The Clique

by Valerie Thomas

  “Me too!” Aude agrees. “Nate looks like a real catch!”

  Maddie joins the group, and judging by the bags under her eyes that her concealer doesn’t quite hide, she didn’t get much sleep. “You okay?” Kate asks.

  “Yeah. We’re supposed to find out who made the Patriots today.”

  Oh, right. That. “It’s gonna be you. I know it.”

  “I hope so. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept wondering what would happen if I didn’t make it. This entire summer will have been for nothing.”

  “Well, not nothing.” Aude giggles. “At least you’ll still have Dom.”

  “Yippee. Why isn’t anyone decent interested in me? Like Gabe, or Sean.”

  I’m not sure Sean is so great. Kate keeps the thought to herself.

  “Aw, cheer up, Maddie.” Hannah puts a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder. “You’ll find someone. I did.”

  Maddie snorts. “Yeah, I said someone decent.”

  “Not Devon. Nate.”

  Maddie looks confusedly to Kate and Audrey.

  “She’s dating someone new,” Kate explains.

  “Of course.” Maddie rolls her eyes. The start-of-school bell rings.

  Kate hangs behind to console Maddie. “I’m sure you’ll find someone.”

  “Yeah. All I have to do is act like Hannah or Aude.”

  “No. I mean, yeah, it takes longer if you wait for someone good. But the only way to find someone good is to act like us, not Hannah.”

  “Is that why Aude ended up with Gabe?” Maddie sighs. “You have to admit, acting easy is a good way to get attention, and maybe that means you have better options. I kinda wish I was like them, sometimes.” Kate turns, but Maddie’s already gone.

  Maddie’s last words toss around in Kate’s mind throughout English. Aude doesn’t act easy, exactly. I guess she just gives off, like, a vibe or something. Hannah, though, that has to be precisely what she’s going for. I wonder how long the thing with Nate will last. Hell, maybe when Hannah moves on, Maddie can date him.

  The day drags on, leading up to lunch; despite the first couple of days, Mr. Silveris is proving just as difficult a teacher as the rest. Maybe even more so, with his daily essays and insistence on thirty pages of reading every night. Swimming is predictably easy, and Greek Myth as well. Fourth period, Kate asks Maddie if she knows whether she made the Patriots yet—but no, no news on that front.

  Kate waits for Maddie to show up fifth hour, even though it would mean her friend’s second unexcused absence in one week. She doesn’t show, but Sean does. He approaches Kate the way he might a rabid dog.

  “Uh, hey—what’s fun, honeybuns?” he winces. “I’m sorry. For everything that I did wrong.”

  “It’s alright.” Kate replies, wanting to say more but not sure how.

  “So…“ Sean kicks a rock on the ground. “Do you wanna go to lunch?”

  “Yeah.” They head for Sean’s car.

  “Hey, wait for me!” Kate looks for the voice. It’s Devon’s brother. “Hey, Sean, is it cool if I tag along with you?”

  “Of course, man.” Sean glances at Kate. “If, uh, that’s alright with you.”

  “Fine.”

  “Thanks.” Dom falls in step with the pair. “Devon’s going to Dad’s, probably gonna come back drunk. He’s a dumbass sometimes.”

  All the time... Still, Kate feels a pang of sympathy. Maybe he hasn’t taken the break-up as well as Hannah thought.

  Sean pulls onto Larkspur. “So, uh, Kate—“ he glances in the rearview “—I think we need to talk.”

  “Now?” She looks pointedly at Dom.

  “Don’t worry, Dom’s cool. And this will be quick. I just wanna know why you’re mad at me.”

  Kate takes a deep breath. If he was going to ask, why couldn’t he wait until a better time? “I, uh… Do you remember last Friday night?”

  Sean shakes his head. “Why? Did I do something dumb?”

  Oh yeah. “You, uh, you came over to my house and you told me you were high on ecstasy and drunk and…“ she pretends to be interested in the air conditioning. “And you told me you’d had a crush on me since elementary school.”

  Sean’s brow knits. “So? That’s sweet, right?”

  “Yeah, well, it would be if we had gone to elementary school together.”

  Sean laughs. “Oops, sorry. So you’re mad because I said some stupid line?”

