Page 231 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

“Sure.”

She shows me a cool little sesh spot by the bleachers, mostly blocked by a supporting wall and the mesh of steel framing. We light up and pass the joint silently between us. It’s half done before I speak.

“Anyone else in that group know you smoke?”

Tiffany shrugs. “Some. Not the bitches, obviously.” Her words escape with wisps of smoke. “Did Addison send you to talk to me?” Tiffany asks as she hands back the joint.

“What makes you?—?”

“Cut the shit.” She squints at me. “India, right?”

“Indi,” I say.

She shrugs as if she’d gotten close enough for it not to matter. “That chick’s got a fucking bug up her ass about that whole thing with Jessica.”

“So you don’t think anything freaky happened at Briar’s birthday party that night?”

I’m leaning with one foot up behind me on the wall, she’s perched on one of the bleacher’s struts. After another shrug, she squints into the distance, twisting her fingers around each other. “Freaky things always happen at parties. It’s kinda the point.”

“So tell me.”

Tiffany sighs and drops her head between her arms. “I told her everything already.” She looks up, frustration outlined by the unhappy curve of her mouth. “We were all fucking wasted. Then the guys started doing coke. That’s when I left.”

“And Jess was still fine when you left?”

Tiffany lets out a tiny snort. “Course she wasn’t fine. She was drunk as fuck. Briar was higher than a kite. Marcus…” She shakes her head, her blond hair swaying. “I’m sure ten minutes after I left, every one of them passed out.”

“Were you friends with Jessica?”

Tiffany shrugs. “She was on the squad, so yeah, kinda.” Tiffany reaches for the joint, which I’d forgotten I was holding, and then clicks her fingers at me for the lighter. She cups her hands around the joint and lights it, hitting it hard before handing everything back to me. “But we never braided each other’s hair or shit like that. Jess kept to herself a lot.”

An antisocial cheerleader? Addy didn’t mention that.

“Who was her closest friend besides Addison?”

Tiffany lifts her eyebrows in thought. She purses her lips and says, “Briar, I guess. It was always just the three of them.”

“Addywas friends withBriar?”

“Yeah,” Tiffany says through a short laugh. She sits back and gives me a faint smile. “Everyone said they were…” She squeezes shut her eyes, clicking her fingers, “—fuck, what’s the word?”

“Polyamorous?”

“Yeah.” Tiffany nods enthusiastically. “That’s it. What you said. Everyone said they were like menaging and shit.”

Another thing Addison didn’t bother to mention, unless it was just a rumor.

“Did you see when Addison left?”

Tiffany nods. “Oh yeah,” she says through a laugh. “Everyonesaw when she left.”

“What do you?—?”

“She was cussing out Jess so fucking bad.” Tiffany’s eyes are wide as she swipes her hand back and forth. “I don’t know what they were fighting about, but that shit was crazy. They looked like they wanted to claw each other’s faces off.”

My skin prickles and I bring the joint to my lips, pulling at it without even realizing what I’m doing. I shouldn’t—I’m stoned enough—but I need something to help with all these unexpected revelations.

“You know what the fight was about?”

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