Birthday Vicious

by Melissa de la Cruz

  Ashley's mom had ordered her home after her credit-card company called to ask if the Visa had been stolen, since someone had rung up thousands of dollars in charges in less than an hour; and a cranky Dex had picked up Lauren to bring her home and wouldn't take no for an excuse, saying something about having just driven a very long, very circuitous route that had taken all afternoon.

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  She and Lili had returned to the Fairmont penthouse loaded down with piles of outdoor equipment. Lili crawled from bag to bag on her hands and knees, checking the contents of each against her credit-card receipt. Clearly, A.A. didn't understand how complicated camping was.

  "All the sleeping bags have plaid lining," Lili complained, rifling through one of the larger bags. "It's so 'Seattle'!"

  "Did you really need to buy that huge a backpack? It's bigger than you." A.A. sat down on the white lacquered trunk and surveyed the booty.

  "I know, it's ugly, right?" Lili flicked the pack's black utilitarian straps. Just looking at it made her feel anxious about this camping trip. She was definitely leaving her comfort zone in every possible way. "But Max said to get the biggest one because of the kind of trip we're going on."

  "What kind of trip are you going on?" A.A. cocked her head to one side and pulled at a pigtail.

  Lili sighed. "A secret trip." She rocked back on her heels, shooting A.A. a mournful look. "I'm beginning to think it's a stupid idea. Ashley certainly thinks so."

  "Of course it's a stupid idea," A.A. told her. "I mean, think about it. You've never been camping before in your life. You've never even wanted to go camping. Your mother would go ballistic if she knew what you were up to. The other people going are weirdos from the School of Rock. And the

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  whole reason you're doing it is to impress some boy."

  "Not to impress him," Lili argued, though she knew she didn't sound very convincing. "Just so we can ... you know, hang out."

  A.A. made a face. "You can hang out anywhere in the city," she pointed out. "You do realize Genghis Khan will kill you if she finds out about this," she added, using their private nickname for Lili's hard-liner mom. Lili didn't mind too much--she'd come up with the nickname herself.

  "That's why I'm keeping it all." Lili grinned, though she didn't feel much like smiling right now. The thought of her mother finding out ... it was way too scary to even consider.

  "How about when she sees the credit-card bill?"

  "My dad is the one who pays my card," said Lili, standing up. All this crawling about was giving her sore legs, and she needed to be in top physical condition for the trip. "He never asks questions. And if he does, I'll tell him it's for Ashley's birthday present. That's why we got all this stuff at Nordstrom rather than some outdoor shop."

  "Just admit it. You wouldn't be seen dead in an outdoor shop," A.A. joked, throwing a sheepskin-covered cushion at Lili.

  "I don't even know what an outdoor shop is," Lili said. "Or where it is. Thank God they even sell this stuff at Nordstrom. Okay, let's go through our plan again for next

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  Saturday. I'll get dropped off here after my violin lesson. Are you sure your mother is here next weekend?" It was the day before Thanksgiving and everyone would be going away or celebrating over the weekend, so Lili wanted to go over the plan before A.A. got too distracted by turkey and stuffing.

  It was crucial that A.A.'s mother be present and accounted for, because there was no way Lili's parents would let her stay over without adult supervision. Even if the adult in question was Jeanine Alioto, a former supermodel who spent half her time traveling and thought being a good mother meant making sure the maid brought in a tray of hot milk and warm cookies every night.

  "She said she would be. But you know her." A.A. grinned. "Someone might invite her to the Venice Film Festival or something, and she'll fly off."

  "Try and persuade her to stay, okay?" Lili needed everything to go according to plan. Jeanine wouldn't even notice if Lili disappeared almost as soon as she arrived--A.A.'s mother usually spent her Saturday afternoons getting a hot-stone massage and top-down body waxing, in preparation for some glamorous event that night. Then she'd be out all evening and asleep half of Sunday. By then Lili would be safely back in the city and nobody over the age of fourteen would be any the wiser. But Jeanine actually had to be in the country for this plan to work.

