Kristen sadly looked around her tiny bedroom, and looked down at her little phone screen. A short while ago, Claire had just signed off.
Claire was the one person who could actually relate to her. Kristen didn't have a lot of money and neither did Claire, but now that Claire's family had six-billion dollars, well everything would be different.
She sighed as she pulled up her history notes and book. They had a test tomorrow, and she knew that acing it was important. Then she shook her head as she thought this, every grade was important to her. No good grades, no scholarship, no life.
This theory couldn't help but make Kristen feel more depressed. She sighed again. She was only in seventh grade! Life shouldn't be like this! The more she thought and thought about, she began to feel like she despised the rest of the Pretty Committee. After all, they didn't have to worry about anything! They didn't have to keep up good grades so they go to the school!
Kristen tried focusing on her notes, but reading about the Great Depression just mocked her even more. Besides that, she felt very alone. She had no one to talk to. She was tempted to pick up the phone and call someone, but the Great Depression kept calling her.
So she turned off any other thought and just studied, like a drone, but she hated herself for doing it. She hated herself for never being as spontaneous as the others.
Kristen studied every last detail she had. She worked on her math, and then fell asleep on her desk, with calculations still whirling in her head.
Kristen was awoken the next morning by the strands of light peaking through her window. She gathered up her papers and pulled on some clothes that Dylan bought her yesterday. She grimaced as she saw the price. It reminded her too much of last night.
She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and applied her makeup. Then Kristen sat down just long enough to drink some orange juice and have a piece of toast. She grabbed her favorite book of puzzles and walked out of the old brick building where she lived into the bright sun.
She decided to wait at the curb for Massie. She promptly sat down on the sidewalk, allowing the sun to beat down on her hair. Kristen pulled out her puzzle book, and worked on the jumbled words.
A few minutes later a limo pulled up, and the door opened. She got up and brushed herself off as she walked towards the door. She smiled to see some of her friends, Claire, Massie, and Dylan. She slid into her favorite seat, and continued to work on her puzzles.
Kristen heard Claire and Dylan jabbering away about something, but she didn't hear Massie. Not a good sign, she looked up at Massie who was kind of glaring at her. Kristen half smiled, awaiting Massie's comment.
"Kristen, do you have to do your puzzles? I mean why can't you just act social for once?" Kristen, felt the stare of Claire and Dylan. She knew that they weren't watching her in the same attitude as Massie had been.
Kristen helplessly put down her puzzles and pencils, and slid over to Dylan and Claire. They told her not to worry, and that Massie does that to everyone. She told them that it really didn't bother her, but in a way it did.
"Why does Massie get to tell us what to do?" Kristen asked them. They both looked at her.
"I guess that's just the way she is," Dylan replied.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kristen said, "One thing though, how come it's not okay for me to be doing something else, but its okay for Massie?" She lightly inclined her head toward Massie, who had not heard any of the conversation and was quietly working on her palm pilot.
They were all silent while this thought settled in. Then Massie looked up, and quickly closed her work. Kristen was able to get a tiny peak of it though. She saw only two words, but it allowed her to be in on Massie's little secret. They were:
Why Claire?