Chapter 17:

An Explanation

Dana was sitting with her friends at lunch on Monday and had just finished telling them what had happened at the sleepover.

"I can't believe they did that," Aubrey said in disbelief. "That's so mean."

"And they were talking about my clothes," Krysta crossed her arms. "Geez, I wonder what else they've said about me behind my back."

Dana put her head on her hand. "I'm just mad that I actually trusted them to have changed. They could never change. I'm never speaking to them again."

"At least you told them straight. Someone needs to call them out on how bad they are," Megan said.

Dana nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

Later that day, Dana was on her way out of the school. She'd barely seen the Bratz that day and she was glad. She worried about the pictures though. She wondered if they had shown anyone. She wouldn't put it past them, but she truly hoped that they didn't.

Yasmin and Cloe turned the corner and spotted her. "Hey, Dana!" Yasmin called.

Dana started walking faster. She didn't want to talk to them.

"Wait up, geez!" Cloe exclaimed.

Dana finally gave in and stopped. "What?"

"Some of us are wearing stiletto's here. Have some sympathy," Cloe said.

"We just wanted to talk about yesterday," Yasmin said.

Dana glared at them. "There's nothing to talk about. You've said enough. I'm done." She tried to turn and leave but Cloe put her hand on her shoulder and she paused.

"We…we didn't do it to be mean. Honestly," Cloe said.

Dana turned around and saw the apologetic look in her eyes but she still wasn't convinced. "Then why did you do it?"

"We've had this tradition since seventh grade. Whoever is the last one to fall asleep gets to pull some kind of prank on everyone else," Cloe explained. She pulled out her phone and handed it to Dana. "Sasha and Jade did the same thing to us."

Dana scrolled through it and found a few pictures of each of them with "loser" written on their foreheads in red lipstick and toothpaste decorating the rest of their faces.

"We would have told you, but you didn't give us a chance to explain," Yasmin said.

"But anyway, I guess we'll see you tomorrow," Cloe said. She and Yasmin walked away out the door.

Dana watched them go. For some reason she was starting to feel bad. They really hadn't done this to be mean and she had completely told them off yesterday. Maybe they were really trying to be her friends.

Another long day of school passed after that. Dana told her friends what Yasmin and Cloe said to her. They still didn't believe it. They thought the Bratz were evil and best left alone. Dana felt like she should think the same way, but somehow she didn't. Maybe they really were trying to be nice.

On her way to her locker that afternoon, she saw Sasha sitting on a bench by the front concourse looking at her phone. She looked up and saw Dana. "What are you looking at?"

Dana looked down for a moment. "Nothing." She thought about walking away, but she still wasn't sure. Finally she sat down next to Sasha.

Sasha looked at her out the corner's of her eyes. "Am I that interesting to you?"

Dana hesitated for a moment trying to think of what to say. Out of all of them, Sasha was the hardest to talk to. "Um, Yasmin and Cloe told me what happened. How it was just a joke."

"And?" Sasha said still not looking at her.

She thought of getting up and leaving but she stood her ground. "And, well, they said it wasn't meant to be mean so, it's okay."

"I thought I was a bitch?"

You are, Dana wanted to say. Instead she said, "Well, I'm sorry I yelled." She expected an apology back from her.

"Yeah, well, you should be. You could have at least given us a chance to explain," Sasha said. Finally she put her phone down. "After you went to sleep, the girls and I talked. Yasmin and Cloe didn't think we should be as mean to you anymore, and Jade didn't care either way. But they convinced me that maybe you're not all that bad."

"But you're always so mean…"

"In case you haven't noticed, I do that to everyone. Not just you. I've been making fun of Cloe about being pregnant for the past two weeks and I always talk about Yasmin still being a virgin. And every day I find something to tease Jade about. You're not the only one, trust me."

Dana thought about all of that for a moment. "So, does this mean you want me to be a part of your group?" she asked hopefully.

Sasha looked at her. "Maybe not a part of our exclusive group, but you're not that bad new girl." She stood up. "We'll hang out again sometime."

Dana watched her go and a smile started to spread across her face. She'd finally done it. She'd finally gained the Bratz acceptance.