Read Online It's Not Easy Being Mean by Lisi Harrison - Free Book Online Page B

sleeve of her L.A.M.B. bike-chain cardigan.
    “I bet we're the only ones who got the CD-ROM,” Alicia blurted.
    “Then how do you explain Kaya and Penelope in the chapel?”
    “Puh-lease.” Alicia waved away her comment. “Those LBRs probably go there every day after school and pray for coolness.”
    “Ehmagawd, you're probably right.” Massie swept the bangs away from her eyes. “I can't believe I fell for it.”
    “I can,” Kristen blurted.
    Her snippiness shocked Massie like a surprise hair tug. “Are you still mad we wore those soccer uniforms? Because that has
nothing
to do with—”
    “No.” Kristen rolled down her window. “You fell for it because it's true. Look.”
    The girls unclipped their seat belts and scrunched up beside her.
    “Buckle up!” Isaac called from the front seat.
    “Okay,” Massie called sweetly, then turned back to the window.
    Layne, Heather, and Meena were gathered outside Marc Cooper's modest brick house with fistfuls of silver helium balloons that said Marc Is #1 in blue bubble letters.
    “Ehmagawd, they're wearing cheap black sweaters and faux silver.” Alicia giggled.
    “Stop the car!” Massie shouted.
    Isaac screeched to a halt. “What is it?”
    “Kristen, come with me.” Massie grabbed her wrist and yanked her toward the open door.
    “Where are we—?”
    “Can I go too?” Alicia whined.
    “No. I need someone who can run.”
    “Point.” She closed the door.
    Kristen, who was at least two paces ahead of Massie, led the charge as they bolted across the street to the Coopers' house. Under any other circumstances, Massie would have made her slow down and follow, but protocol be damned. This was an emergency.
    “What are you guys doing here?” panted Massie when they reached the porch. “I didn't know you were friends with Marc.”
    “Oh, yeah.” Heather slid a silver serpent charm back and forth across her tarnished chain necklace. “We're tight.”
    Layne pushed the doorbell again.
    “Why are
you
here?” Meena twirled her one random chunk of dyed green hair.
    Kristen glanced at their balloons. “To congratulate Marc.”
    “For what?” Layne tested.
    “For being number one,” Massie said with major amounts of “duh!” in her tone.
    Finally, the door opened. The noxious smell of wet paint seeped out.
    “Congratulations, Marc!” Shoving the balloons into his pale, smooth hand, Heather forced herself inside. She charged up the stairs without another word.
    Massie shoved Kristen into the house, knowing the infamous soccer star had a decent shot at overtaking her. “Hurry!”
    “Where are you going?” Marc whimpered, twisting the bottom of his spaghetti-sauce-stained gray tee around his finger.
    Massie took off behind Kristen, successfully outrunning Layne and Meena.
    Along the way, she passed dozens of framed photos. Various unflattering shots of the Afro twins—Marc and his sister, Karla—posed year after year on the same tree stump wearing matching mustard-yellow turtlenecks, in their woodsy backyard.
    “Ehmagawd!” Kristen's voice echoed from one of the bedrooms.
    The paint smell got stronger as Massie neared the top, but poisonous fumes couldn't keep her from the key. She hurried into the room.
    Stained white drop cloths below freshly painted brown walls were the only things she found.
    Meena and Layne burst through the door.
    “Where's your bed?” Massie called to Marc, who ran into the room right after her.
    “Hey, aren't you the girl from
The Daily Grind
?” he asked.
    Massie smiled and nodded.
    Kristen rolled her eyes.
    “So?” Heather asked. “
Where
is it? Where's your bed and stuff?”
    “In storage until the paint dries.” Marc chewed his lower lip. “I've been crashing downstairs on the couch. It's cool, though, ‘cause I can watch ESPN as late as I want.”
    Minutes later, Massie and Kristen were back in the Range Rover.
    “I knew Marc didn't have the key,” Alicia insisted. “That's why he's not on my