What If... All Your Friends Turned On You

by Liz Ruckdeschel

  Haley glanced back at Mrs. Eton, who’d clearly overheard the conversation. Mrs. Eton rose to her feet and glided over to join them. “Are you still mooning?” she said to Spencer. “This breakup has caused entirely too much trouble in this family at the worst possible moment. Could that girl not have waited another week? Spencer, darling, you’re better off without her, believe me.”

  “No girl has ever broken up with me,” Spencer said, to no one in particular. “And have you seen her lately? She looks better than she did when we were dating.”

  “Oh, enough about her,” Mrs. Eton said. “If only …” She turned to Alex and pulled him aside. “Young man, I’ve got a very important job for you. Ever since that girl broke up with my son, he’s been a wreck. The whole episode has hurt his self-image. He needs to be back on top. You go to school with them. Isn’t there something you could do?”

  “But Mrs. Eton,” Alex protested, “I don’t think I have the power to—”

  “You’ll find a way because you have to, Alex,” Mrs. Eton said. “Trust me. This is your first real lesson in politics—and real politics is cutthroat politics. It’s what goes on behind the scenes, not what the public sees. Do I have your word?”

  “Um,” Alex said, “I’m sure I can think of something.”

  Spencer continued to sulk in the corner. Mrs. Eton patted him on the cheek and walked away. Haley stared after her, stunned. Was this how New Jersey’s taxpayers’ money would be spent—helping restore Spencer Eton’s social status?

  Haley has made a wonderful impression on a lot of important people tonight. Is she cut out for politics, as Alex said? Or is her flirtation with state power just a one-night fling?

  If you think the inauguration has been an exciting evening for Haley, and one that will lead to a great future for her, turn to, COLLEGE BOUND. If you think the political system at high school is far more entertaining than talking issues with a bunch of suits, see what the lead-tongued leader of Hillsdale High has to say on, PRINCIPAL CRUM’S LITANY.

  Finally, if you don’t like the way Mrs. Eton is meddling in her son’s private life—and dragging Alex into it by employing him to get Spencer back on top—side with Team Coco on, STICK WITH THE SISTERHOOD.

  MAN DOWN

  Breaking hearts doesn’t come easily to everyone.

  “This is it, girls,” Coco commanded. “D-day. Everyone into formation.”

  Haley, Sasha and Cecily lined up beside Coco in a fighter-pilot V formation and prepared to march through Hillsdale High on their search-and-destroy-relationships mission. Coco had made sure they all looked their hottest for maximum impact. She had personally supervised Haley’s makeup application by Whitney at the health club that morning and loaned her a miniskirt, saying that the slim knee-length dress Haley had originally chosen was too conservative.

  “We need to make their eyeballs pop out,” Coco reminded the girls. They were a team of gleaming, shiny-haired, toned, lip-glossed beauties by the time they stepped into the breezeway, their smoking looks matched only by their appetite for destruction.

  The sea of students parted as the girls marched through the crowd. “There’s Drew,” Coco said, homing in on the cute football star. “Go, Cecily.”

  Cecily peeled off from the group and pinned Drew against the wall as the rest of the girls walked past without breaking stride. Haley glanced back and caught a glimpse of Drew’s horrified face as Cecily broke the news: they were splitsville.

  “One down,” Coco said triumphantly. “Three to go.”

  Sasha saw Johnny Lane headed for his locker and veered out of formation to nab him there. Again Haley couldn’t resist glancing back. Sasha was coldly dumping Johnny as—shock of shocks—he actually started tearing up. He tried to pull Sasha into a hug but she ruthlessly pushed him away, turned her back and walked off. The carnage the girls were leaving in their wake was impressive, Haley thought.

  “Come on, Haley, don’t slow down now,” Coco barked. “No second thoughts. We all agreed, and this is what’s best for everybody. For those of us with two X chromosomes anyway. Now march!”

  Left, right, left, right … Big target up ahead: Spencer Eton.

  “This one’s mine,” Coco muttered. She flew at him like a bee going in for the killer sting. His smile faded fast when he saw her expression and turned to utter shock when she slapped him right across the face.

