Hey guy it's been awhile and I know no one's active on here anymore, but I would like to share my sequel to Friends are Always Loyal, even if no one reads it lol. I started writing FAAL when I was 12 or 13, now I'm 19, so I came a long way. This will most likely be my last story in this community :( but thanks to everyone who helped me along the way. It was a pleasure to write my own story about the Clique characters. I wrote this story from January to August, so no worries about having to wait for the next chapter. I have all 23 chapters written and plan to release them every MWF, I just chose to start it on a Thursday lol. Anyway, here's the sequel.
Massie
Massie ran a brush through her collar bone-length ash brown hair for the nineteenth time. She didn't mean to but often times she would stare at her reflection in the mirror and absentmindedly pull out hairs with her brush. She loved the quick sting of the hair leaving her head closely followed by pain. She had a couple of bald spots from it, but it was nowhere people could see, so she was fine.
"Massie?!" Kendra Block opened the bathroom door. She wore a look of anxiety, but that was just her look for when Massie was alone in the bathroom and she had no clue what she was doing. "We have to go! You can't be late." She sighed. "You haven't been to school in almost four weeks and I can't keep making excuses for you. Principal Burns called me herself last night because she was worried about you."
Massie glanced down at the hair in her brush. What did her mom mean by she couldn't keep making excuses? She has depression and couldn't be bothered to get up most of the time. She had left school for four weeks because she needed a mental break.
But according to William and Kendra, it's not an excuse and you still have to put on a bright smile and do things you don't want to do.
She knew they were trying to help her but they didn't understand. No one did. They were all oblivious to her feelings.
"Okay, I know," she irritatingly said to her mom. She put her brush down on her bathroom counter that was littered with makeup products. She had to look semi-decent when she came back after three weeks of missing school. "You act like I'm going to hurt myself." She threw her pajama shorts in the laundry hamper and smoothed out her t-shirt, all under the watchful eye of an anxious Kendra.
She strutted pass Kendra into her room and grabbed her Jansport backpack off the floor. She remembered in middle school and high school she would always carry a designer bag to make her statement. Not anymore, she didn't. "Okay," Massie said and walked pass Kendra. "Let's get this show on the road." She was actually really eager to get out because she couldn't remember the last time she did besides going to McDonalds with Landon.
"Morning, Inez and Isaac." Massie greeted the maid and butler standing in the kitchen. Isaac was their former driver, but since Massie had her license, they didn't need him anymore. He just served as a butler instead. "Morning!" they chimed at the same time, both blushing. They had struck up a relationship over the past, few months and weren't so good at hiding it. It was actually kind of cute.
"Breakfast!" Inez pushed a plastic plate with a banana muffin, cream cheese bagel, and grapes into her hand. She placed a healthy, protein shake in the other. Massie wrinkled her nose at the food. She didn't like to eat but was forced to of course. "Thanks." She said.
Isaac opened the door leading to the garage. "Have a good day!" he smiled.
Massie gave him one of her fake smiles in return. She balanced the drink and plate in her right arm, then reached out with the other to grab her keys. Before she could even grasp the silver, Kendra snatched them away swiftly. "You're not allowed to drive right now." She announced sternly and handed the keys over Isaac.
"You've been using your car to skip class. You're getting in my car." She pressed the garage door opener and Massie groaned in annoyance. "I've only used my car to skip three times," she slid across the leather seats of Kendra's BMW.
"I know," she sighed as she reversed out the driveway. "But I can't take any risks, Massie. If I let you drive today, I feel you'll skip again." Kendra's phone rang suddenly, and she pressed a button on the built-in Bluetooth screen in the car. "Hi, John!" she chirped all too happily. "I'm taking my daughter to school but yes we can discuss the business deal…." Massie tuned out and pressed her head against the window.
The anxiety in her was deafening as she thought about her mom dropping her off at school and then having to endure the stares and whispers. It had only been four weeks, but it felt longer than that. Before she took her much needed break, Massie was the subject of gossip involving her suicide attempt. It was very old news, but someone would feel the need to bring it up every now and then. Massie just couldn't endure the whispers for any longer and went home, telling her mom she couldn't go back for a while.
