A/N: This is a pretty long chapter! The next one will probably be shorter. Also, a lot of side characters are introduced but they're not all important to the plot at all, mainly just there to set up the White Plains community/school.
Enjoy!
hellhounds.
Dylan squinted her eyes through the morning sunlight and spotted Kemp Hurley leaning against his car in the school parking lot. With purpose, she huffed as she made her way over to him. This was only the third time this week that she had spotted him, which was unusual because Kemp Hurley was so loud you always heard him right before you saw him and he was a rather permanent figure in the halls of Westchester High.
"Kemp," Dylan said as she approached him, covering her eyes from the sun, "what the absolute fuck do you think you're doing?"
Kemp nearly dropped his phone in fright, juggling it from hand to hand to keep it from hitting the ground.
"What are you talking about?"
"I know you're avoiding me," Dylan crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him defiantly, Kemp just looked back at her like she was a lunatic. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his whole face just screamed 'what the fuck'.
"Why would I be avoiding you?" Kemp asked, he did genuinely look confused and for a moment Dylan almost let him off the hook. But then she remembered what this was about and this was a lot more important than anything else. This was about her dignity. Her reputation. Her future, for fuck's sake!
"I don't know!" Dylan threw her hands up. "Last week we were perfectly fine and then after Friday you've been dodging me. Look, I get if it's hard for you or whatever but you have to understand where I'm coming from-"
"Dylan, what is wrong with you?" Kemp asked with the most sincere tone Dylan had ever heard involved with what was also an insult.
"Do you really think you're in the position to use a tone like that with me-"
"I'm seriously confused-"
"I need you to keep tutoring me!" She was exasperated now and Kemp rolled his eyes. "I know that the subject matter is hard for me to tackle and maybe that's frustrating, but you promised and I have to get an A in Calc, I have to-"
"Why would I avoid you because of that? I'd just tell you to your face. I'm still tutoring you, okay?" Kemp pocketed his phone and started walking toward the school's entrance. With his long strides it was hard for Dylan to keep up, she scuttled after him, pushing her hair into place.
"Really?"
"Yes," Kemp gave her a brief glance, "just not this week."
Dylan grabbed his arm, "what do you mean, 'not this week'?" She threw up quotations with her fingers and then placed her hands on her hips. Her backpack was sagging on her shoulders but she didn't care. She needed this a lot. "You promised." She whined.
Kemp let out a deep breath, "I know, I know. I'm sorry, Dyl. I will tutor you, why don't you go study with Kristen for the week? I just can't right now. The tutor center has a lot of good resources too."
"You sound like my guidance counselor. The tutor center is dead. Kristen is the worst tutor I've ever had and I really need this to work or you know what my mom will do to me!" Dylan mimed a knife slicing through her throat. Kemp sighed.
"Fine, okay, I'll tutor you on Friday but uh," he looked around and scratched his neck, "it has to be off campus."
Suddenly Dylan noticed that there were a few eyes on them and she closed her own. She was tired of this constant scrutiny and this perpetual state of anxiety. This was not going to help her with Calc.
"Is that why you quit tutoring me?" Dylan said, trying her best to feign a look of calm while talking, she didn't need to raise any type of suspicion. She didn't even know what they would even raise suspicion about.
Well, she did. They thought that Dylan's group knew what happened to Griffin or more importantly that their group was somehow a part of it. They, whoever they were, weren't necessarily wrong. Maybe that was the whole issue.
"Yes," Kemp turned half away from her and waved at someone from across the hall with the worst fake smile Dylan had ever seen - and she used to compete in pageants. "I just don't think it's a good idea to be seen together at school yet. But also, that's not the reason we need to meet off campus. I have something I have to do, okay? Friday at 4 P.M, meet me in the parking lot." He started to walk away but then as if he had just remembered something, turned back around to face her, "do not, under any circumstance, arrive on Dylan Standard Time. Please be there at 4 P.M. sharp."
Dylan scoffed but nodded and Kemp walked away.
"Thanks!" She said to his retreating figure, but he did not turn around.
Dylan felt a weight lift off her chest, of course this would have been quite different if she had managed to turn around and see the scene taking place in the Westchester High parking lot.
"I thought we're not supposed to be hanging out?" Cam asked as they pulled into the school lot.
Nikki was engrossed in some game on her phone and did not look up to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, let's just explain to our parents why we aren't talking during dinner this Thursday." She said sarcastically, followed by a series of curses under her breath as she no doubt lost the game. She locked her iPhone and rested her head back on the seat and looked at him. Cam watched her warily from the corner of his eye.
"Humor's my defense mechanism, get your own," Cam reached over and pushed her into the car door.