  “No. I—“ Kate fiddles with her air vent “—I guess I was mad ‘cause, like, Aude went to elementary school with you. So I thought you maybe thought you were talking to her.”

  Sean laughs again—too loudly to be believable. “No, of course not. Have you ever seen what Audrey looked like in elementary school? She had these long skirts, and button-up shirts, and knee-high socks. Like she was always headed for church.”

  “Well, how come you remember it?”

  “’Cause it was funny. I mean, there’s a reason we called her Odd. By the way, I was thinking Panda Express. Is that cool?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine.”

  “Panda sounds good,” Dom says.

  Sean flicks the radio on. They get through half of a weird techno song Kate’s never heard before. Sean pulls up to the closest spot and pulls the parking brake.

  Kate steps out of the car, and pushes the seat forward for Dom. As he crouches through the small exit, his foot kicks a bottle of brown liquid; it rolls just enough that Kate can read the label: Maker’s Mark Whiskey.

  “Is that what you were drinking last week?” she asks, pointing to the bottle.

  “What? Oh, yeah.” Sean shrugs, looking a little sheepish. “You wanna try some?”

  “No! Why did you bring it to school?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I forgot about it. Oh, don’t look so worried.”

  “But you could get in trouble. Whatever, never mind.” Kate sighs and rubs her eyes. “Let’s just get lunch.”

  Kate gets her food first, a helping of white rice with some grilled chicken, and sits down at a small table in the middle of the restaurant. Even though Dom orders after Sean, he sits down first, since Sean is busy filling a fountain drink.

  “So, I know it isn’t any of my business,” he says. “But I just wanted to say, if Sean really had a crush on your friend, I think it would be more obvious.”

  “Obvious how?” Kate asks.

  “Obvious like—okay, don’t tell Devon I told you this, but for the past week and a half he’s been pretty much infatuated with this girl. He even got one of the old yearbooks and blew up a photo of her, that he taped to his wall.”

  Kate’s eyes widen. “Wait, who is it?”

  “I shouldn’t say. Devon would kill me if he knew I told you. Besides, my point is—a real crush makes people act crazy. They say things they normally wouldn’t, they do things they really shouldn’t. If Sean had a crush on your friend, you’d be able to see it.”

  “But…“ Kate frowns, her attention on the revelation about Devon “What if your brother does something bad to the person he’s ‘crushing’ on?”

  “Pfft. He wouldn’t.”

  “But that sounds really dangerous! Like stalker-ish!”

  “Calm down. I’m sorry I told you.”

  Sean sits down, a full cup of coke in his hands. “What are you so worked up about, Kate? Our thing, still?”

  “No, I wanna know who Devon has a ‘crush’ on.”

  “Well, I’m not gonna tell you,” Dom says. “Just forget I said anything.”

  “What if it’s Hannah though! She just broke up with him. What if he goes crazy and like shoots up the school or something?”

  Dom gives Kate an are-you-serious look. “It’s just a picture. Look, he’s not some psycho. But, just for your information, it isn’t Hannah.”

  Kate grits her teeth. “Okay, I’ll just try to forget you said it.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Hey, Maddie!” Aude holds out a stapled packet. “Here’s our speech. I spent like two ho
urs typing it up. I added a few things too, but you can skip them if you don’t like them.”

  Maddie thumbs through the pages. “This sounds a lot like my speech from last year.”

  “Yeah, it’s supposed to. I only borrowed a few sentences from last year.” And a few from Jenna’s old speeches. And even one from Jules. Only a third of the speech is truly original, but the students who would notice have already graduated.

  “This is pretty good. Thanks.” She frowns, looking a little sad.

  “Did you find out about the Patriots?”

  Maddie nods. Aude doesn’t even have to ask the result; if Maddie had made the squad, she’d be ecstatic. “I should’ve let you talk to Mrs. Davis for me,” Maddie says. “She pulled me out of class seventh period, and told me that I just wasn’t ‘quite good enough.’”

  “Aw, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Audrey pulls her friend into a tight hug. “You’ll win class president, though. This year’s yours.”

  “You think so?”

  Aude giggles. “With the best speech-writer slash campaign manager in the world? Of course you’ll win!”