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  "So you have your pack and your sleeping bag." A.A. picked up her school skirt, the most despised item in her closet, and lobbed it onto her loft bed. "What else?"

  "Hiking boots," said Lili, lifting a pair of tan Timberlands out of their giant box, their thick dark laces tied together. "So not flattering. Water bottle. Fleece vest. A flashlight I can wear around my head for nighttime bathroom visits."

  "Lil," A.A. said. "You do know that there aren't any bathrooms up on Mount Tarn. You know there are just bushes, right?"

  'Yeah, of course I do!" Lili protested. She'd been hoping there would be little blocks of bathrooms, like mini log cabins, studded along the walking trails. Why not? If she were chief park ranger, she would have them built. Maybe with cute little skylights to let in the sun, and biodegradable toilet paper, and laminated reading material about local flora and fauna. Places people could recharge their cell phones. Maybe there could be wireless hot spots, so you could even check your e-mail!

  "Bushes crawling with snakes and raccoons and spiders," A.A. rattled off, as she lay back on the trunk, attempting to juggle her school shoes.

  "Thanks, A.A." Lili sighed. She hoped A.A. was joking. "You're so supportive."

  "You know what I think. Doing all this for some guy ... well, it's just not worth it." A.A. seemed very down on guys

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  at the moment. For someone who was going out with her first-ever boyfriend, this was kind of surprising. Wasn't A.A. in love?

  Lili wanted to explain how much she liked Max. She wanted to go on the camping trip to show him she was a good sport, and someone who shared in his interests. Plus, she couldn't stand the thought of him being up on the mountain with just his grotty friends and their skanky girlfriends for company.

  "Just tell me it's all going to work out next Saturday," Lili begged her. She pulled the fleece vest out of its tissue wrap and held it up to her petite frame. "What do you think?"

  A.A. mimed throwing up.

  "I know," said Lili. She never thought things would come to this: a burgundy fleece vest and a flashlight strapped to her forehead. Is this what you had to do when you had a boyfriend? She tugged off the vest and crammed it back into the shopping bag. The weather forecast predicted rain and high winds for the weekend. Perhaps the trip would be called off. Perhaps she could return all this horrible stuff and use the store credit for some cute outfits. God knows, she deserved it.

  The intercom buzzed and Lili leaped up, feeling instantly guilty. Her mother must be downstairs, parked outside the Fairmont's main lobby, waiting to drive Lili home.

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  "Have a happy turkey day," Lili said, giving A.A. a hug. "And remind your mother to be here," she whispered, as though her conversation with A.A. was being monitored. "My life depends on it."

  A.A. waved her hand as if to say, Don't worry about it. But Lili couldn't help worrying. If one small thing went wrong, her perfect plans might crumble. And what would happen then, Lili didn't dare to think about.

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  12 LAUREN RECEIVES AN INVITATION TO CHANGE HER MIND

  L AUREN STRETCHED OUT HER LEGS AND TRIED not to yawn. The chairs in the Little Theater were way uncomfortable. That was the point, she guessed: Nobody would be able to doze off during MODs (Middle-of-the-Day announcements). She tapped one Louboutin Mary Jane on the parquet floor, trying to drown out the droning voice of Miss Evangelista, the music teacher, who'd been talking about everyone getting their forms in for the Glee Club trip to the symphony. Yawn! Why did the teachers take up so much time during MODs? Didn't they know that the real business went on after they
'd left the stage?

  This Monday, in particular, something big was going down. The entire seventh grade was buzzing about Ashley

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  Spencer's party which was two weeks away. Ever since she'd been spotted that morning on the stone bench outside the playground, shuffling party invitations as though they were a deck of Tarot cards, nobody had been able to concentrate for a second on schoolwork.

  Lauren found their anxiety catching, even though unlike most of the other girls, she knew she was invited to Ashley's party. All the Ashleys had received their invitations at the Fillmore Starbucks that morning, while they were waiting to pick up their venti decaf soy lattes. Ashley's favorite drink.