It was weird. The beginning of senior year she thought she had moved past all of that and was happy for a brief moment. However, after the dust settled, she had to wake up and face reality. She had no friends except an outgoing girl named Amber, Amber's two lackeys—Tori and Marina, and her boyfriend Landon. Ever since then she's rarely had contact with any of the girls. Claire was one of the few people to check on her after her suicide attempt, but they drifted apart. Massie found out her former friend was doing drugs and after numerous attempts to help her, she gave up.
It was so weird to how things were now compared to the beginning of last year. Yeah, her friends backstabbed her but at least then she was still popular and feared. Now, she was just an outcast no one bothered looking at twice.
Massie felt a painful lurch in her stomach as the school came into view. Her mom swiftly pulled up to the curbside drop-off in front of the dozens of kids sitting around and waiting for school to start. "Mom," Massie turned to her mom, "Can you drop me off at the back entrance?" She couldn't walk past all these people.
"Massie." Kendra sighed frustratingly. "I'm on a call. Just get out of the car. There's people waiting behind us." Massie opened her mouth to protest but Kendra gave her a warning glare. She left her uneaten food in the car, much to Kendra's dismay and slowly opened the door.
Massie could feel the piercing eyes on her as she stepped out. As soon as she slammed the door, Kendra peeled her car out of the parking lot. Massie swallowed the knot of anxiety in her throat and awkwardly walked to the double doors. No one said anything to her, but she could tell what they were thinking. She's so weak, she ditched school for four weeks.
She walked into the rotunda and immediately cowered in a dark corner where no one could see her. She wouldn't have had as much anxiety if the Briarwood boys were here. But after all, it is BOCD now.
After the giant scandal with Layne, Alicia, and their groupies, people wanted to shut down BOCD, even though it made no sense. Principal Burns and other parents weren't going to let that happen. They shut down Briarwood, using it for other activities, and fused with BOCD. They had renovated last summer and expanded the classrooms. When Massie had heard about it, she nearly had a panic attack because she didn't want to see the faces of those who tortured her.
She came face to face with them sometimes, but they would spare her a glance and act like they never hurt her. Massie's parents tried hard to get her abusers, as her therapist called them, expelled from school for all the harm they caused Massie. It didn't work. The legion of parents who swore their sons/daughters did nothing wrong won over Massie's truth. It completely shocked Massie but Westchester was known for sweeping scandals like this under rug. She heard that most of her abuser's parents had paid money to keep this from affecting their children's chances of getting into Duke or Harvard. Pure bullshit.
"Massie!" someone said in the crowd. "You're back!" she started to panic as glances were thrown her way, but she relaxed when she saw it was her best friend Amber.
"I'm back.." Massie said, mainly for herself as she realized how much courage she had for stepping into this building.
"I missed you!" Amber screeched, looking around suspiciously, before giving her a hug. Tori and Marina, two of Amber's other friends who Massie never really talked to, stood by and looked uninterested.
"You didn't miss much." Amber informed her. She looped her arm in Massie's and together they strolled away from the crowded rotunda.
"Idina was caught having sex in the janitor's closet with Logan Powell by her boyfriend Chris Plovert." Amber said. She shook her head and her brown waves cascaded around her face. "I'm not surprised."
Massie just nodded her head along to whatever gossip Amber told her. She was on high alert, in case she saw her former backstabbing friends or anyone who had to do with her humiliation. She tensed when she passed by Dylan Marvil who was a sickly shade of pale. Weirdly, she wanted to reach out to her, despite everything, but knew how awkward it would be.
Amber continued on and on about who hated who, who liked who, and who was sleeping with who. Massie was thankful she had Amber as a friend. They met in September last year at the BOCD welcome dinner and had been glued to the hip ever since. She knew how selfish it was but she wished Amber had Massie as her only friend. She was popular and sometimes had to leave Massie in the dust, but she clung as hardly as she could to the girl, even if it meant doing thing she didn't want to do for her. She was her rock besides Landon.
Massie was still lost in her daydreams when she bumped into Derrick Harrington. "Hello, Massie…" he beamed, his muddy eyes looking as if he had something up his sleeve. Massie quickly panicked as she was under the scrutinizing glare of someone she trusted long ago. She didn't wait to hear what he had to say and ran as fast as she could from him.
Dylan
Dylan passed Massie on her way to the restroom. She saw her former best friend looking as if she wanted to say something, but Dylan had no time for that. She snaked through the halls, avoiding the teases coming at her from every direction and practically ran to the hidden bathroom in the basement. She slid down a wall and tried to steel her shaky breath. All I have to do is wait until the end of May, then I can get out of here.
