Olivia Ryan: cheerleading tryouts after school u going?
Massie Block: wouldnt miss it
More often than not, Olivia Ryan's name was associated with the words "ditzy" and "airhead", liked to talk about her apparent addiction to getting plastic surgery, and sometimes if people were bored enough with their own mundane lives they even tossed around calling her a slut—even though she only ever slept with two people. They've been talking about her since she was twelve—gossiped about her for everything under the sun, couldn't even be bothered to fact check all the rumors that swirled around about her. If those same people actually took the time to get to know her, they'd quickly realize the stereotypical dumb blonde act was just that: an act. None of her classmates bothered with her unless it was to talk shit, or be cruel to her in the hallways at the behest of Alicia or Dylan. Because why would anyone care that she has a 4.0 GPA and has been battling with Kristen Gregory to be the top of her class for two and a half years, or how she plans to go to MIT next fall? It was quite simple, really—nobody would believe it. And honestly? She liked it that way. She chooses to let them think the worst of her, because none of those people will matter once she graduates, and life in Westchester County would only be a thing of the past. By also portraying that ditzy girl, nobody pays attention to her, not really—it gives her the ability to eavesdrop, to be invisible when necessary, because they aren't concerned about the girl.
What's that saying?
It'll go in one ear and out the other . . . they whisper-laugh if they happen to notice her in their peripheral vision. Brushing her off so easily, they think she's lost in her own world, too busy trying to remember her locker combination or so absorbed in the funny videos on TikTok, or something equally as ignorant, to be able to hear or even remember what's being said.
They couldn't be more wrong.
.
Olivia sits on the blue gym mat with her legs spread out into a wide V, gracefully leaning forward to touch her toes, wrapping her fingers around the top of the white sneaker and stretch out her limbs, before switching to her next foot. She has no interest on actually joining the cheerleading team, has only shown up to every single tryout to piss certain people off, and now has every intention of helping Massie take down the Pretty Committee. She watches as the cheerleaders prance out of the locker rooms, with Alicia in the center of the it all, looking radiant even with a bandaged nose and slight swelling still in her face—now that Skye Hamilton graduated, the 'crown' was passed down to the Latina in all sorts of ways: alpha of their school, automatic homecoming and prom queen candidate, captain of the cheerleading team, et cetera. She may not be the best at being an "alpha" but she (unfortunately) rightfully earned her position as "head bitch in charge" of the squad—and it was because they didn't like Olivia that she never made it onto the team despite being the next best dancer at Rosehill, something that should have given her a leg up on the competition but actually made her pose as a threat. Eye roll.
An sharp jab at her ribs snaps Olivia out of her revere, and she turns head head—Massie Block had plopped down next to her, it had been her elbow to poke at her side, and the brunette looked as immaculate as ever, despite not wearing any makeup. Her glossy brown hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, she had swapped her school clothes for a gray Calvin Klein sports bra and black Adidas leggings, and still Olivia thought Massie looked ready to take on the world. Or, rather, the Pretty Committee, for that matter.
"Hey," the blonde greeted, "Alicia is the de-facto leader when it comes to who gets on the squad, but if you're good enough you could probably get her outvoted. Hasn't happened before but,"
"Should I also have to worry about the fact that everyone thinks I'm a psycho?" Massie raised an eyebrow.
There was a slight hesitation before Olivia reluctantly answered, "Probably."
.
If there's one thing Alicia Rivera cares about, it's being captain of the cheerleading team—she bases her worth by two things: the activities she gets herself involved in, and the amount of people she's surrounded by. The words stared up at her, hastily scrawled on a piece of paper ripped out of Olivia's notebook, discreetly handed to her once cheerleading tryouts were wrapping up. To put it simply, the perfect way to dismantle Alicia's so-called empire, she would need to start with infiltrating the cheerleading squad as a way to get an "in" with the girls she loosely called her friends to be able to rebrand herself and eventually outgrow the "psycho" label so the real plan could be put into motion. Massie knew she'd been amazing, had thanked every deity that her father had signed her up for gymnastics as a kid for her to retain the ability to execute the cheer flawlessly, and it was the look of raw hatred that mingled with envy in Alicia's eyes at the very end that told her it was going to be a real fight to keep Massie off the team. The brunette was also awed by Olivia's performance, she had natural talent and charisma, and it made her wonder that—based off what Olivia had told her—if now that Skye Hamilton was gone maybe Olivia could actually have a shot at joining the cheerleading squad, even though the blonde was adamant that she really wanted no part of being a stupid cheerleader. Massie hoped she'd be able to sway the vote if it came down to it, because no way would she be able to handle such close proximity to Alicia without strangling her without a buffer.
