Author's Note:

Hey. This is my first story that I'm uploading. It's a MDBC [Mother Daughter Book Club] Obviously. It's set after the fourth book, Pies & Prejudice. If you haven't read past the first book, then I strongly suggest you do NOT read this. It contains MAJOR spoilers for the second, third, and fourth books. If you don't want the series to be spoiled, do NOT read. Don't say I didn't warn you… Okay, so it's set at the homecoming dance preparation. And Cassidy gets a text message from her boyfriend… I'm not saying anything more than that, because I don't want to spoil it! Anyway, this Author's Note is over one hundred words, so on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mother Daughter Book Club. Or any of the characters. This is just a story of my imagination.

TLC

Cassidy's POV

I'm over at Becca Chadwick's getting ready for the dance. I know. Me, Cassidy Sloane, at a dance? Yeah, hard to believe right? I wouldn't have gone if Tristan hadn't asked me, and it being his first dance at Alcott High, and one of his lasts since he's a senior, so I decided to say yes. I think it made his day when I said yes.

So, we're all over at Becca's, getting ready. We're only in Bermudas and tee shirts, since we still have to eat, and we don't want to get our "couture" dresses all dirty. By "couture", I mean that Megan designed them. None of us have seen ours, and I really wanna know what mine looks like. I mean, if it's a dress, and it's mine, I would like to know what it looks like.

I look around the room at my four closest friends. Becca is trying to straighten Emma's naturally very curly hair, and is having a difficult time. That's what Emma told her, but Becca Chadwick doesn't take no for an answer. Mega is perfecting Jess' makeup, and Jess is getting ready to French braid Megan's hair. I'm just sitting here, on Becca's bed, doing nothing because they're saving me for last, since I'll take the longest. I mean, honestly, I don't look that bad. I mean so what if my hair's a little ratty? And if that stubborn zit on the tip of my nose is looking exceptionally red today? I don't, but apparently everyone else does. I sigh, and look around Becca's room. It's not bad, actually. Her walls are painted a turquoise color, with lime green and dark purple accents. It matches really well, and I guess that's just Becca's thing. Everything will and must match with Becca Chadwick. I hear a little chirp and I turn around. My phone went off. I pick it up and look at it. New Text Message, it says. I open it, and see that it's from Tristan. "Hey, I'll be there at about 6, with Simon Darcy and Zach." And then I look at the line below it, and I'm just confused. Three letters. "TLC". It's one of those annoying signatures. They drive me crazy. I don't mind that Tristan put one on there; it's just that I don't get it. TLC? What does that stand for?

"Hey guys, what does TLC stand for?" I ask my friends.

They turn and look at me.

"Tender loving care." Emma says to me.

"That doesn't make any sense though! Tristan just texted me, and it said that in his message! Why would he text me tender loving care?" I ask.

"Maybe because he cares about you." Becca says to me, with the slightest hint of duh in her voice.

"Why don't you just ask him?" Jess says to me.

"I guess I will. Oh, and Tristan, Darcy, Simon, and Zach are coming around six. Okay?" I tell my friends.

I open a new text message on my phone, and text Tristan, "Hey, yeah thats fine. Just wondering what does TLC stand for?" I click send and wait for his reply. Megan is done with Jess' makeup, and Jess decided against a French braid, and went with a different kind of hairstyle, which Jess tells me is a fishtail braid. Like I care. Becca has now gotten almost half of Emma's hair straight, and it looks pretty good. Now I'm starting to get impatient. What is taking Tristan so long to text me back? Whoa. Clingy girlfriend. Calm down Sloane, he's probably picking up Zach or something, since they're all going over to the Hawthorne's before they come over to Becca's. And being the responsible person he is, he wouldn't dare text when behind the wheel. Even if it's from his girlfriend. Finally, Jess and Megan are done, and wander over to the bed to figure what they should do with me. Jess looks really pretty. And so does Megan. I'm not really listening, but I hear a few key words in their conversation, such as: Tristan, Cassidy, impress, curling iron, makeup, and ribbon. Gag me. Ribbon? No way ever. My phone trills again, and I pick it up. One new message. Wonder who. I open it, and it's from Tristan. "Figure it out love." And then "TLC". It says. He knows how to really push my buttons.

"Megan, has Simon ever said anything to you about TLC?" I ask Megan. If Tristan and Simon are brothers, then maybe Simon knows what it means.

"No, Cassidy. Sorry. I'll ask him though." She tells me, pulling out her phone and starting to text Simon.

"Okay. Thanks Megs." I tell her.

Becca has finished Emma's hair, and it looks really good. They come over and join us. They all discuss what they should do to me. They finally turn to me and look at me. I gulp. I mean, they must be doing something horrible to me.

"Cassidy," Emma starts.

"I'm going to do your makeup." Becca says.

"We're going to work on your hair." Jess and Megan say together.

"And I'm going to help you figure out what TLC means." Emma says.

I sigh audibly. I mean, it could have been worse. Becca gets out the makeup she's going to use on me. Megan plugs in a curling iron. Jess grabs a pair of scissors and walks out of the room. I watch her out Becca's window, and see her walk up to a plant, a pretty pale orange one, and snip the flower off it. I see her do the same to a blue one, a yellow one, a purple one, and a pink one. Five. Oh crap. I see her run into the house, and back up the stairs. She has crazy glue, and five clip things. She gets to work, gluing the flowers on the clips. I don't want to know what she is doing. There's a soft ding, from of our bags. Megan walks over to it, and pulls her phone out. She reads the message and looks at me.

