"Gawd, Leesh, could you be any more dense?!"
"Uhm, that depends on what you consider dense. Does sense include how thick Strawberry is looking since coming back from her Thanksgiving break in Maine? Like, did she spend all week eating, or?"
"You know, that's kind of harsh, chica…."
"Dyl, you know I'm the first body positive supporter. But like….is that healthy?"
"Does it matter? Like, does it change anything to you?"
"Okay Kris, what stick is up your ass?"
"Maybe we should be asking you the same question, Alicia."
"Maybe no one asked you, Kuh-laire."
"Can we do an attitude adjustment realllll quick?" Massie asked, tossing her flat-ironed silky chestnut locks over her left shoulder and turning to look her four friends dead in the eye.
"Are you on your period early or something? My app says you aren't due for another two weeks, so if you have some sort of problem, let's address this now because I am so not into this attitude and I will not continue to plan our annual Christmas Gala with your Grinch-like demaner."
"I am nawt!" Alicia shrieked in embarrassment, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her dark eyes at Massie before softening her gaze.
The five were currently sitting at Table Eighteen in the cafeteria of Westchester Preparatory, their parents high school of choice. Even though their school setting would change, their cafeteria table number would never waiver. The school held the just about the same level of prestige as BOCD did, but it had access to better colleges and BOCD recently changed to only hold up to the ninth grade.
Westchester Prep was a private school and an all girls school, where the girls were allowed to accessorize their uniforms however they liked as long as it wasn't too distracting or other the top and their school's logo was easy to be read/seen. It was similar to how Octavian Country Day was back in the past, where they had a brother school that they would hold events with and collaborate with on sporting events and the like.
But, the Pretty Committee members were currently in eleventh grade and were constantly trying to secure their alpha status against the other girl groups in the school. Westchester Preparatory was the only high school in Westchester for girls, where OCD was one of the multiple middle schools. Now, there's more competition and the past two years has been hard on each of the girls. Now, they're juniors and finally have more of a solid space in the social atmosphere of WP.
Massie had her battle with her eating disorder towards the end of sophomore year when Landon Crane moved back to Westchester and her and Derrington had been off at that moment. Landon had mentally destroyed her, and since her recovery Derrick had been worrying about the next time he'd come strolling back into town.
Alicia, during her freshman year, had her parents separation to deal with at home. Her mother moved out and got an apartment in SoHo for a year until her and Len worked their issues out. But, during that time Alicia was never home, which led to her boy-crazy self going extra wild which then began to take a toll on her relationship with Josh.
Dylan and her family's reality show took a toll on her mental state. For the past six months, she's been going through intensive therapy behind closed doors because she can't take the serious invasion of privacy. Her sister's love it, but sometimes a girl wants to be able to go get herself a fucking frappuccino when she's PMSing and not have TMZ recording the whole thing, you know?
Kristen is overworked, underpaid and seriously getting sick of it. She works two jobs at the local mall, one at Hollister and one at their sister store Abercrombie, and she can't seem to have enough time to work and make the money she needs to support the lifestyle her friends want her to live and to keep up with her grades, and it's finally starting to show this semester.
Claire's tired of being the good girl in the group. Her and Cam are looked at as the boring couple, and she's been ready to amp up their relationship and her image for so long, but when she starts getting involved with seedy drugs and dive bars with Layne Abeley maybe she isn't what the Pretty Committee or Cam Fisher wants?
It wasn't that the other groups were close to taking their status, it was just important for the Pretty Committee that the other girls in the school knew there was no chance at that ever happening. So, the girls did what they did best - they cheated and lied and schemed their way through freshman and sophomore year and now they're almost halfway through junior year with this party being all they have to show for all their effort the past two and a half years.
"I'm just stressing is all. I know we want to throw it at the Country Club this year, but Len doesn't think they'll give us the space because they have prior commitments and something about us planning earlier and blah blah. So, that's off the list."
"Fuck, really?"
"I know, I'm sorry, I couldn't pull through. I'll figure something else out."
"It's fine, Leesh. Claire, did your mom agree about helping with floral arrangements? She needs to help guide the florist that day, Kendra won't be around until four and I can-nawt have that going south."
"Yes, she said she would love to and wants to meet with you next week to go over details so she knows day of what to expect."
"Perfect. Dyl, did you get your mom's OK on the sponsorship?"
"Yep! She said Lisa her assistant will be emailing you tomorrow with the details in terms of swag bag contents, pictures of the backdrop and what she wants said in your speech."
"Done, and done. K-Greg, where are we with dates?"
"Well…."
"Well?" Massie echoed, making all the girls halt their movements. Dylan was mid-stirring her non-fat soy latte, Claire was e-mailing from her Chromebook, Alicia was touching up her Fenty Beauty liquid lipstick and Massie was checking off the updates she was receiving on her iPhone Notes App.
