Previously on Secret Life of the Influencers...
"They call themselves the Pretty Committee."
"Don't stress about something you can't control."
Massie: u + pierre = PC on top !
"They crashed the bonfire on Saturday!" Another student said.
He thanks her before introducing himself, "I'm Donovan, but they call me DJ."
Chantelle waved her hand in the air, "Ancient history."
"I'm not going to give you detention, because I don't want you to miss College and Career Prep after school."
Josh nodded and gestured down the corridor with a grin on his face. "I'll walk with you."
Briarwood-Octavian Prep
Gymnasium
Monday September 6th
11:32 AM
The girl's locker room at BOP looked too good to be true. The baby blue lockers against the freshly painted pastel orange walls complimented each other well. An entire mirror wall separated the changing room from the showers, with a pair of glass double doors right in the middle. Inside of the shower room were a dozen showers placed next to each other on the left of the room, with more mirrors and sinks lined up on the right.
"This looks straight out of a movie." Layne Abeley, Claire's friend, announced, touching her warm fingers on the surface of her locker. As her hand retracted from the locker, pastel orange replaced the baby blue where her fingerprints were. "That's so cool!" She shouted with excitement.
"Come on Layne!" Claire whispered. They were the only ones left in the locker room aside from two other girls, who were showing each other pictures on their phones.
"I want this car for Christmas..." The brunette girl with low lights said to her friend, a girl with a blonde asymmetrical bob. She swiped her phone to reveal another picture and shoved the phone back in her friend's face, "and this one for my birthday!"
The blonde girl shook her head, "Your dad won't buy you either if you keep failing drug tests."
As the two girls began bickering, Claire shut her locker and pinched the hem of her shorts to pull them down.
"Trying to impress someone?" Layne mocked with googly eyes. She wrapped her arms around her body and pretended to kiss someone. "Oh Cam..." She whispered.
"Layne!" Claire blushed, stabbing her arm with her pointer finger.
Claire had bought her gym shorts from the school website but read in the reviews that the shorts were hideously baggy, so she made sure to order two sizes below her normal to prevent herself from having to wear balloons for the rest of the semester.
Maybe one size down would've been enough, Claire thought to herself. The shorts didn't even reach her knees and were skin-tight, stopping in the mid-thigh area.
A whistle sounded from outside the doors to the locker room. Claire and Layne looked at each other with wide eyes before sprinting into the gymnasium.
The gym teacher, Ms. Rosslyn, blew her whistle again and pointed to the open area of the gym, "Two laps around the gym—lateness is unacceptable!"
Layne muttered something under her breath as Claire pressed her lips together in embarrassment. The two girls began running their first lap together.
Within forty-five seconds, Layne was heaving.
"This is torture," she gasped, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. Claire giggled into her shoulder as she recalled how grateful she was that high school had yet to change Layne.
"Tinker-Bell!"
Claire continued running as she looked to the center of the basketball court where the boys were doing fitness tests and found DJ. She lifted her hand to wave but stopped when she spotted Pierre, who shoved DJ with his forearm when he whistled.
As her eyes widened, she gave a quick wave and kept running before Pierre noticed her, tugging at the bottom of her shorts. If Massie found out she had gym class with Pierre, she would pressure her into agreeing with the plan. Claire only told Massie she would think about it but, in actuality, was stalling in hopes that Massie would devise a different plan. Preferably one where Claire did not have to do any dirty work.
Claire and Layne heard footsteps approaching them quickly from behind and glanced over their shoulders to find Charlie running a lap as well.
"Oh hey," Charlie smiled, somehow not tired from running at all, "let me guess—you were two seconds late from the locker room."
"Yup." Layne answered as Claire nodded.
Charlie slowed her pace to match their speed. "Don't worry about Rosslyn," she thrusted a thumb behind them in the direction of the gym teacher, "she acts tough for the first two weeks, but she doesn't care what we do after that." Charlie added an eye roll as she pinched the hairs that stuck to the perspiration on her neck and released them from her skin.
Layne wiped more sweat from her brow as Claire noticed Charlie's shorts: "We had the same idea!"
