**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...
I'm sorry. Sometimes it's just easier to speak my mind through these letters. You can be scary in confrontation, I'm not going to lie. And yeah, I held you back. All I needed was you. Shit, Monica, we could have gone to college together. But you left me. You left me for them, and you knew the choice you were making.
I still love you, I really do. But it hurt. It still hurts.
Miss you,
Chlo
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William and I exited the car simultaneously, him with the bag thrown over his shoulder and me on the lookout as we crossed the road.
Now that we were out in the open, clad in dark clothes and about to breach the back gate, it felt as if we could catch anyone's attention. We needed to be fast and efficient.
"The fence?" William murmured, his lips barely moving as he spoke beneath his breath.
"Yes," I said, watching as a car pulled up a hundred or so yards away. My breathing hitched. "No, wait, backup plan. We don't have time to pick locks – we'll go to the other side of the house where we're a hidden and jump it."
William, who appeared just as anxious as I was, followed my instruction. Time seemed to move at a million miles an hour, each second thumping by loudly in my head, corresponding with each frantic beat of my heart. Each second exposed increased the probability of something going wrong.
The fence was tall, much taller now that we were right up against it. I looked to William, who looked to me. Time was ticking.
"Here," he said after half a second. He crouched over, holding out his hands. "I'll hoist you up and follow."
I sized up the fence. There was no way I was tall enough to pull myself up, but he probably was, with his height combined with the muscle he had over me.
Following his instruction, I placed my foot in his hand, and on a silent count of three I jumped upwards, hitting the metal of the fence with a loud bang. I couldn't help the panic that stuck me, and it took all my concentration not to slip. With my breath hitched I caught my balance, and after one more look at William, I slid over to the other side.
I didn't anticipate that there would be a dog.
The fluffy shi tzu didn't bark, instead it merely tilted its head curiously before running towards me. I was about to panic and run before I realized its intention was only to lick me. Pathetic.
"I'm tossing the bag over," Will said seconds before the duffel bag came tumbling.
"Okay," I said, stopping it just in time from hitting the dirt below. "Um, just warning you, there's a dog."
