CHAPTER 3

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Pretty Committee, but I do own myself and my friends.

"Massie," I whisper-yelled, "Massie, I'm over here!"

"Who are you? And where are you?" She asked to no one in particular, turning her head in all directions trying to find me.

"It's Natalie. I'm behind the corner of the hallway… To your right!" I told her. "No, that's your left. Other side!"

"Oh, there you are." She walked coolly over towards me.

"I have an answer."

"Perfect! So, what's it going to be?" She asked in anticipation.

"I'll join. But I can still be friends with Jessica and Anna, right?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes, of course… I don't see why you can't since Claire's still friends with Layne."

"Alright. Anything specific I need to know?"

"Yeah. You can carpool with us if you want, Isaac will come pick you up at around… The time Kristen gets picked up. You live in the Brickview, right?"

"Yup."

"Okay. We also go on… monthly shopping trips, so every month you should have at least one credit card ready to use at the Westchester."

"Gotcha."

"Oh, and you'll always have to cooperate with us when something happens. Remember Nina Callas?"

"Given."

"Yeah, we destroyed her. And if you're going to be a part of us, you're going to need to help if something like that happens again."

"Ah-greed."

"Okay. You can join us now if you want… Oh one last thing."

"Mhmm?"

"Since you are a member of the Pretty Committee, you are therefore invited to my exclusive Friday night sleepovers."

"Alright. Is that it?"

"Yup."

"Okay, so table number 18 at lunch?"

"Yeah, given."

"Okay, see you around. I have art next period, its third block next."

"Oh, well that gives you chances to talk to Alicia and Kristen. They'll have a spot saved for you." The bell rung. "Well, there's the bell, I'm off to English."

"'Bye," I waved to her as I walked down to Vincent's art room with my pencil case and sketchbook. The minute I walked in, Jessica and Anna had saved me a seat, but so had Kristen and Alicia.

"I have to sit with them," I mouthed to Jess. Jess whispered that to Anna.

"Sit down!" Vincent barked at me. "If you aren't sitting when the second bell rings I will mark it down as a tardy. Now sit! Over there, near Miss Gregory and Miss Rivera."

"Yes, sir," I said through clenched teeth, faking a smile. I plopped myself down next to Kristen. "Hey."

"Hey, I heard you accepted." She told me matter-of-factly.

"Wow, that got to you pretty fast." I answered, amazed. "That's ah-mazing!"

"Yeah, I know, right?"

"I want you to start painting a piece of watercolor art that has a basket of fruits. Now start! And I want silence!" Vincent squawked at his grade 7 art class. Since we couldn't talk, I sent a message to both Kristen and Alicia.

NATALIE: LBR.

ALICIA: AGREED.

KRISTEN: TOTALLY.

NATALIE: YOU'RE SO TARDY I'M GOING TO CUT MYSELF BECAUSE YOU GUYS BEING LATE IS MAKING ME GO EMO!

We all started giggling uncontrollably, but it was great because when you're laughing with the PC interrupting a silence, no one dares to glare at you, except for the teacher.

"Girls! What's so funny? Do you mind sharing with the class?"

"Um, well, Vincent sir, does it not appear to you that we're silent? I mean, we were quiet the whole time. Whatever's the matter, Vincent sir?" I said sarcastically.

"Oh, you gals really weren't laughing, now were you? Can anyone verify that?"

"Oh, but Vincent sir, I must be sure that not eh-veryone in this classroom is having hearing problems. Shall we have them all sent to Nurse Adele first? And you as well?" I folded my arms across my chest when everyone else in the class started laughing themselves hysterical. My cell started buzzing.

ALICIA: GOOD ONE.

NATALIE: THNXX.

Vincent cringed as he threatened me with scissors. "Watch me cut that bee-you-ti-full silky hair of yours and have it spun into paintbrushes!" No one laughed. I backfired right back at him. "Puh-lease! That's already been used. Can't you think of something more, you know, original?" A round of high fives came my way. Then, the bell rang. It was end of third period (which to me felt extremely short, but luckily I still finished half my painting like most of the other students), and after 3rd period was lunch.

