Page 89 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
There’s a traitor among us!
Or is there?
My trusted sources say a certain pom-pom slinger might’ve dipped their toes into the villainous waters of the Jefferson High cleat-wearers. Look at this photo and YOU decide—fact or fiction? Which Brentwood Babe is playing with fire?
As my eyes frantically bounced over the phone screen, my pulse picked up speed in my chest, making me lightheaded. I could almost feel myself sway in place, mere seconds from spiraling. “W-What do the comments say?”
“Just lame speculation.” Jade rolled her eyes. “It’s not like it’sonlythe cheer squad that has varsity jackets. The volleyball girls have them. Basketball. Track. It literally could be anyone—I don’t know why Babble Girl is trying to stir up trouble on the cheer squad.”
It felt like I lifted my head in slow motion, Jade’s figure weaving in and out of focus. She looked bored. There was nothing identifiably me—my blonde hair was hidden, my name on my jacket wasn’t visible, you couldn’t see my face.
You could, however, see the front porch of my house.
But the photo was so blurry and dark, it arguably could’ve been anyone’s porch.
That was my desperation talking.
“Literally.” My voice sounded perfectly ordinary; not like I was seconds from throwing up all over Riley’s phone screen. “How ridiculous.”
I risked another peek at Jade. She sounded nonchalant,and she made the excuse that it could’ve been anyone with a varsity jacket, but she knew the truth. There was only one person a Castle-branded-varsity-jacket-wearer would be hugging.
Riley pulled her phone back, thumbing through the comments on the post. “Better she posts something bogus and not the whole Connor thing yesterday.”
And, on a slow pivot, now Jade turned to stare Riley down. It was the look I’d been expecting, having seen the Babble post, but instead, she gave it to her cheer underling.
Good, a part of me breathed in relief.Let her turn her anger to Riley. “WhatConnor thing?”
Riley made a face at me. “Jeez, Mads, do just not care anymore? You’re MIA oneverything?”
“I—I didn’t?—”
“Riley.” Jade’s voice was a quiet murmur, but laced with muted anger. “Don’t?—”
“The person in the hookup closet yesterday.” Riley pumped her eyebrows. “It was Connor.”
I immediately frowned. “By himself?”
She scoffed. “Of course not. Kyle said he heard a girl in there with him.”
“Who?”
Jade shot me a look, likehow should I know?
“No one waited outside of the closet to catch a glimpse of her?”
“Kyle found them, left to get his phone from his locker, and by the time we all got there, they were gone.” Riley nudged Jade. “But we’ll figure out who with. And we’ll ruin her.”
Everything felt topsy-turvy. Connor in the closet yesterday with someone whowasn’tJade. That wasmassive news… and yet no one had told me. Kyle hadn’t texted the Top Tier group chat, but they’d all gone running. Was there a chat I wasn’t in? More importantly, why hadn’t Jade run to me as soon as she found out? Instead, she’d run toRiley?
The five-minute bell rang out overhead, startling me enough that I almost lost my grip on my phone. “Anyone else want to cut class?” Riley asked with a groan, pocketing her phone. “Because I do.”
Jade didn’t even entertain the thought. “The Top Tier doesn’t cut class.”
“You two go without me,” I said, closing my locker door. “I’m going to run to the bathroom.”
I didn’t go to the bathroom, though. Instead, I rounded the corner and fell against the wall, quickly tugging my phone out of my pocket. There were two texts from Logan, but I opened up Babble instead, the urge to look at the post and comments too strong.
Logan’s varsity jacket withJefferson Highscripted on the back was in plain view, as was his jersey number, but—thankfully—his last name was too blurry to see clearly.
