Okay, so another GIANT thank you to Clatoforeverinmyheart, Samsterhamster118, OdairBear, NewNickyCage, Guest (I know :O), Guest (thank you so much!), and ClovelyLittleReader for being awesome people and reviewing this story!
Summers in the 90210 were unlike any other. While the adults worked their behinds off to maintain their overabundant incomes, their elite offspring spent their days shopping, tanning, and partying. For two months of the year, the children of some of the wealthiest people in the nation had complete freedom to let loose and forget about fulfilling their parents' extreme expectations. From the outside looking in, it was a picture perfect life: no responsibilities, only relaxation and blissfulness. But lying right beneath the surface were secrets and lies intricate and dangerous enough to tear apart even the strongest of bonds.
Saturday, one week until the party.
Clove and Glimmer lounged by the shore lazily, working on their back-to-school tans and planning their next party together. They gossiped incessantly about everything from Kim Kardashian's baby's name to Miley Cyrus' new music video, and a week ago this would have been nothing out of the ordinary for either of the two girls. Now, however, seven days later, Clove was out for Glimmer's blood, and she wasn't letting anything stand in the way of her plan for revenge, not even her deep-rooted hatred for the girl she once called her best friend. If anything, her desire to see her ex-best friend's demise as golden girl of Beverly Hills urged her on even more.
Glimmer was as unsuspecting as ever, sipping on a strawberry martini carelessly. Her body was overly exposed in a designer bikini that was two sizes too small. Clove had to hide her look of distaste every time she so much as glanced at the blonde. It had taken Glimmer's act of betrayal for Clove to see her for what she really was: a murderer.
It took a few days for Clove to remember that none of what they were doing together was real, that it was all just pretend. After a while, she started repeating the same thing in her head every time she laid eyes on Glimmer: She slept with your boyfriend. It was a surprisingly effective method of teaching yourself to hate a person.
Her white iPhone vibrated in her lap, and she glanced at it to see Cato's name flashing across her screen. Brushing the sand off her body as she stood up off her beach towel, Clove walked a considerable distance from Glimmer before accepting the call.
"What do you want?" Clove snapped into the phone, sounding perpetually irritated.
She could practically hear Cato smirking on the other end of the phone, "Peeta told me about your little plan for revenge on Glimmer, and I was calling to warn you. Glimmer is relentless. If she gets wind of this, she will ruin you."
An emotionless laugh escaped from Clove's mouth. "Not if I ruin her first, Cato. I know a lot of secrets about Glimmer, and even more about her family. Unless she wants to spend the rest of her life in a jail cell, she's not going to do a thing to me."
"Clove," Cato said, and she had to resist from rolling her eyes at the concern in his voice. You sleep with a guy one time and all of the sudden he feels compelled to have some kind of responsibility for your wellbeing. "Just…be careful."
Clove let out an audible sigh. "I know what I'm doing."
"I know you do, but-"
"I can take care of myself, alright?" she snapped, annoyed that he was treating her like a child. She had plenty of experience in this department. After all, blackmailing had been her specialty back at boarding school.
"Peeta," Clove yelled as she beat on his front door urgently. "Peeta!"
"What?" he answered the door, raising his eyebrows when he saw the brunette standing on his front porch with her arms folded across her chest.
Pushing past him, she walked into his house without an invitation as she inhaled the scent of freshly baked bread that drifted throughout his house. She made a beeline for the kitchen, unable to resist the cooking of the famous Mr. Mellark.
"Why did you tell Cato about my plan to get revenge on Glimmer?" her voice sounded calm, but Peeta knew that it was just a façade to hide her seething anger. One wrong answer and she wouldn't hesitate to fling the knife she was using to cut the banana bread right through his neck.
"He figured most of it out by himself, actually. I don't know how, considering you won't tell me why you want revenge on Glimmer and Marvel in the first place, but I have my suspicions. All I did was fill in the blanks for him."