  Finally the teachers were filing off the stage and the other grades were beginning to disperse, headed to class or early lunch. But the seventh graders hung around, giggling and nudging one another, taking way too long to make their way out of the theater.

  And there was Ashley, standing smack-bang in the middle of things, like the eye of a hurricane, holding all the cards, so to speak, and acting as if she had no idea why anyone was making such a fuss.

  "Melody Myers!" Ashley had started calling out names. Those lucky enough to get an invitation simpered up to her, acting all surprised and honored. "Sheridan Riley!"

  The strange thing about the whole scene was that Ashley didn't appear to be enjoying herself all that much. Usually she loved lording it over the rest of the grade, or

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  having her status as the queen of cool dangled in front of other people's noses.

  But today she was looking almost overwhelmed, as though she couldn't quite believe how big a deal all this was. She didn't even have all the Ashleys there to support her. Lili had managed to wriggle out of class for what she said was a doctor's appointment, but Lauren knew what she was really doing: Lili and Max were meeting up to go shopping for more camping equipment. Apparently he had taken one look at her Nordstrom gear and deemed it all wrong. Max was taking her to a real sports shop.

  Lili and Ashley weren't on the best of terms anyway right now, something Lauren was watching with interest. After their velvet-dress showdown in the store on Saturday afternoon, Lili was furious. When Lauren was paying for her clothes, Lili joined her at the counter, whispering that something was up with Ashley's party. At the time, Lauren thought Lili was just suffering from robe rage. But the more she thought about it, the more she thought Lili might be onto something.

  Ashley called out another name. "Bethany Revson!"

  Lauren hung back by the stack of chairs, watching some girls' faces get longer and longer as they realized they were doomed to be Cinderellas, not going to the ball.

  Daria Hart looked like she was about to cry. Even

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  Guinevere Parker seemed disappointed, though she must have known she would never be invited to Ashley's party, not in a million years, no matter how loudly she talked about wanting to write a style report on the party for Miss Gamble's school newspaper. And there was poor Sadie, her nose in the air, pretending not to care.

  Sadie was still a little annoyed about being ditched abruptly the other day. "I'm not hanging around here," she told Lauren. "This is stupid. Why does everyone care so much about a dumb party? I'm going to class."

  "Okay." Lauren nodded, nervously looking over her shoulder to see if any of the Ashleys noticed her talking to Sadie.

  "Why do you keep doing that?" Sadie demanded, glaring at Lauren through her thick glasses. "What?"

  "Looking over your shoulder whenever you talk to me." Lauren felt a stab of guilt. She hadn't realized she was so transparent.

  "Anyway, do you really think you have a shot at getting an invitation? Get real, Lauren!"

  Lauren didn't know how to answer that--the force of Sadie's vehemence surprised her. But she didn't have to say anything, since Lili said it for her.

  Lili arrived at the Little Theater a bit out of breath.

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  "Lauren! Do you have your invite? I think I left mine at Starbucks this morning, and I need to tell Max the date of the party."

  Lauren rooted in her handbag and handed the precious invitation to Lili, while Sadie looked on with wide eyes. Lili flicked a curious glance in Sadie's direction, then excused herself to finish her phone call with her boyfriend.

  Sadie looked at Lauren. "You're invited to Ashley's party."

  "Um, sort of." Lauren felt a wrenching guilt. "There's, um, something I've been meaning to tell you."

  Sadie's eyes narrowed. "I think I can guess. I was wondering when you would tell me about your 'new friends.' You think I didn't know that you're one of them now? I might not dress as well as they do, but I'm not stupid."

  Lauren felt ill.

  "I totally saw you at Blowfish Sushi the other day--and saw you running away so you wouldn't have to say hi to me. And the other afternoon, you didn't have to help your mom, right? You were meeting them, weren't you?" Sadie nodded as if Lauren's silence confirmed her suspicions.

  Sadie smacked her palm on her forehead. "Of course! That's why you keep insisting we sneak off campus for lunch. You don't want to be seen with me at the ref! I'm not good enough to hang out with you anymore!"

