Previously on Secret Life of the Influencers...
"I'm Chantelle,"
"What's left to do on that list of yours?" He asked, placing his hand on the small of her back.
"What's going on?" She asked Pierre,
"A group of girls just came in." He finally answered.
"Are those freshmen?" Charlie heard Tatia's angry voice ask.
"I invited them!" Chantelle added in quickly before things got out of hand. "I had no idea they were freshmen.
"I was just about to light the fire. Why don't you guys come watch?"
"What was that?" She whisper yelled.
"They call themselves the Pretty Committee."
Chantelle nodded again, "Nick's brother."
"if I knew you were going to be here, I wouldn't have come."
"Wait!" Dylan called when he was a few feet away. "Will you be running again tomorrow?"
He placed his hands on the ends and sighed. "Fuck."
"Everything okay?"
Armani's Estate
The Bonfire
Saturday September 4th
9:36 PM
"Everything okay?" Charlie asked the boy known as Cam Fisher.
If Charlie was honest, she didn't come for a wellness check.
When new houses are built, typically, everything is perfect. The lighting, the airflow, the foundation. Every room might be empty and there was always a lack of memories, a sense of home, but nonetheless new beginnings were always exciting. But over time things like weather can make even the most beautiful architecture decay and become something ugly. And that's exactly what Charlie was looking for-a crack in the foundation. Chipped paint, loose door hinges, broken windows-anything.
Charlie wasn't your typical alpha. Most people in that position were arrogant and fought fire with lava; she always chose the more undercover approach-why fight your own battles when you can make your enemies fight them for you? That was what Charlie believed a true alpha did.
He seemed to be arguing with Dylan about something, and it got heated just before she arrived. Sadly, the only thing she could hear was a declaration from Dylan saying she'd stay away from him. She remembered hearing those words a few years ago; they could only mean one thing.
Cam peered over his shoulder before turning around swiftly. His eyes darted to the backdrop about ten meters from where they currently stood. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Hey," he greeted with a phony smile in attempt to cover his sour mood.
Charlie nodded very slowly, understanding what kind out route she'd need to take with the interaction if she wanted to get anything useful out of him. She watched as his gaze shifted once more to the backdrop and followed his eyes.
Bingo.
.
.
"Charlie," Aubrey started, her tone serious. Tatia had sent the boys to sniff out the freshmen boys that Massie and her friends had arrived with, "do not wait for them to try something else—they'll think it's an easy win if you don't fight back."
"Fight back?" Charlie furrowed her brows. She'd already been in a battle for the crown for the majority of her freshman year and her entire sophomore year, and remaining undercover was hard to do in a popularity war. She was not about to start another one, especially not with freshmen. "They're just desperate for attention. They got it here today, so I'm sure they'll back off."
Aubrey slapped her palm to her forehead and shrugged Brianna off of her. If she was completely honest, which she wouldn't be, she wanted to know what Charlie's tactics were. There were so many questions she had that were never answered. How did Charlie start freshmen year with a handful of friends and end up taking the spot she had fought hard to even be considered for?
"Aubrey's right." Tatia said. She didn't know the details of what Charlie had done to become alpha. All she knew was that she had risen to the occasion. When the students got influenced by the battle for alpha that stayed as the topic of conversation the entire year, it showed in their actions. Teachers fought with students, each other, and fun was completely out of the window. "They're on high enough horses if they think they can pull a stunt like they did today, and they're on even higher ones if they think that can get away with it."
Charlie nodded slowly and looked to Chantelle, who shrugged and threw her hands in the air. "Don't look at me—I don't know anything about the hierarchy." Chantelle folding her hands in her lap. Truthfully, she knew of the ranks and how things worked. How the alpha became alpha. But she wouldn't be able to explain how to do it. "But if you know what will happen if you do something, and what will happen if you don't do something, just base your decision on that."
.
.
Chantelle and Charlie's friendship consisted of many things. They gave each other great advice, made each other laugh, and remained shoulders for the other to cry on-which Chantelle utilized quite often.
Watching your best friend deal with a boy who's explored in and outside of their relationship time after time made it easy to spot infidelity; she could practically smell it from a mile away. Charlie knew the tells: sidelined arguments, over expressing feelings, random bad moods (the product of guilt).
