chapter o3.

There was a knock at Landon's door, waking him from his daze. He was currently reading an unabridged copy of Les Miserables for his French AP course, not that he would ever actually study for a class, he just needed something to kill the time.

"Come in," he said, smoothing down the scarf on his neck. He watched as the doorknob twisted slowly, the door pushed open with the energy of none other than Dylan Marvil.

"Thanks for coming to greet me," She said, her wild mane of red hair bouncing as she slammed the door shut behind her; she was wearing her pajamas. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, he smirked slightly. "I thought we were friends, but you didn't even text me when you got here."

"Apologies, madame, I have other things to worry about." He sat up and kicked his legs up on the coffee table in front of him. "Besides, you're not Nikki and I'm not Josh - therefore I am not your bitch."

Dylan snorted.

"Fine." She made her way over and sat down next to him, throwing her arms around him and then proceeded to bury her face annoyingly into his shoulder. "What are you even doing?" She asked, her voice muffled. Landon rolled his eyes, he could have asked her the same question.

"I was reading, but you interrupted me."

"Shut up," she let go of him and then reclined into the arm of the sofa. "Where's Dempsey?" She asked, wagging her eyebrows. Dylan had an obnoxiously obvious crush on him - the only reminder she was actually a girl (well, that and her rather hard to ignore boobs).

"He went out, probably to find Carrie, you know, his girlfriend." Landon was satisfied with Dylan's grimace, always happy to make people unhappy. He was always the giver of vitriol, he didn't mind - someone had to do it. Besides, the faster he snapped Dylan out of her stupid, little crush, the sooner she'd stop forcing them to hang out solely in his dorm room.

"She's such a tart. I mean, she's not even popular." At that, Landon laughed loudly, getting up and walking over to his bookshelf to put his novel away - who was he kidding? He'd probably just cheat off of his desk partner or pay someone to switch tests with him.

"What are we, thirteen? Carrie is hot and you're starting to sound like Massie Block." Landon leaned against his bookshelf and watched Dylan pick at her nails, "don't do that on my couch." He said, undoing his scarf and twisting it back together.

"You're such a fucking asshole...do you think I could ask Massie to break them up? Dempsey's too good for Carrie. Which reminds me, apparently she and Nikki are roommates this year. Serves her right." Dylan braided her hair to one side, pulling away the hair that had been clouding her face. Landon had noticed, quite some time ago, that Dylan always had to be doing something. She was always fidgeting or moving around and distracting herself from having a normal, steady conversation. He didn't mind though, not that he would tell her that. He always thought it was a testament to their friendship, the fact that he was always so poised and she was never sitting still, they were really able to put up with each other, no matter their differences.

He almost shook his head, he was becoming as lame and sappy as Josh. But it was true, Dylan was - unfortunately - one of his best friends. He assumed that was his own fault, he was after all the only guy she really acted like a girl with, mostly because he humored her and let her talk to him about her melodramatics.

"Serves who right? Nikki or Becca?"

"Hm, both I guess." Dylan shrugged and then tied the ends of her hair together with a burgundy hair tie that, as she had complained time and time again, was the closest she could find to match her hair color.

"Both? Do you hate Nikki or something?" Landon asked teasingly. He knew Dylan's reasons for her dislike of Nikki, but it was always funny to get Dylan riled up about it.

"You know this already, I don't hate her. I personally just think that she could try a hell of a lot harder to be nice. It doesn't take that fucking much to make it happen. I think she's cool and right on! for her to do whatever the fuck she wants but she's not above anyone. She could also be a lot more considerate, her nasty ass cigarette fumes clog up every room she's in, the only person who doesn't mind is Cam and that's because he thinks it's hot and that's only because he's a smoker himself - which is disgusting by the way."

Landon raised his eyebrows, "Interesting...are you going over to Massie's tonight?"

