What If... All Your Friends Turned On You (5 page)

“Well, when you put it that way …,” Cecily said.

“And you, Haley.” Coco was on a roll now. “I'll admit that in some ways Reese Highland is untouchable. Yes, he's gorgeous and smart and a star athlete. And he always seemed to be such a good guy. But now look at him: parade a swimsuit model in front of him and he can't keep his filthy hands off her. Ask yourself, Haley: how well do you really know Reese? To me, these pictures say none of us ever knew him very well at all. He's got a secret dark side, and that's not what you deserve.”

“Well, I am disappointed in him, it's true,” Haley said. She had trusted Reese, she'd believed in him, and now she did doubt his integrity. Not only that, she wondered if he ever really cared about her in the first place or if he was just stringing her along.

“In a way, this is our own fault,” Coco said. “We haven't been living up to our own fabulous potential. But that's all going to change, starting tonight.” She began paging through a magazine, searching for ideas. “When those boys get back to Hillsdale, we are going to look hotter than they've ever seen us. They're going to drop to their knees. And that's when we're going to deliver the knee to the face. Boys, get ready to face the dumping squad!”

Coco raised her champagne flute. The other girls followed suit. “This is it, girls. New year, new you, new boys!”

“New year, new you, new boys!” echoed Whitney, Cecily, Sasha and Haley. They all clinked glasses.

Coco pointed them all to an article called “The Ultimate Detox.” “I'm going to start with this,” she announced. “Starting tomorrow I'm on a ten-day juice cleanse. It's the perfect new beginning. I'll purge myself of toxins—including the toxic bachelor Spencer Eton—and lose a quick few diet-starter pounds in the bargain. It's win-win. Who's with me?”

Sasha took the magazine and read about the benefits of the cleanse. “‘Follow this regime to the letter and you'll have more energy than you ever thought possible, skin like a newborn baby's, brighter eyes, a stronger immune system, greater mental clarity, increased self-confidence and, on top of everything else, the pounds will just fall away.' Sounds almost like magic.”

“I know,” said Coco. “And it's going to change our lives.”

New year, new you … it's a natural way to feel on January 1. But isn't Coco taking this spirit to the extreme? Maybe that's the only option when your boyfriend has just been caught snuggling with supermodels in the
Caribbean. If you're going to make a change, why not go all the way?

But will Haley decide to go along with this extreme regime? And if so, how far will she take it?

There's a big question looming here: why was Haley invited to join this little dinner party so late in the game? The most powerful clique at Hillsdale High—the Coco-Whitney-Sasha triumvirate—has officially reunited, taking Cecily Watson as its chosen mascot. So if three is a crowd, and four is a nice round number, what's five? Now that the Cocopuffs are back together and have adopted Cecily, will there be room in the power circle for Haley to take a seat?

The one thing Coco demands from her acolytes is that they conform to her sense of fabulousness. Haley can do that if she tries hard enough. The question is, does she want to? What does she have to gain, and what does she have to lose?

If you think Haley had better try harder to fit in with Coco's crowd before Cecily edges her out, turn to,
THE COCO CLEANSE
.

When you throw in your lot with Coco, it's all or nothing. If you don't do things Coco's way, first she gets mad and then she gets even. If you think Haley isn't so sure about the crazy fad diets and bizarre skin care rituals—which might not be the healthiest path to take, especially given Coco's history of extreme control issues—have Haley approach
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
. She'll risk losing her place in the Hillsdale pecking order, but she has to ask herself if popularity is worth the high price
.

Coco may be the most powerful girl at Hillsdale High, but she's not the only game in town. Alex Martin is interning at the governor's mansion, and that comes with a power of its own—power that goes way beyond the machinations of Hillsdale High. The fact that Alex is smart enough to land a plum internship with Mrs. Eton is impressive, and the inaugural ball is sure to be the social event of the season whether Coco De Clerq is in attendance or not. Besides, Alex does have a certain conservative charm, and Haley knows for a fact he has a soft spot for her. If you think Haley should find out what really goes on at the governor's mansion, turn to,
POLITICAL PREP
, and help Alex set up for the big inaugural ball
.

Lots of people resolve to improve themselves around the new year, but those resolutions don't always stick. This is Haley's chance to make some real changes in her life, to decide who she is and who she wants to be. Some of those changes are bound to be permanent, so choose carefully, or Haley could end up wishing she'd spent New Year's Eve at home alone with a pint of ice cream
.

“W
ant to hear the latest Darcy dirt?” Irene asked, barely able to contain herself.

“Ugh, not really,” Haley said, but she leaned forward anyway. Haley had stopped in at Hap's Diner for a grilled cheese sandwich on her way home from returning an unwanted Christmas sweater. Now that Gam Polly had a full-time boyfriend, she was too busy to knit any more of her infamous barnyard-creature sweaters, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, she still liked to give presents. Gam had
gotten the idea that puce was the “in” color for spring this year, and had sent sweaters for the entire family in that unflattering hue. Both of Haley's parents were too busy to drive her to the mall that afternoon to exchange hers, so Haley had to take the bus. She couldn't wait until she could finally get her driver's license—only a month or so away.

The mall had been a zoo, so Haley decided she needed fortification before making her way back to Camp Tofu, otherwise known as home. Irene happened to be at Hap's with her boyfriend, Shaun Willkommen, sharing a milk shake. Actually, Irene was sharing one of Shaun's three milk shakes. Now that Shaun was on the track team, he had an excuse to eat like a bear. Haley perched next to them at the counter.

“I don't see what's so terrible about Darcy,” Shaun said. “She's always nice to me.”

Irene rolled her eyes. “You're such a boy.”