I walked to the cafeteria with Jess and Anna, bought the same lunch as them, and said good bye to them as I walked towards table number 18. People watched me as they saw the new PC girl. A round of whispering followed after me sitting down at the table. I heard things like "New addition to the PC?" "Hey look it's the first Asian girl in the PC!" "Who is the new PC member?" Massie stood up and cleared her voice. "Ahem! Can eh-veryone look this way, puh-lease?" Naturally, everyone turned to look. "I, on behalf of your school's Clique, the Pretty Committee, would like to inform you that we have a new addition to the PC, Natalie Lo." I just looked at everyone and smiled. Then, Massie whisper-yelled at me, "Get up and wave, don't just sit there." I stood up and waved at everyone as they all clapped for me. We sat back down and continued eating. After eating, Claire took out a bag of oily gummy worms. Or, should I say, they looked oily. But gummy worms are always good.

"Want one?" Claire shoved the Ziploc into the middle of the table. Massie, Kristen, Dylan and Alicia turned away in disgust, but I dug my hand into the bag and ate some. Claire beamed. "Thank Gawd for someone who actually eats candy with me now." She smirked at Massie.

"Hey! I eat candy too. Remember the mints in Aspen?" Massie said, shocked at Claire's statement. They both laughed openly. I dug my hand into the bag and grabbed some more. "But still, I can't bah-lieve you guys actually eat that stuff. There are too many calories to count."

"Come awn, Massie. We go to the gym every week now. We could burn all those easily." I replied, waving my hand in the air in a dismissive kind of way.

"Fine. For the new girl's sake, I'll eat one." Massie reluctantly dipped her hand into the sugary Ziploc bag and took one gummy worm which was a little bit shorter than the other ones. She started nibbling at it when Kristen grabbed the worm and shoved it into Massie's mouth. We all burst out into hysterics.

The next class was extremely boring since no one was in my class. Jessica and Anna were in science, Massie and Kristen were in phys ed, Alicia was in socials, and Dylan and Claire were in foods. I was all alone in my math 8 class, meaning it was grade 8 math, not grade 7. I sent a message out to all five of them.

NATALIE: SO BORING HERE W/O U.

MASSIE: HAHA!

ALICIA: HATE CLASSES WIF NO ONE IN THEM W/ ME.

KRISTEN: AGREED.

DYLAN: YEP.

NATALIE: WHERE'S CLAIRE?

DYLAN: BATHROOM.

MASSIE: OH.

NATALIE: G2G, TEACHRZ COMIN.

I snapped my Sony Ericsson w300i shut as Ms. Chen approached. She held her palm out flat in my face. "Yes, madam?" I asked cynically.

"Phone."

"I wasn't using it, madam."

"I saw you using it, miss Lo."

"I'm sure I wasn't, madam."

"Yes, you were. Now it's your choice whether to give me your phone or you go to Principal Burns' office immediately."

"Yes madam!" I saluted her as the girls in my class snickered into their palms. I reluctantly pulled out my w300i and gave it to her.

"You will receive it back at the end of this period." Ms. Chen walked to the front of the classroom. "Please flip your pages to page 96, two point six, distributive property. I would like you to complete numbers 1 through 59, odd numbers only. You can use this class time to either work on your project or do the homework, it's up to you. Meanwhile, I would like to talk to Natalie. Natalie, please come to my desk now."

I rolled my eyes but got up anyway, and walked towards Ms. Chen's desk. "Yes, ma'am?" I asked.

"You do know that cell phones are not allowed on during class, right?"

"Yes."

"You know that you are not to use them during class, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why were you using it just now?"

"I was turning it off."

"In the middle of class? It's been 35 minutes into class."

"Yes, I forgot at the beginning of class. I decided that I should turn it off since I forgot to just in case it started ringing."

"Alright."

"Can I have it back, then?"

"No, I said at the end of this block. Now get to work!"

'Yes, ma'am." I turned around with my arms folded across my chest and plopped myself down beside a short kid named Samantha. I aw-nestly don't like her, but it was because of a ridiculous seating plan that Ms. Chen made up that I had no choice but to sit beside her. I flipped my binder to a fresh sheet of lined paper and started to work. Then, a B-list girl started to talk to me. I don't even know her name. "Psst! Natalie!" I didn't even turn around to look. "Natalie, I'm talking to you." I continued to ignore until she became extremely ahn-noying. I decided to turn around. 'WHAT?!" I whisper-yelled at her. "Are you the new girl in the PC?" She asked. "What do you think?" I snapped at her. I returned to do my work until the bell rung. I rushed to my locker, stuffed my stuff in my Point Zero book bag and rushed off to meet Massie and the rest of them at the door.

"Hey, how was last class?" Massie asked, amused.

"So boring without you guys." I answered, sounding bored.

"I hear ya..." Alicia said, looking at her square-toe boots from Spain.

