Clique Bait - Ann Valett Page 0,70

with sadness.

When school ended, nobody left campus straightaway. People lingered in groups, exchanging phones and devices, countless memes and photoshopped versions of Maddy’s picture going viral through the student body.

I couldn’t go home. I had a test tomorrow morning and I hadn’t even done the homework on the topic, let alone started to study it. I knew if I went home, then I’d fall into the trap of planning what my next move should be. Despite the new urgency to finish my revenge quickly, I needed to pass senior year.

I entered the library, walking down the open area of seats, enveloped by tall shelves, hoping to find an isolated table to sit at and somehow forget about Level One and its drama for a few hours.

I’d found a small nook to drop my books, but I’d only just opened my chemistry text when a shadow crept onto the desk.

“Chloe. We need to talk.”

It was Jack Thomas.

I remembered the Instagram account Sophie had made to bring Jack down. With his social status a level lower than Maddy’s, his scandal was hardly making a ripple. It was more bullying than school-wide gossip. Still enough to make sure nobody would want to be his friend, though.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I meant for the Instagram account, or Sophie’s wrath, or the fact I really needed to study. I shut my book and started to move toward my bag.

“Not you too,” he mused. I narrowed my eyes. He almost seemed . . . cheerful.

“What’s going on?”

Jack pulled out the chair beside me, folding his arms in front of him and regarding me with a curious gaze.

“I think we have the same motive here,” he said. “When it comes to taking down Level One.”

Twenty-Four

Monica,

An endless cycle. Is that what this is? An endless cycle of taking people down? I remember in sophomore year when we would watch people rise and fall from afar like phases of the moon, every month or so a new victim.

You know, it was only a few weeks after everything happened that I realized they’d get away with what they did. Just like they got away with everything else. I started to piece together a plan.

I promise you I’ll make things right. I promise.

Love, Chloe

“HOW DID YOU find out?” I tried to act unfazed, but beneath the table my fingernails bit into my thighs.

“I’m not stupid, Chloe,” he said with a smile. “Did you really think I’d believe that you just started dating one of them? I know you better than them. I’ve known you longer. Your loyalty is your biggest fault. I could see right through the act. And when I saw you were the one who’d printed off all those pictures at the library after hacking the password to the school’s system? I knew for sure.”

“What are you going to do?” I tried to sound calm, but I felt ice-cold. My entire plan was exposed.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said. His tone was snide. “But for now, I want to help you.”

My entire time at Arlington, all I’d seen was Jack trying to fit in. For Level One to like him. From parties to tutoring to spreading around their gossip, he’d always been happily on Level Two. It surprised me that he suddenly wanted to take them down.

“Level One needs to pay,” he said. His smugness had now dissipated, leaving his jaw tight and eyes intensely boring to mine. “I want them to pay.”

“Is this because of Sophie?”

I swear I caught his poker face falter.

“It’s because of all of them,” he said. “I was the smartest kid in my elementary school, you know. I earned a full scholarship.”

“I know,” I said. Everyone knew. As much as he tried to blend in, he was different. His family might have had connections, but they lacked the wealth the other Arlington parents oozed.

“You don’t get it. I was the smartest. I aced all my classes first semester. But I was outshining people like Francis and Lola and Will. The people who were supposed to be the success stories.”

I could see where he was going. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Level Ones were even able to control everyone’s grades.

“Francis was the first to threaten me. He was scared of his parents. Being outshined by some nobody. He said he could have me expelled in an instant if I beat him. And I would have been stupid not to believe him. A mediocre graduation at Arlington is worth a thousand