-TWENTY SEVEN-

I woke up smiling, still unable to get the events of yesterday out of my head. My eyes automatically shifted to the badge that was lying on my side-table. It was as if Kade had managed to successfully wipe all the throbbing thoughts with one gesture.

It was a bit scary as to how whatever he did had such an impact on me.

Since today was a day off from school, I decided to be a little lazy and not get up from the bed. I could already feel myself getting cosy as I shimmied deeper into my duvet, a blissful sigh escaping my mouth. I was about to fall into my slumber again when the door to my room opened with a loud bang.

I immediately jumped up, startled. My heart almost leapt to my throat at the sudden intervention.

I looked up to see a smirking Olivia standing there, trying to mask her expression with an innocent one but failing miserably. "Whoops. Did I disturb you?"

I glared at my cousin who clearly very deliberately barged in like that. "Did you really have to do that, Liv?" I groaned, falling back on my bed unceremoniously.

Sadly, all my oncoming sleep had vanished into thin air and I was wide awake now.

Olivia simply shrugged in response, her smirk peeking through. "I was bored."

I gave her a flat look in return. "Go annoy someone else and let me have my peace," I tried to shoo her away.

At times like these, it made me wonder if her ignoring me was in my best interests.

She rolled her eyes at that. "There are Nutella pancakes waiting for you downstairs. If you don't want me to finish those, you better get your ass down."

I perked up at that. As if on cue, so did my stomach.

"I will get back at you, though."

"Whatever."

I was about to retort when my phone chimed with a text. I was still scowling at Olivia's retreating back when I looked at the text.

Immediately, my face lit up with a mischievous grin. It was as if the universe had decided to shine some luck on me for once because the person who had texted me, was none other than Ryder. As in the one Olivia quite possibly had a crush on aka my lab partner.

He was asking about our meet up for the project. We had decided that we could do it after school in the library but I had a feeling that the house would be a better option, instead. I smirked as I went down to the kitchen all the while texting Ryder if he was coming over. I could always invite Mae and Liam over and we could all work together.

The additional benefit of doing that was because I knew Mae had developed a tiny crush on Liam as well. If I were to go by how she always turned a shade redder when I mentioned him and how she gushed over their shared love for all things Marvel, I was pretty sure this was going somewhere nice. I was genuinely happy for Mae and I really wished this would end well and so to give the initial push to them, I could always play Cupid.

If any of the two could-be couples actually became one in real, I would declare myself a proud matchmaker.

Olivia was pouring herself a glass of juice when I sat down in front of my pile of pancakes.

She must've felt my stare because she turned to me and I immediately dropped my smirk and began eating.

"What?"

I looked up to see her looking at me suspiciously but I simply shrugged in response. She looked at me for about two more seconds before rolling her eyes and proceeding to leave.

Ultimately I couldn't hold myself back. I just had to.

"Hey Olivia?"

She paused to looked at me with an expression that screamed 'What do you want now?'

"I'll be having a few people over for a project and all tomorrow after school. I'll probably take up the library office for that. Okay?"

"Sure whatever. I'm planning to go out with Trinity so I won't be home anyway," she shrugged it off.

I nodded innocently before opening my mouth once again. "Cool. Ryder and the others should be over around four," I said, mumbling to myself but keeping it loud enough for Olivia to hear.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Olivia pause. I pretended to be busy with my phone as I sneakily observed her. She seemed to hesitate but slowly turned towards me. "Uh, what time did you say your friends were coming over, again?"

I turned to face her, trying my hardest to keep the smirk off my face. "Why?"

"I just remembered that I have plans with Trinity the day after. You said they were coming over tomorrow, right?" she tried to appear nonchalant but I could see straight through her facade.

I was loving this.

I decided to push her buttons a little more. "It's okay. I can always ask them to come over the day after when you have plans. That way we won't disturb you," I said, smiling at her to show that I was willing to adjust.

Olivia's mouth opened and closed for a minute before she replied. "Uh, you don't have to do that. It's not like you guys would be disturbing me or anything. You should continue with your original plan," she rushed out and I let a tiny smirk take over.

"Is that so?

"Y-Yeah?"

"Hey Liv?"

"Hmm?"

