Free Popularity Takeover by Melissa de La Cruz Page B

they’d done the tall-ships tour of the harbor, and last year was the train trip around Napa. And usually they were just competing with themselves for brilliant ideas, not with another rival committee.
    â€œAnd in the meantime,” said Ashley, glowering at the unfortunate Lauren, “one of us has to keep her promise and find out what the members of the S. Society are planning. Or else . . .”
    â€œOr else what?” Lili asked irritably.
    A. A. suddenly noticed the unique black-and-white top Lili was wearing. It looked like something from an eighties music video, but in a good way.
    â€œLet’s just say we might have to review our own membership,” muttered Ashley, staring straight atLauren, who seemed to be cowering in the folds of her beanbag.
    It was hard not to feel bad for her. If Ashley wanted Lauren out of the Ashleys . . . well, there wasn’t anything in the world that A. A. could do to save her.

11
    J. LO IS RIGHT: LOVE DON’T COST A THING
    THE CONGÉ MEETING HAD BEEN an entire waste of time, Ashley decided, inadvertently squeezing Cooper’s hand with annoyance the next evening. It was another school night, but her parents didn’t even notice. They were too busy with the new baby. Cooper squeezed her hand back and grinned at her. They were wandering through Chinatown, strolling up under the ornate Dragon Gate with its stone lions and looking at the cute stuff street vendors were selling. Cooper even bought her the most darling paper fan! He was so cosmopolitan: It was really obvious that he was a world traveler. Every other boy she’d ever known suddenly seemed so provincial by comparison.
    If only he would stop saying he “wasn’t in relationship mode.” Whatever that meant. He hadn’t even wanted to exchange Christmas presents and had forbidden her from getting him anything. Of course she still gave him something—a cozy cashmere scarf monogrammed with his initials. He had yet to wear it, she noticed. She tried to discuss it with A. A., who had been no help, and she tried to ask her father, who just told her she was too young for a relationship and that Cooper seemed like a sensible young man.
    But whatever Cooper said, he certainly seemed to like going out with Ashley. As of today, they had been going out for exactly one month and one week. Not that Ashley was keeping count, but . . . she was totally keeping count. Of course! How could she lord it over her boyless friends Lili and A. A. if she didn’t keep good personal records of all her romantic triumphs?
    One of the things Ashley really liked about Cooper was how creative and imaginative he was. Unlike Tri, for example, who only knew the most obvious places on Fillmore, Cooper knew all the coolest spots in San Francisco.
    If she’d never met Cooper, Ashley would never have known the museum had a free night. She would neverhave taken a tour of city hall. She would never have eaten Salvadoran enchiladas in the Mission, or delicious pizza in North Beach’s Little Italy. In fact, if Ashley was honest, she didn’t even know there was such a place as Little Italy, or that they ate enchiladas in El Salvador, until she met Cooper.
    â€œI love the way all the stores are still open at night,” she told him, leaning against his shoulder while they peered into a shop selling New Year’s decorations. “Is it like this in China?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Cooper shook his head and looked kind of embarrassed. Cute thing about him Number 106! He was so modest. Not to mention adorably handsome in his beat-up leather jacket.
    â€œI’d love to hear about some of the places you’ve been,” Ashley told him. Maybe with a little bit of encouragement, he’d start opening up.
    â€œLook at that great view of the bridge,” he said, turning her around and pointing.
    â€œCan’t you see it from your house?” Ashley asked. All they