Birthday Vicious

by Melissa de la Cruz

  "Who is he?" Sadie whispered, pinching Lauren. "He's gorgeous!"

  Lauren rolled her eyes, noticing how Sadie was staring at Dex almost as if she were hypnotized. "Dex, this is my friend Sadie. Sadie, this is Dex. He's my driver. And my father's intern, computer genius ... whatever."

  "Hey, sexy Sadie," Dex teased from the front seat, making Sadie squirm with delight.

  "Does he have a girlfriend?" Sadie asked, when they'd arrived at the Pages' house and exited the car.

  "Um, yes. And she's, like, ten years older than us," Lauren told her. She was a little annoyed at Sadie for insisting that they hang out on today of all days. Hadn't Lauren given up sitting at the most important table at lunch every day just for her? Sure, Sadie didn't know that, but the fact didn't make Lauren any less grumpy.

  Hanging out with Sadie was just like before. But Lauren was twelve now, not nine. She didn't want to do all those

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  things they used to do. Lauren thought longingly of the shopping trip she was currently missing. So maybe the whole time Ashley would hog all the best clothes and monopolize the salesclerks, but they were sure to all get coordinated outfits for the party, and she would be left out again.

  Oh well. Too late now. This afternoon was all about Sadie.

  "Sadie! Welcome back!" Trudy Page stood at the front double doors, a glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice in each hand. It would have been better if Lauren's mother hadn't coordinated her Cavalli outfit to match the pomegranate juice, because Sadie looked a little afraid of the vision in bright red waiting for them when they walked up the stone slab steps.

  Not for the first time since she'd been allowed to join the Ashleys, Lauren felt an unwelcome twinge of embarrassment about her mother's fashion sense, followed by a flood of guilt. Her mother meant so well and only wanted Lauren to be happy. Trudy just hadn't got over the thrill of being super rich yet; it wasn't her fault, really. All she needed was a few friends like the Ashleys to get her on track and tell her what not to buy.

  Oops. Did Lauren actually think of the Ashleys as her friends? This double-agent thing was getting a little more complicated than she'd thought.

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  "Sweetie, it's so good to see you again," Trudy said, ushering an openmouthed Sadie into their vast, airy house. It was all giant panes of glass and minimalist midcentury modern furniture in front, but Mediterranean-style in the back, complete with a pillared courtyard, where the house faced the city's most exclusive marina.

  Sergei, her ex-academic father, had requested a traditional den-slash-library, and her mother had the brainwave of decorating it like a Scottish baronial lodge, using old (i.e., last season's) beige Burberry trenches for the curtains and disks cut from two-hundred-year-old Scotch bottles to build a stained-glass coffee table. But Lauren's favorite room was the chill-out zone at the top of the house, just beneath the helipad, where the walls were white, the only furniture was oversize chocolate leather beanbags, and the controls for the Bose stereo system were hidden in the bleached ash floor planks.

  She led her old friend along three of the house's long, slate-floored corridors to her bedroom, Sadie trailing behind like an eager puppy.

  "I've never seen a house like this," Sadie gushed, her green plaid uniform looking more awkward and ill-fitting than ever. Really, Sadie was as awkward and ill-fitting as her clothes. "You guys really hit it big!"

  Lauren cringed a little and wished Sadie wasn't so blunt.

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  Sadie wandered around Lauren's two-story bedroom with her pale blue eyes almost bulging out of her head. She plopped onto Lauren's king-size feather bed, bouncing up and down like a little kid and then springing up again to run over to the mirrored closets that lined the room's long back wall.

  "It's like a ... it's like a palace!" she squealed, gazing at her reflection in one of the mirrored doors. "What's upstairs?"

  "Oh, just ... you know." Lauren shrugged. She liked her room and was still kind of amazed by it herself, but there was something seriously uncool about Sadie's kid-in-the-candy-store reaction.

  "You could have a whole family living up here!" Sadie had clomped up the circular staircase to the loft sleep-and-play area. "Omigod! You really could--there are, like, four beds up here!"

  Lauren decided it wasn't time to tell Sadie about the all-Ashley sleepover earlier in the semester, the reason Trudy had had the four red-cedar bunks specially built. Anyway, Sadie was distracted by the matching cubbies packed with books, toys, and games.

