Free Popularity Takeover by Melissa de La Cruz Page A

stairs. “It’s my father’s little . . . hobby room. It’s a bit too much.”
    â€œIt’s fun!” said A. A., thinking of how much Ned and Tri would love it. She could already picture them riding the mechanical bull set up in one corner and trying to deprogram the robot.
    Lauren smiled nervously. “And I’m sorry about my mom nosing around. She really wants to be one of the girls.”
    â€œOh, no worries at all. Your mom’s nice.” A. A. felt kind of sorry for Lauren. Her own mother, Jeanine, could be embarrassing, but she was never uncool. And Lauren had a lot on her plate right now. If she didn’t come up with some inside information on the S. Society, she’d be facing the wrath of Ashley. And that A. A. wouldn’t wish on anyone.
    â€œAbout time,” Ashley said indignantly when Lauren and A. A. finally reached the chill-out room.
    A. A. gazed around the room, understanding at once why Lauren wanted this to be their main impression ofher house. It was as pristine and white as the spa they’d visited the day before, and the floors were an understated bleached ash. Not a dyed carpet with NFL goal lines in sight.
    Lili and Ashley were already positioned in huge, chocolate-colored leather beanbags. Lili looked like she was ready for a nap. Her eyes were red, and A. A. knew she’d been crying all night. Lili had engineered a four-way Ashleys conference call about her disastrous meeting with Max. They all told her she had been right to tell him what she did, and if he didn’t believe her, then he wasn’t worthy of being her boyfriend anyway. Ashley was sitting up very straight—or as straight as she could manage in a beanbag.
    Lauren dragged the remaining two beanbags up so they formed a circle, and A. A. took her seat. Mmmm, this was comfortable. It was so quiet up here, and just the right temperature. The windows were long, horizontal slits high up in the walls, so all you could see out of them were slivers of sky. No wonder it was called the chill-out zone. And no wonder she was finding it hard to pay attention to Ashley!
    â€œ. . . squash the S. Society once and for all,” Ashley was droning.
    A. A. tried not to yawn.
    â€œ. . . information we need . . .”
    â€œ. . . doing the best I can . . .” This was Lauren. A. A. pinched herself: She had to stay awake! Lili was practically comatose, and this meeting would be a complete waste of time if they couldn’t get any planning done.
    â€œThat’s not good enough!” Ashley snapped, and A. A.’s eyes popped wide open. Ashley was leaning forward, one accusing finger wagging in Lauren’s miserable face. “Don’t you understand what’s at stake?”
    â€œReally, I do,” pleaded Lauren. “It’s just taking longer than I thought.”
    â€œMaybe if you spent less time thinking about your boyfriend and more time working on Sadie . . .”
    â€œThat’s not really fair, Ash,” interrupted A. A. She couldn’t let Ashley get away with this one. All they’d been hearing for the past few weeks was Cooper, Cooper, Cooper!
    â€œOh, so you’re on her side now?” Ashley was obviously in a foul mood. “You don’t care if the Ashleys are humiliated?”
    â€œOf course I do!” protested A. A., flopping back into her beanbag. She hated it when Ashley went intoattack-dog mode. It was totally counterproductive.
    â€œWe all do,” chorused Lili, who seemed to have woken from her daze. “But sitting here arguing and making accusations isn’t very productive. So I have a suggestion to make. By this time next week, we should all research three ideas. The only rule is—they have to be bigger and better than anything we’ve done before.”
    A. A. whistled.
    â€œThat’s saying something,” she said. It really was: Two years ago