Chapter 4

"I think for any relationship to be successful, there needs to be loving communication, appreciation, and understanding."

–Miranda Kerr

Briarwood-Octavian Prep

Verona Hall, Room 105A

Ms. Kirk's Physics Class

Monday, September 2nd

10:06 A.M.

It only took Massie a few seconds to scan the syllabus to know that she wasn't going to enjoy physics one bit. When was she ever going to calculate the velocity of anything anyway? And permanent lab partners? Yuck.

Massie glanced at the person on her right, inwardly groaning. Thanks to Ms. Kirk's alphabetical seating chart, Massie had been placed next to Claire's weird friend, Layne Abeley.

Since Massie had seen her last, she had died her hair a silvery grey and had the top section in two buns and was wearing a distressed AC/DC shirt, bleach splattered skinny jeans, and a pair of black converse. While her fashion sense hadn't improved any, Layne's makeup skills obviously had. Her face was shiny and matte in all of the right places for her face shape and her eyeshadow looked like a perfect example form a Youtube tutorial.

"I better not fail this class because of you." Layne hissed, typing away at a message on her Macbook's screen. Massie squinted her eyes and saw that Layne was demanding answers from Claire as to why she didn't say anything about Massie moving back to Westchester.

"Puh-lease, I need good grades to go to the Ivies." Why did everyone seem to think she didn't care about her grades? Did they all think she was that stupid? Granted, she hadn't paid much attention in class while in middle school, but her entire future depended on how she did in high school!

"Why study when mommy and daddy can just pay for a library to get you in?" Layne rolled her eyes while Ms. Kirk wrote out the lab rules on the board.

"Do I look like one of Lori Loughlin's daughters?" Massie snapped.

"No…"

"Then save the moral lecture for the kids with low SAT scores, Aunt Becky."

"She used bribery, not donations..." Layne rolled her eyes again before muttering something sounding suspiciously like stupid. Massie clenched her fists to keep her from ripping Layne's buns off her head.

"Girls!" Ms. Kirk turned around, placing her hands on her plump hips. "Is there a problem?"

"No!" Massie and Layne said simultaneously in the sweetest voices they could muster. When Ms. Kirk turned back around, both glared at each other.

"There wasn't some stuffy boarding school in England that your parents could've left you at?" Layne whispered-yelled.

"Had I known I'd be stuck with you as a lab partner for an entire semester, I would've begged them to let me stay there." This time Massie rolled her amber eyes and crossed her arms, turning away from Layne to let her know she was done with the conversation.

For a few moments she tried to pay attention to Ms. Kirk's safety rules, but she couldn't focus for very long.

The morning leading up to first period kept playing over and over in her head. Everything had gone according to Massie's plan, until the assembly. Because up until then, she had been under the assumption that Alicia had been BOP's Alpha… because that's what her friends lead her to believe.

For an entire year, her friends had deceived her. They had lied to her on countless occasions and Massie was left wondering if anything they had said had been true at all. Had Alicia really won a nomination for homecoming court? Had Cam and Claire really won the cutest couple award at the Valentine's dance? Had Kristen really been the only freshman to make the girls' varsity team? Did Dylan actually form a popular secret club about food appreciation?

But the dishonesty wasn't what bugged Massie the most. It was their reasoning for lying to her that was boiling under her skin. They had claimed that they had thought that she would've completely cut them out of her life if they had told her that they hadn't really been at the top. Massie had taken their vows on that beach seriously but would have understood if her friends had told the truth, she wasn't that controlling!

It had been stupid to assume that freshmen could be alphas, that much was obvious. Freshmen were at the bottom of the totem pole, the lowest of the low, the butt of every joke. Nothing, not even Massie could've gone up against an older, more experienced alpha and won as effortlessly as the PC had claimed. From Massie's first glimpse of Monica Sova, she seemed like huge competition.

