The Ashleys- by Melissa de la Cruz

The Ashleys rule Miss Gamble's Prepatory School for Girls. They are rich, gorgeous, impeccably fashion forward, and, yes, all named Ashley. Lauren Page has gone to the same school with them all her life, and the Ashleys, if forced to remember, might recall only a faint memory of shoving mud in the poor girl's mouth in kindergarten.

But Lauren Page is no longer the mud- eating loser she once was. And though she has completely changed her exterior from bargain- basement- cast- offs to off- the- runway couture (props of course, to her new personal shopper) she is still the same person inside. And that person has had enough of the current regime.

Look out, Ashleys. There's a new name in school.

They have it all: money, looks, popularity, anything their little platinum- encased hearts could desire. They also have a new face. After Lauren Page's unexpected and brilliant maneuver at the fall VIP dance, she is in so tight with Ashley Spencer, the number one Ashley, that she might as well be Ashley's favorite pair of leggings.

But a new website, www.ashleyrank.com, catches on like the flu in February, and for the first time since kindergarten it's open season in the popularity race. Lauren Page sees a way in, Ashley Li and Ashley Alioto see a way up, and Ashley Spencer sees a way to prove there's only room for one at the top.

Jealous: you know you are...

Ashley Spencer consider's her birthday to be the most important event next to... well, okay, it's just the most important event, period. Hello.

So when the invite list is cast and the custom embossed invitations are sent, , it's a who's- who list of San Francisco's best tweens. If people don't yet know whether they are in or out, this party is sure to draw the lines of coolness in the most permanent of inks. Ashley intends to prove that there's a reason she's been at the top of the social food chain her entire life, and she's not about to be unseated by some lame website ranking. She'd also like to solve the problem of losing her boyfriend. Will all her birthday wishes come true? Or is it more like it's her party and she'll freak if she wants to?