The Clique

by Valerie Thomas

  Sean gives her a giddy smile. He reaches out toward Kate. “Okay, you got me. I’m not just drunk. I’m also—a little high.” He whispers the confession.

  “Like on pot?”

  Sean shakes his head. “Something waaaaaay better.”

  “Oh god. What did you take?”

  “Ecstasy, honeybuns.” He bounces on the cushions. “Let’s do it! Right here, on the couch!”

  “No way.”

  “Come on! It’s supposed to be really good on ecstasy. Like so good, you can’t ever have sex any other way.”

  “Well I’m not on ecstasy,” Kate argues.

  “Oh, right.” Sean’s smile falls, as if that’s a revelation. “I could get you some!”

  “No thank you. I don’t want any.”

  “Aw, it’s so much fun though! Like I can see entire spectrums of color that I never could before! And you. You. Oho, you look so amazing.”

  “I do?”

  “Yeah, like—whoa-o. You sure you don’t want me to get you some?”

  Kate folds her arms. She knows Aude would say yes. She’d say it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She would try it and not look back. But I’m not her, Kate thinks. “No, I don’t want to try ecstasy.”

  Sean giggles. “Okay, honeybuns. Can I still kiss you though?”

  “Let’s just watch the rest of the movie.” It turns out to be boring and predictable: misunderstanding leads male and female to dislike each other, the misunderstanding is cleared up at the end, hijinks ensue. Sean can barely sit still; by the end, he’s literally shaking.

  “Are you alright?” Kate asks. A terrible thought makes her sit up: what if you aren’t supposed to mix ecstasy and alcohol? What if he has to go to the hospital?

  “I’m great. C’mere.” Sean picks up right where he left off, feeling Kate up and down as they kiss. Somehow, the knowledge that he’s on drugs makes the encounter more intense and awkward at the same time.

  “Mmm, hang on. I have to, uh, go to the bathroom,” Kate says.

  “Can I go with you?”

  “What? No.” Kate heads upstairs, to her own bathroom instead of the guest one on the main floor. On the way in, she spots her phone lying on her pink-sheeted bed. I should text Aude, she thinks. She’ll know how to handle this. Kate knows asking any other friend—except maybe Hannah—would be more practical, but when it comes to advice, best friend trumps all. Hey, she sends, Sean showed up high on E. How’s your date night going?

  Kate takes as long as she can, both to give Sean time to cool down and to let Aude respond. She checks her phone first thing after washing her hands. No reply.

  She wishes she could just send him home. But that won’t work; he might crash. So instead, Kate goes back downstairs, determined to keep her boyfriend from making a fool of himself… Well, any more than he already has.

  “You wanna go for a walk?” she asks, hoping it will tire Sean out.

  “Yeah! A walk sounds great!”

  Kate can’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm. Like a puppy, so anxious to do anything. “Okay, let’s go.” She has to remind Sean to put his shoes on before they leave.

  The moon is only a sliver in the sky, and the sun’s long since set. The only light that illuminates Sean’s face comes from overhead streetlights. It looks flushed. Kate tries to think of an excuse to check his temperature, then sighs and simply holds the back of her hand against his forehead.

  “What are you doing?” Sean goes cross-eyed trying to glimpse her fingers.

  “You’re burning up!” Kate exclaims. Maybe a walk wasn’t such a good idea. “Let’s go home.”

  “But we just started. I wanna go to the park.”

  “Fine.” Kate decides a fever is probably just one of the side-effects of ecstasy. Nothing to worry about.

  Sean quickly gets bored of the swingset, but the jungle gym keeps him occupied for quite some time. Kate sits on a rock, feeling like she’s babysitting a seven-year-old.

  Finally, her boyfriend seems to remember her. He hops off a plastic slide and walks over. “Isn’t tonight just the greatest night ever?”

  “Sure.”

  “Hey, you wanna know a secret?” Sean whispers. “I’ve had the biggest crush on you, ever since elementary school.”

  “What?” Kate didn’t go to elementary school with Sean.

  Aude did.

