Page 1 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
Popularity.
Elusive to most.
Totally desired by all.
I mean,hello. Who didn’twant to be at the top of their school’s popularity pyramid? Gazing at everyone down below while they craned their necks looking up. Everyone knew the truth: everyone wanted their name to be remembered after high school.
And Madison Oliphant? Oh, that was a name people would bring up at reunions and nostalgic trips down memory lane. Co-captain of the cheer squad. One of the prettiest girls in school. Member of the Top Tier, Brentwood High’s most elite circle of populars.
People would remember me. I’d do everything in my power to make sure of it.
“Can we just get this over with?” Riley Miller, a redhead slouching at one of the desks in the middle of the classroom, sighed. “I wanted to get one of the free cookies they’re passing out in the cafeteria.”
I tried not to scrunch my nose at her attitude. Really, I wanted to scrunch my nose at everything Riley did—out of everyone in our group, the snobby cheerleaderreally had to be my least favorite. Second to her stepbrother, Kyle Filmore.
There were only eight of us. Eight who had the authority over the school. Eight who’d spent the entirety of high school clawing our way to the top and successfully made it.
The Top Tier.
Currently, though, there were only seven of us in the room. “Impatient, are we?” Ashton Shaw, a defensive lineman on the Brentwood High football team, asked. He slid onto the surface of the desk she sat at. “You don’t want to be here with us, huh?”
I wondered what her boyfriend would’ve thought of the doe eyes she gave Ashton. “Maybe with a few of you.”
This time, I didn’t fight my disgust. “Get a room.”
Neither acknowledged me where I sat on top of the row of cabinets that lined the classroom wall. I kicked my heels to the beat of Brentwood High’s fight song, which played over the speaker system. It was soft enough to be background music, because no one really was meant to be listening to it, anyway. Everyone outside of this classroom was probably far more concerned with navigating through the school’s open house, figuring out the lay of the hallways and trying to commit their class route by heart before the first day of school.
Except for the Top Tier.
Reed Manning, a wide receiver who sat in a different row, turned and exchanged a glance with Connor Bray, who took up a desk behind him. He didn’t bother lowering his voice. “How long is this going to take?”
Connor, Brentwood Bobcats star, tipped his head toward his girlfriend. His tone was tired. “Jade?”
While we were all a part of the Top Tier, there was really only one tippy-top spot—and that golden, glittering throne belonged wholeheartedly to Jade Nicole Dyer. No one dared to try and fight her for it, not even Ashton, who loved stepping on toes. Everything about Jade exuded royalty status, from the way her bright blonde hair was always curled to the way her posture was always perfect. Her attitude, too, was nothing short of authoritative.
Really, the Top Tier could have no other Queen Bee.
Jade stepped into the center of the room, propping her hands on her pleated skirt-clad hips. Her Brentwood blue and gold cheer uniform looked perfect on her—like she wasn’t made to wear anything else. “I guess we won’t wait for Landon, then.”
“He texted that he was coming,” I piped up. “He’s probably almost?—”
At that exact second, a tall, broad boy pushed through the classroom door, shaking his red hair from his eyes. He looked a little embarrassed, but then again, Landon Settler’s default look wasbashful. His perpetually pink cheeks didn’t help him. “I’m here,” Landon mumbled, sauntering straight up to Connor. “You said it was Mr. Norman’s room.”
“He changed rooms this year,” Connor replied, but with a grin. The first he’d sported since we’d stepped onto school grounds.
They did one of those bro handshakes before Landon sank into the desk chair beside Connor’s, throwing a knuckle touch Reed’s way. Landon didn’t look at me once.
Sigh. I’d been surprised he’d replied to my text, honestly, but “coming” seemed to be all I’d get out ofhim. Were things going to be awkward between us all school year?
“We’re all here, right?” Jade glanced at Kyle, who’d been silent this entire time. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
And just like that, the first Top Tier meeting of our senior year was now in session.
Oh, I could’ve justdied. Seriously. I tapped my heels more excitedly.
“School starts a week from tomorrow,” Jade said, lifting her chin as she glanced from person to person. “Which means we officially begin our reign. Everyone needs to wear spirit gear on the first day, so everyone can spot the new Top Tier members. No exceptions. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” I replied, whereas nearly everyone else just nodded.