Dylan's had her after graduation plan all mapped out. The week after graduation she would escape her home and take a cab to Manhattan. When she was there, she would meet up with her client, Johan in his SoHo loft. After Dylan told him a bit about her situation, he said Dylan could move in with him and he would take care of her. Instead of college, she would spend her time with Johan seeing his native home and travelling around the world.
She mentioned the travelling part in place of college to Merri-Lee but she didn't seem to care. She was a little concerned about Dylan skipping out on the whole university thing, but it wasn't like she was offering to pay. She would have to pay for it all by herself while Ryan and Jaime didn't have to pay a dime for their tuition.
That's why Dylan had turned to selling her body. She would save all the money given to her by her clients and put it toward her tuition. But Dylan wanted to go to Columbia and so far, her money didn't cover half of the tuition. She would have to spend practically every day giving herself over, but she didn't want to and thought it would be better to take up Johan's offer.
He bought her Tiffany bracelets and desserts from an expensive SoHo bakery in exchange for sex. Some would call her a slut, but she didn't give a fuck. The BOCD students that did criticize after her—especially after she was caught giving Chris Plovert a blowjob for $50 under the bleacher—weren't getting paid. So, why the fuck did they care?
She didn't do this just to earn money, but to pass time. She had no friends, whatsoever. No one wanted anything to do with her. She went back to The Plastics but they never liked her so they shut her out. The Pretty Committee were shocked by her betrayal and never wanted to associate with her again. Everyone else didn't pay attention to Dylan. Most people were just wondering if the rumors were true, but Dylan wasn't about to tell them they were. They would see more reasons to call her "loose Sue".
Dylan's phone buzzed in the front pocket of her jeans and she remembered to send a boob picture to her client Jose for $15. Dylan took off her t-shirt and bra and grudgingly held up her phone to take a picture of her chest. Not even five minutes after she sent it, Jose sent $15 to her
Dylan propped her backpack on her lap. She opened the bag and felt some type of relief when she saw her jewelry box nestled below. She picked it up and popped it open to reveal her razors. Without hesitation, she picked out a fresh, new one that was shining. She had put it in there last night and it was begging to be used.
Along with doing sex work and forcing herself to throw up on the daily basis, cutting was another habit of hers. She liked the sting and seeing the blood bubble out. It hurt, but it almost made her feel better in a way. Plus, no one knew about it, therefore, more reasons to do it.
She brought it down on her arm and sliced a new line near her wrist. She was always afraid she was going to end up hitting the wrong artery or something, but that would be like a gift to Dylan. She cut a few more lines into her arm but stopped abruptly when she heard the bell ring. "Fuck!" Dylan dropped the bloody razor on the dirty, tile floor. She scrambled to get it and wiped the blood on the floor. That was the third bell and it meant it was time for her history class. It was the only class she had an A in and she was determined to keep it that way to prove she wasn't a failure.
She slid her gray hoodie down over her arms and looped her backpack on. As she navigated the frantic halls, she kept her head low and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. She should've because she bumped right into someone.
"Sorry!" Dylan called, not looking up to see who the person was. She kept walking, but the person gripped her right arm. "Agh!" Dylan stumbled back and fell flat on her ass. She glowered above her to see the counselor, Ms. Jude standing right over her. Dylan ignored the laughs and stood up to her feet. She crossed her arms, so no one would see the blood coming through her sleeve.
"Yes," Dylan snapped at Ms. Jude. She was that one lady that wore too much Avon makeup and pried into people's businesses. She also had a thing for ugly, floral patterned skirts with vintage blouses. The lady was nearly 30 and couldn't figure out why people didn't want to date her. Dylan could.
Without any explanation, Ms. Jude pulled Dylan's sleeve up and gasped at the discovery. Dylan was suddenly thankful that the students were away in their classes, so they wouldn't have to see this embarrassing situation. "Private business." Dylan scoffed.
She started to walk away but Ms. Jude stood in her way. "It is my business when I see a student hurting themselves!" the lady cried.
Dylan rolled her eyes as the lady gave her one of those talks that was like, "Is everything okay at home?" "Are you being bullied or teased?" "Have you gotten help?" No. Yes. No. Dylan didn't say anything and stared over her shoulder. Ms. Jude saw that as a challenge as she grabbed Dylan's hand and immediately sped down the hallway.