As she started gathering her things, it crossed Massie's mind to maybe have pulled a scene right out of Riverdale, to be the Veronica to Olivia's Betty and kiss her in front of everyone, but she wasn't that type of person. And honestly that was a little cringe to begin with to even watch on television. But the rising volume of the cheerleader's tight-knit group as they talked about each of the girls who'd tried out told Massie it really wouldn't have been necessary. She could even hear her own name being thrown around a few times.
"Block!" Alicia's irritated voice rang out above the chatter as the girls who tried out were all making their way out of the gymnasium.
Massie snagged Olivia by the elbow at the sound of her name, causing the blonde girl to stumble in her tracks, as the two of them whirled around to face the raven-haired beauty. "Yeah?" She asked innocently, already having an inkling of what the other girl was going to say.
And then, painstakingly so, Alicia grit between her teeth, "You're on the team."
Massie opened her mouth, receiving an elbow in the side from Olivia, who already seemed to know what her new friend was about to counter with. But Alicia barreled on, looking physically ill by this point.
"You too, Ryan."
.
Isaac had been given the night off, thanks to Massie giving the heads up she'd be staying after school to tryout for the cheerleading squad and even though there were no concrete plans she had insisted that a friend would be giving her a ride. Unfortunately Olivia didn't drive yet, and both her parents were working late—her older brother Andy was away at college, also putting him out of the equation—which left both of them without a way home, so the two girls decided it would be best to walk since they had no other viable options; they both lived in the same direction, according to Olivia, when Massie mentioned what neighborhood she lived in.
They were roughly three and a half blocks away from the school when Massie decided to remove her high-heeled boots, surprised she even made it that far in them, and carefully treaded in her socks along the sidewalk with her shoes poking out of her bag—Olivia was smart, she hadn't bothered swapping her sneakers from the tryouts.
"You're brave to be walking home with no shoes on," Olivia pointed out, giggling. "You have no idea what's touched these sidewalks."
"Better than the alternative," Massie shrugged with a grin, though not entirely convinced.
There was mindless, simple and mundane chatter between the two of them as they continued on—sometimes Olivia would bring something up about the other girl's plans for Alicia and Dylan, but Massie could tell that something was weighing down on her friend's shoulders (and mind).
She decided to wait, to see if Olivia's demeanor changed, but by the time they were around the corner from the Block Estate her friend remained the same.
"Liv, what's wrong?" Massie frowned.
"It's nothing," The blonde sighed, tucking a stray strand of hair that had freed itself from her ponytail behind her ear. "All of this just has me thinking, is all."
"Do you want to hang out?" Massie blurted out next, "We can do homework and watch TV and even make mimosas or something, my dad's cool, he probably won't care—if he's even home," she added with an eyeroll, pursing her lips together slightly before licking them. Olivia looked like she really needed somebody to talk to, and something tickled at the back of Massie's mind, alerting her as to just exactly it could be about—it made her want to comfort her friend, show Olivia that she could confide in her wholeheartedly and not fear her secrets being leaked to the entire school, that she won't pull an Alicia.
Olivia's blue eyes were big and earnest, though taken a little by surprise, as she looked at Massie. She was hesitating, mulling it over, wondering if it was some kind of trick or if Massie really was concerned for her—which she was. She was thinking about her friendship with Alicia back in eighth grade, how quickly things had gone sour and spun wildly out of control, and then thought about what Massie was dealing with—the whole thing with Derrick, the fight in the gym with Alicia and Dylan, those girls' parents wanting retribution, the entire school thinking she's a psycho because they twisted the story to benefit them. Her plan for revenge. This was also Olivia's opportunity to get to know Massie a little better, considering she knew next to nothing about her friend's life prior to coming to New York.
