The Clique (16 page)

              “But we were only kissing! How could you tell Kate that we—you know?”

              “Look, Aude, I just told her what I saw. I’m sorry if you weren’t actually having sex, but from where I was standing, it looked like it.” She waits a brief moment. “If it helps, I believe you.”

              “No, it doesn’t really help. Maddie, if you didn’t see everything, why would you jump to such a crazy conclusion?”

             
I didn’t. I did this because—
Maddie looks down at the tiled floor. No, she can’t tell Aude the real reason. “What did you expect me to do? Put yourself in my position: you see one of your best friends having sex with another friend’s boyfriend. The only thing I could do, to be loyal, was to tell her.”
Thank you, thank you. I’ll be accepting my Academy Award on Friday.

             
“But,” Aude whispers, “Why didn’t you come to me first? You didn’t have to tell her yourself, you could’ve let me explain. You know, back when she was still talking to me.”

              “Yeah, I know. I should’ve. And I’m so sorry, Aude, but when I saw that it was just like—I dunno, I guess it scared me. I never thought you would do anything like that, but I knew Kate had to know. So instead of talking to you, I went to her. I guess I just wanted to avoid a confrontation.”

              Aude shakes her head. “Well, thanks for being such a great friend.”

              “I’m sorry, okay. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

              “Gee, thanks. Are you at least gonna tell Kate that you aren’t sure of what you saw?”

              Maddie’s mind shifts into overdrive to invent an excuse. “Aude, I really don’t wanna pick sides. I believe your story, and I’m fine eating lunch with you and hanging out and whatever, but don’t make me vouch for you. I saw what I saw, and even though I might have been wrong, I’m not gonna lie.”

              “Fine. Then I guess we’re done here.” Aude storms off.

              Maddie watches her friend go, wishing she could stop Aude and tell her that it’s all Devon’s fault. That he has some sort of twisted plan for her. But the promise of reconnecting with her mother stops her. She feels sick as she heads to the Student Council room. Time for her first… Reward, as Devon had put it. Maddie strides up to Amanda. “Hey, Amanda, could I talk to you?”

              Amanda spins her chair. “Sure. What’s up?”

              “Outside, I mean.”

              “Uh, okay.” Amanda slowly gets to her feet. Once they’re in the hallway she asks, “So what’s this about?”

              “Hang on.” Maddie gestures for Amanda to follow and enters a blacked-out conference room. Once they’re both inside, she shuts the door.

              “Uh, okay, this isn’t weird or anything.” Amanda laughs nervously.

              “So, you’re going to step down as President, and you won’t run next year either.”
Always lead with the terms. That way if they’re too shocked to register what you say after you reveal your leverage, they’ll remember what you want them to do.
Maddie has no idea how Devon came by that little nugget, but it seems like wisdom to her.

              Amanda frowns. “Excuse me?”

              “You’re going to step down as President,” Maddie repeats. “Or, I’m going to tell the Principal about how you snuck into the boys’ locker room to take photos of Dominic Rose.”

             
“Yeah, right. Why would I do that?” There’s a panicked edge in Amanda’s voice.

              “You mean step down as President or take photos of Dom? I don’t know the answer to the second, but as to the first—“ Maddie pulls out her phone and flips to an explicit picture “—this is your answer.”

              “Oh god.” Amanda covers her gaping mouth with a hand. “B-but I could just tell them it was you! You took that picture!”

              Maddie smiles, a Devon-ish smirk. “Now, I was told that I was the last in a chain of girls to receive this. A chain that includes all your friends, a few ex-friends, and begins with you. Do you seriously think if the Principal looks into this little incident, that she won’t figure out who’s responsible?”

              Amanda closes her eyes; a single tear works down her cheek. “I didn’t want to. It was a stupid dare, for Cheer. They told me it would be funny. And then my friends wanted to see and—“

              “And now here we are,” Maddie finishes. “Don’t worry, I can keep your secret. If you help me become president, then I’ll help you by forgetting I ever saw this. Just tell Mrs. Hopkins that you have too many demands on your time, and you need to refocus on what’s important to you. Okay?”

              “You’re horrible! I was—I was nice to you!”

              Maddie grimaces. “I’m sorry. I really don’t want to do this, but—I just want to be good enough.”

              Amanda sniffles. “Good enough for what?”

              The questions stops Maddie, forcing her to think about what she’s doing. But it’s too late to back down. Maddie shrugs, putting on a mask of calm. “By the end of Student Council today, I expect to hear that you’ve stepped down.” She steps out of the conference room, leaving a shivering, sniveling mess of what used to be the junior class president.
Oh God,
she thinks.
What am I doing?

             
Five minutes before the end of Student Council, Amanda makes a quiet announcement that she won’t be able to fulfill her obligations any more. It takes a second for everyone to realize what that means, but once they do, Maddie’s friends clap her on the back, careful not to celebrate too much. Even Aude cracks a tiny smile.

              Afterwards, Maddie heads to a small park by her house. Even though she isn’t on the Patriots yet, she can still practice the routine, and the dancing helps take her mind off of her conversation with Amanda. The idea of sharing today’s news with her father and, better yet, her mother, is energizing.

              She stretches for a few minutes, then launches into the first moves of the routine. Even though it’s supposed to be a dance routine, there are some simple tumbling moves in the middle that Maddie knows she has to work on. She starts to practice on the soft grass, working her way through those sections of the choreography.

              “Maddie? Maddie Smith?” Maddie turns to locate the speaker. Jonah Beattie, her date to the Back to School Dance, looks back at her. “Didn’t know I’d be seeing you after the dance.”

