The Clique: Confessions of an Upperclassman

Octavian Country Day School Friday, September 9th 12:20 PM

"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"It's pronounced wilt, not wilt," Kristen corrected. "But the emotion was perfect!"

Dylan groaned and rested her head on the table. She had been practicing all week with the acting coach her mother hired and was running lines at lunch in preparation for the auditions in one week.

"What if I get the Nurse? Or worse, a part in the Chorus?" She worried.

"Then we'll protest," Massie comforted her, "Or start some new thespian club and have another play where you can be the lead."

"Or maybe your mom can donate a new theatre to the school," Alicia added. "I heard that's how Skye Hamilton became captain of the dance team at her new school."

Kristen laughed and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Dyl, you're literally going to be fine. Look at you!"

"Whatever, let's just go through the monologue one more time?" she asked Kristen.

The blonde sighed but picked up the script and listened as Dylan started over.

Massie turned to Alicia, "Have you noticed someone's absent today?"

Alicia raised her eyebrows and quickly searched the room. "Ooh! Looks like Kuh-laire isn't here!"

"I know, I have to know why."

"I'll find out. I have a newspaper last period with Harmony Monty who has Bio with Lay-me, and she'll say anything for some gossip points." Alicia flipped her hair over her shoulder confidently. "Speaking of gossip points and our little friend from Florida..."

Suddenly, Dylan and Kristen were finished practicing and leaned in to hear what Alicia knew.

"Spill." Massie demanded.

"Well, I might have heard that reached out to Cam again."

"No way, what'd they say?" Kristen prodded.

"Apparently, she tried to tell him some sob story about how her family got kicked out of your house, but her parents are still making her go to OCD because they think it's best for her future and she needs like therapy or something." Alicia rolled her eyes at the last part.

"She needs therapy?" Dylan said loudly. "If anything, we're the ones that need it after what she pulled."

"Ah-greed," Massie crossed her arms and was quiet for a moment. "But, more importantly, Leesh, where did you get this information from?"

Alicia froze and Massie swore she could see a slight flush come to her face, as if she added one too many swipes of MAC blush this morning.

"You know I never reveal all my sources," she said coyly. "Besides, when have I ever given you bad info?"

"Never!" Kristen confirmed and Dylan nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Massie conceded. "Just make sure your sources don't include any Briarwood boys."

Alicia placed her hand over her heart, "Never!"

Massie narrowed her eyes at her beta, still suspicious, but let the conversation move on.

"Do you think Claire will even get more votes than the other two nobody's that got nominated?" Dylan asked.

"Doubt it." Massie scoffed.

"I'm betting it will be Massie, then the chick that was president sophomore year, then the band geek, then Kuh-laire." Kristen said confidently.

"Lizzie." Massie said flatly.

"Huh?" Dylan cocked her head sideways.

Massie cleared her throat. "Elizabeth Dawes. She was last year's class president. That's the reason she's my only real competition."

"As if," Alicia responded. "It's not like she got anything done last year. I was promised no more homework!"

"And she said the soccer team could get new uniforms." Kristen added.

"But she's been running student council for the past two years and her dad is like, a senator or something." Massie said, poking around at the half-eaten poke bowl in front of her. She dropped her fork and stood to leave lunch early. "I'll just have to make sure I stick to my campaign. We're allowed to start officially on Monday, and I'll need your help prepping at the sleepover tonight. Meet at the cabana at 7."