Bratfest at Tiffany's Lisi Harrison

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.“Um, are you my favorite Chinese takeout dish?” Massie tossed her long dark bangs past her gold-dusted cheekbones.“No, why?”“Then why act all gung ho?”“I’m not.” Claire reddened.“I just don’t understand why I have to break into the Café and risk getting in trouble on my first day back.”Massie twirled the purple hair streak below her right ear, which she’d dyed during her summer stint in Southampton.If anyone asked, she’d say a Parisian fashion insider had entrusted her with this soon-to-be-international trend.It was much easier than explaining the truth.And a lot more believable.“We’re not breaking in.” Massie air-quoted Claire.“This is our school.Our Café.Our right!” She hiked up her stylishly slouchy charcoal gray satin knee-length shorts.“Why should we be punished because the rooftop wave pool at Briarwood imploded? It’s not our fault the entire school is flooded, is it?”Claire opened her mouth to respond, but Massie quickly cut her off.“Smell that?” She lifted her tiny ski-slope nose and sniffed.“Paint fumes.The number-one cause of red, itchy eyes.And look.…” Her head tilted left, toward the blue stick figure that had been superglued to the door of her favorite bathroom.“Say goodbye to the only mirror in school opposite a window.From now on, we’ll be glossing under fluorescents.Which, by the way, will make us look like Kermit the minute our tans fade.”Claire surrender-sighed.“Now let’s move.The girls are waiting outside.” Once again, Massie leaned against the silver door handle, and after a single pump, they were in.“Eh.Ma.Gawd,” she gasped.Claire removed her bucket hat.“What is all this?”They stood in awe, gazing at the Café, which had been transformed into a massive, sun-drenched greenhouse.The new walls were made of glass, and the room’s perimeter was lined with mini vegetable gardens framed by low white picket fences.The gardens sprouted ripe red tomatoes, carrots, scallions, peas, cucumbers, and fresh herbs.Rows of new bamboo tables and chairs displayed photos of the happily wrinkled local Westchester artisans who had crafted them.The Starbucks kiosk had been replaced by a charming, old-fashioned stagecoach.It stocked skin-clarifying Borba water (imported from Hong Kong) and drinkable low-fat yogurt guaranteed to speed up hair growth (head only) and increase shine in less than a week.Quaint country chalkboard signs listed the day’s freshest produce (edamame and carrots) and the breakfast specials (buttermilk pancakes with chicken sausages, organic eggs Benedict, granola with locally grown fruit), lunch specials (mac ’n’ cheese sprinkled with nitrate-free bacon, free-range-turkey burgers, pizza with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella), and desserts (protein-packed chocolate brownies, calorie-burning mint-chip ice-cream cake, tooth-whitening lollipops).No more steel bars, plastic trays, or orange heat lamps.The Café had become a fabulously ah-dorable, eco-friendly farmer’s market gone twenty-first century.Claire fanned her flushed cheeks with the RESERVED FOR placard.“This is totally—”“Lame!” Massie barked.“Huh?”“How could they do this to me?” Massie gripped her roiling stomach.“I feel like someone replaced my entire wardrobe with, with … with yours.”Claire rolled her eyes.“I’ve been violated.”“How? It’s ten times nicer than—”“The old Café was mine.The pine-scented wood, the shortcut to the sushi bar, the Picassos my grandmother donated—I knew that place.And now it feels like it belongs to someone else.” Massie tugged her purple hair streak.“Someone who loves Birkenstocks and political bumper stickers.”“But—”“All the more reason to claim our table.” Massie cracked her knuckles for the first time in her life.“We need to send the message that things are going to stay the same.” She elbow-nudged Claire.“Now will you puh-lease go do it already.”“Fine.” Claire shot Massie an if-I-get-in-trouble-it’s-all-your-fault look.To which Massie responded with a stop-being-so-pathetically-dramatic glare.After another sharp exhale, Claire made a run for it.If anything, Massie still had control over her friend.But whether she still had control over anyone else at the brand-new BOCD remained to be seen.BOCDTHE GREAT LAWNTuesday, September 8th7:38 A.M.Massie slid on her oversize gold D&G sunglasses and descended upon the Great Lawn to regroup with the Pretty Committee after their summer apart.“Look at all these boys,” Claire panted, scurrying to keep up with Massie’s frenzied pace.“They’re everywhere.”“A total infestation,” Massie hissed at a pack of eighth-grade BMX-ers who skidded by on their muddy black dirt bikes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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