Massie opened up her Macbook and pulled up Instagram. After a quick search, she easily found Monica's profile. The number of followers she had almost made Massie's jaw drop, the girl could very well be labeled an influencer, and for good reason. Every picture looked like it was taken by a professional, the lighting was perfect, effortless-looking glossy hair, flawless makeup, and enviable outfits. Her megawatt smile was the perfect mix of happiness, mischief, and sexiness. Pictures taken far away made her eyes look like a pale blue but the up-close ones showed that under her long dark lashes they were actually grey.

The most recent picture was that morning. Two boys, blonde, blue-eyed, and completely identical were standing on the side of BOP's giant stone sign looking serious while Monica was sitting on top of it posing as if she were on the cover of Vogue. No tags of the two guys, but they were definitely BOP students.

Two girls seemed to be frequently pictured with her. One was a tall blonde with bright green eyes, often wearing flowy bohemian-inspired outfits. The other was a dark-haired brunette with dark brown eyes with a style similar to Monica's. Massie clicked on their tags and deduced that their names were Annie Bolton and Tiffany Wolf, both students at BOP.

Massie shut her laptop, unable to look anymore. This girl was a serious threat. And unfortunately, her friends had given her zero time to prepare…

BOP

Verona Hall

Locker 22

Monday, September 2nd

10:35 A.M.

Students that lived in the dorms on the second and third floors buzzed by, heading for the elevator bank and the stairs while Massie shoved her new physics book into her locker. Her Chanel no.19 locker deodorizer let out a refreshing spritz and she inhaled as if it would give her the strength to get through the rest of the day.

Looking down the line of lockers against the wall, Massie could only see a few people she recognized from OCD and Briarwood even though all of the lockers in Verona Hall were for day-student sophomores. Most of the faces were unfamiliar and looked at her like she was just another face in the crowd.

The ones that did recognize her, like her locker neighbors to the left, Krista Bassett and Ann Marie Blanc, looked at her with mixes of apprehension and disdain. Neither had said a word to her as they quickly emptied their stuff and rushed off to their next class. Both had practically worshiped the ground Massie had walked on at OCD, now they looked at her like she was a ghost there to haunt them.

"I didn't believe it when I saw it, but it's true," The familiar voice of Cam Fisher said from behind her.

Massie spun around and noticed that it wasn't just Cam, but all of his friends too. A nervous bubble formed in her stomach, she hadn't seen any of them (minus Cam) in over a year and she hadn't yet checked if she needed a quick swipe of her Chanel duo ultra tenue. Cam gave her a quick friendly one-armed hug.

"Welcome back!" Derrington said, stuffing his hands into his Diesel jeans. Josh, Plovert, and Dempsey echoed him.

"Thanks." Massie breathed with a small grateful smile. At least there were a few people happy to see her back in New York. She answered a few of their questions like when she got back, where she was living now.

"What's your next class?" Cam asked.

"Algebra two." She couldn't help but grimace, math had always been her least favorite subject.

"With Truman?" Derrington asked.

"Yup."

"Cool, me too." He smiled and Massie silently thanked Gawd for at least one friendly face in her next class. She was sure Dylan would bombard her with questions about him afterward, but it was still a huge relief.

"Where's Mason Hall?"

"I'll show you."

BOP

Dining Hall, Starbucks Kiosk

Monday, September 2nd

12:05 P.M.

The scent of coffee filled Claire with new energy before her lips could even touch her iced caramel macchiato. Her first two classes (world history and sociology) had wiped her out even though their classes had been shortened for the day to fit in the assembly. But it wasn't the stress of history or sociology that had drained her, it had been Massie.

No one had received any texts or snaps from her during their first few classes and Claire was beginning to fret that Massie wasn't going to forgive them. When the PC made their way to their regular spot, table sixteen, Claire had shot Alicia a questioning look.

"I'm sure she's fine." Alicia took her normal seat at the bamboo table, her face blank but Claire could see the worry in her eyes. They had all thought that Massie would've sought them out after first period, but they had almost been late for their next classes by waiting for her at her locker.

