**Officially published as Clique Bait with HarperTeen!**
Payment is usually a part of a basic transaction. You give and then you take. But, at Arlington Preparatory, people take at their leisure. They take their entertainment in the form of humiliat...
Arlington misses you dearly, well I think it does at least.
After the summer, your name left everyone's lips. But you're still here, like some sort of ghost. Sometimes I think I actually do see you, it's freaky.
You left your scarf at my house, but it's too bad because I'm keeping it. I'm going to wear it tomorrow, it looks cold.
Tell me what it's like, a million miles from Arlington.
Love, Chloe
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My feet were still damp as I propped them gingerly onto the scales. The stubborn digital display hovered around a range of values for a few seconds before deciding on today's number. One and a half pounds higher than yesterday's.
I sighed in frustration, it was probably because I'd been drinking more coffee than usual and eating more from the school canteen. I couldn't afford to slip back up a clothing size again, especially when I was completely aware I was the largest girl at that table yesterday. My stomach looked bloated and pudgy, bringing with it a wave of insecurity.
A murmur from the hallway distracted me from my train of thoughts, and I took a step closer to the fine cracks at the edge of the bathroom door, wrapping a towel around my body in the process.
"Friday?" I heard my mom say. Her voice was barely audible over the whirring of the bathroom fan. "Richard, you know we have dinner with the Thompson's on Thursday night."
There was a pause, and I heard Mom's footsteps navigate up the hall towards my bedroom, probably putting away freshly folded clothes.
"I don't understand why you can't just arrange to attend the meeting online and come home after tomorrow. I swear you spend more time at work than in your own home, and don't even get me started on the example it sets to Chloe-"
Her footsteps accelerated as she walked past the bathroom door again.
"I'm not using her to manipulate you, Richard. It's just..." there was a sigh and a light thud as she closed a door. When she spoke again, her voice was even more difficult to decipher. "I miss you. It's so lonely here and every night I'm just so alone."
My breath hitched in my throat as a hollowness opened deep within my chest. My hands curled into fists around the towel as I heard the unmistakable sound of a muffled sob. As silence prevailed, I could only assume the phone call had ended.
Sometimes I really hated this damn house.
I pulled on the clothes I had allocated for the day, wrapping Monica's navy scarf loosely around my neck and braiding my hair into two neat plaits. Vainly, I found seeking composure in my appearance helped to distract me from the twisting frustration that came with thinking about my parents.
