Revenge of the Wannabes by Lisi Harrison

strand of blonde hair around her index finger.
    Massie and Claire took turns telling the girls about their phone call with Lucinda, how they pretended to be Alicia and Olivia, the photos they sent in, and the possibility of crashing the
Teen Vogue
modeling shoot. Massie hadn’t wanted to tell her friends about the plan until she’d spent the weekend finalizing it.
    “Lucinda just has to approve our pictures and we’re IN,” Massie said. She couldn’t wait to hear them scream.
    “What picture did you send of me?” Dylan said. She was stabbing the leftover sesame seeds on Kristen’s plate with her fingernail.
    “That’s all you have to say?” Massie ripped a piece of tape off the spool and stuck it haphazardly to the CD she was wrapping.
    “Well, I don’t want them to think I’m faaat,” Dylan said.
    “Puh-lease. Do you think I’m a total amateur?” Massie said. “Of course I Photoshopped the pictures before I sent them. We all look ah-mazing.”
    “When is the shoot?” Kristen asked. “It’s not on a school night, is it?”
    “We thought you’d be excited about this,” Claire said.
    Massie was impressed with Claire for chiming in. Obviously she was way more loyal than Alicia.
    “I’m
fully
excited,” Kristen said with a genuine smile. “It’s just that I kinda got this after-school job. …” Her voice drifted off. She gently nudged the holly on her present until it was in the perfect position.
    “What? Why do you have an after-school job?” asked Dylan. “What are you
doing?
”
    Kristen displayed her gift like a game show hostess. “Gift wrapping at the mall. It’s just until New Year’s.”
    “
Why?
It’s not like you need the money.” Massie licked a green envelope and sealed her card inside. “Your dad is one of the richest art dealers in the country.”
    “It’s not about money; it’s about building
character,
” Kristen said as she squirmed in her chair, then sat on her hands. “At least that’s what my parents say.”
    “My dad says things like that all the time,” Claire said to Kristen.
    Kristen winked at Claire, like they shared some kind of secret, but Massie quickly dismissed it. She refused to let her fight with Alicia make her paranoid.
    “Your parents can be so ah-nnoying,” Massie said.
    Kristen shrugged.
    “So Massie, don’t we get two hundred dollars if they pick us?” Claire asked.
    “Oh yeah,” Massie said. “I forgot all about that.”
    “That will help your
character
even more, won’t it, Kristen?” Dylan said.
    “At least the job taught me how to wrap,” Kristen said, looking at the crumpled lump of metallic red paper on Dylan’s lunch tray. It looked more like Massie’s sloppy turkey burger than a candle.
    Massie was suddenly overcome by a strong whiff of perfume. She leaned across the table and sniffed Dylan’s candle to see if maybe it was scented.
    “Get your hands off my present, you big molester,” Dylan said, pinching Massie’s hand.
    “Ouch.” Massie laughed, but she wouldn’t let go.
    “What’s going on here?” Alicia stood facing Massie at the opposite end of the table. Olivia was beside her and they were both holding a plate of California rolls.
    “That explains the stench,” Massie said, taking her hand off Dylan’s present and sitting back in her seat.
    Alicia was wearing a tight pink V-necked sweater, a pair of ultra-low-rise Frankie B. jeans, and a ridiculous black mesh tube top around her waist. Olivia was dressed the exact same, only her V-neck was baby blue.
    “We should keep wrapping.” Claire looked down at the sparkly orange pencil case on her lap. “The gift exchange is in five minutes.”
    “Oops, I totally spaced,” Alicia said. She pulled a chair over from another table and forced her way between Claire and Kristen. She tapped the seat as if to say, “Come share,” and Olivia squeezed in beside her.
    Massie was itching to ask them what they were wearing around their butts, but she refused to