-Chapter 4-

Westchester, NY
Outside the Westchester Mall
Tuesday, October 16th
3:53 P.M.

Tuesday afternoon, Massie and Hanna stood outside of the Westchester Mall, holding their Starbucks lattes in their hands. They had gone to the Westchester Mall yesterday, but Massie felt the need to go again. Yesterday, she hadn't gotten anything at all, while Hanna's arms were overflowing with shopping bags. Massie shifted in her Bailey Button Uggs and tapped Hanna on the shoulder. "What are we standing around for? Let's go in."

"'Kay," Hanna said. She got up to follow Massie. They strolled into the Westchester Mall and everyone immediately turned to stare at the two super hot girls walking in. After school, Massie had changed into a new outfit: a purple Marc Jacobs sleeveless top, a cropped denim jacket, Juicy Couture dark rinse skinny jeans, and her Bailey Button Uggs. Hanna tossed her curly blond hair over her shoulder and walked faster, clearly not wanting all the attention. Massie also started to pick up speed.

They stopped outside of Ralph Lauren and Massie immediately thought of Alicia. She missed her. Massie was really, truly sorry for saying those things to her, and she wished she could take it back. Suddenly, in the corner of her eye, Massie saw a flash of black hair that looked like Alicia's. She whipped her head around and screamed, "Leesh!"

Hanna grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Do you even know her?"

"Of course I-" Massie paused mid-sentence. What was she thinking? She was in fifth grade now. Of course she didn't know Alicia yet! Stupid, stupid, stupid! But she couldn't tell Hanna that. She'd look stupid. "Um, I thought she looked like someone I knew."

Alicia strutted over to Hanna and Massie and cocked a hip. "Do I know you?" She narrowed her eyes at Massie.

"Um," Massie said uncomfortably. "I'm Massie Block. We met at Fashion Week last year. I was the girl sitting in the first row, remember?" She wasn't exactly lying, because she was at Fashion Week, and she was sitting in the front row.

"Well, May-ssie Block. I didn't go last year," Alicia said. "And how do you know my name?"

"It's Massie. As in sassy. I saw you and your dance squad perform," Massie blurted. "Skye Hamilton has a really loud voice, you know."

"How do you know I'm in the Body Alive Dance Squad?" Alicia asked suspiciously.

"I saw you dance at one of the Body Alive Dance Studio performances last year," Massie lied.

"Whatever." Alicia rolled her eyes. "What do you even want?"

"Um." Massie racked her brain for an excuse. "I can tell your fortune."

Alicia raised an eyebrow. "Try me," she said.

"Okay." Massie took a deep breath. "In three years, you will get into a fight with your best friend, and you'll be thrown out of her clique. You must forgive her, because she means well. She didn't mean to say those things to you."

Alicia snorted. "Like I really believe that's gonna happen. You can't really predict the future. You're not a real fortune teller."

"But Hermia is! Are you going to Merri-Lee Marvil's New Year's Yves party?"

"Yes . . ."

"Cool! I'm going too!" Massie said excitedly. Alicia looked even more confused. "Anyway, Hermia's gonna be there," Massie continued. "And I think you should go to her. She's a really good fortune teller."

"How do you know her?"

"Oh, she predicted my fortune last year."

"What'd she say?"

"Uh . . . she said that I'd meet a new friend on Tuesday, October 16th. And today's Tuesday, October 16th." Massie smiled at Alicia.

"Dude, if you think I'm going to be your friend, you're mistaken. I don't have time to chat with wannabees. Sorry, but I have some shopping to do. See ya." With that, Alicia stormed off in a hurry, leaving Massie stunned.

"Well that went well," Massie mumbled.

"You don't really know her, do you?" Hanna asked. Massie shook her head. "Then what was all that about?"

For a second, Massie considered telling Hanna the truth. That she had made a wish in eighth grade that took her back to fifth grade. "I-" Massie never got to finish her sentence, because Alicia came running back at that very moment. "And by the way, May-ssie, you go to PMS, don't you? And you're friends with those wannabees, the Ahnnabees? And 'you have really good ideas, and you know it. Ahnna just doesn't. Sometimes you wish you could go to a private school, like Octavian Country Day School.'" Alicia held up Massie's purple notebook, smirking. Massie widened her amber eyes. She reached into her Prada bag, and sure enough, the notebook was gone.

"Give me that! It's mine!" Massie demanded.

"'I would kill to go there. It's also single-sex, so I wouldn't have to endure something like the food fight. Boys are so immature,'" Alicia continued reading.

Massie lunged for the notebook, but Alicia pulled it out of her reach. "'I want to be the alpha of my own clique. I'm tired of being part of the Ahnnabees.'" Alicia looked up from the notebook. "So you wanna be alpha, huh? Opposite of possible."

Massie made another lunge for the notebook, and this one was successful. She tried to stuff it back in her bag, but Alicia snatched it out of her hands. She had lost her page, so she opened to a new page. "'Today Ahnna told me that she likes Derrick Harrington. He's a guy that goes to OCD. Even if I get to meet him and he's hot, I know he will be off-limits because we're not allowed to crush on someone that Ahnna liked before or currently likes. That rule is so annoying, because I really liked Michael Collins, and I think he liked me back. The only problem was, Ahnna liked him before, so she spread a rumor that I was lesbian so that Michael would stop liking me. He moved away a few weeks later, and Ahnna went around saying that the rumor was false. I can't believe that girl.'"

