What If... All Your Friends Turned On You (11 page)

They turned to find themselves face to face with Spencer Eton, Mrs. Eton's dissolute son. His face looked puffy and bleary and he reeked of alcohol.
What a way to behave at your mother's inauguration
, Haley thought.
Mrs. E. is not going to like this one bit
.

“Hey, Spencer,” Alex said. “Haven't seen you all night. Where's Coco?”

Haley elbowed Alex but it was too late. Spencer scowled. “‘Where's Coco? Where's Coco?' How come everybody keeps asking about Coco? You'd think they'd rather see her here than me.”

Haley glanced back at Mrs. Eton, who'd clearly overheard the conversation. Mrs. Eton rose to her feet and glided over to join them. “Are you still mooning?” she said to Spencer. “This breakup has caused entirely too much trouble in this family at the
worst possible moment. Could that girl not have waited another week? Spencer, darling, you're better off without her, believe me.”

“No girl has ever broken up with me,” Spencer said, to no one in particular. “And have you seen her lately? She looks better than she did when we were dating.”

“Oh, enough about her,” Mrs. Eton said. “If only …” She turned to Alex and pulled him aside. “Young man, I've got a very important job for you. Ever since that girl broke up with my son, he's been a wreck. The whole episode has hurt his self-image. He needs to be back on top. You go to school with them. Isn't there something you could do?”

“But Mrs. Eton,” Alex protested, “I don't think I have the power to—”

“You'll find a way because you have to, Alex,” Mrs. Eton said. “Trust me. This is your first real lesson in politics—and real politics is cutthroat politics. It's what goes on behind the scenes, not what the public sees. Do I have your word?”

“Um,” Alex said, “I'm sure I can think of something.”

Spencer continued to sulk in the corner. Mrs. Eton patted him on the cheek and walked away. Haley stared after her, stunned. Was this how New Jersey's taxpayers' money would be spent—helping restore Spencer Eton's social status?

Haley has made a wonderful impression on a lot of important people tonight. Is she cut out for politics, as Alex said? Or is her flirtation with state power just a one-night fling?

If you think the inauguration has been an exciting evening for Haley, and one that will lead to a great future for her, turn to,
COLLEGE BOUND
. If you think the political system at high school is far more entertaining than talking issues with a bunch of suits, see what the lead-tongued leader of Hillsdale High has to say on,
PRINCIPAL CRUM'S LITANY
.

Finally, if you don't like the way Mrs. Eton is meddling in her son's private life—and dragging Alex into it by employing him to get Spencer back on top—side with Team Coco on,
STICK WITH THE SISTERHOOD
.

“T
his is it, girls,” Coco commanded. “D-day. Everyone into formation.”

Haley, Sasha and Cecily lined up beside Coco in a fighter-pilot V formation and prepared to march through Hillsdale High on their search-and-destroy-relationships mission. Coco had made sure they all looked their hottest for maximum impact. She had personally supervised Haley's makeup application by Whitney at the health club that morning and loaned
her a miniskirt, saying that the slim knee-length dress Haley had originally chosen was too conservative.

“We need to make their eyeballs pop out,” Coco reminded the girls. They were a team of gleaming, shiny-haired, toned, lip-glossed beauties by the time they stepped into the breezeway, their smoking looks matched only by their appetite for destruction.

The sea of students parted as the girls marched through the crowd. “There's Drew,” Coco said, homing in on the cute football star. “Go, Cecily.”

Cecily peeled off from the group and pinned Drew against the wall as the rest of the girls walked past without breaking stride. Haley glanced back and caught a glimpse of Drew's horrified face as Cecily broke the news: they were splitsville.

“One down,” Coco said triumphantly. “Three to go.”

Sasha saw Johnny Lane headed for his locker and veered out of formation to nab him there. Again Haley couldn't resist glancing back. Sasha was coldly dumping Johnny as—shock of shocks—he actually started tearing up. He tried to pull Sasha into a hug but she ruthlessly pushed him away, turned her back and walked off. The carnage the girls were leaving in their wake was impressive, Haley thought.

“Come on, Haley, don't slow down now,” Coco barked. “No second thoughts. We all agreed, and this is what's best for everybody. For those of us with two X chromosomes anyway. Now march!”

Left, right, left, right … Big target up ahead: Spencer Eton.

“This one's mine,” Coco muttered. She flew at him like a bee going in for the killer sting. His smile faded fast when he saw her expression and turned to utter shock when she slapped him right across the face.

Good old Coco
, Haley thought.
Gets right to the point
.

The first three victims went down hard. Haley started feeling a little nervous as her target, Reese, loomed up ahead. Her mind suddenly emptied. What would she say to him? What did Coco tell her to say? She couldn't remember.

