I wrote down the rules that the Drode had given me about the morphing cube: don't stay in morph for more than two hours, you can only morph skintight clothing, and the cube had given me the power to morph into animals by acquiring their DNA. Then I put that piece of paper in my backpack and went through the rest of the day trying to process what happened.

After school, I waited for Isaac to pick me up. Noticing a cute black and white cat I slowly approached it.

"Hi kitty-cat," I cooed. The cat came over to me and I began to pet it. How did I acquire the cat's DNA? I concentrated on the cat, and suddenly, it went still, as if in a trance. A few seconds later, it resumed rubbing its cheek against my hand.

When Isaac got there, I was the first one in the back. "How did your first day go, Hadley?" He asked.

"It went good," I answered.

Five minutes later, the Pretty Committee entered the Range Rover. Turning to face me, Alicia asked, "How was your first day?"

I smiled. "It went well," I answered.

"Really?" Massie snickered. "Because I saw you eating alone in the cafeteria."

"Massie," Isaac warned.

"Sorry about that," Claire whispered to me. "I'm sure you'll be making friends in no time."

"Kuh-laire!" Massie said, grabbing her friend's attention away from me.

I looked out the window and waited for Isaac to drop Alicia and I off.

When I got home, I dodged questions from my parents and quickly finished my homework. Then I put the morphing cube in the back of my closet. I thought about the cat's DNA inside my veins, and thought about becoming the cat.

I felt my ears slide up to the top of my head, becoming triangular shaped. Fur began to cover my body, but my clothes were too loose to morph with me, so as I shrank, my clothes came off. My toes melted together to become paw pads, and so did my hands and fingers. Claws sprouted out of my cat toes. My nose and mouth pushed out, and I felt my teeth being replaced with the fangs of the cat. My eyes changed shape, my pupils changed, and my nose turned into the cat's wet nose.

During the entire process, I was terrified. It didn't hurt, despite the fact that it really should have, but it was really scary to feel yourself changing like that.

The cat's mind came to my own human mind. I could smell dinner cooking downstairs, could hear the footfalls of my parents walking around in the kitchen. I could also smell their separate human scents. I could see a spider in the corner of the ceiling. I stared at it, waiting for it to move. I knew I couldn't reach it from where I was but maybe it would come down and I could pounce!

Wait, no. I should probably demorph. It's almost dinnertime anyway. I did just that, and it was just as terrifying to me as morphing was. I put my clothes back on just as my mother yelled to me that dinner was ready. As I headed down the stairs, I decided that I would try morphing again now that I knew how it worked. There was a petting zoo somewhere around here- maybe I could go there and acquire some cool morphs, I thought.

The next day, I was prepared to sit alone at lunch again until Claire's friend Layne, a girl with short brown hair, approached me with her friends Meena and Heather.

"Hi," Layne introduced herself. "I'm Layne Abeley. I'm Claire's friend. Welcome to OCD."

I smiled. "Hadley Summers," I introduced myself. "The one living in the Rivera's guest house."

"I'm so sorry," Meena said. "I know that Alicia can be a real jerk."

"Yeah. She puts on a sweet friendly charade for the adults, but she's really nasty," I agreed. "And condescending."

The girls explained to me more about The Pretty Committee, and soon I was caught up on things such as what an LBR meant (Loser Beyond Repair).

"You can be our friend," Heather told me. "And if Alicia goes too far, we'll help you get revenge."

I smiled. "Can you help me with the DSL Daters?" I asked. "I sort of made enemies with them already."

They listened as I told them what had happened.

"They have a secret hideout?!" Layne exclaimed.

"Yep. And if I tell, they said they'll make my life hell."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with us," Heather said with a smile.

"Thanks," I replied. I could feel that these girls were genuine.

We spent the rest of lunch getting to know each other, and I started to feel better about things already.

The rest of Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday were getting better. I hung out with Heather, Meena, and Layne every lunch. The DSL Daters didn't do anything to me, though when I saw them in the halls they gave me death glares. After school on Thursday, Alicia said, "Hadley, you're invited to our sleepover at Massie's house after school Friday. My parents forced me to invite you."

I wanted to decline, but I was curious to know what Massie's house looked like so I replied, "I'll be there."

"Great," Massie muttered. For the rest of the ride back The Pretty Committee snickered and whispered to each other. I looked out the window and wondered when I'd be able to acquire my next morph.

As it turns out, the sleepover was when I was able to acquire my next morph. Right as we walked into Massie's massive house, a black pug ran for us, barking excitedly.

"Bean!" Massie yelled. "Cut it out!"

I knelt down and placed my hand on the dog's head. Focusing on the DNA of the dog, I acquired it. The dog stopped barking and fell into the acquiring trance.

"What the hell did you do to my dog?" Massie demanded, glaring at me.

Finishing the acquiring, I pulled my hand from Bean's head. "I'm just petting him."

"Her," Massie snapped. "She's a girl."

I shrugged. "I didn't know."

I followed The Pretty Committee upstairs to Massie's room. It was huge, with white walls and purple bedspread.

"Put your backpacks here. The sleepover is in the barn," she explained.

The barn was a converted building that had a spa room in it, as well as an exercise room, and even an indoor swimming pool. It was not my idea of a barn.

"Wow," I said as Massie showed it off, giving me a tour. "Are we going to use the swimming pool?"

"No, Hadley," she said, as if explaining something to a small child. "We're doing a spa day and makeovers tonight." Her tone became sweet in a condescending way as she added, "But maybe next time, okay?"

I smiled and nodded complacently, even though it was killing me to go along with being treated like that. But if I let it seem like they could walk all over me and then suddenly showed them up, it would be worth it. I wasn't sure what kind of plan I was going to come up with, but I knew hanging out with them would give me the intel I needed. That night, we did face masks and all of them except Claire gave me unsolicited advice about my skin, hair, makeup, and clothes. I grinned and bore it. I had acquired Massie's dog as my second morph. That was going to be useful. Everything would slowly but surely come together.