23. the social climber.

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A week later, I'm in class, and my cheek pressed up against my knuckles as Beth Morane chats utter shit in my left ear. Since we've both been assigned to do a presentation on a book we've been reading together, this has been nothing but a daily occurance, and I'm not quite sure how much longer I can take.

"You know, I am definitely a Luke girl," she starts. She says this at the start of every lesson, and I just nod, taking a seat next to her.

As she speaks, I can feel my cheek sinking further and further down my arm, to the point where my chin might finally slam against the desk if I'm not careful. "I mean, that lip ring and that quiff? Hello, if that's not boyfriend material, I don't know what is!"

Although she has a point, and although I internally find myself agreeing with her, I doubt that she has any idea what Luke looks like now- let alone the rest of the band. Which isn't necessary, because she can be a fan to whatever extent that she likes, but still; she's either reliving 2014 or she hasn't been keeping up with them since 2014.

I'm not usually this judgy. I'm really not. Tell me that you like a band and that's fine, I won't press on. Tell me that you like Nirvana and I won't make fun of you for only knowing the lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit off by heart and not anything else. Tell me that you like ACDC and I won't make you recite to me three other songs other than Highway to Hell or Back In Black.

I'm just not that sort of person. I've never been. Likewise, I'm not the sort of person to rant at someone when I see them wearing a band shirt that they probably thought was cool and picked up for no other reason.

I just don't see the point in making someone feel stupid when it comes to music, because music is one of the only pure things that make this fucked up world work.

However, if you're Beth Morane, and I've been told beforehand by some of your ex-friends that you don't like me, that you use people to climb higher up the social ladder, and to be careful with some of the fake compliments that you try send my way- well, it's not my fault of I'm a little wary.

I've had second-hand experience of some of the crude, ruthless stuff she's done. We all have- the girls and I. We just keep quiet about it because it's not our type of scene.

It's no secret at all that Beth's a social climber. And to her, that's not a bad thing- despite it ruining literally every single friendship that she makes. I don't think she'll ever realise it, but what she does is downright wrong and I don't see how she can put the few positives over the many negatives that come of it.

Ashley hates her. She hates a lot of people, but she hates Beth the most, mainly because she was one of the first few people to fall into her social-skyrocketing traps.

So does Bailey, only Bailey's hatred is out of pure spite more than anything else; they used to be close friends until Beth virtually threw her under the bus for a spot on the cheer-leading team. As for Chloe; her motherly instincts always somehow manage to kick in, and she hates the thought of Beth causing any of us trouble, so she tends to stay away.

"Be careful of her, Hayes," Kyle McEvoy had warned me, right after I'd spent the first lesson with Beth discussing the book we had to present. He held back just for me, head low as everyone filed out of the classroom.

It was strange at the time, seeing as Kyle was your typical hard-headed jock, and I never expected him to even know my name. But I guess that when Beth's your ex, and was the first serious girlfriend you'd ever had who ended up fucking your best friend for a few more Instagram followers, desperate times call for desperate measures.

"She's trouble."

When the school bell finally rings to signal the start of lunch, I stand up from my table. I turn straight to the door to walk out, wanting nothing more than to leave and retreat to the safety of the cafeteria when I feel Beth pull me back by the wrist; spinning my entire body around so that we're face to face.

My eyes widen as hers scan me up and down.

"Hey!" she smiles, pressing her books up against her chest, "Where are you going, project buddy?"

"To lunch?" I reply, plastering a fake, amused look on my face. "The bell rang."

"Oh. Well, that's great! We can go together," my eyebrows raise in suspicion as she follows after me, holding an expectant arm out.

"Uh... what?"

"Lunch, silly. You said that's what the bell's for," she grins. "You lead the way,"

"But-"

"If that's okay with you," her voice has a sudden change, as if my uncertainty wasn't so clear the first time. "I just... I have noone to eat lunch with today,"

I almost feel sorry for her. I almost nod and let her follow along with no hesitation.

But then I pause, remembering how she'd practically gone behind each and every one of her former friends' backs and suddenly, I'm not so easily swayed anymore.

"What about your friends?" I ask her, feigning pitiful interest.

"Oh, we're just going through a rough patch right now," she lies.

"Your boyfriend?"

"Joe and I broke up," she lies again.

I know that her and Joe are still together- I saw them this morning- only I know that she'd much rather sit with me today because of the green button next to my username in Luke Hemmings' followings list on Instagram.

"Come on, Soph," Beth nudges me. "Don't act like this is such a big deal. I'm just asking to have lunch with you today,"

Although I'm hesitant, she has a point. I'm not gullible, but I'm not totally heartless, either.