"Yeah," the other girl finally answered, with the hint of a smile. "I'd like that."
"Cool," Massie grinned.
Massie led the way up the long U-shaped gravel driveway, her father's Mercedes nowhere in sight—which meant he either wasn't home yet or he decided to park it in the four-car garage with the Range Rover. The two girls were silent as they shuffled up the stone steps, the only sound ringing between them being the clanging of Massie's keychain as she unlocked the front door and pushed it open, sweeping her arm out in a dramatic gesture for Olivia to enter, and dropping her keys in the bowl on the end table as she's been doing every day when she comes home.
Inez peaked her head out of the kitchen, smiling warmly when she saw that Massie had brought a friend with her. "Dinner is almost ready, do you like London Broil?" Her question was directed to Olivia.
"I... uh, yeah, I do," Olivia giggled softly, a little awkwardly.
"We're gonna do our homework upstairs, Inez," Massie informed the housekeeper, gesturing for Olivia to follow her to the grand staircase and straight up to the second floor; the door to her bedroom being at the very end of the hall. "Sorry about the mess," she said as an afterthought, remembering that she hadn't really gotten around to unpacking and putting away the rest of her stuff despite having actually been in town for close to a month now, as she nudged open her door and flicked on the light—Olivia noticed that it was one of those fancy-looking crystal chandeliers brightening up the room and immediately had to do a double take because, what?
"No worries," Olivia said instantly, her blue eyes roaming around—she was quite surprised, to be honest. She hadn't been entirely sure what to expect, considering she didn't really know Massie all that well to get a good grasp on her style and 'aesthetic' like most of the girls at Rosehill branded themselves with. Massie's bedroom had white walls painted to look like bricks, the floor was dark like cherry wood with a lavender-and-coral shag rug covering 50% of the space, a white marble coffee table sat dead center, nothing on it but an empty wine bottle that had dried out flowers protruding from the mouth—there was a four-poster King size bed, a black marble desk pushed up against the far wall cluttered with a silver MacBook Air surrounded by her textbooks and random papers, a white-and-black leather ottoman, flat screen TV, and at least seven cardboard boxes overflowing with her belongings. The doors to her walk-in closet were yanked open, a few articles of clothing spilling out on the floor. There was a bay window overlooking the expansive backyard, a couple pillows were thrown onto the nook and (adding to Olivia's surprise) a black-and-orange fleece blanket decorated with pumpkins was splayed out with an overturned book sticking halfway out from underneath. Her marble night stand housed a tiny intercom box, a small collection of jewelry and hair accessories, and a lavender-vanilla scented candle. She wasn't kidding about the mess, all sorts of random things strewn around carelessly on almost every surface.
"Once I get everything cleaned up and put away, I want to put up fairy lights and shit, you know?" Massie started, dropping her bag unceremoniously onto the floor next to the ottoman, where it tipped over, causing everything to spill out onto the shag rug.
"Your room is still pretty cool," Olivia insisted, kind of feeling a little overwhelmed by Massie's bedroom, though she wasn't entirely sure why, as she knelt down on the floor by the coffee table and started unpacking her homework for U.S. History, Calculus, and Biology—all of which were AP classes.
Massie bent down, snatching up some of the fallen items from the floor and began piling them onto the coffee table across from Olivia. She started working on her French homework after hooking up her iPhone to the thin silver Bluetooth Speakers that were wired to the four corners of Massie's bedroom, and the opening lyrics to Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do filled the silence.
They were busy for a solid ten minutes before the chorus to 'New Rules' by Dua Lipa was being interrupted by the sound of Olivia awkwardly clearing her throat, and Massie peaked at her friend through the tips of her lashes, softly nipping at the corner of her lower lip as Olivia sat up straight, untying her flaxen hair from its ponytail and letting it fall around her face in loose waves, kind of scrunched up at the crown of her head from the elastic. "I don't know if you know this, but, Alicia and I used to be friends." Her voice was soft, which had Massie pressing 'pause' on the song so she could hear her.
