omg, 450k reads!! As little thank you, here's something so many people have requested - the reaction to Chloe's departure from Arlington 💕

   thank you all again for being the best readers ever xx

  Claire swung her legs beneath her stool, her eyes barely able to focus on the algebraic equation her pen was hovering over. She pulled her lip between her teeth and looked around at her peers.

   Something in the world had shifted. Well, at least something in Arlington's. There was no other way to explain the change in power that had happened over the past days, apart from the fact that three students had gone missing.

   The boy she loved, his best friend who she'd stupidly hooked up with, and the girl who was best friends with the one who died in junior year.

   "What's up?" Jack asked from beside her, his elbow nudging her's.

   "Nothing," she said, her small lips returning to a straight line. "It's just, I can't believe so many people have left."

   "Zach and Max?" Jack asked, lifting an eye brow. "Only two."

   "Three," she said, frowning. "Chloe unenrolled. You didn't know?"

   Now he frowned. "No. How do you know?"

   "My mom," she said softly, not wanting to catch the attention of the wandering librarians. "Her mom must have told our neighbor who told my mom."

   "Interesting," Jack said, his voice distant.

   "So you didn't know?" Claire repeated, doodling a star in the corner of her page.

   Jack hesitated before shaking his head.

   Claire smiled. If Jack didn't know, then nobody knew, which meant for once, she had information. Information was power. She unlocked her phone beneath the table and started texting as many people as she knew.

      Sophie had never learnt from her mistakes. Especially the one which she made much too often. Don't get drunk on a school night.

    Her head pounded, and the sound of students filling the hallway made her wince. She was still in yesterday's clothing, a sweater thrown over her blouse to hide the wrinkles. Her phone had already died. She just wanted to get out of the place.

  Which didn't make much sense. She loved Arlington. She loved the way students parted for her, her own personal runway to class. She loved that they loved her. It meant she didn't have to worry that at home she went months without a compliment, because she found it all at school every day.

   Well almost every day.

   "You look like shit," Lola said with a radiant smile that contrasted her's dramatically.

   "Shut the fuck up," Sophie replied, pushing the uncombed tangles of hair into a messy bun at the top of her head.

    Lola just gave her an amused look before shutting her locker, a little too loudly, and heading off to her history class. Sophie's glare softened when the girl's gaze was turned away. Her best friend hadn't been herself lately. It was almost nice to hear her mean remarks again.

   "Hungover on a Thursday?" a voice asked behind her.

   Sophie pretended not to hear, acting as if there wasn't anybody behind her as she sighed and spoke. "Don't talk to me here. I'll follow you to room twenty eight."

    As if intending to push her patience, the boy behind her chuckled in amusement, before she heard his footsteps carry away. Sophie screwed her eyes shut, willing away the headache and counting to ten before following.

   Jack was waiting, the snide look he so often carried plastered smugly over his face.

   "What?" Sophie asked. "There has to be more to that look than my hangover."

   "Oh there is," Jack said, his expression shifting a little to a more thoughtful look. He paced behind her and shut the classroom door before returning to kiss her lips slowly, warmly, taking her mind away for just a second. And then he was all business. "I'm sure you heard by now."

   "Heard what?" she asked between her teeth, wiping away whatever relief the kiss had given her. She was valuing his touch a little too much lately, with all the secrets that had been resurfaced over the last few days. Something about the hidden power he carried had her infatuated. "My phone's been fucking dead since third period. What's happening?"

   "Chloe Whittaker," he said simply.

   Sophie frowned, and an unsettled feeling fell to the pit of her stomach. Chloe Whittaker made her uncomfortable. And above all, made her feel unbelievably stupid. Monica had been so blindingly charismatic and so quick to catch attention, that nobody had noticed the girl lurking in her shadows. Until she stepped out into the spotlight to seek revenge.

   Only, she hadn't. And it made Sophie nervous not knowing why.

   "What about Chloe?" Sophie said, not hiding the caution from her tone.

   "She's left Arlington," he said. "For good."

   Sophie froze, unsure whether to feel relieved or terrified. The whole time Chloe had been seemingly innocent, dating Will and infuriating Lola. The fact that she'd been horrible to her, just like she was horrible to everyone else, made her feel a strange sense of guilt she told herself she shouldn't feel. The bitch was out to get them.

