Page 132 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
“Put your phones away, for crying out loud,” Connor had to yell over the noise, putting his palm over the camera lens closest to him. “Seriously? Phonesdown.”
Maisie grabbed my wrist hard andtugged. She pulled me away from the growing mob, and I stumbled after her as my mind whirled.
She pulled me into the closest girls room—whichseemed to be a thing for us. Ava came in, hot on our heels, leaving the boys outside. “I swear I didn’t post anything,” she told me, eyes wide. “Using Babble’s name to spread that crap? Ridiculous!”
“I don’t,” I began, strangely breathless. “I don’t even know what was posted. I haven’t seen it yet.”
Maisie and Ava exchanged a look, and my brain was too muddled to properly gauge the meaning. After a moment of hesitation, Maisie wordlessly held her phone out to me, screen unlocked.
Whatever webpage it was, itwasn’tBabble. I knew that immediately. The layout was horrendous and cluttered, and the signature Brentwood pawprints of Babble were nowhere to be seen. It was, however, done in the same design as the Most Likely To list. In wannabe Babble fashion, there was in article front and centered on the page.
THE SECRET’S OUT AND IT’S TREASONOUS
Remember that juuuicy photo from last week, of a Bobcat cuddling close with a Bulldog? After going hard undercover, guess who discovered theirtrueidentity? Your Babble Queen, of course!
But buckle up and lock in, because I’m coming with allllll the receipts!
I couldn’t make sense of the words, but there were pictures—a lot of pictures.
Like a picture of Logan and me standing in front ofmy car. He wore his red Expresso’s apron, and I was in a Brentwood sweatshirt, pushed up onto my tiptoes, pressing my lips to his cheek. I immediately recognized it as the day before school started. The picture was taken from across the street, zoomed in.
The next picture was Logan and me at the arcade at the mall, and though the picture was grainy, you could clearly see us hunched over the air hockey table. The shot had to have been taken right outside the arcade.
The next, a picture of Logan and me outside of the Wallflower diner, with his Bulldog varsity jacket over my cheer uniform, and I was staring up into his eyes.
A picture of me at the eighth grade Jefferson game.
Us standing at my car at the night of Noah’s bonfire. I thought of the high beams that’d followed me all the way to his house.
Logan and I on the sidewalk right outside of Expresso’s, the night we’d walked in on Maisie and Connor.I have eyes everywhere.
Logan and I holding hands.
I saw our relationship play out in grainy snapshots, from beginning to end. The last picture was a blurry photo of me leaning across the console of Logan’s car, wearing my homecoming gown, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. Not even thirty minutes ago.
The biggest betrayal in Brentwood Bobcat history, if you ask me! Madison Oliphant, Most Likely To Peak in High School, fraternizing with the enemy? It makes me sick! But the story doesn’t stop there…
Did you know that Madison is also a Brentwood BobcatBULLY?
The door creaked open, and a new voice murmured something, but I couldn’t pull my attention away from the phone long enough to look up.
There was a picture of me shooting Lacey a dirty look at our lunch table.Evil eye, much?
A picture of me smiling after a cheer practice, but the way it was taken made it look like I was smirking at Riley, who had a pinched look on her face. She was rubbing her wrist.Laughing at someone else’s pain?
Me, standing in front of Connor and Maisie when Jade and I had caught them kissing. Jade was out of frame, but you could clearly see the back of my head as I faced the couple. From the angle, it was easy to see the shine in Maisie’s eyes.Catching the secret couple—and threatening them at the same time!
And the final one was a video. It was shaky, grainy, and from freshman year. There were a few girls in the frame, but I instantly recognized two of them. One being a dark-haired, glasses-wearing Maisie Matthews, wearing a loose T-shirt and shorts. The other was a dirty-blonde, round-cheeked Madison Oliphant.
I could hear Coach Chelsea countdown in the clip, and then when everyone began dancing to the routine, Maisie obviously stood out. Her arms flailed to a separate song, and in the clip, my hand flew over my mouth.LAUGHING at someone’s MISTAKE? Of course she would—she was the one who sabotaged her!
It was a Tell-All article that was only half true, ripping me to shreds.
“So this is how she’s doing it,” I mumbled, more out of shock than anything else.
“Everyone’s gathered out there.” I looked up to find Rachel, Reed’s twin sister, having joined the fray. She wore a long-sleeved red dress, one that flashed with sequins in the bathroom light. She looked at me with a worried line between her brows. “Your mom’s trying to clear everyone out, get them back to the gym, but we might be in here a while.”
“Do you have my clutch?”