  "It's not like that," Lauren pleaded, trying to keep her

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  voice low so nobody else would overhear their conversation. Not that she needed to worry. There was plenty of noise echoing through the half-empty theater, girls squealing with delight over their invitations or whispering worriedly in quiet clusters.

  A fight had broken out when Ashley called the name Catherine. Both Catherine Diega and Kathryn Black were convinced they were the rightful recipients, and they managed to rip the envelope in two before A.A. intervened, pulling them apart and telling them they were both invited.

  "Whatever," Sadie said scornfully. She looked contemptuously from Lauren to the Ashleys in the center of the throng. To Lauren's horror, Sadie walked right up to Ashley and planted her hands on her hips.

  "No one cares about your party," Sadie declared.

  "What did you say?" asked Ashley.

  "You heard me."

  Ashley's cheeks went bright red. She looked Sadie up and down. She turned to A.A. and Lili and laughed. "Who are you?"

  Sadie didn't know how to answer.

  "Oh, right. You're the girl who had to move all the way to Connecticut because you have no friends here." Ashley was smiling so forcefully it looked like a clown's grin. Her voice was as cold as Antarctica before global warming. "I think

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  you're just saying that because you're not invited. And it's not like anyone's ever going to invite you to any party, ever. Because let's face it, no one likes you."

  Sadie's cheeks turned scarlet, and her eyes brimmed with tears. Lauren was shocked into silence.

  That was really mean of Ashley. Okay, so maybe Sadie was rude, but Ashley was way out of line. People said stuff like that online or in texts all the time, but Ashley had said it out loud, to her face.

  Lauren felt awful, then angry. Sadie didn't deserve that. Maybe she was a little bit of a baby and a lot socially backward, but she was a person. She was human. She was still Lauren's friend.

  "Wait!" she called. But Sadie had already slammed the Little Theater doors.

  Lauren looked around, feeling her anger build. Couldn't Ashley see what she was doing? Didn't she know how mean this was, making the uninvited stand around like losers at a beauty pageant? It wasn't as though Ashley had to have a small party; she could afford to invite the whole school. She just wanted to show everyone how badly she could make them feel.

  And eviscerating Sadie was just the worst.

  "Okay--that's it!" Ashley handed out the final invitation, and the left-behinds started to drift out of the room,

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  leaning on one another for comfort. Sheridan Riley was talking in an overloud voice about what she planned to wear, oblivious to the dejected expressions of half the girls stil
l in the room.

  Ashley herself had the weirdest look on her face. If Lauren didn't know her better, she'd think it was guilt. Or maybe remorse. But this was Ashley Spencer. The closest thing she felt to remorse was when she found something she'd bought at full price on the sale rack.

  Then Ashley began giggling with Lili and A.A., and Lauren heard "loser" and "Boogers" in between their laughter. She made up her mind right then: It had to stop. No more exclusive parties! No more crying and feeling like rejects! No more in and out lists!

  Lauren felt invigorated by a bright new idea. Who said old and new friends couldn't mix? So what if Ashley had dissed Sadie just now? Ashley had called Lauren a loser for years, and now they were practically BFFs. Since when did Ashley Spencer ever think for herself? Lauren had manipulated her way into the Ashleys, and she was sure she could do the same for Sadie. Working alone wasn't getting Lauren anywhere. But with Sadie as one of the Ashleys, the two of them working on the inside could totally bring the Ashleys down.

  Of course, for her new plan to work, Sadie had to get a

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  makeover. Her clothes and shoes and hairstyle needed a seismic adjustment. She had to get glamorized. Lauren knew that this was possible: Hadn't she done exactly the same thing this summer? Plus, even Lili and A.A. had noticed that without the glasses and in normal clothing, Sadie looked decent.

  Sadie had potential. With an outfit or two from Lauren's extensive designer wardrobe, a sharp, chic haircut from an exclusive salon, a pair of color-tinted contact lenses to turn Sadie's brown eyes blue, and some lessons in take-charge attitude, Sadie could rival any of the Ashleys. She could be an Ashley.