Social Order (19 page)

“You mean to tell me that Lili is number four now?” Ashley demanded.

“Oh, no,” Guinevere said, shaking her head. “Lauren
moving up isn't the only change. Lili's moved up as well. She's number one.”

Ashley was ivory pale at the best of times, but now she was white as a sheet. She rocked backward a little, like she was unsteady on her feet. It looked as though she was about to faint, and this time no trace of nuts was involved. Lauren grabbed Ashley's arm to steady her. The
Preteen Queen
results were about to be announced—Ashley couldn't collapse!

“So what you're telling me,” Ashley said, fixing Guinevere with a death stare, “is that I am now
number
two
in the rankings?”

“Er . . . not exactly.” Guinevere took a step back, glancing over at the exit sign as though she were planning a quick escape. “A. A. is number two. You're number four.”

For the first time ever in living memory—or at least Lauren's memory—Ashley Spencer was speechless.

LILI WAS ECSTATIC! EVERYONE AT
the
Preteen Queen
party was buzzing with the news that she had soared to the top of AshleyRank. Poor Lauren was trying to persuade Ashley that she had nothing to do with it—that she wasn't behind the blog in any way, and that she was as surprised as anyone at the shift in rankings.

“Can you believe it?” A. A. asked Lili as they made their way to the marked spot in the center of the room. The San Francisco results were about to be announced, and a frazzled production assistant with a headset and clipboard was trying to round up the Ashleys. Ashley was still holed up in the bathroom, fanning herself with Guinevere Parker's notebook and screaming at Lauren.

“I don't know,” said Lili, practically skipping to her spot. What she meant was, she didn't care. She was number one at last! How it happened wasn't really clear. Ever since the
Preteen Queen
broadcast, Lili had felt like everything was slipping away.

Max rejected her and then snubbed her at French class. He hadn't even bothered to turn up this week, probably because his new girlfriend was taking up all his free time. Everyone at school was still smirking about the hidden camera footage. And at the party on Saturday night she'd felt like a child sent to sit on the naughty stool in the corner. Lili felt really great in the dress she'd borrowed from A. A., but after Max showed up, all her positive feelings disintegrated into misery and shame. She'd gone home early, reconciling herself to a lonely single life and perpetual social shame.

But now things were looking up at last!

“We need the other two!” Matt snapped at the production assistant. “We have enough problems tonight without the talent going missing.”

“He's in a bad mood,” A. A. observed to the PA, who gave a despondent shrug.

“I don't even know if this is going to happen,” the PA muttered, hurrying off in search of Ashley and Lauren.

“Did you hear that?” A. A. asked Lili. “What do you think she meant?”

“I don't know,” Lili said. Her head was still reeling from hearing that she was number one. Was it even true? How was this possible? It was everything she'd dreamed of since she'd first heard about AshleyRank.

“Okay—now stay here!” Another production assistant was dragging Ashley and Lauren toward them.

Ashley, who was puffy-eyed, was still harassing Lauren. “I know it was you. Admit it, you're the one behind AshleyRank. Especially since you're the only one who's benefited from it.”

“You've got to believe me, I had absolutely nothing to do with it!” Lauren protested.

“But your dad runs that tech company!”

“We own a video-sharing website. What does that have to do with anything? Lots of people in San Francisco own tech companies. Duh. It doesn't mean we have some inside connection to anyone's blog.”

Ashley looked stumped for a moment. “But your driver—Dex—he's like some programming genius. . . .”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “I can assure you, Dex has better things to do than follow us around. Get serious, Ashley.”

“C'mon, Ash, pull yourself together,” Lili urged, giving her the sweetest smile. Now wasn't the time to rub in her triumph. She would wait . . . let's see, maybe five minutes?

Lauren was smoothing down her hair, still looking kind of shell-shocked after Ashley's attack. If she was really the one behind AshleyRank, then she was pretty brave—and/or foolish—kicking Ashley out of the top three. If she
wasn't
the one writing the blog, then it was pretty unfair of Ashley to go postal on her. But someone had to be the fall guy, and Lili was a little glad that Ashley wasn't venting her rage on her.

