The Block Estate, Backyard

Massie's Kiss Me Party

Saturday, February 14

7:00 P.M.

"Come on in everybody!" Massie threw her tanned arm (yes, Massie got a fake tan. It's February.) in the air, signaling the horde of people outside the backyard gate into her Valentines day paradise. "But if you don't have your invitation, check in with the security guards to your left and right and see if your name is on my list! I'm sure most of you didn't even get an invite!"

The hundreds of people from BOCD and a couple of girls from Galwaugh Farms, where Massie used to ride her horse Brownie until she got kicked out, Jacqueline Dyer and Whitney Bennett, rushed in. There was a blur of pink, black, red, and white as one half of the crowd headed for the dance floor (the LBRs) and the other half opted for the lounge Massie had set up for those wanting to cuddle. Lady GaGa's 'Let's Dance' was playing and Massie was proud of the finished product. The DJ stand was decorated with red hearts and the same tulle that was on the columns. The lounge area had 3 round diner-sized tables with a silk table cloth embossed with the words 'Kiss Me' all over it, and a half circle of over-sized bean bag chairs surrounded them. This was what a party was supposed to be.

"Hey." Came a male voice from behind Massie.

"Aah!" she screamed and turned around. It was Dempsey Solomon, her boyfriend. His caramel-blonde hair was slicked back and his army green eyes were bright. He wore the red Armani Exchange jacket she'd bought him for his birthday and a perfectly delicious pair of Armani Exchange Resin Wrinkle jeans. Bottom line: he looked hawt.

"Hey!" Massie threw her arms around him and then blushed slightly. She was never one for PDA, but she shrugged it off when she remembered that this was a Valentine's party and people were probably expecting her to do that sort of thing.

"Hey to you, too. I almost thought you didn't want me here or something!" He laughed his manly laugh and hugged Massie. She was actually the same height as him thanks to the help of her pink Alexander McQueen pumps, paired with a tiny, slinky red Scolastica Udinesi mini dress.

"Of course I wanted you here!" She ran her manicured fingers through her freshly washed just-pass-the-shoulders hair. "C'mon, I think Daddy wants to talk to you."

Dempsey smiled. "That's cool, but can you hold on? I think I see some people," He said. He pulled out a red box tied with a white silk bow from his jacket pocket. "Here, I got this for you." He handed the box to Massie before wandering off toward the dance floor.

Massie watched him greet a group of designer-dressed girls and boys, smiling sadly. He almost never talked to anyone except for his friend Layne, and once he started going out with Massie that all changed. Dempsey used to be a loser; Massie's nickname for him was Humpty Dempsey. But over the summer, he turned sexy. She glanced down at her gift and pulled at the ribbon until it fell to the ground, Massie opened the top and gaped at the present. A Swarovski St. Petersburg Rose watch : case set with square-cut clear crystals, mother-of-pearl dial with large Roman numeral design, and a pink calfskin leather strap with crocodile-embossed structure. She snatched out the watch and let the bottom of the box that was lined with red fuzzy stuff fall. The watch was already out of that little holder thing, so all Massie had to do was put it on. But how would that look, with her boyfriend mingling? LBR-ish, perhaps?

She was still admiring her gift when she caught a glance of blond hair coming to her. That's better, Massie thought as she straitened up. Her boyfriend putting on the watch would look way more romantic. But when she looked up, it wasn't Dempsey at all. It was Derrington. "Oh. It's you," She said sadly.

"Good to see you, too." Derrington shook hair from his blue eyes and smiled, and Massie expected her heart to flutter. But it didn't because she was over him. Before, when BOCD had first started, she wanted to be in his arms, with everyone saying how cute they looked together. But she couldn't, for two reasons. 1) He hated her. After that whole spying thing, he really, truly hated her. But 2) Even if he didn't really, truly hate her, she was on a boyfast. Well, on a boyfast until she saw how cute Dempsey had gotten over the summer. Then the boyfast was a boyfest. So Derrick didn't like her. So what? But afterwards, when everyone started to ignore the Briarwood soccer team and started to focus on Massie's new beau and she had gotten her alpha status back, Derrington started calling her and asking her if she wanted to hang out. When she was in seventh grade, this little plea would have made her wet her pants, but in eighth grade, it was just pathetic. So she blocked his numbers and e-mails, and when she gave him the invitation for her party, she had made it a sort of forwarding thing: She told Kemp Hurley, who told Chris Plovert, who told Josh Hotz, who told Cam Fisher, who told Derrington.

"So where's your boyfriend? Because I just saw some loser wearing Armani—the gayest men's designer ever—that looked a lot like him, talking to some other losers. Is Massie's reign almost over?"

Massie just stared at him, hopping that her amber eyes were like hate-daggers in his perfect, toned chest. She wanted to point out that A) knowing that Dempsey's shirt was Armani made Derrington gay, nawt Dempsey; B) Derrington had worn a Armani suit to Jenny Kawaski's bat mitzvah in the 7th grade; and C) Armani was way, way better than Derrington's fleece navy Abercrombie & Fitch hoodie and A&F jeans. Yes, jeans.

He looked around nervously. "Ok, here's the thing. I'm sorry. For everything. I know I told you that you should have apologized for spying, but I guess I sort of led you to it. I never really told you how I felt and I was the immature one, not you. So…why don't you dump Dempsey and come cuddle with me." He smiled hopfully.

Massie didn't say anything. Well, didn't say anything until after she flipped him off. "Get over it," she said icily before walking away, the watch dangling from her finger. She was gonna have fun with her friends until Dempsey came and found her. Then she was going to have sex with him. That would show Derrington.