"For her exclusive sleepover?" Dylan snorted again, "please, yeah right. It's just Alicia, Massie and Kristen anyway - the Unholy Trinity. Besides, I thought we're playing drunk Twister in Derrick's and Cam's room?" She got up and stretched.

"Ah, I almost forgot. What a thrilling experience, a bunch of boys getting wasted together, only to fall on top of one another minutes later in the heat of one of the most sexual children's games ever created. I think I'll pass." Landon yawned. "You guys are getting more and more boring as the days go by."

"Excuse me? I'm a girl-"

"You know what I meant-"

"Just come anyway, it'll be funny...what is this?" She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at the painting Landon had paid his housekeeper's daughter to make for him. If he didn't get an A+ on that, someone would be getting fired. He tightened his scarf and grinned.

"I haven't showed you yet?"

The hot breeze pushed Cam's hair up and then dropped it, as if it were teasing him. He frowned, he felt as if the start of the year was rather anti-climactic, but that's how it always was here. There wasn't really much you could do on campus and with classes starting the next day no one dared throw a rager; it was disappointing but Cam was too lazy to be the one to do what had to be done and throw a party.

His phone buzzed but he ignored it, continuing his walk through the campus, quietly scanning over all that he had been away from the past three months. Goldenrod was home in some ways that his own home wasn't. He tried to rack his brain and remember the last time he had really lived at home. Perhaps when he was in elementary school, back in the fifth grade when he was ten years old and was scared to leave home. Now he was always going from one vacation home to the next - at least it wasn't dull.

His phone buzzed again, rolling his eyes, he took it out of his pocket, staring momentarily at the picture that came up. It was Derrick, maybe in the eighth grade, pretending to do lines of Pixie Sticks - it never failed to amuse Cam. "What?"

"Ow, harsh, man."

"Oh, I'm sorry," his deep voice rumbled through the phone, "Good evening, Mr. Harrington, what can I do for you today?"

"Can you come to Massie's room?" Derrick asked hurriedly. Cam stopped walking, quirking an eyebrow up in confusion. Derrick sounded like he was borderline panicking.

"I'm not really into threesomes with two guys man, sorry. Besides, you're like my broth-"

"You're not being funny," Derrick said, through what sounded like gritted teeth. "Just do me a solid, come up here." Cam made a show of sighing loudly, it wasn't actually like he had anything better to do. He had just been taking a stroll through campus, winking at girls and pretending to care about people who came up to greet him and ask him how his summer was. Plus, he'd only seen Derrick briefly since he had run off to the library in search of Massie right after he had thrown all of his things unceremoniously in their room. Cam had been left with the task putting all of Derrick's things away, and by all of his things he meant everything. Condom boxes, underwear - the whole deal. Sometimes it sickened Cam how close they were, but neither of them really mentioned it to anyone else; the damage it would do if people found out was kind of horrifying.

"I'll be there in five minutes. When I walk in, your fucking pants better be on your body."

The walk to the Layton girls' dorms took Cam less than two minutes, he had been wandering nearby anyway. Layton was one of the two "honors" halls, but really it was for the people who were paying more and actually mattered (ex. they were legacies because they had family who were alumni, their parents were donating a ton, they or their family members were famous, sometimes if you were exceptionally brilliant, etc.), the other such dorm were the Bentley boys' dorms.

Cam had to get through this stupid garden, that he absolutely loathed, to get to the actual front of the Layton dormitory. It was filled with those stupid arches and lots of plants with placards explaining their origins and importance, and what seemed like thousands of butterflies fluttering through the whole damn place - it was basically Cam's nightmare. A large fountain stood right in front of the steps to Layton, spewing fresh water that was changed every other day, very similar to the one in front of Bentley.

