The Pretty Committee Strikes Back

Copyright © 2006 by Alloy Entertainment

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Poppy

Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

For more of your favorite series, go to
www.pickapoppy.com

First eBook Edition: March 2006

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

ISBN: 978-0-316-04173-7

Contents

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL, GEOGRAPHY CLASS

THE BLOCK ESTATE, THE LYONSES' NEW GUESTHOUSE

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL, THE SERENITY CHAPEL

THE BLOCK ESTATE, MASSIE'S BEDROOM

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL, PARKING LOT

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, POWWOW LOG

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE,

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, THE GIRLS' BUNK

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, THE BOYS' BUNK

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, THE GIRLS' BUNK

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, THE DINING PAVILION

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, THE SHOWER HOUSE

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, POWWOW LOG

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, THE DINING PAVILION

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: NOT QUITE SURE WHERE

LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK: FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE, MR. MYNER'S QUARTERS

The only thing harder than getting in is staying in.

THE CLIQUE

Be sure to read all the novels in the #1
New York Times
bestselling
CLIQUE
series

The Clique

Best Friends For Never

Revenge Of The Wannabes

Invasion Of The Boy Snatchers

The Pretty Committee Strikes Back

Dial L For Loser

It's Not Easy Being Mean

Sealed With A Diss

And keep your eye out for
Bratfest At Tiffany's
— and THE CLIQUE's new look—coming February 2008.

If you have to ask, you'll never be on…

THE A-LIST

Be sure to read all the novels in the
New York Times
bestselling

A-LIST series

THE A-LIST

GIRLS ON FILM

BLONDE AMBITION

TALL COOL ONE

BACK IN BLACK

SOME LIKE IT HOT

AMERICAN BEAUTY

HEART OF GLASS

BEAUTIFUL STRANGER

And keep your eye out for CALIFORNIA DREAMING, coming April 2008.

CLIQUE novels by Lisi Harrison:

THE CLIQUE

BEST FRIENDS FOR NEVER

REVENGE OF THE WANNABES

INVASION OF THE BOY SNATCHERS

THE PRETTY COMMITTEE STRIKES BACK

DIAL L FOR LOSER

IT'S NOT EASY BEING MEAN

SEALED WITH A DISS

And keep your eye out for BRATFEST AT TIFFANY'S, coming February 2008.

If you like
THE CLIQUE,
you may also enjoy:

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by
Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain

Secrets of My Hollywood Life
by Jen Calonita

Haters
by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

Betwixt
by Tara Bray Smith

Poseur
by Rachel Maude

For Bill, Ann, and Carrie Harrison, with love. Thank you for your endless support. This one is for you.

OCTAVIAN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY CLASS

Wednesday, February 18th 2:45
P.M.

The thick, breathy smell of the artificial heat that blasted from the classroom's radiators made Massie Block's head pound. And the more her nature-loving geography teacher droned on about the Earth's surface and how it determines the flow of a river, the worse her headache got. Massie closed her eyes and massaged her throbbing temples until Mr. Myner finally had the decency to change the subject and talk about something that the seventh-grade girls at Octavian Country Day School actually cared about.

“Don't forget, Friday is the last day I am accepting checks for the Presidents' Day field trip to Lake Placid.” Mr. Myner rolled up the sleeves on his navy flannel lumber-jack shirt and revealed his muscular, too-tanned-for-February forearms.

Everyone cheered and woo-hooed.

“I am just as thrilled as you are.” Mr. Myner's warm chocolate-brown eyes flickered with pride. “This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about topography, orienteering, and survival skills in the
real
outdoors.”

Massie rolled her eyes. Everyone except Mr. Myner knew this trip had nothing to do with topography or survival skills. It was all about the three days they were going to spend camping in the wild with the Briarwood boys. No parents, no homework, and no Principal Burns.

Anything was possible.

Even Massie found it hard to stay calm. Inside, her stomach felt all jittery, like it had grown wings and was flying around in dizzying circles. And on top of that she was starving.

For the last four days, ever since she'd given Derrick Harrington her rhinestone
M
pin, Massie had been unable to swallow anything other than Diet Dr Pepper, Luna bars, and the occasional reduced-fat Wheat Thin. She was officially hanging out with the star goalie of the Briarwood Academy soccer team, and that idea alone made digestion very difficult.

While Mr. Myner droned on about the majestic beauty of the Adirondacks, Massie made a list called:

FIVE THINGS ABOUT MY CRUSH THAT MAKE IT IM-POSSIBLE FOR ME TO EAT

• His ah-dorable shaggy dirty-blond hair. Love, love, love when it falls in his brown eyes.