  Chapter Six

  Instead of going to Kate’s house with the rest of her friends on Wednesday afternoon, Maddie heads to the girls’ locker room to change into a black leotard. The day she’s practiced for all summer has arrived: Patriots tryouts are in fifteen minutes. Maddie looks around the nearly-empty locker room. At least there won’t be a lot of competition.

  Sure enough, when Mrs. Davis, the dance coach—a thin, perky woman with a huge smile and mousy brown hair—sits behind a table in front of the bleachers, only four other girls are standing beside Maddie.

  “Ladies, ladies, welcome! I assume you’re all here for tryouts?” Mrs. Davis leans forward expectantly.

  Maddie nods along with the rest.

  “Very good!” She launches into a speech about “what it means to be a Patriot”. Maddie tunes her out, for the most part, but manages to catch something about choreography and “only one open spot”.

  “I’m sorry,” Maddie says. “Could you repeat that last part?”

  “I said—“ the teacher drums her fingers on the table “—that our choreography this year is only appropriate for an even number of dancers. Which means either only one of you will make it, or three of you will. Or, if you’re all extraordinarily good, I suppose we might have room for all of you. But I’m not particularly keen on managing sixteen girls, so…“

  In other words, she doesn’t wanna come out and say that only one of them is going to make it, but—Maddie looks down the row, spotting at least two other girls who definitely aren’t in very good shape—that’s probably what’s going to happen.

  “Who would like to go first?” Mrs. Davis asks.

  Maddie keeps her hand down. She’d rather let somebody else go first. One of the girls she pegged as out-of-shape steps forward. “I’ll go.”

  Mrs. Davis nods. She pats an old stereo. “Did you bring your music?”

  “Yeah.” The girl pulls out her phone and frowns at the boom box. “It’s on here, though.”

  “That’s alright. I have a connecter cable, somewhere…“ Mrs. Davis leans under the desk. “Aha! Here you are.”

  Maddie and the three other girls sit on the lowest bleacher while the girl cues her music. She begins a routine set to an upbeat drum track. Other than a few spins and one attempt at a split, the routine is complete white-bread: about as bland as dancing can get. Maddie knows she can do better than that.

  The next girl starts her tryout; an older-looking girl sitting next to Maddie sighs.

  “Well, unless all three of us make it—“ she gestures to Maddie and the other, freshman girl on the bleachers “—it looks like we’re competing for the same spot. This is just sad.” The older girl has skin that’s the same golden-tan color as Maddie’s and shiny brown hair. She has an athletic build: the strong legs of a dancer and broad shoulders of a gymnast.

  “Yeah. Well, I worked too hard not to make the team,” Maddie says with a bravado she doesn’t feel. “So let’s just do really well.”

  The older girl volunteers next, leaving Maddie and the freshman on the bench. She performs an interpretive routine packed with moves Maddie wouldn’t even try. Like a back handspring leading into a cartwheel. The whole thing looks dizzying; when the older girl finishes, she wobbles on her feet before taking a bow and walking for the door.

  “Wait, stay here,” Mrs. Davis instructs. “I want you to stay in the bleachers while we watch the other performances.”

  Maddie and the freshman lock eyes, each one mentally willing the other to go first. Maddie sighs, knowing that she ought to go. After all, she’s older, and presumably braver. I shouldn’t be such a wi
mp about it, she thinks. Worst that can happen is—I break an ankle or throw up or something. Yeah, that’s a comforting thought. “I’ll go next,” Maddie says.

  “Great! Do you have music?”

  “Of course.” Maddie plugs the connection cable in and cues her song.

  Her interpretive dance is more emotional than athletic: instead of flips and spins, Maddie counts on the precision of her movements to secure a spot on the team. As she lowers herself into the final split, it looks like—Mrs. Davis isn’t even watching! She’s busily chatting with the older girl.

  “Well, that’s everything,” Maddie says, followed by an awkward bow.

  “You can stay too.” Mrs. Davis nods to a seat beside her. “Last one, here we go. Do you have music?”

  The little girl shakes her head. She looks about twelve, with her hair tied in ponytails and a short frame. I bet she’s even shorter than Aude, Maddie thinks. “I didn’t know we had to have a song,” the freshman squeaks out.

  “Oh. Well, that’s alright,” Mrs. Davis says. “You do have a routine, though?”