Entering the building Cam reminded himself that next time he'd enter from the side, where there wouldn't be any greenery poking at him. He was immediately hit with the scent of jasmine when he got inside. Similar to Bentley, the double, winding staircases were lined with pictures of alumni and a large crystal chandelier was positioned directly above the marble floors. In the large foyer was a check-in desk (he smirked remembering that he had once hooked up with Ahnna, the receptionist) and bouquets of freshly picked flowers sat at the center table. On either side was an aquarium with colorful fish and tables with activities to do in the surrounding area. Bentley's front foyer just had a table with a big terrarium, but similar fish tanks did line the walls. In general, Bentley was a lot more minimal in comparison.

He took the stairs up two flights, passing giggling girls who called after him and stopped him to flirt. It ended up taking him seven minutes to get to Massie's and Kristen's room, rather than the original five he had promised.

He didn't spend too much time in room 327, that was more of Derrick's hiding place. While Cam too had been friends with Massie for much of his life, he didn't really find her dorm to be a sanctuary, mainly because of who her roommate was. Massie was one type of evil, but Kristen? Kristen was the devil.

He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the door before knocking, "it's Cam." He looked around, the halls weren't as crowded as he imagined they had been that morning, with parents and movers running in and out and with girls greeting each other after a summer apart.

There was a pregnant pause before loud laughter erupted from the other side, someone giggled, "I'll get it! I'll get it!"

The door opened and standing in its wake was Kristen, hair messy and donning a lopsided smile on her face. She was clearly a little drunk and the wine bottle in her hand confirmed Cam's assumption. She was wearing a loose white camisole slip dress, with a thin pendent on her neck, something everyone had been told time and time again that her boyfriend Griffin had given her. Her face was flushed at the apples of her cheeks and her grey-blue eyes were brighter than usual.

Cam was speechless.

"Don't be a stranger, come in, Cammie," she giggled again, grabbing his hand and tugging him inside, shutting the door with her foot. She tripped and Cam grabbed her, "I've been drinking," she whispered loudly, "shhh."

"Really? I wasn't able to tell." He smirked at her and she laughed, yanking him and then pushing him on the ground next to Derrick. Derrick looked at him apologetically. "She's fun when she's drunk." Cam nodded to Kristen, Derrick smiled.

The TV was playing that dumb movie Clueless in the background; Massie adored it when they were younger and would always insist they watch it.

Cam surveyed the people in the room. There was Alicia, who was sitting on the couch and smiling to herself, looking utterly blissful with a joint in her hand. Then there was Massie who looked a little sick, her bottle of wine had barely been touched. Massie smiled at Cam but it didn't seem to reach her eyes, he decided that he'd rather not ask. Besides, when did she smile as a greeting? It was usually all abrasiveness and bluntness with that girl. Then, he noticed (he almost hadn't) that the girl who had walked in on him and Alicia earlier that morning was sitting on the other side of Derrick, an almost empty wine glass in her hand. She looked out of place in Kristen's and Massie's glamorous room - it was almost comical.

"What was your name again?" Cam leaned over and asked, the girl looked up from her cup, startled.

"Her name is Allie-Rose." Massie said frigidly, "and apparently it was somehow relayed to her that it was okay to show up to my room without an invitation." Massie turned to look out the window. Someone was pissed.

Allie-Rose struggled under Cam's gaze, refusing to meet his eyes.

Kristen chimed in, "she's Alicia's roommate and Derrick's fraaaaaand." She laughed again.

"She's your what?" Cam asked, turning to Derrick. Derrick raised his arms and stretched them, then pushed his sleeves up. Cam waited patiently, it was just something you had to do with Derrick who always took his own sweet, goddamn time.

"We met at that summit thing I went to in London last summer," Derrick answered, he looked Cam directly in the eye and raised his eyebrows slightly - Cam took it to mean that Derrick had clearly hooked up with this girl. He wasn't really surprised. The look also insinuated that Derrick would explain the entire situation later.

"It was for debate...I think." Allie-Rose commented. From the way she was sitting next to Derrick it seemed as if she were entirely comfortable with him. Cam took note of it to bring up later.

"Sounds exciting."

"Speaking of exciting," Derrick said loudly, changing the subject, "I ran into a lover of yours in the library. A certain Ms. Layne Abeley. She tried to make me return your underwear to you."