Charlie examined Claire's gym shorts and then her own. Both had ordered theirs in smaller sizes.
Charlie let out a chuckle and nodded, "I made the mistake of getting my normal size my freshman year, so you're already one step ahead of me." She winked and took off in front of them, sprinting the rest of her two laps.
Briarwood-Octavian Prep
Girl's Locker Room
Monday September 6th
12:26 PM
Claire removed the plastic shower cap from her head and threw it into the recycle bin as her curtain bangs fell on her face. She separated them with her fingers and finger combed her hair while she stood in front of the mirror wall. From behind, she could see Charlie and Layne laughing to themselves whilst they chatted in front of Layne's locker. Confusion etched into Claire's face as her finger combing slowed.
Was Charlie pretending to be nice, or was she actually nice? Claire was initially surprised by her reaction at the bonfire—she seemed upset that her toast had been interrupted but still invited them to join her as she lit the bonfire, a symbolic moment meant to show the burning of the previous school year's worries and drama. And then, not too long ago, she initiated small talk with Claire and Layne.
Claire thought, at first, that her being nice at the bonfire was just for show—but maybe being around Massie for too long led her to believe that popular girls who were nice always had a hidden agenda or two.
As Charlie and Layne both looked to Claire simultaneously, she immediately began finger-combing her hair again and looked at herself in the mirror—though they had clearly caught her looking already. Within seconds, they were by her side.
"Cute bangs," Charlie complimented. Claire smiled in response and stopped finger-combing her hair.
"Thank y-"
"We're gonna be cheerleaders!" Layne exclaimed, stepping behind Claire and placing both hands on her shoulders before jumping up and down.
Claire chuckled as her brows shot up on her forehead.
"What?" Claire asked.
Charlie nodded and gathered her hair onto one side with her hands before flipping it behind her. "The second round of tryouts for the varsity squad are on Wednesday and Thursday—you should totally come."
Claire was speechless. A popular girl that was nice and liked Layne too? Maybe the semester wasn't going to be so bad after all. She nodded with a big smile, "I'll be there!"
Briarwood-Octavian Prep
Girl's Bathroom
Monday September 6th
12:58 PM
"Gawd where is Alicia!" Massie huffed, rolling her eyes. Massie sent a text during second period to let Alicia, Dylan, and Claire know that they were to meet in the bathroom near the cafeteria by 12:45 PM in order to make their final grand entrance of the day and claim their table before Charlie and her friends got to it first. But lunch had already started, and Alicia was nowhere to be found.
"She's not answering my texts." Dylan announced as she turned her phone around to show Massie her unread text message to Alicia.
Massie huffed again and rolled her shoulders back. "We'll have to go in without her."
"What?" Claire gasped. Normally, a member of the PC was only left behind if they were rated below a seven, which she knew from personal experience. Alicia may have been late, but Claire thought letting her walk into the cafeteria by herself was harsh.
Massie held up a hand as she admired herself quickly in the mirror. "No time to wait—lunch started fifteen minutes ago." She gestured with her index finger for the two girls to follow and led them out of the bathroom. As they approached the entrance to the cafeteria Massie counted them down and they turned the corner sharply, one foot in front of the other as discussed.
"B-line! B-line!" Dylan whispered as loud as she could to Massie when they noticed their table had been occupied.
Like a pro, Massie said nothing and snapped with her left hand. The girls made a sharp left towards the food section of the cafeteria.
"Alicia is so dead." Massie spoke through gritted teeth. Not only was she unfashionably late, but she had also caused them to lose their table by making them wait.
Briarwood-Octavian Prep
Cafeteria - Table 23
Monday September 6th
12:58 PM
Aubrey Stone howled with laughter as she saw the members of the Pretty Committee cut the food section of the cafeteria. "Just like that." She snapped, high-fiving Talia.
Charlie rolled her eyes but held back a smirk. Aubrey had caught Alicia swiping the janitor's keys that morning and gave a friendly tip to Principal Cahn before sending a picture of Alicia waiting in his office, shivering.
