The Clique (12 page)

              At first, Aude tries to pretend it’s a joke. “I, uh, love you too.” She socks him on the arm. “Friend.”

              “No, I don’t mean it like that. I mean—“ he shakes his head vigorously “—Kate’s nice and all, but she isn’t you. No matter how much she wants to be.”

              “No!” Audrey holds up a warning finger. “Don’t do this. Don’t you dare do this to her. Kate loves you, and you love her, and she is a million times better than me.”

              Sean presses Aude against the window; he strokes a hand across her face. “That, right there, is why I love you. You’re so beautiful, but you’re also so incredibly nice, and sweet. I just want you to be mine.”

             
I don’t want you!
Aude wants to yell at him, but some irrational part of her still believes she can talk sense to Sean. “Kate is just as nice as me—“

              “No she isn’t.”

              “—and just as pretty—“

              “Nope.

              “—and she actually loves you.”

              Somehow, the words seem to register. “You don’t—love me?”

              “No. I’m sorry Sean, but no.”

              “You love Gabe?”

              “I don’t know.”

              A gleeful expression leaps to Sean’s face. “Then dump him, and go out with me! I promise, you’ll learn to love me.”

              “No. Sean, don’t do this to Kate. Just go downstairs, and have a great time, and tell her how beautiful she is. And never think about any other girl again.”

              His face falls. One breath, then another. “Fine. But on one condition: you have to kiss me. Just once.”

             
“
What?”
Aude swallows.

              “You have to kiss me, right here and now, or I’ll go downstairs and dump Kate.”

              “That would devastate her,” she whispers.

              “I know. That’s how much I want you.”

             
It’s just a kiss,
Aude reasons.
Just a kiss, to save your best friend’s relationship.
“Okay.” The two syllables feel heavy on her tongue.

              Sean closes the distance, giving Audrey the sloppiest kiss she’s ever had. Aude keeps her lips tightly closed, hoping Sean doesn’t open his eyes to see the permanent grimace set on her features. One second passes. Two. Three.

              Then Sean works a hand under her dress, feeling up a thigh.
I didn’t sign up for this,
Aude thinks, panicking
.
She tries to pull back, but the glass stops her. She shoves him, putting all the force she can behind it.

              Sean backs off. “What was that?”

              Aude scowls. “About three seconds too long. Are you happy now?”

              “Yeah.” Sean turns to leave. He stops at the door. “I just want you to know, when Kate and I are married, no matter how many years pass, every time I kiss her, I’ll think of you.”

              Aude curls up on the bed.

“See you in Econ, Kate!” Aude heads off toward the school doors.

              As the rest of Kate’s friends head back inside, she leans against the courtyard wall and waits for fifth hour to start.

              “Heyo, Kate.” The voice is at once hardly familiar and too familiar.

              “Devon.”

              “Hey Kate, I’m lucky I ran across you. I wanted to talk.”

              Kate folds her arms, thinking about the picture of Aude taped to his wall. “Go away, Devon.”

              But he doesn’t. “I think you’ll really wanna hear what I have to say.”

              Kate sighs. “Fine. Spit it out.”

              “I, uh, I don’t know how to say this… I didn’t wanna have to be the one to tell you, but on Friday…“

              “I said spit it out!”

              “At Nate’s party, I saw Aude having sex with Sean. As I was coming in. It was up against the window… You know, the one that you could see from the entryway? And I, uh, just thought I should tell you.”

              Kate snorts. “Bullshit, Devon. I don’t know what kinda game you’re playing, but I can see right through it.”

              “I’m not playing a game.” Devon glances to the left. “Look, if you don’t believe me, there’s an easy way I can prove it to you. Just get the two of them together, and watch how they act. I guarantee you, you’ll see it.”

              “Bullshit,” Kate repeats, with less force. Aude’s been a virgin since, well, forever. There’s no way she’d just lose it to Sean for no reason. Unless, they’ve been fooling around for a while. No, they haven’t. Kate shakes her head, as if that will help her convince herself.

             
“It’s hard to believe, I know. But just—“ the passing period bell rings “—just do what I suggested. I’d hate to see you betrayed like that.”

              “Fine. Now go away, Devon.”

              He leaves just as Hannah comes up. “Hey Kate. Why were you talking to Devon?”

              Kate shrugs. “I dunno, he just wanted to—“ she tries to think of a plausible lie “—I dunno.”

              “Um, okay? Well, anyway, you know where you wanna go?”

              “Hmm?”

              “For lunch.” Hannah laughs. “You seem a little out of it.”

              “Sorry.” Kate shakes her head. She watches Sean approach from the left.

             
“What’s fun, honeybuns?”

              “I don’t know,” Kate says.

              “She’s being weird,” Hannah kids. “Let’s go to Chipotle.”

              Kate frowns, feeling like the conversation’s happening far away. Her world’s busy exploding, and the real world couldn’t matter less right now. “We were just there last week, though.”

              “Well, I wanna go. And Sean wasn’t. Were you?”

              Sean shakes his head. “No.”

              “And would you like Chipotle? I’ll drive...” Hannah pulls out her key and twirls it around a finger.

              “Sure.”

              “See? So we both vote for Chipotle. Two against one.”

              Kate blinks a few times. “Uh, ok. Let’s go, then.” They walk out to Hannah’s car. Kate sits in the passenger seat, leaving Sean in back. He plays around while Hannah’s driving, moving from one seat to another and messing with the windshield scraper. “Can you just—sit still!” Kate finally asks.

