Long chapter! Longest so far :)
Some major drama goes down in this chapter, get your popcorn ready!
We're so close to 400, guys!
28.
The Hallway
December 20th, 3:17 PM
"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Massie hissed at the girl. Nikki was trying to edge her way around the alpha, but Massie wasn't going to let her get away easily. "Are you sleeping with Derrick too?" She felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck start to ride. Cam, she only cared about because of a friend. Derrick was hers.
"Nope." Something in the girls tone made Massie believe her, and she stepped back a little to let the girl by. Just talking to her, Massie felt her alpha levels dropping, and it would be better if she was gone before Claire had the chance to see her. Sluts were major downers.
"Just go." Massie sighed finally, sick of the slow progress Nikki was making. When she finally made it to the elevator, the brunette huffed and headed into her room.
Inside, was a menagerie of complete… abnormality. Hellos already said, Alicia and Claire had collapsed in different corners of the room. Claire was talking quietly to Kristen at the counter. Neither blonde looked up when Massie entered the room. Alicia was stretched over the couch in a chest stand, her feet casually dangling over her head as she typed furiously on her phone. To Nate, surely. The redhead of the group was missing.
What? No welcome back? Massie kept her grim-dealing-with-Nikki smirk on her face, and decisively smacked the Starbucks tray on one of the entry tables.
"Starbucks's here." Now she was starting to regret offering to pick up drinks for the left-behind. They were obviously being rude on purpose.
"Oh, good. I'm so thirsty!" Claire giggled and raced over to pick up her sugar-free iced coffee; a big change from the time before the trip, when her favorite drink was a cotton candy Frappuccino. Kristen cautiously joined them, but Massie noted that she had edged in between Claire and a chair, even though there was hardly room.
"Hey Kristen." Massie cocked her head, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Kristen had never been this shy before.
"Hi." The blonde unwillingly lifted her head, smiling weakly. "Which one's mine?"
"The tea."
"Oh, thanks!" Kristen picked up the drink, and then, as she remembered something, opened her mouth, "Welcome back! How was your trip?"
"Fabulous." Massie quipped, rolling her eyes. "Glad you asked."
Kristen smiled uncertainly again, and then opened her mouth to speak again. But, Dylan, barreling down the hallway, halted her words.
"Mass! Leesh! Claire!" She yawped happily. "You're back!"
The redhead caught Massie in a hug first, swallowing the brunette's petite frame with her arms. Massie was beaming, this was more of a welcome, when she scrunched her delicate nose and sniffed Dylan's stylish black terry cloth jumper. Polo? What the hell?
"New perfume, Dyl?" Massie observed, her expression denoting disapproval. Before, the redhead had always smelled of green apple shampoo and mint essences. Now, she just smelled like… Josh.
"Oh, that's still on me?" Dylan giggled, twirling nervously. "We," she nodded at Kristen, "went to the mall yesterday and tried on perfumes, and I swear I thought this was the girls version. The bottles look so similar!" Massie's eyes refocused on her neck, spotting a reddish mark halfway covered with the wrong shade of foundation. A hickey? No, it couldn't be. It had to be a rash or something.
"Oh, funny." Massie looked around the room, noting that nothing seemed too out-of-place. The couches were in the same arrangement, the kitchen wasn't screwed up, it looked almost exactly like how they had left it. On the granite countertop, Claire's phone buzzed with a message.
"Caiden." Claire spoke with absolute certainty, seeing that Massie was watching it curiously.
The name reminded Massie of something.
"Ohmigod! I totally forgot, I dropped some of my stuff in the lobby, and I didn't remember to pick it up after Starbucks. I'll be right back."
"Want me to help?" Dylan offered, springing up from the table, eagerly sipping her Frappuccino.
"Naw." Massie said loftily. "I got it. Be right back."
The brunette high-tailed it out of the room, not turning as if to go to the lobby, but continuing straight, right towards the boys' room. Might as well see Derrick, along with Cam. The door was unlocked, and she easily chassed through. She slowly made her way into the living room.
"MASS!" Derrick jumped out of his seat, eagerly making his way over to her. He, like Dylan, enveloped her in a hug. Massie hugged back eagerly, excited to finally be home, to have someone who adores her near.
"So good to see you!" Massie purred, breaking away from the hug. Before she could completely break free, his lips found hers in a quick peck. A blush spread out from the area of contact, reddening her entire face.
"Hey Massie!" Josh drawled from the corner. "Do I get a hug?" Massie barely caught Derrick's panicked look before she crossed the room and embraced Josh. Just testing, she reached down and sniffed his neck. Sandalwood, pepper and coffee flooded her nose. The exact same fragrance Dylan had smelled of, albeit stronger. What a strange… coincidence?