  “I wish I could believe you.”

  “So do.”

  “Huh?”

  “Believe me. Choose to believe.” Aude releases the hug.

  “It isn’t that easy.”

  “Sure it is. And, if somehow the world ends and you don’t win—“ Aude’s lips curve in a conspiratorial smile “—we can always get completely wasted. Now that you don’t have the dance team to hold you back.”

  Maddie manages a small smile. “Deal.”

  I really hope she wins, Aude thinks. For her sake. Elections are on Monday, but the speeches are prerecorded the Friday before that—today—and then played in Advisory. Aude packed Maddie’s speech full of every single promise that a student council candidate was supposed to make. But it’s hard to know whether that will be enough. Part of why Amanda wins every year is because of her unconventional take on the speeches, and her ability to impart a touch of humor even through a projector screen.

  “Wish me luck.” Maddie says.

  Kate and Hannah both say, “Good luck.” Aude shakes her head. “You don’t need it.”

  After a few minutes reading through the speech and repeating a few sentences out loud, Maddie heads toward the room set aside for recording.

  “Who’s gonna be the one to comfort her this time?” Hannah asks. “When she loses, I mean.”

  “Don’t!” Aude holds up a warning finger. “Don’t jinx it. She’s going to win.”

  Hannah snorts. “So I guess it’s you, then.”

  No one speaks for a few minutes, but then Kate breaks the silence. “Good call breaking up with Devon, Hannah. I heard that he’s like, seriously creeping on some girl.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Hannah shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Why do you think I broke up with him?”

  “Uh, Nate?”

  “Oh, right. That too. But yeah, he’s kind of obsessed.”

  Kate’s eyes open wide. “Wait, do you know who it is?”

  Hannah glances sideways, at Aude. “Well, uh, it’s you.”

  “What?” Aude jerks, stunned by the words. The thought of someone, especially Devon, being obsessed with her makes her shiver. All attention focuses on Hannah.

  “I didn’t wanna tell you, ‘cause I thought you might worry.”

  “Damn right!” Audrey puts her hand to her mouth. “Darn right. What do you mean, he’s obsessed?”

  “Dom said he printed out one of your yearbook photos and put it on the wall,” Kate says.

  “Yeah. Right by his bed. I asked him about it, and he just made some creepy like, masturbation joke.”

  Aude feels her face flush. The whole scenario feels like a violation, even though yearbook photos are public.

  “It’s just a picture.” Audrey can tell Kate’s just trying to make her feel better. “Just try not to think about it.”

  But it’s all Aude can think about. Maddie winning class president hardly seems to matter, in comparison. “Why would he do that?”

  “Dom said he had a crush on you,” Kate says. “That’s all. Just an innocent crush.”

  “No, an innocent crush is like, being unable to talk around someone and every time you see them you smile. This doesn’t sound—innocent.”

  Hannah frowns. “Yeah, but what can you do? That’s why I wasn’t gonna tell you. You really can’t make him take it down or anything.”

  All the girls agree. “He’ll probably take it down in a week anyway,” Kate speculates, in the exact tone Aude used to assure Maddie.

  “Sure…” The friends talk until it’s time to go; after a half-hour, Maddie stumbles out of the recording room and returns to the group.

  “Hey!” Aude smiles. “How did it go?”

  Maddie just shakes her head.

  “I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Kate says. She turns to Aude. “You wanna go watch the soccer game?”

  “Yeah.” Aude nods. “You wanna come, Hannah?”

  “No thanks. I’ve got Cross Country.”

  Maddie doesn’t wait for them to ask her. “I just wanna go home and call it a night. And pray for a miracle on Monday.” She gives a weak laugh. “I could hang out tomorrow, though.”

  “Okay, tomorrow.” Aude takes Kate by the arm, and they walk out to the soccer field. Unlike football, which attracts hundreds of students to the opening game, the first soccer game of the season brings only a few dozen spectators, mostly parents. Kate and Audrey find a seat near some other students their age, sporting green blazers.

  “Hey, I can see Gabe!” Aude waves excitedly. “And Sean.”

  “Where?” Kate looks at her. Aude points to the opposite end of the field, where a few of the players are warming up.

