Chapter Four

Delaney

"I'd be careful, if I were you."

I jumped and whirled around, surprised to find myself face to face with the shorter dancer girl. She looked at me seriously.

"Did you hear what I said?" The girl peered at me through dark brown eyes that matched her wavy hair. She wiped beads of sweat off the chocolate-colored skin of her forehead.

I just gaped at her in a very fish-like manner.

"Look," the girl said, sighing, "I used to go out with Caleb in eighth grade. I'm pretty sure I was his last girlfriend before Carlie. The day after those two got together, Carlie came up to me and threatened to trash my rep if I ever talked to him again.

"She's a jealous person, Delaney—that's your name, right? If she finds out that you were talking to her boyfriend for more than a split second, she won't hesitate to destroy you."

"But you're not going to tell her," I said sharply. "Right?"

The girl shrugged and held up her hands. "Hey, I'm on your side," she said. "I'm just warning you. People see things, and people talk. If she gets word of this, she'll crush you into the ground and make sure people never want to speak your name again."

"I'm a two. Do you really think I care?"

The girl tilted her head. "Just a word of warning," she said. "Think of it as an expert's advice." And then, without a word of goodbye, she turned around and walked away.

○●○●○●○

"Did Caleb give you your drink?" Lizzy asked as we got into her brother's car. It was just past midnight and I had finally convinced her to go home, though the party was still going strong.

"Oh, um, yeah," I murmured absently.

"That's good," she said. Her brother Josh, who had agreed to pick us up, gunned the engine and turned on the radio. "So, I bet that was more fun than you expected, huh?" Liz giggled for way longer than normal, and I wondered, not for the first time, exactly how many of those drinks she'd had. After drinking only half of one, I'd been about to fall over.

"Yeah, pretty fun," I replied.

"You didn't really have fun, did you, Delaney?" Josh asked. He looked like an older, male version of his sister. Although he was in college, he had been fairly Popular during high school.

"No, no, I did," I assured. It wasn't a total lie. I had expected torture, but the experience had been bearable, maybe even somewhat enjoyable. For the most part, though, I was a wallflower, observing the habits of the Populars and not saying much at all. Other than talking to Caleb and the dancer girl, my night was uneventful.

So although I didn't really have fun, per se, I wasn't completely miserable.

As we drove up in front of my house, I pulled out Lizzy's contacts and shoved them into her hands. "Never make me wear those again," I warned, putting my glasses back on. She just giggled some more and waved goodbye.

When I got inside, the house was dark. My parents had gone to bed. I went straight up to the bathroom, trying to be as quiet as possible, and wiped all the makeup off my face. Then I took a shower, washing out all the crap Lizzy had put in my hair.

It was half past two A.M. when I finally slipped into sweatpants and a t-shirt and fell into bed. Once there, I simply lay there, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about my encounter with Caleb Payne

I wondered just exactly what he wanted from me. He was Popular, and I was a Loser. It went without saying that Populars did not interact with Losers voluntarily. Unless, of course, they were bullies. Which Caleb was not; at least, as far as I knew.

But he was the most Popular guy in school, and if he really needed a tutor, he could have asked a Popular smart person, or a teacher, or had his parents hire someone. Therefore, it wasn't necessary for him to ask me. Therefore, he had to have some kind of ulterior motive.

I was all about giving people the benefit of the doubt, but I also cared about my reputation—if I even had one—and keeping it intact. Despite what Caleb had said about not wanting to tarnish his rep, I couldn't help but be wary of him. My mind, without my consent, had come up with plenty of terrible reasons why he really wanted to talk to me.

The worst, by far, was that he wanted to use me to cheat on Carlie. It would get people talking, and it would raise his Rank significantly (if that was even possible, seeing the level he was at). What better way to do it than to find some Loser, screw her over, a nameless random who would simply serve as a mechanism to catapult him even higher? If that was the case, there was no way I was going to meet him at the library on Monday.

Except that I was curious.

And like I said, I don't like jumping to conclusions. But Caleb was Popular and, all grudges aside, if he were to plan something like that, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

○●○●○●○

Despite my attempts at being quiet when I got home, I still somehow woke up my parents. As I was contemplating Caleb's motives, they knocked on the wall just outside my room, and stood there in the open doorway like eager puppies. Sighing, I beckoned them in.

"So," Mom said, sitting on the edge of my bed, "how was the party?"

I shrugged indifferently. "Oh, it was pretty good."

Dad raised an eyebrow. "Just 'pretty good'? Not fantastic? Or amazing? Or life-changing?"

"I guess it was life-changing; it was my first high school party, after all."

"So what happened?" My mom was leaning forward in anticipation, and my dad wasn't much better.

Closing my eyes, I took a moment before answering. "Well, Lizzy did my makeup and stuff, and we took a cab to his house. Do you know how big that place is? So cool."

"Yes, it's a beautiful building," my dad agreed. "And what did you do?"

"Honestly, nothing. I watched some people dance and just kind of hung around." I saw their expectant faces; they wanted to know more. If I told them I'd talk to Caleb, would that satisfy their hunger for information? Probably. "Oh, yeah, and I talked to Caleb Payne."

Both of my parents gasped, and my mom's hand flew to her mouth. "Caleb Payne? The most Popular boy at your school?" She sounded like a crazed Follower.

"You talked to him?" my dad demanded. I nodded nonchalantly, like it was nothing at all.

"Yeah, and Carlie too." I left out the fact that when I spoke to Carlie, she was screaming at me in disgust.

"Your Rank," my mother murmured hungrily, "did your Rank go up?"

"Uh...I dunno."

"Check!"

Shaking my head, I pulled out my phone and opened the Rank-monitoring app that the school sent to all the students. "Nope, no change," I said. I held up the device for them to see: it was a simple white screen, with my name at the top and my Rank filling up the rest of the space.

And it was still a big fat two.

"Oh," Dad said, obviously disappointed. "That's alright, sweetie, we know you're upset—"

"No, I'm really not..."

"—but there will still be chances for you to raise your Rank!"

"Of course," added Mom. "And we'd still like for you to visit your father's work. We can just—"

I yawned loudly just then, completely on purpose, and rubbed my eyes with my free hand. "You know, guys," I said, "I'm really tired; it's nearly three A.M. I'd like to go to sleep."

"Oh, oh of course, honey," Mom said hurriedly. "Go to sleep. We'll talk more in the morning."

"No we won't," I muttered as they walked out my door, closing it and turning off the lights behind them.

~~~~~~

A/N: Editing is terrible. Somebody just kill me now. -.-