"What the fuck?" Dylan cried. She had to keep up to walk with Ms. Jude's fast pacing.
"No cussing!"
Ms. Jude exclaimed. "I saw you in the hall and was meaning to check up on you but then we sort of had a collision. I saw the blood and I couldn't believe it. My job is to help students!" she huffed dramatically. She brought Dylan into the school office where she made her sit next to a kid who smelled like corn chips.
She spent the whole third period in the office. By the time she was excused for the rest of the school day and walking to her Ford Camaro, she had on a new hoodie and an annoyed mood.
Jude called Dylan's mom and spoke to her, but if anything, Merri-Lee didn't care. If it wasn't about Ferragamo, Ryan, or Jaime she wasn't bothered.
Ms. Jude also made a big show of shelling out different pamphlets and programs to help depressed teenagers in front of those in the receptionist office. One of them being Claire. She felt humiliated when she walked out of the office. Jude would've done better just shouting "Hey, Dylan! You're depressed and suicidal. Here's a couple of things that probably won't help you!"
Dylan didn't give a fuck now, no therapist, counselor, or program could help her with her problems.
Kristen
Kristen loved swaying her six-inch stiletto boots and skin-tight jeans into her favorite class—History. No, it wasn't because of the way the guys openly peered at her, it was because of her favorite teacher, Gavin. He was the only good-looking teacher next to Ms. Nicole and the youngest. He had black hair styled into a pompadour, a nice beard, green eyes, and perfectly straight teeth. He was also 6'4 which Kristen had to admit was super-hot.
Kristen had first saw him when she stumbled into his class in September. She was half-dizzy from the soccer practice she had earlier and blushed when he chided her for being late. She started to hate him every time she walked in and he made snide remarks about timing her for how late she was. It was soccer season and she was the captain, but he didn't care. As October rolled around, she quit soccer after it was taking too much of her time. Marsha thought it was for education reasons, but it was because Kristen wanted to live a little of the rebellious lifestyle with Meena.
By the end of the year, her grades were low, especially in History. Her mom had grounded her a few times and used scare tactics to tell her how she wouldn't get to any college with failing grades. It was true, but Kristen just wanted to live a little. Couldn't her mom give her that much?
That's when Gavin came around with an offer she couldn't refuse. She knew it was wrong but besides she turned 18 in November and it wasn't that illegal. Plus, History was her worst grade by far with an F, but Gavin helped her turn it into an A.
The offer that Kristen couldn't refuse was sex. Duh. Gavin took her aside after class one day and said he knew Kristen had a crush on him. She denied and denied it but everything he said was true. She couldn't stop thinking about the feel of his body on hers or the things he could do to Kristen. Gavin was hesitant that day as he feared the consequences but ultimately won Kristen over. In exchange for sex, he gave her good grades without her having to do a lick of work and sometimes money.
Kristen loved it. She was having a sexual and romantic relationship with her teacher. He taught her everything she knew about sex and love. He brought out a different part of her that was scared to open up herself. But with the love, came hate. She hated that she felt like a slut doing for this. She hated the way she couldn't call him hers. She hated that he was cheating on his wife and didn't care about their two kids. Kristen felt deep remorse but felt the fieriness of the forbidden romance. They were both doing something risky and could be caught at any minute. That was the fun of it all.
"Kristen!" Gavin called from the front of room. Kristen tore her eyes away from the window where she watched the warm wind blow the begonias planted outside. "Yes?" she arched an eyebrow. She hated when he did this and called her out in front of everyone. But he had to treat his students equally and couldn't let them entertain a possibility of a student-teacher relationship.
"Can you summarize the New Deal?" he asked. Kristen struggled for the words, but he just shook his head. "See, everyone, this is why I can tell who is and isn't doing the reading." He said.
A couple of people laughed and Kristen blushed.
He wanted to play that game, then Kristen was all for it.
Kristen grinned and dropped her pencil on the waxed floor where it rolled to Gavin. As he bent down to pick it up, she spread her legs wide open. She was wearing a Burberry miniskirt today with a lacy white thong underneath.
