Two Months Earlier...

"So, how are you liking Arizona?" I was having a phone conversation with Blake, it'd been six months since he'd moved away from Pleasant County. Strangely, Blake and I talked more with him in another state than we did when he attended the same school as me.

"It's nice I guess. Dry, sunny and hot all the time. I think the downside of Arizona is actually my father's dating life." Blake sighed on the other end.

I paced through my room.

I had laid out on my bed all my new outfits that I was determined to fit into before school started again. I had made several trips to Forever21 and a few small boutiques; spending my limited budget to figure out what style I needed to have in order to fit in with the popular crowd.

"Wow, your dad is already dating again? Isn't it too early for that?" I asked him while I lifted up a skirt.

"Probably, I realized that I should have probably stayed there with my mom in Pleasant County. If I did, I'd be there to help you out with whatever this crazy plan is you got going on." He had a hint of smugness in his voice.

"You mean my historically ground breaking plan? That plan?" I flopped down on my bed and switched my phone to the other ear. I caught a glimpse of myself in my long, standing-mirror. I was wearing fuzzy blue slippers, old, worn gym pants, and a transformers T-shirt that had last year's spaghetti stain still on it.

Cara was right, I was gross, but I decided that I'd just hide my grossness in the comfort of my bedroom.

"And does Marco happen to have any part in your plan?" Blake's voice slyly added this in.

I pursed my lips. "Yes and no. If I can get him to notice me, to at least acknowledge my existence to the point where Cara's mad, then mission accomplished."

"And what would you do if he was interested in you?" Blake questioned.

I shook my head profusely before I realized that Blake couldn't see it. "That could never happen."

"Why not?" Blake sounded amused.

"Because, if by some amazing chance he actually noticed me and wanted to date me, it wouldn't be because he really liked me, it'd be because I had contacts, makeup and the right dress." I was convinced of this.

I'd always had fantasies of Marco noticing me before my makeover. In my fantasies he'd compliment me for being different from everyone else.

"So, you know how I've been doing martial arts?" Blake tried to change the subject, he had an amazing sense for knowing when I did or didn't want to talk about something.

"Yes." I responded.

"My trainer was telling me something that might be useful to you. He said when you're face-to-face with your opponent, there's only two ways to win, strength or stamina. If you are a strength fighter, you go fast and hard to win, but if you are a stamina fighter, you learn to withstand the strength so that you have the stamina to win in the end. So if Cara is strength, you gotta be stamina." Blake advised.

I stretched out my body across my bed like a lazy cat, my eyes studied the various posters littering my walls. "Stamina, huh? Okay, but if Cara's strength, don't I need to know her weaknesses?"

Just like the tortoise and the hare story, if I could survive Cara's vanity and scathing words I might have a chance to overthrow her.

"Luckily, I grew up with Cara so you have an insider. There's only three things Cara cares about, her looks, her reputation and Marco Hunt." His voice sounded almost prideful of his role in my plan.

"I can't compete with her in looks, she. . .um. . .doesn't need a push-up bra, if you get what I mean." I felt embarrassed to say this to Blake, but he was literally the only person I could talk to about this.

"So compensate, use charm in the places you feel weak in, and Kitty? You are pretty you know. Don't put yourself down because Oh god, I've got to go. Dad is attempting to make steak for his date tonight and it smells like he set the kitchen on fire!"

I tried not to smile at Blake's misfortunes. I hung up the phone and dug under my pillow to retrieve my notebook. I made a list:

Dethroning the Queen

1. Rise to her level

2. Take down her reputation

3. Keep Marco Hunt from dating her

I tore out the paper and propped it up against my nightstand. Some people's motivation to change comes out of wanting love, either love from another or love from themselves. My motivation was vengeance.

Present Day...

"Kitty?" Cara said my name with surprise at first, then shock drew over her features. Good, that meant she had to be at least a little impressed. She appraised my outfit and her eyes didn't have that judging look of disapproval for once.

Samantha played with the end of her braid as she studied me up and down too before she said, "Wow, you look nice." And there wasn't a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Kristy nodded approvingly. "Definitely, summer was good for you. Did you go out of town?"