Cam chuckled, "she's hilarious."

"You hooked up with her?" Alicia asked curiously. Alicia and Cam hooked up whenever they were bored, it was never anything serious and neither of them were particularly attached, it was fun, to say the least. "I thought we were together this morning?" A crease appeared in between her brows, and her usually articulate voice, with it's thick accent, was softer (no doubt due to the pot).

"I hooked up with her last semester. She's probably still not over it." Cam shrugged jokingly (well, he was partially joking) and Derrick rolled his eyes.

Kristen clicked her tongue, "You hook up a lot," She jabbed a finger at his chest, he touched where she had poked him - it had surprisingly hurt. "Have you ever thought of just having a girlfriend? It's nice." She slurred.

"You've had a girlfriend?" Cam queried. He was mainly just provoking her.

"Noooo," she continued her giggling, "I mean a re-la-tion-ship," she said slowly. "It's like having a fuck-buddy who also hangs out with you." Cam's face was probably showing complete disbelief. He turned to see if Derrick was listening but he was talking to Allie. Massie was still staring off into the distance like a psychopath and Alicia was back to smiling at the wall.

"You know what's better than that?" Kristen shook her head 'no' and leaned forward in curiosity. "A fuck-buddy. A regular, run-of-the-mill, fuck-buddy."

Kristen pouted and Cam stared at her lips, she licked the wine off of them and then sat back. He'd always found her to be attractive, but the way she hated him was a turn-off. "We don't really hang out a lot." She said, drinking more of her wine. She ran her fingers through her hair, but her hair simply fell back into her face.

"We don't," Cam agreed. She looked up at the clump of hair that had fallen into her face and blew it upward, making it float before it came back down. She looked annoyed, Cam grinned. She then turned her attention back on him, smiling bashfully.

"Let's change that," she winked at him and then laughed, laying down on the carpet. He tried to remind himself that Kristen was venomous and hated him with every fiber of her being, but inebriated Kristen was a completely different story. She was funny. Her foot then hit him in the neck, for the most part.

"Griffin, you're being pretentious." Layne said loudly.

"How? I'm just expressing myself! Claire's expressing herself and drawing right now, how is that not pretentious?" Griffin retorted. Claire ignored the both of them, trying to find the perfect way to draw the dining hall from where she was seated. It was probably the only building on the entire campus that she hadn't drawn yet. She wanted to do it justice.

"Yeah, but Claire's self-expression isn't making any noise, yours is." Layne made an effort to grab Griffin's guitar but he pulled it away and she ended up landing beside Claire's knee. Claire peered down at her. "It's hot," Layne whined. "Why couldn't we sit inside the cafeteria?"

"For someone who's so in touch with nature, you think you'd be able to eat lunch outside-"

"Insult me one more time and I'll rip your testicles off, you'll look just like a fucking Ken doll down there! Go find your A-List girlfriend and suck her face off like you usually do." Layne shoved him so he teetered before quickly breaking his fall with the palm of his elbow. Claire laughed lightly, and continued the outline of her sketch. She knew what Layne was saying was completely untrue, it rarely ever happened that Griffin and his girlfriend were seen in public together, let alone making out.

Griffin was nice. He wasn't Claire's closest friend but she enjoyed when Layne brought him along, he completed the ragtag group when he was there. He never really bothered Claire either, he minded his own business for the most part, but Layne seemed to bring out the worst in him.

"Wha- why would you say that?" Claire looked up momentarily, she couldn't quite tell if Griffin's face looked red because of the sunlight striking his face or because he was flustered. "We never-"

"Calm down, lover boy." Layne pushed him again, but not as harshly. "Speaking of your girlfriend, where is she?" Layne was twisting her dark hair into a bun, peering at Griffin from beneath her thick glasses. Claire had always found her best friend to be beautiful, she had a very striking beauty, but the type that you could easily overlook if you weren't paying enough attention. Claire adored drawing people like that. The type of people that were discreetly attractive, never wanting to cause too much of a ruckus with their looks, it was that everyday pretty that mattered most.

