BOCD's Front Lawn, 3:37 P.M, Tuesday
"I thought we were going to watch the Briarwood Boys practice soccer?" Doe asked, confusion seeping into her voice by the moment.
Robin sighed patiently. "No, Doe, we need to get to Ash's because we're swimming in her pool today."
Ash spoke up. "Uh, no actually because I'm going home with Josh, guys, since there is no practice today. We're studying for Retina's class since there's a test tomorrow."
"Well, screw that, we're going to my house to swim instead." Robin continued as if there were no problems at all.
"Ehmagawd!" squealed Tori, clapping her hands together. "You and Josh are going to study together?"
Ash nodded, trying not to blush. "It's just a friend type of thing, y'know?" Audrina eyed her critically, soon parting her Lemon Sunshine Glossiped lips one last time before Josh arrived.
"Meet us at my house at seven tonight."
Just then, a silver Yamaha model purred up to them quickly, a Hispanic boy removing his matching helmet from his head and shaking out the dark brown locks. "Hey Ash, hey guys!"
"Okay, that was awn purpose, Josh!" Ash grinned, giggling as she slung her Fendi on her shoulder, and hurried towards him. But soon enough, an obviously unhappy voice whined.
"What is Ashlyn doing with you, Josh?" Ash quickly skidded to a halt and twirled around to spot the devil herself, Alicia Rivera, standing there in all her Ralph Lauren glory.
"Oh, hey Leesh; Ash and I were going to go study for Ms. Retina's Pre-AP Literature class." Josh flashed a grin, leaving her to stir up the pot labeled 'Drama and Arguments.' Ash was ready to explode; didn't Josh and she on a study date as friends already count as possible drama?
Well, at OCD, apparently it wasn't, yet.
"Oh, alright, I was just making sure." Alicia said in her usual deathly-sweet voice. Talk about death by perfume, she could smell the Spanish-or, Fannish as everyone else in the school had dubbed her-girl's Ralph Lauren Romance from a mile away. Heck, she could probably smell it from her beach house in the Florida Keys!
"Okay then, I'll see you all tomorrow." Ash said suspiciously, accepting the silver helmet from Josh and quickly slipping it over her head, mussing up her glossy black hair was alright as long as it looked presentable later. Nawt something Duh-licia would do, go mess up her precious locks, Ash snickered to herself as she wrapped her thin arms around Josh's perfectly sized up waist.
"Hold on, although I hate referring to the Jonas Brothers!" Josh laughed as he picked up speed and Ash grinned appreciatively.
She had to admit she could get used to this, though. Josh seemed like the type to take shortcuts through life, as she found out when he took a left instead of keeping ongoing and he having to explain it was quicker to his house, meaning more study time for them.
When they passed a familiarly silver, eco-friendly, simply enormous SUV, Ash remembered she had to meet up with the girls at seven o' clock, Audrina-style. She waited until they reached his huge, manor-style brick house to pull out her Palm Pilot and tap in her appointment. Josh grinned at her, shaking his hair out and tucking the silver helmet under his arm.
"In Geometry after Lunch, Derrick told me that he was jealous of me-not that he'd actually admit it to anyone but his friends. He actually said that if he wasn't interested in Massie, he would go after Audrina. It's like a crazy love triangle."
Ash smirked at Josh. "Question, Mr. Hotz-can us eighth graders even fall in, like, love?"
Massie's Range Rover, 3:45 PM, Tuesday
"Ehmagawd, that wannabe is so going down!" cried Alicia, crying into her expensive, jasmine-scented wrist and receiving an air hug from Claire, who was sitting across from her in the air-conditioned, gas-guzzling car. Kristen was intently staring at the cube-shaped TV as she watched David Beckham score, sipping her Perrier.
Massie sighed, rolling her eyes again as she texted away to Derrick on her brand new Chocolate.
Massie: Hey, Derrick.
Derrick: Hey Massie. R U talking 2 me again?
Massie: Um, like, yeah. LOL, U know?
Derrick: G2G, my mom's telling me 2 work on my HW. L8R.
Massie: K, L8R.
Massie snapped her phone shut. She set her face into a cold, distant look. Dylan took notice as she took a cluster of frigid grapes from the fruit bowl (no matter how tacky it was Massie had decided it was a must-have for the alphas of the eighth grade) and tossed a few in her mouth. "What's up, Mass? That must've been one of the shortest text convoys I've EVER seen."
"Nun-thing, okay, Dylan, get it in your head yet? Derrick is D2M, alright?" Massie answered coolly, slapping her manicured hand on her nylon-covered thigh.
Claire's eyebrows rose up, stretching the skin in her forehead up, and as if she was equipped with ESP ('what a coincidence!' Kristen would mention later), tossed a package of Kleenex to Alicia. Speaking of the Fannish girl, a trail of crinkly mascara was making its way through her tanned cheeks. She caught it with one hand, sniffling as she wiped ruined eye makeup from her face and using the other to text Josh.
Alicia: Hey Josh.
Josh: Hey Leesh! What's up?
Alicia: Nuh-thing. How's the study 'date?'
Josh: Not bad. Ash was quizzing me on forms of poetry when U texted me.
Alicia: O. So R we still up 4 watching The Notebook UR house tomorrow?
Josh: Of course; why wouldn't we?
Alicia: K, just making sure. I GTG, my house is coming up soon.
Josh: Bye.
"I am so sure that Ashlyn," she spat out her name like it was poison, the way Alicia had been speaking since about this morning, "is going to steal my Joshie from me. I can nawt let this happen!"
