“BYE, ASHLEY!” LAUREN STOOD ON the steps, waving, as the Vespa purred through the gates and into the street. It was kind of silly, waving good-bye to Ashley like this, when all she was going to do was turn around in five minutes and come straight back to the party. Cooper didn’t look old enough to go anywhere but the end of the driveway. And anyway, the band still had another set to play. There was going to be a juggling contest at ten, and an acrobatics display at midnight. Ashley still had another two outfits to model.
Lili was instantly dragged off by her father to get her coat and say her farewells to the Spencers. Christian, who’d been standing behind them during the Vespa-giving ceremony, had loped off to get them ice-cream cones, so Lauren sat down on the broad stone steps to wait for him, hoping her shoeless feet weren’t getting too dirty.
Not that Christian would care about something like that. She was so happy they were back together. She didn’t even really mind the way Sadie had moved in on Alex right away. What did it matter, right? As long as Alex was happy, and Christian was happy, and she was happy, and Sadie was . . .
Hang on. Wasn’t that Sadie sitting two steps away? And who was that guy she was leaning all over, giggling in a high-pitched, affected way that Lauren had never heard before?
It certainly wasn’t Alex.
Lauren clambered to her feet and marched straight over.
“Sadie?” She looked from the blond bombshell to the beefy jock lolling next to her on the stairs. This was most definitely not Alex. “And sorry, your name is?”
“Todd,” slurred the guy, winking at her. OMG! He had his hand on Sadie’s knee!
“Would you excuse us for a second, Todd?” Lauren faked a smile and grabbed one of Sadie’s perfectly manicured hands.
“Hey!” she protested, but Lauren continued to tug her first to her feet and then down the stairs. The gravel of the pathway dug into Lauren’s bare feet, but it was too bad. She had some important business to deal with.
“What happened to Alex?” she hissed. Sadie pouted and rolled her eyes.
“He kept talking about you all the time,” she whined. “I think he just wanted to come with me tonight to make you jealous. I don’t really care. I dumped him five minutes ago, and it’s no biggie—I already found another guy. Isn’t Todd a doll?”
She looked back over her shoulder and made smoochy sounds in Todd’s direction. Yuck!
“Who is he, anyway?” asked Lauren, almost grossed out by her behavior.
“He was here with that ho.” Sadie pointed at a girl huddled by a potted bay tree, who looked like she was about to cry. “But I stole him right from under her nose. Pretty clever, huh?”
Lauren shook her head in despair.
“That’s just mean,” she said, frowning at Sadie’s triumphant grin. “I don’t get you. One minute you like Alex, and the next you’re all over some other guy? Some other girl’s boyfriend?”
“Don’t be such a prude,” Sadie snapped. She looked down her long, thin nose at Lauren, as though Lauren wasn’t good enough to polish her Valentinos. “You said it yourself, earlier tonight. I look amazing. I am amazing. You’re right. I shouldn’t care what people think about me. And now I don’t have to. Not when I look like this. It’s all about me now!”
Lauren didn’t know what to say. Sadie might look beautiful, but the way she was acting was plain ugly.
Lauren had groomed her to infiltrate the Ashleys, but she’d gone too far. Now Sadie was even worse than the Ashleys—mean, self-centered, fickle, and disloyal. Lauren’s brilliant plan was a disaster, as spoiled as Ashley’s birthday cake.
She’d created a monster.