*I don't own the Clique series.*
Three words. Broken. Laptop. Charger.
Luckily, last week I was finally able to get a new one. (BTW wow, who knew they were so expensive?) It took me a while, but I was able to retrieve my work. Sorry if I made any of you think I was abandoning you. So here you have it, my lovelies. XOXOXOXOXOXO
P.S. Next chapter will be up soon!
Chapter 9
"There better be a good reason why you called me here." Kristen growled stomping into Massie's bedroom that night, dropping her overnight bag sloppily in the corner. "I was catching up on the episodes of Dexter that I missed on Showtime." She was the last of the girls to arrive.
Massie rolled her eyes while filing her nails. "Sorry, but your little show can wait. Kuh-laire actually has something important to tell us." She said gesturing towards the pacing blonde. "Nawt that she will tell me. She wanted to wait until all of you bitches got here."
"So, what is it?" Alicia asked sitting up straighter, eager to hear what she suspected was gossip. Good gossip. "What was so important that you called all of us down here?"
Claire stopped and looked at them. She didn't know how to do this. How do you go about telling your friends that they're being stalked? They all stared back at her in anticipation. She didn't want to be the one to ruin the calm demeanor the girls had regained after she finally talked to Moakley. It felt like every time they believed that they could finally relax and return to normal, something horrible would come in and ruin it. She watched as her friends got up and surrounded her.
As they got closer and were able to read her expression, they realized that whatever she had to tell them wasn't good news.
"Claire, what's wrong?" Kristen asked. She noticed that the blonde looked paler than usual, her skin fading into the color of her light hair.
She opened her mouth, but closed it again still unable to get the right words out. She let out a heavy breath of frustration at herself.
Seeing their frightened faces almost made her reconsider telling them. She didn't know how they would handle it. She certainly wasn't doing very well. Her face grew paler as she remembered the note in her pocket. She couldn't hold it in any more.
"When I got home and went upstairs to my bedroom, the window was open. Somebody had been in my drawers and looked through my things. The person left this on my dresser." She handed Dylan the paper and the other girls crowded around her. "They're trying to send us a message." After they all read it aloud, they looked at Claire to check if she was joking. By looking at the damage she was causing to her nail beds, they knew that she couldn't be.
"Holy Shit." Alicia gasped.
"That's really creepy." Dylan whispered.
"That's more than just creepy." Massie retorted. "That's a threat."
"We have to tell someone!" Kristen exclaimed immediately.
"No! We can't tell anyone. What part of keep your mouths shut aren't you getting?" Dylan barked.
"Dylan's right." Alicia agreed. "Whoever wrote this is under the impression that we somehow saw something. If we go to the cops to report this note, they're going to think we're spilling. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather not spend any time looking over my shoulder waiting for some psycho to ax me."
"Well according to the letter, we should be looking over our shoulders." Massie huffed. "Whoever wrote this has already been watching us."
At Massie's words, a chill ran down each girl's spine.
"Well unless it's more than one person, the only way they would be able to keep track of us is when we're together. Like right now." Kristen responded. Everyone's head turned to look out Massie's window. The girls all stepped far out from its view.
"This person wants us to be scared. Whoever it is, they're letting us know how easy it is to get to one of us. I'm guessing they can get more creative than climbing through a window. We have to be careful from now on." Massie said more to herself than to anyone really, her gaze locked on the carpet in deep thought. She had her hands on her hips and she, like Claire only a few minutes before, was pacing. The girls could easily see the fear oozing off of her features.
"And what about the boys?" Kristen voiced. "Are they being watched too? It says 'your friends'. Does that include them?"
"We have to assume so. We can't just nawt tell them that there's a possibility that someone is stalking them." Dylan admonished. "….Can we?"
"We'll tell them tomorrow." Massie answered. She both loved and despised how the girls looked at her as if she knew what she was doing. As if she could somehow fix it and make it go away. The shock of reading that note had hit her hard. So hard that not even she could suppress her terror. Who was doing this to them?
"I hope you guys remembered to bring your overnight bags. You're not going home. I'm not letting any of you out of my sight when it's this dark outside. I know that we're all on thin ice with our parents already and sneaking out tonight will probably get us all into more trouble, but I'm gonna have to ask you to call your parents and let them know that you're here." With that, she walked over to her windows and swung the expensive curtains shut making sure not to leave even a tiny crack open.