"Too bad we can't choose who we want in our classes." I sulked.

"Come awn, Nat, we'll have fun, but we won't understand the least bit of the math in THAT class." Claire said, smirking.

"I guess." I replied.

"That's supposed to mean that we're stupid, if you agree with Claire, you know." Kristen joined in.

"I know." I said playfully.

"Not funny." Dylan said with a smile spreading on her face. She shoved me playfully into a garbage can.

"Nice one." Then, I noticed something very catchy on the other side of the road. I walked up to Dylan and winded my arm up. I swung straight into her arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" She snapped. I smiled guiltily at her. "Burberry tux, no punch backs."

"Good one." She replied. As Isaac pulled into the lot of the school, we all clambered into the car. We arrived at Brickview first. Kristen and I jumped out of the car. I waved at them, signaling that Isaac wouldn't have to wait until I got into the building for him to leave. As they backed out the apartment's driveway, I caught up to Kristen and walked with her. We arrived at my place first, and then she continued up the stairs to her place. My first day with the Pretty Committee was way better than I expected, and I looked forward to the next day. As I finished my homework, I logged onto my Compaq computer. The second I signed in, my screen was bombarded with IMs from various people.

JESSMESS: HOW WUZ UR 1ST DAY W/ TPC?

PIANOGURL: PRETTY GOOD.

JESSMESS: DETAILS PLS.

PIANOGURL: L8ER. OTHER PPLZ R TALKIN 2 ME.

JESSMESS: KK.

Next I clicked on Anna's.

ANNABANANA: HOW WUZ UR DAY?

PIANOGURL: GUD.

ANNABANANA: TELL ME ABT IT. DUN LEAVE 1 SINGLE DETAIL OUT.

PIANOGURL: L8ER. PPLZ WANNA TALK 2 ME.

ANNABANANA: O, OK.

Then, I clicked on a 6-way screen with Massie, Claire, Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen.

MASSIEKUR: HEY GURLZ

SEXYSPORTSBABE: HEYY

CLAIREBEAR: HEYY IS FOR HORSES

BIGREDHEAD: HEYY IS FOR HORSES

PIANOGURL: HEYY IS FOR HORSES

HOLAGURRL: HEYY IS FOR HORSES

MASSIEKUR: LOL

MASSIEKUR: HOWZ EVERYONE?

CLAIREBEAR: GOOD.

PIANOGURL: GOOD.

BIGREDHEAD: GUD.

HOLAGURRL: GOOD.

SEXYSPORTSBABE: UHH.

PIANOGURL: ? HAPPENED

SEXYSPORTSBABE: U DONT WANNA KNOW.

MASSIEKUR: YES WE DO.

HOLAGURRL: YEAH.

BIGREDHEAD: AGREED.

CLAIREBEAR: YEAH, TELL US.

SEXYSPORTSBABE: MUMS BEIN EVIL.

PIANOGURL: THAT'S NEWS TO ME. HAHA.

SEXYSPORTSBABE: SO NOT FUNNY!

SEXYSPORTSBABE: G2G DO HMWK.

PIANOGURL: OR ELSE UR MUM IS PROBABLY GUNNA GROUND U!

SEXYSPORTSBABE: BITE ME.

SEXYSPORTSBABE HAS SIGNED OFF 4:13 PM.

HOLAGURRL: NINA CALLED, G2G. MUM WANTS ME 2 TALK 2 HER.

HOLAGURRL HAS SIGNED OFF 4:14 PM.

CLAIREBEAR: G2G, LAYNE'S HERE.

CLAIREBEAR HAS SIGNED OFF 4:15 PM.

BIGREDHEAD: G2G MUMS CALLING.

BIGREDHEAD HAS SIGNED OFF 4:16 PM.

MASSIEKUR: IS EVERYONE GUNNA LEAVE IN THE COURSE OF THESE 5 MINUTES?

PIANOGURL: YES. I G2G 2, MUM WANTZ ME 2 GO PRACTICE PIANO. CYA TOMOLO. MWAH!

PIANOGURL HAS SIGNED OFF 4:18 PM.

And just like that, all of us signed off, after a considerably short conversation. What tomorrow brings remains a secret. So, keep reading if you want to find out what happens!

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Next chapter includes: Since the next day is Friday, everyone will be going to Massie's for her exclusive Friday night sleepovers. In the chapter after that, there will be a shopping spree, and maybe some more interesting tidbits. Keep you posted!