The Beauties

CHAPTER ONE:  THE BEAUTIES

     Claire Brigg sat at her desk in third hour, playing with a stran of her naturally blond straight hair. She twisted the lock around her fingers, and she decided to braid it. Claire was already finished her assignment, of course. She was student council president and participated in all school events and donated to charity all the time. She spent hours at homeless shelters every month, and always cried when the sad pound commercials came on her Flat Screen T.V. She had already finished her long novels of Moby Dick for reading class, and her last Twilght Saga book.

      Claire pulled out sheet of paper and an inky pen. She had to write down the directions to her house for her stu-co class so they could use her Mom's sewing supplies for the Angel Tree project coming up. When Avery, a handsome boy who sat behind her tapped Claire on the shoulder, she dropped her inky pen and it rolled onto her lap.

      "Darn," Claire muttered under her breath. The pen left a long line of black ink on her new Banana Republic shirt and Miss Me jeans. She turned to stare at Avery, the cause of the spill. Would he ask her to the Winter Ball, the school dance on Saturday? Hopefully! Claire's heart began to pound with excitement.

     "Can I borrow a pencil?" Avery asked to Claire's disappointment.

     "Yeah, sure." Claire dug into her bag and pulled out a nice red mechanical pencil. She handed it to Avery.

     "Thanks." Avery smiled.

     "Welcome," Claire mumbled, and turned around into her seat. What did Claire not have that Avery wanted? Claire really was beautiful, her natural look. Her long hair was never messy and always perfectly combed. She had a healthy tan from summer still on her, and she always wore nice clothes. She was rich, well, everyone at Bark's High School was rich, including Avery so money didn't matter. Maybe Claire was too short. She was only five foot three, shorter than a lot of people. Claire would go straight to the mall after school with her friends and buy high heels to increase her height. Yeah, that should open Avery's eyes. Claire was excited about her after school plans, and sent a text to her best friends, Carter and Alley. She told them to meet each other at the library. Alley texted back asking why they had to meet in the library, she reminded Claire that the library was her least favorite place on Earth. Claire rolled her eyes. That was so like Alley.

     The besties all had different personalities, which made them respect each other even more. Claire was the workaholic,  who was the smartest of the group with perfect grades and the perfect home life. She loved trying new things and was good at anything she tried. Claire was so naturally pretty, she was so nice, too.

      Carter Finders was in love with sports. She played competitive basketball year-round. She was pretty without trying to be. She hardly ever wore make-up though, and was still pretty. Even though she had the money to wear nice clothes, she wore athletic wear all trhe time. Carter had longish black hair that was perfectly curly and it looked like she ran a curling iron through it  every morning even though she wore it in a ponytail with an athletic headband pushing fly hairs back every day. She was the sweet one, but she wasn't afraid to stick up for what she thought was right.

     Alley Demps was the prettiest of them all. She was the one who wasn't really into outdoorsy stuff, and didn't make the perfect grades like Claire who had perfect grades, or Carter who managed to keep her grade at a steady B or at least high enough to play sports. Alley enjoyed shopping or giving one of her friend's a make-over. She loved controlling the people around her, too, and going on dates. She always dyed her hair pretty shades all the time, and had the biggest house in the whole school. Yet Alley knew that possesions weren't everything. She loved her recent color hair and cut, which was choppy layers and brown with purple-looking streaks going through.

     These girls ruled the school, and everyone knew it. Any boy would love to date them. That's why Claire just didn't understand why Avery didn't seem to like her for who she was. Maybe he was just shy around girls, let alone the most popular and pretty girls which were Alley, Carter, and Claire.

     "BING! BING! BING!" The loud bell rang. At Bark's school, the students had seven minutes between each class. Claire was thankful for that, she could talk to her friends and boys longer. Claire had had boyfriends before, but none were ever serious. Actually, Claire just liked dating guys, not having just one guy to call a boyfriend. But Avery was an exception...

     Claire pushed through the crowds of wild teens and teachers who yelled at students to ask the crazy kids to stop shoving, stop running, stop cussing. That didn't help some of the worst kids in school. Some of them shoved past the teacher, of ran faster, of cussed to the teacher rudely. Claire couldn't imagine doing anything that wrong to an adult, or anyone for that matter. 

     When Claire approached the library, a tall dark haired cute guy opened the door for her. Claire smiled and brushed past the tall dude, and he followed her in. When the doors closed, it was suddenly silent. It felt good in here as Claire inhaled her favorite smell- leather and books.

     "It is busy here today." The hot guy told Claire. She looked around, and noticed that only three students were in sight in the library, and the librarian was stacking books in the corner.

    "Not really, there aren't hardly anyone in here." Claire replied, crossing her arms waiting for her friends.

     "Not in here, out there." The boy pointed into the hall.

     "Haven't you noticed?" Claire asked.

     "Actually, I'm new. My old school only had the senior class of 600. Way less than this place."

     "Where are you from?"  Claire wanted to know.

     "A small town in Maine." The hot guy answered.

     "How do you like New York?" Claire asked as soon as Carter and Alley entered the room.

     "Here are the other Beauties. Bye Claire," The hot guy smiled and left the library. How did he know Claire's name and that the three girls were known as 'The Beauties'?

     "Ooh, who's that ?" Alley coed, running to Claires side.

     "Nobody, I don't even know his name." Claire admitted.

     "I have dibs!' Carter laughed, readjusting her Nike headband.

     "Go ahead, have him. I'm fighting for Avery." Claire said. Alley tilted her head disapprovingly.

     "Get over him, sweetie, he is totally not good enough for you. You need an awesome date to the Winter Ball. But if you really like him, one dance will just open your eyes to see that he isn't for you." Alley reassured Claire. Claire rolled her eyes,  wondering what Avery ever did to make Alley think he wasn't good enough for her, even though the answer was clear.

     "We must go to the mall and find heels for me. After school meet me by my car. Who wouldn't want to take my convertible?" Claire asked.

     "The fact that you can't hear each other scream when you try to talk, your hair gets all wind blown, um, my Escalade is cooler?" Alley offered.

     "How about my Volvo?'' Carter suggested.

     "Yeah, sure, whatever. Come, I promised to meet Blake in the hall in front of Mrs. Opert. I'm breaking up with him." Alley informed them.

     "I thought you liked him!" Carter exclaimed. Alley looked sad.

     "I thought I did, too, untill I saw Blake holding hands with Ammie Deelove and kiss her." Alley whimpered.

     "I'm so sorry!" Claire gave Alley a hug, followed by Carter.

     "It's okay, I'm almost over it. But now, I don't have a date to Winter Ball!" Alley sighed.

     "Now, we can all find the perfect dates for each other!" Carter laughed, and picked up her bags. "Off to fourth hour." 

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