The Clique (13 page)

              “Goaaaaaaaal!” the announcer yells. “He shoots, he scores! He nudges the ball past the goalie, and that’s all she wrote! Victory for the Patriots!” On the field, the ref’s whistle blows.

              Aude looks at Kate and smiles. “Well, that should cheer Gabe up. Come on, let’s go meet them.”

              “Actually, you wanna go get ice cream? With Sean and Gabe, of course.”

              “Uh, yeah, okay. I have to ask Gabe if he’s fine with that... But I’m sure he will be.”

              They follow the George Washington bus back to school; Aude parks between Gabe and Sean’s cars.

              “Hey, babe.” Gabe’s wearing his letter jacket; it looks a little big even on him.

              “Hey! So—I know you didn’t want to last time, but—“

              “Ice cream?” Gabe finishes.

              “Yeah.” Aude looks down. “Only if you really want to, though.”

              “Sounds good. You coming Kate?”

              “Yeah, once Sean gets here. We can carpool.” Sean’s striding up the inclined lot, a few feet away from the group.

              “Hey Sean,” Kate says. “We’re gonna get ice cream. Wanna come?”

              “Uh, fine.”

              “Great.” Aude pulls out her key. “I’ll drive!” They pile into her car. Kate tries to maneuver Sean to the front, but Aude insists on letting her ride shotgun. Gabe complains loudly about his legroom, and after a short discussion Kate ends up riding with Sean in a separate car. Another five minutes takes them to Baskin Robbins.

              “Ladies first.” Gabe holds the door open for Aude and Kate.

              Kate holds back, recognizing her chance. “Sean, you go ahead. I have to talk to Gabe about, uh, something.”

              “Okay.” Sean follows Aude in the store.

              “So, um, Aude’s birthday is in a couple weeks—“ Kate watches Aude order “—and I was thinking we could plan, like, a surprise party or something.”

              “She always celebrates with her family, though,” Gabe protests.

              “Yeah, I know. But it doesn’t have to be the same exact day as her birthday.”
Look at that!
Kate scowls. Aude won’t even look at him. Sean waits by the start of the line while she orders. He watches her intently.

              Gabe clears his throat. “Are you gonna go inside?”

              “Yeah, sorry.” Kate enters and walks up to where Sean’s waiting. She puts an arm on his shoulder and he jumps.

              “Whoa! Hey, honeybuns. What’s fun?”

              “Sean, I have something I wanted to ask you.” Sean raises an eyebrow at the abrupt change of plans, but Kate can’t wait any longer. She has to find out the truth. “Can we, um, go outside for a second?”

              “What? We just got here. Can’t we at least order first?”

              “Fine.” Sean gets a milkshake, and Kate a small cone. She makes a quick excuse to Aude and Gabe, and then heads outside. Sean follows her to a small metal table.

              “You have been acting sooo weird today, Kate. Are you alright?”

              Kate frowns at the interlacing pattern of the table. “No. Devon told me something, just before we went to lunch. He told me he saw you and Aude, at Nate’s party—“

              “Oh, Kate…“ Sean’s face is flushed “It was a one-time thing, I promise.”

              If it were possible for hearts to drop out of chests, Kate’s would be on the floor. “That doesn’t—I don’t—I just wanna go home.”

              “Please, I can explain.”

              “Take. Me. Home.”

              Aude rushes to the door when they get up. “Wait, where are you guys going?”

              Kate glares at her.
I have nothing to say to you. Bitch.

Maddie’s phone rings as she walks along the halls to her next class. She presses the answer call button and brings it to her ear. “Hello?”

              “Maddie?” the voice sounds like her mother. But it can’t be. She hasn’t even sent a text in over a month.

              “M-mom?”

              “Hey, Maddie. How are you?”

              Maddie ducks into an alcove at the base of the stairs. “I’m, uh—I’m good.”

              “That’s good. I’m glad to hear that.”

              After a pause, Maddie allows herself to say, “I’ve missed you, Mom. So much.” After feeling forsaken by her mother, the sound of her voice is enough to bring tears to Maddie’s eyes

              “I missed you, too. I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you before I left.”

              “Yeah. But it’s okay.” Maddie would love nothing more than to tell her to shove it, to yell at her mom for abandoning her and her father, but she can’t bring herself to do it. With a gulp, she realizes that she would do anything to keep the conversation going.

              Maddie feels a tap on her back. She holds up a hand to wave the intruder away.

             
“Mrs. Smith! It’s Devon!” Maddie turns to the voice; sure enough, Devon’s smirking at her. A wide, lopsided smirk that seems to say
I know what’s going on here. You don’t, but I do.

             
“Oh, Devon! I love that boy!” Her mom says. “What a fantastic young man!”

              “You know him?” Maddie throws Devon a questioning look.

              “Of course, honey. His father and I work together. Or, we will be working together. I got a part in a new movie!”

              “That’s, um—what?” Maddie takes a step back, wondering what’s going on.

             
Devon reaches out, and before Maddie can figure out what he’s doing, pulls her phone out of her hand. “I’m very sorry, Mrs. Smith, but your daughter and I have some work to do. School project, you know.”

              “Oh, yes, I understand.”

              Maddie gapes at Devon as he presses the red end call button. “I think you and I have a lot to discuss. Come with me.” He leads her through a back door, out to a patch of grass where Maddie can see about fifty feet in any direction.

              “What the fuck was that, Devon?” Maddie asks.

              He shrugs. “A call from your mother.” A pause, then, “Who you haven’t heard from in a while. I thought you might like talking with her.”

              “Then why’d you hang up!”