  “Yes.”

  “Go ahead, then.” The girl shows promise; although she trips once and her pointes aren’t exactly the cleanest, the routine is interesting. When she finishes, Mrs. Davis doesn’t bother asking her to stay.

  She turns to Maddie and the older girl. “I was afraid this was going to happen. I’m terribly sorry, but it just doesn’t look like we have enough talent to fill three spots. I’ll make my decision by Friday, and tell you personally.”

  “Thank you,” Maddie says. She and the older girl head out to the hall.

  “So, if that freshman hadn’t screwed everything up for us—“ the senior says.

  “Yeah, we could’ve all been on the squad.”

  “Yup. I’m Bella, by the way.”

  “Maddie.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Bella looks down at her shoes. “You were amazing back there. Like a professional.”

  “Thanks. You too! I couldn’t do half of what you did.”

  “Oh, that.” Bella shrugs. “I was a JV Pom my freshman and sophomore year, but I got bored of it. So I took a year off, and now I’m gonna be a Patriot. Well, hopefully. Not that—I mean, I don’t wanna take your spot.”

  The way she says it, like she already knows the spot’s hers, irks Maddie. “And I don’t wanna take yours,” she replies in the exact same tone.

  Bella grins. “Let’s just agree that whoever gets in, the other girl won’t be mad. Okay?”

  “Sure. Well, I gotta go.” Maddie heads for the glass doors out to the front courtyard, making her way to the parking lot. She finds her cobalt blue Camry in the upper lot and waves a goodbye to Bella before heading to Kate’s house.

  Aude and Kate are sitting on opposite ends of the living room couch.

  “Where’s Hannah?” Maddie asks as she closes the front door.

  “Out. With Devon.” Kate frowns. “She said not to wait for her.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Maddie hesitates before squeezing in between Aude and Kate. Something feels wrong. The other girls are both focusing intently on the television. “What are we watching?”

  “Something’s Gotta Give.” Aude shifts uncomfortably. “So, how were tryouts?”

  “Meh. I thought I did well, but apparently they’re only looking for one girl, and there was this senior, Bella, who was really good too.”

  Aude frowns. “Bella. I think I know her…“ She scrunches her nose. “Nope, I can’t remember. The name sounds familiar, though.”

  “Oh, well she’s this tall-ish girl, with brown hair and a really deep tan. And she said she was on JV Poms for two years.”

  “Oh!” Maddie can almost see the light bulb turning on in Audrey’s mind. “I do know her! Her older sister was a Patriot, with Jackie. We met at one of their competitions.”

  Maddie laughs. “You know everyone Aude.”

  “Well, not everyone. But—did Mrs. Davis tell you who made the squad?”

  “Not yet. She said she’d decide by Friday.”

  “Oh.” Aude glances down, focusing on a throw pillow in her hands.

  “What?”

  “Well, I’m not sure I should say. It’s just something Jackie told me…“

  Maddie sighs. “Tell me. Please.”

  Aude pulls at a loose string on the pillow. “She said that Mrs. Davis was—that getting on the Patriots was sort of political. Like it’s more about who you know than how good you are.”

  Maddie almost dismisses the notion without even considering it. It’s ridiculous. No coach would ever be so shallow. But the way Bella seemed so confident that she’d take the spot, the memory of Mrs. Davis chatting with the older girl instead of watching the end of her routine… Maybe Aude’s right.

  “Hey, I have an idea!” Aude smiles at Maddie. “I could talk to Mrs. Davis, just like casually mention that you and I are friends or something.”

  “What good would that do?”

  “Jackie was the captain for two years, and Mrs. Davis loves me. If it really is political, I mean, it can’t hurt. And—ooh ooh ooh! I could say Jackie saw you dance, and told me you reminded her of her, back in high school!”

  Maddie gulps. “No, I’d rather win or lose based on like my actual talent. I don’t wanna cheat.”

  “But it isn’t cheating!” Aude puts a hand on Maddie’s arm. “You’re just using your resources!”

  Maddie blinks. “Using their resources” is the girls’ euphemism for cheating. Get the answers for a test from a friend who had the class last year? Well, it’s okay to take a peek, you’re just using your resources! Find the teacher’s version of the textbook online? Just using your resources! “No thanks. Really, thanks for the offer, but I couldn’t.”

