Revenge of the Wannabes Read Online Free PDF

Alicia held on with all her might and ripped the bracelet right off Massie’s wrist.
    The tiny bell, the Eiffel Tower, the miniature black pug, the white-gold horse, three stars, and her favorite charm of all, the diamond-encrusted gold crown, scattered and bounced across the carpet like a handful of dice. Massie fell to her hands and knees. She needed to get that crown back.
    Massie could hear the girls in the class snickering but didn’t dare look up. She was too humiliated. Why wasn’t Joel getting involved? Why was Alicia
doing
this to her? Why wouldn’t everyone stop laughing?
    “Looking for this?” Alicia said, standing over Massie. She slowly opened her fist and revealed a sparkly gold crown in the center of her palm. Massie reached for it, but Alicia closed her fist and stuffed it in the front pocket of her Ralph Lauren suede pants. She let out a maniacal laugh, grabbed the Prada shoulder bag off the back of her chair, and strolled out of the classroom, looking calm and confident.
    Massie was still on her hands and knees gathering her charms when all eighteen girls stood up and applauded for Alicia. Even Joel was clapping.
    “Why are you taking
her
side?” Massie shouted. “She started this.”
    But everyone kept clapping.
    Massie tilted her neck back, hoping the tears would fall back inside her head, but they were coming too quickly now and couldn’t be stopped. When the first one managed to escape and roll down her cheek, Massie surrendered. She had no choice. She curled up on the floor and broke into loud sobs in front of the entire class.
    Suddenly she felt a light tickle on the back of her neck, but she refused to react. It could be a trap. But when Massie felt it again, she looked up. For some odd reason, she was back in her seat.
    “What?” she snapped.
    “You dropped this on the floor when you nodded off,” Joel hissed. He was holding Massie’s fuzzy purple pen between his fingertips like it was a dirty pair of underwear from the lost and found. “I’ll try to make things more interesting for you next time, Ms. Block.”
    “Thanks,” Massie said as she took it. “You know, for the pen, not for making class more interesting.”
    The girls in the class burst out laughing. They didn’t realize she was being sincere, but Massie didn’t care. At least they were laughing with her, not at her.
    Joel shook his head and then walked away. Massie curled in toward her desk and examined the pen like she was on
CSI Westchester.
There were no signs of it getting crushed under Alicia’s boots or dragged across the carpet by Massie’s heel. It was in perfect condition.
    Massie grabbed her wrist and instantly breathed a sigh of relief. The diamond-encrusted crown was exactly where it was supposed to be, on her charm bracelet right between the pug and the stars. It was all just a dream. …
    Or was it an omen? Massie rolled her pen between her palms, thinking about Alicia and how to keep that dream from becoming a reality.
    Finally the bell rang, marking the end of history and the beginning of World War III.

O CTAVIAN C OUNTRY D AY S CHOOL L UNCHTIME
    12:30 PM
November 14th
    The minute the lunch bell rang, Alicia gathered her books and bolted out of history class. She couldn’t handle another nasty confrontation with Massie. She’d tried her best not to cry after Massie called her an EW and even managed to put on a happy face while Massie was spying on her with her compact mirror. But she didn’t know how much longer she could keep her cool. Thankfully it was time for her to meet Olivia and head into Manhattan for the
Teen Vogue
interview. She needed to get out of OCD for a while.
    “How was history?” Olivia asked when Alicia arrived at their meeting spot by the alumni photos. “Did you talk to her?”
    “Nope, now let’s go before we see her. She always goes by here on her way to the Café.”
    “Let’s go out the back,” Olivia said.
    “Done.” Alicia put her gray wool coat on while they