"Leesh!" Massie screamed.

"Don't call me that!" Alicia snapped. "And Derrick Harrington? I know him. And I'm gonna tell-"

"Hanna already told him," Massie interrupted. "He already knows."

"Who's Hanna?"

"I'm Hanna." Hanna gave Alicia a small wave. "Massie's only friend outside of the Ahnnabees."

"That's great," Alicia said. "I don't care. And Michael Collins, huh? I can search him up on Facebook. Is he hot?"

Massie's cheeks burned. "Give it back," she said, trying to calm down.

"If I get to see a picture of him, I'll give it back," Alicia taunted.

Massie rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said, and pulled out her phone. She opened up the Facebook app and clicked on Michael's profile page. "There. Happy now?"

"Oh, he's hot," Alicia said. "Too bad you lost him."

"Um, hello?" Massie held out her hand. "The notebook?"

"Oh, yeah. I decided to keep it. This is juicy stuff."

Ehmagawd! This was the last straw for Massie. "Give it to me. Or else."

"Or else what? You're gonna show up at OCD and try to become alpha?" Alicia said. "I'm so scared of you."

"I mean it, Leesh."

"Don't call me that. Only my best friends can call me that."

"Which means no one, right?" Massie smirked. Two could play at this game.

"I have friends," Alicia said confidently.

"Oh, really? Who?"

"My friends from dance class. You don't know them. Oh, and Olivia Ryan."

"Olivia Ryan? That blonde airhead? Wow, you have such good taste in friends." Even Massie knew Olivia Ryan. She was notoriously known as "the girl who got a nose job at age nine" and "the girl who fell off the stage during the dance performance."

"You have no right to criticize my friends!"

"Who died and made you the queen of everything?"

"I already am the queen of everything."

"Self-centered much?" Massie muttered to Hanna, who giggled.

"I heard that. You're the one who needs to learn how to whisper, not Skye Hamilton. And I'm not self-centered."

"And here we go again. You're talking about yourself again, I see."

"All right, May-ssie Block." Alicia put her hands on her hips. "I don't know who you are, but my first impression of you was that you're a prissy bitch who doesn't know when to shut her mouth."

Massie's jaw dropped open. "Is that really what you think of me?" Alicia nodded. "Well, let me tell you what I think of you, you little-"

Hanna grabbed Massie's arm. "Mass. That's enough. We better get going, didn't you say that you wanted to hit Saks?"

"You're going to Saks?" Alicia chirped. "Well isn't this a nice coincidence, I was planning on going there too!"

Hanna smiled at Alicia. "Great, we can all go together! And maybe you could help me pick out a costume for Ahnna's Halloween party. If you want, I could talk to Ahnna, and maybe you could go too."

"Nah, I'm fine. Ahnna's friends with her, so . . ." Alicia trailed off, but Massie knew exactly what she meant. She couldn't believe that Alicia and Hanna were getting along so well. Alicia was supposed to be becoming friends with her, not Hanna! And Alicia certainly wasn't supposed to hate Massie.

"Oh, well maybe I won't go either. You wanna go trick-or-treating together?" Hanna asked.

"Sure, why not? So do you wanna come over to my neighborhood? They give out the best candy."

Massie couldn't believe it. It was like Alicia and Hanna had formed an insta-beta bond. She couldn't take it anymore. "Um, hello? Have you forgotten about me?" she butted in. "I'm going to Ahnna's party, and you promised you would go, Han."

"Oh." Hanna's face clouded. "Well, sorry Mass, I think Ahnna's kind of lame."

"Like trick-or-treating isn't," Massie wanted to snap. But instead, she took a deep breath and plastered a fake smile on her face. "I think Ahnna's kind of-no scratch that, really-lame too, but I'm still going."

"Yeah, about that . . . Why do you stay friends with her anyway? Just stop being friends with her. Things would be so much easier for you."

"Why do you stay friends with Marilyn? You hate her," Massie snapped.

"My social life is none of your business!" Hanna started to raise her voice, something she never did.

Massie suddenly realized that she was about to lose her best friend. She wanted to stop and apologize, but she had too much things to say. "Whatever happened to the old Hanna I knew? The one who was almost begging for me to give her advice, I mean."

This time, Hanna's jaw dropped open. "You think that I think of you like that? Well, you're wrong. I'm not as pathetic as you think."

Massie sneered. "Could've fooled me."

"You know what?" Hanna screamed. "I'm done being your friend. You think you can control me. You think I'm just some insignificant character in the movie that is your life. The movie where everything revolves around you, everything's all about you. I'm done. I can't be friends with someone as selfish as you, Massie."

"But, Han-"

"I said, I'm done. Sorry, Massie, but I can't be your friend anymore." Hanna flashed her a what-are-you-going-to-do-now faux-pity look. Then, she linked arms with Alicia and walked away.

Massie stood there in shock. She had just lost her future best friend, and her current best friend. Could this day get any worse?

Just then, it had. Massie realized that Alicia still had her purple notebook.

Ugh, I know some of you are probably mad at me for not updating The Beginning of an Era sooner, but I'm working on it, and I promise it'll be up soon! Stick with me, 'kay?

Review!