Chapter 4
Flight 877 to London (2:30 pm)
Felicia adjusted the large earphones on her head and repositioned the small flat-screen plasma television in front of her. There was a glare from the window and she reached over and pulled down the screen. She had been sitting on the plane for three hours now and was in the middle of her second movie. She felt a light tap on her shoulder and quickly turned around.
"Miss? What would you like to eat for lunch?" The stewardess asked, holding out a menu.
Felicia hurriedly took off her headphones and grabbed the pamphlet. She flipped through the pages and finally decided on a meal.
"Could I have the smoked salmon and a glass of orange soda?"
"Of course," said the flight attendant, smiling sweetly, "Your meal will be here shortly."
Felicia replaced her headphones and leaned back in the leather seat. She loved being on airplanes—but that was because she always traveled first class. She imagined sitting for 14 hours in a cramped fabric chair, with horrible food, no leg room, and having to share a television monitor with all the people in your section of the plane. Wouldn't your neck cramp looking up at that tiny TV? She shuddered and pulled on a lever that transformed her luxurious leather seat into an even more luxurious reclining day bed. She reached over the side of the bed and pulled out a navy blue cashmere blanket and a fluffy pillow from the small cabinet next to her seat. She placed the pillow at one end of the bed and settled down for a quick nap before her lunch arrived.
The Hawkins Manor (3:15pm)
The doorbell rang and Tanner looked up from the box he was unpacking. His oversized room was finally looking a little more like home. He ran down the curving staircase that led to the entry hall and pressed the series of numbers that was the first part of unlocking the front door. He then undid the physical deadbolt on the heavy mahogany door and pulled it open.
"Hey! What's up?"
Tanner stared blankly at the tall and lanky guy with brown hair and blue eyes who was standing on his doorstep.
"Hello," Tanner said tentatively in his heavy British accent, "Do I know you?"
"Oh yeah, right. I'm Peter. Remember?"
"Oh! Yes! Hi! How are you!" Tanner said, opening his door wide and ushering his guest in. Peter Jennings was the boy who was assigned to write emails to Tanner in the months before his move to New York so that Tanner wouldn't feel too out of the loop when he transferred into Lorreline Academy. They ended up becoming friends, but Tanner had never actually met Peter.
"Yeah I'm good. How was the flight?" Peter said, trailing after Tanner as he led the way to his room.
"Long, boring, tiring," Tanner replied.
They reached the top of the elegant staircase and Tanner pulled open the door to his room. The walls were painted twilight blue and he had marble tiles covering the wide expanse of floor. His bed by the window was already set up with sheets and pillows, but the rest of his room was crowded with half-opened boxes.
"So I heard you've already met Clarissa Mason?" Peter said, sitting down on the bed. "How'd you like her?"
Tanner closed his eyes and tried to remember who Clarissa was.
"Oh yeah, she came by my house this morning. She lives right next door to me right?"
Peter laughed. "If you can call that acre of perfect landscaping between your mansion and her's 'next door', then yes, she's your next door neighbor."
"Umm, she's alright. Not really my type though. I still like California girls."
Peter's eyes widened, "She's not your type? She's every guy's type!! She's fricken gorgeous! And besides, you aren't in California anymore. You've got to love the chic model thing that New York girls have."
Tanner shook his head, his blond locks swishing across his face. "Nah. I'm more into the whole beachy chick sort of thing."
His friend's feature lit up. "I know just the girl for you, man. She is exactly what you are talking about. 'Beachy chick!' I think she actually used to live in Cali too! You have a laptop right?"
Tanner got up and went to one of the boxes labeled "Electronics." He took out a white laptop and brought it to Peter. Peter quickly found a picture of the reigning clique of Lorreline Academy online on someone's Myspace. Clarissa, Sage, Felicia, and Kelly were sitting on a brick wall laughing for the camera.
"OK. These are the four hottest girls at Lorreline Academy. They are 'The Clique'. Oh you can laugh at that now," Peter said, seeing the smile on Tanner's face at the ridiculous name, "but every guy on campus would pay thousands to date one of them. That's Clarissa, your neighbor. Most of the guys agree that she is the hottest. I've had a crush on her since 5th grade. This is Felicia. She's super smart but really pretty too. I think she's the nicest of all of them. That's Sage. She's Clarissa's best friend. Right hand man or whatever you want to call her. And this, Tanner, is Kelly. She's who I was telling you about. Moved here from California last year. Was picked up by the Clique on her second day." Peter stopped at the shocked look on Tanner's face. "You ok, Tanner?"
"Kelly Lonwood?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah…how'd you know?"
"I…we…I love her!"