The first few chapters will be a sort of prologue. Let's call them the Tween Years. Oh, and I originally wrote this as a sequel to Letters to Juliet, but decided I liked it better as a Clique story and tweaked the plot quite a bit.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Clique or any of the charcters. Those all belong to Lisi Harrison. *sigh*
The airport was filled with its usual chatter, but the small party of three waiting by an arrival gate was oblivious to all of it. They only had eyes for the girl who had just stepped out, lugging with some difficulty a large bag.
Mr. Harrington waved gaily and called out, "Over here, Massie!" She turned and met them with a cordial smile.
"Mr. Harrington," she greeted. "Mrs. Harrington." Her British accent was clear and crisp, and she held her hand out for them to shake in the same fashion.
"Massie, this is our son, Derrick. I think he's about your age," Mrs. Harrington smiled, nodding toward her son.
"Hello," Massie said cordially, but he only nodded in response. Not to be daunted by this unwelcome gesture, she turned back to his mother.
"My mother and father send their best to you, and express their regret for not being here as well. They simply are too busy for their own good, you know. But they promised to be here in the spring."
Mrs. Harrington replied warmly, "In the meantime, I think you'll have a great time here with us. Have you given any thought to school?" Massie let Mr. Harrington take her suitcase as the four proceeded to baggage claim.
"I think it would be a great experience, and frankly my parents agree. And so, if you don't mind," she added bashfully, "I'd love to go."
"Wonderful! Derrick can walk with you, of course," Mr. Harrington beamed. Derrick glared daggers, but by this time he had faded to the back of the group and was fairly ignored.
Massie blushed, "Oh, thank you."
They climbed into the silver Accord, Mrs. And Mr. Harrington in the front and the two younger ones in the back.
"Do you enjoy school?" Massie asked Derrick as the adults in front of them chatted away. She was trying to start a conversation, but so far no luck.
"Why do you talk like that?" he asked abruptly, ignoring her question.
"Like what?"
"Like… all old- fashioned. It's weird, no offense." Massie took time to reply, trying not to show how extremely miffed she was.
"I'm in love with the classics. Like, Jane Austen and stuff. Is that so weird?"
He chose not to comment, effectively ending the conversation and leaving Massie with the impression that he was extremely rude.
"So how is your mom?" Mr. Harrington asked after a few moments of silence.
"Good. She's finishing up her book and then she'll show it to the editor in the spring."
Mrs. Harrington sighed in admiration, "She does have that magic touch with a pen. And to think when I met her she was contented with being a lawyer!" Mr. Harrington laughed and patted her hand.
"I also remember she was in a bad engagement. And at that time she thought herself perfectly happy."
Massie smiled as they reminisced, glancing at Derrick. He was tall, with shaggy blonde hair like his father, and with blue eyes like his mother. She might like him if he weren't so rude, she sighed to herself.
Hearing her sigh, Derrick glanced at Massie. She had auburn hair that neither of her parents could claim as their doing, and amber eyes. She wasn't tall, and she wasn't fat, but she wasn't exactly short or skinny. He guessed she was about an inch lower than him. He might've liked her if she had the sense to act more normally.
The first day of school Massie woke up two hours early. Of course, there had already been one week of school, so Massie couldn't just blend in. But she planned to be more 'normal', as Derrick mentioned.
When Derrick dragged himself out of his bed, he couldn't be more surprised. Coming out of the bathroom was a completely different Massie.
She was wearing light eye shadow and eyeliner, mascara, and her hair was down. She wore a loose t-shirt with a black bow pictured on it, and jean shorts underneath. This definitely wasn't the same girl that had stepped into his life with a buttoned up cardigan tied around her shoulders.
"The bathroom is all yours," she declared as he passed her. She was smiling with excitement and she carefully loaded her supplies into her purse- like book bag. She laughed over Derrick's expression. He thought she dressed in the past all the time. Well, he couldn't be more wrong.
As they walked to school, Derrick stared at her reproachfully.
"You look really different today."