I couldn't tell them that no, I'd spent the summer hiding out in Pleasant County, going to the gym, running every other day, eating a strict diet-plan and plotting their social demise. Instead I combed my fingers through my hair, pulling it to one side like I'd always seen Cara do and I smiled a smile so sweet it could give cavities.

"No, I just decided I was turning sixteen and it was time for a change," I answered.

Cara watched me, unconvinced before she slammed her locker shut. She didn't say anything at all. I couldn't tell if that was a bad or good thing yet.

"Hey 'sup?"

That was the sound of Marco Hunt. He approached the trio and put one arm over Cara's shoulder and the other over Kristy's. He smelled fantastic. I could easily smell that freshly showered scent of soap clinging to his skin. His dark eyes latched on to me and for some reason anytime he would look at me I felt naked and exposed.

"Hey Marco, guess who this girl is?" Kristy challenged him.

Marco looked me up and down, trying to recall me and finally I see the look of recognition spread across his face. He smiled at me that beautiful smile with his perfect teeth. "Oh yeah! Kitty right? You look great!"

He actually recognized me! Had he paid enough attention to me before to recognize my features now after my makeover? I felt hot all over with shock and embarrassment, but I couldn't let my guard down. I was on the war path. I inhaled deeply so I could have enough oxygen in my lungs to keep my back straight.

"Hey Marco." I managed.

Cara rolled her eyes and latched onto Marco's arm. "Yes, remember Kitty is the girl I told you about who had the crush on you eight months ago. Remember? It's really interesting to see how far she was willing to go to get you now."

Rage hot as molten lava swelled inside my chest. I could feel a lump form in my throat that threatened to either release tears or cuss words. I took that lump and just forced it back down. I had to remain calm, and cool. The path to revenge is paved with several small battles before you finally get to the end game.

Marco nudged Cara gently. "Stop that. Sorry Kitty, she can be like this sometimes, just ignore her."

Ugh. Could he seriously be any nicer?

"It's okay, besides, Cara isn't entirely wrong. We had a little talk eight months ago, where she gave me some really good advice. And you totally don't have to worry about a crush, I started dating someone over the summer and I'm totally happy with him." I lied through my teeth.

The only guy I'd met over the summer was a stuffed teddy bear Grandma Louise gave me for a birthday present.

Samantha and Kristy looked equally impressed and perplexed by this information. "Really?" They both asked in unison.

Cara started to laugh, and lifted a hand to her lips to stifle it. "Seriously? I know everyone worth knowing in this town, if you were dating someone I'd know about it. Who? What's his name?"

A warm arm draped over my shoulders. "Me, I'm her boyfriend..."

I gazed up to see a handsome boy with dark, short hair, pushed up aviator sunglasses and perfect blue eyes. His body felt lean and toned against my side, not to mention he had a smile as equally dazzling as Marco's. He was dressed stylishly and he was completely hot. Who was this guy?

I was so shocked by this beautiful boy I couldn't even speak.

Cara was perhaps the most surprised out of all of us, her voice became suddenly quiet when she said, "Blake?"

"Blake?" I gasped. Seriously, this was Blake?

Blake pressed his lips against the side of my head to kiss me. "Isn't she cute when she gets surprised? We've only been dating over the summer, but as you can see, we're very much a thing. So, let's get on to class babe."

Blake pulled me away from Marco and the three girls who gawked at him. I felt like a drone, mindlessly being pushed through a sea of students, and strangely everyone's eyes latched onto Blake. What the hell was happening? Was this all a dream? Maybe if I pinched myself I'd wake up in my bed and could restart this day over again.

When we got into a less crowded hallway I turned around and stared the new Blake down hard. "Blake, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Arizona! And why-why do you look like this?"

Blake grinned at me, and now his smile was so dazzling I wanted to smack him for it. "I moved back to live with my mom. A teenage son kind of ruins a single dads dating life style, you know? Besides, Kitty. You can't be the only one to exact revenge. I have my own revenge."

