**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...
Quick note that y'all black screen users might benefit for switching your colour for the letter sign off this chapter. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy! - Ann 💕
To Chloe,
Sorry for not waking you, but you're welcome? Also sorry if this page was important, I couldn't find any paper but I found your maths book.
I had to go home (it's currently ten o'clock in the morning as I write this), to sort things out before they escalate. It was pretty stupid of me to storm off last night. I can't wait much longer to check on things. I'll text you when I pick up a new phone. Sorry for ducking out, and sorry for falling asleep in the first place. I hope you didn't mind.
Thanks for letting me stay. And thanks for last night.
Sorry, a letter is crappy after everything that happened but you're too sweet sleeping to wake up. For once you don't look like you could kill someone.
See you soon,
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I woke up to a vibrating sound around my pillow. It took me a while to process that it wasn't my alarm. No, it was the demanding droning of a call instead. I groaned, my hand lazily slapping the sheets around me to locate my phone.
"Hello?" I asked when I finally answered it. My voice was groggy with sleep.
"Chloe, hi." It was Maddy.
Suddenly, the events of last night hit me and my eyes darted to the empty place beside me in the bed. Instinctively, I reached out my hands to touch the messed sheets. He was gone. In lieu of him was a folded piece of grid paper on the pillow.
"Hi, Maddy," I said when I had my bearings, grabbing the note and running my hands over it. Then I remembered the other stuff that had happened. "Oh god, Maddy, are you okay? You didn't text me?"
Maddy laughed musically on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I'm great. And yeah, I fell asleep until just now. I just wanted to say sorry for last night."
I hesitated. "How did it happen, Maddy?"
"How did what happen?"
"How did you get drugged?" I asked, figuring that diving into it was the best option.
"Drugged?" She laughed again. "Oh, Chloe, I wasn't drugged, I just ate something bad, that's all. Mike overreacts sometimes, I was fine."
I frowned. She definitely wasn't fine when she'd been mumbling incoherently in the back seat. "I think it was more than that, Maddy."
"Well whatever, I'm fine now, and I owe you a big apology! I can't believe our night was cut short by that!"
Was she seriously going to pretend it didn't happen? "Maddy, are you sure it wasn't something more serious?"