  "Can we play something? Do you have Monopoly?"

  "No." Lauren felt herself frowning. This wasn't good. Sadie was getting distracted by all the childish stuff. Why

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  didn't she want to go through Lauren's closet, like any normal, self-respecting seventh grader? Maybe Sadie needed a nudge in the right direction. "Do you want to try on some of my shoes? I think we're around the same size, and I have, like, four dozen pairs. Some are still in their boxes."

  Sadie's face fell. "Can't we play some games? I hate shoe shopping. My mother has to make me go at the start of every school year, and I'm still getting over that."

  "I know--how about a spa makeover? You should see my bathroom." Lauren headed off down the stairs, hoping Sadie would follow.

  Her phone began to buzz. Lauren picked it up hopefully. Maybe one of the Ashleys had some juicy gossip. Maybe Lili was calling to dish about why Ashley was being oh-so-mysterious about her party, or A.A. was calling to complain about Lili's crazy camping plan. Maybe it was Ashley herself, calling to thank Lauren, yet again, for picking up the fabulous gift.

  Anything but Sadie, romping around upstairs like a little girl in a toy store. Lauren made a mental note to give those games, most of them still shrink-wrapped and brand-new, to charity.

  "Hello?" Lauren answered. It was Ashley, calling to find out if she was done with her mom and if she could meet them at the boutique tout de suite.

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  "You're missing all the fun," Ashley cooed.

  Maybe Ashley just wanted a bigger audience as she tried on her five outfits. Maybe she just wanted someone else to tell her she looked wonderful in everything she put on. It didn't matter.

  Lauren shut off her phone and made a quick decision. She turned to Sadie, with the too-sweet smile she'd seen Ashley give people when she wanted them to do something she knew they didn't want to do.

  "Listen, that was my dad, and I kind of forgot I promised him I would go pick up something for my mom that he ordered at Graff s." God, it was so easy to lie when you got into the habit!

  "Really?" Sadie asked, looking completely disappointed. "But I brought Felicity!" she said, pulling out a much-loved California Girl doll from her oversized bag.

  "Next time, I promise." Then she said the magic words that were sure to squelch any more protests from Sadie. "And don't worry, Dex can drive you home."

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  10 A.A. DISCOVERS THE WISDOM THAT IS BEYONCÉ

  A. A. DIDN'T MIND PLAYING SOCCER IN THE rain and mud, but on a wet afternoon like this, most of the other girls in her ad hoc league made their excuses and didn't show up to the game at the Jackson Playground. Normally this would get on her nerves, but as it turned out, she had something else to do anyway.

  Last night at dinner, Lili had talked Ashley into a shopping trip after school for her birthday party outfits. Lili had argued that the Ashleys needed to do this together so they could make sure all their outfits coordinated without clashing. Plus, Ashley had been talking for ages about needing five different dresses. It was only a few weeks till the party. They needed to start shopping now.

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  Ashley had been a little reluctant at first, which was unexpected. Lili was right, Ashley was acting a bit odd about her party. But once they hit the shops, Ashley soon regained her shopaholic form.

  They'd changed out of their uniforms at school and were downtown by three thirty, and by four A.A. was tired of trying on clothes. The other girls never
seemed to weary of this, but they were way more indecisive than A.A.--she'd found a great dress in the first twenty minutes! A hot pink number with a leopard print--kind of out there for her, but A.A. liked how loud it was. Her mother always said there was nothing more boring than good taste.

  So now she was slumped on an ivory suede sofa, sending IMs, listening to the thumping in-store soundtrack, and watching Ashley and Lili wander in and out of changing rooms, asking her opinion.

  She turned her attention to her iPhone. New IM: Ned wanted her to come home. He'd just bought the latest version of Dark Void for his Wii, something he'd been obsessing about all week. A.A. sighed--she had a different kind of obsessing to deal with right now, and that was the Ashley vs. Lili fashion smackdown, round five hundred sixty-four.

  Those two had never seen an outfit they didn't want to rip off each other's back and claim as their own. They both emerged simultaneously from their respective changing

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  rooms, leaving A.A. to act--as usual--as fashion referee.

