Clique Bait - Ann Valett Page 0,69

life, you alcoholic slut.”

Maddy leapt forward, grabbing the collar of Sophie’s blouse. “After all I’ve done for you! Do you have any idea the shit I’ve gone through for you?”

I didn’t know what to do. I was standing frozen as the student body watched what was likely going to be the high point of this semester’s gossip, right up beside Francis and William’s fight and Zach’s secret boyfriend.

One thing was clear to me, though: I was the girl Maddy was supposed to deal with.

Maddy let Sophie go abruptly, apparently realizing her smug smile wasn’t going to drop. She glared hatefully at Lola, before spinning on her heels and fleeing the room.

I quickly followed her, having to double my stride to catch up.

“What’s this about?” I asked as soon as we’d vanished from view.

Maddy’s face had paled. Her arm slackened in mine as I let it fall. “What does it look like, Chloe?”

“It looks like you didn’t hold up your part of a bargain,” I said coolly, the sympathy I felt for Maddy canceled out by the possibility of her plotting against me. “What was the bargain, Maddy?”

She pulled at her hair and screwed her eyes shut, as if giving up. “If I gave them something to use on you, they wouldn’t use what they had on me.”

My heart ran cold. That meant they were actively trying to destroy me. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I couldn’t,” she said. “I tried but I couldn’t give you that spiked drink on Saturday and I couldn’t let Des film it. It’s like this endless cycle of bringing people down. I don’t even know what you did to make them hate you so much. The scandals, the rumors, God it just felt like Monica Pennington all over again.”

My heart splintered. Did she really just say her name aloud? Emotion came thickly, and I didn’t even know how to decipher it.

“I had no choice, Chloe,” she continued. “It was you or me, and at this school, you have to save yourself. But in the end, I couldn’t. I thought maybe if Des saw me roofied he’d tell Sophie and Lola I’d accidentally just mixed our drinks, but I guess they knew. This is why you can’t have a conscience at Arlington. As soon as you put someone else first, you lose.”

The bell rang through the hall, signaling the end of lunch. Maddy’s eyes were swimming with rage, her expression both forlorn and furious.

“I’m going. I have to do damage control before this spreads to my family. Or worse, the press.”

And with that she stormed off. Had a Level One just sacrificed herself for me? Or was it Monica that was responsible for Maddy’s change of heart? I couldn’t help but admire her, at least a little. I was sure if our situations were reversed, I would have burst into tears back in the cafeteria. Although I considered myself determined and strong, to be humiliated in a public setting was a whole other story.

I couldn’t let myself continue to worry. Not right now. Like she said, I should be thankful.

But even so, my thoughts kept spiraling back to her, to the fact she damaged her reputation and her health just because she decided last minute she didn’t want to hurt me. It made my chest heavy. I was supposed to be destroying Maddy Danton, not liking her.

There was a whirlwind of messages from the newly created school group chat. I tried to avoid opening them, but I had to gauge the reaction. One thing was apparent: Level One themselves had crossed the third person off my list.

Knew she was a whore, but didn’t realize she took two guys at once omg

I’d be so embarrassed, lmao no dudes gonna wanna touch her again.

Gross she so dirty!

Just posted it on my Tumblr, it’s hot af

I cringed at the sexist, horrific comments that just kept coming. I muted the chat. This was the student body I was trying to protect by taking Level One down. And yet, despite the fact that so many of them had been tormented by people higher up on the social ladder than them, they fed off of Maddy’s downfall. Whether they were delighted or disgusted, everyone was talking about it.

I blocked the chatter out of my mind and tried my best to focus on my chemistry lecture. But all I could think about was the photo, and how Level One had beaten me to the punch. To ruin Maddy Danton’s social status. And it clouded me