The Clique (20 page)

              Mr. Silveris frowns and waves the girls over. “You know the period’s almost over, right?”

              “Yeah,” Aude says. “But we had a lot of important stuff to talk about.”

             
We still have a lot of important stuff to talk about
, Kate mentally corrects. Although the conversation with Connor was nice, Kate would have preferred to discuss everything with Aude and be done with it.

              “Hmmm.” Mr. Silveris taps his desk with a pencil. The bell rings. “Okay class! You’re dismissed! Take your essays with you, and finish them over the weekend. I’ll collect them on Friday.” The students, except for Aude and Kate, begin to file out. Mr. Silveris looks at them, the frown leaving his face. “Alright, I’ll mark you as here for the day, as long as you both turn in your essays on Friday. Which reminds me—“ he looks through a mess of papers, retrieves two, and hands them to the girls “—here are your prompts. I know you kiddos will do well.”

              “Thanks!” Kate turns to leave, and so does Aude.

              “Oh, and girls—“ Mr. Silveris flashes a smile “—it’s good to see you back together. I’m glad you patched things up.”

              When it becomes clear that Aude and Kate have made up, Maddie and Hannah immediately switch back to best friend mode. They go out to lunch as one happy group, chat about the Patriots, and seem to forget that there was ever a fight at all. But Kate can’t.

              The passing period bell rings. “Hey Kate. Wanna go to my house again?” Devon smiles; it looks less and less like smirk every day.

              “I dunno.” Kate frowns at the boy. “You told me you saw Aude and Sean together.”

              “Yup. Why?”

              “Well, they weren’t having sex… Aude actually got a doctor to prove that she was still a virgin.”

              “Oh.” Devon doesn’t look surprised by the news. “I’m sorry, Kate. I thought that was what I saw. Well, I guess I understand if you don’t wanna hang out with me, then.”

              “No, it’s okay.” Kate sighs. “You were just trying to help. I know.” She follows Devon down the sidewalk towards his house. “What am I gonna tell her, though?”

              “About what?”

              “About that video. Who did you send it to?”

              Devon shrugs. “Her parents and Gabe. And…” He shakes his head, as if deciding he doesn’t want to tell Kate. “Just them. I swear.”

              Aude’s parents were the ones who demanded that virginity test. Kate’s almost sure of it; Aude’s father would be crazy enough to suggest something so medieval. Maybe because of the video. But no, that wouldn’t be enough. Would it?

             
Devon touches Kate’s hand. “Hey, you okay?”

              “Yeah. No. I guess.” Kate frowns. “I dunno, how am I gonna tell her? She told me how horrible that test was, and it was all my fault that she had to take it.”

              “I don’t think so.” Devon unlocks his front door and pushes it open. “Look, all we did was show Aude’s parents how she really is. You can’t take the blame for their reaction.” He pauses in the foyer. “I don’t think you should tell her about the video, actually.”

              “Why not?”

              Devon starts walking again, headed for the kitchen. “’Cause it’s in the past, Kate. She did what she did, you had your revenge, and now you two are friends again.”

              “But she didn’t do what I thought,” Kate argues.

              “Well, she still kissed your boyfriend. I don’t think taking one stupid video is any worse than that.” He pops open a soda. “Look, it’s simple. If she asks, say it wasn’t you. And if she doesn’t, don’t mention it. If you do, it’ll only cause another rift between you two.”

              “So you’re saying I should lie to her?”

              Devon smirks. “Deny till you die, Kate. You didn’t have a problem lying before.”

              Kate takes a seat at the breakfast bar. “I know, but that was when I thought she—I dunno, kissing my boyfriend doesn’t seem as bad. Especially if I believe her explanation.”

              “What explanation?”

              “She said Sean wanted to break up with me for her, but he promised not to if she kissed him.”

              Devon laughs. “What? That’s ridiculous. You actually believe that?”

              “Yeah. I guess I do. I thought she was lying before, and I was wrong. And there isn’t really any reason for her to lie to me. Right?”

              “Except that she wants to be let off the hook entirely.” Devon shakes his head. “I know Sean. We have the same gym class. That just doesn’t sound like something he’d do. And besides—“ he lifts Kate’s chin with a clammy hand “—who would ever break up with you?”

              Something about the look on his face makes Kate shiver.
He’s a creep,
she remembers.
He puts pictures of me on his wall.
“Uh, thanks,” she mumbles. “I just remembered, group project for Lit. I’ve gotta go.” Kate scrambles out of the house, pausing only long enough to retrieve her bag.

“Hey Kate, you wanna come with me? I want to talk to you about something.” Aude gestures to her car as the girls head out for lunch.

              “Uh, yeah, okay.”

              Aude troops up the parking lot, unlocks her doors, and climbs into the driver’s seat. She waits for Kate to close her door before speaking. “So, Gabe and I had dinner at my parents’ house.”

              “Oh, cool.”

             
“Yeah. And I just wanted to kind of get your opinion on something he said.” Aude turns the engine over and shifts into reverse, nearly hitting a red car before flipping to drive and turning onto Larkspur. “His sister’s boyfriend broke up with her, and I guess he said a lot of really mean things. So Gabe, uh, hit him.”

              Kate raises her eyebrows. “Why are you telling me?”

             
“Well, it was just weird, ‘cause he kept apologizing to me.” Aude glances at her friend. “Why would he apologize?”

              “Maybe he wanted to apologize to the boy, but he knew he shouldn’t.”

              “Hmmm... I dunno, that doesn’t seem right.”
Aude takes a sharp right, her car tires sliding a little on wet asphalt. “I just feel like it was something else.”

              “Like what?”

              “I don’t know. But it wasn’t like a generic apology. He was definitely apologizing to
me.”

