WESTCHESTER, NY
THE GOURMET AU LAIT
Monday, October 12th
3:57 P.M.
“So that’s four skinny half-caf lattes and four hot chocolates.” A bored-looking waitress appeared next to Alicia’s table in the very center of the Gourmet Au Lait, Westchester’s newest coffee bar, balancing a tray filled with steaming hand-painted ceramic mugs. She raised a pierced eyebrow at the seven empty seats around the sturdy wooden table.
“Yup, that’s right.” Alicia speed-nodded, hoping the waitress would think she was over-caffeinated, instead of nervous. “Lattes on the left, hot chocolates on the right.”
Customers sitting at the tiny round tables that orbited Alicia’s perch stared as the waitress deposited the drinks. Alicia didn’t bother loudly explaining that her friends would be there any second. Or that she’d had Dean, the family driver, drop her off a good fifteen minutes early. Admitting out loud that she needed prep time would be the opposite of alpha. Real alphas made it look easy. Effortless.
“I’ll be back with your toppings,” the waitress told her.
“’Kay,” Alicia said absently, reaching for her latte immediately. She took a long, recharging sip before returning her red polka-dotted mug to the table. Her friends hadn’t even shown up yet, and already she was starting to feel drained. Coordinating her first big after-school social event in only a few hours had been exhausting. First she’d had to pick a place to meet (she’d gone with the coffeehouse because one, it was the newest hot spot in Westchester, and two, the dim lighting, large wooden tables, and shelves stocked with old books and board games reminded her of her dad’s study, which made her feel at home). Next she’d had to put together a witty text-vite that everyone (especially Josh) would find hilarious, and than had changed into an outfit that screamed “I’m in charge!” (dVb denim, Alexander McQueen military jacket). Plus, she’d gotten there early to scope out the best table (front and center) and order for everyone. All so her friends could show up and have everything taken care of. Just like Alicia used to be able to do, when Massie was in charge.
Alicia wasn’t giving Massie credit for much these days. But she’d give her credit for one thing: Being in charge was way harder than it looked.
“I’m telling you, it’s gonna be pretty sweet.” Cam’s voice rose above the low chatter of the café as he shoved through the front door, followed by Josh, Derrington, and Dempsey. Dylan and Claire were following close behind. “Plovert’s dad’s on the Briarwood board. He said the indoor soccer field’s gonna be, like, one of the best in the country.”
“They imported the grass from Italy,” added Josh.
“Awesome.” Derrington stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets.
Alicia waved to her friends, then slipped on her Juicy Couture Jessica sunglasses so she could roll her eyes behind the tinted lenses. It had been hours since Principal Burns had announced the completion of Briarwood version 2.0. How could the boys still be talking about it like it was a good thing? Like it hadn’t even occurred to them that leaving OCD behind meant leaving the girls behind?
Claire and Dylan waved back as the group wove through the maze of wooden tables to get to their table.
“What’s up?” Josh pulled his NY Yankees cap over his eyes when he reached the table and dropped the soccer ball he’d been carrying to the floor.
“Not much,” Alicia said as casually as possible. She couldn’t help the warmth that was rising to her cheeks. Josh’s slightly wrinkled white collared shirt made him look like he’d just stepped off the pages of a Ralph Lauren ad. “Girls on the left, guys on the right,” she said, as her friends crowded around the table.
But nobody listened. Cam and Claire collapsed into two seats next to each other, and Derrington and Dylan followed suit. Josh slid into the seat to Alicia’s left, and Dempsey sat at the far end of the table.
“Toppings.” The waitress appeared again, lowering her tray. She transferred tiny ceramic bowls filled with flavoring, spices, and sweets to the table. Alicia had preordered those, too.
“Yum!” Dylan’s hand shot out toward the bowl of mini marshmallows, and she heaped half the bowl’s contents into her latte. “Thanks for ordering, Alicia.”
