**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...
Please tell me you are NOT getting involved with them, even indirectly. I never thought you'd fall for the glitz and the glam of the fucked up in crowd at Arlington. Don't you DARE even think about associating with them, Chlo. Please.
Not after what they did to me.
Monica.
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False eyelashes were never my thing.
I'd been battling with them for at least ten minutes when my mother walked through the door, tittering dramatically as she came to my aid.
"Now why would my daughter be putting on false eye lashes at five p.m. on a Saturday night? Another party?"
I couldn't roll my eyes, she had my face held captive as her thumb strategically moved my eyelid in place. Instead, I let out a little sigh, to let her know that I totally didn't need her prying. "Yes, a party."
"Two parties in two weekends. What a social butterfly you're becoming," she said with a smile. Since Dad's return only days ago she'd been especially giddy, only making me feel worse with the knowledge that it wouldn't last long.
"What can I say, it's senior year," I said with venom.
"Are you still missing Mon?" Mom asked. "You know if you're not coping well we can go and talk to someone. I was on the phone to Melanie Pennington the other night—"
"I'm fine, Mom," I insisted. Though my tone was rude, I was appreciative of her concern, really. It was just misplaced.
"Good, honey," she said. She fanned my face for a few seconds before I heard her step back. "There. All done. Now, what are you wearing?"
I cast a glance to the black lace dress on my bed, and she stepped over to ogle at it while I started framing my lips with a deep purple liner.
"Is that boy picking you up?"
"Which boy?"
"You know which boy. The Bishop," she said knowingly.
I groaned. Gossip spread through the parents of Arlington Prep almost as fast as it did through its students.
"I'll leave you be. But be home at a reasonable hour," she reminded, before leaving the room and waggling her primped eyebrows in my direction.
***
William was punctual as always, his car idling outside my house at exactly six o'clock. After our late night drive the night before, I was slightly nervous as to how things would settle between us. Our relationship was slowly growing more and more comfortable, especially when it came to the things that we shared, and I couldn't afford to not monitor it carefully.