"What if she hates us now?" Dylan asked with a mouthful of turkey burger.

"She doesn't!" Alicia massaged her temples.

"Look!" Kristen pointed to the pizzeria kiosk. "There she is."

The girls all looked up to see Massie leaving the pizzeria with the Cam, Derrick, Josh, Dempsey, and Plovert. They spotted them and started to head in their direction, laughing at something Plovert had said.

"At least she doesn't look mad…" Dylan muttered.

"Ugh, Josh is with them!" Alicia fake gagged.

"Who cares?" Dylan quickly wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Derrington's with them!"

And Cam! Claire mentally added, admiring how great her boyfriend looked in the shirt she had bought him at Kohls. It matched his green eye perfectly.

"Hey!" Massie chirped, taking the open seat next to Claire.

"Hey…" Alicia smiled, obviously surprised and a little suspicious that Massie's mood had completely turned around since they parted last.

"So why didn't you say anything about Massie moving back?" Plovert asked before stuffing almost the whole slice of pepperoni pizza in his mouth.

"It was pretty last minute." Massie covered for them.

"How do you like BOP so far?" Claire dared to ask, testing the waters of Massie's mood. Was she actually happy, or was she just acting like it in front of the boys because she didn't want to seem bitchy?

"It's great!" Massie smiled with an excited spark in her amber eyes, answering Claire's question about her mood. "Physics is going to suck but algebra was actually fun."

"Algebra was fun?" Alicia asked, the disgust and disbelief matching everyone else's.

"Yeah, Mr. Truman is hilarious."

"You should've seen him swan dive into the trashcan!" Derrington laughed and sent Massie into a fit of giggles, they even high-fived.

"Oh, you two have it together?" Dylan pursed her lips before smiling, the same thing Merri-Lee did whenever her co-host on The Daily Grind said something particularly stupid.

"Yeah," Derrick answered before clenching his teeth, clearly annoyed that Dylan was already jealous. Massie looked between the two and realized what was happening.

"Cam, are you excited for photography?" Claire jumped in and changed the subject before things could get awkward.

All of the guys suddenly tensed and looked away.

"Uh, I, um forgot to tell you…" Cam looked down at the table and her gut clenched in anticipation. "I switched out of photography for an independent musical studies class."

"You what?" Claire snapped. Everyone around the table quickly found their own conversations or their phones to avoid the couple's spat. "You promised to take it with me!"

"I'm not good at photography, you are!" Cam said, finally looking her in the eyes. "Claire, I need to get better at the guitar and I could use the voice coaching."

It was her turn to look down at the table.

"I promise I'll make it up to you," Cam whispered.

Just like you promised to take the class with me…

She looked up and saw Alicia looking at her with worry while Josh tried to talk to her with her limited responses. Massie was typing on her phone and Claire immediately felt her phone vibrating, knowing it was a text asking if she was okay.

"It's okay." Claire finally answered and faked a smile. "I know how much the band means to you, and you're definitely better at it than photography."

Cam pecked her cheek. "Thanks, I knew you'd understand."

She gave him a toothless smile and wondered how he didn't understand that he was beginning to put his band before everyone he knew.

BOP

Dining Hall, Table 16

Monday, September 2nd

12:10 P.M.

Alicia watched as Claire's smile didn't quite reach her eyes before accepting that Cam had ditched her for his band, yet again.

"But I told Coach B that if I can't wear my lucky Ralph socks under my uniform ones, I can't play and he actually let me!" Josh continued to drone on and on about soccer, not catching onto her distant look as a clue that she wasn't interested.

"Josh," Alicia finally snapped, ready to tell him off for his unwanted flirtatious conversations, but the smell of Yves Saint Laurent's Black Opium filled the air and Alicia suddenly couldn't breathe.

When Alicia's brown eyes lifted, they landed on Monica Sova's figure gracefully walking by with Tiffany and Annie on both sides of her, heading in the direction of their normal table. Monica's thick smoky eyes landed on her. Nothing in her expression was threatening, she actually seemed happy, but it was a menacing look nonetheless. It was Monica's way of silently reminding her of their deal, practically a daily ritual.