As the other girls pulled out their phones and began grudgingly dialing their parents' numbers, Massie sent Derrington and the other boys a quick text. "Whatever u do, make sure 2 lock all ur windows 2nite. Im serious." She knew it was cryptic and might possibly freak them out, but she was too drained to explain. Despite the newest development of the soap opera that was their lives, in other words the disturbed killer now keeping an eye on them, she couldn't keep her eyes open any more. She reminded the girls which drawer had her extra pajamas in case they needed them and passed out on her bed.
The next morning, at the sound of her phone alarm buzzing, Massie woke up and sure enough, all the guys had texted her back.
From: Derrick
lol very funny, Block.
From: Kemp
huh?
From: Josh
r u okay, Massie?
From: Josh
Massie? Hellllooo?
From: Chris
did Dylan put u up 2 this? I already apologized for that prank I pulled. tell her im sorry.
From: Cam
will do ;) lol
Massie would have chuckled at their reactions if she wasn't so….what was the word she was looking for? Oh, yeah….terrified. She doubted any of them had listened to her. She just hoped that none of them had experienced any incidents like Claire had last night. She was eager to meet up with them today and tell them everything. Though she hated to admit it, the thought of being with a group of males made her feel safer.
Though they were only fifteen and sixteen, it was obvious that over the summer, they had officially stopped being little boys. With the awkward in-between stages behind them, they had turned into young men in what seemed like overnight. Along with several inches in height, they had developed broader shoulders and slight stubble on their chins.
Although Massie wasn't ever the type of girl to call herself a damsel in distress or need some guy to look after her, considering the circumstances, she couldn't deny that she needed them. This one time, she would quiet her stubborn refusal to look weak and agree that she probably couldn't fight off an attacker alone.
She looked at her friends slumbering peacefully in their sleeping bags on the floor. She loved these girls like sisters. It scared and angered her that some coward writing letters and sneaking into rooms thought that they could push them around. She would make sure that not a hair on their heads was touched. She was their alpha and she had to protect them.
She went to open the curtains and after a few seconds of hesitation, she left them partially ajar allowing very little light inside. She turned back around to find them all still immobile.
"Get up!" She shouted clapping her hands loudly. Slowly, the girls started to stir on the floor opening their eyes. "It's 7:00. Find a guest bathroom and meet me down in the kitchen in an hour. I know that you guys brought clothes, but feel free to borrow anything. Almost everything in my closet is fair game, except for anything in the left corner. That's stuff I haven't even worn yet. Touch it and be prepared to get a beat down." She saw Kristen smile in response shielding her eyes from the sunlight peeking through the curtains. With that, she went to her own bathroom and shut the door.
An hour and fifteen minutes later, they arrived at DA. Massie had told the girls that it would be best to avoid being alone, for the time being, at all costs. Since the hallways at school were relatively crowded, they were okay, but when classes were in session, they'd have to limit the bathroom breaks. Claire had suggested that the girls all wear flat shoes. It would be easiest to get to crowded areas where people were around, minus their sky high heels.
Massie wore a snow white wool pullover, dark grey Tory Burch narrow stretch corduroy pants, and Gucci ballerina flats.
Dylan had on Alexander McQueen skinny jeans, a black oxford shirt by Proenza Schouler, and silver strap-on flats by Salvatore Ferragamo.
Kristen wore taupe cargo pants, an orange oversized sweater by Theory, and flat brown knee high boots by Cole Haan.
Alicia wore a pale blue men's button up shirt and black straight leg plants by Ralph Lauren, along with bright blue metallic flats by Lanvin.
Claire had on an argyle v-neck boyfriend sweater, Alice + Olivia suede legging pants, and gray tall Ugg boots.
They all donned moderately heavy coats to stay warm.
Due to the recent drop in temperature, no one stayed outside in the mornings before class. The quad was completely empty and it looked frightening somehow today. Denwood-Ames Academy was a large assortment of stone buildings surrounded by the woods. The girls looked around in paranoia, eyes skimming the many trees around them for anything that looked suspicious, before walking inside hurriedly. That morning had been a silent one for the PC. No one had spoken on the car ride over, not that any of them seemed to notice. Each girl was far too deep in their own head to notice anything going on around them. They hadn't even bothered discussing outfits. Though they still made an effort to look fashionable, it was obvious that none of them were dressed up to usual standards. Surprisingly, none of them seemed to look like they really cared.