"I can't go dressing like an uptight old lady all the time, Derrick," she laughed. He turned away from her, shaking his head.
They hadn't agreed on being friends, but they talked nicely on the way to school. Massie was glad, for it played down this jittery butterflies wrecking havoc on her insides.
When they got to the school a group of guys were waiting for Derrick. They all stared at Massie, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Um, I'll see you later," she said, but he was too busy to reply. She walked past them as quickly as possible and settled on the steps. Well, at least that was over.
"Are you new?"She had spoken too soon. One of the boys had followed her over and was standing in front of her.
"Yes," she replied, standing. "Nice to meet you. My name is Massie Block."
He gave her a look with raised eyebrows. "I'm Cam. What's your first class?"
"Uh…" she fished out her paper. "First period is English with Mr. Myner."
"Cool," he said. "Let's go."
"I can't, I…" What could she say? He was watching her with an expectant expression; he knew she had no one to wait for.
"I just figured that, you know, since you're new you might need some help getting around," Cam shrugged, smiling nervously.
"Oh, thank you," Massie said graciously. "But, no thank you. I think I can get there in time."
Cam looked surprised, but nodded anyway.
"Well then, see you around?"
"Okay, and thank you anyway!" she called as he went back to Derrick and their friends, shaking his head.
She found the room with five minutes to spare, but even then there were only two girls in the classroom.
The nearest one, a redhead, looked up and smiled.
"You're Massie Block, right?"
"Yes… and you are?"
"Dylan Marvil, and this is Kristen."
Kristen stood up, revealing a loose t- shirt, basketball shorts, and sneakers.
"Hey, we've heard all about you!"
"Uh," Massie raised an eyebrow. "Thank you?"
Dylan laughed. "Westchester gossip travels fast. We heard that you were coming to live with the Harringtons from abroad. Where are you from?"
"London, where I lived with my mother and father."
"Oh, so that's why you have a British accent. It's really cool," Kristen smiled.
"Thank you."
"So," Kristen started as she glanced at the clock. "How do you like it here?"
"Well, I've only been here for a day so I can't really say."
"BOCD is great," Dylan gushed, "I love it here."
"I used to attend The London Junior Academy for Girls," she said. "It was private as my parents don't like the idea of public school."
"Well," Dylan said turning to face the front as the bell rang. "This place is as private as it gets."
"Settle down!" A man who Massie could only assume as Mr. Myner was standing at the front. "Copy down the agenda."
He caught sight of Massie looking around and beckoned her to the front.
"Hello, miss. You are the new student." He left no room for Massie to respond. "My name is Mr. Myner."
Massie didn't know how to respond, so she smiled. "And my name is Massie."
"Hm, then, very well, May-ssie. Back to your seat." She started to turn but then stopped herself. He had mispronounced her name.
"Actually," she started, causing him to look up. "It's Massie, like sassy, see?"
Mr. Myner actually looked like he might roll his eyes, but instead he just nodded and gestured towards her seat. "Massie."
"Massie Block," she added. He squinted, trying to decide whether to yell at her or not, but then realized he had nothing to yell at her for. He sighed.
The end of the day came slowly in Massie's opinion. Even though Dylan and Kristen had been great friends, she still missed her parents and her old friends.
She sighed when she saw Derrick waiting for her. He was leaning against a tree, talking with Cam.
"You're here," he said bluntly as she approached them. Cam greeted her with an easy hey.
"Are you going to Skye's party next Friday, Massie?" He asked, causing Derrick to roll his eyes.
"I don't know yet," she said slowly. "Dylan offered to take me but… well, are you going?"
"Yeah, and you should come."
"Alright," Massie smiled.
Derrick groaned. "Let's go already!"
She laughed and waved goodbye to Cam
"See you, dude." Cam nodded and stared after them.
what do you think? I know the characters are pretty OOC, but bear with me, okay? If you didn't notice, I like to skip a lot... sorry if that sort of thing annoys you. :) So, even if you absolutely hated it and your eyes are burning from the torture of reading it, or you don't feel like sgning in or prefer to remain anonymous, reviews are great!