Beth Morane may have no friends and dozens of enemies, yet despite the fact that I do not want to be either of them, I'd rather pick the best out of the bad bunch.

"If that's okay with you." she states again, looking back and forth between me and the clock; silently referring to how we're wasting time as we argue over a pointless thing like this.

I'm in the right frame of mind to say no. But then she bats her eyelashes at me, flashes me a kind smile that deep down, I'm completely aware is staged- and I end up caving, a slow nod of my head accompanying the wave I use to get her to follow me.

Well, my brain practically sighs, shaking it's head at me, Someone's a fucking idiot.

When we enter the canteen, two tables fall silent. One of them being the group of cheerleading preps that Beth used to be close with, once upon a time, before she moved onto something new.

How does she do it? I can't help but think, I can barely keep up with the people I know now.

They've never had a problem with me- hell, they even went through the effort of warning me about the trouble she has the power to cause the very second they parted ways- but now, as we walk towards the only other silent table that seems to be my own, I'm afraid they might.

The preps aren't the only ones who seem to be surprised at our sudden sparked friendship; because with half of a colourful straw in her mouth and eyes narrowed to the point where I doubt she can even see, Bailey watches us with raised eyebrows.

I take my usual seat, Beth sliding into the one next to me.

I smile at the girl opposite. She seems to be the only person on the table right now- I assume Ashley and Chloe are still in their classes. "Hey, Bai-"

"That's Ashley's seat." she interrupts, though she's not aiming her words at me. She's aiming them at Beth, whose dark brown eyes blink back at her in mock-surprise.

I frown. I don't like Beth- she's not exactly at the top of the list of people I want to be around- but I genuinely fear for her well-being if Bailey decides to make her dislike towards the girl known.

Bailey doesn't make it subtle. There's subtle, neutral, prominent and crystal-clear. Bailey is at least ten steps ahead of crystal clear and she's not afraid to show it.

"Oh," Beth says, leaning against the table and making herself comfortable. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Well, now you do. And I don't see you moving, so..." Bailey trails off.

When Beth doesn't do anything but stare at her back, my friend rolls her eyes, turning to me.

"Soph,"

"Hmm?" I look down, noticing how I'm gulping from a water bottle that isn't mine, but Bailey's- though she doesn't seem to mind. She's far too trained in the art of losing herself in growing rage to notice.

"What the fuck is she doing here?"

I wince at her words, because I don't really know how to explain the fact that I'm a goddamn pussy and chickened out of telling Beth no. So I just fumble with my fingers, lacking of better words to say.

"Ouch, Barley," Beth begins, and from underneath the table, I hear Bailey's foot shift into position. It's no surprise that she can land a pretty mean kick when she wants to, and I guess that right now's the perfect time for her to do it. "You can relax. Sophie said I could sit with you guys,"

"Did she, now?" two other footsteps sound from behind us, shadows following shortly after.

I keep my eyes set as Chloe slides into the chair next to Bailey, and Ashley's left to hover confusedly in front of Beth.

"You okay, Moron?" she asks; unmoving, and genuinely not phased at all. She doesn't look too pleased- nobody does.

Beth sits up straighter; a pose I notice wasn't present when she was busy winding up Bailey.

"Morane." she corrects Ashley.

"That's what I said," Ashley blinks. Then she looks at me. "Soph-"

"We're working on a project together," Beth takes my cue to reply, just when I'm about to open my mouth to form an answer. Ashley's eyes narrow. "Sophie said I could sit here."

"Please. Sophie probably tried to tell you to fuck off but was too much of a pussy to go through with it," Bailey mutters unhappily. Then she looks up at me, somewhat apologetic. "No offence. I love you. I just don't like her,"

"I love you t-"

"Damn. This group has no filter," Beth chuckles. In some ways, I'm glad that she's taking it as a joke.

In other ways, I want her to take the not-so-subtle hint already and leave.

It'd definitely save us some time. And some unplanned arguments.

"Whatever," Ashley eventually dismisses, pulling up a chair from another table. "Forget it. I don't want anything bringing me down today,"

"What happened to you?" I ask her, watching her bite her lip as she sits down.

She glances at me, eyes flashing with a quick sense of giddy excitement. My heart flips for her, because it's rare that Ashley's ever like this - unfortunately, she keeps her lips zipped, in fear of Beth overhearing.

"I'll tell you later."

"So, Bailey," Beth clears her throat, obviously sensing the tension amongst us.

The other girl looks up in slight bewilderment, after spending half of today's lunch with her eyebrows furrowed into her salad. "How are things?"

"You are still here?" Bailey asks her, sounding shocked.