Inside the halls of DA, the PC for the first time in years, walked in on opposite feet distractedly keeping an eye out for any of the boys. When they were nowhere to be seen, the girls gave each other nods of acknowledgment, heading off to their lockers to get what they needed before the bell rang.
Alicia, so used to being in her heels, sighed and got on her tip-toes to reach for her lock. After entering her combination, she opened her locker only to catch the reflection of someone tall standing closely behind her in the mirror. She whipped around quickly bumping into a hard body. She looked up to see Josh standing there grinning. She breathed out a sigh of relief.
"You scared me." She whispered.
"Sorry." He said with a bemused expression. "Who did you think I was?"
"No one." She said uncomfortably. "You're just…. standing kind of close." She didn't want him to be too aware of her appearance today. Her face was splotchy and red from stress and lack of sleep and judging by his nearness, he could probably tell. She felt like going home and crawling under the covers. She knew she should tell him about the note, but a tugging feeling in her stomach wanted him to ask. To notice that she wasn't okay.
Josh smiled, but made no attempt to move back. His face showed no signs of realizing either her discomfort at his nearness or her obvious frazzled state. She sighed again and turned back around reaching for her schedule.
Same old Josh. She thought bitterly.
It irritated her to know that, even during the time they had dated, unless she was blatantly crying her eyes out, Josh would never be able to notice that something was bothering her. In fact, he had never really paid much attention to her at all. Even when she made it known that she was upset, he would shrug it off, expecting her to get over it without even asking what was wrong in the first place. And time and time again, she did just that. She got over it and pretended everything was okay. That was what had ultimately ended their relationship.
She could remember that day like it was yesterday.
Alicia ran her fingers through her dark locks and closed her eyes.
Again.
He forgot again.
She felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind, startling her slightly. She could feel his lips begin to caress her neck. Normally, she would smile and enjoy the little moment they were sharing, but she couldn't this time.
She grabbed his arms and yanked them off of her, pulling away. She paused, not turning around to look at him yet. She could feel his confused frown on her back. She didn't even know what to say to him. Then it hit her.
"Did you notice that I'm getting a rash?" She asked turning to face him suddenly. Just as she expected, his face contorted into one of bewilderment. She knew it was a strange question. He didn't answer.
"No? Well, I am. See? Right here." She lifted up her sleeve to show him. "All up my arm."
"Rash or not, you still look hot to me." Josh shrugged smirking. He stepped forward trying to draw her back to him. She stepped back out of his reach again.
"I get them during the fall a lot. The harsh wind dries out my skin so I usually tend to avoid being outside. Except, you know, now that I come to think of it, I have been spending an awful amount of time outside."She waited a beat for a response. When she didn't get one, she continued.
"I'd say I spend most of my time outside when…..let's see…oh. Yeah….when I come to watch your games." Her voice was still calm which surprised her. Josh's face was now impassive. She realized she was rambling, but there was a point to this whole spiel. She just hadn't got to it yet.
"Every single game, Josh. I've been to every single one. Can you imagine?" Still nothing from him. "I don't know if you've realized, but I hate soccer. I hate sitting out on the uncomfortable bleachers for two hours. I hate the stupid random girls that stand on the side lines and wear your numbers painted on their faces, even though they've probably never even had a conversation with any of you. I hate how aggressive you guys get. I'm always-" her voice wobbled a little, "always so worried that you're gonna get hurt. And gawd I hate the look on your face when you guys lose." She stopped to look at his face. Sill impassive, but he seemed to be taking offense to her words now. Good.
"But," she bit the inside of her cheek until it hurt, "but I love when you win. I love seeing how happy you are when the game's over and you know you've won. I love when you're all sweaty and you look into the crowds for me and I'm just waiting for that cheesy moment when your eyes to lock with mine, just so I can run and kiss you." She saw his face soften. "And nothing else matters. Not my dry skin, or the stupid girls, or the fact that my butt was getting numb from sitting for so long. None of it matters. Because you're happy." She whispered the last word. Her eyes began to tear up. "Your happiness is all that matters to me at that moment, Josh."
