Page 91 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
I folded my arms across my chest. Now she had no choice but to see the death glare I’d been shooting her all lunch period. I could just imagine her up in her bedroom, peeking her phone camera through her blinds to snap the pic. “Ever heard ofprivacy?”
Maisie stiffened, but she tried to hide it by shifting feet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Denying it makes you look stupid, you know. Babble? The only spot that photo could’ve been taken was from your bedroom window.” I tipped my chin toward the bathroom door, raising an eyebrow. “And now you’re over here eavesdropping on Jade and Connor? What, you run Brentwood Babble now?”
Maisie wrinkled her nose, looking at me like I was the stupid one. “I couldn’t care less about stupid gossip.”
“Then why did you take a picture of Logan and me last night? Why did youpostit?”
“Maybe I wanted to get back at you,” she said, voice clear and calm. Under the weight of my glare, she didn’t even flinch. “Maybe this is payback.”
Apparently humiliationwasMaisie’s style. I blinked in surprise, because I truly expected her to have a different motive.Payback. “Maisie, come on.” I forced myself to scoff, to maintain the superiority of the conversation. To act as if bringing up freshman year didn’t make my skin crawl. “For freshman year? You didn’t know the choreography.”
“Yeah, because you taught me the wrong routine.”
I clamped my jaw shut, so tightly that it hurt. I could still remember that wrong routine, too, as if the shame had burned it into my memory. “If you were serious about cheer, you would’ve made sure you had the right choreo yourself.” The words were ugly in my mouth, almost nauseating.
“I didn’t expect my best friend to sabotage me, but sure,” she went on, nodding. “Let’s make it my fault. Anything to absolve you of your guilt.”
I tried to swallow, but it choked in my throat. The only thing that was her fault was trusting Jade and I so blindly—no, trustingme. As soon as I thought it, I shoved the feeling down, down, gripping the edge of the sink to ground myself. “You don’t get how big of a deal it is, being caught with him,” I all but whispered. “I could get kicked off the squad.”
The longer Maisie stood silent, the stupider I began to feel. The words sounded so ridiculous. They sounded so… peak in high school. I’d decided to go all in with Logan. I’d known the consequences. Why was I putting blame on Maisie?
Because even though I’d been the one to choose Logan, I never truly imagined getting caught.
“Maybe this wasn’t payback,” Maisie said after a beat. “Maybe it was karma.”
I straightened from the sink. “I did you a favor and we both know it.”
Maisie wasn’t interested in sticking around to hash it out further, though. She walked toward the bathroom door. “Maybe one day you’ll think the same of me,” she said, wrapping her hand around the door handle. “That I did you a favor.”
The urge to say something else rose sharply withinme, because, strangely, I didn’t want her to walk away. I didn’t know exactly what Ididwant from her, but I wasn’t finished yet.
The door opened, but not because Maisie pulled—because Jade pushed. She all but fell into the bathroom, nearly crashing into Maisie in the process, and suddenly the bathroom was far too small. Jade’s gaze found mine first, since I was directly in her line of sight, before pivoting to find Maisie’s.
Jade’s lips thinned. “Excuse you,” she said to Maisie. “If you don’t mind, Math Book, I need to talk to my best friend.”
Maisie just snorted, and without a final look, she left the bathroom.
I stared at the door as it slowly swung closed, and for a brief, crazy moment, I found myself wishing Maisie had stayed instead of Jade.
“There’s someone else,” Jade said.
I blinked at her. “Huh?”
“Connor.” Her eyes were sharp. “He has someone else.”
“If this is about the hookup closet yesterday, I’m sure?—”
“He’s never pulled back like this before.” The stress in Jade’s expression was clear, almost electric and crazed. “There’s someone else.”
“Who is he even around other than us?” I asked her, unsettled as I watched my best friend begin to unravel at the seams. I had no idea how to comfort her, either. “Connor’s only friends are in the Top Tier. We’re the only ones?—”
The thought hit me without warning.Bobcats, Connor had said grandly to Maisie’s friend group at thebowling alley last week.What a coincidence. He’d been the one to go to his car and get sweatpants for Maisie, too. And even Maisie, pausing in the hallway to watch Connor and Jade argue. Maisie never would’ve cared about Jannor drama. So why did she stop in her tracks?
“Why—” I had to clear my throat. “Why didn’t Babble post about Connor being in the closet? Someone… had to have submitted it, right?”
Jade shook her head absently, rubbing her palm into her forehead. “I guess that photo was more important.”
