Claire's tall now, with vibrant blue eyes, and white blond hair that was limp and never had much volume.
She was different from the middle-school Claire that smiled in a picture frame, pale arms wrapped tightly around a tongue-sticking Massie.
She examines her body in a full-length mirror that rested on the dark panel of her closet. Her body is thin, and contains womanly curves, with a small chest, and an even smaller back-side. Light blond hair settles neatly in straight layers over a small face, with large, innocent blue eyes that glaze over with excitement.
Claire was no Massie, but considering what she had to work with, she thought she did okay.
She pulls the maroon sweater over her head, letting it cling to her skin, and adoring the scoop neck of the shirt. Next, she slips into a light wash pair of skinny jeans, pairing it with new Prada boots (a hand me down of Massie).
She observes the lifeless blond locks, running a quick brush through them, and settling herself onto the bed.
At sixteen, Claire felt that there was nothing outside of Westchester than remaining popular. Sure, she wasn't the prettiest member of the Pretty Committee, in fact, she secretly thought she was the ugliest, though Massie always assures her that she is prettier than Dylan Marvil, but Claire always had Cam Fisher.
He was her one true love and even when she tries to stop thinking about him, she can't. There was something off about his voice when she called him this morning, but Claire didn't want to think about it. Because, the mere thought of Cam leaving her kills her.
She walks over to the small window in her bedroom, and across the yard she can see an embarrassed Massie speed-walking towards her house.
It's odd that Massie's home this late, Claire was sure that manicures with Kendra didn't take this long.
Claire grabs her coat, shutting the door behind her as she marches from the Block's guest-house.
"Massie!" she calls, anxiously racing towards her friend before the brunette beauty can get inside.
In the whipping cold, Massie looks stunning, with naturally rosy cheeks and smoky makeup. Her hair is tussled slightly, but it suits Massie.
"Geez I've been calling you all day. We're still going to Alicia's right?" Claire asks, playing with the ends of her light blond hair.
Massie stares at her for a moment, her amber eyes soaring with guilt and frustration.
"Yeah," Massie says, turning back to the door, opening it with force. She teeters a bit on her Christian Louboutin flats, and stumbles inside, dropping the silver Marc Jacobs onto the floor without a second thought.
"Okay?" Claire says, following Massie into her house.
Massie's house never ceases to amaze Claire. It is filled with unused space and a large living room where Kendra throws her infamous parties. Of course, William wants nothing to do with his frivolous wife's careless spending, so he lets her claim that room, instead retreating to his office to play phone sex with his new secretary.
At first, Claire had thought the Blocks lived a perfectly un-blemished life. But, as she and Massie became friends, and even now in their junior year of high school, Claire was learning that the Blocks had a less-than-fabulous life. Their arguments and shouting-matches fill the house each night. Leaving Massie to toss and turn in her bed, wondering why, if they have so much money, they can't just buy happiness.
Massie sprints up the spiral staircase that leads to her room, which takes up most of the second-floor. Claire follows Massie, panting as she runs full speed after her friend.
"Mass," she calls quietly. "What is going on?" she asks, stepping into the room behind her friend.
Massie drops her lime green, mini-trench onto the floor, immediately adding a sparkle of print to the other-wise colorless room.
"Nothing, I'm just tired, that's all," Massie says, kicking off her flats, and sitting on her bed.
Claire looks at Massie in disbelief, her blond eyebrows crinkling at her friend.
"What? God, Kuh-Lair stare any harder?" Massie says, rudely. She rushes to her closet to pull off a pair of jeans from the millions that stared back at her.
Claire turns to stare at her friend once more, before exiting the room.
Guilty.
It's the first word that pops into Claire's head. Of what though?
Without thinking, Claire pulled her cell phone from her pocket, pressing it to her ear as she walks out of the Block house and into the cold winter air.
"Hello?" the voice asks. It's a familiar pot-smoker voice, hoarse and relaxed.
"Cam, baby, is everything okay?" she asks, unsure why though.
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" he asks right back. He sounds occupied, almost too-busy to talk to her. She can picture him pulling a blue shirt over his chiseled chest, the same color as one of his eyes.
"I don't know, I just love you," she says quietly, slipping back into the guest house, where Todd plays his video-games with his friends.
"I know," he says. There's a rustling in the background, maybe searching for papers, digging through cabinets. "I love you too," he says quietly, almost unsure.
Claire smiles into the phone, sinking into his voice, and sure that all she needs, he had just said.
"Well I gotta go babe," he says over the constant rustling. "I'll see you tonight."
"Bye," she says to the phone, but realizes that she had just talked to the dial tone.
She drops the phone on the bed and stares up at the ceiling, counting the stick on stars that decorate it. When she was little, she loved those stars because she had always been afraid of the dark. Afraid of what might happen in the dark.
She stands up and turns off the light. The pretty orangey sunset peeks through her window and she's bathed in a fiery glow. Across, in the other house, Massie Block pulls down her curtain, unaware that Claire is staring at her.
Something wasn't right. And to Claire it is scarier than any monster in the dark.