"She's with her friends," he responded gruffly. At this point, Claire had abandoned all efforts at drawing. Her long, fringe, white dress was no doubt getting stained by the fresh grass, but it was a sacrifice she was all too willing to make. She had tried before to count how many of her clothes had been stained green by Goldenrod's grass, but the current count was...countless.

"Is that a bad thing?" Claire asked, picking up on Griffin's tone. He seemed startled by her and looked up. Claire never really asked questions to be harmful, she never shared the answers or really judged people, it wasn't her place.

"No, I guess it's not...but I d'unno...they're a bunch of assholes, that whole group." Layne laughed raucously, she leaned forward and fist-bumped him, which he responded to without the same enthusiasm. "Shut up, 'Lay."

"I hate that nickname, and you know it." She said, sobering up quickly. "Do you have any weed?" She asked, poking him in the upper arm.

"You yourself just said it was hot, I'm not trying to smoke in this heat." Griffin scowled at her and rolled up the sleeves of his black t-shirt, as if to prove his point.

"It's never too hot for pot," Layne sing-songed, Claire smiled at her. She looked beyond her friend and noticed a flash of red hair nearby, was that her brother? She bit her lip. How could that be possible? Todd was supposed to attend ADD, the private high school near their mother's townhouse in Manhattan. "You two can go smoke, I'll find you later." Claire smiled at them and got up, picking up her things and walking to where she'd seen what looked like either her brother or his doppelganger.

"Are you sure?" Layne had called after her, but Claire didn't respond.

She hurried to the dining hall, where masses of students were filtering in and out. At this point, no one really stared at her or gave her much attention, she was always able to easily slip through the crowds.

"Todd?" She called out, someone whipped around. "Todd?" Seconds later her brother was standing in front of her, his red hair was curling on his forehead and he seemed happier than he had been in a while. It was almost like he had become himself again.

"Hey, Claire!" The crowd was pushing past them, ignoring their presence altogether. "How are you?"

Claire tilted her head, her blonde hair fell to one shoulder as she surveyed him. You wouldn't have been able to tell they were siblings unless you looked at their eyes which were the exact same shade of cornflower blue. "Why are you here?" She asked, her tone never accusatory.

"I go here," he responded, whipping out his ID card to show her and then rocked on the balls of his feet. Claire only stared at him in response, he sighed, "I got mom to agree to send me here. Dad has no clue." The way he said "dad" was almost unbearable. Claire assumed it was because he hadn't use the word in so long, she hadn't much either, come to think of it. It was foreign on his tongue, and it made her shiver.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, holding tightly to her sketchpad, it gave her comfort.

"Because you were with him." He stated simply, she opened her mouth to respond but he cut her off by raising his hand, "I know, you had to stay with him, but you didn't want to, I get it." Todd looked up, avoiding her eye contact.

Claire frowned, when had things become awkward between her and Todd? Todd was once her best friend, the only person that she would be talk to. At the least, he was her baby brother, wasn't that enough? She had always been the one to comfort him when he was injured and the one who read him stories in the night because no one else would. She looked at the faded blue edges of her hair, when had the dye faded? When had everything changed in the blink of an eye, and where was she when it had happened?

"Yo, Todd! They have the best tater tots. Are you coming?" A boy Todd's age with cropped brown hair, that made him look like the child he was, tugged at Todd's arm and Todd finally brought his eyes to Claire's, the same ones on her own face - the eyes that kept them bonded for the rest of their life, whether he liked it or not.

"I have to go, see you around." He turned around and left, leaving Claire alone in the crowd. In that moment she felt utterly hopeless. Was this pain normal for teenagers? Was it just part of The Teenage Experience?

People bumped into her and pushed her from all sides, her only clutch was the sketchpad pressed against her chest.