"Jesus, Cam!" Nikki said, huffing, "you are so fucking irritating. I am literally telling your mother the next time I see her."
"She won't believe you," Cam said, offering a big smile and batting his eyelashes. "I'm her angel."
Nikki scoffed, "you are her demon and it's better she hears it now. I care for her dearly and I need her to know."
"I'm pretty sure Harris is her demon." Cam said, parking the car. He always liked to arrive somewhere right in the middle of the last thirty minutes before the first bell rang. That was when the traffic was the least. The early birds were gone and the late kids weren't even out of their houses. He liked timing his life to precision, he needed it.
"You're not wrong," Nikki unfastened her seatbelt and started to search through her bag, pulling out a smushed granola bar. "You want?"
Cam stared at it for a moment and looked back up at her. It had probably been thrown in there carelessly earlier in the week.
"Yes," he grabbed it from her and got out of the car.
"I only meant a piece of it!" Nikki shouted, shutting the door. "You can't-"
"Fine, you can have half." Cam looked at Nikki who was now completely silent and staring across the lot. He turned to match her gaze and dropped the granola bar on the ground. "What the f-"
"We're dead." Nikki said softly, she hiked her bag higher up on her shoulder and marched toward campus, Cam followed her slowly. "Fuck."
Kristen had a bad habit of falling asleep in the school library. She got to campus so early and stayed so late that she practically lived there. Griffin had joked once that Kristen only went home to take naps.
Griffin.
She woke with a start to Derrick Harrington shaking her shoulder and only one word was still on her mind. Griffin.
She wasn't sure when to come clean to any of them but she knew that now, while a panicked Derrick Harrington was standing over her, was not the time. His eyes were wide with horror and Kristen rubbed at her own.
"What?" She asked sleepily. She searched in the first zipper of her backpack for her pack of gum.
"Kris, there are cops here."
Kristen didn't say a word, her eyes boring into his.
Derrick took this as his cue to proceed.
"The sheriff is here and there are rumors that the NYPD is going to get involved-"
"What exactly are they here for?" Kristen asked, scratching her arm as a way to do literally anything but think about what this meant. What this could do to her life, her future, her friendships.
"What do you think?" Derrick said, a shift in tone as he reverted to his usual sarcasm.
"I know what they're here for in that sense, but what are they doing here," Kristen clarified.
"They want to talk to the students who were at the party." Before Kristen could ask her next question, Derrick answered it, "they got a list from Danny of the people he remembered and the rest from pictures and stuff but I mean, it was the Back to School Banger or whatever the fuck Danny calls it. It's tradition, the whole school was there so I guess they didn't need any real leads-"
"You're rambling," Kristen said, rubbing her temples, "where is everyone?"
"The parking lot." Derrick said, "I came to find you. I expected you'd be in here since you basically liv-"
"Don't." Kristen said, picking up her bag and heading out of the library, Derrick hot on her tail.
They continued the rest of the walk in complete silence. Physically, Kristen was strutting in her usual calm demeanor through the halls of her high school. She didn't turn to notice anyone or take her eyes off of her path. Normal. Mentally, she was gnawing her nails off of her hands and when she wasn't busy doing that, she was ripping the hair from her head follicle by follicle.
Kristen pushed through the double doors with her shoulder, not ever wanting to touch the dirty Westchester High doorway. It was a habit that she liked to blame Nikki for. Derrick dashed out as the doors started to close behind him.
If anyone turned to look at them, Kristen did not notice. Her vision was still focused.
"They're in the side lot," Derrick said, his voice was wavering.
She could see them, in the distance on the side of the school. Josh's car was pulled up and stopped in the middle of the parking lot. The side lot was an area that few people parked in because it was the furthest from campus, and only those who showed up late would get stuck there. Right now, it looked like a sanctuary.
"Oh, thank god." Dylan said upon seeing the two of them. "Well, now that we've all gathered here, I think I can formally say, we're fucked. The hounds of hell are here and we are fucked. Fuckity, fuck-"
Cam snorted. Kristen shot him a look and he immediately looked down at his shoes.
"We get it." Kemp said, shooting her a glance to shut up. Dylan threw her hands in the air and leaned against Josh's car. Josh was still sitting in the driver's seat with the window rolled down.
"Where's Claire?" Kristen asked. Josh shrugged. Kemp gestured with his hands that he didn't know, and let out a frustrated sigh.
"I think she's already in class," Nikki responded, she was twisting a piece of hair on her index finger and unraveling it .
"Do you want her here?" Derrick asked incredulously, his eyes were bugging out in a way that would probably have made Kristen laugh if it had been in regards to say the sports budget during leadership or the fact that "some douche" thought they could take his seat in chemistry - not because the police were out to get them.
