Free Meanicures by Catherine Clark Page A

her.
    “What?” Olivia asked. “What did you say?”
    “Do you think you could possibly sssslur your esses any more?” I said. Then I put my hand over my mouth.
    “Yeah. Not so good.” She winced. “But
you
try talking with this stuff in your mouth.”
    “What?” Mr. Brooks looked so shocked that he was temporarily unable to form sentences. “What was with that last comment? Ignorant and stupid?”
    “Oh, that? It was a joke. Ha-ha.” Olivia faked a very, very, insincere laugh.
    Mr. Brooks frowned. “Miss Salinas, you should know, in fact, it should be ingrained in you, that we don’t use those sorts of words in our school.”
    Olivia nodded. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Totally sorry. I guess.”
    “The whole thing was out of control, out of bounds,” Mr. Brooks continued.
    The first bell started to ring.
    “You’ll need to do a makeup broadcast tomorrow with a public retraction of those comments,” Mr. Brooks told Olivia.
    “A re-whation?”
    “Retraction,” he said. “It means apology. It means you take back what you said in a very public way.”
    Olivia let out an annoyed sigh. “Really? You think that’s a good idea?”
    Mr. Brooks raised his eyebrows. “It’s a very good idea, Olivia. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
    “Okay, but I think you’re being too sensitive,” she muttered as we headed out the door.
    “And another thing,” I said. “What was with saying you were in charge of the club? I’m working with you. We’re co-chairs,” I added. “ ‘Co’ means two, as in cooperating.”
    “I know what it means,” Olivia said. “I may be spacey but I’m not stupid. Why, what did I say?”
    “You said, ‘I’m in charge.’ ”
    She laughed. “Well, that’s dumb.
You’re
not in charge. We both are.”
    I threw up my hands. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you!”
    The second bell rang just then, and I was glad to slip down the hall into algebra class. How could I argue with Oblivia and win?
    “Madison? Madison! Wait up!” Cassidy called after me.
    I stopped and glanced back at her. “I don’t want to be late to class,” I said.
    “This will only take a sec,” she said.
    True. Her insults usually didn’t take long.
Here it comes
, I thought. “Yeah?” I asked.
    “You know I’m having my big Halloween party Thursday night, right?” Cassidy asked.
    “Um … yeah,” I said slowly, remembering how she’d uninvited me in front of the entire middle school cheerleading squad on that humiliating day a week ago.
    “I
really
hope you can come,” said Cassidy.
    “Really? But you said—”
    “Yes, definitely,” she said. “Tradition’s tradition, right?”
    “Right,” I said slowly. “I guess.” But had tradition meant anything to her lately? I didn’t know what to think of her invitation, but I guessed I’d show up andfind out. What else would I do on Halloween? “Can Olivia and Taylor come, too?”
    “Of course. What a ridiculous question,” she scoffed. “Like they wouldn’t be invited?”
    Either she was starting to have a split personality … or maybe our little ceremony had worked some magic, after all. Had she forgotten that we had all been uninvited to the party?
    First the stink bomb, now this!

Chapter 10
    “Who are
you
supposed to be?” I asked. I had just opened the door to Olivia, who was wearing a green dress, green tights, and a pair of old pink Ugg boots. She had a purse slung across her shoulder, with fake arrows—actually, on closer inspection, they were pens with feathers glued to the tops—sticking out of it.
    “Robin Hood. I steal from the rich and give to the poor!” Olivia came inside and closed the door behind her. She looked like a fairy that had gotten kicked out of fairy school. “Really, I just needed to find a costume that I could wear green tights with, because those are the only tights I have right now without holes, and this was all I could come up with. I look silly, I know.”
    Taylor laughed.