"You like Ryder, don't you?" I let a knowing smile take over as I looked at her.

Her eyes widened slightly and a faded blush took over her but her words contradicted her reaction. "Are you crazy? Don't be ridiculous," she snapped but it was too late.

I shrugged in response. "Oh well. I was thinking I could always set you up you know, since he's my lab partner and all but if you don't like him like that, I guess I don't have to intervene."

Olivia glared at me while I gave her a cheeky smile in return and turned my back to her. I grinned as I heard her huff and storm out of the kitchen. Looks like she was going to crash our study session tomorrow.

***

I stared incredulously at my friends who were rummaging through my closet to look for something to dress me in.

"Are you guys serious about this?" I asked, my voice conveying the disbelief clearly.

Allison popped her head out of the closet for a second and sighed. "Listen, we know how the situation is turning unfavourable for all of us but why not make the most of it while we can?"

I turned my attention to Mae, who was sitting cross legged on the bed with me. She shrugged in response. I huffed.

Apparently Montana was throwing a welcome back party for herself. Cue eye roll. And she had invited quite a lot of people to this, including the Elites and they were actually planning to go. While I would have not minded before the entire locking me up in the office scenario, now I wasn't so sure I wanted to be in her presence out of the necessary at all.

The sad part was that Madison and Allison had confirmed that Montana would be hanging around a lot from now on, owing to the unspoken social rules in their families. They couldn't officially kick her out of the group so they were going to bear with it.

"I'm going there so that I can trash her house unapologetically and drink most of her expensive alcohol," Madison spoke, walking out with two outfits in her hand.

I felt uneasy about this.

"Can I skip?"

"No," Madison deadpanned and I groaned loudly.

"If you skip, it makes our group incomplete and you specifically not being there would initiate a lot of rumours, most of them would insinuate that you didn't go because either you're scared of her or Montana managed to kick you out of the group. And trust me, you don't want to be subjected to the ones worse than these," Allison explained and I frowned at that.

The people at school really did seem to worship Montana to a level that matched Elites. While I wasn't surprised at that considering no one at school actually knew what transpired between the Elites and her, I wasn't comfortable knowing that if it ever came to her and me, I would be crushed pretty easily.

"Plus, you don't want Montana to think she won after what she pulled with you," Mae added, giving me a pointed look and I groaned again, knowing that she was right.

I had already told the girls about the incident at Kade's race and they were furious. Even our angel Mae had blurted out pretty harsh things which surprised all of us and made me really happy knowing that she must've been really mad to actually say something bad about someone.

"Fine. But what do I even wear?"

Madison smirked at me, an evil twinkle in her eye.

I gulped. Was I going to regret my decision to allow her to dress me?

After two hours of shoving different outfits for me to wear and making me sit though hair and makeup, both of which no one let me touch anything, I was finally ready.

The girls had already come ready with their hair and makeup mostly done so it didn't take them much time to change into their outfits and I had to say that we all looked stunning.

Madison wore a spaghetti strapped rose-gold satin dress that reached her mid thigh and matching sandals while Allison was donned in a sparkling silver dress and sandals. Mae's dress reflected her style with her navy blue cold shoulder dress with long bell sleeves which she paired with lower heels. All of them looked stunning, with both Madison and Allison looking fierce as usual.

Meanwhile, I was dressed in a black full sleeved crop top and a black latex skirt that reached my mid thigh. I had paired it with thigh-high boots which I switched out to heeled combat boots because it was relatively hotter. Thankfully my top was thin enough to not make me sweat.

I did look a little badass, if I said so myself.

"Oh, before I forget," Madison randomly spoke up before rummaging though her purse for something.

When she finally fished it out, she grinned happily and presented it to me. "Here you go. I was supposed to give this to you earlier but the shipping took a little too long."

I looked at her confused before taking the velvet box from her. My eyes almost bugged out of my sockets when I read 'Cartier' on top of it. I immediately shook my head.

"Na-uh. I can't accept this," I quickly said, handing it back to her.

I didn't even need to open it to know that the cost of it was in four digits and going by the size of the box, it was either a pendant or a bracelet. Either way, too much for me to accept.