"No, of course not!" Kristen responded, "I want to make sure she's not anywhere near here. That's all."
"Chris and Leesh are in class too," Kemp added, "and I think Massie is with them-"
"Why?" Nikki asked, releasing her hair once and for all from her finger, "she was with us-"
"She doesn't have to be part of this, she wasn't part of-" Derrick started defensively. Kristen knew this was not going to go over well and while Nikki's anger usually stemmed from some sort of irrational thought process, Kristen had to agree with her on this. Just because Derrick favored Massie didn't mean she was any less responsible for the series of events that had taken place that night. Kristen shut her eyes tightly, she didn't like thinking about it.
"I think the police would definitely think she was just as fucking a part of it as us all," Nikki bit back. Derrick turned to James who had been silent the entire time, leaning against Josh's car beside Dylan.
"She should probably be here," James responded, he looked at Derrick apologetically and Derrick rolled his eyes. "It just doesn't make sense if she's not. She should have the same alibi as us-"
"Alibi?" Nikki asked dramatically, "what the hell, Wright?"
"Oh, so you want to tell the truth?" James scoffed, "sure, why not? I mean, fuck college. Let's just lay it all out there."
"This is extremely uncharacteristic of you," Kemp said, pinching his bottom lip between his index finger and thumb, "actually both of you. Who would have thought James would want to lie while Nikki wants us to be good little angels?"
"Your tone makes me think you agree with James and I, for one, think that's dumb as hell," Nikki responded.
"Can you guys shut up?" Derrick raised his voice and the rest of them stared at him. "Nikki, what good would telling the truth do?" Kristen closed her eyes again and rubbed her temples, she didn't want to voice who she sided with. She didn't want this type of guilt. She knew what they should do, what was right, and she knew what she wanted to do and more importantly she knew that they were contradictory.
"If we lie and we get caught, that's so much worse than having told the truth in the beginning," Nikki's tone was one of reason and earnest, it was definitely new and it was definitely a form of manipulation. Kristen knew that much. Nikki was hiding something, "if you think about it. I'm sure we can figure something out legally. I doubt our parents would ever let it get that far and we aren't responsible for what happened-"
"Nikki's trying to get us sent to jail, cool, cool, cool." Cam said nodding his head sarcastically. "I love this."
Nikki glared at him and went back to addressing the group, "look, I know it sounds daunting but don't you guys want to find Griffin? Don't you want to know what happened?"
There was a moment of silence and the air around them seemed thick with hesitation.
"We're still accomplices," Dylan said, breaking the silence. "We can still get so much shit on us."
"Accomplices with which part exactly?" James asked with a tight-lipped smile. Everyone's eyes shifted around and Derrick let out a deep breath, "cause the fact we have to think about which part definitely sheds light on the situation."
Kristen knew she had a strong opinion on this particular subject. She knew that if they opened up that floodgate, the conversation would be never-ending. She also knew that if she opened her mouth now, she'd have to tell them. She'd have to tell them what she knew and if she did that? She was fucked. Royally.
"So you don't want to find your best friend?" Nikki's voice was even, dripping with a fake sweetness that Kristen knew would surely ruin James' day.
"Of course I want to find him," James responded without even a pause, "I want to know what happened to him just as much as you do-"
"Then act like it," Nikki growled, stepping forward.
"There are other ways to do it rather than share information with a corrupt police force-"
"Okay, the NYPD is corrupt but the Westchester Sheriff's department? Really-"
"They get paid to make sure we are drinking underage responsibly. Half of them spend their shift in White Plains stuffing their faces with Nino's. So yeah, I think corrupt is a pretty encompassing term."
Kristen did not have time for the two of them and their volatile fights. She needed this to be cleared up now. She needed to make sure that they all figured out a way to get through this without a scratch on them. She needed to make sure they wouldn't find out.
Kristen took a step forward which promptly broke James' and Nikki's attention as they glanced over. Kemp looked up from the ground.
"We can't tell them anything yet. If we keep our answers general enough they can't hold anything against us. We all have to be on the same page though. Tell them everything up until when the night ended. Tell them the truth about when you last saw him."
"Wow, I mean...I kind of agree with that." Kemp said. Everyone else stared at him warily. "I mean sure, we can get in trouble later but if we just answer minimally, we can't get in that much trouble-"
"Why don't we just say we won't answer questions without an attorney?" Derrick asked.
"Are you fucking stupid?" Nikki guffawed, "how much Law & Order do you consume on a day-to-day basis, Derrick? Everyone in school is going to be answering those questions and we're gonna be the idiots who say we want attorneys? How self-aware is that?"
"I kind of agree." James muttered.