  Good old Coco, Haley thought. Gets right to the point.

  The first three victims went down hard. Haley started feeling a little nervous as her target, Reese, loomed up ahead. Her mind suddenly emptied. What would she say to him? What did Coco tell her to say? She couldn’t remember.

  Reese’s face lit up when he saw her. That threw her. Instead of going in for the kill, Haley stopped dead in her tracks. Could she really go through with this?

  You have to, she told herself. All the other girls did. They’re counting on you.

  “Haley!” Reese said happily. He hurtled toward her, threw his arms around her and enveloped her in a bear hug. Her muscles, so tense just a second earlier, warmed and relaxed at his touch.

  “I’m so glad to see you! I missed you so much.” He pulled back and gazed at her face with real affection. She felt more confused than ever.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked, ever sensitive and able to read her. “Listen, I know some rumors have been going around about what happened in Nevis. I’ve been trying to talk to you about it but you never returned my calls!”

  “I know,” Haley said.

  “I’ve got to tell you what happened,” he said. “I know you’ll believe me.” Haley braced herself for whatever was coming—but it turned out to be not as bad as she expected.

  Speak, Haley told herself. Say something. Now’s the time when you break the news to him: he’s officially dumped.

  But the words wouldn’t come. She felt conflicted, and then there was his adorable smile tugging at her heart…. Her stupid heart, definitely her weak spot. Why couldn’t she be cold and strong like the other girls? But they had it easy. They only had to dump ordinary boys. They didn’t have to try to resist someone as special as Reese. He was so good-looking, so charming, and when he spoke of how he missed her he seemed so sincere….

  No, she thought, it’s a trap. He knows exactly what he’s doing. I’ve got to speak up….

  But before she had a chance to say a word, he leaned in to kiss her. This was her last chance. She could kiss him back … or turn away for good.

  Haley needs to get up the nerve to act, pronto, or else abort the mission. If she can’t pull the trigger on Reese, if she doesn’t have the nerve to go through with their D-day plans, what will the other girls think? After they broke the hearts of Drew, Spencer and Johnny, what will they say if Haley wimps out?

  On the other hand … it’s Reese. He’s always been different, not just one of the guys. Maybe he does have a good explanation for why he was photographed with a hot girl on his lap. Haley has always thought of Reese as a fine, upstanding citizen—too upstanding, sometimes—and generally a good, honest guy. He brought up Nevis before she even had a chance to say anything. Doesn’t that point to his innocence? Or does it point to his cunning—trying to dismiss the subject before Haley even had a chance to call him on it, and then using his physical magnetism to push aside her fears?

  If you think Haley is only human after all and that she can’t resist the temptation of Reese’s pillow-soft lips, have her enter into a RAPID RECONCILIATION with him. If you think there is no way Haley is going to be the only one to let down the girls and break their sisterhood pact, STICK WITH THE SISTERHOOD. Finally, if you think Haley wishes she could snap her fingers and make all her boy problems disappear, head to, PRINCIPAL CRUM’S LITANY, to distract her with issues that might be bigger than her own.

  Reese’s kisser is headed straight for Haley’s. She can either turn her head or meet him halfway. It’s up to you.

  ON THE SCALE

  The holidays can weigh heavily on a g
irl.

  Haley went into her mother’s bathroom and stared at the vintage doctor’s scale next to the sink. Joan Miller had scored the scale at an antique show back in California. Haley hadn’t weighed herself in a while; she usually didn’t feel the need to. But all this talk lately about models and bikinis and diets had made her think it might be time to check on her poundage.

  She stepped onto the scale and moved the lead weights to the usual numbers. Her eyes widened as the arrow clanked heavily upward. Apparently she’d put on a few pounds.

  Or maybe not, she thought, glancing down at her jeans and heavy winter sweater. Maybe it was just her clothes that had gotten heavier. She took everything off and stepped onto the scale again. That was a little better, but not much. Haley couldn’t believe her eyes. Could that number really be right?