Massie shook off the thought, and turned away from him, searching the living room.
"Where's Cam? I have something I need to discuss with him."
"Why?" Derrick barked from behind him. "What do you have to discuss?"
"Um, nothing having to do with you." Massie responded immediately, venom surfacing in her words. Since when did her boyfriend get to question her motives? Not waiting for another session of paranoid questions (what was up with that?), she pushed past Josh and headed to where she guessed the boys' rooms were. A quick push on the first door to the left revealed a stylish Tommy Hilfiger-esque nautical bedroom, complete with navy anchor pillows and red curtains. A tanned, black-haired was face-up on the blue patched bedspread, casually pressing several buttons on his phone.
"Cam."
"Wha- Mass?"
"Uh, yeah? Who else would it be? Nikki?" Massie snarled, picking off a random thread on her shorts. "By the way, I have some news about your hoe."
"She's not my hoe-"
"Damn right she isn't." Massie was shocked at what had just come out of her mouth, but she decided to go with it.
"Wha...t?" A look of pure confusion drooped across Cam's chiseled features. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know if you meant to loose your virginity," Massie shivered at the word, "together, ew, or something, but she wasn't a virgin when she met you."
"What?" Cam repeated. "No… she swore she was. Who would she have lost it to?"
"Maybe try her boyfriend of three years? Who she met when she was twelve?"
"Who!" His voice was suddenly loud, threatening. "Who? Massie, I swear to god if you're making this up?"
"Caiden Searcy." Massie blurted, leaning forward a bit. This was her chance to get back at them both, for Claire. "Look him up. Facebook. Past relationships. Right smack in the middle of the page, Nikki Dalton."
"No. She swore we were exclusive."
"Are you really surprised?" She placed first one, then two hands on her hips. "You did the same with Claire."
"That was different!" Cam hissed.
"How?" The brunette smirked, glad that she had gotten him worked up now. "Why? Because you're the big boy who had the right to cheat on your camp-tramp?"
"Just go." Cam growled, but Massie could see the anger in his voice now. Not exactly directed at her, as he'd like her to think, but she could see the glances at his phone now, his only immediate connection to the girl who had cheated on him. Massie could tell he believed her, she would bet against him even checking Caiden's Facebook.
She had just caused a major crack in the camp-borne relationship. One, which under any other pressure, was sure to send the whole thing tumbling to the ground.
Massie, with a satisfied sigh, made her way out of the boys' room, bypassing Derrick and his questions completely, and smoothly crossing into the girl's room. She couldn't wait to tell the others, especially Claire, about what she had done.
~ fast-forward ten minutes ~
Kristen leaned back in her chair as Massie's story repeated itself, this time with bone-chilling detail that had everyone on the edge of their seat. Not.
"No, I swear to god. The look on his face was pure insanity." Massie giggled, for the umpteenth time, sending Claire into stomach-wrenching giggles again.
"I would have paid to see that." Alicia and Dylan chorused; the latter nodding like a newly-reformed lackey. The red-head was obviously trying to get firmly in Massie's good graces, so that if her secret was revealed to all, possibly the brunette would help her. Kristen, however, wasn't even trying. She let her boredom and distaste for the brunette show clearly through her sullen expression and curled spine. Who would tell Massie about Derrick and her? Derrick himself? He valued his life way too much. Josh? Derrick's best friend. Cam might, out of spite, but it was highly unlikely. Who else? Dylan? No, that would result in Kristen spilling about her and Josh. No one would tell.
"I am so frustrated with Nikki." Massie spoke dramatically, finally veering onto a new topic. "Guess what she told me in the hallway?"
"Just then?" Dylan leaned forward, as if she couldn't wait for the gossip.
"No, when I was coming back from Starbucks."
"Spill!" Alicia whined eagerly.
"She said: 'Just know that someone you know is not to be trusted.' Like what the hell? And then she started to say Derrick's name."
Kristen's blood ran ice cold. Nikki. That's who she had forgotten. Short, panicked, nonsensical thoughts started running ten-fold through her mind; and she nearly started hyperventilating. What now? What now? What now? She was screwed, that's for sure. Who knew what evidence the girl had, probably just words that made total sense, but possibly pictures! Videos! The possibilities were endless, really.
Slowly, over the course of a minute, her mind returned to her. Kristen started thinking rationally. The morning came back to her, and she recalled the moment when Derrick had failed to respond to her. The plan. The one she had thought she would never need. It was just a rage-plan. One never to be carried out.
Now, she did need it. It would be perfect.
"I have a plan to get rid of her." Kristen forced her voice to stay level. The only way to ensure Nikki didn't have a way to tell Massie was to cut off any channels of contact. Phone. Person-to-person. Email, Skype, FaceTime. Everything.
