Curse of the Wickeds (The Cinderella Society, Episode 2) by Kay Cassidy Read Free Book Online Page B

to be the best, but not at the expense of other people or the rules.”
    Gaby Winston. My fellow rule-lover.
    “Plus, I’m kind of a student of life. I want to know all the whos and hows and whys. So few things are ever how they seem on the surface, you know? You have to dig to get at what’s underneath. It’s like uncovering hidden treasure.”
    She paused, and I could see her reining herself in. Probably to restrain herself from diagramming her latest brilliant hypothesis. Complete with flowcharts and colorful dry erase markers.
    “Anyway,” she said, getting back on track. “I wanted to start with mine because I think it’s a good example of how words can have different meanings to people. When I said ambitious , did anyone hear ‘walk all over anyone who gets in her way’?”
    “I would never think that of you,” Mel said, joining us at the table again. “But yeah, ambitious to me means pushy.”
    “It can, for sure. That’s why you have to choose words that resonate with you personally. Since you’re not going to be putting your Cindy brands on name tags or anything, the only perception that matters is yours.”
    I wasn’t sure where to begin with my Cindy brand—or that I fully understood it yet—but the Cindys hadn’t led me astray so far. If adding a Cindy brand to my Image Plan would help me compete in Ryan’s world, I’d give it my best shot.

Chapter Eleven

    Paige was talking to Sarah Jane about the system upgrade when I got to the War Room for our next leader meeting. I’d been agonizing over the surge stuff, but so far I’d come up with zip. No idea what the surge was for. No idea how to battle it.
    If I’d been a baseball player, I’d have been one step away from striking out. Not an impressive start for the new leader.
    Once she’d turned Sarah Jane loose on the latest intelligence briefing from Fortissima, Paige led me over to a magnetic white board filling a large section of wall space. “Our intel isn’t anywhere near complete, but here’s what we can confirm: fourteen primary targets and about two dozen secondary targets.” She pointed to a group of photos gathered in the upper right corner. “Those are the primary targets: favorites of the Wickeds for a year or more. The rest are ones we’ve identified in the last twelve months.”
    The targets were small photographs, each attached to an index card that listed the name, year in school, address, and any other notes the Cindys thought might be important.
    “That’s it?” In a school of more than fifteen hundred students, forty or so targets didn’t seem like a very wide net. Although I’m sure it seemed plenty wide to those forty girls.
    “Those are just the top two tiers. Reggies we’ve been able to document being bullied on a regular basis. That’s targeting. The Wickeds gain power by dominating people who are strong. They might occasionally bully someone weak just for kicks, but it’s pretty rare because it doesn’t increase their power. In their eyes, anyone can bully a weakling. But dominate someone strong, and the Wickeds’ power—and egos—get a boost. Plus, it makes that person less of a threat to the Wickeds’ empire.”
    She settled us into chairs along the bank of computers on the side wall. “The hard part is that there’s been an upswing in new targets over the last couple of months. We’re still trying to get a handle on the new group. There could be dozens more, even hundreds. It’s like the rules changed overnight, and the Wickeds have taken their game to a new level. We don’t know how they’ve been able to manage it so quickly. And now we’ve got the surge on top of it.”
    “Is this my pep talk?”
    Paige laughed and relaxed a little. “Sorry. It’s just frustrating to be turning all this over to you. I feel like I should be able to give you more. Instead, I’m handing off a bunch of problems and no solutions.”
    Paige showed me how to log into the intelligence system and pull up