"Maybe for now answering the questions will be fine, but in the long run?" Dylan retorted.
"I think we should just listen to Kristen." Kemp offered again, shrugging.
Kristen mouthed a 'thank you', Kemp nodded.
"Listen to Kristen about what?" They all turned to see Alicia standing there, looking rather confused. Kristen played with the lace hem of her tank top. Kristen had never disliked Alicia but right about now her timing was pissing Kristen off.
"About the pregame for the White Party," Cam said without a second thought. "Wait Leesh, I need to see your Calc book before class." He walked away and Alicia went with him, a look of mild confusion on her face.
"We're all going to do my plan for the pregame by the way," Kristen said loudly enough for Cam and Alicia to hear, "or we're definitely going to regret it."
No one protested and Kristen marched back to campus, throwing her honey blonde hair behind her shoulder. She hoped that no one could see her sweating.
When she reached the steps to the school she peered back to see that Derrick, Cam, James, Josh and Nikki were still huddled together in the parking lot. The bell rang before she could dwell on it too much and by the end of first period she had almost forgotten the situation with the police.
Almost.
"So that announcement was wack," Alicia said, tearing open a Greek yoghurt. She licked her finger when some of it got on her thumb. "I mean during fourth period leadership too? Ugh, Principal Burns is such a buzzkill."
"Yeah," Massie said, drawing designs for the Homecoming advertisement. "Weird."
"I mean, no one is even here. Did Burns really need all of E-Board to talk about the interrogation?" Alicia dug her spoon into the yoghurt and waited for Massie to respond.
"Um, yeah, weird."
"You said that," Alicia responded. She peered over to look at Massie's designs. Per usual, they were spectacular.
"Yeah, sorry. I mean it is weird. They probably just want to get leadership on it so we can all spread morale throughout the school to keep people from reading too much into it all. That's all." Massie shrugged but Alicia could see that Massie looked and sounded a lot more worried than she was letting on.
"Okay...you don't think anyone knows anything, do you?" Alicia whispered, leaning forward. She wagged her eyebrows but Massie rolled her eyes. Alicia may have been letting off a vibe of nonchalance but she wanted to know if anyone did know and if anyone blamed her. She wouldn't know what to do if Griffin's disappearance got pinned on her, she felt bad enough already.
"No, Leesh, I don't fucking know anything." Massie snapped.
"I didn't say you do." Alicia went back to eating her yoghurt and Massie went back to drawing. Alicia could feel the anxious butterflies in her stomach. Massie may not have been scared but Alicia was. She felt horrible. And she felt like her world was crumbling. She just didn't know who to talk to about it and Massie was being particularly stony about the whole ordeal.
None of this would have happened had it not been for her. Maybe Griffin would be there right now, sitting on the other side of the leadership room throwing darts at Plovert's back. He'd have been cracking one of his dry, wise-ass jokes and winking at their leadership teacher but now they didn't know where he was, let alone if he was even alive. That thought made Alicia's heart to sink. It was all on her.
The meeting she'd come across in the parking lot had peaked her interest as well. It was rather unusual for them to be standing there whispering at each other and it made Alicia's mind wander somewhere it shouldn't.
"Mass," Massie sighed and looked up, "look," Alicia scooted forward and looked around. The leadership classroom was almost empty, "you don't think...you don't think any of them know anything, right? You don't think they're involved?"
"What? Why would I-"
"It's just why would they suggest we don't eat together? That's so out of the blue-"
"It just looks suspicious and it's out of respect, okay? And we don't want people to think we had anything to do with it-"
"So we don't eat together? That seems kind of...counterintuitive. And Nina-"
"They have their reasons, okay? Forget what Nina thinks. It made sense when Derrick explained it. If you want to know, just ask him. Sorry my translations are shitty." Massie was being sarcastic now and Alicia hated that.
She took a deep breath.
"No, it's not just that. They were in the side lot today. They were just standing there in a circle by Josh's car. It was so unnerving. And now the cops are here-"
"Leesh, it's probably best if we stay out of it. They have their own drama or whatever and their best friend just went missing. We weren't that close to Griffin. I don't think we should be accusing our friends of anything." Massie shut her notebook and got up, "stop overthinking shit."
Alicia watched as Massie walked away to the executive room to drop off her designs and sighed. Was she overthinking it? The announcement said that it was just routine questioning where each student would provide information about the party, not about any involvement, only their personal experience. It hadn't been accusatory but Alicia knew enough from her father's cases that the cops never put all their cards out on the table. Who knew what they were actually looking for?
The students had a night to let it sit and were going to be pulled out of classes the next day for brief questioning, this gave Alicia plenty of time to mull it over with her dad, but not enough to figure out where she stood with it all.
