Clique Bait - Ann Valett Page 0,67

enough in the hallways to know he was linked to me. He was an ally.

And if I was isolated, I was easy to take down.

Twenty-Three

Monica,

How did you do it? Hurt people like this? It’s easy to forget how dangerous Level One can be with their charm, but when it comes to their victims, they hold nothing back. They can destroy anyone’s reputation in an instant. Did you feel this? The guilt? You must have. You were best friends with them, after all.

It confuses me, what you must have done to be in so deep. I’m trying so hard to understand what led to this. I just want to do what’s best, to give them what they deserve.

And I will, I promise. The more I see, the more determined I am. I’ll do it. For you, and for everyone they hurt.

Love, Chloe

AFTER SCHOOL, I avoided Lola and the others by sneaking around the side of the campus to my car. I was almost there when someone caught my attention.

“Chloe! Chloe, there you are!”

I looked over my shoulder to see Maddy Danton scampering after me, clearly struggling in her heels.

“Are you okay?”

I frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

She hesitated, and I could tell she was biting something back.

“Oh, you know, Will getting in trouble and all.”

“I’m fine,” I said. William had gotten lucky with only detention instead of suspension.

“Okay, well . . .” Her voice trailed off. Her wide brown eyes were plagued with something.

“What’s wrong?”

She let out a pent-up sigh. “It’s Lola and Sophie. They’re royally pissed with me. I messed up.”

“How?”

She shook her head. “I can’t tell you. You’d probably hate me. But I wanted to warn you, in case they come for you too.”

“Maddy, what did you do?”

“I have to go,” she said quickly, giving me a sympathetic look before heading toward the drop-off zone, where her daddy’s private car was waiting.

If I wasn’t already sure Lola was ready to destroy me, now I was certain. I cursed, Maddy’s encounter only fueling the anxiety I felt returning to school tomorrow.

Once I was in my car, I pulled out my printed copies of Google Earth images with shaky hands. They showed the exterior of Desmond’s unit from every available angle. Then I made my way to the other side of town, a wide pair of sunglasses covering half my face

I was nervous. Mostly because it was broad daylight, and even though I blended in with the other cars crowded around the housing development, I felt out of place in my red Audi. Why hadn’t I considered taking my mother’s less conspicuous black sedan?

Luckily, a nearby elementary school finishing up for the day meant that I wasn’t alone in hanging around the street with an idling car for the first half hour or so.

The house was small compared to the extravagant mansions of my classmates. It was three bedrooms, all one floor, from what I’d gathered on the floor plan from the real-estate website advertising the unit next door. Which room was Desmond’s, I wasn’t sure.

I’d need to scout the house more closely, possibly at nighttime. I doubted the security was extreme, especially if it was owned by three teenagers living together to share expenses. Maybe a lock on each of the bedrooms, but those could be easily disabled . . .

I waited outside of Desmond’s house for two hours. Two hours of my stomach grumbling from skipping lunch and my nerves running haywire, paranoid that someone would see me. I tried to do some of my physics reading while I waited for something to happen, but I couldn’t focus, my eyes darting from the page to scout out every detail; the angle that the curtains were pulled at over the front window, the array of envelopes poking out of the letterbox. Anything that could be a useful detail.

At half past five the first car pulled up the driveway. It was a middle-class car, its driver a tall blond boy who I recognized from Desmond’s Facebook page.

As he stepped out of the vehicle and collected the mail, my heart leapt from my chest and I hurriedly looked in the opposite direction. It was too easy for him to see me, I was too suspicious in my car—I had to leave.

I drove home, unable to shake the feeling that someone was following me.

I found myself struggling to get out of bed the following morning. Maddy’s warning had me terrified, and William had lunchtime detention, leaving me vulnerable.

I finally mustered up enough courage to