Turning to face him, she took a bite out of the bread and sat into her hip, eyeing him dangerously. "Don't tell anyone else."
Peeta raised his hands in mock surrender, "You have my word."
"Peeta," Clove threw her head back in bliss as she chewed on her slice of bread, successfully changing the topic, "I love your dad."
Shaking his head as he let out a laugh, Peeta rolled his eyes. "You love anybody who makes you food."
"Very true," she pointed out, smiling. Peeta stared at the girl standing his kitchen, catching a glimpse of the Clove he used to know. She had always been so laidback and carefree, in the best way possible. It was what made her such a likeable person. But by the time she was leaving for boarding school, her attitude had turned pretty tense and uptight. Her status as Queen Bee only remained in her power because she intimidated people into liking her, and her only real friend through it all had been Glimmer, who she was now planning to ship out of the state.
"Hello? Earth to Peeta!" he snapped back into reality to find Clove waving her hands in front of his face wildly.
"Sorry," he laughed, cracking his knuckles.
"Anyway," Clove started again, "we have much to discuss about this party. First off, we need to get the invitations sent out as soon as possible. I'm thinking we should invite around fifty people, because as I said before, it needs to be very exclusive. I'm thinking maybe thirty people from school and twenty socialites, although I have been wondering if it would be better if we-"
"Clove," he interrupted her, "slow down. Your brain is going to go into overload."
"Can we just forget about this whole revenge plan for one day and relax by the pool?" she groaned, massaging her temples. There was still so much to do, but with so little time. She really shouldn't have procrastinated so much last week.
"Nope," Peeta shook his head stubbornly, "if these invitations aren't mailed out by tomorrow, they won't be received until only a few days before the party, which is unacceptable."
"I don't careee," she whined, throwing a mini temper tantrum in the middle of his kitchen. "I wanna go swim."
An amused expression came across his face, causing her to pout even more. It was unclear to him whether she was actually upset, or just downright delusional. His money was on the latter. After all, she'd been getting little to no sleep the past week, considering her dreams were filled with the haunting images of everything that had gone down only a little over a week ago.
"No more bread until you get started on the invitations," he smirked, and her eyes threatened to pop out of her head. That was flat out unfair.
"But-"
"No buts," he said firmly, and she crossed her arms across her chest defiantly as a miserable expression plastered itself on her face.
Yeah, she was definitely delusional.
Friday night, one day until the party.
Clove, Cato, Glimmer, and Marvel were all crowded into Clove's king-sized bed, tucked in tightly under the blankets as they watched a scary movie. It was just like old times, before Glimmer and Marvel had gone and screwed everything up. This was, to a certain extent, Clove's twisted way of enjoying the last night of the four's friendship, or what remained of it at least. If things went according to plan tomorrow night, Glimmer would be out of the state in forty-eight hours, and Marvel's future as a politician would be nothing but a punch line.
The movie's intricate plot was unveiling itself right before their eyes, and Clove gripped the sheets so tightly that her knuckles started turning white. Marvel wrapped a protective arm around her waist, and she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, partially because she was unable to watch the gruesome scene any longer, but also because something deep inside of her enjoyed the glint of jealousy that appeared in Cato's eyes whenever she got too cozy with Marvel.
A rough hand placed itself on her bare thigh, and she sighed, assuming it was Marvel's. Her brow furrowed, however, when she noted that both of his hands were occupied. Eyes widening, she was a millisecond from swatting Cato's hand away when it moved closer to the inside of her thigh. She inhaled sharply, trying desperately to ignore the tingling sensation that spread itself throughout her veins. She recognized it from the night she lost her virginity to the blonde boy lying next to her: desire.
Her craving for his strong but gentle touch almost overruled her self-control, but she kicked his shin under the covers as a last ditch effort to prevent herself from climbing on top of him right then and now, causing him to wince in pain and remove his hand from her leg. Smirking, she glanced up at Marvel, who was, thankfully, still very focused on the movie. Glimmer, however, shot them a suspicious glance, and Clove couldn't help but notice how her head was resting on Cato's bare chest.