A TV camera was pointed in their direction, its red light on, and Lili made sure she was smiling straight into the lens. Finally deciding to drop the subject, Ashley wriggled her way into the center as usual and pasted the fakest smile ever on her face. Lili couldn't help admiring her. Even in a moment of disaster, Ashley could rise above her distress, and look as serenely perfect as ever.

“Everyone quiet!” shouted someone—it sounded like Matt—and the room was hushed. “We're on in ten seconds.”

Lili looked up at the big screen for a few seconds to
see what was happening. Alexa had been handed a piece of paper and she was staring at it, not saying anything.

A. A. grabbed Lili's hand and squeezed it. “I feel like a dork,” she whispered.

“Shut up and smile!” Lili whispered back, gritting her teeth.

“Why don't
you
shut up?” hissed Ashley, probably thinking that Lili was talking to her.

“Don't forget we're being filmed!” Lauren murmured out of the side of her mouth.

“I'm sorry.” Alexa Chung's voice boomed through the room. “I've just been told we can't announce the San Francisco results tonight. The servers are still down. Sorry about this! We're going to go back to the victory party in Dallas, where I hear a food fight has broken out among the unsuccessful contestants. Over to Dallas!”

The Ashleys stood staring at each other, stupefied, as the noise level in the room reached an all-time high. Lili couldn't believe it, and clearly nobody else could either.

“You mean, that's it?” A. A. asked. “Can we go home now?”

“I guess,” said Lauren uncertainly. “At least, do we still have to stand here?”

“This is a total travesty,” raged Ashley, hands on hips, her eyes flashing fire. “They'll be hearing from my dad's lawyer about this.”

“Maybe they could sue AshleyRank as well.” Lili couldn't resist the snarky comment.

“What is that supposed to mean?” demanded Ashley.

“You know—for crimes against Ashley?”

“Oh God,” A. A. groaned. “I'm going to get some more food. Hunter's waiting for me with a plate of shrimp tempura and it's probably freezing by now.”

“And I'm going to find Christian,” said Lauren quickly, scanning the room. “And Guinevere, because she's still got the charm he gave me.”

“Ladies, ladies, we are so sorry.” Tiffany, the third producer, rushed toward them. “This is a disaster! There's a blackout at headquarters and the generator won't kick in.”

“Whatever!” said Ashley, holding up a hand. She gave a loud sniffle. “I need to look for my boyfriend! Where is he?”

God, Ashley is so
jealous, Lili thought. She couldn't stand the other girls having boys hanging around, and she couldn't stand Lili being number one on AshleyRank. Lili saw Ashley approach Tri with her sob
story, but Tri pushed her away with an angry look on his face. Tri was staring at Hunter and A. A., who were slow-dancing to a song.

Then Lili noticed someone else.

Someone looking straight at her. Someone blond, dark-eyed, and unbearably cute.

Max.

All Lili's resolve to never look at, speak to, or approach Max again flew out the window. When he caught her eye, he didn't turn away this time. Instead he smiled, and she smiled back and began to walk toward him. Why was he here? What did he want?

“Lili,” he said, hurrying up to meet her halfway. “I'm sorry to crash your event like this, but I had to talk to you.”

Lili couldn't trust herself to reply. She looked up at Max's handsome, frowning face and felt her heart performing a triple toe loop.

“I wanted to tell you I was sorry,” he continued. “About—you know. Walking out on you at the party the way I did. Not calling you. Not speaking to you at all at Madame's. I've been a real idiot. And then I saw you at the party last weekend, but you disappeared before I had a chance to say anything.”

“Well, you were with another girl,” Lili reminded him.

“She's just a friend.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Max assured her. “Anyway . . . I'm sorry. I just thought—I don't know, that we were moving too fast. I mean . . . I like you and . . . What I'm trying to say is, I guess I've never had a girlfriend before and . . .”

Lili wished the cameras were here now so she could relive this moment until eternity. Max admitted he liked her! And he'd mentioned the sweetest word a girl could hear. “Girlfriend.” Did this mean . . . ?