  "That's way too similar to this dress," Ashley told Lili, frowning at Lili's cascading ruffles. "You don't want to look like a copycat, do you?"

  "But chocolate brown looks so much more striking on me, don't you think, A.A.?" Ever since her number-one rating on AshleyRank, Lili wasn't going down without a fight.

  "I think the dresses are pretty different," A.A. said, but she could tell Ashley wasn't convinced. Ashley picked at the ruching on her dress, a discontented look clouding her face. "And anyway, Ash--you're only going to wear this for half an hour, right? It doesn't matter if it kind of looks like Lili's dress."

  "Actually, it kind of does," snapped Ashley. She stood on her tiptoes and stared at her reflection in the full-length gilt mirror propped against one wall. "It's my party, after all!"

  "Yeah," said Lili with a sigh, bunching her jet-black hair into a ponytail and twisting in front of the mirror, checking out the neckline of her dress. "What's going on with the party, exactly? Any new developments?"

  "No. Why, should there be?" Ashley turned on one stockinged foot and marched back into her changing room, yanking the velvet curtain shut.

  Lili raised an eyebrow at A.A., as if to say, I told you so. On the way out of the restaurant last night, Lili had asked her if

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  she'd noticed anything odd about Ashley's behavior. A.A. just shrugged, but now that she'd had time to think about it, maybe Lili was right.

  Ashley was acting a little secretive. Maybe she was just sick of incessantly going over every detail of the party. Or maybe, more likely, she didn't want anyone to know some of the big surprises she had planned. Not even the other Ashleys. Huh! A.A. crossed her long legs and picked up her iPhone again. Let Ashley have her secrets. As long as one of them wasn't "Ashley and Tri get back together and start grossing everyone out with their lovey-dovey act," A.A. really didn't care.

  Ashley re-emerged, peering out to make sure Lili wasn't hovering.

  "What do you think?" Ashley asked, doing a mock catwalk stroll toward the mirror and then striking a pose. Her dress was a stunning turquoise blue, with a jeweled neckline. "Is this drop-dead gorgeous or what?"

  "Omigod, it was made for you!" Aloud, too-cheery voice announced that Lauren had arrived.

  "What kept you?" Ashley demanded.

  Lauren's laugh was shrill. She heaped her handbag and coat on the couch next to A.A. and began talking too fast. "Oh, you know--the decorator forgot to bring the right swatches, so it was a total mess ..." But she stopped talking when she noticed that Ashley was no longer listening and had

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  wandered over to the clothing racks across the room to check out the selection there.

  A.A. wished Lauren wouldn't gush so much. She was one of the gang now--well, sort of, and maybe not forever. Although lately it seemed like Lauren was sort of schizo. At school she was either nowhere to be found or else clinging to them like a vine. Even so, Ashley had specifically invited her to the birthday dinner, and she'd made a point of calling Lauren every five minutes, begging her to meet them for shopping. Lauren didn't need to try this hard.

  Ashley marched back in front of them with her hands on her hips, wearing a different dress.

  "Red velvet," she mused, pursing her lips. "Like a red velvet rope. Super exclusive! What do you think?"

  Lauren studied Ashley's reflection in the mirror carefully. A.A. thought the dress made Ashley look like a stop sign. Of course, Lauren dutifully obliged with a compliment. "I love it!"

  "Ash, we can bring dates, right?" Lili asked, peeking out from behind the curtain. "I already told Max about it."

  "Of course!"

  "Who are you going to bring?" A.A. asked Lauren. "Oh God!" Lauren cried. "I hadn't even thought of that!" A.A. looked bemused. "I don't know how you do it--dating two guys at once."

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  Lauren looked down at her hands. "It's awful, actually," she said. "I don't even know which one I like better. Have you ever had that problem?"

  It took A.A. a moment to answer. She'd been thinking of Hunter, and how she did like him, and her mind had disturbingly wandered over to Tri. "No, I like Hunter," she announced, even though it wasn't an answer to Lauren's question.

  Thankfully, Lauren dropped that line of questioning and turned to Ashley. "Have you thought about having a VIP area at your party?" she suggested, heading over to the racks to pick out some dresses.

