Free The Clique by Lisi Harrison

with 3:14 if they had been wearing comfortable shoes, but they weren’t. Everyone had made it as planned except Kristen, who had yet to show.
    “I think I see him, over there at three o’clock. Beside the statue of that army guy,” Dylan said.
    “No, there’s a prefat Leo by the bike rack,” Alicia said. She was pointing straight ahead.
    “That’s not him. There are prefat Leos all over the place—look for the messy hair,” Massie said.
    “So he really asked you to meet him on Saturday?” Alicia asked. She was looking through her binoculars while she spoke.
    “He said, and I quote, I’ll be back next Saturday when the trails are open to the public. Maybe I’ll see you then? End quote. Then he said, and I quote, It’s a date. End quote,” Massie said.
    “Was he making eye contact with you when he said, ‘It’s a date’?” Dylan asked.
    “Full on. He even winked.” Massie let her binoculars fall around her neck and looked at her friends. “A
wink
.”
    Alicia and Kristen dropped their gear and slowly turned to face Massie. It was as if she had just told them she was engaged to be married.
    “That’s sooooo amazing!” Alicia squealed.
    All three girls hugged each other and started bouncing up and down.
    “This looks more like a freak-out than a stakeout.” Kristen stood in front of them with a serious look on her face and waited for an explanation. “What did I miss?” She was struggling to untangle the knots in the rope that hung from her binoculars.
    “Nothing, we were just talking about Chris Abeley,” Dylan said.
    “Again?” Kristen said.
    “Where were you?” Massie asked.
    “We ended up getting this major assignment in Women in the Workforce and I couldn’t just leave,” Kristen said.
    “Shhh,” Massie said.
    “What do you have to do?” Alicia whispered.
    “I have to start my own company,” Kristen practically mouthed. “The whole walk here I was trying to come up with an idea and I couldn’t think of anything.”
    Alicia picked up her binoculars and wiped the lenses off on the inside of her blazer. She had already lost interest.
    “Maybe you should invent something for people who don’t have ideas,” Dylan said.
    Massie and Alicia laughed.
    “How ’bout something for people who make really
stupid
suggestions,” Kristen snapped back.
    “How ’bout something that helps me find Chris Abeley,” Massie suggested sarcastically.
    Everyone returned to their posts.
    “Are you sure we didn’t miss him already?” Kristen asked.
    “Yeah, I’m sure.”
    “How do you know?” Kristen asked.
    “Because I’m looking right at him,” Massie said slowly, as if any sudden movement would blow her cover.
    “Ehmagod, where?” Alicia asked.
    But they spotted him before Massie had a chance to tell them. He was the only person walking down the front steps of the building. Massie wasn’t sure if everyone on the campus had suddenly vanished or if it just felt that way because she only had eyes for him. He had a beat-up leather book bag over his shoulder and a can of Red Bull.
    “
Oh
.”
    “
My
.”
    “
God
.”
    “Zoom in as tight as you can,” Massie said. “See that freckle right above his lip? How hot is that?”
    Massie pulled a tube of gloss out of her denim blazer and managed to apply it without putting down her binoculars.
    “It looks like he’s walking toward us, doesn’t it?” Kristen said.
    “Yeah, almost like he knows Massie’s here,” Dylan offered. “Could this be any more romantic?” Dylan spit a pit out of her mouth after she spoke. She reached into a Ziploc bag and pulled out another cherry. Her red-stained lips were the only proof that the bag had been full minutes ago.
    “
Shhh
. He’s crossing the street,” Massie said.
    Chris Abeley walked directly over to the hedge that separated him from the girls. He stood with his back facing them. Inches away the four girls were having a frantic conversation, using only their wide, panic-filled eyes to