Gavin's eyes were full of burning lust when he looked down and picked up her pencil. He walked over to the second row where Kristen sat and placed the pencil on her desk. "If you're trying to get my attention, you're doing a bad job of it, Miss Gregory." he huffed loudly.
Prickles of embarrassment prodded Kristen's whole body but she had to remind herself it was part of the act.
"Now," He walked back to his desk. "Remember you have a quiz on the New Deal. I would hope you all studied for it." He gave a pointed glance towards Kristen. "With that," the orchestra music that played during periods paused to a halt to allow the bell to ring, "Class dismissed."
Kristen stood and filed out the class in a normal-fashioned manner. She waited for ten minutes in the crowded hall and sent off a text to her friends stating that she had a case of bad sushi. Then, she marched to his classroom. She hadn't even stepped across the threshold when the door roughly slammed behind her and she was being pushed against the back of it.
Kristen smiled as she could feel his hands cupping her ass and his lips on her neck. "Look," Kristen pulled away from his grasp. "I thought we were going to try breaking things off. That's what we said around spring break." She intentionally brushed the front of his pants and sat on his desk with her shaved legs crossed. They were supposed to end their rendezvous but neither one of them wanted to.
"Yeah we tried that two weeks ago," Gavin said in the near-dark room. He had shut the blinds and the only source of light came from the slivers of sunlight trickling through the slits. "But I crave you!" he exclaimed. "I want you."
Gavin walked over to Kristen and tugged her legs forward, drawing her forward to him. He smelled like Drakkar Noir and Kristen couldn't help but breathe him in. "Don't act like you don't like this," he whispered into Kristen's ear. Kristen started to moan when he rubbed his boner against her panties. "I do!" she admitted and gasped when he pulled away.
Gavin smirked at the pissed off expression Kristen gave him. "That's for teasing me in class," he responded. Kristen rolled her eyes and ignored how drenched her panties were getting. "I only did that because you were calling me out in class. Don't act like you didn't like the view."
"We can't let no one know, that's why," he said trying hard not to look at her legs.
"Duh!" Kristen snapped, that shouldn't have been a question. The answer was enough for Gavin to lay her down on the desk and drag his hands up and down her thighs. She could feel the excitement coming from him.
"May I?" he asked, looking at her panties and Kristen nodded. She would try to keep her moans as quiet as possible.
Claire
Claire's day had gone from good to bad. When she woke up today, she took a hit of weed near the soccer field with her friends. Claire cruised through her classes with her head above the clouds. She was so high she could barely keep her eyes open. Then, she was summoned to the office by Principal Burns who asked if she knew who was behind the theft of stealing $500 from Brookelynn Fey's Louis Vuitton.
The only reason Principal Burns had called her in was because of Claire's now spotty record. She thought Claire had something to do with it, but she didn't, it was her friends Alice and Lexi. Her best friends, her partners-in-crime, and her drug buddies. So, once she fired off a quick text telling them what happened, of course they had to save her.
Principal Burns got a call "concerning" a manner about her birth control pills. The red on the old women's cheeks practically crawled up her face as she argued on the phone. She shooed Claire away and Claire met up with Alice, Lexi, and Gina—a girl that was cool enough to tag along.
Now, she sat in Alice's car where the four of them were inside getting high. The windows were all shut as they hotboxed. They weren't risky enough to do this on school property, so they were in Downtown Yonkers near a skating park. None of the skaters would bat an eye at the giggling, pretty red-eyed girls in a BMW parked on the side.
"I don't know about you guys but I'm feeling great," Claire breathed. She took another hit and sighed. She couldn't believe she used to hate weed, it was amazing, but underneath her euphoria she could feel the craving for some coke. She was close to an addict for almost every drug and it was getting harder and harder to hide it. She's not sure how no one in her house knew about her drug lifestyle. It had been a year and she was just good at that. Her parents were too busy to pay attention to her.
As long as she kept her grades up, they wouldn't be too concerned.
"I second that," Alice laughed from the front seat.
"Me three." Lexi coughed.
"Me four." Gina giggled.
Claire was happy she found her new friends. Around March last year, she chilled at Alice's house after they bonded over an Arctic Monkey's album in detention at BOCD. Alice snorted cocaine but didn't pressure Claire into trying it, but she wanted to. She took her first hit and the rest was history. She started hanging out with Lexi too, a student from another school.
