"Wait!" Claire screamed as she stumbled down the driveway. Massie held the door open for her and stared at the small backpack draped over her friend's shoulder.
"Is that all you're bringing? What about shoes and clothes and accessories and hair products and other essentials?"
"I'm going green" Claire said, then smiled at Massie's stricken face. "JK, I've been babysitting Todd for months and finally I have saved up enough money to buy a whole new wardrobe in Paris. I want to bring something back that will make Cam regret ever taking Italian instead of French." At this Claire frowned. She had been dating Cam for a year and they were nearly inseparable.
She had even wanted to invite him to the sacred Friday night sleepover, lucky for the girls he decided Friday night was as good as any to get a bad cold. But Cam had refused to take French and was now on his way to Italy. With fifteen girls. No boys. And even worse, Olivia Ryan was going. She had always been jealous of Claire, according to her Cam was brutally hot and the only blonde who deserved him was her. "But, I have a little plan of my own." Claire smiled and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "Watch this." She clicked a couple of buttons and then a video came up. It showed a group of people taking together, giggling and whispering. But they weren't just any people.
"Is that Layne?" Massie asked, shocked as she watched her classmate and fellow softball player shove a huge double decker cheeseburger into her already full mouth.
"Isn't it great! Now I can see everything he does and everyone he talks to, courtesy of Todd. It's a small camera in a pin I gave him. It says, "Can't sleep (the clowns will get me)" so there is no problem of him not wearing it. Cost me a hundred bucks but it was so worth it. No way is Olivia O'Ryan going to get her claws into him without me knowing."
"Won't it get kinda weird?" Massie pointed out. "If you can see everything he's doing. I mean, I know you two are close, but isn't that crossing the line? And what if he finds out?"
"He won't." Claire stubbornly said, pouting slightly. The limo began to hum and soon they were off. The two girls took one last look at their home, blinked away any unnecessary tears and squeezed their hands together for good luck. It wasn't long until the limo stopped to pick up Dylan and Kristen, and then off to Alicia's house.
It was strangely quiet on the way to the airport. They had talked about it thousands of times, but actually doing it was a whole different story. Everyone was going to miss their soft, temperpedic beds and their nice, big screen TV's and, most of all, their families. All that is, with the exception of one excited redhead. For years she had always been overshadowed by her mother, her beauty, her talent, her flawlessness (if you didn't count being a bad mother). But in Paris no one would know her, no one would ignore her and ask if they could get her mother's autograph, or her cell phone number or a pair of her underwear. Ugh, people can be so gross. If they saw what her mother looked like off the camera, they'd die of heart attack. She was just imagining her mother being chased by a mob with pitchforks and pickles (her mother had an unfathomable fear of the vegi, apparently it looked like a huge booger) when her cell phone went off. Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" filled the limo and everyone looked up from their depressing thoughts.
"Its me dear old mum", grumbled Dylan as she, for a second, considered throwing it out the window. But it was brand new and custom designed and Dylan knew she could never go through with it. She flipped it open and read the text. The phone slipped out of her hand and fell to the floor, but she didn't notice.
"Open the windows, give her some air. Dyl? Dyl, you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?" said Kristen, waving her thumb and her index finger in the air, nearly poking one of Dylan's eyes out.
"No no no no no no no"
"Dyl, a num-ber. Remember….1,2,3,4-
"Kristen, really not helping. I think she's in shock, not brain-dead. You, on the other hand…" Massie smiled innocently.
"Oh, ha, ha, ignore the girl who's taken every class there is on physiology. Fine, if you don't want my help, you won't get it. When you start seeing smurfs in your fruit bowl and gnomes dressed in Valentino dresses, don't come running to me."
"You should go to a physiatrist just for coming up with that."
Claire grabbed a water bottle out of the mini fridge, yanked the cap off, and watched in slow motion as the ice cold water made contact with her friend's head. Complete chaos erupted as Dylan screamed at the top of her lungs, Claire trying to dodge the oncoming onslaught of punches and kicks, Kristen trying to calm everyone down, Alicia covering her head with her hands, and Massie diving for the cell phone.
Her hand finally made contact with the cool, slightly damp metal. She flipped it open and saw the text from the famous talk show host.
Mom: c u in PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!
A loud banging came from the other side of the plastic screen, separating the passengers from their fed up driver. Claire pushed a button and the screen slid away, reveling a very red, very furious face.
"Shut up", Isaac yelled. All the girls froze in their movements, for they had never seen the usually gentle, calm driver as angry as he was now. The screen slid once more and the limo remained oddly quiet.
"Oh Dylan" Massie whispered to her friend, her eyes were glued to the screen.
"How could she do this to me? I knew she was bad but this, this is just plain cruel. She should be arrested for child abuse. Do you know any good lawyers?'
Everyone looked at Dylan as if she was nuts, all except Massie who held up the phone to show them the message.
"Oh. My. God."
"Really though, does anyone have a good lawyer?"