Page 90 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
JeffBoy22: NO WAY!!!
MrTwister123: That is so a Brentwood varsity jacket. WHO is hugging the enemy?!
Hunt4Bulldogs: Why does it have to be someone on the cheer squad? Emma from the track team seemed pretty cozy with a bulldog at the meet back in spring…
As I looked at the picture closer, something else occurred to me. The angle of the photo was odd, almostas if it’d been taken at a higher elevation. What, was someone crouched in a tree? Who?
Then it hit me. There was only one spot that photo could’ve been taken from.
And it was perfectly from the angle of Maisie Matthew’s second-story bedroom window.
I was going to kill her.
From where I sat at my lunch table, I had a straight shot to Maisie, who sat at her own table with her head propped against her fist. I didn’t put much stock in my lip-reading skills, but I could’veswornshe was talking about me.
I’m telling you,her lips said.It was Madison Oliphant.
I didn’t know what made me feel better—that her friends didn’t believe her or that her attempt to humiliate me backfired.
Really, humiliationsowasn’t Maisie’s style. Jade’s, maybe, but not Maisie’s. It had me thinking there might’ve been a different reason for her sudden sabotage, but still. I was going to kill her.
“Where’s Connor?” someone at the table asked, but I didn’t look away from my target. It was a wonder Maisie hadn’t felt the stink eye yet. I was glaring at her so hard that my eyes were starting to dry out.
And to think, if she’d been a better photographer, I would’ve been in hotter water. But, no, Maisie could solve math equations all day long, but couldn’t focus hercamera to save her life. Or think of turning on Night Mode.
“Where’s Jade?”
Now I looked up, gaze automatically locking with Lacey Churchill, who sat across from me. She’d asked the question, presumedly, because it was then that I realized I was the only other girl who sat at the lunch table. Jadewasabsent—and, perhaps more alarmingly, so was Riley.
Lacey didn’t seem too interested in hearing the answer—she’d already turned back to her broccoli salad—but she’d caught Ashton’s attention. “The lovebirds are out in the hall,” he said, batting his eyes at Lacey. “Looking for your snark partner? Go ahead, get catty with Madison instead. I’ll watch.”
Lacey didn’t even look at Ashton; it was like he hadn’t spoken. Her eyes flicked up to mine before sweeping back down. The longer things went on—and the more times I caught Landon looking at her—the less sure I was about Lacedon’s new relationship being because of the Most Likely Tos. I still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure, though. Either way, they were cute together. It made me feel bad that Jade and I had given her so much grief in the beginning.
I turned back to the table across from the cafeteria—and nearly jumped, because Maisie was rising to her feet. She grabbed her bag and began packing it up, drawing it onto her shoulder and heading for the hallway.
“I’m going to go find them,” I said to no one in particular, abandoning my tray. “Kyle, take care of my lunch for me?”
He looked up from the other end of the table. “Youwant me to clean up after you?” he asked, sounding more confused than annoyed.
I waved a hand at him, throwing a quick “thanks!” before barreling after my ex-best friend.
When I got to the hallway, I expected to find Maisie halfway down it, or maybe even ducking into the bathroom. Instead, Maisie just stood in the middle of the walkway, her back to the cafeteria. I blinked at her pink backpack, opening my mouth to call out to her, but that was when I noticed what she stared at.
Jade and Connor stood maybe fifty feet down the hall, close together in their normalJannorfashion. Jade:angry. Connor:passive. Jade’s head was tilted up to glare him in the eye, but Connor’s was facing down the hallway, away from the direction of Maisie and me.
And Maisie was just… watching them. I wrinkled my nose at the weirdness of it.
“We’ve talked about this,” Jade said, her voice traveling the short journey down the hall. “We’regoodtogether.”
Connor’s voice was flat. “Are we?”
Woah, hang on. This wassonot a conversation to be having in the middle of the hallway. They weren’t even making sure no one was around to hear them. With how trigger-happy Maisie Matthews was with sending things to Babble, it wasn’t a chance they should take. I took a step forward.
“What about king and queen?” Jade demanded, grabbing Connor’s hand. “We need this.”
“I know,” Connor breathed out, and that was when I came around Maisie and grabbed her left arm. She fought me at first, her sneakerssqueaking as I dragged her across the hall and into the bathroom. It was thankfully empty, and I whirled on my ex-best friend.
Maisie spoke first. “What the heck is with you jocks?” She harshly brushed at her shoulder. “Ever heard of personal space?”