He looked at her in awe. This was the first time she had really opened up about how she felt. She could see his affection for her in his eyes. But she wasn't done.
"What matters to you, Josh?" She sniffled as the tears spilled over. "Does my happiness matter to you?"
"O-Of course it does." He stuttered out. He shifted awkwardly, attempting to reach out to her. "Leesh, what's wrong, babe? I don't know what you're feeling right now."
"No." She agreed. "You don't. You never do, Josh and that's the problem. I asked you. Over and over again. I reminded you. Today. 3 o'clock. I finally got my chance, remember? I told you. My ballet teacher finally gave me the solo. I performed, Josh, in front of hundreds of people." She could see the realization dawning on him. He had forgotten. "Over a hundred people, none of them being you. You've missed every single one of my recitals, Josh and I've taken it lying down, but not anymore. Not anymore. Do you hear me, Josh?-"
"Leesh," he interrupted, "I'm so sorry-"
"Do you even HEAR me, Josh?" She cut him off beginning to raise her voice. "Cause sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a wall. Why aren't you hearing me? Am I not impressive enough for you?" She taunted. "Cause I'm not playing a dumb little sport? Cause I can't kick a little fucking ball into a net? Cause, unlike you, what I'm interested in actually involves using my brain?" She snarled condescendingly.
"Stop it. What is your problem? Why are you acting like this?" She could tell he was pissed off now.
"My problem?" She asked incredulously.
"Yeah, you heard me!" he shouted, "What's your problem?"
"You know what my problem is? You!" She yelled back with equal ferocity. "I'm tired and I've had enough! I've had enough of your bullshit! You can only give so much before you want something in return. I am always there for you, ready with open arms, and this one time, just this once; I wanted you to be there for me."
Josh raked his fingers through his hair out of frustration realizing that he was definitely in the wrong. "What do you want me to say?" He asked trying to do damage control.
This time there is no damage control. Alicia thought wearily.
"I don't want you to say anything. I'm tired." She whispered hoarsely wiping her eyes. And she was. She had burnt out all of her fuel. She had finally exploded, and now all she wanted to do was go home and cry.
"I'm sorry, Alicia. I know that's not enough. I know you deserve a lot better, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't imagine myself with anyone else. Please don't do what I think you're about to do."
"I know that you're sorry." She said still unable to stop crying. She couldn't even see his face through her tears and her voice was embarrassingly high. "I'm sorry too. But it's not enough. It's never enough. We've been here before. I keep telling myself that if we keep finding our way back together, then we're meant to be. But we're young, Josh." She sniffled unattractively. "We're young and we're dumb. Who even knows what 'meant to be' means at our age? Honestly, I don't think either of us is even mature enough to handle a relationship this intense." She waited for his response, but she never got one. Josh was already storming away from her angrily. She allowed herself to feel bad for two days.
Two days. And then it ended because two days later, he was dating Nina Callas, her archenemy.
And her sadness was replaced with something much more powerful.
Rage.
But that was all in the past now, she reminded herself. She and Josh had promised each other that they wouldn't allow themselves to use the past against each other anymore. And she intended to keep that promise.
Truthfully, she knew that this time, she couldn't really be mad at him. He is a guy after all. She couldn't expect him to understand how to properly deal with her emotions. And she was just in a bad mood. She felt like she was slowly losing control over her whole life. Being part of the Pretty Committee, she had learned from Massie that being in control was more important than anything else. She and the girls thrived off the power of being in charge. How was she supposed to feel in charge with splotchy skin and no heels?
"Walk me to homeroom." Alicia ordered slamming her locker shut. She dropped a notebook into her bag before hitching it onto her shoulder and began to head down the hallway.
Josh took one look at her expression and grabbed her arm pulling her back. He looked to see if anyone was watching, then gently pushed her against a locker.
"What's wrong?" He asked giving her his signature arrogant little smile. "You're pouting." He brushed her bottom lip with his thumb.
Alicia looked up at him in shock. He noticed. He noticed that your sad, Alicia. And you were mad at him. But he noticed. He noticed. He cares.