And the only way to get rid of everything was to get her grounded.
The path to grounding always was through the parental units. And there was one thing that surely any parent wouldn't want their eighth-grader doing. Kristen just had to make sure she had proof of Nikki's misdeeds. Then, surely, the sneaky slut would be grounded until the end of time.
The Hallway
December 20th, 5:59 PM
"Are you sure you got the feeds set up right?" Kristen barked at Dylan. To Kristen's dismay, Massie (who had immediately taken control of the plan) had put the redhead in charge of the camera, and Kristen wouldn't put it past her to muck it up on purpose. After all, her and Nikki had been BFF not five hours ago. Still would be, if Massie hadn't showed up.
"Yes I did." Dylan's breath tickled her ear. "I'd rather sacrifice Nikki than face Massie's wrath." Kristen's nerves instantly cooled. This explanation calmed her more than anything, because it made perfect sense. Dylan would never do anything to screw with the plan, because if Kristen got squealed on, there was a good chance the Dylan/Josh relationship would be leaked to Alicia, and both of them could easily get kicked out of the PC. No friend was worth that.
"Okay, try again, Massie." Kristen keened, tapping the screen on Massie's phone. Nikki had entered the suite ten minutes ago, thanks to their creative text "from Cam's number." Action was sure to be starting now. "Make sure to press record for the good part."
"Duh. Do I have to watch?" The alpha wrinkled her nose at the thought. "Isn't that… like… ew!"
"No!" Kristen's cheeks flamed. "Of course not, that would be… yeah. Just, I don't know, press the button when you see them naked. The camera's in a good position," she paused to glare at Dylan, "so we should get a quick identification and then send it over. Let me peek at the feed."
Sure enough, Nikki and Cam were talking fervently on the bed, lips inches apart. It took a second before the audio kicked in.
"I swear. She's lying. You know her, she's Claire's best friend." Nikki lied openly. Kristen glanced up at Massie, expecting fury, but the alpha just looked calm. "I did date Caiden for two days. Gigi's dare, I swear. He was butt-ugly."
"Not." Claire retorted, preening her hair casually. "She's just trying to get him to trust her."
Slowly, but surely, hormones kicked in, and they were locked in a tight embrace seconds later. Not soon after, clothes came off and everyone adverted their eyes from the phone. Eyes squinted firmly shut, Massie pressed the record button and let it go for a good minute among moans and squeaks from the mattress. Then she cut it off with a relieved sigh and handed the iPhone to Kristen.
"You okay?" Kristen ventured, looking carefully at Claire, who had both fingers in her ears and was rocking back and forth.
"Yeah." She opened her blue eyes. "Just didn't want to hear that. Ew!" Everyone was quick to agree, and then refocused on Kristen.
Moving quickly now (she didn't have much time), Kristen pasted the video into an email, typed two email addresses and typed a quick message.
Hotel Merrin. Suite A, Floor 5. Door will be open.
Please come collect your daughter. Cam Fisher is the boy.
(attached: video1shba)
Bwoop. Sent.
Everyone stared at the phone's screen for half a second, in disbelief.
"It worked. I can't believe it- worked." Kristen gasped, suddenly delirious with relief. "It worked!"
"Calm down, it's not a done deal yet." Massie slung her arm around Kristen's shoulders, happy too. "We get to see the most exciting part!" Together, they led their way into the boys room, where a spontaneous hangout was planned. Derrick sat with Massie, to Kristen's chagrin (but it was necessary); Alicia sat with Josh (to both Josh and Dylan's vexation) and Kristen, Dylan and Claire crammed onto the biggest couch and tried not to notice the moaning floating out of the bedroom. It was better this way, though; if her parents caught them in the act it would be even sweeter revenge.
All of the girls pretended to watch whatever was on the television for a while. All of them were antsy, playing with their hair, or sitting on their hands to avoid damage to precious strands. Kristen tried to advert her eyes from the Massie-Derrick moment, while Dylan did the same with the couple across the room.
Their patience was rewarded after twenty torturous drawn-out minutes. A duo of feet were heard scuttling down the hallway at a fast pace, and then the door slammed open. Derrick and Josh rose almost immediately, curious, but the girls managed to pull them down in time to see two grim-faced parents storm into the room. A short, red-faced man in a pantsuit took charge immediately, while his blonde willowy trophy-wife stood off to the side, tears streaming down her face. They had seen the video; that much was obvious.
"Where the hell are they." It wasn't a question, definitely a statement, but Massie answered immediately.
"First room on the left." The minute the couple stormed out of view, everyone jumped up to go watch. The heavy breathing was still filtering out of the room; Nikki and Cam were obviously oblivious.
