this chapter is dedicated to haritha, my 100th reviewer!
& as for everyone else, your reviews have been absolutely fantastic. keep 'em coming! :)

Derrick led the group, as usual. Plovert walked beside him, and Kemp and Josh followed right behind them. Cam trailed slightly behind, his nose fixed but his eye still bruised and slightly swollen. Claire sighed. Cam made even black eyes look good.

"Hello, ladies," Derrick greeted the girls, taking a seat on the bench beside Dylan. He reached over with one hand to brush a stray curl out of her face, his finger tips lingering on her cheek and causing her to blush so much that her face matched her hair.

"Hey," Dylan giggled in reply, unable to contain her smile. Their fingers found each other and wove together easily, almost effortlessly.

The rest of the boys stood awkwardly where they were, seeming unsure of how to proceed.

Massie stood up, her infamous amber eyes sliding over each of the boys--Josh, who was looking earnestly in Kristen's direction, ostensibly trying to catch her eye; Kemp, who texting on his phone, presumably with one of the girls whose phone numbers he had snagged at Saturday night's party; and Chris, who was gazing back at her, still wearing that annoyingly hopeful look on his face--before landing on Cam.

"I see your eye is still black," she sneered, hoping to wipe the smug smile off his face, but if anything, her comment just made him smile wider.

"It's a badge of honor," Cam replied calmly. "Today when people ask me how I got it I can tell them I kissed Massie Block." Plovert scowled, and Kemp placed a restraining hand on his arm, shooting a shut-the-eff-up glare at Cam.

"Just make sure when you tell them that story that you don't leave out this part," Massie replied coolly. She walked up to Chris, and, throwing her arms around his neck, kissed him right there in the middle of the courtyard, doing her best to ignore the facts that his lips were slightly chapped and nowhere near as experienced as Cam's and that half the student body was staring at them as they walked by, some even taking out camera phones and snapping pictures as if they were on Gossip Girl and Serena and Dan were back together for the sixth time.

The bell rang and Massie pulled away, her eyes never once leaving Plovert's.

"Walk me to class?" she asked sweetly, and Chris nodded eagerly. The pair departed together, Massie shooting one last contemptuous smirk over her shoulder at Cam.

Cam stood there motionlessly, staring blankly after the retreating couple, before noticing that everyone was watching him, waiting for his reaction.

"I got to get to class," he said shortly, leaving out the same doors Massie and Plovert and just exited from. Claire hurried after him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, falling into step beside him.

"Aside from the fact that the image of Massie kissing him is permanently burned into my brain, sure," he replied with a grimace. Claire decided it would be best to refrain from telling him that the image of him kissing Massie had been haunting her own brain all weekend.

"Look, I know it hurts, but Massie really likes him, so maybe you should--"

Cam laughed derisively, cutting Claire off.

"Massie does NOT like Plovert."

"Right, because Massie kisses boys she doesn't like," Claire replied exasperatedly.

"She kissed me," Cam pointed out.

"You kissed her," Claire corrected.

"Just give me a few days, alright? If Massie's the girl I think she is, she'll realize that Chris Plovert is not the kind of guy who can make her happy."

"And what if she doesn't?" Claire questioned.

"Then she's not the girl I think she is," Cam replied simply. Lifting up his palm in a quick wave goodbye, Cam split off from Claire and walked into his first period chemistry class, leaving her all alone in the now-vacant hallway, hoping against hope that Cam was wrong about Massie Block.

--

After Claire chased after Cam, the rest of the loitering teenagers seemed to realize that the warning bell applied to them, too, and they gathered their things together so they could depart for their various first period classes. Kristen was the first out the door, as she didn't want to be late for her AP American History class.

"Kristen, wait up," Josh called after the blonde, and she stopped and stood patiently waiting for him to catch up. Once the dark-haired, Polo-clad boy fell into step beside her, Kristen turned at smirked at Alicia over her shoulder. Alicia responded by sticking her tongue out.

"Very mature," Kristen mouthed, before turning back around and focusing her attention entirely on the person beside her. "What's up, Josh?"

"You're not mad at me or anything, are you?" he asked earnestly.

"No, of course not. Why would I be?" Kristen lied.

"I dunno, you seemed like you were kind of upset at Massie's party." Josh frowned.

"I think everyone was upset at that party," Kristen joked. Josh gave a small smile.

"So you're not mad about me kissing Alicia?" he probed. By this point they had stopped walking, and were just standing there, facing each other, at the hallway intersection where they would have to eventually go their separate ways.

"No. I mean, it was just a game, right?" Kristen looked at Josh, watching to see if his facial expression would change and give him away.

"Yeah, just a game," Josh echoed, a faraway look in his eyes. Kristen frowned.

"Um, it's too bad that game ended before I got a turn," Kristen said quickly, jerking Josh back to reality.

"Oh no, it's a good thing you didn't get a turn," Josh argued, shaking his head. Kristen's frown deepened.

"I would've hated for you to land on someone else," he clarified, flashing a movie star grin. "See you later," he called, heading off towards his classroom.

"Yeah, later," Kristen echoed, with a grin to match his. Once Josh was out of earshot, her grin melted into a smirk. "Take that, Alicia Rivera."