Without even realizing it, her face broke into a wide grin and she let out a breath and pulled him into a tight hug closing her eyes. He had no idea, but he had just made her day a whole lot better. The girls were great, but she couldn't really expect them to worry about her, seeing as they were going through the same thing. She just really needed someone to care about her right now.
"Thank you." She murmured into his chest.
"You're welcome? I guess…" He answered in equal confusion and amusement hugging her back. "Glad I could be such a great help."
It was lunch time and the PC all sat at the new table 18. Their meals remained untouched as they waited impatiently for the guys to arrive. They had agreed that it would be best to tell them together and since it proved to be physically impossible to get the whole group gathered together in the hectic morning schedule, they had agreed to wait until lunch. As always, the guys weren't on time.
"So…did anyone experience anything weird today?" Kristen asked. When everyone shook their heads telling her no, Dylan decided to bring up what had been on her mind since they had walked into the building that morning.
"So I've been thinking." She said disrupting the silence that had once again taken over. The girls all turned to look at her with unreadable expressions.
"Nothing really has to change, you guys." She said softly. "We can continue to live our lives normally. As long as we don't do anything this person might consider suspicious, they'll be happy. And we'll be safe."
There was a pause as the others deliberated in their heads what she telling them.
"I agree." Kristen spoke up. "I mean, it'll take time, but I think after a while it'll get easier for us to ignore the idea that someone is watching us. That is, if they're watching us."
"You're right." Alicia mumbled, "If they were at the party, then they must still be in high school, right? They can't watch us all day and go to school. Besides, why should we give whoever this is the satisfaction of watching us squirm?"
It was obvious that they were all trying to rationalize the situation.
Being stalked was like trying on a pair of heels for the first time. It was painfully uncomfortable at first, but after awhile they could learn to adapt and ignore it.
"I think," Massie chipped in, "I think you guys have a point. It's not like we have anything to tell the cops anyway. We should be fine. The boys don't need to know."
"Don't need to know what?" Kemp questioned sliding his chair in with the rest of the guys.
"How did none of you see them coming?" Massie growled softly under her breath as the girls looked at her with widened eyes.
"We didn't mean you." Dylan blurted trying to back track. "Not you….boys. We were talking about another group of boys."
"Oh yeah?" Josh asked in amusement. "Who?"
"No one important." Claire broke in.
"Warren and his friends." Massie said at the same time. They locked eyes and had a silent conversation.
"What business do you guys have with Warren and his friends?" Derrick asked suspiciously.
"It's nothing." Massie was frustrated. She could barely look any of the boys in the eyes. What was wrong with her? Lying usually came to her without any effort. "Payback. For a prank they pulled."
"What prank?" He pressed.
"Derrick?" Massie asked instead of answering.
"Hmmm?" He answered.
"Remember how you guys owed us that favor? Well here it is. I'm asking you to drop it."
"Drop it?" Chris raised his eyebrows. "What's so important that you're keeping it from us?"
"Yeah." Cam agreed. "You've all been acting really weird today. And not in the usual way."
"You're being secretive." Derrick declared.
"And you're all wearing flat shoes. I've noticed that you're all, like, a foot shorter today." Cam exaggerated.
"So what's up?" Massie saw Derrick's eyes flicker towards the folded up note on the table. Claire noticed too and tried to discreetly put her hand over it, covering it. Before she could, Kemp who they hadn't realized was being observant grabbed it.
"What's this, hm?" He chuckled.
"Nothing. Just some scrap paper from Geometry." Claire responded trying to act nonchalant. "Give it to me so I can go throw it in the garbage." She held her hand out.
This caused all the guys to narrow their eyes. Claire had geometry after lunch.
"Open it, Kemp." Derrick ordered. At that moment, Kristen leaped on top of him lunging for the note. As her hand made a grab for it, he pulled it just out of her reach.
"Stop it!" Alicia cried. "Give it back to her. That doesn't concern you!"
Josh, who hadn't yet moved, got up and snatched it out of Kemp's hand. Without warning, he opened it and read it. He froze, furrowing his brow. The PC all froze with him. The guys looked at his reaction waiting for him to explain what was going on.
"Where'd you get this?" He asked diverting his attention to Claire. His face was serious.
