halloween costumes stressed her out even more.

Claire went over to her closet and pulled out a box marked Holiday Clothes. She opened the cardboard flaps and stuck her arm inside to search for last year's Powerpuff Girls costume.

How am I going to explain to my mother why I'm not dressed like my charming co-host?

Her fingers brushed against a smooth satin-polyester blend and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Found it!

“Claire, can we come in?” Todd called through her bedroom door. “We want to show you something.”

“Can't it wait? I'm about to get dressed,” Claire shouted back.

“No.” Todd walked into her room.

“What are you
doing?”
Claire asked.

He was dressed as Bubbles and Nathan was dressed as Buttercup, the other two Powerpuff Girls. Nathan wore a mint green minidress with a thick black sash around the middle and a short black wig. Todd's dress was the same, only blue. Claire wondered how he had managed to divide his blond wig into two perfect pigtails but was too stunned to ask. Huge cardboard cutout eyes were taped to their sunglasses.

“I figured you'd probably feel like a gigantic loser going as Blossom if you had no one else to play the other Puffs,” Todd said. “So we decided to help you out.”

“That's not what you told
me,
” Nathan said to Todd. “You said no will know who we are in these costumes so we'll be able to mess with Massie and her hot friends.”

“What are you
talking
about, Nathan?” Todd said, trying his hardest to sound confused.

“Anyway, Mom wants us downstairs for pictures in ten. So hurry up, Blossom.” Todd gave Claire an energetic two-thumbs-up. “And remember, Powerpuffs save the day!”

Claire whipped a fuzzy pink slipper at him and hit a black-and-white photo of Massie's grandfather instead. It crashed to the ground but didn't break.

“Get out!”

Todd and Nathan raced out, screaming and laughing. They slammed the door shut behind them.

Claire heard the muffled sound of “Monster Mash” coming from the DJ booth, and the pre-party jitters kicked in. She suddenly felt like she had to go to the bathroom.

“Claire,” Judi shouted from the kitchen.

Claire didn't answer. She was too focused on zipping up her pink dress and adjusting her red wig.

“Claire,” Judi yelled again.

“WHAT?”

Claire was tired of the constant interruptions. All she wanted was five minutes to get ready and give herself a pep talk in front of the mirror before the party started. She needed to work on her confidence if she was going to look for a boyfriend.

“Come on,” Jay said. “It's picture time. The party's about to start.”

“COMING.”

Claire put on her mask and made her way downstairs even though she didn't feel completely ready to face her public.

“Oh, how cute!” Judi said when she saw Claire.

“You decided to dress up like your brother and Nathan,” her father said.

“What?” Claire shot her brother a look. “It was
my
—” But she stopped, suddenly remembering that her mother expected her to be a Dirty Devil.

Claire didn't know what to say next. If she told her mother what happened at school, Massie would get in trouble. And the thought of Massie's wrath made the insides of Claire's stomach bunch up in fear. She would hunt Claire down like a limited edition Motorola and destroy her like last year's Ugg boots. Claire's appetite for Halloween candy was completely gone.

“Yeah,” Todd said interrupting her. He widened his eyes just enough for Claire to notice. This usually meant she should shut up and follow his lead, but she couldn't imagine where he was taking her.

“Mom, I know you wanted her to dress up like Massie, but me and Nate really needed a third, so we begged her and she finally said yes. You're not mad, are you?”