“But enough with my chitter chatter. I’m so excited to finally be speaking to you. I’ve heard such great things from David and Mark. Even Adam’s spoken highly of you when he comes for dinner, and that’s quite a bit now. He practically lives with us now that his father’s got himself a new little missy—” Her eyes popped out and she gasped. Then she patted her cheeks. “Let’s let that be between us girls, hmmm? Adam never asked for me to be quiet, but I know he wouldn’t want that out. I feel so bad now.” But her voice perked up. “So, Samantha, would you like to come for dinner this Friday evening? We finally have those evenings free again and I love to entertain Friday evenings. Let’s say at six? Rebecca, would you like to come as well? Hell, I’ll invite Adam too.” She winked at us. “Let’s hope the two boys don’t bring their female friends. Those girls can be quite nasty.”

My mouth had fallen open at some point. It stayed there now.

“Okay.” She wiggled her fingers at us as she started for the door. “Toodles, wiggles, and all forms of positive energy I’m sending your way. I’ll see both of you this Friday at six? Oh, and maybe this can be a secret as well? I’d just love to surprise your father, Samantha. He’s been so worried about adding more stress, but I kept telling him it was all nonsense. It’d tickle his goat if he saw you for dinner that night.”

When she opened the door, a pizza delivery girl was on the other side. Her hand had been raised for the buzzer, but she stepped back when Malinda appeared.

“Oooh, pizza!” she cooed and reached into her purse. “Let me pay for that. How much was it, sweetie?”

The girl never blinked an eye as she told her the amount. When she got a ten dollar tip, she gave her a closed mouth grin and stuffed the money in her pocket. The pizza was handed over the next second, and we watched as she hurried to her car and drove away.

Malinda winked at us again. “They’re always scared I made a mistake with the tip and they need to speed off before I realize my mistake. They tend to think I’m a bit ditzy at times. Okay, have fun darlings. See you on Friday! I’m so excited. I’m going to hurry home and start choosing recipes!”

When I took the pizza to the kitchen and Becky had closed the door, we were quiet for a moment before both of us doubled over in laughter. As I wiped a tear from my eye, I shook my head. “David doesn’t know what he got himself into. That woman is anything but ditzy.”

Becky hopped on a barstool and tried to contain her giggles. “Mark’s been so embarrassed of her at the Club. Now I know why.”

“That woman’s a happy tornado.” I grabbed two plates and handed one to Becky before I pulled out some cheese and saw a bottle of wine in the refrigerator. It wasn’t long before we traipsed downstairs to the theatre with our plates full and our glasses just as full. When we settled in, with blankets draped over, and the movie starting, Becky sighed.

“What’s wrong?” I glanced over.

She gave me a pained look. “I’m real sorry for avoiding you these last three months. I was stupid.”

My chest tightened and I gripped harder on my plate. “That’s okay.” My throat had swollen.

She picked at her blanket. “It’s not. I wasn’t the friend to you that I said I’d be. I abandoned you too.”

“I didn’t really feel abandoned, you know.”

She grinned and gathered her blanket in her hands. She pressed it against her face, but the laughter peeled through it. “Miranda sure thought she was Queen of the town when Logan dated her.”

I grinned at the memory. Miranda and Logan dated for two months. It was long enough for her to feel secure and parade her new notch on the social ladder to make the rest of her friends get mad. Cassandra and Amelia had grown tired of Miranda’s ego after a week and they started to make snide comments to her not long after that. Emily remained quiet, but there was always a smirk on her face when their queen swished down the school’s hallway. Since Miranda dropped Peter Glasburg, he rebounded by dating Cassandra, which was another reason the snide comments doubled after another week.

Adam and Mark kept quiet, but they physically rallied behind Peter. The three guys of the Academy Elite were always with each other.

How did I know all this? Because Miranda considered herself my new best friend. As she put it one day, I was dating Mason. She was dating Logan. It would make sense if we were friends. It hadn’t made sense to me. I tried to keep my solitude going, but Miranda would flank me in the hallways, at my car, in the lunchroom.

She gushed about our future double dates. I kept quiet. Logan only laughed when I would tell him her plans. He had no intention of taking Miranda on a date, but he admitted one time that he enjoyed the sex. However, after two weeks and no dates had been planned, Miranda started to question me. The ego dropped a bit and her insecurity rose.

After the third week, it was past due when she expected to be invited inside the Kade mansion, and Logan’s nonchalant treatment turned Miranda into a sputtering girl with a crush. She talked about him, dreamt about him, asked others questions about him, and wrote a few essays for school about him.

Her notch as the school’s queen and leader of the Academy Elite was gone.

Cassandra took the reins with Peter at her side. Miranda was initially tolerated because of Logan’s attachment to her, but when he dumped her, she had become a shadow of herself. Logan dumped her by going to a party without her. He saw she was there and slept with a cheerleader from his school.

The next night, he slept with another cheerleader.

Sunday night was a dance girl from the Academy.

There was no doubt about it. Logan and Miranda were done. That meant that Miranda was done. She’d been made into a fool. The planned out execution had been ruthless, but it was effective. The Academy Elite no longer cared about me. Their new focus was on Miranda. Everyone was wondering if she was considered Academy Elite anymore?

Becky whispered when the movie started, “I heard that Miranda’s trying to get Peter back, but he’s not having it.”

I paused the movie and sat up. “What’d Cassandra do?”

She lifted both shoulders. “No clue. Adam won’t tell me, but I heard there was a fight between them. I think it was at a Public party. Mason and Logan didn’t tell you?”

I rolled my eyes. “If they don’t give a shit, they won’t pay attention. Trust me; they don’t give a shit about that sort of thing.”