Page 76 of Payback

Doctor Asgard cleared his throat. “A significant number of donors tested positive for strains of syphilis.”

I cringed. Chatters broke out across the tables. Someone at the back of the room dropped a plate.

The doctor raised his palms. “There’s no cause for alarm. It’s perfectly treatable with penicillin injections, but I must reiterate the importance of practicing safe sex.”

“Abstinence,” said Mr. Weaver. “Sexual activity is against the regulations of Mercia Academy for this very reason.”

The academy medic rubbed the back of his neck. “From our analysis, it appears that the condition was spread by one individual.”

A few girls shot Blake dirty looks, but he stared ahead, unaffected.

“To safeguard the privacy of those who tested positive, we have placed envelopes in everyone’s mailboxes. Those who tested negative or didn’t donate blood will find blank sheets of paper instead of test results.”

Everyone rushed to the entrance hall. A tiny voice in the back of my head wondered if I had caught anything from Mr. Carbuncle. I’d been unconscious in his presence twice, and although both times I had awoken wearing my jeans, it didn’t guarantee that he hadn’t done anything nefarious.

I reached into my mailbox and pulled out a white envelope. All around me, people were doing the same, so I retreated to the fireplace and pulled up the flap.

Rita walked up to me, her face pale. “A-are you alright? I can’t face looking at mine.”

“Let’s swap, then.” I gave her a smile. It looked like the boy she had been visiting in Hawthorn House was her boyfriend, after all. “I’ll open yours if you open mine.”

With a nod, we exchanged envelopes. I tore Rita’s open and pulled out the sheet of paper. Hers was blank. She handed me mine, which was also blank.

Her posture slumped. “That’s a relief.”

My gaze traveled to Henry, who held up a blank piece of paper, and then to Edward, who did the same. At the far right of the room, Blake brandished his blank sheet. “See?” Blake told no one in particular. “It wasn’t me who spread the syphilis. Look somewhere else.”

A group of boys huddled in the corner. Coates, Bierson, and Patterson-Bourke from the rugby team. Among them were other rugby players, a few boys I’d never really spoken to, and Duncan, the scrawny boy with thick glasses who subscribed to every newspaper.

In the middle of the huddle of boys stood a pale-faced Charlotte.

Blake strolled up to us at the fireplace, mischief shining in his chocolate-brown eyes. “This will be interesting.”

“What?”

He turned me to the door, where boys from Hawthorn house walked into the entrance hall, many of them holding letters instead of blank pieces of paper. They all glowered in the direction of Charlotte.

I shook my head. “She couldn’t have—”

“It looks like she did,” said Blake.

“What’s going on?” asked Rita.

I grimaced. “Do you remember how Charlotte returned with sudden popularity and a nose job? That’s how she gained so many allies so quickly.”

Blake rubbed the back of his neck. “I feel bad about broadcasting that blowjob video. It contributed to both her popularity and the degradation of the academy’s genito-urinary health.”

“I doubt it would have made a difference to that rabble.” Edward leaned against the fireplace’s marble surround.

Henry shook his head. “They’ll tear her apart.”

“Where is she?” Alice led a group of girls, including Patricia, Wendy, and a bunch of others who I recognized from the disastrous booze cruise.

“Actually,” drawled Blake. “It looks like the girls will get there first.”

Epilogue

The limo pulled out in front of the main building of Mercia Academy, and Mom and I stepped out to a riot of paparazzi. Mr. Carbuncle’s murder trial started the next morning, and the press had followed our every move since we had arrived in Mom’s new private jet.