"What?" Alicia gasped, her eyes practically bugging out of her head. Kristen and Dylan exchanged shocked glances.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Dylan screeched. "It's a joke, right, Mass?"
"Yeah, you're messing with our heads, right?" Kristen asked.
"No, I'm not kidding." Massie shook her head, her hoop earrings clanging against her clenched jaw as she tried to hold in her tears.
"You're being awfully quiet about this whole thing, Claire," Dylan said. "Why aren't you surprised that Massie's moving? Are you glad about the whole thing?"
"No, Dylan," Massie responded. "Claire isn't acting surprised because she already knows."
"Claire already knows!" Alicia yelled. "Claire Lyons knows one of your secrets before we do? Just because you guys live on the same estate doesn't mean it's fair to the rest of us for you both to go off and act all buddy buddy!"
"It's just because the Blocks told my parents and my parents told me at once," Claire responded.
"What is your family going to do, Claire?" Kristen asks. "Don't you guys live on the Block estate? Are you guys moving with them?"
"No," Claire responded. "My mom found a job as a waitress at one of the local diners and my dad found a job as a low pay accountant. We found our own modest little house but we'll be staying in Westchester."
"Great," Kristen muttered. "Massie leaves and we get stuck with Claire. Great."
"I thought you guys liked Claire?" Massie snapped.
"We were just pretending cause you did," Dylan responded, rolling her eyes. "Who would ever like that? I guess the good thing that's coming out of you moving is that we won't have to be stuck with Claire anymore," Dylan responded, rolling her eyes.
Claire felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Fine then!" she shouted, standing up and towering over the table. "I don't want to be friends with a whole bunch of bitches like you anyway! You can count me out of the Pretty Committee!" She ran away.
"I'll get you guys new charm bracelets today before lunch."
"Okay," all the girls replied, nodding, except for Kristen. "How will you get us new charm bracelets by lunch if we'll be stuck in school?" she asked.
"I have ways," Massie said, tapping her iPhone and winking. "No, seriously, I'll just skip first period and browse the Tiffany websites, searching for charm bracelets that will fufill our cause, and call Inez to ask her to pick them up for me."
"Won't she be mad at you for skipping first period?"
"Puhlease," Massie responded, rolling her eyes. "Her job is to clean my house, nawt to try to be a mother for me to make up for the fact that I've never had parents that care about me."
"Uh!" Claire ran, sobbing, through OCD, ignoring the prickly feeling that meant that hundreds of curious girls would wonder what was wrong with Claire Lyons, a member of OCD's infamous Pretty Committee. She hid her face, not wanting them to see it all red and puffy. Suddeny, Claire felt her body collide with someone else's.
"Yo, what's up, Joe?" a familiar voice asked.
"Layne?" Claire asked, separating herself from the body she had collided into.
"Hey!" Layne was sucking on a Firecracker Popsicle. "What's wrong?" Layne asked.
"I want to talk to you in private," Claire said, glancing nervously at all the girls that were standing around, pretending to be busy while eavesdropping. If word got back to Dylan, Kristen, and Alicia that she had been crying, she would be so done. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that they had upset her. The two headed to the bathroom, where Claire let the story spill.
"Oh, honey!" Layne said, letting Claire's head rest on Layne's shoulder. "I told you that Massie wasn't a good friend."
"No, it's not Massie that backstabbed me," Claire replied. "It's the rest of the PC. They were just pretending to like me because Massie did and if they didn't like me, they'd be so done."
"Well, you've still got Cam."
"I know. I just can't believe the last two years of my life have been a lie!"
"Not all of it. You still have me, and you still have Cam."
"I know." Claire looked down at her clothes, clothes that she had bought on Dylan's credit card, and suddenly felt sick. "All the clothes in my life are from THEM!" she finally burst out. "I need a whole entire new wardrobe."
"We'll go thrift store shopping this weekend," Layne promised. "I'll teach you how to be a total LBR again, just in case you forgot."
"Thanks!" Claire said, struggling to hold in a new batch of tears.
Hate it? Love it? Review it? Alright, I've decided that each chapter will be divided into two parts. The first one will be showing Massie adjusting to moving to California, and then the second part will be about how everyone in Westchester is doing!