              The lopsided smirk finds its way back to Devon’s face. “Because nothing in this world is free, Madison.”

              “Huh?”

              “You felt inadequate. Not good enough for the Patriots, not good enough to win the Student Council election. That would’ve been alright, though, if it wasn’t for the biggest slap in the face: your mom wouldn’t even talk to you. Not since she ran off to become an actress. That was the ultimate ‘not good enough.’” He shields his eyes against the sun. “What if I told you I could fix everything? Get your mother to talk to you again, give you your spot on the Patriots, help you eliminate that horrible vice in front of president?”

             
He’s like a freaking villain,
Maddie thinks.
From one of those old Westerns Dad likes.
“And in return…?”

              “In return, you help me work out my own ‘not good enough.’ Your friend, Audrey? I just want to be good enough for her.”

              “And how can I help with that?”

              Devon’s brown eyes light up. “A couple of things. Completely innocent. First, I just want to know about her. What you guys talk about before school, after school, what kind of things she likes, anything interesting going on—“

              “So you want me to spy on her?”

              Devon turns his gaze to the ground. With a sad smile on his face, he looks almost human.
“I just need some help, Madison. You know I couldn’t ever win her over, as I am. For fuck’s sake, just look at me.” He spreads his arms out. “I know what you see—pale, weak. I’m no Gabriel. But if I had an advantage… Please. Please, Madison.”

              “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

              “Even if it meant getting your mom back?” Devon glances at her phone, still in his hand. “I could do that, make her come back into your life.”

              Maddie sighs. He’s found the one offer she can’t turn down, and they both know it. “How?”

“Who do you think arranged that call just now? All it took was one phone call to my dad, and one with your mother. She
really
wants to be an actress.”

“An actress…” Maddie gulps. For her mother. Aude would understand. She’d probably even tell Maddie to take the deal, if she were there. “Alright. I’ll help you.”

              He smirks. “Thank you. And one more thing. I need you to tell Kate that you saw Aude and Sean having sex at Nate’s party.”

              Maddie wrinkles her nose in disgust. “I’m not gonna lie for you, Devon.” She starts to walk away.

              “It’s not a lie. I saw them!” When Maddie keeps walking, he adds, “I guess neither of us is ever gonna be good enough. I could fix everything for you, you know, and all I want is some help.”

              “No, you want me to make a deal with the devil!” She slows to a stop, and turns back to look at him.

              Devon looks hurt. “I’m not the devil. But yes, this is a deal. I give you what you want—whatever you want—and you help me get what I want. I can’t sleep at night without her. All I wanna do is give Aude the world, Madison. Is that so bad?”

              Maddie swallows. “How could you do
any
of what you’re promising?”

              “I already told you about your mom... As for the other things—well, let’s just say I know a few secrets. Secrets that Amanda doesn’t want anyone to find out about, and a particularly juicy secret that will get Bella kicked off the Patriots.” He looks at Maddie. “I really did see Aude and Sean doing what I said, and I tried to tell Kate, but she wouldn’t believe me.”

              Yeah, right. Maddie knows she shouldn’t believe him, but—if he’s telling the truth, that makes everything okay. If he’s telling the truth, Kate needs to know. Framing it that way makes the decision easier. “Okay.”

              “Okay? You’re in?”

              Maddie glances at the ground, then back up to Devon. “You swear that you really saw Sean and Aude together?”

              Devon gestures to the sky. “If I’m lying, may God strike me down.”

              “Alright. Then I guess I’m in.”

              “Great! Here’s your phone back. I added myself as a contact. I’ll text you the number to reach your mom. And, uh, when you tell Kate, mention that we were both waiting to get in at the same time. Otherwise it just seems suspicious.”

              “Okay.” Maddie’s leaves for her second hour class. She arrives nearly ten minutes late.

“Glad you finally decided to join us,” the teacher jokes.

              “Sorry.” Maddie takes her seat right next to Aude, wondering if she knows what’s going on.

             
Aude grins. “Hey Maddie!”

              So that would be a no. “You seem, uh—“ Wait a second, why’s she wearing that hideous skirt? And that top? “Aude, why are you dressed like that?”

              Audrey tucks her hair behind an ear. “Kate and I are having a thing. She wouldn’t let me borrow any clothes this morning.”

              “Oh? What’s wrong?”

             
“I have a theory, but it’s hard to know for sure.” Aude’s grin disappears. “She wasn’t even talking to me. It’s okay, though. I’ll apologize for whatever I did wrong, and she’ll forgive me.”

              Maddie has a brief mental argument. It would be so easy to tell her friend what Devon said, but she’d lose her mom again... “Well I’m sorry. We can go to my house fourth hour, if you want. I have a lot of extra clothes.”

              “Thanks.”

              They meet up again at fourth period, find Aude a long, baby-blue shirt and pair of black yoga pants, and head out to lunch without Kate, who stays behind to “study.” Aude still seems perfectly happy.

             
Maddie has trouble working up the nerve to talk to Kate. Fourth hour slips by, then fifth, then school is over, and finally Student Council brings a chance for her to fulfill her end of the bargain. But Kate never comes.

              She just wants to get it over with.
It isn’t even a lie,
Maddie reasons.
Well, more like a white lie.
Devon saw Aude and Sean. All she has to do is pretend she did too. It shouldn’t be so hard, but for the fiftieth time that day, Maddie almost texts Devon to tell him that she can’t go through with his plan. But then Maddie sees the recent call from her mother, and like a drug addict, remembers she would do anything for another conversation, no matter how short. She heads over to Kate’s house and rings the doorbell.