Pretty Crooked (5 page)

“An L.L. Bean bag with sailboats,” Nikki said.

“Two tables over,” I said. “The woman with the short hair. It’s by her feet.”

“So cliché,” Nikki said. “Does she drive a Civic, too?”

My pride swelled. Hell, yeah. I could play this game, and it was fun. I felt myself relaxing into my seat.

“You’re on a roll, Willa,” Cherise said. “Okay, how about Mr. Wolf’s chalk-smeared sweater?”

I scanned the room, but then realized I had no idea who I was looking for.

“He’s not in here right now. You’d know it if you saw it. The chalk is kind of overwhelming,” Kellie said.

“I’ll keep an eye out for it,” I said. “I still haven’t met that many people yet, to tell you the truth.”

“That’s not what
we
heard,” Nikki said, giving Kellie a look.

I felt stress—or maybe that was just pork—form a tight ball in my stomach.

What had they heard? Were people talking about me?

Kellie leaned in on her slim forearms and I could smell her perfume. It was delicate and floral and probably called Money. “We heard you met Aidan Murphy and he was macking on you in the parking lot.”

I smiled inadvertently. “I don’t know if it was
macking
. Just talking, really.”

I wasn’t sure how much I should reveal, and I didn’t want them to think that I had a crush on him or something. As far as I could tell, having a crush on Aidan Murphy was like rooting for the Yankees: an obvious and unimaginative choice. And like Cherise had said, he was all about flirting, so I shouldn’t feel special.

Kellie looked at me with interest. “Do you have a boyfriend in Colorado or something?”

“No,” I said.

“So no guys there?” Nikki asked, tapping her nails on her Coke Zero can.

I felt their sudden interest trained on me. “There were a few cute ones, but I didn’t have much time to get to know anyone.”

Kellie, who seemed to be the ringleader, pressed on. “Were you in Aspen? My parents have a condo there and the guys are smokin’.”

All the girls were looking at me. “No, Castle Pines.”

“Never heard of that,” Kellie murmured. “What league were you in?”

“League?” I put my fork down. What was she talking about?

“Like, sports?” Cherise said. “Did you play lacrosse or field hockey or anything against other private schools? My cousin goes to Mountain Crest Academy.”

“No, I don’t play any sports besides biking. I was in the art club. And it was a public school.”

They stared at me like I was an unknown, exotic species dredged up from the ocean floor. Had they never met someone from public school? Someone who didn’t play sports with a stick or go on ski vacations in a family condo?

Safe to say no.

“But I was only there for a year, really,” I added, trying to regain my comfort zone. Maybe I wasn’t used to being the center of attention, but they were perfectly nice. Their faces showed nothing but curiosity. I couldn’t blame them for that.

“Does your dad get transferred a lot? There was a girl here last year who came from Singapore,” Nikki said.

“It’s just me and my mom, but yeah,” I said, thinking of her easel. “It’s sort of like a job transfer.”

“Don’t worry,” Kellie said, her bright smile and cheerful tone setting me at ease. “We’ll make sure you meet everyone here. We like to help, right, girls?”

Cherise nodded enthusiastically. I stared at them in amazement. They just might have been the friendliest popular girls I’d ever encountered.

“Can we get back to the game, people?” Nikki pleaded. “We have a whole other page to get through.”

But as she was saying it, a tall kid in a plaid shirt and blue skate shoes approached. He was dark-skinned, with close-clipped hair and the kind of body I imagined you got from, I don’t know … bench-pressing economy cars, maybe? He carried himself like he had his own clock, his own map, his own laws of gravity. Everyone at the table turned to stare.

“Hey, that’s Tre Walker,” Cherise hissed. “You know, the son of Edwin Walker?”

“Oh my God, I love his movies,” Nikki said, clapping her hands together excitedly.

“No, you idiot. He was the star forward of the Detroit Pistons like ten years ago,” Cherise said. “My dad told me that they were moving to town. He just became coach for the Suns.”

Kellie laughed at the mix-up, a tinkling, charming laugh that was practically a melody unto itself. “I think he’s a junior, right? I’m totally gonna invite him to my party next weekend. It’s been a while since we had a celebrity around here.”