Reese's face lit up when he saw her. That threw her. Instead of going in for the kill, Haley stopped dead in her tracks. Could she really go through with this?

You have to
, she told herself.
All the other girls did. They're counting on you
.

“Haley!” Reese said happily. He hurtled toward her, threw his arms around her and enveloped her in a bear hug. Her muscles, so tense just a second earlier, warmed and relaxed at his touch.

“I'm so glad to see you! I missed you so much.”
He pulled back and gazed at her face with real affection. She felt more confused than ever.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, ever sensitive and able to read her. “Listen, I know some rumors have been going around about what happened in Nevis. I've been trying to talk to you about it but you never returned my calls!”

“I know,” Haley said.

“I've got to tell you what happened,” he said. “I know you'll believe me.” Haley braced herself for whatever was coming—but it turned out to be not as bad as she expected.

Speak
, Haley told herself.
Say something. Now's the time when you break the news to him: he's officially dumped
.

But the words wouldn't come. She felt conflicted, and then there was his adorable smile tugging at her heart…. Her stupid heart, definitely her weak spot. Why couldn't she be cold and strong like the other girls? But they had it easy. They only had to dump ordinary boys. They didn't have to try to resist someone as special as Reese. He was so good-looking, so charming, and when he spoke of how he missed her he seemed so sincere….

No
, she thought,
it's a trap. He knows exactly what he's doing. I've got to speak up…
.

But before she had a chance to say a word, he leaned in to kiss her. This was her last chance. She could kiss him back … or turn away for good.

Haley needs to get up the nerve to act, pronto, or else abort the mission. If she can't pull the trigger on Reese, if she doesn't have the nerve to go through with their D-day plans, what will the other girls think? After they broke the hearts of Drew, Spencer and Johnny, what will they say if Haley wimps out?

On the other hand … it's Reese. He's always been different, not just one of the guys. Maybe he does have a good explanation for why he was photographed with a hot girl on his lap. Haley has always thought of Reese as a fine, upstanding citizen—too upstanding, sometimes—and generally a good, honest guy. He brought up Nevis before she even had a chance to say anything. Doesn't that point to his innocence? Or does it point to his cunning—trying to dismiss the subject before Haley even had a chance to call him on it, and then using his physical magnetism to push aside her fears?

If you think Haley is only human after all and that she can't resist the temptation of Reese's pillow-soft lips, have her enter into a
RAPID RECONCILIATION
with him. If you think there is no way Haley is going to be the only one to let down the girls and break their sisterhood pact,
STICK WITH THE SISTERHOOD
. Finally, if you think Haley wishes she could snap her fingers and make all her boy problems disappear, head to,
PRINCIPAL CRUM'S
LITANY, to distract her with issues that might be bigger than her own
.

Reese's kisser is headed straight for Haley's. She can either turn her head or meet him halfway. It's up to you
.

H
aley went into her mother's bathroom and stared at the vintage doctor's scale next to the sink. Joan Miller had scored the scale at an antique show back in California. Haley hadn't weighed herself in a while; she usually didn't feel the need to. But all this talk lately about models and bikinis and diets had made her think it might be time to check on her poundage.

She stepped onto the scale and moved the lead weights to the usual numbers. Her eyes widened as
the arrow clanked heavily upward. Apparently she'd put on a few pounds.

Or maybe not, she thought, glancing down at her jeans and heavy winter sweater. Maybe it was just her clothes that had gotten heavier. She took everything off and stepped onto the scale again. That was a little better, but not much. Haley couldn't believe her eyes. Could that number really be right?

It's an old scale
, she told herself.
It could be out of whack
.

But her mother weighed herself on this scale every day, and seemed to trust it. Haley decided to give it one more chance.

She exhaled and stepped on one more time. The arrow balanced in the same place as before: no change. She couldn't kid herself anymore: she weighed more than she ever had in her life.

Okay, so I put on a few pounds
, Haley told herself.
I'm a growing girl
. After a holiday filled with sweet treats—not in the Miller house, of course, but at various holiday parties around town—and a few too many Golden Dynasty dinners, who wouldn't gain a little weight?

She looked at herself in the full-length mirror and pinched a bit of skin at her waistline. She had to face facts. The weight gain was nothing a woolly winter sweater couldn't hide, but she had to admit she wasn't at her ideal fighting weight. But did it really matter? And if so, what should she do about it?

If you think Haley feels insecure after her breakup with Reese and that gaining weight is the last thing she wants to deal with, take it to the extreme and have her try to shed ten pounds superfast,
SLIMMING EFFECT
.