   "Good."

   Will turned his phone over in his hands, willing it to chirp with any kind of notification. No, not any. A notification from one girl in particular, no matter how selfish the thought may be. She'd never talk to him again, he was sure of it. She was stubborn, and so was he.

   And he'd fucked things up beyond reason, and he'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

   It hadn't started with guilt. It had started with a debilitating anxiety, his world revolving around two secrets on his shoulders. It was easily hidden, a talent Will had developed from a young age, but it didn't stop it from tainting his decisions. From befriending the girl, and keeping her closer than he ever should have.

   From taking her problems away in order to fix his own. Even if he was creating a new one altogether.

   But he couldn't let her keep breaking. Especially when he was so close to doing so himself.

   "Hey." Maddy's voice came from behind him, where he sat along the retaining wall by the courtyard.

   "Hi," he said, uninterested.

   "Can I sit?" she asked, nodding to the space beside him. "I don't really think I'm welcome at that table right now."

   "Sure."

   There were a few moments of silence before she spoke again. "Did you know she was Mon's friend?"

   "Yeah, I did," he said, figuring there was no point in denying it now.

   "You must be sad," she went on, "That she left."

   Will frowned. Chloe had been absent, but he wasn't surprised. She had a lot to handle lately, and time away from Arlington was what she needed. "What do you mean left?"

   "You haven't heard?" she asked, looking alarmed. "Are you guys arguing or something?"

   Maddy was so oblivious. He licked his lips, the words feeling foreign as he formed them. "We broke up."

   "Oh shit," she said, "I'm sorry."

   "It's fine." He scratched the back of his neck. "But what is it that I haven't heard?"

   "Chloe left," she said, her tone careful. "Like, enrolled in a new school."

   He went to a lot of effort to keep his breathing even. He didn't want to feel hurt, he didn't deserve that. He didn't have the right to.

   "That's..." His voice trailed off before returning. "Maybe she needed too."

   "Yeah," she said, her voice quiet now too.

   She left.

   He wanted to feel betrayed, but how could he, after all he had done? He was supposed to stay away, to give her the opportunity to seethe over what he had done. But secretly, selfishly, he'd also hoped that after time she'd come back to him, in some way. That he could watch over her from afar. Make up for everything.

   In ways, Jack's manipulation had turned into a way of protecting her, in the worst way possible. But, he'd failed terribly. And there was no turning back from that.

   Arlington had messed her up. No, not Arlington. Monica. Chloe had been so hung up on her death, on revenge, that it consumed her. Living to destroy the social system had become her way of coping, even if it destroyed her in the process.

   It was all he could do to help her. To humor her for as long as he could, making sure she knew she wasn't alone, and he was there.

   He didn't intend to fall for her. But now he realised there was no way he couldn't. The seed of attraction was already buried between them in their chemical make-up, and spending time together, even if it were under fucked-up circumstances, had been all it needed to grow and bloom into feelings much deeper than intended.

   But she was gone. And maybe that was how things should have been. It was what was best for her, after all.

   He shook his head. In ways, she infuriated him. Her agenda, and her determination, no matter how detrimental to her own life, always overcame everything else. She was blinded by Monica, in ways she still wasn't aware of.

   He couldn't stop the heavy feeling in his heart at the idea of her never walking the halls again, in her outrageously expensive shoes and wearing her murderous look. He wondered who she was without the armor, and he wanted to know her better than anyone.

   But he'd ruined that, and he needed to get past it. He needed to focus on himself while he could lie low on Jack's radar, and get his affairs in order. He wanted back on the team, and he needed to hold up his grades, while fix his breaking family. He'd just worry about her.

   Sighing, he unlocked the phone in his hands and brought up a blank text.

   I'm happy for you. I hope it goes all well, I really do. But I'll miss you. Please call if you need anything.

   He stared at the screen for a second before backspacing, and deleting the message. He owed it to her to leave her alone, and to decide for herself whether she ever wanted to talk to him again. As much as he wanted to explain himself, he knew there was still no excuse for letting her close while he was knowingly deceiving her.

   He'd fucked up. He knew that. And maybe that guilt was his own form of punishment, a way for karma to right everything.