"What is it, man?" Chris asked standing up. In response, Josh slammed the note down on the table where the rest of them scurried to read it. When they did, all the amusement was wiped off their faces, and they looked up at the girls in a mixture of confusion, worry, and anger.
"Answer the question, Claire." Cam demanded.
"In my room." She answered sheepishly averting her eyes to the floor.
"I'm sorry," Cam said as if he had heard her wrong, "did you say in your room?"
When Claire failed to answer, Dylan decided to save her. The jig was up now. They might as well tell them.
"Someone got into her room through the window yesterday before she got home from the questioning. It was lying there on her dresser. They even left the window open. She says she thinks whoever it is went through her stuff." It took the boys a few seconds to process what the red head had just told them.
"How could you not think it was a good idea to tell us this?" Kemp asked outraged. Kristen, who was still in his lap, got off of him abruptly.
"Are all of you stupid?" Cam fumed. "That's a death threat."
"We know what it is." Massie glared at him. "And for god sakes, keep your voice down." She glanced to check to see if anyone in the cafeteria had noticed their little disagreement. A few people were watching from the corners of their eyes, pretending not to listen.
"Are you crazy? Why the hell don't the cops already know about this?" Derrick growled dropping the volume.
"Because," Kristen voiced, "what are the chances they'll catch this person with that little piece of evidence? Then whoever this is, finds out that we tattled and we have a ticked off killer out on the loose after us. He or she is telling us to not talk to the cops and we're going to do exactly that."
"They have special ways of finding this stuff out. They could maybe get a fingerprint off the letter or something in your room." Chris assured.
"Really?" Dylan bit out angrily. "Don't you think someone who is smart enough to sneak in and out of her room, conveniently at the time she wasn't home, and leave a typed note would think to wear gloves?"
"You never know."
"The same person, who at this very moment, has gotten away with murder. In case you haven't noticed, there have been no new developments on that case. This person is no regular dummy."
"Okay." Kemp shrugged admitting they were right. "Fine. Maybe telling the cops wouldn't have done you any good, but what about us? Thank God we got here when we did or we would've missed the little tip off at the end of that conversation. I can't believe you were actually gonna keep this from us. Something this big."
"What if something had happened to one of you?" Josh hissed worriedly.
"Nothing would have happened." Dylan tried to assure them. "But just in case, we dressed more comfortably. Hence, the flat shoes. You can't run for your life in Christian Louboutins." She joked feebly.
"That's not funny." Chris spat.
"It really isn't." Derrick said in agreement. The PC, even Massie, all looked away guiltily. It was kind of funny how only the day before, their parents had given them lectures, but none of them felt the slightest bit ashamed about lying. Somehow, doing the same to the guys made them feel like they did something wrong.
"From now on," Derrick began, "you girls don't go anywhere alone. I don't care if it's the bathroom. One of us will stand outside and wait for you."
"That is nawt necessary!" Alicia protested.
"It really isn't." Claire grumbled throwing Derrick's previous words back into motion.
"Maybe. Maybe not. But until we can trust you to be responsible again, we're not taking any chances." Derrick said in finality.
Massie scowled and stared into Derrick's brown eyes as he looked back into hers. "This is exactly why at the last minute, we decided against telling you. You're blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Besides, who do you think you are bossing us around? You don't own us. We don't need your "protection." She realized that this was a complete 180 from what she had been hoping for this morning, but she didn't care. She hated that the boys looked at them as if they were too dense to comprehend what was happening. It was a blow to her pride.
"Are you kidding me? You don't think something like this," he gestured towards the note, "merits some fucking protection?"
"What about all of you?" Claire asked stubbornly. "This note includes you. You were there that night too. Who's looking after you?"
"Don't worry about us." They said altogether. The PC rolled their eyes. They refused to back down. The last thing they wanted was the guys following their every move. They might as well have added five new stalkers to the list.
"How about a compromise?" Kristen asked raising her eyebrows. She was the most calm out of the whole group at the moment. "We'll refrain from going anywhere alone. At least for a little while. And…" she scrambled to think of other terms to get the guys to agree, "We'll call you anytime anything unusual happens." She felt like she was pleading with her parents to extend her curfew. The boys showed no hint of budging though.
