**Officially published as Clique Bait with HarperTeen!**
Payment is usually a part of a basic transaction. You give and then you take. But, at Arlington Preparatory, people take at their leisure. They take their entertainment in the form of humiliat...
Don't you dare do that again. God, I was worried sick.
I've stopped. I'm staying out of the way. I'm staying with Jack and focusing on school, level one is completely off of my radar, and so is William Bishop.
How are you doing? What are you up to? I want to know what you're doing with your time, ESPECIALLY after you ignored me for so long.
Love Chloe
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The week flew by, floating on a continuous sea of quietened whispers and open glares from Lola and Sophie. The fact that neither of them made any forward attempt to take me down had me worried. Surely they would have done something by now. William's protection wouldn't have me exempt if being with William was what Lola hated me for in the first place.
Each day became repetitive, and I wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not with my time on level one almost certainly slipping away beneath my Gucci-clad feet. What was even worse was that the longer Lola waited to strike, the more and more likely it became that she was searching for something big. And I had quite a few skeletons buried in my overflowing closet, Monica being one of them.
William would pick me up in the morning while my mother peeked nosily through the silk curtains as I stepped into his car. Then we'd separate and go to class, only to meet again at lunch time and sit together at the table, the busy chatter between level one drowning out the secrets which were slowly revealing themselves to me.
Now that I knew about their hidden relationship, it was hard to ignore the subtle moments of affection between Zach and Max. The way Max's eyes possessively followed Zach while he paced around the table to look at something on Franc's phone, and the way Zach looked at Max adoringly as he told a stupid – and often inappropriate – joke gave it all away. But, even with the evidence right in front of me, I still couldn't quite believe it.
The girl's conversations revolved around Friday, and which drinks to order and which catering companies to call for the party at Maddy's after the game, while the boy's conversations revolved around the actual lacrosse. William and Zach argued over who should play which position while Max gave a detailed analysis of the other team's players. It was incredibly complicated.
And I stayed silent. I smiled and chatted at appropriate times, but I was much more enthralled in my plan, and penciling little notes into my brain as I watched them. Sophie keeps looking over her shoulder towards the doorway. Is she waiting for someone? Lola and Francis look a little more affectionate today. Is Maddy Danton eating pizza?
Despite the mundane amount of level one drama during the week, I was sure it would pick up on Friday night. With all the hype over the game and the party, school felt like the calm before the storm.