Alicia leaned back in her chair and looked around the empty leadership room. Olivia Ryan was typing away on one of the Macs, probably not doing any work at all. Some guys were outside hitting around a hacky-sac but again, doing nothing. Claire was on the phone with some vendors for Homecoming. Without everyone else there, the room was uncomfortably peaceful, like the calm before a storm.
What had they been talking about in the parking lot and why the hell was Massie being so strange? If she told the cops what she knew, if she laid herself out, who else was she throwing under the bus? One night wasn't enough to figure it out, but she hoped it would be.
She wondered briefly what had happened to Griffin. Images of him tied up in a basement cropped up in her head and she shook them away, she was being crazy. Things like that didn't happen to Griffin Hastings, and yet...maybe they had.
Claire knew when there was something up with her friends. Not that it would take a genius to figure it out when they all went about their days pretending that they weren't brooding.
In fourth period leadership, the Executive Board was asked to leave the room in order to have a quick talk with Principal Burns about the questioning that was going to be taking place the rest of the week and Claire could see, without even looking too hard, the panic on her friends' faces as they marched out of the room. This was natural, she knew. She had felt the same dread, the same distress at feeling like this put everything into perspective. This wasn't some joke or some hoax, Griffin was...gone.
She just wished it wasn't such a taboo subject to bring up, for whatever reason.
She slumped against the passenger's seat in her boyfriend's car. He'd picked her up after school had ended and she was happy to take advantage of the few lingering days of summer they had left. The weather never stayed this nice for long.
"You okay?" Landon asked, edging forward in the car as they sat in the drive-thru for the White Plains local diner.
"I'm fine," she said smiling, reaching over to hold his hand. He ran his thumb over her knuckles. "I'm just tired."
"Come on, you don't have to lie to me," Landon said, leaning over and kissing her shoulder. Claire giggled. "If you wanna talk about it, we can. They came to White Plains today too."
Claire twirled a piece of hair around her finger, "they did?"
"Yeah, I mean it did technically happen at the Back to School Bash or whatever Danny calls it," Landon chuckled, "we were all there too. Coach told us to get attorneys."
At this Claire sat up, "attorneys?" She repeated.
"Yeah," Landon drove up further in the drive-thru, "you never know how you can be attached. Not just people who are guilty get attorneys, you know, and however we get tied into this-"
"You think you'll get tied into it?" Claire, pulled her hand from his and stared at him intensely. What did he mean by 'tied into it'? Was Landon involved, did he know something she didn't?
"No, I just mean, there was a lot of underage drinking and stuff going on," he shrugged, "you never know how much trouble we could get into for that."
"Oh," she relaxed again, "yeah, but they're not going to arrest hundreds of teenagers in Westchester for that." She laughed with relief, maybe this would all just blow over and she could just focus on more important things like the White Party. Maybe Griffin would just come home, maybe this was just one of his elaborate pranks or part of one of his deeply insensitive kicks. He did ruthless things a lot. Maybe it caught up to him? She didn't like that thought so she pushed it away to the back of her mind. She was sure he was fine.
"Who knows?" Landon responded, "cops are crazy, haven't you ever watched The Wire?"
Claire cackled, "yes, I have but I don't think you have if you think they're the bad guys in that show."
"Maybe," Landon grinned, "but it got you to laugh."
"You're so cute," Claire pinched his cheek and he offered her one of his weak-in-the-knees smiles.
Claire smiled brightly as Landon reached out the door to pay for their food and get their bag of burgers. She didn't know what she did to get so lucky. Landon was perfect. He was cute, brilliant, talented and treated her better than anyone else ever had. Granted he went to White Plains which meant during soccer season the guys ragged on him more than usual, but in the end it was worth it. On top of that, he got along with Kristen, Nikki and Dylan which meant more to Claire than anything else.
"Should we eat first or head over?" Landon asked. Claire grabbed her milkshake and swatted Landon's hand away when he tried to get from her.
"I'm fine with either."
"Alright, mmm, Danny will probably get annoyed, let's head over." Landon sped out of the parking lot and Claire cleared her throat.
"I haven't seen Conner in a while," Claire said, peering over at Landon for his reaction. Landon looked back at her and smirked like he knew where she was going with this. "I mean, naturally, I haven't..."
"Just ask," Landon said, holding back a laugh. "I know you want to know."
"I mean, I just feel bad hanging out with him when you know, Nikki..." Claire sipped her milkshake and Landon sighed.
"He's fine, honestly." Landon replied, reaching into the bag to grab some fries. He stuffed his face and Claire giggled at the sight, "I mean they dated for a while so I guess he was upset about it after but I think he's fine now."
