**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...
Lola and Sophie would probably pass out in terror. You made them feel threatened before, and if you came back now I'm sure they'd be completely terrified.
Are you still drawing? Practicing your makeup in front of your mirror that was stamped with pictures of boy bands?
I sure hope you are.
Love, Chloe.
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As promised, William arrived punctually besides the driveway of my house the following morning. When I clambered in, slightly unsteady on my favorite Jimmy Choos due to the intense workout I'd done the night before, I could clearly see the displeased look fixed on his face.
"What's wrong?" I asked, shutting the door just in time before his car powered off of the curb.
"That obvious?" he asked sardonically, his gaze fixed out of the window in a grim line.
"Well, you sort of look like you could kill someone," I said carefully. "What's wrong?"
William sighed. "I got a call from the coach this morning saying I should avoid practice tonight. I asked him why, and he said it was because some strings were being pulled above him that he couldn't control."
"Oh god," I said. "Francis."
"Yep." William turned a corner, almost causing me to fly out of the half-opened window.
"I'm sorry," I said, feeling genuinely bad for him. He was the team captain, after all, and from what I'd seen last week a valuable member of the team. "I can't believe he's choosing all of this drama over what's best for the team."
"I can. Because he's a manipulative bastard," he said.
I frowned in thought. A large part of me was now searching for some way to right this. To dissipate William's anger. "I can try and fix it."
William snorted. "How? What are you going to do?"
"I could talk to him. After the party I think I could have means to persuade him," I said, only half believing my own words.
"Chloe," William said, "Do not go anywhere near him. Please."
"You can't tell me what to do," I mumbled.
"No, but I can tell you that it would only piss me off more if he managed to hurt you or manipulate you in some way too, okay? Just, let things cool off."
I sighed and nodded, still not convinced that letting things cool off was the best option. William's concern had created a flock of ugly butterflies jumping in my stomach, and I focused my energy on mentally killing them one by one instead.