Kristen still scrimmaged with a bunch of the soccer boys on the weekends, saying that they gave her better conditioning and training than most of the other girls on her own team did. They weren't afraid to get down and dirty with her because they knew she could handle it, they knew Kristen was tough and she could give it right back to them.
Since Kristen still had that connection every week, Massie was relying on her friend to secure the girls some super hawt/hart dates for their gala. Everyone at Westchester knew that the Pretty Committee had a claim on Men's Soccer, so it was expected of them to show up with a few of the boys.
Alicia and Josh were now together for four years, but everyone was waiting for them to split. Alicia was constantly being seen with other guys, and Josh was normally spotted in the dingy Manhattan bars with his fake ID and a few hot blondes. Their split would be best for everyone, and there were running bets on when it'll happen.
Massie and Derrick are constantly on and off. Currently, they are off and Massie is desperate to throw him a bone. Namely, a Stella black off the shoulder floor length gown covered in sequins with a slit up the right thigh and the chest draped over. If by the time their gala happened Derrick didn't get his act together, then another soccer boy would have to enjoy it for the night.
Claire and Cam are the ultimate high school sweethearts, the ones who make you so nauseous you know they'll most likely get married or pregnant before graduation. They're so perfect it hurts, always caring about each other's feelings and going out of their way for each other. They have date nights every Tuesday and he has game nights with his boys every Friday while she has her sleepovers at Massie's with the girls every Friday night.
Kristen and Chris Plovert and Dylan had some weird love triangle going on for a while, because Chris couldn't make up his mind and Dylan couldn't share and Kristen didn't want to feel like a second option when Dylan wasn't home. Now, the three of them are single and trying to pick up the pieces, both in their love life and their individual friendships. Kristen and Dylan are better now, but Chris and the girls have a lot of work to do.
"Well, I haven't gotten a yes or no yet."
"Why not?"
"Well for one, there is no theme."
"Yet, it's just not announced yet."
"Ya, but you know how these boys are. They need to know in advance so they have ample time to complain and have their mothers plan their outfits," Kristen explained as she dug a hair tie out of her purse and began tying her hair into a tight ponytail.
"So I have to tell them the theme to get a commitment out of them? Ri-diculous."
"And nawt happening, Mass! That's like a disaster waiting to happen! You tell one and soon the entire student body finds out!"
"You think I don't know this, Dylan?"
"I'm just saying, we cannot afford to blow this now! We have less than a month to go! Date or nawt, they'll come around but we have been super successful at keeping this theme under wraps. There is no way in hell we are letting it out now. Not before the big reveal, at most."
"So, is Mass gonna cave or not?" Derrick asked, forcing his voice to sound as monotone and unamused as possible and contorting his face to read as bored as his voice sounded.
He and a few of the Augustan Preparatory boys were currently huddled around Kristen, guzzling down their Gatorades after their last round of scrimmage. Derrick let the blue sugary drink run down his chin and the chest of his faded Tomahawks t-shirt, tossing the now empty bottle to the ground and turning his gaze to Kristen who was kicking at the grass with her cleats.
"It's like you don't know your own girlfriend at all."
"We aren't dating."
"Shut up Harrington, you're always dating, just not...together at the moment."
"Fair. So, is she gonna or not?"
"Massie doesn't cave for anyone. Not Harry Styles at Madison Square, Not Virgil Abloh at New York Fashion Week, so I'd say probably not for you either."
"Dude, what's the big deal? Just tell her we'll go instead of these kids and won't ask questions or need a contract to do it." Grier Briggs rolled his eyes at how childish the eleventh grade boys were being, then used his thumb to point at his friends Lowell Katz, Andy Walden and Liam Barrett.
He was a senior friend of the group who sometimes came along, who also happened to have a crush on Dylan Marvil. Grier is known for his broad shoulders and strong build, smoldering dark brown eyes and brown hair always well styled in a businessman-like style. He and Dylan typically have playful banter whenever they're together and she's always blushing like crazy, so he has half of an idea that she feels similarly to him.
"You just want to bone Marvil."
"You're not wrong."
"No one's taking Massie but me."
"Are you sure? Because to me, you don't sound like you wanna take Massie and if you don't want to, Lowell will."
"Oh, will you Lowell?"
"Fuck yeah, I'll take Block."
"Yeah, to your bedroom."
"What the fuck did you just say Walden?!"
"I said that Lowell would love to fuck Massie if you give him the chance."
"You son of a fucking bitch!"
"So why does Andy have a black eye?" Massie asked the group of boys sitting in front of her at the local diner. This was their typical thursday night spot when they wanted to just get out of their houses for a bit and it was too late to justify getting coffee.
"Because he's an asshole." Derrick responded flatly, stretching his arm across her thin shoulders and plucking a french fry off of their shared plate before dipping it in his chocolate milkshake and eating it.