"Really?" Claire asked, "Hmm, cause Cam says-"
"Cam?" Landon's face soured and Claire immediately felt bad. "Like Fisher knows shit."
"I just," Claire placed her hand on Landon's shoulder, "I just meant that he ran into Conner and told Kristen that Conner looked upset."
"Oh," Landon said, he nodded his head. "Yeah, I mean she ended it kind of brutally."
"That's Nikki for you," Claire snorted. She extended herself over the center console and kissed Landon's cheek. "But she's a pretty good judge of character, and Conner's a little-"
"Nuts?" Landon joked, back to his normal self. Claire eased herself back into her seat and ate some of the fries at the bottom of the bag. "I mean she did date Wright, so I can't say she's the best judge of character."
"Hey!" Claire hit his arm lightly, "James is a great person."
"Yeah, try not to mention that in front of Conner. Besides, it's called loyalty!" Landon said in fake bravado, "Wright could be the best person on this planet and I'd have to stick by Conner."
"You don't have to," Claire said as Landon parked his car in the Robbins' driveway. Danny was one of the only White Plains boys to live in Westchester, which was convenient enough for her but Landon always complained in the night when he had to drive back to White Plains.
"What? It's like you and Todd."
Claire busted out laughing, "he's my actual brother, it's different."
Claire opened the door and hopped out. She got kind of nervous hanging out with Landon's friends. She liked when he hung out with her friends but she knew how miserable he became, and the guys could be terribly clique-ish, especially when Griffin was around. Thinking of Griffin in the past tense made her jaw clench. She pushed the thoughts away again, her mom always said that happiness came from compartmentalizing. If you dwelled on it too much it would ruin you.
The door to the house was open and the two of them slipped in, kicking their shoes off. Danny's house was always freezing. The foyer had a ten-foot tall, golden Ganesha welcoming them into the home. The rest of the house was stark white in contrast.
Claire shivered, she hadn't been there since the events of the 11th. Her heart started pounding wildly and she wasn't sure why.
"Claire?" Landon said when she had stopped walking, she hadn't even realized.
"Huh? Oh," Claire nodded and followed him, peering back at the staircase that led upstairs. Something felt eerie about being there, but she couldn't put her finger on why.
It was probably because this had been where Griffin was last seen, and that was probably subconsciously making her uncomfortable. That's all.
They were welcomed by loud hollering as the guys surrounded the TV, Danny and Conner were in a heated game of 2K. Claire rolled her eyes. They were all the same. Dune was sitting in the corner of the room on his phone, looking bored, he had always been her favorite of Landon's friends. He reminded her of Josh in some ways. Ignacio and Brady were stuffing their faces with popcorn and yelling at the TV like it was an actual game of basketball.
"Don't you guys play soccer?" She asked, they looked up at her.
"Hey there, Lyons," Conner said, his eyes locking back to the screen.
Danny looked up at Claire with a look of horror? In Danny's distracted state, Conner made a basket and the guys in the room cheered.
"What's wrong with you, man?" Landon asked, walking over and grabbing Danny's shoulder.
Danny shook his head and smiled, "I saw your bag of Nino's Burgers and I remembered there are more important things in life than winning."
"You're only saying that because you're a fucking loser," Brady Ericson yelled from across the room.
Claire couldn't shake the feeling of Danny's look. She slinked into the kitchen to get something to drink that wasn't her chocolate milkshake. Something bizarre was definitely afoot.
She noticed the purses of some of the girls on the countertop but none of them were around. Unlike her Westchester friends, the White Plains group hung out separately a lot. They'd go to the same place but the girls would disappear into some abandoned corner of the house, not to be seen until everyone was leaving.
At least that's how she felt until she heard their voices carrying in from the dining hall. She picked up one of the bottles of cold water that were set out next to a pitcher of lemonade. Whoever the Robbins' new housekeeper was, they were putting in a lot of extra effort.
"-he probably finally got caught up for everything and ran away," Nina Callas said. "Leesh won't tell me anything but who even knows what she knows."
Claire pursed her lips, inching closer to the dining hall.
"Well, who knows what any of them know. Rumor has it they helped him run away." Ripple added. Claire tightened her grasp on her water, the bottle becoming deformed in her grasp.
"That Westchester group is so sketchy," Isobel added.
"Well," Ripple said with a tone of amusement, "you weren't saying that when they were supplying you-"
"Ladies!" Danny said, sauntering into the dining hall, Claire ducked back into the kitchen but she was afraid he'd already seen her. "What are we gossiping about today?"
"We're not gossiping," Isobel quipped, "we're just talking."
"I wouldn't get caught pretending like you know information about Griffin Hastings, the cops might hear you," Danny joked and then erupted into laughter, Ripple snickered.