  It’s an old scale, she told herself. It could be out of whack.

  But her mother weighed herself on this scale every day, and seemed to trust it. Haley decided to give it one more chance.

  She exhaled and stepped on one more time. The arrow balanced in the same place as before: no change. She couldn’t kid herself anymore: she weighed more than she ever had in her life.

  Okay, so I put on a few pounds, Haley told herself. I’m a growing girl. After a holiday filled with sweet treats—not in the Miller house, of course, but at various holiday parties around town—and a few too many Golden Dynasty dinners, who wouldn’t gain a little weight?

  She looked at herself in the full-length mirror and pinched a bit of skin at her waistline. She had to face facts. The weight gain was nothing a woolly winter sweater couldn’t hide, but she had to admit she wasn’t at her ideal fighting weight. But did it really matter? And if so, what should she do about it?

  If you think Haley feels insecure after her breakup with Reese and that gaining weight is the last thing she wants to deal with, take it to the extreme and have her try to shed ten pounds superfast, SLIMMING EFFECT.

  If you think that after spending the holidays surrounded by cakes, cookies and holiday meals (even tofu is fattening if you put sesame sauce on it), Haley will feel better if she goes on a health kick, turn to, STICK WITH THE SISTERHOOD. If you think Haley figures it’s winter so who cares anyway, make her keep up her Golden Dynasty habits, AMERICAN GOTH. To have Haley continue her normal, mostly healthy habits because you think she looks great the way she is, even with a little winter padding to keep her warm, turn, COLLEGE BOUND. Finally, if you think Haley Miller doesn’t have body image issues but the other girls at her school do, listen to PRINCIPAL CRUM’S LITANY.

  The weight issue is practically a rite of passage for teenaged girls. How Haley handles it could affect everything from her social life to her health, so don’t take her down the wrong path, or she could lose more than weight—namely, everything she holds dear.

  IV

  If you starve your body, your brain weakens too.

  Haley slowly peeled a single segment from the orange on her lap. She put it into her mouth and savored it, letting the fruit dissolve, noting every nuance of the flavor. It was a pleasant sensation at first, but then her stomach seized on the first drop of juice, snarling and growling and practically tearing itself apart. This was the part that didn’t feel great, but then, beauty was worth a little pain, right?

  Haley had decided to go all out and follow the Coco Cleanse to the letter, in the hopes that a new year and a newly svelte her would punish Reese Highland for his flirtatious hijinks with a swimsuit model in Nevis. For the first few days, Coco had instructed her to consume only hot water and lemon juice. Now they were on to green tea and oranges. And so far she was doing great, if not quite feeling that way. Haley had made it through five days and had shed almost as many pounds. Her goal of ten pounds in ten days was now within sight. And she’d also been able to break herself of her early habit of drinking gallons of water to mask her hunger. “That only adds water weight,” Coco had said disapprovingly.

  At school, it was easy to do the cleanse. Nobody watched what Haley ate for lunch, and she had Coco, Sasha, Whitney and Cecily for support. They were all doing the cleanse too, and the fad quickly spread to other girls in their class.

  At home it was trickier. Her parents expected her to eat dinner, but even brown rice and vegetables were too fattening for Coco’s extreme regimen. So Haley usually just told Joan and Perry she was eating at Coco’s house—Coco’s parents were hardly ever around, and they never had any inkling what their daughter was up to. If she didn’t go to Coco’s, she stayed late at the library and came home after dinner hour, telling her mother she’d already eaten.

  All her tactics seemed to be working. The only hard part was continuing not to eat. She had gradually gotten used to the acid buildup—with nothing to digest, her stomach was trying to eat itself—and the intense cravings for simple carbs like plain pasta or milk to coat her rumbling stomach. But she held firm, and was often so light-headed from lack of protein she barely even noticed the pain in her abdomen between “meals.” The dizziness was slightly alarming, but her cheekbones had grown so prominent Haley hardly even cared. Besides, Coco and the other girls kept cheering her on. It was kind of like a contest—who can eat the least? Who’s the most virtuous dieter?—and Haley wasn’t about to lose.