I couldn't stop looking at him, he looked like he belonged in a magazine. Who knew that he had the potential to transform so much in eight months? Still I couldn't process this. "Wait, why didn't you say anything to me?"

Blake's features could look so mischievous when he wanted them to. He leaned forward and tapped my nose. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Mission accomplished," I said breathlessly. For a moment-just a moment-I forgot I was talking to Blake Anders. The boy who'd seen my spaghetti stained shirt. The boy who liked to yell at video games so loudly that only cookies and cherry soda could calm him down. When I reminded myself of everything that was so very Blake I could think again. "What are you trying to do here?"

Blake ran his fingers through his hair and pulled off his sun glasses to place them on top of my head. "My plan is to make Cara fall in love with me and then dump her. It's payback for all the times she's insulted me. First, I have to make her jealous and that's where you come in."

"So you're using me? Blake, this is not what I had planned." I hissed my words and tried my best to keep my voice low enough not to be heard.

"No, no, we are mutually using one another because we have the same goal. Look if she thinks you're with me, you have your cover regarding Marco, and I really don't see how all of this is bad for you." Blake reasoned and I'll admit it didn't sound so bad.

So what if everyone thought Blake was my boyfriend? It really did only benefit me. It'd definitely gain me popularity points too having a hot, new boyfriend.

"Fine, but if we're going to pretend to be with each other to get revenge, we need some ground rules here. First, never call me 'babe' ever again, just 'Kitty'. You can put your arm around my shoulders, you can hold my hand and you can kiss the side of my face. That's it. I will not ruin any of my firsts like a first kiss on a fake boyfriend." I stated firmly.

He pretended to looked shocked. "You've never had a first kiss?"

I lifted up my hand to stop his joking. Blake knew better than anyone that the closest I'd ever been to a boy was this very moment with him beside me. We were going to be late for class, I reached for his arm and dragged him into the classroom. Maybe if I'd actually bothered to check the roster, I'd have seen that Blake was in my class and saved myself the horror.

Classes went by uneventfully until everyone realized I wasn't a new girl, but a new Kitty. Girls who had been just nice acquaintances suddenly complimented me on hair or my outfit. Guys who never gave me a second glance heavily watched me during classes. I wasn't completely aware of how much I'd changed over the summer, or just how pretty I'd become.

I used to be invisible; suddenly I was too visible.

Still the attention I received, paled in comparison to the attention Blake received. While I just tried to be nice and charming, Blake decided to go the route of being the ladies man. Between classes he would let the girls crowd around him and compliment him and he'd compliment them back.

Yuck. Pretend or not, he was acting in a way I found off-putting. If only these girls knew that he had a thing for eating pickles and french-fries together.

When lunch rolled around I quickly sought out Suzy like a light in the darkness. She sat at our usual table with her phone in front of her face and a bright smile for me. Finally, someone I could be myself with, I was tired of pretending.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Blake's hand reached to hold my arm, I turned back to look to him with my tray still in hand.

"I am going over to sit with Suzy, like I always do," I stated.

"Then I'll join you." He invited himself. I narrowed my eyes at him. Before Blake left for Arizona we never sat together for lunch. He had his group of friends he always sat with and I always sat with Suzy. We'd talked in the hallways and yes, we did become good friends via phone and text while he was in Arizona, but I'd never imagine having lunch with him.

"Don't you have friends to sit with?" I asked him.

Blake shook his head. "Nah, seems my old friends don't really like the new me. Besides we lost contact when I went to Arizona. No, Kitty, you're the only person who bothered to keep up with me, and we are a couple now. How would it look if we didn't sit together?"

I glanced over towards Cara's table. Samantha and Kristy gazed at Blake so hard they struggled to get food in their mouth. Cara had Marco and a few of his friends sitting with them. Marco was busy laughing with his buddies from the soccer teams, but Cara had her eyes fixed to the both of us.

I sucked in a breath through my teeth and forced the most fake smile of my life. "Fine, join us."

Blake made it a point to show off what a good boyfriend he was, he reached to take my lunch tray and carry it for me. He made sure Cara and her friends could see it all and drink it in. When I sat down with Suzy she gave me a strange look and then pointed to Blake.