"You're overreacting, Leesh," reassured Claire, taking a container of chilled kiwi slices from the mini-fridge stocked with patiently waiting fruit, mineral water, and other healthy foods. "Ashlyn is simply a new addition to the LBR family, remember?"
"No, she isn't!" wailed Alicia. "She's a threat to my status, my boyfriend, and everything I have! I even heard my dad say that Chiang Liang is one of the best lawyers in his firm, even above my dad! She's so perfect!"
Kristen looked thoughtful. "I heard her parents were divorced, though. She lives with her dad, but I've heard rumors that her mother is a Kemp Hurley."
"Tsk, tsk, Kristen-you shouldn't talk about him like that!" Dylan giggled, "Either way, what we mean is, you are so much better than that wannabe. You could beat her in a dance off, in an audition for a part-" Claire gave her a dark look quickly-"Ashlyn can't do ANY of that stuff!"
Alicia sniffled quietly, reaching for a kiwi slice. "Whatever you want to believe, Dylan, I'm so nawt going to be beaten by her."
The Hotz Manor, 4:27 P.M, Tuesday
"Okay, here's a tough question. What type of poem uses the format of 5-7-5?" grinned Ash, tapping her purple lead pencil on the textbook. Josh thought for a minute, grabbing his own book ("Hey, how was I going to know I'd get it right? That was to…hit my head on. Yeah, that's right, I'd hit my head on it if I didn't.") And then answering, "It's a…that Japanese poem thing! I think she said it was a haiku, right?"
She flipped open the book. "Yep, I think it was. As far as I can tell, I think that's an A right there." Josh sighed, tossing the book in the corner of his bedroom, and pulling out his iPod Nano.
Ash grinned, sliding off the spinning desk chair and plopping down on his bed, snatching an earphone side from him quickly. Playfully, he stuck out his tongue. Josh stared down his iPod playlist, as she peered over his shoulder and checked out the music.
"You have Fall for You's Secondhand Serenade! I love that song!"
Josh stuck out his tongue yet again. "Leesh added it. Personally, I can stand it. Real music is Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson."
I must've looked confused, since he just started to play it for me on his iPod, Ash thought.
"Since you been gone/I can't believe for the love of time/it's really gone, yeah, yeah/thanks to you/now I get/I get what I want/since you been gone."
"Wow, that's really good music!" she exclaimed, staring at the screen. He nodded, choosing another song quickly.
"And breakaway/I'll spread my wings out and learn how to fly/it's not that easy to tell you goodbye/you gotta make a wish/take a chance/take a change/and breakaway, breakaway…"
"If you ever break up with Alicia, you should use that song," the Asian girl joked quietly, twisting her jet-black, stick-straight hair around her index finger absentmindedly. "Not that I want you to, or anything like that."
Josh simply looked thoughtful for a minute. "Well, should I? I really want to cool it or something because even though I know you're supposed to put friends first and all that stuff, why did she try to follow Massie's stupid 'boyfast' rules, or start to care about her social status, or even wear my Yankees cap when she tossed it in a BUSH?"
"I hate to sound concerned about my 'stupid social status," Ash replied, using Massie's infamous air quotes, "but a lot of us girls care about our looks and place we hold in our school. In a way, you should think of us as kinda insecure. I'm not that concerned about my social status, but I'm just a 'former LBR' that wants to make her known, and not just in the social world."
"What do you mean, 'not just in the social world'?" Josh asked, looking perplexed as he mimicked her air quoting. Ashlyn sighed, unveiling her Juicy charm bracelet from under her cashmere cardigan, filled with different types of charms, so cluttered that another one dangled off of her other arm as well, a Tiffany one for the FF. Instead of filling it with just the Juicy charms, she had added various others. A shiny silver microphone and eighth note swayed from a point on the left side.
"I've wanted to be a singer for almost as long as I can remember. Ashlyn Liang, pop singer for Disney-it had this cool sounding name to it. My dad may work as a lawyer, with all these different types of rich clients, but very few have connections to agents, and when I was little, I tried out and didn't make it."
"Wow," Josh whistled. "You've got as interesting as a back story like mine. You know how there's all these crazy rumors that I got expelled from a Californian boarding academy called Hotchkiss?"
Ash nodded, tucking her charm bracelet back under the cardigan, only keeping the four leaf clover out for good luck. "I overheard Olivia Ryan whining about you to Kori Gedman."
"I got expelled from Briarwood the year before last, when I kicked this guy where it hurts when he committed, like, twenty fouls in one soccer game, only getting caught three times. It was a guy from Abner Double Day, actually."
She snorted. "Smart move, Hotz, you really did it that time. Either way, I gotta go, since I have to meet up with my friends later."
The duo meandered downstairs to the stained glass door, where outside its red and blue exterior rested her glossy black limo, complete with her driver Jesse and a Perrier calling her name after an extremely quick text sent during the music fest. "'Kay then, I'll talk to you tomorrow, Josh. Adios."
Josh waved until he was completely sure that the black monstrosity had completely disappeared from the half moon-styled, limestone-lined driveway. He pulled his Chocolate LG out with quick reflexes and began to text Alicia.
Josh: ok, A has left. Y did U want 2 know?
Alicia: I have my reasons, K? Bsides, she is the crucial key 2 my social status right now, in case you needed 2 know.
Josh: I'm sick of UR constant hyping about UR stupid social status, U know?
A/N: It's now time to ask the legendary question.
What does Random have planned for her reviewers?
And why does this clique bother Meg so much?
'Come to the dark side, we have cookies.'
Disclaimer: Don't all of your cats luff deer? (Kitt and Doe! x)
XOXO, Random!