“Welcome.” Alicia nodded like it was no big deal. She glanced at Josh, who tilted back in his chair and flashed her a thumbs-up sign. Her heart revved in her chest. And this time, it wasn’t from caffeine or nerves. This time, it was pure love adrenaline.
“This place is cool.” Claire dunked a cinnamon stick in her finger-painted mug and swirled it around.
Derrington chugged two sips of his hot chocolate, then slammed his mug to the table. “HOTTTT,” he bellowed, sticking out his burnt tongue.
Dylan took a long latte sip. “CHOOOOCOLATE,” she burp-finished, sticking out her tongue at Derrington and wiggling it like he wiggled his butt.
The guys laughed and Cam punched Derrington on the shoulder. Everyone was clearly having fun.
Point, Alicia thought to herself with satisfaction, reaching for the bowl of French vanilla whipped cream. So far, everyone was having fun, and it was all because of her. All the prep had been totally worth it.
“And we’re gonna have a sundae bar in the cafeteria.” Cam was back on Briarwood, talking excitedly to Claire. “None of this nonfat diet fro-yo stuff. Like real ice cream.” Alicia bristled, wishing they made sunglasses for lips so she could cover her frown. After all her planning, the boys should be singing her praises, not the school’s.
“Great.” Claire sighed, blowing dejectedly on her latte.
“That’s nothing, man,” Dempsey chimed in. “The guys’ locker rooms are gonna have flat screens, so we can watch game footage during practice and stuff.”
“Uhn-uhn.” Dylan’s jaw dropped. “Flat screens?” She lifted her mug to her lips and drained the rest of her coffee. “No fair. Do they get cable?”
Derrington nodded.
“So jealous,” Dylan huff-sighed.
“You can come over and watch, too,” Derrington offered. “I mean, if you want.”
Dylan flushed. “Thanks.”
“Well, I heard flat screens give you cancer if you stand too close, but whatever,” Alicia interrupted, annoyed. Maybe she had to accept the fact that Josh was leaving her for a better Briarwood. But she didn’t have to like it. And neither did Dylan.
“Seriously?” Dylan scrunched up her nose, skeptical. “Where did you—”
Alicia kicked her under the table.
“Ooooh,” Dylan said quickly. “Right. I heard that too. This month’s Vogue.”
“Really?” Claire shoved her nail beds in her mouth.
Alicia ignored her. “So isn’t there anything you’re gonna miss about OCD?” she asked, batting her dark lashes at Josh. But he wasn’t listening anymore. None of the boys were. They were too busy running through the rumored list of Briarwood perks to pay any attention to the girls. And if there was one thing Alicia hated more than being ignored, it was the fact that their crushes didn’t seem quite crushed enough about leaving OCD. In fact, they didn’t seem crushed at all.
“Hey, look who’s here!” Dylan was staring over Alicia’s shoulder, waving frantically.
Alicia’s breath caught in her chest. Was Massie behind her? Was she here to take back her friends? To stage a coup and reclaim her place as alpha? She whip-turned around, feeling like a lioness on the National Geographic Channel, about to throw down to protect her pride.
“Hey, guys.” It was just Kristen. Alicia exhaled a sigh of relief.
“You got my text.” Dempsey grinned. “Cool.”
“Yeah.” Kristen’s skin looked pasty, and her shoulders were slumped. Definitely bad sushi.
“What’re you doing here?” Claire asked skeptically. “You don’t look so good.”
“I don’t feel so good,” Kristen admitted. She dumped her Burberry tote next to the empty seat by Dempsey and collapsed into it.
“Are you sure you should even be here?” Alicia wrinkled her nose and scooted her chair six inches back.
“It’s not that.” Kristen sighed. “I’m not sick. Long story.”
“Spill.” Dylan nudged a latte in Kristen’s direction.
Kristen pushed it back. “Okay. But first, there’s something I’ve gotta tell you guys.” She took a deep breath. “Dempsey and I are sort of…” The corners of her mouth were twitching. She looked meaningfully at Alicia, Dylan, and Claire.
“Ehmagawd!” The girls screamed in unison.