Slut.
Cato smirked at her, and her heart did that little fluttering thing that seemed to be happening every time she was around him lately. She needed to snap out of this. Now.
This was Cato Astoria, for hell's sake, and she was Clove Carlton.
"I need to use the bathroom," she said abruptly, climbing across Marvel so that Cato had a perfect view of her ass. Ever since that night, he had developed a certain fixation with her rear, and only when Marvel eyed him skeptically did Cato tear his eyes away from it. Clove closed the door behind herself as she headed down the hall towards the bathroom, leaving Cato in her bed with a growing desire for more of her. But there was no way in hell that he was making the first move. Maybe if it was Glimmer or Katniss or even fucking Johanna Mason he would use his perfect body to his advantage and give them no choice but to be with him, but Clove was different. How she had managed to worm herself into his icy heart, he had no idea, but one thing was for certain: He was falling for Clove Carlton, and fast.
Saturday morning, day of the party.
The first rays of sunlight peeked through a crack in Clove's curtains, causing her to stir around in her bed. Marvel was snoring lightly next to her, while Glimmer was fast asleep in a white fuzzy chair across the room. Cato was nowhere to be found, so Clove crawled out of bed and tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs to find him perched over the kitchen counter stuffing his face with cereal.
"Morning loser," she greeted him playfully, grabbing a bowl out of the cabinet and pouring some cereal into it.
"Morning bitch," he retorted, grabbing another handful of cereal out of the box. "Sleep well with Marvel last night?"
"Of course," she smirked with a roll of her eyes. "Jealous?"
"Of course," his eyes trailed over her body slowly and he licked his lips, causing her to blush furiously.
"Stop that," she smacked him from across the counter, but the twinkle of mischievousness never left his eyes.
"Stop what?" he asked, his voice low and mock seductive.
Gosh, his flirtatiousness was repulsive.
"You know what," she laughed, but her heartbeat sped up when he walked around the island counter so that he was standing right beside her.
"No," he whispered in her ear, and the hotness of his breath on her neck sent goose bumps down her spine. "I don't think I do."
Shifting his body so that she was pinned against the counter, he rested his arms on her hips as they stared into each other's eyes. "Someone might see us," she protested weakly as he moved in towards her painfully slowly.
"Let them," he whispered right before his lips made contact with hers. She let her eyes drift closed as the kiss deepened in the middle of her kitchen, in plain sight of anyone who might come walking through. At this point, however, she didn't even care. All she wanted was him.
Never breaking the kiss, he wrapped his hands around her rear and lifted her up onto the kitchen counter swiftly. She moaned into the kiss, wrapping her legs tightly around his torso. Both of them knew what the repercussions of this would be, but neither of them did anything to stop it. All of the meaningless flirting and playful bickering was coming to a head, and Glimmer and Marvel were only one story up.
They were busy fighting for dominance when a shrill ring filled the air, causing Clove to have a mini heart attack. "Jesus!"
She grabbed her cell phone off the counter and accepted the call before resting her chin on Cato's shoulder. "Hello?" her voice was shaky, as she was still unhinged from what had just been happening between her and Cato.
"Hey, Clove." It was Annie.
"What's up?" her voice was tight as Cato trailed gentle kisses down her neck. He really had no idea what he did to her.
"I just…umm. I really need talk to you."
Cato nibbled on her collarbone seductively, and before she could stop herself, she hissed through clenched teeth, "Mmmmm."
"What?" Annie asked, confused.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, um sure, I'll stop by in a few hours. I gotta go though. Love you Ann! Bye!" the words flew out of her mouth, and she hung up the phone quickly and tossed it onto the counter before kissing Cato hard, unable to postpone her desire for him any longer.