"Turning up the AC was the cherry on top." Talia cackled, her water bottle crinkling in the tight grip of her hand.
Nolen slipped the water bottle from her hand and removed the cap to blow air into the bottle, bringing it back to its normal shape before placing it on the table in a ta-da manner. Emilio flicked the bottle and knocked it over.
"Anyways, back to what you were saying," she pointed at her brother, "you said you want to do what?"
Pierre quickly chewed the piece of crab cake in his mouth and swallowed before swiping his tongue across his teeth to ensure no food had been left behind—a habit he had from wearing braces throughout middle school. "I wanna go for QB."
Nolen ducked behind Talia's chair as Emilio leaned forward in his seat, "One or two?"
"Whichever." Pierre shrugged as Emilio snickered in Nathan's direction. In honesty, Pierre wanted to be QB1 but knew if he told the truth someone would try to talk him out of it. Nathan had been QB1 since his freshman year, and the title was a huge accomplishment that made him proud.
Nathan flicked Emilio off before throwing an arm around Charlie, who was now engaged in a conversation with Aubrey and Talia. "Well, if you ever want to get an extra practice in, I'm up for it."
Emilio scoffed. He and Nathan had been best friends since middle school too, and one of his favorite past times was getting a rise out of Nathan, who had, over the years, grown more immune to his playful pestering. "Way to help the competition." He dodged a flying string of asparagus from Nathan.
"Pierre..." DJ mocked in a girly voice as he approached the table with a boy Charlie recognized as Josh. The metal legs of a spare chair scraped the floor as he pulled it from the table and sat. "This is Josh—pretty cool dude, met him in guitar."
"You take guitar?" Talia questioned with a concerned look on her face as if she feared the other students' safety.
"Duh." DJ answered with an eyeroll as Josh and Pierre introduced themselves and became acquaintances. Charlie, Aubrey, and Talia watched Josh as he easily joined the conversation with Nolen, Nathan, and Pierre. Charlie looked at them, then behind them, with a knowing look and a mischievous smile.
Charlie knew that Josh would be instantly accepted-he was practically royalty being Nick's younger brother. She could either let Massie realize who Josh's brother was to the BOP hierarchy and use him, or she could use him herself.
"Claire!" Charlie called. She was currently walking with Massie and Dylan, each holding trays of food. Charlie waved and gestured for her to join their table with her hand.
She watched Claire look to Massie and Dylan with confusion as they egged her to go to Charlie's table, no doubt telling her to play double-agent and get as much information as possible. Within a few seconds, Claire was making her way over.
"Hi." Claire said as confidently as she could, though she was nervous. In OCD she sat with the same four girls every day—but there were nine people sitting at the rectangle table already. Who was she supposed to sit next to? Talk to? Talk about?
"Sit!" Aubrey encouraged with a smile, catching onto Charlie plan. She, and Talia, had asked Charlie what she was going to do over and over, but the only thing she told them was that she 'had it covered.' Aubrey now knew that she was going to befriend Claire and make Massie jealous.
Claire obliged and thought of taking the seat between Emilio and Nolen but decided against it—he was likely saving it for Chantelle. Claire had seen them give lots of PDA at the bonfire on Saturday and assumed, correctly, that they were together. She decided to take a seat in between Pierre and DJ.
"Tinker-Belllll," DJ greeted with a smile after a long sip of his peanut butter protein smoothie. "Nice of you to join us."
Claire rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair with a small smile, "Hi DJ." She wanted to greet Pierre but wasn't sure if she should.
"Ignore him," Talia rolled her eyes at DJ and looked at Claire, "he was born prematurely, so his brain isn't fully developed."
DJ took another sip of his smoothie and stuck his tongue out, the peanut butter drink dripping from his tongue.
"Ew!" Aubrey exclaimed as Emilio and Nathan cackled. Talia grabbed a piece of broccoli from Emilio's plate and launched it on DJ's tongue. It landed, getting stuck in the thick smoothie before being enclosed in DJ's mouth. He chewed it dramatically with his mouth open and swallowed, giving a beauty pageant smile.
Claire covered her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly as Nolen shoved Emilio shoulder, both cackling.