Derrington blew bubbles into his hot chocolate, and Dempsey shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The guys scooted their chairs together at the other end of the table, obviously not wanting to be a part of the conversation. “So, ah, are you watching the game tonight?” Josh coughed.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Alicia demanded. This was so big, she almost didn’t care that Kristen was hogging everybody’s attention.
“Have you lip-kissed yet?” Dylan whisper-asked in Kristen’s ear, so the boys couldn’t hear.
“That’s nawt the point,” Kristen protested. “The point is that I just told Massie.” The corners of her mouth dropped instantly.
“Ohhhh.” The girls’ heads bobbed sympathetically as they leaned toward Kristen.
“And now she hates me,” Kristen said softly. “’Cause I stole Dempsey.”
“Hates me too,” Dylan gnawed at her straw. “I stole Derrick.”
Claire tied her bendy brown stir-straw in a knot.
Alicia’s grip tightened around her mug. Why did the girls look so sad? Did they want Massie to forgive them? Did they want her to come back and be their alpha? She had to move fast. Remind them that she was just as good of an alpha as Massie was. Better, even.
“But I don’t want her to hate me,” Kristen said glumly. “So what am I supposed to do?”
Alicia took a long, slow sip of latte, stalling for time. It wasn’t lost on her that Massie would have offered the perfect advice. She always did. Alicia had to think of something good. Fast. She sat up straight and interlaced her fingers in front of her, like her attorney dad did when he was about to approach the bench and say something super important to a judge.
“You should just…” she began.
Kristen and Dylan leaned forward slightly.
But Alicia’s mind was as empty as a bargain bin at a Chloé sample sale. She had no clue what to say. Her friends might as well have been asking her to explain the hard science behind global warming, or the logic of the Jennifer Aniston/ John Mayer hookup/breakup/hookup/breakup. It was impossible to suss out.
“You should just… wait,” she finished. No. Wrong. Alicia’s every hair follicle tightened, and her cheeks felt hot.
“Um… wait?” Kristen tilted her head to the side. “For what?”
Suddenly, Alicia remembered her father’s number one trial tip: Say anything with enough authority, and people will believe you.
“Is it nawt obvious?” she sigh-chided her friends. “You do nothing. No apology texts, voice mails, iChats, or IMs. You didn’t do anything wrong. She’s the one who should be apologizing for being such a control freak. So you wait. And if she ever decides to apologize, you wait some more. Tell her you have to think about it. Make her desperate.” She sat back in her chair, satisfied. Everyone knew the wait for a Massie Block apology would be longer than the wait for a Chanel Biarritz bag. Which meant her friends would need a new alpha indefinitely.
“We wait for Massie to apologize,” Dylan repeated flatly. “Massie… Block.”
“Given,” Alicia said firmly.
“’Kay.” Kristen didn’t look convinced.
“SCOOOORE!” Josh yelled, flicking a napkin paper football across the table and through the goal Dempsey was making with his hands.
The guys cheered. People at nearby tables looked up from their MacBooks, silently shushing the boys with their glares.
Yesterday, Alicia would have been embarrassed. But today, watching Josh go for the field goal almost made her sad. Soon he’d be flicking paper footballs all the way over at Briarwood. Without her.
“So what’re we doing after this?” Dylan retrieved the paper football and wiped away her latte foam mustache with it.
“We gotta head out,” Derrington said. “Practice starts at five.”
“Yeah,” Josh said, shoving back his chair. “Coach makes us run extra laps if we’re late.”
Alicia tensed. Why didn’t the boys look sad to leave? Was everyone not having enough fun?
“You guys should come,” Josh mumbled. Alicia silently forgave him for forgetting to pay attention to her for the past five minutes.
“Okay!” Kristen brightened.
“I don’t know…” Alicia said loudly, nibbling her glossy bottom lip. What made Kristen think she could just decide what they were doing? After all the planning she’d already done? “What are we supposed to do while you guys practice?”
“Watch?” Cam suggested.