"Yeah, I heard," She nodded, straightening out of own posture so she look at Olivia head-on—Massie knew that Olivia wanted to give her the opening to start this conversation, it had to be what's been bothering her since they left school. "Do you mind if I asked what happened?"
"Well, I'm not really sure where things went wrong because she just . . . I don't know, decided I wasn't cool enough? We'd always gone to school together but we never really clicked until seventh grade. I'd missed out on nearly the first two months of school because I had a really awful surfing accident at the end of summer vacation while in California, I'd broken my nose so badly that I needed plastic surgery, and was incredibly embarrassed about it so I just told everyone I had mono. We became fast friends at Skye Hamilton's Halloween party and were pretty much inseparable, the boys called us 'The Twenty' because they thought we were both 10's and you'd almost never see one of us without the other."
Massie didn't feel the need to point out that Olivia wasn't really getting to the point, seemed to ramble a little on the topic, but chose to just let the girl explain the origin of her friendship with Alicia Rivera.
"I should probably mention that Alicia didn't have a clique back then, it was just her and Dylan. But Alicia seemed to want to spend more time with me than she did Dylan, sometimes she tried to group the three of us together, and Dylan was extremely open about the fact that she did not like me, like, at all. Purposely went out of her way to make me miserable, to taunt and embarrass me. It caused a lot of conflict between the two of them, I guess, because they stopped being friends so I saw Alicia a lot, we got really close and she introduced me to some of the soccer boys, I even helped her when it came to trying to get Josh Hotz's attention because for a while he seemed to have a thing for Claire and if it weren't for me they probably never would've ended up together. We were best friends for all of seventh and eighth grade, did absolutely everything together, we spent almost our entire summers together, and out of nowhere the month before ninth grade started up Alicia decided to bring Dylan with her to Spain for three weeks, which was so random and made no sense because they literally didn't speak for over a year.
Massie quirked an eyebrow, her interest piqued even more. It wasn't just random, it was weird.
"So while she's in Spain with Dylan, I'm hanging out with Strawberry and Kori, right? And the soccer boys are skating the ramp that used to be in front of my house because they were friends with my older brother—turns out they'd been at my house pretty much every day, and I had no idea because I spent all my time out with Alicia—so I start to get to know Cam Fisher a little and I develop this small crush on him because I'd heard him and Claire Lyons broke up at the end of the year, but he only liked me as a friend, but Derrick immediately swoops in and—"
"Uh, Olivia," Massie interrupted, "You're kind of all over the place, a little bit."
"Oh, sorry," the blonde blushed. "Right. Um, anyway, me and Derrick hooked up at his family's end of summer party, and I thought maybe he'd be my boyfriend or something, because I was stupid and naïve to think losing my virginity at fourteen to Derrick Harrington meant we'd be together forever," —she rolled her eyes, making a little face that Massie couldn't quite describe— "but he pretty much never spoke to me again after that, and when school started up again, probably two weeks into the year him and Dylan started dating, and her and Alicia weren't talking again, but this time Alicia was also being really weird with me, but we were still friends, but now she was spending more time with Josh now that they were officially official so I figured since she'd be busy that I'd hang out with Strawberry and Kori."
Officially official? What did that even mean? Massie knit her eyebrows together, for some reason choosing to be stuck on that, as Olivia plowed on with the story. She made a side note to find out more about this, filing it away for the future, because right now they were focusing on the blonde girl.
"So, I also want to point out that I never told Alicia about me and Derrick, it happened while she was still in Spain and she never answered any of my texts so I ended up telling Strawberry and Kori instead." She swallowed hard, tucking and untucking her hair from behind her ear, almost nervously. "And I guess Derrick told Josh about it, and I think that's why Alicia started acting weird, I never got the full details about it but it sounded like Derrick exaggerated the hell out of it, and I don't know how things spun so wildly out of control, but by the end of September Alicia was announcing to the entire school that I was pregnant with Derrick's baby. I don't even know what I did to spur this on?" Her head was vehemently shaking back and forth, her voice crackling. "Don't get me started on all the rumors that went around," She let out a humorless laugh, steadying herself, let out a deep breath.
