The Sixes

Phoebe had no clue where the Friendly’s was, and she didn’t want to waste precious time running inside to check the map again. She squinted at the back of the huge mall in the bright autumn sunlight. There were hulking dumpsters in both directions—every store had one. She won’t wait if I’m late, Phoebe thought anxiously. As she hurried back toward the mall, she asked a woman struggling with two toddlers and sagging plastic bags for directions to Friendly’s. “Up there,” the woman said, flinging her head to the right. Phoebe broke into a jog and zigzagged through endless rows of parked cars, making her way around the perimeter of the mall. Finally she spotted the back of Friendly’s. Alexis was already there, standing by a green dumpster with her arms wrapped tightly around her and shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to the other.

“Thank you for doing this, Alexis,” Phoebe said when she reached the girl, nearly out of breath. She thought briefly of touching Alexis’s arm, just to show support, but quickly scratched the idea. Alexis looked like the slightest touch would make her head blow off.

“Are you sure they’ll never find out?” Alexis said. She shot a frantic look to the left and then to the right, scanning the parking lot as if the Sixes might be lurking behind one of the SUVs.

“They won’t,” Phoebe said. “The only person who knows I’m here is the president of the school. And she’s going to be very grateful for your help.”

“It’s what you said—about not letting them hurt anyone else. I—I just don’t want that to happen.”

“I know. So help me understand. What are the Sixes all about?”

Alexis snorted in disgust. “They’re supposed to be about female power. About being fierce and fearless and ruling the world—and getting what you want out of life. It’s always the same type of girl who gets tapped. Pretty and smart. And a jock. Always a jock.”

“How big is the group—and what do they do, exactly?”

“There’re about forty members,” Alexis said. “They’re supposed to help each other out—have each other’s backs. You exchange stuff about classes, about guys. And then when you leave school, they help you out, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure. They set you up somehow. With contacts, stuff like that, I guess.”

“Is Blair Usher the leader?”

Alexis flinched at the sound of the name.

“I think so. I mean, she was the one who always ran the meetings. But sometimes—I don’t know . . . It felt like she was checking in with another person.”

“You said something about circles. You mean, you’d put six chairs or something in a circle?”

“What?” Alexis said, her confusion tinged with irritation. She was getting riled up just talking about the Sixes, and her patience seemed as fragile as an eggshell. “No, not actual circles. Circles of membership. To get to the inner circle, you have to work your way through these six freaking circles.”

“Is that where the name of the group comes from?”

“Yes—and the fact that there were six girls who started it.”

“Are the circles like tests, then?” Phoebe said.

“Yes,” Alexis said. She began to twist and writhe her neck, as if she were struggling to free it from her body. “The first circle is ‘Proclaim.’ You have to leave the number six someplace—like on a building—to declare your allegiance. That one’s easy, like a sorority prank.”

“And then?” Phoebe asked.

“The next is ‘Reveal.’ You have to tell something totally private about yourself—a secret that you’ve never shared with anyone.” Alexis held Phoebe’s eyes for a moment, looking stricken. “Something not good.”

“So it’s a way for you to show your loyalty. Does each circle become harder?”

“Yes,” she said, spitting out the word. “And—and when I found out about the third one, I didn’t want to do it. But you don’t have a choice. They make you think there’s no going back.”

“So what was it, the third circle?”

“ ‘Dominate.’ You fuck somebody up who is a jerk—another student. Somebody who hogs all the talking time in class or is a total showoff or is just a slut. You’re supposed to send a nasty e-mail blast about them or delete their term paper from their laptop or steal their cell phone. Blair kept saying they deserve it.”

“The school didn’t realize this sort of thing was going on?”

“I don’t know. Some stuff, like the term papers, probably just looks like mistakes. I swear I didn’t want to do it. But when you start to protest, they make these little threats. Kind of funny at first with a wink, wink, but then you remember—” Her voice had become almost hoarse. “They know your deepest secret now.”

“So they forced you to do the next one, too—the fourth circle?”

“I—I almost did,” she said. Her lower lip began to tremble. “But then I changed my mind. I couldn’t. You have to sleep with a guy. Some total loser, and then completely dump him and do an unsigned post about him. It’s called the ‘Bewitch’ circle. It’s supposed to teach you how to use power and put guys in their place. But the kid they picked for me, he—I heard he had tried to kill himself in high school, and I just couldn’t do it. What if that had made him try again?”

Alexis started to cry a little, tears slowly streaming down her rough, reddened cheeks.

Was that what the painted doors had been about? Phoebe wondered. She was remembering what Hutch said about the dorky boys.

“Did they paint a check mark on these boys’ doors, do you know?”

Alexis widened her eyes, clearly surprised that Phoebe knew about this.

“Yes,” she said. “Though I don’t think those guys ever realized why the check was there. They just ended up humiliated and ashamed later and didn’t understand it was part of some master plot.”

“So this is when you broke away for good.”

“Blair said I couldn’t leave, that I’d be sorry if I did. But I told her I didn’t care, that if she did anything, I’d let the administration know about the Sixes. And then she said that there’d be payback, that I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

Alexis began to sob, her chest heaving. Phoebe found herself swept back, as if caught in a flash flood, to her awful year in boarding school. At night she had sobbed into her pillow, hoping Glenda wouldn’t hear. Now she bit down hard on her lower lip, forcing herself back to the present.

“And was there payback, Alexis?” she asked softly.

“Yes,” Alexis said. “You know what those bitches did? The summer before junior year I’d made this—this stupid sex tape with a boy I’d met. That was the secret I shared. They made me show it to them. And once I left the Sixes for good, Blair sent it to this new boy, Chris, I was dating at Lyle. I loved him, and the minute he saw it, he broke up with me. And then they said that if I talked to anyone in the administration, they would send it to my parents and the whole school. If the Sixes find out I’m going to the University of Maryland, they’ll send it to everyone there.”

“All to keep you from telling?”

“Not just that—for revenge,” Alexis exclaimed. “In a way Blair wants girls to betray her. That way she can have a vendetta against them. One of her greatest pleasures is getting back at someone.”

“Did she—”

“Look, I have to go back inside,” Alexis said. “I don’t know how I’m even going to work now. I’m all freaked out.” Using her fingers, she tried to wipe away the mascara smudge marks that her tears had caused.

“But wait,” Phoebe said, nearly pleading. There was still so much she needed to know. She fished in her purse for a clean tissue and handed it to Alexis. “What about the last two circles? Do you know what they are?”

“No. And I don’t want to know either.” She hitched the drooping strap of her handbag higher on her shoulder. She was getting ready to fly.

“Just one more question,” Phoebe pleaded. “What about Lily—was she in the Sixes?”

“Yes. She joined in the spring. I tried to say something to her because I’d started to see what monsters they