  A loud commentator’s voice fills the stands. “Hello, and welcome to the first game of the season, between the George Washington Patriots and the Resolution Christian High Rams!” The green-jacketed boys hoot loudly. “The game starts in just fifteen short minutes, and I’d like to remind all spectators to please clean up after themselves. If you’re feeling thirsty, why not head to the refreshments stand? Proceeds from all sales benefit the Patriot Boosters. Support your team, and quench your thirst.”

  Gabe spots Aude and jogs over to a fence separating the field and spectators. “Hey, you made it!”

  “Of course!” Aude threads her fingers through the chain-link. “I’ve never missed one of your games.”

  “Well, there was that one time. But you had the flu, so I guess that doesn’t count.” Gabe frowns, glancing over Audrey’s right shoulder. “You look a little cold. You want my jacket?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure.”

  Gabe takes off his red Patriots jacket and lowers it over the fence. Aude catches it by a sleeve and slips the jacket on; it looks ridiculously big on her, like an XXL hoodie.

  “I’m gonna score a hat trick for you,” he promises, with one last glance over her shoulder. “Hey, be careful of those Resolution kids. They’re eyeing you pretty hard.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind, just stick with Kate. I’ll see you after the game, babe.”

  “Ok.” Aude returns to the bleachers, rubbing the leather sleeves of Gabe’s jacket together. It really isn’t that cold.

  Kate’s mouth is set in a half-scowl. “Do you know why Sean didn’t come over?”

  “Nope. I think I saw him, though—oh, there, he’s talking to the coach. See?”

  “Oh, alright.” The game begins. Aude and Kate cheer as loud as they can without going hoarse. The Patriots score a goal, then the Rams equalize, but the next thirty minutes are scoreless. Five minutes before the end of the half, the Rams get another goal, bringing the score to two-one.

  “Aaaaand it’s half time!” the announcer says. “Everyone feel free to get up and move around. We’ll resume play in ten minutes.”

  Aude stands. “I think I’m gonna get a water. You want anything?”

/>   Kate shakes her head. “No thanks.”

  The refreshments stand is below the announcer’s booth, about thirty feet away from the bleachers. Aude makes the trek alone, passes through a small river of green, and joins a short line. Someone taps her on the shoulder.

  “Hey,” the boy—who looks at least college-age—says. “Did you get a sunburn, or were you always this hot?”

  Um, what? Audrey only needs a second to realize that he’s trying to use a pick-up line. I’m wearing my boyfriend’s letter jacket, how much more obvious do I have to be? She smiles. There’s a perfect solution to this. “Arrf arrf arrf!” she claps the extra-long sleeves together like a seal.

  The boy looks seriously weirded out. “What the fuck?”

  “Arrf! Arrf arrf!”

  “Uh, okay.” He walks away, muttering something about “fucking crazy”.

  Aude gets her water and sits back down next to Kate. “I have the best story to tell you! This guy just tried to hit on me in line and I—well, I sorta chased him away by making seal noises. It was awesome!” she chortles.

  Kate laughs. “You can be so weird sometimes.”

  “I know, but I have fun with it. Like if I were in an asylum, I wouldn’t be one of those creepy people who just stares at everyone. I’d be the woman laughing maniacally in the corner. Besides, I’m not that­—“

  “Oh, hey, you speak human!” Aude groans; the college boy works his way out of a group of green-jackets. “So, did you get a sunburn or—“

  “I’m not interested,” Aude says flatly. I already have a boyfriend, and a creepy stalker. We don’t have any openings at this time, thank you. Please reapply next fall.

  “Yeah, but what I’m asking is—“

  “Jesus!” Kate exclaims. “Sorry, Aude. Take a freaking hint, dude. She doesn’t want you.”

  “Well, what about you?”

  “No thank you.”

  The boy’s grin falls; he marches back to his friends.

  “See?” Kate says, in a joking tone. “This is why we use people words to chase away boys we don’t like.”

  “Yeah, but the seal thing was funnier.”

  Kate giggles. “Yes, the seal thing was funnier.”

  Aude watches the boy, noting his dejected expression. “I think we hurt his feelings.”