Madison rolled her eyes. "Kyra, it is a group thing. All seven of us have it and so you can't not have it. I already had it customised with your name so either you take it or I'll have to throw it away."

My eyes were still wide as saucers when I turned to Allison and Mae for confirmation and they simply raised their arms to show the bracelet dangling from their wrists. I looked back at Madison a little hesitantly who showed her own.

"The guys also have it, though their style is obviously not as sleek and feminine as ours," Allison added.

I hesitated.

Madison simply rolled her eyes again. "Babe, if you don't accept this, it means you officially don't consider us friends."

If this wasn't emotional blackmail, I don't know what was.

I bit the inside of my cheek before extending my hand to her, glaring at her a little. She simply grinned and handed me the box. "Good. Now wear it."

I shook my head at all of them before opening the box to reveal a beautiful rose gold bracelet that matched the girls'. It was lined with beautiful crystals that I sincerely hoped were not real diamonds. On the inside of the bracelet, I could see my name carved in beautiful cursive along with two hearts, one before and one after my name. Directly opposite my name were seven letters. Seven, which meant that Montana's was not there.

M.A.L.M.K.C.M.K

All the initials of the rest of the Elites. An automatic smile slowly etched on my face as I looked at the bracelet. All the doubts Montana's appearance had started slowly started to dissipate. These people never failed to show me that I was a part of them and I had let other insignificant people plant the seeds of insecurities in my mind. For that, I felt a little shame come over me.

There wasn't a single person in the group who had made me feel like an outsider and if they were making so many efforts to include me, I knew I had to reciprocate it by not letting anyone else make me feel inferior.

Because all the people I actually needed were already with me.

"Thank you, girls. It is stunning," I smiled as I secured the bracelet around my wrist. Looks like it won't be coming off anytime soon.

All of the grinned at me.

"Look, all of us had your initial added to our own too!" Mae excitedly showed a freshly carved K at the end of initials of the rest of the Elites.

I smiled at her excitement and I couldn't hold back my emotions any longer.

"Ugh. I need a group hug."

The girls didn't even waste a single second.

***

"Woah!"

When these girls had mentioned a party, I did not imagine the scale of it. My jaw was pretty much on the floor as we walked towards main entrance where a lot of people were entering. I examined the outfits of the people and clearly they were far from casuals. I was glad that Madison had chosen to dress me.

The music was blaring and everyone was chilling and dancing. Some were making out in the corners.

It seemed like the entire school was here or something. On top of that her house was huge. I did expect to see a big mansion seeing how most of the Elites had pretty massive ones.

All of us walked up the driveway, Madison and Allison walking confidently as usual. Mae and I trailed behind them. I did manage to keep a poker face as I walked with my shoulders squared. We were already getting stares and looks but I tried my best to ignore them. Mae was doing pretty well too. She was looking ahead and had minimised her fidgeting by a lot.

As we entered, I felt more attention upon all four of us.

I barely paid attention to the people leaning into each other to gossip as we walk past them. I followed Madison and Allison, both of whom seemed to know their way around the house and we ended up at an elaborate bar, especially set up for this party. Fancy.

"What do you girls want?" Allison turned to both Mae and I.

"Just plain lemonade for me," I answered, not wanting to let alcohol make me lose my senses.

Especially at Montana's party. She could try to pull anything on me here and I wasn't going to serve myself on a platter if I drank. Mae didn't drink anyway so the both of us decided to wait as both the other girls got theirs.

"Max and Lucas are here," Mae announced and I turned to see the direction she was looking in.

I easily spotted both of them making their way towards us. Both of them looked really good and I could see that most of both girls and guys agreed with me especially if I were to go by the seductive gazes some of the females were giving them.

I knew Kade was going to be catching a ride with Chase because he was supposed to come directly from the Tracks after meeting Lance.

"I see you've started the party without us," Lucas joked as he gave both Mae and I a brief hug before making his way to Madison and Allison.

Max mimicked his actions before following behind. He swooped in behind Allison and nuzzled his head into her neck. Aww. They were absolutely adorable. Mae and I gushed at them, both equally enthusiastic about their cuteness.

"Uh, Kyra?" Mae asked, her voice hesitant.

I leaned towards her to hear her over the loud music while my eyes scanned the crowd in front of us.