Danny walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and glanced up at Claire. He walked over to the fridge, whistling. Claire just stared at his back.
"So Lyons," Danny said, turning around to her as he shut the doors to his fridge. She looked at him across the vast expanse of the Robbins' massive kitchen, waiting for him to speak. "Your friends give you any information I need to know about?"
Claire blinked, "excuse me?"
"They didn't send you here?"
"I'm hanging out with my boyfriend. Landon. Your best friend. I don't know what my friends have to do with that." Claire responded, her hand was slick with condensation from the water bottle and she wiped it on her shirt.
"Really?" Danny asked, approaching her cautiously like she was a geyser ready to blow. "Nothing at all?"
"No, I don't know what you're talking about. You're being really weird. Are you okay?" She furrowed her eyebrows and he watched her face as if he was measuring out what his next words would be.
"Never mind," he said, not even bothering to give her an alibi for his absurd behavior. "If you see Derrick, tell him we need to talk."
And he left Claire standing there completely and utterly baffled.
Summer nights in Westchester were often thick with humidity but as summer fell into autumn, the air chilled after a certain time of night and it was kind of...awful. Kristen pulled her jacket tighter on her body. She huffed and tucked her head closer to her chest. Her hair was whipping past her in the wind and her hands were shoved into the pockets of her favorite leather jacket.
She had walked all the way from her apartment complex to the thickly lined trees of North Westchester. These were the homes owned by the most powerful families in town, the ones who had old money, some who had been living there for generations. Houses on this side of Westchester were sprawling estates with big windows and beautiful architecture. They had back houses and poolhouses and guest houses with their own detached garages.
This side of town never had a house for sale.
When she was younger, she remembered bounding up and down these streets with pigtails, chasing after Nikki and Derrick. She had been carefree then. In middle school she had longed to have the lifestyle of the Fishers and the Hastings. High school was when she accepted what she had. Her dad was an art dealer, an accomplished one at that, she lived a life most couldn't afford and she was okay with it. She didn't have the same expectations set for her like James. Still, there were nights like this one where she wondered what it would be like to tuck away into a silk duvet in one of the towers of the passing houses, to have a wrought iron gate with a G for Gregory, embellished and shining even in the moonlight.
A car whizzed past her and Kristen walked closer to the trees. People rarely drove up this part of Westchester. It was a luxury only these families could afford.
South Westchester, closer to the freeways and that much closer to Manhattan, housed the new money of town. People like the Blocks and the Riveras. People who chose flashy cars over collectibles. People who spent their money without a purpose on things like custom jewelry that could pay off the debt of a college student or useless tech gear. Their houses were boasting all the latest designs, but you could walk those streets. There were few houses hidden behind gates or trees. Just circular driveways and endless backyards.
There was only a slight distinction between the two halves of Westchester and it was unspoken, but if you looked closely between two people, you could tell. It was the difference in Claire's favorite sweater and Nikki's. One with a visible logo and the other saved for the label.
Kristen had the luck of living in neither part. She lived in Downtown Westchester. It was a busy little area with boutiques and some big brands. It was lit up in the night and had cobblestone walkways. Kristen's parents owned the top floor of the most expensive apartment complex in town. Yet she still found herself wanting more. She was never fully content. She couldn't help it.
"Careful, Kris. You're going green." Kristen shivered at the memory and shook her head.
She was here for a purpose. She took a quick turn down one of the streets and looked both ways. Her heart was beating erratically.
The others clearly knew something she didn't, or they were keeping something from her. No matter what, she had to get to the bottom of this and the only way she could figure any of it out was if she continued with her plan.
When she reached her destination, she looked up and took a deep breath. She could have gotten there blindfolded if she had to.
The Hastings' House was anything but a house. It sat atop one of the hills of Westchester and overlooked a deep canyon of trees below. Usually the lights of the home itself could be seen peeking out from the trees and inside it was often a lively place, but lately it seemed more sinister than anything else.
Kristen stretched her arms and zipped up her jacket. She had to be very discreet.
The gate to the Hastings' property was looming over her challengingly. The handles of the gate made an H and would open only if one were to press a button in their car. Typically a man stood watch but since Griffin's disappearance the Hastings had gone away, leaving their house deserted.
Kristen gulped, she was going to do this, she had to. She walked to where the gate tapered off into the trees. There was a small enough gap to throw her bag over, but she would not fit. She looked over at the tree closest to her and chucked her purse over the fence. Now she had to go get it. There was no backing out.
Kristen reached for the closest branch and then gripped her foot onto the tree. She prayed to no one in particular that the branch would hold her weight. She pulled herself up and then kept going further.