"Is that her?" The blonde woman sobbed. "Is our daughter turning into one of those sex stars? Have I failed as a parent?"
"Camille, it's not you. It's not us. It's her. She's spoiled. She thinks she can do whatever she wants. That's going to change." They had arrived at the red-paneled door. With a sigh, Mr. Pantsuit pushed open the door and started bellowing orders.
"YOU LITTLE F*** GET OFF OF MY DAUGHTER, I'LL DEAL WITH YOU, LITTLE SH*T, LATER. NIKKI DALTON GET YOUR CLOTHES ON, AND GET YOUR SS IN THE CAR. TWENTY SECONDS. DID YOU THINK YOU'D GET AWAY WITH BEING A P**N STAR OR WHAT? YOU CAN SAY GOODBYE TO EVERYTHING. INCLUDING THIS LITTLE SH*T, WHO'LL BE SLEEPING IN JAIL TONIGHT. YEAH, I'M THREATENING, HUH?" He took a step towards Cam, who was completely naked, still in a compromising position with Nikki. Kristen skimmed over the should-be-blurred sections, and focused on the mortified look on both of their faces. "IF TWO MINORS PROCREATING ISN'T ILLEGAL, SH*T, I'LL MAKE IT ILLEGAL. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE. CAM F***ING FISHER, HUH? YOUR PARENTS WILL HEAR OF THIS IF IT'S THE DEATH OF ME. THERE'S NOT THAT MANY FISHERS IN AUSTRALIA. I'LL FIND YOU, LITTLE SH*T, AND YOU'LL GET THE EXACT SAME, IF NOT WORSE, TO WHAT NIKKI'LL GET." He then turned on Nikki. "WHY AREN'T YOU DRESSED, F***, GET THE HELL IN THE CAR. NOW! PUT ON A F***ING ROBE AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE."
The girls, shocked by the never-ending line of curse words peppered with sobs from Nikki's mother, stepped out-of-the-way to let Nikki barrel through the hallway, crying hysterically and clutching a cell phone. Claire stuck out a leg as she went by, and Nikki tumbled to the floor, full of snot and tears. All of the girls snapped pictures, before she managed to get up and continue into the hallway. Back in the room, the girls could hear Mr. Pantsuit reaming Cam out, but Nikki was more interesting.
"Take that, bitch. Don't you ever forget. No one messes with the PC and gets away with it!" Massie cried triumphantly, as she linked arms with Claire and Kristen. They, in turn, linked arms with Alicia and Dylan, forming a chain. An unbreakable chain, which could last through anything. Everything. Including crazy Australian sluts with a penchant for revenge.
Yeah, right.
The Dalton SUV
December 20th, 6:31 PM
In the car, all was silent. Both Nikki and Camille's sobs had reduced to nothing, and her father sounded like he wasn't even breathing, just driving the car with short jerky movements. They were past screaming, yelling, cursing, crying: anything. But Nikki almost wished they could go back to that, the silence, it was unbearable. How could this have happened to her? How?
She had lost Cam, that's for sure. Right in the middle of make-up sex, her parents had shown up; god knows how or why. But Nikki had a hunch. Derrick's ex-bitch, to be specific. Kristen Gregory. She had always had it out for Nikki. Sure, it could have been Massie, but it would have been much harder to figure out to ruin the purebred alpha. With Kristen, she had the power to ruin her right at her fingertips.
Shaking slightly, and trying to make the least sound possible, she scrolled through the pictures one by one with one finger at her side. They were all incriminating, enough for a certain split, but Nikki was still searching for the one she had taken in Derrick's bedroom that night. Both half naked, a clear view of Kristen's face, both passionately making out. Finally she found it, and managed to click the 'insert into message' button. She had Massie's number after swiping it from Cam's phone (you never know when you most need something). Finally it was ready.
Her finger dove towards the screen, pressing send. After a half a second, and loud message failed, try again? message reverberated among the car. In complete silence, it was louder than loud.
"Camille. Take her phone." Her dad spoke softly, grinding his teeth. "Nikki, this is only the start. You're loosing everything." The worst thing about his voice was that it was hollow. No emotion at all.
Her mom's delicate hand moved into the backseat, and Nikki blindly jabbed at the phone screen, hoping the message would go through, somehow. She pressed the phone facedown into her mom's palm and broke into a new round of sobs.
The message had to go through. She had to ruin Kristen Gregory. After all, she had nothing else left to live for.
Review, Review, Review! Do you think the message went through?
Since it's late here (I'm at the beach) I used FF as a beta. Do I need to rewrite this chapter at all? Don't be afraid to speak?
Thoughts? Wants? Suggestions? Needs? Let me know (again!) in a review!
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