Closing the door of her Mercedes, Clove headed up to the Astoria's front door, purse slung over her shoulder as the summer breeze blew through her knotty brown hair. Her party was starting in less than three hours, but here she was at Cato's house, nowhere near prepared. Ringing the doorbell, Cato answered the door and the butterflies in her stomach made a reappearance on impulse.
"Hey babe," he greeted, but she pushed past him.
"There's no time for that now," she said. "Where's Annie?"
"In her room."
Clove nodded and took off up the grand staircase without another word. She needed to get in and out of here as soon as possible if she wanted to be even remotely on time for this party. Walking into Annie's room without an invitation, she found the redhead lying on her bed playing on her phone.
"Clove!" Annie smiled, sitting up on the bed. "Come sit down."
Clove plopped onto the bed before glancing at Annie expectantly.
Inhaling deeply, Annie started, "Look, I know what happened between you and Cato two weeks ago."
Clove's heart sunk, and choosing her words very carefully, she said, "Did Cato tell you-"
"No," Annie interrupted her with a shake of her head. "I heard you guys talking about it the morning after, so I know what happened between you and Marvel, too. And if I know you as well as I think I know you, you wouldn't just forgive him like that. You'd at least make him work his ass off to get you back, but since that didn't happen, I can only assume that you've got something horrible planned for him and Glimmer at that party tonight."
Well, shit. The girl was smart; she had to give her that.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Clove swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Please, Clove," Annie started, shaking her head disappointedly, "please don't play dumb."
Clove sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. A gasp escaped from Annie's mouth, followed by a giggle. "Oh my gosh," she laughed, half astonished and half amused. "Did my brother do that to you?"
"What?" a puzzled Clove said. Annie pointed to the brunette's collarbone, and Clove didn't even have to look down to know what was there. "He didn't…"
Annie laughed, nodding, "He did."
"I am going to kill him!" she screeched, only causing Annie to erupt into a fit of giggles. Sure enough, there was a giant hickey at the base of her neck, and she couldn't even imagine how much make-up she was going to need to cover it up.
"Seriously though," Annie said, trying her best to calm her laughing. "I really think you should reconsider whatever you're planning to do to Glimmer and Marvel. Regardless of how much they've hurt you, revenge is not going to make you feel any better."
"Annie…" Clove started, at a loss for words. She knew deep in her gut that the kid was right, but she'd put too much effort into planning this damn party. No way in hell was she throwing all of that away now.
"I mean it, Clove. I don't care what you say. Glimmer is still your best friend, and Marvel loves you."
"I know!" she snapped, but her anger was replaced by a sudden sadness. "Goddamnit, I know. That's why it hurts. He could have had anyone, but he picked her!"
Sniffling, Clove squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry.
"Clove…" Annie crawled across the bed and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry."
"Annie," she looked up at her friend dejectedly. "I can't do it. I can't hurt them like that, no matter what they've done to me. I hate them so much. I hate them for doing this to me, for turning me into this. And I hate them because they've hurt me so damn much yet I can't bring myself to stop loving them."
"I'm so proud of you, you know?" Annie's voice was gentle, and she smiled at Clove sweetly.
Standing up from the bed, Clove wiped away a tear and sighed. "I really should go. I've got a party to host, after all."
Annie stood up and hugged her tightly. "Bye."
"You're coming, right?"
"Wouldn't miss it."
She started to walk out, but turned around one more time. "Annie?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," she smiled genuinely.
"Anytime."
And then she left.
Oooh! So this chapter is the longest one so far, if you were wondering :P By the way, I'm very very sorry that it took me so long to update. These past few weeks have been some of the most stressful weeks of my life, and to top it all off, my group of friends got into this gigantic fight that is nowhere near being resolved. But that's enough about me, what did you guys think of this chapter?
I'm hoping to explore Clove's relationship with some of the other characters beside Cato, Glimmer, and Marvel in the upcoming chapters, as well as give some more insight into what exactly happened at boarding school. Pleaseeee review and let me know what you think of this so far!
~xoxo~