Popularity Takeover Read Online Free

more important things on her mind right now—like really missing Max.
    Usually Lili enjoyed school: She aced all her classes and was reigning queen of the Honor Board. Today, however, dragged by. The second the final bell rang, she bid a quick good-bye to her friends, grabbed her Saint Laurent bag, slipped her brand-new Android into her blazer pocket, and rushed out the front door of Miss Gamble’s.
    Her heart was jittering the way it always was when she left school for the day. Because even though she knew things were all over with Max—her first real boyfriend—Lili still hoped, deep down, that when she emerged onto the elegant stone steps of Miss Gamble’s, he’d be waiting outside.
    The kids from Reed Prep got out way early, and a long time ago, when they were still dating, Max used to meet Lili after school whenever it was possible. That is, whenever her mother—the ferocious Nancy Khan (who insisted on a boyfriend ban after finding out about Lili’s coed camping trip) wasn’t picking her up from school for one of Lili’s dozen after-school enrichment activities. Back then, Max would be hanging out across the street, flipping his skateboard with one foot, looking adorably scruffy and handsome.
    The kids at Reed Prep didn’t have to wear uniforms,so Max was usually wearing a cool pair of faded jeans and a khaki army jacket, the red emblem on his Chrome messenger bag glinting in the sun. According to Ashley, he looked homeless—which he totally wasn’t—and according to A. A., he looked like kind of a doofus, showing off with his skateboard, which he so wasn’t. What did they know?
    Of course they preferred preppie Gregory Hall boys, who were obsessed with sports. In Pacific Heights, everyone had to fit into the same little box: They all dressed the same, they looked the same, their families belonged to all the same country clubs. Just like those social climbers had said that morning: The Ashleys always had to match. Well, maybe Lili was tired of being the same as everyone else.
    She stood on the front steps, peering across the street, hoping against hope, even though it had been months since Max had waited for her, while girls pushed past her, everyone hurrying down to the parade of BMWs and Porsche SUVs waiting to pick them up. No Max—of course. He hadn’t been there since forever. She’d been furious when her cousin (a huge gossip) told her those skanky friends of his had told him a whole lot of bad things about her, including that she was seeingsome Gregory Hall guy on the side. It had practically ruined her winter break—she’d felt none of the joy she usually did when she saw the piles of presents under the tree at Christmas.
    How could he think that she was cheating on him? That totally explained why he’d been so aloof at Ashley’s party. He hadn’t even believed her when she said she’d been grounded all week.
    She lingered on the steps, forlorn and almost tearful. Usually on a Monday, Lili was driven to the Alliance Française for an hour of Advanced French Conversation, where she could be sure of seeing Max—he was the only other pupil in Madame LeBrun’s tutorial. But Madame LeBrun had canceled all sessions for two weeks while she returned to France for her niece’s wedding. Suddenly there was a gaping hole in Lili’s Monday afternoon schedule—no French and, much worse, no Max.
    Her mother had to take Lili’s small twin sisters, Josephine and Brennan, to the pediatric psychologist this afternoon for preschool IQ testing, so Lili had a rare window of freedom. Nancy was going to collect her outside the Fillmore Starbucks in half an hour. Lili had considered asking one of the Ashleys to hang out there with her, but for now all she wanted was to be alone.All this chatter about the S. Society was just so much hot air. Her personal life was falling apart, and nobody seemed to care!
    Lili