Shaun grinned and rubbed his blond crew cut. “What's wrong with that?”

“I'll tell you what's wrong with it,” Irene said. “Boys never see past the surface of things. They're too easily fooled.”

Shaun shrugged and slurped his vanilla shake. “Whatever works. If being a girl means analyzing every move some chick makes and dreaming up a scheme to go with it, I'll stay on Boy Island, thanks. Dang if I gots the energy.”

“What are you talking about?” Haley said. “You've got more energy than anyone I know. By the way, I saw you on Channel Seven News last week. Nice parallel parking job.”

Shaun had ridden his father's lawn mower into Manhattan and parked it in front of Radio City Music Hall before going in to see the Christmas show. A news van spotted him and interviewed him, then filmed him driving the mower into the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel.

“What can I say? I love the Rockettes.” That was Shaun's idea of an explanation.

“Ugh,” Irene said. “Darcy's cheap tricks are starting to work on Devon. Do you know, yesterday she waltzed into Jack's and told Devon that a movie scout had approached her about playing a teen runaway, and so she needed a sexy costume for the audition?” Devon, everyone knew, worked part-time at Jack's Vintage Clothing to earn extra money, and Haley had often invented her own clothing needs just to have an excuse to stop by and see him. “He spent hours helping her try on trashy clothes, and meanwhile the whole story turned out to be a big fat lie.”

“So she bogused a movie deal to hang with the guy,” Shaun said. “Eiggib on.”

“Ugh!” Irene gasped, exasperated. Even Haley knew Shaun well enough by now to know that “Eiggib on” was backwards for “No biggie.” Shaun
liked to talk backwards occasionally. It was one of his quirks. “Darcy never comes out and says she wants to be with Devon. She's always got some phony reason she has to be near him. It's totally manipulative. And it's working. Devon's at the point now that whenever we ask him to do something his first response is ‘Sure, I'll see if Darcy can come.' And you think I like hanging out with that little pervy twerp?”

“This is worse than I thought.” Haley put down her sandwich. She'd been feeling kind of territorial toward Devon in the past few days, thinking she should be the one cooing over veggie dumplings with him, not Darcy Podowski. But she'd always figured that sooner or later, he'd get tired of Darcy's tricks and come to his senses. Lately, though, it was abundantly clear that Darcy was actually getting to Devon; she was a real threat, and it was time for Haley to quit fooling around and step up to the challenge.

“Take my advice, Haley,” Irene said. “Make an effort here, or you'll lose Devon to Darcy for good. And nobody wants to see that happen. Certainly not me and Shaun.”

“Speak for yourself, woman. I dig the pervy twerp.” Irene punched him in the shoulder. “Okay, fine, you want to worm your way into their little mud hut and cool down whatever's been heating up between 'em, I get it.” Haley and Irene stared at
Shaun, surprised. “What? I listen, I pay attention. I can scheme with the best of them. I happen to think it's a huge waste of milliseconds, but …”

“Shaun the love guru,” Irene said.

“No, no, maybe he's right,” Haley said. “You know, keep your friends close, and keep your enemies—”

“On a choke leash chained to the garage,” Shaun interrupted. “That's right.”

“You aren't seriously thinking of listening to him, are you?” Irene asked.

“What else am I supposed to do? Devon and Darcy are probably doing it as we speak.”

“If that's the case, they got one interesting mating dance,” Shaun said. “They're coming this way. Ti t'nsi, ecnedicnioc ynnuf a s'taht?”

“It's a small town, Shaun,” Haley said.

“Too small,” Irene added.

Devon and Darcy strolled into the diner and waved at Irene, Shaun and Haley. Devon started toward them to say hello, but Darcy grabbed his sleeve and said, “Quick! A booth just opened up!” and dragged him away.

“See what I mean?” Irene said.

“That was cold,” Shaun said. “Let a guy say yoyo to his friends, at least, before you give him the cat's cradle.”

Haley finished her sandwich, trying not to glance
in Devon's direction. But she didn't need to look—Shaun was happy to give her the play-by-play.

“Devon started to sit down across from Darcy, but she's making him sit on the same side as her,” Shaun said. “Here comes the waitress with their water … ooh! Darcy's pulling the old ‘I spilled water on my T-shirt' trick. ‘Devon, will you help me wipe it off?'” Shaun put on a girly voice for Darcy's lines, then switched to a deep boy voice. “‘Sure, Darcy, anything for you….'”

“We don't need you to do the voices, Dr. Seduction,” Irene said. “I feel like I'm listening to a puppet show.”

“Now they're ordering…. Darcy's saying, ‘I'll have a big heaping helping of Devon! Mmm … mmm … good.'”

“Okay, Shaun, that's enough,” Irene said. “Haley, time to make your move. Why don't you amble on over there and ask the two of them if they want to do something this weekend? Say, go to the Strand to see the latest foreign film? I believe they're showing
Days of the Sun, Nights of the Moon
. It's in Russian. Devon will love it, and Darcy won't be able to get past the subtitles. It's perfect.”

Haley couldn't miss the wicked grin on Irene's face. “Good idea. I've seen it ten times. It's part of my dad's permanent archives.” She got up and straightened her skirt.

Shaun used his girly voice again: “Now Darcy's
saying, ‘Hey Devon, want to see my latest piercing? Bet you can't guess where it is….'”

“Quit it, Shaun,” Irene said.

Haley walked over to the booth and slid in across from Devon and Darcy. “Hey, guys,” she said casually. “What's up?”

“Just ordering some chow,” Devon said.

“I'm addicted to the fries here,” Darcy said.

“They're great, aren't they?” Haley said. “You know, I don't get to see you guys enough. Want to go to a movie this weekend, just the three of us?”