She cocked her heart to the side and widened her eyes slightly to seem more innocent and caring, "What's wrong?" She asked, stepping forward and leaning her bum on the table. Behind her sat a bowl of green grapes (they were nasty and sour in her opinion but the action of eating them made her questions sound a bit more sincere), she grabbed a handful and plucked one from her palm, tossing it into her mouth before extending her grape collection to Cam.
He took a small grape and squished it between his index finger and thumb, "I'm a terrible friend."
Charlie, much shorter than Cam, who couldn't see her current facial expression, frowned. Not the answer I was expecting. He was going to lie.
That was perfectly fine by Charlie, as long as he gave her enough information to spin on her own.
"Why's that?" Charlie questioned, holding her grape-filled hand in front of Cam. He cupped his hands together and allowed her to pour the rest of the grapes into his palms. She wiped the dew off with a napkin.
Cam pressed his lips together as he thought of an answer. No one except Dylan and Cam knew of their secret-he had no one to vent to that wouldn't scold him or call him a jackass, though he knew they'd be right. He wasn't going to tell her the truth, but he was going to tell her something that would lead to some form of emotional comfort. Cam was tired of his head spinning every time he thought about it.
"My best friend likes my girlfriend's best friend but I'm not sure if I want them together."
Charlie held back a chuckle. His lie wasn't well thought out at all, but she didn't necessarily need the truth-she already knew.
"Would that be bad, or?"
Cam shook his head aggressively. "No. Not really."
Charlie finally stood from the table, her tail bone slightly sore from the metal, and stretched her back before standing in front of him again. She shrugged, "So set them up."
The one-blue-one-green-eyed boy rolled his neck and looking around them. He could see Claire talking to the boy who refereed the flag football game, laughing at whatever was on his expensive camera. His eyes squinted as if he wore prescription glasses and couldn't see well before he finally answered.
"I cant-Derrick's into someone else."
Charlie gave a sympathetic smile, though she felt bad. She was pretending to care about him for her own selfish reasons and her guilty conscious was choosing now to remind her that what she was doing was manipulative. With a heavy gulp, she forced the guilt down her throat. Just because she knew his secret didn't mean she had to use it-she could try to find something else.
"Then Dylan will get over it." She stretched her arm and placed a dainty hand on Cam's shoulder, who was still gawking at his girlfriend. "Don't stress about something you can't control."
Charlie had made her decision. If Massie and her friends wanted to go to war, she knew exactly what to do. If she could beat two girls, who each had experience being an alpha while she had none, then a freshman clique way in over their heads would be a piece of cake.
Armani's Estate
The Bonfire
Saturday September 4th
9:37 PM
Massie, Alicia, and Claire smiled against the cheesy backdrop behind them. It was corny enough to be a friend appreciation post on Instagram, and just right for the yearbook. Massie knew Charlie would have someone from yearbook at the bonfire to take pictures, so she made a mental note to get a photo in with her friends.
"Last one!" The boy with warm brown hair announced to the four girls in front of him.
The flash blinded them as they forced themselves to keep their eyes open for the last photo.
"All done." He stated, clicking through the photos on his camera.
Massie sauntered towards him. "Can I see?"
He retracted the camera to his side to hide it from her. "If it gets into the yearbook, yes." He wanted to be a professional photographer one day; he didn't let anyone use or see his photos for free—the school paid him for working on the yearbook.
Massie squinted as Alicia and Claire ran to mitigate the situation before she turned the boy into a puddle of embarrassment.
"Hi!" Claire greeted, hip bumping Massie lightly to snap her out of it.
"I'm Alicia." She gave a soft smile before turning to Massie and gesturing to come with her. They walked a few meters before stopping to talk.
"Uh.." Claire muttered as Alicia and Massie left her. "I'm Claire?"
"Is that a question?" The boy teased, finally relaxing his arms.
Claire let out a chuckle and grinned. "No, sorry." She moved her curtain bangs to the side (it was a very good decision of her to grow them a little longer, they framed her face perfectly) and held out her hand, "I'm Claire Lyons."
"Pierre," his free hand met with hers and shook it firmly. Claire couldn't help but admire his face. Dark blue eyes with beautiful brown hair—he looked like he'd been genetically mutated to create a perfect specimen. She couldn't get over his eyes... they were so... warm. He kind of looked like- "Armani."
Oh, Claire thought to herself. She doubted Massie would be happy with her for talking to Charlie's brother.
