Page 40 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
Eventually, I’d had to leave the bathroom by the cafeteria and go to class. Mrs. Greer had already started the lesson when I opened the door, which meant everyone’s heads swiveled at me. And stared.
And it wasn’t even fifteen minutes into the period before someone posted in the Most Likely To post comment thread, tagging my username.@MOBobcatBabe02just showed up late to class—crying in the bathroom, maybe??
Someone had snorted somewhere in the room, and my stomach had sunk to my toes.
So, by the end of the day full of constant stares and whispers, I wanted nothing more than to skip cheer practice. But I couldn’t. It’d be even more obvious, and I couldn’t let anyone see how hurt I really was.
When I got to my locker at the end of the epically long school day, I found a piece of paper taped to the metal.
Most Likely To: Peek In High School.
It was a piece of lined notebook paper, the crudehandwriting so obviously Ashton’s. He’d even used thewrong peak.
Lunging forward, I ripped it off the metal, crumbling the paper in my fist. My knuckles squeezed so tightly that my skin felt like it could’ve cracked.
“Long day?” Almost silently, Riley appeared at my side. She had her blue backpack slung over one shoulder, her white cheer duffle bag on the other. Even though we’d worn our cheer uniforms for the spirit day today, she’d changed out of it and into practice clothes—a loose tee and short-shorts. “Wanna walk to practice?”
“I still have to change,” I bit out, tightening my fist around the ball of paper while reaching for my locker combination. “I’ll meet you out there.”Leave me alone.
“Wait, you’re really going to come?” Riley looked as if she was fighting a smile. “I figured you’d bail.”
“As if,” I said as confidently as I could, rummaging through my things. If I did it long enough, she’d probably walk away. “I wouldn’t let something as stupid as the list keep me from practice.”
“Even when everyone who’s out on the field put you on it?”
I shot her a glare. “Jade said you put me on it. That you were the one who wouldn’t let it go.”
“Of course she did.” Riley’s words were tinged with amusement. “No one objected, did they? Not even goody-goody Connor. No one argued that Madison Oliphant should be kept off the MLTs.”
I tried not to let that image bother me, the thought that everyone sat around the table at Expresso’s, nodding when my label was proposed, just like they’d done with Landon’s. How long had they waited before I didn’t come back? Five minutes? Ten? Had theyproposed the label before Jade even came out to get me?
I shook the image from my head. “I’d argue that putting a friend on the Most Likely Tos to begin with is peak in high school behavior.”
“You dumped a boy because he threatened your popularity. What?” she asked when she saw my shocked expression. “You think you’re the only one Jade shares secrets with?” Riley tilted her head as if speaking down to a child. “You threw your own best friend under the bus just to get on the cheer squad. You’d throw away anyone if it risked your top spot. If anyone’s peaking in high school, Madison, itisyou.”
I still held the crumbled sheet of paper in my hand, the label heavy in my fist. My first instinct was to deny it, to shake my head and repel the words. They didn’t apply to me. Besides, I didn’tgive Logan up. He’d only started it all on a dare, anyway. It wasn’t real. And if it had been… If it had been…
Riley’s haughty expression only deepened. “You’d never choose a guy over popularity.”
I actually felt my eye twitch. I leaned toward her now, taking hold of the situation just as Jade would. “Says the girl who messed around with Ashton this past weekend when you had a boyfriend.”
The confidence wavered on Riley’s face. “Who told you that?”
“What, you think you’re the only one Jade shares secrets with?”
Riley took a break from the moment to glance around, to see who might’ve heard. Despite us facing down in the hallway, no one seemed to be paying attention, as if instinctively knowing to give us privacy. I couldpractically see the Babble comments now, though:Madison and Riley were fighting in the hallway, but I couldn’t hear what it was about.
“And yet you votedNateMost Likely To: Cheat on their Partner,” I continued, on a roll. “You knew that if the truth got out, it’d ruin your image. Youroptics. No one likes a cheater, and no one would’ve sided with you.” I stepped closer to her. “You aren’t better than me. Not even close.”
I expected Riley to back down, but instead, she raised her chin, fire burning in her eyes. In that moment, she looked just like Jade. “Spoken like someone who’s going to peak in high school.”
She’d said it like a slap, and it stung just as sharply. I rocked back on my heels, sucking in a breath. She’d started it, lured me in, and exposed me. The words, ones I’d filled to the brim with animosity and superiority, practically screamed my label all on their own. And I hadn’t even noticed. Even worse, I’d beenproudof what I’d said.
Riley gave up first, grabbing both her bag straps and stalking off toward cheer practice alone.
I stood frozen in front of my open locker. I was the victorious one in that argument—evident by Riley’s retreat—but I didn’tfeelvictorious.
You’d rather die than risk your Top Tier spot, wouldn’t you?Riley’s smug voice rang in my ear, grating, ugly. She acted as if wanting to be popular was a crime, as if anyone in the Top Tier wouldn’t do the same.
