Page 117 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
Right, Mads?
“Let her go, Connor,” Jade said to him, voice soothing. “I won’t tell the whole school you’re a cheater. We’ll win king and queen, and we’ll stay being the top of the Top Tier. That’s what you want, right? What you’ve always wanted?”
I watched Maisie stand still as Connor remainedsilent, not brushing off Jade’s attempt at hypnosis. Maisie’s expression was almost scarily calm, and then I saw it. It was a small fissure, a crack in her brow, but it sliced across her eyes as she stood waiting for the guy she liked to come say something. And he didn’t.
In that moment, I knew Connor and I were painfully similar. Both too conditioned to keep quiet, too afraid to rock the boat that Jade steered. Connor’s hands were in fists at his sides, quivering, holding himself still.
Maisie let out a small breath, just one. Without another fighting word, she rounded the front of the car they’d stood in front of and climbed into the driver’s seat. She started it up without looking over at any of us, nearly clipping the car behind her as she backed up before pulling out onto the road.
Jade patted Connor’s shoulder. “This is why you don’t keep secrets from me. They don’t end well. I have eyes everywhere.” She gave her hand a wave. “I don’t know why you thought I wouldn’t find out.”
“You’re a miserable person,” Connor told her in the strongest voice I’d ever heard him use. His gaze flicked to me, and he pulled in a breath as if he were about to say something equally scathing, but paused. He seemed to see the tear tracks on my cheeks, turning back to Jade. “It’s ironic, you know. Voting Madison Most Likely to Peak in High School. More than ironic, it’spathetic.”
Jade was unmoved. “I’ve warned you time and time again to fall in line.” She just tipped her head up to stare into his eyes. “We’ve come this far. We’re at the top. I’m not giving it up.”
“At this rate, you won’t have to.” Connor didn’t even blink. “You’ll fall before you have the chance.”
Connor stalked off then, hisfinal line lingering in the air like the smoke of a bomb. The sick feeling didn’t leave with him, but stayed stirring in my stomach. The moment was over, and the players mostly gone, but the tension remained.
If I’d known they were going to hurt Noah before it happened, would I have done anything? I hadn’t even stepped into protect Maisie when Jade was knocking her down. I hadn’t defended Maisie. I hadn’t defended Connor. I hadn’t even stood up for myself. When it came to Jade Dyer, I didn’t know how to do anything but fall in line.
Logan would be horrified. Disgusted. Embarrassed to be associated with someone like me.
Just like I was embarrassed to be associated with myself.
I couldn’t stop crying, thinking about Maisie’s crumpled face. The way she’d pulled away from Connor. She’d stood there, waiting for someone she trusted to come to her defense, but they hadn’t.Again. And even though I wanted to hate Connor for it, I mostly hated him for being too much like me.
A coward.
Jade turned to me, and if she noticed the tear tracks on my cheeks, she didn’t comment on them. In fact, it was like she wasn’t reallyseeingme, her eyes unfocused. She slid her phone into her pocket. “Ready to go to Ashton’s?”
She turned on her heel, completely turning her back on the way to the art museum, forgetting the entire purpose of us coming here. If I was a stronger person, I would’ve continued on without her. If I was a better person, I would’ve turned my back on her then and there.
But I wasn’t, and I couldn’t.
When I got into the passenger seat of Jade’s car, sealing myself in, I pulled my phone out. I used the edge of my thumb to swipe underneath my wet eyes.
how much longer til you’re done at work
He didn’t respond, which made sense, since he’d gone back to work. I regretted even texting him, because now he was worrying when he was at work. I swallowed the bile in the back of my throat.
everything’s okay, btw. just missing you
“Who are you texting?”
I blinked at Jade’s dull demand, and when I spoke, my voice was hoarse. “My mom. She’s wondering why I didn’t show.”
“You know.” Jade tapped the steering wheel thoughtfully. The drive to Ashton’s wasn’t far, but even five minutes in the enclosed car seemed suffocating. “You never asked me if my parents decided to move to New York.”
My lips parted, realizing ithadn’tcome back up. After she’d come to my house crying, neither of us had mentioned it again. A thick weariness washed over me, and my eyes slipped closed. “I’m sorry.”
She tapped her fingers on the leather steering wheel again, rhythm steady, casual. Detached. “That’s it?”
I just sat in the passenger seat, waiting to be sucked down into it.Exhausted. That was a good word for it. I felt mentally, physically, emotionally, thoroughly exhausted. “Did they decide to move to New York?”Even as I asked it, remembering the first time it’d ever come up, I wondered: was it a lie? Was it something she’d made up to get me to step down from co-captain? Or was I just looking for flaws in Jade now because I’d uncovered so much else?
Jade’s car began humming as a call came through, and when I looked at the dash screen, I saw Ashton’s name. She pressed a button on her steering wheel, connecting the call. “Hey, we’re almost there.”
“Could you take any longer?” Ashton’s arrogant voice cut through the speakers, the pulse of music in the background. “Lacey’s here already.”