              Sean sets the scraper down gingerly. “Uh, okay.”

              “It’s really not a problem,” Hannah says. “He’s just amusing himself.”

              “Well he’s acting like a five-year-old. I’m sorry, but I thought learning how to sit still and be quiet was like what they taught in kindergarten.”

              “Ouch.” Sean settles into the seat behind Hannah and pulls a seatbelt on. “Wook mom, I got my seatbelt on all by myself.”

              Kate rounds on him. “Stop trying to be funny! It’s not cute, it’s just annoying!” The memory of the night Sean was on ecstasy keeps coming back to her.
I’ve had a crush on you since elementary school
plays repeatedly in her head.

              Hannah turns into a lot behind Chipotle. “Hey Sean, could you give us a minute?”

              “Yeah, sure.” The look he gives Kate isn’t quite a glare, but there’s a definite heat behind it.

              The second he’s gone, Hannah turns to Kate. “Okay, what’s going on? I mean, yeah he was being kinda annoying, but you were just being—mean.”

              Kate taps the shifter. “I dunno, it’s stupid.”

              “What? You can tell me.”

              “Okay, well you know how Devon was talking to me before fifth? He kinda, um—he kinda said that Aude slept with Sean.”

              Hannah’s nose wrinkles. “Oh, come on. Aude? Our Aude? Sleep with Sean?” Her expression turns to a frown. “Wait, you believed him. Kate, Aude’s a virgin.”

              “I know, that’s what I thought too.” Kate can’t meet her friend’s eyes.

              “No, you don’t understand. I, uh, how can I—Kate, you know if anything had happened with Sean, she’d be freaking out! Like she wouldn’t have come to school today!”

              “I know,” Kate repeats. And she does, on an intellectual level. But—“Devon seemed pretty confident, earlier.”

              “Yeah, well, Devon’s a manipulative little—“ Hannah unbuckles her seatbelt. “You shouldn’t believe him for a second. Come on, let’s go get some food.”

              The line is shorter than last week; Kate, Hannah, and Sean get their food in a few minutes, and sit down at a booth near the soda fountain.

              Kate decides she should apologize. But—no, not until after the game tonight. A plan forms in her mind.

              “Hellooooo, Kate?” Hannah waves a hand in front of Kate’s face.

              Kate shakes her head. “Sorry. What?”

              “I asked what you were doing in Econ.”

              “Oh. Nothing. We’re supposed to read
The Jungle
, but I don’t think I’m gonna do it.”

              “You aren’t?”

              “Naw, I don’t think so. Aude found the Sparknotes for it.”

              Hannah laughs. “I think she’s finally starting to rub off on you. When was the last time you didn’t read a book for a class?”

              “Uh, I dunno.” Truth is, Kate can’t remember
ever
not doing the assigned reading for a class. “Freshman year, I think.
Odysseus
.”

              “Oh, yeah. That was that super-long one, right? Where it talks about all the Greek guys fighting in that war?”

              Nope, that’s the Iliad. “Yeah, exactly.”

              “Good one to skip, then. So, Sean, you think you’re gonna win tonight?”

              He shrugs. “Sure.”

              Hannah tries to start up a conversation a few more times, but gives up once it becomes obvious that Kate and Sean are both busy brooding. They finish lunch and head back to George Washington, arriving fifteen minutes before the end of the period.

              “Oh, I just remembered, I have a project.” Kate breaks off from the other two and heads to the library before either one can ask about it. She ends up alone at one of the tables, twirling her pencil and staring at a blank sheet of paper. The question of whether to trust Devon bounces around her mind, like a bright green tennis ball, impossible to ignore.

             
Kate barely says a word to Aude in Econ, and during seventh and Student Council she counts the minutes ‘till the soccer game. It’s an away game, at Fairview High School. Kate catches a ride with Aude and pretends to be interested in the conversation.

              “You know, Maddie’s date for the Back to School Dance was from Fairview,” Aude says.

              “Yeah, I heard.”

              “I’m glad she found a guy to go with.”

              “Me too.” As if she wouldn’t.
She’s beautiful too
, Kate thinks. Maybe not perfect, like Aude thinks she is, but beautiful in her own way.

              “So, Gabe said they were definitely gonna win this game.”

              “Uh huh.”

              Aude finds an open parking spot near the field. “Is something wrong? You seem quiet.”

              “I’m just tired. That’s all.”

              “Oh, okay.” They pay for tickets and find a place to watch. Aude gives Gabe her typical pre-game talk, while once again, Sean is “talking with the coach.”

             
Aude returns to the bench, frowning. “I guess Gabe’s still mad at me.”

              Alarms go off in Kate’s mind. “Why’s he mad at you?”

              “Oh, nothing.”

              “No, come on, you can tell me.”

              “I said it was nothing. Okay?” Aude huffs.

              The game starts out looking like another GW loss. After thirty minutes, the score’s stuck at two-zero. Then Gabe scores a goal, and another right after. Aude cheers loudly, but the best Kate can manage is a weak “Yay.” From then on, the lead seesaws back and forth; with two minutes to go in the game, the Patriots are down by one. Their middie loses the ball, but Sean manages to take it back.

              He dribbles around a defender, sprinting toward the goal with Gabe. They cross the ball back and forth. Sean manages a spectacular rainbow over the last defender, ending in a low kick at the goal. It’s too far for the goalie to block; the ball isn’t exactly flying through the two posts, but that doesn’t matter. It nicks the left goalpost and rolls in.