"Sorry about earlier I didn't mean for things to happen like that." Claire wanted to get the apology out of the way. She may have been Massie's friend, but she didn't necessarily want to be a part of the battle, even though she knew Massie planned to interrupt the alpha toast.
Pierre shook his head and waved his hand, "Forgotten." He smiled down at Claire; as mesmerized as she was by his eyes, so was he.
Pierre had always stayed far away from the girls at BOP. They were either snotty or pretending to be nice, so he'd introduce them to his sister. He wondered what Claire's motives were.
"I'm guessing you stayed behind to sweet talk me into giving your friend the photos?"
Claire furrowed her brows in confusion before realizing what he was talking about. "No! Not at all." This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. People were going to this she was a bitch for what happened just a few hours ago. Claire sighed and took a step back with her hands up defensively. "I was just making conversation, I'm sorry."
Instantly, Pierre's face softened. He apologized as well, stating that he had slight jetlag and was a bit sleep deprived from traveling. "I didn't mean that, really." He promised.
Claire nodded, unsure if friendly conversation was possible for her at BOP. "It's okay."
For the next few seconds, they were silent. Though the sun had set it was still warm outside, there was no breeze, and yet, somehow, Claire shivered, and goosebumps appeared on her arms.
"Oh," Pierre muttered. He placed his camera on the chair before removing his letterman. Anyone who had the talent to make varsity the previous school year always wore their letterman and/or uniform to the back-to-school bonfire, hence Charlie and her friends' cheerleading outfits. Before Claire could object, he placed the jacket on her shoulders in an attempt to keep her warm.
"Fits perfect." He declared with a cheesy grin, eyeing the jacket as it hung on Claire's frame, who struck a goofy pose or two. Pierre directed Claire back to the backdrop and retrieved his camera.
For the next five minutes, she was his muse. She struck pose after pose while he cracked joke after joke. They were drawing attention to themselves but were both in their own bubble for the time being.
"These are amazing," Pierre laughed as Claire stood to his left, both examining each photo. "Do you mind if I put these in the yearbook?"
Claire shook her head no and grinned. "Of course not."
Pierre nodded slowly, smiling so softly you wouldn't notice it unless you were as close as Claire was.
Her chest grew warm as she caught herself fighting the urge to press her lips against his. She really, really wanted to.
But Cam.
She couldn't.
Noticing a change in her expression, Pierre cleared his throat and placed his camera back on the chair. "I'm going to head over to the bonfire," he used his thumb to gesture behind him, a look of worry, or sadness, Claire couldn't tell, etched into his eyebrows. "I guess I'll see you around."
Claire nodded but remained silent as he took off, quickly making his way to the remaining group of students by the bonfire. Some of them were intoxicated or high, or both, but most of them were just dancing and having fun before the school year started back up.
Claire worried intensely about the school year. If Charlie was a bad as Massie had made her out to be, what did she have in mind for payback? Claire really didn't want to be part of a popularity war. It was exhausting when she did it with Massie in middle school and it was bound to be even more stressful now. She hated herself for not talking Massie out of her plan.
"What was that about?"
Claire turned around to find Cam standing behind her with his hands stuffed into the front of his pockets. Behind her, she could hear Josh's last name being chanted, and was sure she'd hear all about whatever he was doing in school on Monday.
"Nothing!" Claire feigned a smile. That was somewhat true—although Claire wanted to join Pierre, she didn't. She stayed. Whatever connection she thought they had formed within a span of twenty minutes could be detrimental to her relationship with Cam, and she wasn't willing to risk it. So it didn't matter. He would only ever be a friend to her.
"Okay." Cam nodded with an emotionless face. Either he didn't believe her, or something else was wrong. Claire dropped it, feeling bad for provoking jealousy from Cam, and interlocked their arms, glancing quickly at Pierre's letterman as it sat on his chair unworn. Cam placed a kiss on her forehead before resting his head on hers.
The End.
And that's chapter (I don't know because I kind of just write with the flow until I get author's block and cut out what I don't want in the chapter)! It took a few days for this chapter because I had work plus school (college freshman, go me) and also wanted to edit some of the previous chapters.
Anyways we passed the first climax! How did you guys like the bonfire? Let me know in the reviews! I have sooo many ideas it gets hard to write because half the time I want to just jump straight to it, butttt we need the build-up (insert eyeroll here). Stay tuned, and leave a review or two!