She shrugged and pretended to swallow a yawn, like watching the boys execute their Beckham-style scissor kicks was about as appealing as watching grass grow.
“Make you a deal…” Josh said. “Come to practice this afternoon, and I’ll do whatever you want tomorrow.”
“Mani-pedis?” Alicia tried, flashing her most irresistible smile.
Claire giggled.
“Hotz! Come on, man!” Derrington protested, his voice suddenly an octave lower than usual.
“Manicures for guys are so in,” Dylan announced. “I read it in In Style.”
“I dunnooooo,” Derrington said.
“I mean… GQ,” Dylan said quickly. “I read it in GQ.”
“It’s true,” Alicia piped up. “Beckham gets mani-pedis before every game.”
“Right.” Dempsey snorted.
“If we do this, you have to swear not to tell.” Derrington stabbed a mini marshmallow with his fork. “The guys will never let us hear the end of it.”
“Pinky-swear.” Dylan nodded.
“Deal,” Josh said.
“Fine. Deal.” Cam still looked skeptical. “But nobody’s painting my nails.”
Claire giggle-grinned and kicked her Keds back and forth under the table.
Alicia took a deep breath. She’d been waiting for this moment the entire afternoon and was this close to sweating with anticipation. “Deal. And since we’ll be doing stuff as a group, people will definitely be talking about us,” she said with authority. “And it takes so long to say all eight of our names. Soooo, it’ll be easier for everyone if we come up with a name for ourselves.”
“Like what?” Kristen asked. The color had finally seeped back into her cheeks.
The table fell silent.
“The Supreme Team!” Derrington shouted.
“The New Crew?” Kristen suggested.
“The Odd Couples?” Dylan joked.
“Wait.” Alicia touched her index finger to her shellacked lip thoughtfully, as if she was coming up with an ah-mazing idea just that moment—even though she’d been thinking about it all day. Everybody turned toward her. “What about… the Soul-M8s? Since there are eight of us?”
“Love it!” Kristen and Claire squealed in unison.
“Brill,” Dylan added. “Best idea you’ve ever had.”
“Pretty good.” When Josh smiled at her, his dark eyes flashed I heart you.
Alicia flashed I heart you right back. Finally, everything was falling into place. Finally, she had the one thing Massie Block had never had:
A boy-girl clique.
Of course, being the Soul-M8s’ alpha would take a lot of time, focus, and energy. Which she had plenty of, now that the Heart-Nets were no longer necessary.
Alicia could hardly excavate her cell from her burgundy Hype Picasso bag fast enough. She’d held off on disbanding the Heart-Nets until she was sure she had something better. And now she did. She’d make the breakup quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid. And she’d put in it language that her soon-tobe-ex squad could understand.
Alicia: U had the cutest outfits
Ur kicks were super high!
Now the Tomahawks r leaving
It’s time 2 say buh-bye.
Thanks a mil for being true.
But the art-nets r splitsville
(Population: U).
Alicia pressed send and blew on her fingertip like it was a smoking gun. Done, done, and done.
“So let’s get out of here?” Dempsey emptied a packet of brown sugar into his mouth.
“You ready?” Josh asked Alicia, scooping his soccer ball from the floor.
She nodded solemnly. “Yeah.”
As if on cue, her friends shoved back their chairs, slung their bags over their shoulders, and headed for the door.
“Hey.” Claire gripped Alicia’s arm as they exited the café. “Can I ask you something?”
“What’s up?” Alicia murmured, only half listening since she was busy picturing what everyone would say tomorrow when they found out she was the leader of a new crew.
“Do you think it’ll work, us hanging out with the guys all the time?” Claire asked.
“Given.”
“But… I heard boy-girl cliques don’t work.”
Alicia stopped.
So did the rest of the girls.
Alicia relaxed slightly. “What are you, six?” she asked, resuming her walk. “Of course it will work. I’ll pull a Tim Gunn.”
“What?” Claire looked clueless.
“I’ll make it work,” Alicia insisted. And with that she strode ahead of her friends, taking her rightful place at the head of the group.