"Wow," was all Massie could even think of saying. She was stunned. Could Derrick have played a part in Olivia's downfall, with the way he told his tale of getting Olivia to sleep with him, prompting the story of her pregnancy and the rumors that followed, the same way he'd leaked out that video of him and Massie in the backseat of his car?
"Needless to say, we weren't friends after that. She didn't bother talking to me, ignored my phone calls and texts to try to understand what the hell happened, went out of her way to avoid me at school. She even joined in on Dylan's incessant bullying. She just decided one day that I was an inconvenience, or something. A bug or gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe. I wasn't cool enough to be her friend anymore because I, what, slept with Derrick? When Dylan goes and does the same exact thing? If that's even what made her stop being my friend. Suddenly I was beneath her, or whatever," She snorted, rolling her eyes, but there was a hint of sadness to it, tried to make it seem like she didn't care by adding that little nonchalance at the end. "And then, halfway through the school year, we get a new student and within a matter of hours Kristen Gregory has magically become the third member to the Pretty Committee."
Massie stared at Olivia, a mixture of feelings rippling through her, her heart pounding so hard, the blood pumping loudly in her ears. She took in the way Olivia seemed so defeated by the end of her story, but there was a flame of anger inside of Olivia that glowed like the sun in her blue eyes, and the desire to make Derrick, to make them all, hurt burned in her blood more than ever.
There was only silence to follow, Massie unsure how to even react to what Olivia had just told her, and Olivia seemed to be gauging the brunette across from her—trying to get a read on what could be going through Massie's mind after this story.
Luckily, they were interrupted by a tiny crackling noise erupting from the intercom box, and Inez's soft voice crooned out, "Girls, dinner is ready."
The Next Day . . .
The loud thud of notebooks carelessly toppling onto one of the round tables in the library startled Kristen so badly she nearly jumped right out of her skin; her aqua-colored eyes narrowing at the sudden pile of schoolwork that joined her mess of textbooks, binders, folders, and pencils, before lifting slowly to meeting the amber-eyed gaze of none other than Massie Block. In all honesty, she wasn't surprised to find the brunette still roaming the halls—she heard from Alicia that Massie had only gotten sentenced to community service, much to her dismay. She'd spent the majority of the last two nights fielding three-way calls and having a new text message roll in every five seconds from her best friends, while trying to get her AP homework done, cook dinner since her mother was working late, catch up on the latest episodes to her favorite shows that were still on air, shower and get ready for bed, and spend some overdue quality time with her fluffy white Persian cat, Beckham. It also hadn't slipped her mind that somewhere in the middle of all this a text from her ex-boyfriend, Dempsey, had weaseled its way into her inbox—which still remained left unread, now that she thought about.
"Hello," Kristen said, her tone bordering between friendly and . . . well, kind of flatly.
"Hi Kristen," Massie chalked up a sparkly smile, plopping down into one of the plastic chairs across from Kristen—her defenses immediately went up, not really trusting the fact that Massie sought her out, probably for a specific reason, seeing as they haven't spoken since the Welcome Back breakfast three days prior.
"What do you want, Massie?" The dirty blonde asked, tip of her pencil digging into the page of her AP History workbook—cutting right to the point, no reason to beat around the bush.
It didn't go unnoticed that Massie's gaze flicked over the mess splayed out on the table, however brief, before settling back on Kristen. There was something almost calculating to the way Massie now stared at her as she replied, the words coming so easy off her tongue, "I wanted to apologize for the other day," which was immediately followed up with, "You also look a little overwhelmed, I couldn't help noticing..."
"Yeah, well," She mumbled with a half-hearted shrug, as if to say, can you blame me?
"I'm sorry," Massie blurted, which surprised Kristen a little. "About the other day."
"Shouldn't you be apologizing to Alicia and Dylan?" Kristen bowed her head, giving the work in front of her its full attention that was deserved, and right away she was filling in the bubbles for multiple choice questions and scrawling out the detailed explanations her teachers expected beneath where it stated to provide how she came up with each answer.
