Birthday Vicious Read Online Free Page B

go home tonight and thank your parents for keeping you away from Miss Gamble’s.”
    â€œActually, I think that’s pretty cool she’s so good at games,” Cecily began, her face flushing.
    A chick? Since when did Tri call her a “chick”? A. A. was furious. “You’re embarrassing yourself,” she told Tri. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size ?”
    Now it was Tri’s turn to go red. He was pretty sensitive these days about being the shortest seventh grader at Gregory Hall.
    â€œI can’t believe you guys are letting all this great food go to waste,” said Hunter, greedily eying A. A.’s plate again. “I thought you were hungry.”
    â€œI’ve lost my appetite.” A. A. pushed her plate away.
    â€œAlert the media,” mumbled Tri, sullenly picking up the soggy remains of a bun and pushing it into his mouth. A. A. was furious with him. How dare he be so rude to her in front of Cecily? And in front of her own boyfriend? Tri should know better than to mess with someone twice his height and triple his intelligence. If this was the way he wanted to play it, then okay.
    Tri wanted war? A. A. would give him war.

4
LAUREN FINDS DOUBLE-DEALING JUST LEADS TO DOUBLE TROUBLE
    THE SLEEK TESLA CONTINENTAL PURRED up to the main gates of Miss Gamble’s and slid into one of the spaces reserved for dropping off and picking up pupils—all of the spaces empty now, because it was eleven on a Monday morning and school had been in session for a couple of hours. Lauren Page, in the Tesla’s backseat, leaned forward for a last-minute check of her hair and lip gloss in the console mirror.
    She’d just been to the dentist, and she had to make sure there was no trace of anything powdery or sticky around her mouth. Last year she wouldn’t have thought twice about this: She’d have been rubbing her sore jaw, or obsessing over being late for class. But that was then, and this was now.
    Once upon a time, Lauren had dreaded Monday mornings. She used to dread walking up to the main gates of Miss Gamble’s, because that meant walking past the Ashleys. Every morning they’d be posed on a stone bench by the playground like vengeful Greek goddesses, scrutinizing every girl as she arrived, making snide comments about the way they wore their school uniform or their hair.
    Before this semester, Lauren came to school on the bus, not in a Bentley. Her heart would thud as she got off one stop early—so none of the other girls would see her taking public transportation. When she approached the school, she would put her head down and scurry by as quickly as she could, wishing she were invisible.
    And usually she was invisible to the Ashleys; they were far more concerned with wannabes and potential style rivals than hopeless cases. Because that was exactly what Lauren used to be—a hopeless case. Frizzy hair, bad skin, thick glasses, baby fat, no makeup, secondhand clothes. Someone no one paid attention to, whose name was only mentioned at school prize-giving, when she snagged all the awards.
    Then, last summer, Lauren’s computer-nerd father hit the Silicon Valley gold mine. She got tanned, toned,and terrific, and everything changed. She made it her goal to join the most exclusive clique in school: the Ashleys. There’d been some speed bumps along the way—winning over the trio of baby barracudas wasn’t easy. But for now, she was IN. She was one of them.
    It was all part of her secret master plan: to bring the Ashleys down. To destroy them once and for all. Lauren had weathered years of ridicule and misery at their snotty hands. In kindergarten, Ashley Spencer had said in front of the whole class, “Everyone is invited to my birthday party except for Lauren Page!” while in fourth grade, Lili had made up the nickname “Loron” (a clever combo of “Lauren” and “moron,” and a name that