"That's so sick," Josh pretended to gag as DJ mashed more broccoli with his fork and dropped the pieces into his smoothie, stirring it with the straw.
Claire peeked over her shoulder to find Massie and Dylan watching her. They sat at a table with Derrick, Cam, and Plovert. She saw Cam's frown and offered a smile, but his expression never changed. Claire instantly regretted sitting next to Emilio.
Noticing Claire's gaze, Charlie spoke: "Claire's coming to tryouts on Wednesday!" She clasped her hands together as a smile beamed from her lips.
"You dance?" Pierre questioned, surprising Claire. He was the only one to not greet her when she came to the table, granted she did ignore him in gym class.
"It's cheer," Aubrey corrected with sarcasm dripping from her tongue, "not dance."
Claire giggled to herself before nodding to Pierre. She held her hand over the table and maneuvered her fingers as though she was sprinkling salt on her food and shrugged, "I dabble."
Pierre smiled in response as the two began their own conversation.
Briarwood-Octavian Prep
Cafeteria - Table 17
Monday September 6th
1:02 PM
"What's Claire doing over there with him?" Cam asked coldly, stabbing his well-done rib with a fork. He glared at the back of Pierre's head as though he had laser vision. Did she not want to sit with him?
"Getting information." Dylan answered as Massie remained silent. She was too busy watching Claire, and struggling to eavesdrop, to tune into the conversation at hand. Dylan eyed the rib on Cam's plate and pressed her lips together tightly.
Derrick shrugged, "I don't see what the big deal is." He removed the cap to his Evian water bottle and chucked it behind him. "Nothing wrong with new friends."
Massie rolled her eyes and flicked the bottom of Derrick's water bottle causing water to splash up his nose. He coughed and quickly put the bottle on the table, blinking rapidly.
Her initial reaction to seeing Charlie call Claire over to their table was to march over there, scream in her face and pour her Naked smoothie down the back of her shirt. But she digressed, ordered Claire to sit with them and dig up as much dirt as possible. But, by the looks of their constant laughter and smiles, Massie knew Claire was failing her mission. She, again, wondered where Alicia was, knowing the Spanish gossip queen would have ten paged biographies ready by the end of lunch had she sent her over there instead of Claire.
Just then, a somber tone came from the speakers of the PA system.
"Hey BOP," she heard Alicia's voice say. Massie rolled her eyes, of course Alicia landed herself a job on the announcements on the first day of school. If only her goals were as easy to achieve... "I'm Alicia Rivera."
"And I'm Chantelle Jameson, here with your afternoon announcements."
Dylan leaned towards Massie and blocked her mouth with her hand, "At least now we know where Alicia is."
Massie rolled her eyes and sat on her hands to keep from tossing her mandarin oranges in Dylan's red hair. She peered at Charlie's table and noticed Emilio blowing kisses towards the ceiling.
The students listened as the announcements were given: a car parked in the pick-up lane out front that needed to be moved, the social committee's first meeting would be Friday after school, and anyone who wanted to run for SGA needed to be nominated by the end of the school day on Wednesday by at least three people.
Massie turned to Dylan with a big grin on her face.
Dylan froze, her fingers prepared to feed her mouth a dewy baby carrot.
Massie, and almost every student at BOP, knew that SGA was more than just helping the principal decide rules for the school. Whoever was elected student body president remained in the position until they graduated and was deemed the BOP top alpha. Whoever was elected class president for their grade was the alpha for their entire class. "Dyl," She spoke as the announcements continued. Massie had already decided she was going to run for freshman class president—as most of the freshmen class knew her from OCD, she was bound to win. But, at that moment, Massie didn't want to sell herself short. She had already established somewhat of a name for herself amongst the other grade levels at BOP when she crashed the bonfire and made it to bopdaily's Instagram page. If she was going to be the true alpha, ruling one grade level wouldn't be enough.
"I need to win student body president."
Theeee End.
Kind of long, but most of the plot lines have been started! There's a few more that need to be introduced, but after that there will be lotsss of drama! Stay tuned, and leave a review or two!