"Sorry Cass, Tristan made Simon promise not to tell." Megan looks over at me apologetically.

"It's cool, Megs. It's just that Tristan better tell me before the clock strikes midnight." I say mischievously.

"What is this Cinderella?" Becca says sarcastically.

She gets back to my makeup, and Jess runs outside again, to clip five more flowers and bring them up here, and glue them to more clip things. Emma is thinking about possibly meanings for TLC. I look over at the wall clock. Five forty-five.

"Hey, guys, you know that they guys are supposed to be here in like, I don't know, fifteen minutes." I say.

They all look at the clock. An "Ohmygod, we have to hurry up." Expression comes onto their faces. Megan finishes curling my hair, and runs out of the room to get our dresses. She comes in with both arms full, and Emma gets up and helps her. They set them down on Becca's bed.

"Well guys, I'm going to let you guys pick out your dresses. Figure out which one is yours." Megan says, lifting the yellow one up off the bed. She walks out the room, while calling to us,

"This one's mine. Find yours."

Great. I look at them. I wouldn't wear any of them if it were up to me. The only one I would wear maybe is the blue one. But I can tell that it's not mine. It's way too small. It's probably Jess'. That leaves a purple one, a pale pink one, and a minty green one. The purple one is Emma's. Purple is Emma's favorite color, so naturally that would be hers. That leaves the pink one and the green one. I swear if Megan made me a pink dress, so help me. I look at Becca. We're the only ones without dresses, and we don't know what one is ours. Great. I look at the clock. Five fifty three. Seven minutes until the guys arrive. Except Stewart. He already lives here, so he wouldn't be arriving. Becca finally picks hers up. The pink one. So that means that the green one is mine. Not bad. But I'm looking at the flowers. I see no green flowers. Oh, man.

Megan waltzes back into Becca's room. She looks amazing. Her yellow dress compliments her skin nicely, and the straps tie around her neck. There are some jewels around the top and it looks pretty cool. We slip into our dresses, and help each other with our zippers. We check each other out, and I must say, Megan did a nice job. Mine is a single shoulder, and it looks really nice with my eyes. Or so they all say. But the best thing is, that there's a pocket! Megan really outdid herself. But, before I can thank her, she walks over to the flowers. She makes sure they are dry, and hands them out. Jess gets the orange one, Emma the yellow one, Becca the blue one, and I get the pink one. Uh uh. No way. Cassidy Sloane does not wear pink. Megan is too busy pining them in our hair. When she gets to me I look her dead in the eye. No, I say with my evil glare. Megan pins it into my hair and walks away. She puts the other ones in boxes, and carries them down the stairs with her. We all follow her. She sets them out onto the hall table, and we wait. Not for long though. At six on the dot the doorbell rings. Stewart walks down the stairs and answers it. All the guys crowd into the foyer. We walk in to the hall and say hello. Megan says that the corsages are on the table. Crap. That's what those flowers are for. Tristan grabs my hand, and gives it a squeeze. He looks at me, and smiles. I look back at him, and wink. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to him. We're both the same height, even though he's a senior, and I'm a sophomore. I look at my friends. They all look so happy. Megan's standing with Simon, Becca and Zach are talking, Stewart and Emma are holding hands, and Jess and Darcy are smiling at each other.

"You look lovely, Cassidy." Tristan whispers in my ear.

I blush at this. I mean, I don't know anything about fashion, so I wasn't sure how this dress looked on me. I'm pleased at the compliment, though.

"You look pretty good too, Tris." I tell him. And he does. He's got a tux on, and a tie the same blue as his eyes.

We get our corsage, and Tristan nimbly pins it on my dress. I look at him. And then I remember what I was going to ask him.

"What does TLC mean?" I ask him.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" He asks me.

"If I had figured it out, why would you ask you?" I tell him.

"True." He says. He looks at his watch, and announces,

"We should get going. It's nearly twenty after." He says.

We all pile into our cars. I'm riding with Tristan, obviously, and Simon and Megan. Emma, Jess, and Becca are going in the other car. I sit shotgun with Tristan driving. Simon and Megan are talking excitedly in the back seat. I look in the rearview mirror at them. They couldn't be more different. Simon is English, with curly blond hair and brown eyes. Megan, on the other hand, is Asian American, so she has almond shaped eyes, and black hair. I shouldn't really talk though. Tristan and I don't look that alike either. He's got dark hair, and blue eyes. I have bright red hair. I'm not talkin' strawberry blond here. I'm saying fire engine red, Red Sox red. I also have grey eyes. I don't know anyone else that does. We pull up to the high school, and get out. I look and take a deep breath. Here we go.

A/N: Sorry if it was a little confusing. It was all Cassidy's POV. Next chapter will be up, hopefully at the end of the week. Also. Any ideas on what TLC means. I got the story figured out. It'll probably be three to five chapters. If this is liked, I'll work on an A-Z one for this series. Which couple first though? Thanks, for reading. It wasn't very good.