"Blake? People in school have been talking about you." Suzy mused as we settled in.

Blake pushed my tray over in front of me before he flashed Suzy a smirk. "Good."

Suzy leaned back in her seat, she pointed at each of us seperately. "I get it. You two are doing the same thing aren't you? Now that's really interesting for a documentary, I could get both the female and male perspective on vanity and gender discrimination." Suzy's gears were already turning. She held up her phone like a camera to our faces. "Will their revenge be sweet? Or will it go sour?"

I placed my hand over the camera lens and glared strongly at Suzy. "You don't get to document any of this. I refused to have any evidence about this go viral somewhere."

Blake slipped his arm around me and for the moment I jumped. I wasn't used to being touched, especially without warning. He looked at me with a little surprise in his gaze. "Sorry, Cara was looking, I was trying to play the part."

"New rule, you don't get to touch me until I say you can!" I flared my nostrils at him and instead of him looking remorseful he seemed to enjoy me nagging him.

"Are you guys pretending to be together?" Suzy was a sharp as a knife in a pro Chef's drawer. There was nothing that could get past her.

I groaned and rested my head in my arms atop the table. "Yeah, supposedly we've been dating over the summer and we're somehow supposed to be making Cara jealous with this."

Suzy glanced over to Cara's table and nodded. "Well she looked pretty annoyed to me, so I guess it's working? If you think about it, before this summer, Cara and her friends were the hottest people in school. Now you two have changed and are the only two attractive people in our school who's not in her circle of friends. Meaning anyone who doesn't like Cara will draw towards you guys. And Marco isn't the hottest boy in school anymore, Blake is considered this rogue boy who went away from Pleasant County and came back changed. So it's all good-boy vs. bad-boy now."

Blake leaned close to me and emphasized. "Did you hear that? I'm the bad-boy."

I curled my lips bitterly towards him. "The only thing bad about you, is how cheesy you've become."

Blake pretended to look hurt by my statement before stealing one of my french-fries. I can tell from his expression that he was dying to resist getting a pickle to go with them. At least beneath all his changes in appearance, the same old goofy Blake was in there.

"So, how are you going to get Cara to fall in love with you, if you're fake-dating me?" I asked him curiously.

"Well, we have to first fake date so Cara can see what an amazing couple we are, and then we need a fake break up. By then Marco will be swooping in to comfort you and I can swoop in on Cara." Blake advised this as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

"Whoa, wait. Why would Marco swoop in to comfort me? I've barely ever spoken to him. He won't care if we're together or not. He won't care if I'm upset or happy." I felt warm suddenly. The thought of Marco Hunt giving me any sort of attention made me feel those stupid girlish feelings inside.

"That's why I'm joining the soccer team. I practiced a lot over the summer, I mean I played for fun anyway and with my athletics from martial arts, I think I can handle it. Me having an excuse to get closer to him means you have an excuse to get closer to him. You were right when you told me that if we could solve difficult math problems, we should be able to solve difficult people problems." Blake was so casual about all this. He'd devised this plan way further than I ever intended to. My original goals were just to dethrone Cara, I never factored getting Marco to date me into the plan.

"Marco won't date me," I said with conviction.

"We'll see." Blake took another one of my fries.

"And I'll be there to film all of it!" Suzy added in with enthusiasm.

Before I could even process all this information Blake leaned against me. "Suzy, take a picture of us and send it to me. We need it for our phone. Makes us look more legit." Suzy was more than eager to help, maybe too eager. I could see her eyes were swimming with the prospect of winning a film festival after this experiment.

"Get closer. No, closer, and smile," Suzy instructed.

Blake had his arm around me, and I tilted my head towards him. He delivered one of his dazzling smiles again and I tried my best to not look annoyed with him. That became the picture and when Suzy turned her phone to show us how we looked, I couldn't recognize myself in the photo. In the picture there was this pretty little auburn-haired girl with semi-green eyes staring up at her picture-perfect boyfriend who was smiling like a kid in a candy store. They looked like a good couple.

They were the perfect lie...