When Massie didn't reply, she couldn't help peaking up at the brunette through the tips of her eyelashes—Massie was busying herself by rifling through the Chanel tote she carried her books around in, reminding Kristen of her own friends (noticing that she, like them, also, never used the same bag more than once), and glanced at the Dior Blue Oblique Jacquard travel backpack Alicia had gotten her for Christmas for no more than a second—her own bag was practical, at least. It was something she didn't quite understand. How did they manage to fit everything they needed inside those purses?
Kristen cleared her throat, mindful in keeping her head down. "You shouldn't have attacked them the way you did."
"Dylan shouldn't have been running her mouth the way she did." Massie retorted, now straightening up in her seat as she began pouring over her own schoolwork, "and Alicia should have minded her own business."
Kristen's head snapped up, curious, with her eyes immediately narrowing at the other girl. "What?"
She watched as the corner of Massie's lips twitched ever so slightly. "Yeah, your friend was not-so-subtly making remarks about me because of that stupid video, and I kind of just... lost control, a little bit... and Alicia wouldn't have gotten hurt if she'd just kept her distance. Nobody told her to rip me off Dylan, honestly."
Kristen didn't know what express she wore, but she did feel ticked off. At what Massie had just said. At Dylan for not giving her the whole story. Maybe a little bit at Alicia because even though she was probably trying to be a good friend, Massie did have a point there.
Massie raised an eyebrow. "Are you really so surprised she spun the narrative to make me look crazy?"
Kristen stayed silent, choosing to focus back on her schoolwork.
The two of them worked in a rather uncomfortable silence, every so often Kristen would steal a glimpse at the girl sitting across from her and wonder what she was thinking about. She thought about herself, the hardships she encountered since coming to Rosehill Academy, and shuddered lightly. It had been difficult for her to accommodate to this (hostile) prestigious environment when she first arrived two and a half years ago, and the only reason she came out of it alive was because Alicia and Dylan had swooped in to save her on that very first day, befriended her and showed her what things were like on the other side. But something told Kristen that Massie wouldn't need the same kind of rescue that she had.
"Why are you friends with them?" Massie asked suddenly, almost like she was reading Kristen's thoughts. "No offense but—"
"I don't see how it's any of your business." Kristen cut her off, though not unkindly, not even bothering to look up this time.
"it's just surprising, is all. You guys don't really...seem to actually be friends?" Massie awkwardly cleared her throat before continuing on. "They have zero personality and are rude as fuck, the only reason people probably tolerate them is because they're rich and walk around like they own this school."
Because they do, Kristen wanted to say.
But instead, she replied, "I think you're reading too much into this."
"Oh, come on, Kristen," Massie snorted with a roll of her eyes. "You know for a fact I'm right. Look at Dylan—she gets away with telling whatever story that gets her attention and paints her in a positive, albeit victim, light. Nobody bothered to ask her to corroborate her story, not even the girls that were in our gym class. So now I'm the girl who went psycho for no reason that attacked Merri-Lee Marvil's daughter and broke Alicia Rivera's nose."
Kristen chewed on her lower lip.
"Honestly, why would you want to be friends with those girls?" she sounded genuinely curious.
"Why wouldn't I?" Kristen retorted—a weak response, she knew.
Massie didn't say anything, just stared at Kristen, almost seemed to be studying her. She gently pushed her seat back, rising to her feet, and quickly gathered her things to shoving them back into her purse. As she slid the expensive bag back over her arm to hooking it around her shoulder, she frowned a little at Kristen. "Those girls aren't real friends, especially not to you. I've only been here a few days and I've noticed a lot that goes on around here. If you ever want to know what it's like to have friends who actually care about you, want what's best for you, wants more than to just talk about or do superficial things, then..." she trailed off, giving a little shrug and a kind of sad smile, before bidding farewell to Kristen, exiting the library altogether with the dirty blonde watching her every step of the way.
author's note: once again I have provided you with a bunch of word vomit, and this is more of a filler chapter than anything because I wanted to give you a little backstory on Olivia and Alicia's friendship, which sort of prompted her to go after Kristen.