  "I was totally going to suggest that!" Lili wrenched back her dressing-room curtain, still zipping up her dress. It was rust-colored velvet, very similar in color and style to the one Ashley was wearing. A.A. tried to suppress a smile.

  "Tsk!" Ashley sniffed. "Of course I've thought of that. Not only will there be a VIP area, there'll be a VIP dance floor. Only the Ashleys will be allowed to dance on that."

  "With boys, right?" Lauren asked anxiously. The thought of boys made A.A. groan. She didn't even know if she wanted Hunter to come to this party, let alone dance with her in some VIP area while everybody else stood around staring. And then she felt guilty. Why didn't she want to dance with Hunter? It wasn't as though he was a lame loser like Tri.

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  "A.A.--hi!" A.A. couldn't believe it. Speak of the devil-- or at least, the devil's girlfriend. Cecily, Tri's new squeeze, was waving at her from the other side of the store.

  "Hey," said A.A., fluttering her fingers and wriggling down even farther into the sofa while Cecily deposited her umbrella in the stand by the door. She would rather watch Lili and Ashley have a tug-of-war with a velvet hair band right now than get into some "Tri is so great" conversation with his love-struck sweetheart.

  Too late. Cecily was scurrying over, sitting down on the sofa next to A.A. and shaking drops of water out of her auburn bob. Cecily looked fresh and pretty in a plain T-shirt and dark-rinse jeans. A.A.'s phone vibrated.

  "It's my brother," she told Cecily, checking the screen. "He just got the new version of Dark Void. That's a--"

  "He's got it already? I thought it wouldn't be released until Tuesday." Cecily looked excited. "I can't wait to check it out. Hey, I was meaning to ask you--have you played that new soccer game yet? The FIFA 08? My dad just got it for me, and I love it. You play?"

  A.A. nodded, saying nothing, vaguely aware that Ashley and Lili were now arguing in loud voices about who got to wear velvet at Ashley's party. She didn't want to like Cecily, but ... she had to admit that the girl wasn't all that bad. She was a soccer jock like A.A., and clearly a total gamer as well.

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  She had a cool haircut and looked great in a pair of designer jeans, but she didn't seem like the kind of girl who spent all her time worrying about her appearance.

  "Well, if you must know, it makes your legs look short," Ashley was saying to Lili.

  "Really? I didn't want to say this, but something about that dress makes you look like a red velvet cupcake."

  "Maybe you should both try on something else," Lauren wheedled, edging past t
hem toward the changing room with a stack of dresses folded over her arm. A.A. rolled her eyes at Cecily, as though she wasn't with the bickering duo, and Cecily smiled. The speakers above her head started blasting out a Abeyance song, and Cecily absentmindedly started singing along.

  "I can have another you by tomorrow," she sang, tapping her fingers on the sofa. "So don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable."

  Irreplaceable. Is that what A.A. used to think? That Tri would always be there, waiting for her to like him? What an idiot she'd been, hanging around after Tri kissed her, expecting him to end things with Ashley and ask her out! She was totally replaceable. Here was the living proof, sitting right next to her.

  Soccer. Video games. Cute clothes. Lived in a hotel. Omigod. That was no coincidence. A.A. realized the awful

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  truth: Cecily was a total A.A. clone. No wonder Tri was into her. And no wonder Tri was so rude to A.A. these days--he didn't like her anymore, and he didn't need her anymore.

  He was over her in every possible way. And that was fine: Of course it was. A.A. had a boyfriend of her own, whose name she couldn't remember right now. But she liked him. A lot. Plus, she had the Ashleys. She didn't need dumb, two-timing, playa-hating Tri Fitzpatrick.

  So why did she feel like throwing up?

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  11 LILI CRACKS OPEN THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR GIRLS

  H OW MUCH STUFF DO YOU NEED FOR ONE

  night, anyway?"

  A.A. stood with her hands on her hips, her pretty face looking puzzled, surveying the small forest of Nordstrom bags growing in the middle of her bedroom. After they'd spent way too much money on clothes, Lili had convinced her to help pick out camping gear for her upcoming trip.