It was twilight when Kemp realized the weight of the mistake he had just made. Skye Hamilton was stroking his chest and pressing her lips to it. Her lipstick had long since faded and her hair was all pushed to one side.

Maybe if he just shut his eyes she would disappear. Maybe this was all one really bad sex dream that was some kind of fluke and he'd wake up and go to class the next day and joke about it at lunch with his friends.

He was waiting for Chris to walk in and give him a look of utmost surprise with a heavy hint of disgust, but it never happened. He had no clue how to tell Skye that he really wanted nothing to do with her and needed her to get lost - but that just wasn't the type of thing you told a Hamilton. His blood ran cold when he remembered Derrick.

What the fucking hell was Kemp going to tell Derrick? 'Oh, sorry I just banged your step-sister but I have no intention of ever dating her or ever doing anything with her ever again.' That would play out horribly. Derrick and Skye had been step-siblings since they were seven, and it was no Life With Derek situation. No, life with Derrick Harrington was Derrick being constantly annoyed by Skye but being protective of her nonetheless.

For a millisecond he felt it was worth it, but it didn't last.

And oh, what about Kristen? How was he supposed to explain himself to her? She had seen them and had probably gone off and told Massie and Alicia. He wanted to vomit or jump out the window, or a mixture of both.

"What are you thinking about?" Skye asked coyly.

'How to explain myself to my friends and about how I regret every minute of this'

"You." At least it wasn't a complete lie. That seemed to satisfy her, she smiled largely back at him, her sharp incisors reminding Kemp of some kind of predator. This reminded him that it didn't matter how he wrote this off to everyone else because Skye Hamilton would pierce his heart with her heels if he were to try to slip away from her - that he knew indefinitely. "I have to turn in some of my work online."

Kemp lifted himself up, but Skye held him down.

"When did you become so studious?" She purred, kissing his neck. His brain went into red alert mode, he wasn't about to go through the whole process again with Skye. "I like it." He relaxed.

"I have to do it soon, it's getting late." He removed her arms from him and got up, putting on his boxers shamefully. How had he just laid there in her arms like a sissy before realizing the severity of what he had done? His mind immediately went to Josh. Josh would know what to do, Josh knew how girls worked...kind of.

"But, babe."

Kemp almost choked.

"I have to." He said more adamantly, he held down the obvious distress in his voice. His throat and lips were dry and his throat was completely parched, he needed water. He raked his hands through his hair and then opened the window. He gripped the windowsill until his knuckles went white. Maybe he was just overreacting.

Then he thought of Claire. What would she think of him? Whatever little interest she may have had in him (did she even have any interest in him at all?) would evaporate the moment he were to tell her he had a girlfriend, let alone if that girlfriend was Skye Hamilton.

He shook his head, he was being ridiculous now. He was Kemp Hurley, he didn't let other people hold him down, he did his own thing...right? Skye's arms were around him and he shut his eyes.

"I'll see you later," she said into his ear and then kissed his jawline when he didn't make a move to turn around. He mumbled some sort of agreement that struggled to come out of his throat and waited for the door to click shut. "Bye!" He almost shed a tear of happiness when she left, he let out a deep breath and stood in the same stance until the door opened again.

He whipped his head around thinking that it was Skye back for seconds.

"You look like you're about to cry, and did I just see Skye Hamilton leave our room?" Chris took his shirt off and flung it on the bed. He walked over to his closet and rummaged through it. "It's hot as hell out there, my god. My fucking deodorant is working overtime-"

"What have I done?" Kemp groaned, sitting down on his bed. "I slept with Skye fucking Hamilton! I let her hold me and call me babe!" His head was in his hands at this point, pulling at his hair. "I'm starting off junior year in a goddamn relationship, this is the absolute worst. Tell me I'm being Punk'd, Christopher. Tell me I'm being Punk'd!"

There was utter silence and Kemp looked through his fingers, Chris was just staring at him, his face was expressionless.