  That was before she had to go through an hour-long gym class. Haley had found herself too tired to finish ten sit-ups. That wasn’t like her at all—usually she could do fifty easily—and the gym teacher of course took notice. “Aren’t you feeling well, Haley?” Ms. Wissman asked, staring at the dark circles under Haley’s eyes and the sallow look of her skin. “Maybe you should sit today out.”

  “Thanks,” Haley said. She’d wanted to do more sit-ups—nothing better for toning the abs—but it felt good to sit on the bleachers and rest for a minute. The other girls stared at her enviously, wishing they could get out of gym too. I bet they wish they had as much self-control as I have, Haley thought. I bet they wish they could live on oranges and tea and get super skinny. But then she started feeling dizzy again and had to lie down on the bleacher bench.

  By her afternoon history class, she could barely concentrate; all she wanted to do was rest her head on her desk. When someone said something to her, she was slow to respond. And Shaun Willkommen asked her if she’d turned into an alien because her skin looked so green. Finally her history teacher, Mr. Tygert, sent her to the nurse’s office. The dreaded Ms. Underhill—Haley had been hoping to avoid her, but now she had no choice.

  “What seems to be the trouble?” stocky Ms. Under hill asked, taking Haley’s vital signs.

  “Nothing,” Haley insisted. “I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

  “You look exhausted,” the nurse said, shifting her considerable weight from one foot to the other. She examined Haley with an expression of concern. “And if I’m not mistaken, you are seriously dehydrated, my dear. How did you get yourself in this terrible shape? You need to be put on IV fluids immediately. Here, let’s get you onto a gurney.”

  “I’ll just drink a little water,” Haley said, trying to stand up. Her knees buckled and when she came to, her head ached, she felt nauseated and there was a strange, wet, metallic taste in her mouth: blood.

  “Haley? Haley? Are you all right?” Nurse Underhill was saying.

  “What happened?”

  “You tried to get up and walk out of here, and you passed out and smacked your face on the edge of the gurney. Here, let me get a bandage on that cheek. You’re going to have one massive shiner there, young lady. And I’ll be surprised if that cut doesn’t leave a scar.”

  Ms. Underhill helped Haley up to the bed in her office. “Now, let’s get some fluids into you, or you’re going to end up in the hospital.” She loaded up an IV and jabbed it into Haley’s arm. Then she checked her computer for Haley’s “in case of emergency” contacts. “Is your mother at work today? If she can’t come right away, I may have to call an ambulance. Dehydration is extremely serious. You could damage y
our kidneys, have liver failure or heart trouble….”

  “Please don’t call my mother,” Haley begged.

  “What, you think I can just let you leave with a bag of fluids hooked up to your arm?” Nurse Underhill replied.

  “Nurse Underhill, do IV fluids have calories?” Haley asked. “Coco is going to be so pissed.”

  Ms. Underhill’s tough face hardened. “Haley Miller, don’t tell me you’re on this so-called diet cleanse? I thought you were smarter than that!”

  Haley hung her head.

  “That diet is running rampant through this school,” Ms. Underhill said. “You’re the third girl I’ve seen this week with eating problems. It’s growing to epidemic proportions.” She dialed Haley’s mother’s work number. “Mrs. Miller? This is Nurse Underhill at Hillsdale High. No, I’m afraid everything is not okay. I’ve got Haley here and she’s seriously dehydrated. Yes, I don’t think she’s had anything to eat in several days. No, she’s put herself on a cleanse diet, and she almost put herself in the emergency room. No, of course, I’ll make sure she stays right here until you arrive.”

  Haley felt herself losing consciousness again. She shut her eyes and wished she could go back in time five days and change everything. She hurt all over, but what hurt the most was knowing she’d brought all this pain on herself—and the thought of what her parents would say when they got ahold of her.

  Who would have thought five days of starving yourself could cause so much damage? Your foolish choices have brought on dire consequences for Haley. Not only will she not end up model-thin, but now her face is disfigured, maybe permanently. Hang your head and go back to page 1.

  DEAD END