The Deal

Chapter 16

"I tried to apologize," Sammi rushed. "I really, really did! She didn't want to hear it! And she was my only friend, so now the Queens are literally all I have, Jake! Surely you understand. Surely. Please, I just — I tried —"

"Whoa, Sammi, slow down." Jake put his hands on her shoulders to stop her, and looked her directly in the eyes, concern showing. "Sammi, what happened? What's wrong?"

"I just told you!"

"But you're rushing, like you're upset or worried I'll be mad. I understand the upset, but..."

Sammi sighed. She was worried he'd be mad — but she couldn't stall forever. "We're sitting with the Queens again today. I know, I know, but..."

"You sure you can't sit with Leah?" Jake checked, still looking disbelieving, and oh, bless this man for not exploding the moment she mentioned the Queens again.

"She explicitly told me I couldn't," Sammi said with a sigh. "Look, I wish I could go back to sitting with Leah. But she doesn't want me to, Jake. I have to sit with the Queens. Apparently..." she gulped. "Apparently everyone knows I'm a Queen now."

Jake winced. "It's true, I've... heard about it. But Sammi, it is never too late to apologize."

"That's definitely not what Leah made it sound like," Sammi mumbled.

"Leah will forgive you in time," Jake told her seriously. Then she caught a wicked gleam in his eye as he seemed to catch an idea.

"Hang on. Jake Samuels, is that mischief I see in your eyes?"

Jake said nothing, but he didn't need to. His expression confirmed what she'd seen.

"And just when I thought I had you figured out!" Sammi exclaimed. "Alright. What's the meaning of that little twinkle in your eye? What are you planning?"

"I have the perfect way for you to show Leah you learned from your mistakes and dethrone the awful Queens," Jake said, growing more and more excited, and gosh, what had happened to the reserved, mysterious kid she'd first asked out? "It involves you pretending to be a Queen for a little while longer, if you can manage to not turn into Cady Heron."

Sammi giggled. "I like this already. Just explain the plan!"

—

"So, Makayla says you had a romantic night with your boyfriend after the dance," Lucy said in her "gossip" voice, scooting closer to Sammi. It made her feel physically ill to pretend to want to be here, at Angela's house, knowing the price of popularity with the Queens.

"Yep. Kissed in the rain. Most romantic thing ever." Sammi tried to think of a way to casually bring up what she wanted to in conversation.

Angela squealed. "Oh, that is too cute. Did you guys go inside and make out after that?" Her eyes lit up, begging for juicy details.

Well, they had gone inside and cuddled on her couch, and kissed some, so she supposed she could embellish. Jake wouldn't mind if their plan succeeded. "Yeah. We made out on my couch until my parents pulled up into the driveway, and then he snuck out the back." Eh. So, the details were lies. Whatever.

How could she bring this up?

Sammi pulled a tube of lip gloss out of her pocket. "I wore this lip gloss that day. Jake said it smelled amazing. I melted inside." Hey, that was truthful! Look at her go. "It's so pretty, too." To prove her point, Sammi put on the pretty lipgloss, checking it with a pocket mirror.

It really was her best, a fantastic color, and that combined with the fact that Jake had noticed the scent was something Makayla noticed instantly. "What flavor is it? Brand? I might want some of my own."

Yes. That was what she wanted. "I actually have a few unopened extras, by complete coincidence." Sammi winced. That was not her smoothest. She didn't have Leah's acting skills. "You can each have one, if you want."

Sammi held her breath. That had been kinda obvious. She prayed they wouldn't notice.

They didn't notice. Sammi had to fight not to smirk triumphantly as they each pocketed identical looking lip glosses to hers. The trick was, they weren't exactly identical.

See, when Sammi had been invited to Angela's, she and Jake had decided it was time to enact their plan. They had carefully and painfully replaced the lip gloss in the tubes with ink. Putting things into tubes was a nightmare, but it was worth it knowing that the girls would show up with black lips to school the next day.

Time for the next step. "Where's your restroom?" Sammi asked.

Angela waved towards the stairs. "Upstairs," she said in a bored tone.

"Sorry. Be back in a sec."

Sammi had to bring her small bag containing her scissors and markers up the stairs with her, but her fellow ladies knew not to question when another lady took a small bag with them to the restroom.

Upstairs, Sammi did not, in fact, head to the restroom, but rather to Angela's room, which she had briefly seen earlier. Opening up the closet, she smiled as all of Angela's cute, expensive outfits were revealed, hanging in front of her.

As she cut them all in half, she reminded herself that she was getting revenge on Leah's behalf. She left a singular outfit, gold sparkly tights (meant to go under a skirt, she was sure) and an oversized grey hoodie. She had to leave something for Angela to wear to school, she thought wickedly.

Was she being mean? Yes. She even felt a tiny bit bad. But these were the meanest girls in the school. So on the last outfit, left for Angela to wear, she drew a small heart and wrote, "I am wearing this because I was mean to Leah Rosario." Satisfied with her handiwork, Sammi innocently walked back down the stairs.