“Anyway, do you want to go grab some food or something? Get out of here? Those screaming girls are kind of freaking me out,” he said, looking over his shoulder at a group of giggling sixth graders who were eavesdropping on their conversation.

He looked so anxious and nervous and cute, and Lili understood that his fate was in her hands. She could choose to be with Max, or she could choose not to be with him. It was her choice.

“Sure,” Lili said, taking the hand he was offering. His hands were cold from the air-conditioning, and Lili felt a pang at how vulnerable he really was. He wasn't
some unfeeling jerk. He was just human. They were going to go grab a bite to eat, and then . . . maybe they would kiss again. Lili hoped there would be a lot of kissing in her future.

Max grinned his shy, sleepy grin, and at that moment, Lili wasn't jealous of anyone. She was just glad to be herself.

Dear Diary,

I'm sorry I haven't written much lately. My life's kind of crazy these days, ever since I acquired not one but two boyfriends. How did this happen?

I still can't decide which one I like the best. So for now I've decided to avoid any sort of social situation where the two guys could end up bumping into each other. I'm a strictly one-on-one girl, for now anyway. If only my mother can keep their names straight, I might get away with it.

Speaking of results shows, we got the call a week later from the
Preteen Queen
producers. They finally got the server back online, and the machine spit out the winner.

It was Ashley Spencer, of course.

Her triumph was short-lived, I'm glad to report. The network decided not to pick up the series, so there's no second round in a New York City penthouse apartment.
Preteen Queen
is dead. Long live whatever else Ashley decides to win in the future.

She's pretending she doesn't care, but I can
tell she's mad as hell. At least she's got something else to fume about aside from AshleyRank. Which, by the way, has nothing to do with me. A group of sixth graders finally came forward to claim credit. Apparently they've been obsessed with the Ashleys since prekindergarten. Anyway, they're tired of writing about us and have started their own site: The Madisons. The kids are all right!

Till next time,

Lauren Page

MEMO: FILE: DIARY: ALIOTO, ASHLEY

IT'S OFFICIAL. I HAVE A B-FRIEND. HUNTER IS COOL & I CAN TRUST HIM. UNLIKE TRI, MY EX BFF. ASHLEY DUMPED HIM BUT IT'S 2 LATE. I'VE MOVED ON, YO!

SO WHY AM I STILL NOT HAPPY?

A. A.
:(

Hello? Ready? Last time my voice came out all muffled, like I had a cold. Stupid gadget. Maria? I hope you can understand my voice this time. I'll speak r-e-a-l-l-l-l-y slowly.

Anyway, I won the
Preteen Queen
contest. Hello! Who else was going to win? Loser Lauren? Lili-I-Got-Dumped-on-National-TV? A. A. the tramp? I don't think so. I should have won by a landslide, but instead the margin of victory was . . . oh, who cares. I stopped listening when I heard my name. I don't even know who came in second.

The show was canceled, but whatever! I'm too busy to go to New York right now, anyway. Ever since I found out that stupid AshleyRank was run by a group of nerdy sixth graders obsessed with the Ashleys, I've been working with my father's lawyer to have it closed down. They're lucky I decided against suing for defamation. I mean, a two for my smile? As if!

Tri and I have split. Good riddance, that's what I say. He's too short and too immature. I'm only going to consider
taller
boys from now on. Everyone else seems to have a new boyfriend, so snagging one should be supereasy for me.

Maybe even snagging one of theirs . . .

Watch this space!

JOURNAL.DOC

I haven't been on top of my journal work this week. Having a boyfriend is a lot of work! I hardly have time to see Max, and hope that those Reed Prep hoochies don't get their claws in him again.

Anyway, ever since I took over the number one spot on AshleyRank, things have changed. Strangely enough, Lauren seems more of an Ashley these days than Ashley. She has two boyfriends. I have a boyfriend. A. A. has a boyfriend. Ashley has no one! She says she broke up with Tri, but between you, me, and the grapevine, I don't think he was all that upset about it. I have Guinevere Parker investigating. (BTW, I don't believe the rumor that it was the sixth graders behind AshleyRank—my money's on Miss Gamble's own tabloid journalist.)