They liked her and Claire found her way into their group. There she met, Matt, Bryce, and her boyfriend Tyler. Tyler never talked to her but eventually did as the weeks progressed. Two months later, he asked her to be his girlfriend and she did. They got high, had sex, and ate pizza afterwards in his tiny apartment. Lexi was a little pissed about it and lowkey hated Claire for taking her crush but she didn't care.
All she wanted to do was to get high and so did the others.
Gina was a different story. She came around December last year after the girls found her smoking in the teacher's restroom. She didn't give no fucks but wasn't a part of the main group. She only hung out with them when it was convenient or if she was bored.
"I want to do something. Should we do something?" Gina asked. She sat next to Claire, looking really hot, if Claire had to be honest. The tights she wore tugged over her ass and the crop top she wore showed off her breasts. A silver belly button ring shined at her and something unusual swelled in Claire. She hurriedly looked away before Gina could catch her.
"Let's go shopping!" Alice suggested.
Shopping or shoplifting she should say wasn't new to Claire, but she still felt bad and weird for doing it. She couldn't lie that she loved coming to Tyler's place with a new bra she had managed to lift from a clothing store. It was empowering as much as she hated to admit it.
Thirty minutes later, the girls arrived at a shopping center outside of town near South Westchester County and walked inside their favorite shop. The clothes were cheap but nice things you would find in Forever 21. It was easy to shoplift here when the only two people working were too busy reading their tabloids. However, when they walked in, they saw a redhead lady restocking shelves. She must've been new judging by the confused glances on her face.
The girls went their separate ways and Claire looked around to make sure no one was watching. She did a trick Alice taught her to get a sensor tag off a cropped, revealing silk blouse and stuffed it into her not-suspicious small purse. She switched to another row where the redhead girl worked. Claire managed to smuggle three bra/panty sets right under her unsuspecting eye.
"Hey." Alice nudged her and Claire had to suppress the urge to jump. "How's everything with you and Tyler?" she asked and held up a hot pink bodycon dress to her chest. Claire could see Lexi hovering from the corner of her eye, taking an interest in something in front of her, but Claire knew she was listening.
"Fine.." Claire yawned, and it was. He did everything a boyfriend was supposed to do. He was like Cam but ten times better. They talked, they laughed, had good sex, got high, eat, and loved each other. It was everything she wanted. "We've been experimenting more," she said loud enough for Lexi to hear. Lexi blanched and stomped away to another part of the store.
"Really?" Alice smirked playfully.
"Yeah," Claire lied. They hadn't but she wanted to make Lexi pissed.
"Nice! That's why I like older guys!" Alice exclaimed. Tyler was only three years older than her so Claire was sure he didn't qualify for an older guy.
"Ha, yeah," Claire said. She was thinking about Tyler but every trace of him left when she saw the redhead walk by. She dropped a hanger and bent to pick it up. Claire couldn't help but stare at the teal bra that peeked underneath her shirt. The lady yanked it up and continued her walk down the rows.
Claire excused herself and made a run to the dressing rooms. She could feel the pulse down below and didn't know if she should, um, tend to it. She thought about it but there was no way with three of her friends around. What if one of them opened the door and saw with her hand in her pants? No, thank you. Instead, she sat down for a minute trying to not think of that lady.
She couldn't contain her romantic or lustful feelings for girls at a bay. She thought about experimenting but then Tyler came along. She loved him but had underlying repressed feelings for girls. She tried not to think about it, but it was hard when she saw a pretty girl. That's all she could think about. She thought she liked girls, but she couldn't if she only had sexual thoughts about them.
Whatever, you don't like girls. Claire tore open the door where the girls were hanging outside the front. Claire swallowed the lump in her throat and zigzagged through aisles to get to them.
How long was she going to keep lying to herself?
Alicia
The days spent at Briarwood-Octavian never got easier, ever since she came back in mid-December, the harassment and teasing had taken on something far crueler. At first, it was just whispering about how much money Len Rivera paid to get Alicia back into the prestigious school. None of the students touched her or harassed her while she was in the lunch line, but gradually it became more vicious.
As Alicia's trials for her involvement with the whole incident last year, became more persistent, so did the harassment. She wasn't even as vindictive as the other A-team girls were, but people still targeted her for whatever reason but gave Brookelynn Fey a pass.