  “Okay.” Aude lets the issue drop. “Well, I should get home. See you all tomorrow.”

  “Bye!” Maddie hugs her friend, but Kate only gives a curt nod, her eyes still on the television.

  “Love you,” Aude says, looking a little confused. “Take care.”

  “Yup. See you.” Kate’s lips twist in a small smile.

  The moment Audrey’s gone, Maddies turn to Kate expectantly. “Um, what was that?”

  “What was what?”

  “You hardly said a word to Aude, the whole time she was here. And you just like, almost ignored her. What’s going on?”

  Kate grabs the clicker and turns the TV off. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But you have to promise not to tell Aude.”

  “I promise.”

  Kate relays what happened with Sean. “And it’s horrible, because I know I shouldn’t blame her for what he said, and that he was high and may not have even known what he was saying, but—“ she sighs “—I can’t help how I feel!”

  “Oh, Kate.” Maddie leans over to give her friend a hug. “That’s horrible. But you should be mad at Sean, not Aude. If he really meant what he said, he’s an idiot.”

  “He is?”

  “Of course. I love Aude to death, so don’t tell her I said this, but you’re so much better put together. Like, as a person.”

  Kate sniffles. “Thank you.”

  Chapter Seven

  “I’m sorry I’ve been sorta bitchy all week.”

  “Oh, it’s alright.” Aude frowns at Kate’s closet. “We all have our days. Do you still have that pink top? The one with the tears on the shoulders?”

  “Yeah, I think it’s in the back. But listen, I really am sorry.”

  Aude turns to look Kate in the eye. “It’s no big deal. Really.”

  Kate glances away. It was to her. “Okay, thanks.”

  Audrey finds the top and matches it with a pair of cropped shorts. “Are you excited for student council?”

  “Yeah, I guess. You know Amanda’s just gonna win again—“

  “And Maddie will be crushed, like she is every year. Yup. But it’ll be fun to hang out with everyone.”

  Kate laughs. “I already hang out with everyone from student council th
at I actually like.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But there are a few people I wouldn’t mind catching up with. Anyway, are you going to the soccer game after?”

  “Probably.” Not like I have anything better to do, Kate thinks with a sigh. The two girls finish getting ready and head to school.

  Hannah’s already at their before-school spot, her arms wrapped around a tall, blond boy who is definitely not Devon Rose.

  Kate fakes a cough. “Hey, Hannah.”

  “Oh, hey guys. What’s up?”

  Kate raises her eyebrows. Okay, go on and pretend like nothing’s wrong, Hannah. “Not much. How about you?”

  “I’m good. Great, actually.” Hannah puts a hand on her beau’s back. “Kate, Aude, this is Nate. My new boyfriend.”

  “But you’ve been dating Devon.” Kate frowns. “For like, a month.”

  “Yeah, well—“ Hannah shrugs “—he’s kind of a creep. Nate’s, uh, nicer.”

  Yeah, much nicer. Nate’s shirt clings tightly to a refined chest, and his bright blue eyes lend his features the sort of classical handsomeness Kate always pictures when she writes love poems. “Well, uh, nice to meet you Nate.”

  “Nice to meet you!” Aude echoes.

  Nate smiles. “Nice to meet you, too. Well, I’ll see you around, Hannah.”

  Hannah shares a giddy smile with her friends once he’s disappeared around a corner. “Isn’t he sooo dreamy?”

  “Yeah,” Kate says.

  “Oh my gosh, tell us all about him!” Audrey coos. “Like, how did you two meet?”

  “Cross Country. We’ve known each other for a while. But yesterday, after practice, he came up and asked if I wanted to grab dinner. And of course I said yes, I mean just look at him!”

  Kate looks at her friend, confused. “But then, what happened to Devon?”

  Hannah shrugs. “I dumped him. He was fine with it. He got that we were only together as a temporary thing.”

  So she just needed someone to fill the gap between real boyfriends. Hannah is very proud of the fact that, since freshman year, she has never been single. Despite about seven break-ups. “Well, I’m happy for you.”