Zenon's Game Chapter 62

~Third person POV~

Bianca Rodriguez, Chioma Dozie and Jamie Griffith had the holy trinity of looks, intelligence and sass. Stacey was in awe of them. She couldn't believe they had asked her to come over; the ultimate popular girls.

"I have everything you want to know about Candace," Stacey promised, "But why do you want it?"

She never thought Candace Turner would be her ticket in. Aside from what happened this summer, Stacey knew nothing about Candace – but everyone else knew even less. Candace was a nobody, and Stacey planned to use that to her advantage.

"It's none of your business," Bianca answered, "You're here to deliver what we want to hear. And if we find your news satisfactory, we'll reward you with whatever you want in return."

This was a non-negotiable deal. Bianca was known for making girls cry in the bathroom. No one was about to question her.

Stacey hid her nervousness and tried to play Bianca's game, "In return for telling you what I know, I want to be invited to every party you go to this year. And I mean every party."

Oma answered that, "There's one tonight so, if you want to go, you need to hurry up with your evil confession. I'm not going to miss it."

Stacey had no idea why these girls wanted to destroy Candace. Candace was clumsy, boring and weird. These girls have it all, so what could Candace have that they want?

What could she have?

The girls waited for Stacey to start dishing.

So Stacey began, "Zenon and Candace were co-counselors in Apple Cabin. They lived together this summer. He was seeing another girl, Tamara Woodhouse, but he broke up with her over something to do with Candace."

"No way," Jamie gasped, reveling in the drama, "I should've gone to summer camp."

"Who's Tamara Woodhouse?" Bianca asked Oma, "Is she prettier than me?"

Oma shrugged, having never heard the name in her life.

"Tamara had a plan to get revenge on Candace before the end of summer. Since Candace had interfered in her relationship, she wanted to get even. Everything was in place to execute on it, but then she changed heart."

"Why?"

"Something to do with Zenon and a random accident on the lake. Some kids almost drowned, it was a crazy night, anyway," Stacey continued her story, "I have the picture that Tamara was going to use to end Zenon's interest in Candace. It's saved on my phone. If you agree to my deal, then the picture is all yours."

"How bad is it?"

"It's bad. Post it online, spread it through the school and no one will look at Candace in the same way again. You could even get her expelled for underage prostitution."

"What?!"

"Ok, that might be a bit much," Stacey retracted her prior statement, "But definitely in trouble for being an underage stripper."

Bianca whispered something in Oma's ear. Oma considered it and said, "Before we agree to anything, we want to see the picture."

Stacey pulled her phone out and got the picture ready. She'd saved it on her computer before Candace deleted it the night of the lake accident.

She held her phone out but didn't let them take it. She wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

"Eww," Jamie whistled, "That's a bad photo. Is she really a stripper?"

"No, it's just money we put in her b-ra."

"OK, well obviously this is not believable," Oma said and glanced at her best friend, "But it's still a bad photo. What are you thinking, B?"

"I'm thinking you have a deal, Stacey. I'll invite you to some parties. You give me that photo and Candace Turner is little miss innocent no more."

The deal was made. Stacey sent Bianca the photo and was invited to the party that evening. She was ecstatic and asked to see Bianca's calendar, so she could drop in more invites.

Meanwhile, Jamie made her way to the front door.

Bianca said to her, "Well done for finding Stacey. I'm glad I contacted you."

"I don't have the stomach for this next step, so I'm glad it's on you," Jamie responded, before leaving Oma's house in a rush.

Oma and Bianca remained together. Oma watched her friend zoom in on every detail in the photo.

"This can go viral," Bianca giggled, "We haven't had any scandals at school lately and people are starting to wonder who this girl is. Zenon's been hanging out with her everywhere. It's sickening."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Oma asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Bianca laughed and showed Oma the picture again, "It's exactly what we need. Bless Stacey for being an ambitious wannabe!"

"Excuse me?!" Stacey protested. She was still watching her calendar fill up.

"Ssh," Bianca silenced her, "What are you thinking Oma? I can tell you have on opinion. You're giving me that look."

Oma rubbed her eyes, "You want to hear my opinion? My honest opinion?"

"Obviously," Bianca said.

"I don't think you should go through with this."

"Why not?"

"Four reasons," Omi laid into it hard, "One: if you think a girl like Candace is a threat to you then you got some serious confidence issues. Two: Zenon and Axel like this girl. Tell me how bullying her will get them on your side."

"They won't know it's us. Stacey won't tell anyone. She wants to be popular and that's her trade. Photo for popularity," Bianca argued.

Oma dismissed it, "Three: Stacey will tell the right people. Zenon can threaten or charm anyone into submission."

"He won't care enough to find her. He'll just dump Candace. I mean, look at this photo!"

Oma ignored Bianca and turned to Stacey, "OK so tell me why you made the effort to take such a creative photo earlier this summer but never use it yourself? Who stopped you? You're so willing to hurt this Candace girl. Why didn't you go through with it then?"

"We didn't need it anymore-"

"Honey, if you lie to me, you are so done at this school."

The threat silenced Stacey in a heartbeat. Her face got red, "It was Zenon. He spoke to Tamara and said that-"

"Exactly," Oma raised her hand to stop Stacey from babbling on, "There you go, B. I had four points. And the fourth one is... let's not be total bi-t-ch-es.  Life's too short for that."

Bianca wasn't sure she agreed.