The Clique (novel)
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| Author | Lisi Harrison |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Clique series |
| Genre(s) | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Released | May 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 220 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0316155772 (first edition, paperback) |
| Followed by | Best Friends for Never |
The Clique is the first novel of the bestselling Clique series by Lisi Harrison. It was published in 2004 by Little, Brown and Company. Her next book in the Clique series Sealed with a Diss will be coming out in the fall of 2007.
[edit] Plot summary
In the Clique: A Novel, Massie Block, an "alpha" and leader of her clique, the Pretty Committee runs into a snag in her seventh grade life when her father, William Block, decides to let his old friend, Jay Lyons, live in the Block's guesthouse. Jay's family consists of him, his wife, Judy Lyons, his son, Todd Lyons, and his daughter, Claire Lyons. Claire Lyons trys to become friends with Massie but Massie ignores her and plays vicious, harmful pranks on Claire with the help of Massie's friends: Alicia Rivera, a "sweet" girl who would love to take Massie's throne one day, Dylan Marvil, Massie's second in command that is obsessed with dieting, and Kristen Gregory, a smart, hardworking student at Octavian Country Day School for girls where Massie, Dylan and Alicia also attend.
On the first ride in the Range Rover, where Claire was asked to ride in by Issac, Massies driver, she meets the rest of the clique. Massie once again ignores Claire sitting in the back seat. Isaac, seeing this, makes Massie give Claire an overall tour of the school. The Pretty Committee then spread red paint on the back of Claire's white Gap jeans, by orders of Massie. Claire gets sent to the nurse's office by Vincent, the seventh grade art teacher. Claire then meets Nurse Adele, who takes Claire in and shows her the lost and found where Claire finds new, trendier clothes. Claire goes to lunch with her "toes squished and her head held high" and meets three girls named Meena, Heather and Layne Abeley by saying that she is Massie's friend. Later on, Massie's mother, Kendra, invites Claire to Massie's annual friday night sleepover. After the girls make fun of her once more, Claire ends up leaving which shocks Massie into realizing she may care for her as a friend.
Before school, Massie went horseback riding and met a fifteen year old boy named Chris Abeley who actually turns out to be Layne's brother. When Massie finds out, she pretends to be best friends with Layne, secretly and on the sly. When Massie starts meeting up with Layne and Chris, Massie's friends feel rejected and replaced. As Massie is out on another one of her jaunts with her new best friend, the rest of the clique meet to help Kristen get an A in her company project that earlier is chrisened Glambition, a collection of beauty products. As they set up, Massie is arrives late because of secretly hanging out with Layne, and she catches the clique girls laughing and having fun with "leechy Lyons". She immediately stops them and orders the rest of the clique to pour food on her.
Claire thinks that they deserve a payback. For revenge, as Massie walks Bean, her pug outside, Claire sneaks into Massie's room and uses Massie's instant messaging name to IM Alicia. Claire tells Alicia that "Massie" likes Claire now, and to wear shorts over tights the next day at school and to inform the rest of the clique. The next day, everyone but Massie is dressed like "Peter Pan." The next day, Claire IMs Dylan and hints that her legs are fat, which causes Dyaln to be mad at Massie and wear a bulky long skirt. Finally, she IMs Kristen, and finds out that Kristen was at OCD on scholarship. Claire then abruptly signs off and rattles Kristen. Massie, unaware of the IM's they thought were sent by her, insults her friends by calling Dylan's skirt a tent and asking why Kristen cannot afford her own tennis racket. The Clique quickly abandons Massie and takes in Claire by Alicia buying her clothes and giving her a cell phone. Kristen then calls up Massie later asking her why she didn't keep her secret and Massie then asks when the IMs were sent. Massie soon realizes that Claire used her name and decides to get back at her by having her be a victim of a five-way on her cell phone. Claire then understands that Massie knows and she is then kicked back out of the clique and the clique are reunited with Massie as their "alpha."
Massie and the rest of the Pretty Committee make lip gloss for Kristen's company project and they decide to sell the lip gloss on an upcoming field trip to Manhattan. On the bus ride there, Claire and Layne make up for Massie discarded Layne for the Pretty Committee. As the clique sell their lip gloss and the rest of the girls on the bus try it, many are stricken with an allegric reaction to one of the ingredients, almond extract. Since Layne's food obsession is oatmeal, Massie text messages Claire and tells her to give everyone some oatmeal because it is good for rashes. Layne agrees to sell it.
When they go to the OCD benefit, Claire donates her fancy dress from Alicia and bids $600 for it so she can give it back to Alicia. Massie also meets Chris Abeley there and she meets his girlfriend, Fawn. An embarrassed Massie then slowly slinks back to her friends where she tells them that Chris had a booger hanging out of his nose and she doesn't like him anymore. Then, when both Massie and Claire's fathers get drunk and sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall and they decide to call up their daughters to sing with them, Massie and Claire meet up behind the azealas to wait out the humilation. They talk and find that they have much in common and at the end of the story, Massie can't tell whether Claire is in or out of the clique on her Current State of the Union.