She was glad she had worn sneakers.
When she was high enough, she scooted closer to the end of the branch she was on and as it creaked forward, she leapt onto the ground.
She landed in the grass and teetered back and forth until she got her balance. She had to admit she was mildly impressed with herself. She grabbed her purse from the ground, and looked ahead.
Now came the hardest part. The driveway to the actual house was a rather long one. Griffin's great-grandparents, who had first come across the property and taken it over, had been extremely paranoid about their neighbors and they had taken every precaution for security.
The trees whistled in the wind, leaves flapping as a breeze sped by. Kristen didn't like horror stories or murder mysteries or anything mildly spooky, she liked to say it was because she didn't believe in them but currently she had to admit it was more because it was scaring her.
The gravel of the driveway crunched beneath her Nikes, despite her efforts at trying to be lithe on her feet. The house was a mass of gray bricks and like most of the homes on this side of Westchester, palatial in build. Kristen swallowed hard as it approached, her breathing was picking up and it wasn't just from the walk.
She remembered the very first time she had arrived at the Hastings', she had been in awe of the grounds the home sat on. Griffin always said that his mother was borderline obsessive about tending the land. Kristen had been immediately enamored by their family home and how with only four of them, it remained like a fairytale land, untouched by reality. But now, as it stood above her in the distance, it felt a lot more like a Grimm fairytale.
There was the sound of a snapping twig somewhere in the midst of the evergreens and Kristen's heart nearly stopped before it began pounding even harder in her chest. Her palms itched with sweat and she was struck by the thought that maybe Griffin Hastings wasn't missing...maybe it was something darker and maybe, just maybe she was next.
Immediately her mind went into hyper-drive, she sprinted without glancing back, and raced to the house. She ran up the circular driveway, kicking up gravel as she did so, and almost slipped up the white marble steps to the front door. She leaned against it, breathing hard and looked out at the path she had come from.
Everything was completely still. Just the wind, causing the trees to moan with the twists and turns of the night.
Maybe she had imagined it.
She looked at the fountain in the driveway, the only noise was the dripping of the water that was overflowing from the top. The fountain had been turned off but droplets were plopping into the basin beneath it.
Kristen gathered herself, she was being ridiculous. This was one of the safest properties in all of Westchester.
It donned on her momentarily that she had snuck in and maybe it wasn't impossible for someone else-
She shook her head, tied her hair up and proceeded to walk to the other side of the house. She made her way through the hedges, staying close to the house. She passed the detached garage and saw her opening. The Hastings' always left part of the kitchen window open to let air out. Their cook would groan on and on about being claustrophobic and neither Griffin nor his family ever stayed in the kitchen for longer than a few minutes. They wouldn't have thought to close it before leaving.
She unzipped her purse and reached inside, pulling out a vintage Swiss Army Knife her dad kept framed in his collectibles, he would never notice. She cut a straight line down the side of the mesh of the window, making it into a flap. It was a little higher up than she remembered, but she'd already come this far.
Hoisting herself up, she pulled herself through the window, sticking one foot directly into the Hastings' sink. She put her head in next and her other foot came crashing in. Her leg accidentally caught the faucet and the water came pouring out directly onto her Lululemon leggings.
"Shit!" She hissed, turning the water off and hopping out of the sink.
If she had any sense at all, she would have noticed the light on in the family room.
If she had any sense at all, she would not have been loudly cursing without double checking the perimeters.
If she had any sense at all, she would have seen Fawn fuckin' Hastings' car parked by the garage.
But apparently all sense had escaped her.
"Kristen?!"
Fuck.
Author's Note: From what I recall Fawn never had a last name? Well, either way I made her a Hastings, so...Also Nina and Alicia are still cousins and Nina's sister is Isobel. However, Celia will be introduced later as a minor character and she's not their sister. Like I said earlier, none of the side characters are super important besides Danny and then to some extent Landon and Fawn. I introduced them just to set up like an outsider's perspective of what's going on (also if you notice, every single one of them is a character in The Clique universe). This chapter also, I hope, clearly introduced that they all have different levels of involvement with what happened to Griffin. Alicia just feels guilty but she's not really part of it, we'll see why later. Massie is more involved than she is letting on and Kristen knows something the others don't, which may or may not be pretty obvious.
Anyway, I hope you read all of that. I'm sorry it was so long. I think for now I'm going to keep the story mainly within the girls' perspectives, I don't know yet.
Also, I'm curious, who are your favorite characters so far?
Also, I didn't proofread so I'm sorry for all the mistakes, I will edit it more tomorrow.
Thanks! (and be sure to check out the Tumblr wastelandfic(*)(tumblr)(*)com(/)tagged(/)links