The bad part was that BOCD wasn't doing anything about it. Principal Burns and the PTA board thought her being in school was enough and they didn't have to interfere. Len had a meeting with Principal Burns about the harassment and bullying Alicia faced and the crow-eyed lady said she would look into it. She never did.
Alicia walked to her last class of the day. She wore a baggy, faded Cambridge shirt from the lost and found—Hayley Bradwell had "accidentally" spilled her tomato soup on Alicia's white Marc Jacobs blouse. As she rounded the corner of the hall, Chris Plovert bumped her into the water fountain. "Sorry!" he sighed. "I really didn't mean too." he laughed and bent down like he was going to help her up, but just laughed instead.
Josh Hotz, her former boyfriend, helped Alicia to her feet. "Dude, chill!" he yelled at Plovert. Alicia smiled at him, hoping he would say something, but he didn't spare her a glance at all and followed Chris down the halls.
Alicia swallowed as embarrassment crept up her and she kept her eyes down on the floor until she walked inside the room of her literature class. Alicia slid into a seat in the back and ignored the heads turning her way.
The bell rung and her frizzy-headed teacher, Mrs. Pritchard, started to wind her way down the desk rows. "Last call for your papers about Mark Twain," she said, "Remember this is 10 points off for being late." She stopped in front of Alicia and waited for her to give her paper over. Alicia reached down into her purse and rooted around for the paper she had thrown together last night. The only problem was that she couldn't find it and kept grasping her lip gloss tubes. Alicia frowned and dumped her purse out. She started to sweat when she didn't see her paper and heard an impatient sigh from Mrs. Pritchard.
Alicia looked through her purse again. She remembered putting her paper into her purse this morning but didn't know what happened to it. "Do you have your paper, Miss Rivera?" Pritchard asked. "I…" Alicia opened her mouth. "No." she replied after a second. "I think someone took it." That was the only answer she could come up with but it was actually plausible. She did leave her bag unattended earlier at gym this morning. "That's what they all say when they were too lazy to write their papers!" Mrs. Pritchard exclaimed. Alicia turned red as she heard the laughs.
She hoped Mrs. Pritchard would just walk away but she wouldn't let it go. "You have had since January to do this paper ever since I informed everyone about it." She planted a hand on Alicia's desk.
"You had a week extension!" she exclaimed. "Imagine if you spent as much time on literature as you do on makeup." She stared at all the makeup products on the desk that Alicia had emptied out of her purse. Embarrassed, Alicia started to throw her makeup products back into her bag one by one. Mrs. Pritchard turned away and went on a lecture about lazy students. She minds as well pointed to Alicia.
That was okay because Alicia didn't have long until she left this hellhole.
"Eat." Nadia snapped from across the table.
Alicia sat in the Rivera's grand dining room, staring at her plate of lemon tilapia and parmesan pasta. She was on one end of the long, dark table and her mother was on the other. "I'm good," Alicia sighed and took a sip of water. It was dim in the room because Nadia had the chandelier lights down on low and it was messing with Alicia's head.
"Don't, then!" Nada exclaimed in a fit of frustration. Alicia didn't know why her mother was trying to act like she cared when she didn't. For god's sake, she would rather take Nadia for a daughter. Her mother ignored her and would never talk to her. Alicia couldn't even remember the last time they had a proper conversation. Maybe Christmas day, when Len gave her a new Balmain purse and she spat out a whole paragraph on why Alicia didn't deserve it.
Speaking of my dad… "Where's daddy?" Alicia asked. He was the only person in the world who didn't hate her guts.
"He has a conference call," Nadia replied all monotone. She seemed relieved to get up and have a reason not to talk to Alicia when the doorbell rang. She jumped out of her seat as if she was expecting an important guest.
Alicia stared at the burgundy-colored walls and didn't listen to the concerning voice Nadia was talking to. It was probably one of her friends admitting she was cheating on her husband and was having an affair with a younger guy that worked as a caddy boy at the country club. Alicia snorted at her imagination and stood up. She took her plate and walked to the kitchen. There, she saw her mother standing with her officer.
They both looked at Alicia with concerned looks on their faces. Alicia's heart started to drum against her chest as she knew this probably wasn't good news. "Alicia…" her mom began. She looked like she cared for Alicia then, fingering the pearls on her neck and worry lines creasing her forehead. "You may be staying in the juvenile system for a month or so."