"Look. All we have to do is stop talking to the police, which shouldn't be too hard considering we have nothing to tell them anyway, and we're okay." Dylan reasoned. "We don't need bodyguards. So, please. Just stop. We're sorry and from now on we'll tell you absolutely everything." The girls nodded and looked at them hopefully.
When the other guys failed to answer, Cam spoke up. "Okay." He relented sighing.
"We're serious, though." Derrick said, going along with it. "Nothing concerning that night can be kept a secret. We have to all be honest with each other. You can't just-"
"Okay, Okay. We get it. No more secrets." Massie interrupted while dragging him down back to his seat. "Sit. Eat." She slid over grilled chicken sandwich wrap to him. Everyone followed and proceeded to return to their seat.
"What is this?" Chris wrinkled his nose leaning in to smell Dylan's Kashi Lemongrass Coconut chicken. "It smells rancid."
And just like that things were back to normal. When the boys weren't looking, the PC all exchanged triumphant glances.
That afternoon, at the Rivera estate, the ten of them sat comfortably in the den. The guys had gone ransacking through the kitchen cabinets for food and found a large bag of marshmallows and shish kabob sticks. They made do with what they had, and began making s'mores using the fireplace.
"So," Massie said distractedly shuddering at the number of marshmallows stuffed in Cam's mouth, "About your bachelor's auction. Your first tux fitting is tomorrow. I've already emailed all the other guys on the list who've signed up to do this."
"About that…" Chris spoke. "Me and the guys already talked. Forget about the auction. That's the least of your worries right now with everything going on and all."
"NO!" Massie said roughly. "We're doing this. Stalker or no stalker, this auction will go on as planned."
"You're not serious." Cam scoffed.
"Of course we are!" Alicia protested looking shocked. "I sent out invitations a long time ago. The girls at DA are soooo excited. They're practically kissing the ground we walk on. We're nawt gonna bail out of this because of some stupid note. Are you kidding me? My mom got us the freaking Skylight Banquet Hall."
"I don't know what planet you girls live on where some stupid auction is more important than a potential threat to your lives, but we're the ones who hired you in the first place and if we say no, it's no." Josh clarified. Knowing them, he caught onto their thoughts. "And before you go on plotting to do this without us, think about it. What would be the point of raising money for the soccer team without any actual soccer players?"
They knew he was right about that. Without them, the main bachelors of the evening, this whole thing would be incredibly pointless. Plus, if these guys dropped out, chances are the other bachelor's would too.
"Why naaawt?" Kristen whined in defeat, shoulders falling into a slouch. The corners of her mouth fell adorably.
"I think it's pretty obvious why not." Kemp said completely immune to her sulky face. He had learned from experience not to fall for that face.
"But we really need a distraction right now."Claire frowned. "I can't stand being on edge anymore waiting for something to happen."
"Well find another distraction." Chris voiced. "There are plenty of other ones."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Alicia asked with a look identical to Kristen's.
He sighed in annoyance and shrugged. "I don't know. Like shopping. You guys always seem to enjoy that one."
"But we always do that." Dylan groaned. "Besides, shopping is only fun enough to be distracting when you have a special occasion in mind. This is perfect. Come aawwwn." She looked at Massie for help, but noticed her alpha was barely paying attention any more. Massie's piercing gaze was locked in the dwindling fire. It was odd to see that instead of sitting up impeccably straight as usual, she was lying back on the couch with a hand lazily twirling her hair.
Derrick, who was quickly growing tired of their whining, interjected. "Whatever." He said exhaustedly. "Do whatever you want. Throw the auction. But if anything weird happens, anything at all, like that freak shows up, you guys no longer have a say in how we handle the stalker situation anymore."
"Ugh. Can we please not call it that anymore?" Claire cringed.
"Call what that anymore?" He asked.
"Stalker. I hate that word. It freaks me out."
"Well what do you propose we call it then?" Josh questioned scoffing. "Is 'lovely neighborhood watcher' better for you then?"
"Stop being a dick." Alicia scowled at him. "I, personally, don't care for that name either."
"Why don't we give him another name then?" Dylan suggested.
"Or her." Kemp hastened to add. "We don't know it's a guy."
