I think I have a problem with angsty-2nd-person-POV one shots. But oh well.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Clique.
Review.
As you are sifting through a crumpled stack of photographs and memorabilia from seventh grade, your electric orange fingernails come across two pictures that are stuck together, seemingly by grape Kool Aid.
You gently pry the two delicate photos apart, biting your lip in concentration. They won't seem to come un-glued. Or in this case, un-Kool-Aid-ed.
Leaning back to press your back against your glow-in-the-dark bed, you finally manage to peel one corner off and gradually, the rest of it.
The top picture makes you smile bitterly. In a picture that is a little more than a year old, Claire Lyons is wearing a camel-colored tank top and her hair has those Disney-type bangs. She seems to be imitating Vincent... With a jolt, you realize it was from her first day at OCD. It feels like a lifetime ago.
When you flip the other picture around, your heart stops, then picks up a thumping, erratic rhythm.
It's you and Dempsey Soloman, your best friend for as long as you can remember, sitting on the edge of the stage for the last show he did lights for. Your picture-face is content; glowing with love. His mirrors yours precisely. Your arms are wrapped around each other in friendly companionship, although you had been wishing for so much more.
Although this picture is only months old, it makes the Claire picture feel like yesterday.
A lump catches in your throat, and you will yourself not to give them the satisfaction. Instead, you shut your tear-filled green eyes and remember...
You had just about become immune to Massie Block when it happened.
Hecame back. Not only did he come back; he came back looking like an Abercrombie model.
The look on Massie's face when she noticed him for the first time crushed you a million times more than any of her devious comebacks. She was smitten, and Massie Block always got what she wanted.
Her expression when he immediately engulfed you in a hug cheered you up ever so slightly. He was yours,long before Massie had preppy-blonde-soccer-puppy-jerk.
When she turned her attention back to her squealing clones, you secretly stuck your tongue out at her before devoting your attention to Dempsey.
And then you couldn't take it off of him. His recklessly adorable grin, his intense green eyes, his caramel hair.
When you caught him staring at Massie and saw her embarrassment at being caught gazing back, a ripple of panic flashed through you, but you brushed it off like one of Massie's disses. There was no way he would ever like Massie. She was only seeing him now because of his Oscar-worthy makeover. You had always seen his personality, and that had to count for something.
Days passed, and you were alarmed to notice that you had begun to feel jealous of Massie Block. Just like every other OCDiva was.
Days turned to weeks, and you hated to admit it, but your heart was breaking for the boy you had grown up with. The one who loved you, but like a sister. The same one that Massie was quite obviously head-over-Louboutin-heels for.
Although her clones seemed to be oblivious to Massie's subtle flirting and blatant blushing, you picked up on everything. Especially when he was returning the interest.
You kept on your normal facade, protesting and originality and the opposite of everything she was, even though all you wanted was to know what made her so special. Why everything always went her way. Why the guy you had secretly been in love with for years was instantly off-limits the second Massie trained her amber gaze on him.
Just when you thought your heart couldn't take it anymore, Dean Don annouced the locker contest.
And just like that, hope filled you more than any amount of oatmeal could. Not only was Massie going through disasters between Alicia and losing the Tiffany boxes and Dempsey, you had your chance for everything to go back to normal.
Just like you had prayed for, Massie was in the Main Building and you and Dempsey were still outside. You pushed through the throngs of parents to find him, to go back to where you could find happiness. But a blinding fleck of lavender caught your eye.
Overwhelmed with curiosity, you quickly traced the source of the light. Of course. Massie was waving her arm in the air, frantically gesturing to her apparently-on-again friend Alicia.
It took you a second to see what her arms said, but once you read the smudged mascara, you were stuck. Demp in MB.
Your happiness was short-lived.
"Just to clarify, Dempsey Soloman is in the Main Building, and Dempsey Rosen will be in the trailers."
That was when the cold, heartless truth hit you full-on. You weren't Massie Block. You couldn't simply expect things to happen, you had to work and fight for them. Massie could glide through life without a scratch while you had to battle through with a plastic sword.
A familiar feeling of bitter resentment flooded through you. There were many things you had lost to Massie, but this had to be the worst. Even losing Claire to her wasn't this bad.
Meena and Heather pulled you into their congo line, and in one last, futile try, you smiled and laughed and lead the chain in hopes that he would see how you were just as fun as Massie.
You subtly led the train towards the table where Massie was holding court. Naturally, he was with her too. You caught a few stray snips of their conversation.
Massie had asked him, "Are you mad you didn't win?" A pinch of Alicia's leg had confirmed your suspicions. The infamous Pretty Committee had done this to get what they wanted.
Then it had dawned on you. What exactly made them so special? They were fearless. They didn't follow the rules; rules followed them. They never chased what they wanted, they simply hung back and pounced when the time was right.
You were quickly snapped out of your epiphany by a single word. The word that finished tearing your heart in half.
"No," Dempsey said sincerely.
As if to jump on her broken heart in heels as high as Massie's, he asked her, "You?"
You didn't need to stick around to know her answer.
Mumbling an excuse to Heather and Meena, you tore out of there as fast as your new MBT shoes could take you.
Massie Block had finally gotten through to you, and that was more than you could bare to deal with.
As you open your green eyes that are now spilling over with a rare trail of tears, you clutch the picture as if your life depended on it.
That was two months ago. They were together now, and she had sucked him into her exclusive world of happiness. And as much as you hate to admit it, you long to be there too.
Taking a deep, wavering breath, you push yourself to your feet and pad across the room in your rainbow-striped toe socks.
Standing above the trash can, you hesitantly tear just the slightest piece of the photo.
The image of Dempsey and Massie sneaking a kiss in the back stairwell at school flashed to your head, and the tears come harder.
In one quick motion, you rip the picture right down the middle. Just like he had unknowingly done to your heart.
You force yourself to release the pieces and you watch them flutter into the trash can.
Tomorrow you will fake a smile and keep on at your bravado, but in reality, you are just living for yesterday.
Sorry. I'm feeling angsty today.
Review please?
Then maybe I'll update a happier story ;)