The kid—Tre—was still walking past us and he caught me staring. Our eyes locked for a moment, and he smiled slightly before turning away.

Then there was the sound of Valley Prep’s version of a bell, which was a few harp notes projected over the loudspeaker system. No joke. This school managed to be
classy in every possible way. We all gathered up our stuff and stood to leave.

“I like your skirt,” Kellie said, taking in my outfit with a sweeping gaze. “Supercute. Where’d you get that?”

Nice
. Here I’d been worrying about my clothes, but it was totally fine.

“It’s vintage,” I said.

“It would look good with chunky heels, or those new Prada platform pumps. There’s a great store in Scottsdale that sells vintage Gucci and Chanel bags, like, from old ladies? Have you been there yet? I’ll take you there one day. You can find some good stuff.”

“That would be great!” I could feel my eyes lighting up like an anime character’s.

Okay, take it down a notch. Nothing kills the moment like lameocide
.

“Oh my God, you guys, did you see the new sweaters at Neiman’s?” Nikki said as she dropped her barely touched lunch in the garbage. “They just got the winter collections in.”

“We need to go tomorrow afternoon,” Kellie said. “Can you guys do it?”

“I can,” Nikki said.

“Me too,” Cherise said.

“What about you?” Kellie asked me with a hopeful expression on her face. “Are you free tomorrow?”

Of course I was. I was free in perpetuity! Never mind that I was still sweating in the September heat and not
really thinking about woolen goods. Shopping would be fun. It was a girl bonding experience.

“Tomorrow,” I repeated, like I was thinking about it. Like I hadn’t already imagined the cozy warmth of three new, fun friends. Like I didn’t know what I would say next. “That would be perfect.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“PAIR NUMBER TWO looks pretty hot, if I do say so myself,” Kellie called out from behind the door in the Neiman Marcus dressing room.

We were trying on clothes at the Valley Mall, a huge outdoor shopping center with canopies of green plants, burbling fountains, and ponds with koi fish, and, of course, expensive stores up the wazoo. We’d left our cars (well, Cherise’s and Kellie’s) with a valet driver, since nobody here seemed to park their own. Add the blasts of cool air pumping out of each store and the personal concierge bringing us beverages, and it was truly an oasis in the desert.

“Which ones were those?” I asked.

“The J Brands. I’m trying the Citizens on next.”

I sighed with contentment as I surveyed the pile of Kellie-selected clothing in my own dressing room. Life with the Glitterati was turning out to be as sparkly as
it sounded. The crowded hallways seemed to open up when we walked by. People I hadn’t met already knew my name. Even the teachers seemed to treat us differently. In our Euro history class, Mr. Barnesworth (aka Eugene) had let Kellie slide with the first two weeks of homework. All she had to do was smile and explain that she was consulting with her tutor about the best approach to writing about the defenestration of Prague. He simply nodded and went back to his lecture.

It was like I’d stumbled into an alternate universe where everything was easy and fun and pretty. Heaven, but with better outfits. I was so not going back to Castle Pines.

I pulled on a soft-as-butter Marc Jacobs sleeveless charmeuse top and a pair of dark-rinsed skinnies and stepped into the plush carpeted aisle between our stalls.

Nikki, who was already standing outside, gasped. “Oh. Em. Gee. That is amazing, Willa.”

Cherise and Kellie opened their respective doors to see.

“You’re smokin’,” Cherise said.

“You think?” I said, looking at myself in the full-length at the end of the room and pulling at the shirt. I’d never felt such a high-quality fabric against my skin. Totally dreamy. The tailoring was so precise that everything fell where it was supposed to.

I did look pretty good. A little more polished than usual, a little more pulled together.

“Leave the ruffles off-center,” Kellie advised, reaching over to straighten the seams. “That blue is
made
for your eyes. Okay, you need to buy that whole ensemble.”

I technically only had just enough money from the safe to cover it—money that was supposed to last me the whole week. But it was a perfect outfit. And when was the last time I bought something new, something designer, off the rack? How about never.

Nikki’s phone beeped and she pulled it out of her purse. She glanced at the screen and started laughing almost immediately. “You guys, you have to see what’s on ValleyBuzz today. Serious lawls.”

She handed Cherise her phone. Cherise waved her hand and passed it directly to me. “You know I don’t read that stuff.”