Alicia turned back to Josh, this time with a huge smile plastered on her face. "So when's the first game?"

"Two weeks from Thursday." Josh seemed a little confused at first but quickly got over it, happy that she now seemed interested.

"Well you know we'll all be there cheering you guys on!" Alicia gushed, trying to put the few acting lessons Claire had given her to use.

Josh beamed at her and started to excitedly jump into the best places for them to sit so the team could see them, but Alicia stopped paying attention once again.

Instead, her attention was caught by the boy she had been sneaking around with that very morning. Ethan was already watching from his table, surrounded by his lacrosse friends. They were practically on opposite sides of the room but the hurt in his shocking blue eyes was unmistakable.

Alicia fished out her phone and quickly pulled up the PC's group chat.

A: SOS

D: ?

A: GET RID OF THEM

C: Done

K: Done

M: And done

"I heard that Hastings is selling out of Cody Hill's dorm." Claire inspected her nails. "He has deals on quarters of Venom OG."

"For real?" Plovert practically shot out of his seat. It was widely known fact at BOP that Griffin Hastings was the best plug in Westchester, and that Plovert was slowly morphing into a stoner.

"Yeah, I got some Ice Cream Cake from him this morning." Dylan lied.

Alicia knew for a fact that she hadn't smoked weed since she fell asleep before the fireworks at Erica Lunsky's Fourth of July party.

"Shit," Josh frowned at her as if it were a shame he had to go so soon. "I'm all out too, I need to go get some before he's all out."

"Better hurry, I'm sure this is his busiest time," Massie said.

"Anyone have cash?" Josh asked as the rest of the guys stood up, ready to go restock their supplies.

"Dude, just Venmo him!" Derrick rolled his eyes as he pushed the chair back in.

When the guys finally walked out the door Alicia let out a breath of relief. "Thank Gawd they're gone."

"Seriously, can you believe Cam blew me off like that?" Claire snapped, still boiling from Cam's ill-timed confession. Alicia put her hand on Claire's back and the rest of the PC voiced their displeasure with Cam's decision.

"He should've just told you that he didn't want to take it when we were signing up for classes," Kristen said and the PC agreed.

"Speaking of classes," Dylan looked at Massie accusingly. "How was algebra with Derrington?"

"Dyl, I don't like him." Massie gave her a stern look that even made Alicia shrink back slightly. "We just happen to be in the same class, and he's one of the few people I know in there."

Alicia bit her lip to keep her smirk from showing. She knew it. She knew Massie would realize how alone she was without them. Claire had even sent her screenshots from Layne, pissed that Massie was back to terrorize her and the rest of the LBRs from middle school.

"Sorry, you guys just have a history and it made me freak out for a second." Dylan apologized. "But can you talk to him and see if there's a chance of us getting back together?"

"For sure." Masie smiled but the corners of her lips quickly fell and formed a serious line. "We need to chat about a certain someone."

"We're so sorry-" Claire started to apologize but Massie held up her hand.

"Don't worry, I'm nawt mad…anymore." Massie straightened her back, ready to get down to business. "Just no more secrets."

They all voiced their agreements and Alicia's stomach dropped again. How was she supposed to tell Massie about her secret relationship with Ethan? Everyone in the PC (and the whole school) knew that she had hooked up with him Plovert's party. Only the Kristen, Dylan, and Claire knew about her deal with Monica, but Claire was the only one that knew she and Ethan had a messed up secret relationship...

"Anyways, I did a little research in first period," Massie pushed forward. "But I need you guys to fill in the blanks, I need to know everything about Monica and her friends."

"Well for one thing, wherever she is, they're usually not far behind." Alicia sat up, ready to give her report. She pointed at Annie. "Her second in command, comes off as sweet and innocent but she can be a huge bitch."

"She spread a rumor that Jessi Rowan had syphilis." Kristen sipped her Vitamin Water.