"Okay, not to be sexist or anything, but I ahwn-estly don't believe it's a chick." Kristen voiced. "I mean I did at first. In the note, the person used little phrases like "Claire bear" and "dream team." I think we can all agree that it's either highly unlikely or really odd that a guy would say something like that. But then I thought about it. I mean reeeally thought about it. And well…" she tilted her head hesitantly. "Regina and her killer were able to walk right past the room we were standing in without us noticing. Which means she must have gone willingly. However, her friends all had alibis. It couldn't be one of them. SO I put myself in her shoes and I began to wonder. Who would I go somewhere alone with willingly? Ahbv-iously someone I didn't think would kill me. And if my friends are out of the question, then it's probably a guy I'm into. The only reason I could come up with why she would go off with this person is to hook up. Then it hit me. OMG her killer is totally a dude!"
Everyone was dumbstruck. It was easy to forget how smart Kristen was when she started her sentences with OMG. In all honesty, none of the girls in the PC were actually dumb. The fact that people sometimes believed they were served as an advantage though. Underestimation helped them get out of trouble more times than they could count.
The room was tense for a second as their thoughts rushed back to the night of Skye's party.
"Guys?" Kristen asked worriedly. Her question snapped the group out of their reverie. This was good news. They were one step closer to nailing this freak.
"Ten years from now, babe. I can already see it. Kristen Gregory. Sexy Lady Detective." Dylan joked successfully lightening the mood as each person broke into grins and low chuckles.
"Seriously, it's sooo effing hawt how smart you are." Massie smirked finally rejoining the conversation. "If I were a dude, I'd toe-dally do you."
"Heck, even as a girl, if I were drunk enough." Dylan purred wiggling her eyebrows devilishly in a very Plovert-esque manner, emitting laughter from the girls. Alicia gave her a high-five in agreement.
There was an evident smile beginning to form on Massie's heavily glossed lips. "Whatever, who am I kidding? I'd definitely go for one of you girls with enough Peach Schnapps in me." She crawled suggestively onto Claire's lap, who in turn just threw her head back laughing as if that were the funniest thing she'd heard in ages. The boys sensed each other's mutual shock at this little disclosure. Kristen's giggles radiated throughout the room somehow lifting everyone's spirits. They were back to their regular teasing mood.
"Remind me to get all of them reeeeally drunk one of these days." Chris muttered to his friends under his breath. "If they start makin' out in the process, hey, who are we to stop them?"
"Already on it." Kemp answered his eyes never leaving the weird (in a good way) interaction between his ex-girlfriend and her friends. The guys watched with interest as the PC playfully made sexy eyes at each other.
"A." Claire said breaking the moment. Everyone turned to look at her.
"What?" Both Alicia and Kristen asked at the same time.
"Our stalker's name. On Pretty Little Liars, remember? That's what they call theirs." She explained. "How do you guys feel about A?" The PC let out an "ehmagawd that's an ah-mazing idea" gasp and gave her approving looks.
Josh shrugged. "I guess. I mean I've never watched Pretty Little Liars, but-"
"Oooooh then allow me to explain!" Dylan said cheerfully, "it's about these four girls who are ex-best friends who split up after the mysterious death of Alison, their alpha. A year later, they start getting these creepy messages from someone who calls themself "A". Somehow "A" knows all their secrets, including the ones only Alison knew, but she's y'know dead so… therein lies the paradox or whatever. Anyway "A" threatens to expose all their secrets and starts to basically ruin their lives. This storyline totally makes sense when you compare it to ours."
"Why? Because you're pretty or because you're liars?" Cam chuckled receiving a pat on the shoulder from Josh. Claire tossed a couch pillow at his head which he gracefully ducked. Neither she nor the other girls seemed to take that much offense to his jab though.
"No," Alicia said gleefully. "Because we have so much in common with the characters. Think… a mixture of Spencer's wardrobe, Emily's athleticism, Aria's sex appeal and Hanna's overall badassness and you've got yourself our very own Pretty Committee."
"Athleticism?" Chris grinned. "Please enlighten me, Leesh. Besides Kristen and soccer, which one of you is even a little bit athletic?"
"Um ex-cuse me," Massie defended, "Leesh is a dancer, and as for the rest of us, on top of our workout Sundays, we get at least an hour of cardio hauling ass at the mall." Everyone began laughing at the typical Massie answer. Massie, herself, could not keep a straight face and laughed with them.
