Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [60]
“Check out this picture of me. Isn’t it cool?” Sophie held up the screen for Madison.
Madison glanced at it. It was the same red-carpet shot from the video-game launch that had popped up all over the internet, with captions like: L.A. CANDY’S NEWEST HOTTIE! and SMOKIN’ SOPHIA! She fake-smiled, trying to mask her annoyance. “Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal that you’re my sister.”
Sophie smirked. “Oh, is that why the photographers were all over me at the party?”
Madison rolled her eyes. “Look, everything’s going really well. Let’s just focus on the plan, okay?”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Maddy?”
“Stop calling me that!”
“God, you are such a bitch today! What’s the matter, did Derek stand you up again?”
“So what can I get you girls?”
The waitress had suddenly materialized at their table, pad in hand, her curious gaze bouncing between Madison and Sophie. Hopefully she hadn’t overheard their conversation. “An iced soy latte, no sweetener, and make sure they actually use soy milk this time,” Madison snapped.
“Got it. And for you?”
“I’ll have an extra-large mocha ice-cream milk shake with whipped cream. And one of those really big chocolate-chip cookies,” Sophie said, closing her menu.
“What are you, nine years old?” Madison said when the waitress had left.
“You’re just mad cuz I can eat that stuff without getting fat.”
Madison started to respond, then clamped her mouth shut. She wasn’t going to let Sophie keep baiting her like this. “Soooo. Are you looking forward to the party?” she said in a faux-friendly voice.
“Yeah, I guess. Why are we going, though? You and that Scarlett girl hate each other, right? Or are you just pretending to hate each other for the cameras?”
“Uh, we’re definitely not pretending. You and I are going because Trevor wants us there. Jane didn’t invite us, so it’s gonna be a big surprise. If anybody asks, we’re supposed to say that Gaby invited us.”
“Did she invite us?”
“Who knows? A PopTV assistant was handling the Evites, so Trevor probably just added our names or whatever. It doesn’t matter. The point is, he wants a scene tonight when we walk into Coco de Ville, and everyone’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, no, what are they doing here?’”
“Awesome!”
Madison shrugged. “Yeah, maybe . . . if you like crashing parties where no one wants you there.”
“But we’re not crashing if Trev asked us to come. He’s the boss,” Sophie pointed out.
Madison said nothing as she watched Sophie peering around the café, adjusting her new Gucci sunglasses for what seemed like the hundredth time (the girl needed to take it easy with the “celebrity gestures”) and pretending not to notice the half-dozen guys ogling her. She told herself that everything was going according to “the plan”; she had promised Sophie fame, wealth, and boyfriends in exchange for her silence, and it was already starting to happen. Sophie had been a huge hit at Playground. She’d had a ton of guys around her the entire time, and the reporters and photographers couldn’t seem to get enough of her. Trevor was already talking about “maximizing Sophia’s airtime.”
So why did Madison feel awful? Like she’d been replaced?
She had been racking her brain trying to come up with something, anything, so she could regain the upper hand with Sophie. Being devious and manipulative were two of her finest qualities—normally. But the situation with Sophie was not normal, and the stress had taken a toll on Madison’s creativity.
Madison Parker didn’t do helpless. Yet that was exactly how she felt at this moment. God, how pathetic was that?
The waitress came by and set their order on the table. Sophie dug immediately into her disgusting shake and cookie. It really was unfair. How could she live on a diet of junk food and hard liquor and still look like that? Whereas Madison practically had to subsist on bottled water and carrot sticks—and spend hours a day at the gym—to maintain her size-0 body.
Sophie swiped