"She's dating the starting quarterback, Cayden McKenzie," Alicia informed.

"I've heard that name a few times today!" Massie exclaimed.

"He's a total HART and he's been one of Monica's best friends since they were in diapers, they're actually neighbors. Oh, and he has an identical twin."

"Those two?" Massie discreetly pointed at the McKenzie twins with her Starbucks cup.

"Yeah, everyone calls them the clones." Alicia could hardly tell them apart. "Hayden is on the hockey team and is usually found outside of Dean Sanders' office for doing something stupid, Cayden is the smart one."

"He usually takes Hayden's exams and quizzes for him," Dylan added. It was certainly no secret that the twins used their identical looks to their advantage from time to time.

"That one is Tiffany." Alicia pointed to the dark-haired girl with her phone in her face. "She's batshit crazy, and you should avoid her at all costs."

"I once saw her fill Emily Esbin's conditioner bottle with Nair," Dylan whispered. "Just because Emily had asked to borrow a pencil from her boyfriend at the time."

"Ehmagawd," Massie gasped, "That's pure evil."

"Yeah, that's why Kit Zielinski dumped her and part of the reason Monica isn't super close with her anymore," Alicia explained. "She used to be Monica's beta until they got into some kind of fight."

"Huh," Massie tapped her chin, watching the group closely. "And that one is her boyfriend?"

Alicia followed Massie's gaze, "Yeah, that's Liam Walker, the captain of the soccer team."

"They treat him like a god, he's their best player they've had in like twenty years." Kristen put in.

"Also the hottest," Dylan admitted.

"Facts." Claire agreed.

"So what can you tell me about her that's not on social media?" Massie asked.

"Full name is Monica Avelina Sova, she has a brother named Ethan and they're apart of Manhattan's jet set." Alicia recited like a boring bibliographer. "She has a closet full of custom couture gowns, she's the president of the Burgundy and Black Society, captain of the equestrian team, head cheerleader, and probably going to be the valedictorian."

Massie slowly took in the information, analyzing each bit of information.

"And part of the reason you've never heard of her is that her parents shipped her off to Switzerland to attend Le Rosey instead of OCD."

"Ashley Wexford told me it was because her mom didn't want to deal with her eating disorder." Dylan shrugged, "I have no idea if that's true, but it wouldn't shock me if is… her mom used to be a supermodel."

"Who is her mom?" Massie's brows furrowed.

"Addison Emery." All four girls said simultaneously.

Massie's jaw dropped."Ehmagawd… as in the Addison Emery that is now the editor in chief of Stylista?!"

"The one and the same." Alicia sighed. Monica had inherited her mom's incredibly lucky genes, but her brother was the one that had received her infamous blue eyes.

"So she has a pedigree," Massie noted. Everyone knew that the most famous supermodel of the nineties was from one of NYC's oldest Dutch families. Even though she had tried to make a name for herself by dropping the van Coeverden name in favor of her middle name, it was obvious that her family's status had aided her on her climb to the top of the fashion industry, but no one seemed to care. Addison Emery van Coeverden decided what was in and what was out, and as long as she held that power over every designer that hoped to grace the pages of Stylista, everyone would follow her. "She's dead serious competition…"

Massie's gaze returned to Monica. Instead of fear in her eyes, Alicia could see the flames glowing in her amber orbs, ready to take on the challenge.

As if sensing the defiance, Monica turned around, smoke meeting fire.

Family relationships definitely play a bigger part for all of the characters in this version. Massie's not exactly happy with Kendra and William for uprooting her twice in two years, Kristen's mom is stricter than ever, Todd is the annoying yet lovable little brother, and Monica's parents are kind of jerks. I'm really excited to focus on Dylan's family now that they have this Kardashian-esque reality show. I don't think Dylan's dad was ever mentioned until the last book (correct me if I'm wrong because it's been YEARS since I read a Clique book), and it sounded like she rarely saw him so there's definitely going to be some drama there!