Part 9 (1/2)
”And she's being all she's being all un un toward the DSL Daters.” Ripple kicked a cigarette b.u.t.t with her clear jellies. ”She's dismantling the group. Says she only wants to hang with dancers now.” toward the DSL Daters.” Ripple kicked a cigarette b.u.t.t with her clear jellies. ”She's dismantling the group. Says she only wants to hang with dancers now.”
”And?”
”Annnnnnnddddd I want you to be my tutor again so I can get Ma.s.sie-fied. I'm offering you your old job back. You'll get to see I want you to be my tutor again so I can get Ma.s.sie-fied. I'm offering you your old job back. You'll get to see Duuuu-uuuuune Duuuu-uuuuune.”
The heat on the roof suddenly seemed unbearable.
”Forget the job.” Kristen lifted her hair and fanned he back of her neck. ”I'll tell you what you need to know for free.”
Ripple speed-nodded and air-clapped. ”I'm ready.” Her mouth hung open, ready to gobble up whatever Kristen had to offer.
”Ma.s.sie thinks wannabes are LBRs minus ten.”
Ripple crinkled her brows in confusion.
”If she thinks you're trying to be like her, she won't like you. She only likes people who like themselves. And she only respects people who like themselves more than they like her. You have to accept who you are and own it. So if you're living your life to impress other people, which is what you're you're doing-” doing-”
”And what you're you're doing,” Ripple snapped. doing,” Ripple snapped.
Ouch!
Her accusation hit Kristen like a much-needed bucket of ice water. For a dumb nine-year-old, Ripple was kind of smart.
”Correction-it's what I was was doing.” Kristen jammed her toe under her soccer ball, flipped it up, and caught it. ”Those days are over. Cla.s.s dismissed.” doing.” Kristen jammed her toe under her soccer ball, flipped it up, and caught it. ”Those days are over. Cla.s.s dismissed.”
THE PINEWOOD.
KRISTEN'S ROOM Thursday, July 23 11:33 A.M.
”THE COMMITTEE IS a.s.sEMBLED,” announced the computer-generated voice.
Kristen sat at her white IKEA desk and lowered her eyes, unable to face what she had done, or the people she had done it to.
EINSTEIN (Layne Abeley) BILL GATES (Danh Bondok) Disguise: tweed coat, bushy mustache, wiry gray wig Disguise: gla.s.ses, light blue b.u.t.ton-down, dark blue blazer Expertise: physics Expertise: technology OPRAH (Rachel Walker) SHAKESPEARE (Aimee Snyder) Disguise: wavy black wig, gold hoop earrings, pumpkin orange blouse Disguise: gray bald-in-the-front, curly-in-the-back wig, mustache, white collar sticking out of a black cloak Expertise: anthropology (the study of humankind, not the cute and affordable shabby-chic store) Expertise: affairs of the heart and the Romance languages
”What do we stand for?” she asked under the cover of her Cleopatra wig.
”BOB,” they answered.
”And what does BOB stand for?”
”Brains over beauty!”
Kristen sighed and then decided to just say it. ”I am officially resigning as the leader of the Witty Committee,” she told the gra.s.s-stained hem of her white silk G.o.ddess dress.
”What? Why?” Bill Gates screeched. His unconstrained pa.s.sion forced Kristen to lift her eyes. ”We thought you called the meeting to thank us.” Bill Gates screeched. His unconstrained pa.s.sion forced Kristen to lift her eyes. ”We thought you called the meeting to thank us.”
”Well, that too.” Kristen felt like she had one of David Beckham's fur b.a.l.l.s in the back of her throat. ”What you did for me last night was-”
”Not last night, girl.” Oprah shook her head. ”Today.” ”Today.”
”What are you talking about?”
”Skye got her acceptance letter to Alphas this morning, didn't you hear?” Shakespeare smirked. ”And I am pleased to say I wrote her entire essay with a quill.”
Einstein, Oprah, and Bill applauded.
Kristen grinned but wasn't exactly sure why. ”What did you do?”
”I got rid of her for good.” Shakespeare smiled. ”Heaven knows I was no help when it came to last night's tech circus. So I contributed in my own way and wrote a brilliant essay in iambic pentameter.”
”Seriously?” Kristen grabbed the sides of the screen and kissed it like it was Aimee's face. ”I thought you guys were mad at me.”
”We were,” Layne said, using her best German Einstein accent. ”But after the Witty Committee rescued me from the country club cops, we thought about all the stupid things we did when we were in crush mode. And we decided to forgive you.”
”Like what?” Kristen giggled in antic.i.p.ation.
”You know the hole I drilled in the pipes at Briarwood?” Layne smiled sheepishly. ”The one that caused the wave pool to leak and destroy the whole facility?”
Kristen speed-nodded. She had no idea where this was going, but she certainly remembered getting the news before summer break that the boys' school had collapsed and was submerged underwater.
”Well, I did it because I wanted my crush, Dempsey, to go to OCD.” Her cheeks turned bright red. Surrounded by the silver wig, she looked like a Christmas tree ornament draped in tinsel.
”No way way!” Kristen covered her mouth in shock. ”How did you know it would work?”
”The OCD manifest states that in the case of emergency, one school will take in the other.” Layne shrugged. ”It was a no-brainer. He gets back from Bali mid-September. I can't wait to tell him the news. I've already reserved a locker for him next to mine.”
Kristen's hand was still on her mouth as she shook her head in utter disbelief.
”And I intercepted Skye's first essay so she'd stay in Westchester.” Bill Gates dabbed his forehead with a screen-cleaning cloth.
”Since when do you like Skye Skye?” Kristen squealed, feeling one percent jealous. Even though she didn't like Danh in that that way, she liked that he liked her. And she loved that he liked her more than Skye. way, she liked that he liked her. And she loved that he liked her more than Skye.
”I don't.” Bill's neck was starting to break out in red blotches.
”Tell her,” Oprah gently nudged. her,” Oprah gently nudged.
”I like you you,” he blurted. ”I was hoping she'd stay here, Dune would stay with her, and you'd be free.”
”Amunity playhouse would be lucky times ten to land a girl like Layne.