An edge of irritation had crept into Cherise’s voice. It was the first time I’d ever heard anything but bubbliness between them.

“Oh yeah,” Nikki said, rolling her eyes. “I forgot that you’re
perfect
.”

I looked from Cherise’s face to Nikki’s, trying to read what was happening. Were they kidding or were they really butting heads? Was I supposed to take sides here? I didn’t even know what they were talking about.

But the phone was now in my hand so I looked down at it. On the screen was a website, a photo blog, with the words
ValleyBuzz
in pink letters at the top. It was like a cross between PerezHilton and Go Fug Yourself, but
with photos of Valley Prep students instead of celebrities.

Below was a picture of a girl I recognized from my trig class, passed out on a couch with whiskers Magic-Markered on her cheeks.

“That’s Molly Hahneman at Shane Welcome’s party last week,” Nikki said, her eyebrows dancing gleefully. “They do that to someone every year. Hate to be her. That stuff is hard to get off.”

I could feel my stomach free-falling as I scrolled down past the top pic. There were blind items about a girl who had gotten liposuction over the summer and another who had apparently slept with two lacrosse players in one night. All of it was so mean, I could hardly believe anyone with half a heart could stand reading it.

“Someone started the site last year,” Cherise explained for my benefit. “Everyone reads it, and anyone can post, but it’s all anonymous. Which means that people can write whatever nasty shiz comes into their heads.”

Farther down on the page, there was an item titled “New Trash.” I wanted to hand the phone back but the TMZ-powered part of my brain went into overdrive and I couldn’t help but look.

Anyone else notice the extratrashy crop of scholarship skanks this year? At least three of them are in the sophomore class, bussed in from Maryvale. Let’s hope the diseases these new Busteds bring into school aren’t contagious!

I recognized immediately who the commenter was referring to: Mary and Sierra and their other friend—I was pretty sure her name was Alicia. I quickly dropped the phone in Nikki’s hands like it was dipped in toxic chemicals. I felt a little dirty just from reading it. How could Nikki even be laughing?

“I agree with Cherise,” I said firmly. “I don’t like that kind of thing, either.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Nikki said with an irritated sigh. “You guys need to lighten up. Molly thought it was funny. I heard her talking about it today.”

“Did it occur to you that she just didn’t want to seem like a fool?” Cherise shot back, a scowl twisting her face.

Kellie emerged from the dressing room all smiles, with three pairs of jeans draped over her arm. “Okay, girls, time to recap our purchases!”

At Kellie’s command, the air seemed to clear immediately. Nikki and Cherise were no longer facing off and both were now regarding Kellie with expectant smiles.

“What’d you pick?” Nikki asked.

“I can’t really decide, so I think I might just go with all of them. You can never have too many jeans, right?”

“Even if you don’t wear them,” Nikki agreed readily. “They’re just awesome to have.”

We followed Kellie to the cash register to pay for our own selections. For a moment there in the line, I faltered. I didn’t really
need
the shirt and the jeans. Maybe I should save the money, I thought, just in case.

Then Kellie turned to me and squeezed my elbow. “This is so great, Willa. I knew those things would look awesome on you. I’m totally going to be your personal shopper,” she said. “And by the way, you have to come to my party next weekend. It’s kind of like an annual thing I do every fall when my parents are away on their yacht.”

Cherise and Nikki nodded behind her. “It’s massive,
the
party of the year,” Nikki said.

“Say no more.” I grinned widely. “I’m there.”

It was my turn at the front. The saleswoman at the register patted the counter, inviting me to put the clothes down. I followed her command, admiring the way the shirt fell in a shimmery puddle on top. Kellie was right. I had to buy it. And I couldn’t wait to try it on again when I got home. I handed over the money and the saleswoman wrapped up my purchases in perfumed tissue paper.

I could definitely get used to this
, I thought, swinging the bag on my wrist on the way out.
Definitely
.

Cherise drove us back to her place, a charming single-story house on a thirty-acre horse ranch that overlooked the mountains. She parked the Jetta in the driveway and we went inside. A woman I assumed was her mother was hanging out in the kitchen, standing over the island with a cup of coffee.

“I didn’t think you’d be home so early,” Cherise said, giving her a kiss.