• The way he wiggles his butt after he saves a goal in soccer. Ahhhhh-dorable!

• He's the most popular seventh grader at Briarwood. And he likes
me.

• IM'd me on Monday and said I was the cutest girl at OCD. (Take
that
, Alicia Rivera.)

• We'll be spending three days and two nights together in Lake Placid. OMG!

Massie also loved that he called her Block and that she secretly called him Derrington—a combination of his first and last names. They sounded like a gorgeous soap opera couple or a team of notorious outlaws. It was beyond hot.

Block and Derrington.

Block and Derrington.

Block and Derrington.

She was even starting to embrace the fact that he wore shorts in the dead of winter. It was his “thing.” And every famous athlete had to have a “thing,” or else his fans wouldn't have anything to copy. Massie's stomach suddenly tightened at the thought of Derrington surrounded by hordes of shorts-wearing fans, because in this scenario she would be the glamour girl standing by his side. The girl every other girl wanted to be. And nothing was more ahmazing than that.

Massie wiped her sweaty palms on the green corduroy of her Joie cargo pants, then slowly lifted her purple-Swarovski-crystal-covered cell phone out of her side pocket. She waved the phone under her desk until the sparkly rhinestones caught the attention of her BFFs, alerting them that an important text message was on the way. Alicia Rivera, Dylan Marvil, Kristen Gregory, and Claire Lyons nodded. The members of the Pretty Committee were armed and ready to receive.

MASSIE:
Mandatory packing meeting Sunday @ the iPad.

Everyone referred to Massie's bedroom as the iPad because it was all white except for a few purple accents mixed in, purple because it was the official color of royalty.

ALICIA:
Can Olivia come? She's back from 2nd nose job. She'll be on the trip.

Massie couldn't understand what Alicia saw in that bubbly blonde but responded with a nod anyway. She had no choice. Last time she'd given Alicia a hard time for liking the knockoff-scarf-wearing airhead, Alicia had walked out on the Pretty Committee. And Massie didn't want to risk losing her again.

DYLAN:
Need 2 shop. I went down a few sizes since the flu.

Dylan was pinching the skin on her stomach, probably wondering if she had gained any weight since lunch. Massie rolled her eyes. There were a million things Massie wanted to write back, most of them having to do with how ahnnoying Dylan's I'm-so-fat-even-when-I'm-thin routine was, but decided to drop it. Upsetting Dylan would only drive her to eat, and then Massie would have to hear about it even more. Besides, it was nice seeing Dylan with some confidence. If anything, she was much more into shopping than usual, and there was ahb-viously nothing wrong with that.

MASSIE:
Shopping sounds gr8.

CLAIRE:
I in.

Massie giggled to herself. Claire was known for her late text message responses and her misspelled words because she'd only gotten her cell phone in December. If Massie hadn't secretly given it to her for Christmas, Claire would have had to wait until she was sixteen to get one from her parents. And that was
not
an option.

MASSIE:
Kristen?

The girls immediately whipped their heads around and glared at Kristen. She was tugging at the sides of her recently cut-short blond hair, willing it to grow back faster. When she noticed them staring, waiting for her response, Kristen rolled her narrow aqua-colored eyes and lowered her head. Her thumbs quickly moved across her Nokia keypad.

KRISTEN:
My parents still say the $1,500 fee is too much. Won't pay. H8 them.

Kristen always had money issues, and it was a major bummer.

MASSIE:
Even Claire's parents are paying. It's educational.

Claire lifted her head and shot Massie a thanks-a-lot smirk. Massie shrugged innocently and returned to her vibrating phone.

ALICIA:
I'll pay 4 u.

DYLAN:
Me 2.

Kristen's face lit up.

MASSIE:
Me 3. What's one more time?

Massie hit send and lifted her head to nod at whatever Mr. Myner was saying, just in case he was getting suspicious. But he was too caught up in his lecture about shifting glaciers, mighty rivers, and dense pine forests to care about the only part of nature that really mattered, the birds and the bees.

KRISTEN:
Forget it. I'm not going.

DYLAN:
?

ALICIA:
?

CLAIRE:
/

CLAIRE:
Oops. I ment ???

Massie felt a sudden wave of hunger-related nausea whoosh through her entire body. She lowered her arm into her black Prada messenger bag and quietly pinched off a piece of her half-eaten Nutz Over Chocolate Luna bar. She used her fingers to grab onto her bracelet to keep the little gold charms from clanging together. The moment the chocolate-covered rice puffs grazed her lips, her cell phone vibrated. It was Derrington. Massie immediately dropped the Luna chunk back into her bag and pulled the phone close to her face.