"Do you also want me to hold your naked body and call you babe?" Chris asked, his face breaking out into an expression of amusement. He began to snicker and then fell into a fit of cackling. Kemp couldn't help but smile back at his best friend, and then chuckled along with him. Soon they were both holding their stomachs and laughing, their eyes filled with tears. "This has got to be the best thing that has ever happened, oh my god." Chris said through his laughter.

When they were both calm enough, still breaking into chortles in the following silence every few seconds, Chris turned away. He went to the mini fridge, still tittering from whatever it was they were laughing it, Kemp wasn't even sure. When he returned his face was somber and he was holding two beers.

"In all honesty, you're screwed and I think you just became war collateral."

He popped the top open of a bottle and handed Kemp a beer, nodding at him in a sort of eerie salute.

Even with all the windows open, in her A-line shirt dress and with the A.C. on high, Massie still felt her room, which was gargantuan for a dorm, was stuffy. She had pulled out one of her embroidered fans that she had bought on a previous trip to China and was in the process of vigorously fanning herself.

Alicia was now giggling alone, enjoying her high while enraptured by Clueless. Kristen was falling asleep while simultaneously being newly attached to Cam (something she would definitely regret in the morning, but was harmless enough that Massie hadn't stopped her) and Derrick and Allie-Rose were whispering to one another, sharing tales of their fabulous adventures during their summer in London. It was sickening.

It only made Massie over think the entire summer she had spent with Derrick in the Hamptons. Sure, they had gone on innumerable family vacations or even vacations with their friends and had spent large portions of every summer, since a young age, in the Hamptons together, but there was just something different about the past summer. From the moment she had stepped out of Danny's BMW and onto the circular driveway of her Hampton home, she had known that things would not be the same as they always had been.

She had been right, of course. Well, clearly. Massie, never in a million years, would have imagined that her penultimate night in the Hamptons would have ended with her in a closet with Derrick Harrington, at a very important party that she had gone to with her boyfriend.

Massie had known though, the entire summer that there was something brewing with Derrick. There always seemed to be with that boy, but the past summer it was unlike the ones before it. It wasn't Derrick just being Derrick, it was something else. There were all those surreptitious glances they shared, the way he had joked with undertones of flirtation - it was just everything. Every damn moment they had spent together that summer had led to the scene in the closet, as much as she had tried to convince herself, even hours earlier, that it was just her drunken state - she was wrong.

It would have happened, drunk or sober and it took Allie-Rose Singer's appearance to make Massie realize it.

What did she even expect though? That Derrick would want to date her? She almost snorted out loud, of course not. Derrick didn't have solid relationships, not the kind that Massie wanted, had and craved. He wouldn't dote on her and watch her favorite movies without any complaints and be lovingly affectionate. He didn't know how to be that way. After all, he planned to have a surrogate mother and remain single for the rest of his life.

She wanted to go up to him, grab his shirt with both hands and shake him, asking him why he had let that happen and why, oh why his sister was a psychopathic bitch. But to do that would be to damn herself. Massie gasped, she felt like she was choking.

Everyone turned to her and she pulled at her collar, "I need air." She declared breathlessly. She almost ran out of the room, but calmed herself down enough to make it a brisk trot. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it once it had closed. A lock of hair from her bun was now hanging in front of her face, mockingly.

What she would have given to return to the days of Barbies and dress-up. Where she, Derrick, Cam and Nikki would sling mud at each other and kick each other in the shins. There was nothing passionate about that, it was just Massie and Nikki pitted against one another, fighting for Derrick and Cam to take their opposing sides. Massie should have seen it coming though. It was almost like an unofficial agreement that Derrick would go with Massie during a fight and Cam would go to Nikki. Like children of divorce being forced to different parents.

Her phone went off violently against her upper thigh, where it was hidden in the pocket of her dress. It buzzed and shook with vibration, sending Massie into momentary shock. She finally mustered up the courage and pulled it out of it's hiding place, only to stare at the caller-ID, it was Danny. She felt overwhelmed, this was the stupidest (there was no other word to explain it) situation she had ever been in.

