The Anklebiters

It was a nice warm Saturday, but Hayley had to spend it stuck in a stuffy basement because of a sudden Anklebiters meeting. She remembered the text in all caps she got an hour ago ordering her to come to Jenna’s, and Hayley already knew that this couldn’t be good. But, in all honesty, no sudden Anklebiter meetings were good.

She walked all the way to Jenna’s house, enjoying the nice weather because she only lived one street over from her friend anyway. She finally reached the desired house and walked inside, shouting to the woman in the kitchen, “Good afternoon, Mrs. McDougall!”

The mother turned and smiled as Hayley walked across the hall. “They’re in the basement, honey!”

Hayley shot her a thumbs-up. “Thank you!” She grinned before making her way down the creaky basement steps, seeing the rest of her friends already settled.

“What took you so long?” Jenna scoffed from her seat on the couch. This said couch held some of the Anklebiters’ most famous talks, and only they were the ones who knew. It was also just a small piece of furniture in the entire room, which consisted of an old wired TV set, various old band posters hung along the walls, and a vintage piano that used to belong to Jenna’s grandfather. Hayley loved being in here, but hated it because it was the place for the most awful meetings.

She took a seat in between Jenna and Tay on the couch, seeing Taylor pacing back and forth in front of them. “I don’t know; I just walked here,” Hayley finally replied to Jenna. “What’s up with her?” She asked, pointing to Taylor.

“We need to talk about the Hustlers.” Taylor blurted, standing in front of the three with a stern look in her eyes.

Hayley looked to Tay for some comfort, but the brunette was looking down and playing with her hands. “Agreed,” Jenna nodded. “They need to be stopped. They even put poor little Hayles in the office.” The green-haired girl pouted out her lip and pushed a few stray hairs from Hayley’s forehead.

Hayley cleared her throat. “As much as I dislike them, I would like to say that I did deserve it for freaking out so bad.”

“Even so,” Taylor said loudly with her pointing finger raised and getting their attention, “Jenna is right. There is only room for one group at the school, and we are not making room for any ‘Hustlers.’” She almost spit at saying their name.

“This all started because that new kid came to the school.” Jenna scoffed.

“Him and those boys are threatening our rep,” Tay added. “So what do we do?”

Hayley stayed silent, not wanting to say the next words that flew from their leader’s mouth.

“Easy,” Taylor frowned, “we destroy them.”

“I’m not saying that I’m underestimating our abilities,” Hayley finally spoke up, “but how the hell are we going to do that?”

The leader eyed the short orange-haired girl for a second, taking in her petite form and bits of courage laced between her beauty. Sometimes Taylor wondered if Hayley was really cut out for becoming leader after she graduated, if she was better off choosing Jenna. But it was little moments like this, and not to mention the way Tay had described her almost beating up Alex a few days ago, that Taylor really did entrust the care of the Anklebiters in Hayley.

Taylor took a second before finally saying, “You.”

Hayley’s eyes went wide, while the rest had furrowed brows. Tay laid her arm across the couch’s back, almost trying to protect her friend. “What do you mean?” The brunette questioned.

“Yeah,” Jenna scoffed, “how the fuck is Clementine over here going to do anything?”

Hayley rolled her eyes as Taylor continued, “It’s obvious how Alex has a thing for her and she can use it against him. She’ll be his girlfriend for a while, then break them up purposely by hooking up with one of the other Hustlers.”

They all stayed quiet for a moment, until Jenna muttered softly, “If she breaks him, we break all of them.” She nodded, agreeing. “That’s kind of genius.”

“But there’s one rule,” Taylor added and pointed at Hayley. “Don’t develop feelings. That’s the last thing we need, and it will totally ruin the plan.” She waited until Hayley finally nodded. “Okay then! This should all be―”

“Taylor,” Tay called, trying not to speak too loud, “shouldn’t we be asking Hayley how she feels about this?”

The leader turned to the desired Anklebiter. “Hayley? Your thoughts?”

The orange-haired girl looked away, rubbing the back of her neck and biting her lip. “Don’t you think that plan’s really mean?”

“Yeah,” Tay agreed, “we have never really stooped that low before.”

Taylor turned her back to them, swallowing hard and remembering the reasons as to why she started the Anklebiters in the first place. This needed to be done. She had been waiting for this opportunity to finally crush Jack’s spirit for real, but never had the chance. Not until now, when he finally gained a reputation out of the blew.

“They should’ve known what was coming for them as soon as they started the Hustlers,” she muttered. When she thought no one could hear, she also whispered, “Let alone everything that happened in freshmen year.”

The blonde leader finally spun back to her friends, staring them down with interest. “Never mess with an Anklebiter.”

Jenna grinned wide, eyes shining with mischief. “Lost the battle, win the war.”

And as the tradition goes, they all repeated it.

Notes

BIG BIG BIG CHAPTER!
Now this is where everything was leading up to and how the story is going to follow! A lot of drama ahead... ;)
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Rock on \m/