I just sigh, nudging her leg under the table, a look of warning on my face. "Be nice."

"Nice isn't in Bailey's vocabulary," Chloe attempts to joke, lightening the mood for a split second as she nudges our grumpy friend.

"No, it is. Just not for social-climbing blood leeches with pompoms and shitty, copy-cat routines they stole off of other people." Bailey murmurs under her breath, every single item on that miniature list validating her grudge against Beth. And although her statement's inaudible, it causes the entire table to fall silent nevertheless.

After school, Beth catches me outside of my last lesson, and a loud groan almost escapes my mouth. We take the same bus together everyday, yet we've never been on it at the same time purely because I always manage to avoid her.

Today, however, I'm afraid I'm not so lucky.

"Sophie!" she says, waving her arm frantically in the air. Ashley grabs my hand.

"Okay, no," she starts, as Beth begins to make her way towards us. "You are not getting the bus with her,"

"How am I supposed to get h-"

"Stall. If you two get on the same bus, she'll probably walk you home. Then she'll know where you live, and she won't leave you alone," Ashley rambles. I part my lips to contradict her, but she pinches them back shut for me.

"And don't try to tell me that she won't. I know what she's like, and I know you. You wouldn't be able to say no even if a guy had a knife pressed against your throat,"

I turn my head away from her, hearing my lips make the most disgusting sound as they detach from her fingers.

"That's... vivid," I say.

"And I'm going to be standing over there, making a call." she points a finger at me. "Do not walk to that busstop. You'll probably forget about this conversation and end up getting on the first one you see with her,"

I have just enough time to nod at Ashley before she pulls her phone out of her pocket; striding away without so much as a backwards glance.

As I watch my best friend leave, my nightmare walks right towards me- not hesitating to engulf me in a hug I refuse to retaliate.

"Sophie!" Beth grins. "I was hoping I'd catch you after school,"

"You were?"

"I was," she says. "I was thinking we could get the bus together,"

Good Lord. Ashley was right. "Oh, uh... yeah. About that," I say, "I don't... get the bus anymore,"

"You don't?"

"No, I don't."

"How do you get home, then?"

"My dads pick me up," I lie, the word falling from my lips so smootbly that somewhere, far in the distance, I can almost hear Chase and Dylan crying of happiness.

"Your dads?" Beth raises an eyebrow.

"Yes,"

"As in, two dads?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"One's a male, the other's a male?"

"Is that a problem?" I frown, picking up on the slight disgusted look on her face, as well as the reluctance in her tone.

Beth blinks her big brown eyes at me, ignoring my question. What she says next makes me want to rip my eyeballs straight out of their sockets.

"But you don't look gay,"

"I'm not gay. My parents are," actually, my parents are never around, so I've resorted to calling my neighbours my legal guardians until further notice. "Again, is there a problem?"

I don't notice that we're slowly making our way towards the busstops until we're right next to a pavement, and a car honks it's horn at us.

Ignoring it, I turn to Beth, who looks disturbingly uncomfortable with the fact that I just mentioned my gay parents. Who may not be my real parents, but still- it's two-thousand-fucking-seventeen, get over it.

"So, there is a problem," I fold my arms.

"I'm just not used to it," she reasons, looking perplexed. "But well done for you on growing up with homosexual parents. That must have been-"

"Normal. Absolutely normal, because being gay doesn't change anything," I find myself snapping, my voice so unlike my own. This attracts a few stares from the people around us, and I can see Beth shy away.

"Woah, Soph. Calm down, I didn't mean to-" she reaches out and I pull back, disgusted.

Slap her. For once, I want to listen to my brain.

"Hey, don't be so butthurt," Beth tries to grab my hand again, ultimately failing and gripping air. "What's the big deal?"

I'm ready to yell at her, the anger slowly bubbling up my throat. I make a harsh move of ripping my arm away with every grip that she makes, only growing more annoyed as the car behind us honks repeatedly.

Spinning around to face it, I'm just about ready to shout at them to shut the fuck up, and to drive away if they don't like what they're seeing- that is, until the tinted black windows roll down, and I see a flash of newly dyed blue in the drivers seat.

Pausing, I allow my arm to fall limp. My heart stops, not expecting the deep voice that sounds through the window as behind me, a breath hitches in Beth's throat, and the bustling crowd around us pauses.

"Hey, Soph," Michael Clifford's voice is cheery as he leans forward; the smile on his face wide.

I watch as he attempts to reach the window on the other side, resulting in him having to lean over the one person waving at me with a small, knowing smirk in the passenger's seat; Ashley.

"Need a ride?"

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