Killing Skye and dealing with the consequences would have been a lot simpler. She ignored the call and gripped the phone in her hand. She closed her eyes, the silence making her feel at peace for a moment and then opened her amber eyes to Skye's taunting face - Massie covered her mouth to keep from shrieking, thankfully there were other girls running around in the halls, witnesses to whatever was coming her way.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Massie asked, her hand pressed against her chest.

"I didn't scare you, did I?" Skye asked, Massie couldn't help but notice the fresh hickey on Skye's neck. Who in their right mind would get into bed with that cockroach?

Skye placed her hand over her own neck, touching the spot Massie had been staring at. Of course Skye had seen, "I was just with Kemp. Kristen didn't tell you?" Skye batted her eyelashes, Massie felt bile forcing it's way up her throat and her skin felt like it was ready to peel off.

"What do you want with Kemp?"

Skye ignored her, "I have your first task. I emailed you the details." Sure enough, Massie's phone pinged with an email alert. She unlocked her phone and opened it. Massie looked up at Skye. Her face looked almost manic, like she was reveling in the moment, her chest rising up and down like an animal.

The door opened behind Massie and she jumped. Derrick was standing in its wake looking between his sister and Massie in inquiry. Massie wondered if Skye would really do that to her step-brother, the boy she had been raised with for a decade. Would she be willing to out his secret, one he didn't even remember, to the world just to ruin Massie's life?. Skye's face told Massie that she would be willing to do anything to get her way.

"Hey, Skye." Derrick smiled at his sister and then looked down at Massie, "Mass, are you okay? Come back inside, I found an Evian in your fridge, you should drink it." Massie's phone rang again, going off wildly in her hands. The phone slipped out of her sweating palms and hit the floor. Massie looked from Skye, to her phone, to Derrick - her knees nearly buckled.

Skye's mouth spread out into a shit-eating grin, "you better get that. Wouldn't want Danny to start thinking something's up."

I just pulled an all-nighter, mainly because it's summer and I can (wow, I sound like a child). I do apologize for how long this took me to write. I just have such an issue with writer's block! Do you guys have any tips on how you get out of your funk? That phrasing was cringe-worthy. I've also just gotten into the whole swing of summer (kind of). I graduated a month ago (YIPEE!) and I had just started thinking about a new direction for this story around then but I couldn't write it because I was planning graduation and Senior Bonding Week and all that jazz. Anyway, due to my lack of sleep and because I was mindlessly watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians while writing, there may be a lot of mistakes (I think I say that every time I publish something, and it's always 1000% true).

It was not intended that this chapter was supposed to be this long. That happened for a couple of reasons, 1) I got carried away and 2) I'm leaving on vacation on Wednesday so although I started writing the next chapter (for once), I won't be able to publish it until later.

This chapter is alternatively titled: The Chapter Where Everyone Visits Each Other's Dorms (and future chapters will be much the same), so to clear things up, here are the dorm assignments: Massie and Kristen, Josh and Griffin, Chris and Kemp, Alicia and Allie, Nikki and Carrie, Derrick and Cam, Landon and Dempsey, Claire and Layne, Dylan and Nina, and the dorm that has yet to be introduced - Olivia and Skye. God I fucking hate Skye, but she's such a blast to write for.

I also mapped out the entire story, and I'm pretty happy with where it's going. Gawd Save McQueen is the next pit-stop on my road to updates, so keep an eye open for that! By the way, I started to write a Clique version of Pretty Little Liars - I know, I know, it's been done dozens of times before - but this would be more closely following the books (up until the books became more ridiculous than need be) - would you guys be interested? LET ME KNOW LIKE RIGHT NOW!

Thanks so much for all of your reviews! I hope you guys are having a nice, warm summer with plenty of air conditioning and lots of Wi-Fi hotspots.

xx, Alyssa