"Will you dance with me? Like can you teach me?"

I turned to Mae with a surprised face. As far as I knew, she never danced at parties like these. She was always the one to hang out on the sidelines with others, so her asking me to dance meant something.

"Of course, let's go!"

She smiled at me and nodded. I grinned as the both of us made our way to the middle of the dance floor. I immediately started moving to the beats of the song, my hips swaying with the rhythm. I noticed Mae trying to match my steps awkwardly and I smiled.

"You don't have to try and dance like me. Let your own body react to the music. Feel it and your body will guide you," I yelled over the music.

She gave me a determined nod that I found adorable before trying to dance on her own. Her body was still a bit too stiff and it looked like she didn't know what to do with her hands. I knew how to make her loosen up.

"You need to have fun, Mae. There is no other formula to dancing," I said before grabbing her hand and pulling her abruptly.

The movement caught her off guard and before she could react I twirled her, making her laugh. I grabbed her other hand and danced and slowly she started loosening herself and she watched me dance.

"Am I hallucinating or is our little Mae finally dancing?" I heard Lucas' voice from behind me and I turned to give him a grin. He winked at Mae who immediately blushed but continued dancing with a shy smile.

"I can't give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Mae, wanna dance with me?"

Mae rolled her eyes playfully before nodding at Lucas with the same shy smile. I resisted the urge to coo at Mae as she began dancing as Lucas playfully twirled her like I had. Seeing Mae have fun was really fulfilling for some reason. I knew Lucas cared for Mae as a little sister like the rest of the boys and seeing them trying to make her happy was heart-warming.

I could see a lot of girls giving Mae the stink eye as Lucas shimmied crazily to make Mae laugh and I felt like punching each and every one of them. Thankfully, Mae was pretty distracted by him to even notice.

I slowly backed away, deciding to drag Madison or Allison to dance with me for company while Lucas entertained Mae. I turned to make my way towards the bar when I crashed into someone. I quickly mumbled an apology and moved ahead when I was blocked by the one person I had wished to avoid the entire night.

"I didn't think you'd have the nerve to drag yourself here," Montana's voice reached me, making me groan with annoyance.

I hated to admit it but she looked amazing. She was wearing an off-shoulder silver dress that clung to her like second skin, enunciating her curves. She had her hair up in a sleek low ponytail and wore expensive looking dangling earrings. I wouldn't be surprised if they were real diamonds.

"Yeah. Now if you'll allow me, I'll go drag myself somewhere else. Preferably away from you," I replied, giving her a sarcastic smile and trying to go past her but sadly, she blocked my way again.

So much for trying.

"Not so fast, bitch. Stay away from Kade or I'll make you regret ever stepping in my way," she threatened and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Real original. And here I thought you would use something more than a typical movie dialogue to threaten me with," I deadpanned, making her scowl.

"This is my last warning. Don't force me to make your life a living hell," she spat and roughly pushed past me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. This was going to be a long night and I had a feeling that I'd be seeing a lot of the she-devil tonight.

I let out a long dejected sigh.

I might need a drink after all.

*****

Hello my lovelies!

How was the chapter?

It was a bit of a filler but I promise to make it up in the next one. I'm sure you guys will actually like it 😁

Q: If you were to use only one makeup product your whole life, what would it be?

A: Concealer. That baby is my survival kit. I can let go all of the other products but to hide my raccoon like dark circles, I definitely need it.

And NOW for the much awaited CONTEST!

What you need to do to participate in this:

1. Create a funny/meme-worthy caption for any of the three pictures below. Try to be as original as possible. You can do all three too!

2. Make sure to comment your answers in ONE SINGLE COMMENT after the pictures where it says ANSWER HERE. (It needs to be an INLINE comment: which basically means you have to select the words 'ANSWER HERE' and comment)

(All the comments that are not inline might get ignored so please follow the guidelines)

3. THAT IS IT! The best answers will get chosen for the two prizes I mentioned in the previous chapter.

4. The competition is open for a week until next Sunday i.e 14th March 2021. I will announce the winners in the next chapter :)

ALL THE BEST! MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOUR.

ANSWER HERE PLEASE

You can answer for eace by numbering it.

1. Dogs 2. Girl 3. Cat

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