              She smiles, trying to figure out what Hannah or Aude would say. “Yeah, well, I couldn’t let a boy like you go.”

             
Jonah runs a dark hand through his hair. “So you’re stalking me?”

              Maddie giggles. “I think you were stalking me. I was here first.”

              “See, I don’t think so. I think you knew that this was the route I always take home after practice, and you were here waiting for me.” His Under Armour shirt clings to his chest, making each rib and pec visible.

              “Practice? Oh, right, football… How’s your team this year?”

              Jonah grins. “Good, good. Better than that patchwork quilt you call a team over at GW.”

              Maddie shrugs. “Yeah, I don’t really care. Our dance team, though, is gonna kick Fairview’s ass.”

              “Oh, really now?” Jonah takes a few steps back. “Let’s see what you got.”

              She handsprings backward into a twist, ending with a back tuck.

              “Not bad. Not bad. But those girls we’ve got, they can do all kinds of shit.”

              Maddie laughs. “If you’re so interested in Fairview’s girls, how come you’re talking to me?”

              “Well, I didn’t say they were as cute as you. They must have something in the water at GW, cause you and your friends? Damn.”

              “Me and my friends? So not just me?”

              “Well, what do you expect? You and me just went out on one date. And that short friend of yours, she was fi-ine.” Jonah laughs.

             
Good lord,
Maddie thinks,
this is exactly the kind of guy I
don’t
want.
Aude or Hannah would be all over him for sure; he has tall, dark, and handsome down pat. But Maddie still hasn’t given up on finding someone interested in her for—well, her. “Yeah, Aude’s taken. And besides—“ she thinks of Devon, Sean, and Gabe “—you’d be at the end of a very long line.”

              Jonah snorts. “Nah, I was just playing. She’s cute, but I bet she gets annoying too. You, though, I could talk to you all night. Hell, I
did
talk to you all night.”

              “Aha, thanks... Well, I’d better get back to practicing.”

              “Just like that? Come on, at least lemme get your number.”

              “Hmmm.” Maddie pretends to think about it. “No thanks.”

              Jonah frowns. “Was it ‘cause of the fine comment? Because that was just a joke.” He smiles. “I promise, I’m not really like that. You were there for the after-party. Was I that bad?”

              “No, I guess not. Okay, here.” She gestures for his phone.

As Kate opens her front door, she notices the moon’s already out. The sun hasn’t quite gone down, but there’s the moon, jumping the gun.

              “Hey Kate!” Aude smiles sweetly.

              “Don’t think this means anything, Aude. I just needed a ride to this party. And since you’re hell bent on being my chauffeur, I figured you could interrupt your Friday night to take me.”

              Aude shrugs. “Okay. Where are we going?”

              Kate tells her the address, and then returns to her silent game. She can’t manage to pretend to forgive Aude like Devon wanted, but she’s getting her to the stupid party.

              “So, Gabe believed me,” Aude says. “He said that he couldn’t understand why you didn’t. And Maddie, well, she told me she wasn’t actually sure that she saw what she said she did.”

              Kate doesn’t answer; instead, she turns the radio on and cranks up the volume. They listen to teen pop at about ten times reasonable volume until Aude finds the correct house. She pulls up to the curb and waits for Kate to get out.

              “Come on,” Kate says, “I’ll need a ride home.”

              Aude looks at a blue light coming from the house’s open garage. “Call me. I’ll come pick you up. But my parents want me home soon so uh, no thanks.”

              Kate puts on her not-messing-around face. “If you’re serious about wanting to fix our friendship, you’ll come inside.”

              “I’m serious about fixing our friendship. But I don’t want to go in.”

              “Aude, if you don’t come in, I won’t let you drive me to school anymore. And I’ll never talk to you again.”

              Aude sighs. “Okay, fine.” She follows Kate, into the garage and the house.

              Someone obviously spent a lot of time and effort on the party. Every room is lined with a different color of light. Kate leads the way from a red kitchen over to the green living room, where most of the partyers—and more importantly, the alcohol—are.

              She fills up a red cup, and another, and hands one to Aude. “I’ll find you when I’m ready to go,” she says.

              Even in the dim light, Kate can tell Aude looks confused. “Um, I can’t drink, can I? If I’m gonna drive you?”

              “Sure you can. Drink up. Drink, Aude.”

              Aude takes a small sip.

              “Keep going.”
Once she’s finished the first,
Kate thinks,
that’ll be enough. She’ll start drinking on her own, right?
But she doesn’t. Kate has to keep an eye on her, babysitting her ex-friend and demanding that Aude drink. The party starts to feel less like relaxation and more like a job.

             
A short senior boy starts hitting on Aude. She brushes him off, at first.

              Kate pulls him aside. “Stay here. She’ll get pretty wild in a bit, I promise.”

              “I dunno. She said she had a boyfriend.”

              “So? It isn’t anything serious.” No, just a two-year long relationship. Nothing serious at all. For a moment, Kate feels almost guilty. But then she remembers the sinking feeling of hearing her best friend betrayed her.

             
True to form, Aude gets tipsier and tipsier as the night progresses. Soon, she doesn’t need Kate to tell her to drink; she fills up her cup and empties it again in a matter of minutes. “I’m kinda sick of talking. Let’s find something to do!” It’s almost as if she’s forgotten Kate is no longer her best friend.

              “I have an idea, Aude! You wanna play truth or dare?”

              “Yeah, sure.”

              “Perfect.” They find a few boys, and begin a game. Kate demands the seat to Aude’s left, and endures a few tedious truths before it’s her turn. “Truth,” she says.