              “Could be he knows you don’t like violence,” Kate suggests.

              “Yeah, I guess that could be it.” Aude frowns as she considers the possibility. She stops at a stoplight. “He was
really
apologizing… I guess I have a hard time seeing him being that sorry for telling me he hit someone.”

              “Yeah, I guess it’s a bit of a stretch. Maybe you should ask him?”

              “Maybe.” Aude agrees. She turns into the Wendy’s parking lot. “Well, here we are.” Aude finds a spot next to Maddie’s car and pulls in. The two girls head inside, order, and sit with their friends while they wait for their food.

              “Dom’s here.” Maddie grimaces and points to a large group of boys. “I really hope he doesn’t come over.” She steals a fry from Hannah’s tray.

              “Me too,” Aude agrees. “Don’t worry, I’ll kick him in the shins if he tries to come over.”

              Maddie giggles. “Good idea.”

              “Ninety-seven, ninety-eight!” the cashier calls out. Aude and Kate check their receipts, and pick up the food. “Oh crap, he’s coming over,” Aude whispers to Kate. “Look.”

              Dom takes the seat Aude just vacated and starts to talk to Maddie. Her expression changes from disinterested to angry. Aude and Kate take an extra-long time to fill their drinks, but still return in time to catch the last snippets of conversation.

              “I’m not interested! I’ve never been interested, and I never will be! So can you please just leave us alone?” She sounds pissed.

Aude tries to glare at Dom as well, but he leaves without looking at her. Aude sits down; she can already hear Dom’s friends making fun of him. “That wasn’t very nice.”

              “Yeah, well—“ Maddie scowls “—I tried to be polite, and he just wouldn’t go away. And I’m under a lot of stress.”

             
Stress? What stress?
Aude has trouble making sense of the comment. “I get it, I don’t really like Dom either… But still, you could’ve been nicer.”

              “Uh huh.” Maddie’s scowl deepens; she tears the end off of a fry.

              Mercifully, Hannah changes the subject. “One more week till your birthday, Aude. Any plans?”

              Aude shrugs. “Not really. I’m not even sure my parents will let me do anything. I mean, I’m not grounded anymore, but they wouldn’t let me go out with Gabe last night. I had to invite him over.”

              “Oh. I kinda thought, after the test—“ Hannah frowns “—whatever. If they don’t let you go out, we’ll just party at your place.”

              Aude laughs. “That would be great. Can you imagine how my parents would react?” She imitates her father’s voice, “’Audrey, your sisters would never have hosted a kegger and wrecked the house. That lamp cost eight thousand dollars.’”

              “Yeah, your dad would probably kick you out. I’d let you stay with me though.”

              “Thanks, but if I got kicked out I think I’d stay with Kate. She has all my clothes.”

              Hannah smiles. “Maybe, but I have a guest house and fresh pancakes every morning. My parents wouldn’t even know you were there, and my nanny’s super cool.”

              Aude sets her barely-eaten burger back down. “Hmm, tempting. Maybe we should hold off on the
if-I-get-kicked-out plans for now, though. I mean, I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

              “Your loss.” Hannah cracks her neck. “Well, it looks like the boys are leaving. What time is it, Aude?”

              “Uh, about fifteen minutes till the end of the period.” Aude turns in her chair. Dom looks hurt, depressed.
She almost walks over to comfort him, before remembering the way he acted at Chili’s.

              Aude and Kate head back to school, returning several minutes before the end of the period. They decide to hang out in the front courtyard until it’s over.

              “Hey, there’s Sean.”

              Aude follows Kate’s eyes to the entrance. She can see Sean gulp and start to turn around. “Did you ever actually break up with him?” she asks.

              Kate shakes her head. “No. I never really—I guess I didn’t want to admit that it was over.”

              “But it’s over now?”

              “Oh, it’s definitely over.”

              Aude smiles. “Then you should make it official. Wave Connor’s number in his stupid face.”

              “Wanna come with me?” Kate frowns. “I could use the moral support.”

              “Sure.” Aude follows her friend as they track Sean down. They find him in the library, sitting alone at one of the wooden tables and pretending to study something.

              “So,” Kate says, taking a seat across from him. “You tried to cheat on me. And then you lied about it.”

              “Huh?” Sean looks up from his book. “Oh… Listen, it wasn’t my—“

              “No,
you
listen. In case it wasn’t obvious, we’re through. Don’t even bother saying hi in the hallways.” Kate scowls. “You’re just a horrible person, and I never want anything to do with you. Ever again.” And just like that, she stands back up.

              “Honeybuns… It wasn’t my fault. I let one of my friends get into my head and—“

              “I don’t wanna hear your excuses.”

              “Well, maybe you should!” Sean rises to his feet. “I know I was being stupid and terrible and whatever else, okay! But I’m sorry!” He glances to Aude. “I’m sorry.”

              “Apology not accepted,” Kate hisses. “Come on, Aude. Let’s go.”

              “Okay.” Aude follows her friend out into the hall. The bell for next hour rings, but she ignores it.

              “I can’t believe him!” Kate rants. “How dare he—how dare he—“

              “Apologize?” Aude sighs. “Look, I know it probably wasn’t fun. But at least it’s over, right? Officially over.” She tugs on Kate’s wrist to get her to stop walking. “Are you okay?”

              Kate turns to face her, and Aude can see the hint of tears in her eyes. “How can he still make me like this? I’m done with him. We’re over!”

              “I know, Kate. You’re over.” Aude puts a hand on her shoulder. “But that doesn’t mean you can just turn off the feelings you had for him. If you want my advice, go out with Connor, have fun, forget everything with Sean ever happened. Just move on.”