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“Youwhat!”
The pitch both Ava and Rachel’s voices got to was enough to splinter my ear drums, but then again, if I’d been expecting anything less, I was kidding myself. When school had let out at noon, I texted Rachel and Ava and asked them to come over. They’d assumed my no-show had something to do with my breakup, and wore twin expressions of worry as soon as I’d opened the door.
However, with nothing left to lose, I dropped the bomb.
Both bombs, actually. One—I had been tutoring Connor Bray for the past three weeks.
Two—I’d kissed him last night.
“Youkissed Connor Bray?” Rachel shrieked, pressing her palms over her mouth. Rachel and Ava were sitting on my bed while I sat on Jozie’s. I figured distance might be a good idea. “No way, no way, no way.”
“I’m still hung up on the fact that you’ve beentutoringhim, and we never knew,” Ava said, digging her elbows into her knees. Her expression was stunned. “You’ve been living a double life these past few weeks.”
“I wanted to tell you,” I said earnestly, clutching one of Jozie’s pillows to my chest. “Really. But he was embarrassed and wanted to keep it a secret—”
“Who cares about tutoring?” Rachel demanded, excitedly slapping Ava on the arm. “Maisie, you lived mydream. Which, just so you know, if you weren’t totally heartbroken, I’d be mad at you for ignoring my dibs.”
“Heartbroken? I’m not heartbroken.”
Ava raised an eyebrow, somehow managing to come off tender with the lofty expression. “You are.”
“Totally are,” Rachel agreed. “You have sad little bags under your eyes and everything.”
I poked my under eyes, trying to tell if they felt puffy. I explained the full situation to them, how Jade came across Connor and me kissing and ripped the entire moment to shreds. I told them about how she threatened to smear Connor’s name through the dirt. “No one was saying anything at school? No one posted any videos or anything?”
“No, I haven’t seen it anywhere,” Ava told me. “I didn’t get any submissions to Babble, either. As far as the student body knows, Connor and Jade are still together.”
My suspicionhadbeen right. Jade hadn’t posted anything. Nothing negative or horrible or humiliating. No one knew what happened.
“You think she’ll use it as blackmail or something?” Rachel frowned. “Not that it’sthatbig of a deal, but I’d hate for you or Connor to be put on blast. It’s lame that she’s trying to stop love.”
“I can always post something on Babble.” Ava was already lifting her cell phone. “I can expose her for faking her relationship.”
“Connor would be caught in the crossfire.” And that was the absolute last thing I wanted. I squeezed my pillow tighter. “I guess for now, we’ll wait and see.”
Both of the girls fell silent, stewing over other possible alternatives. There truly weren’t many. Jade had a handful of wild cards.
“I can’t believe you kissed Connor Bray,” Rachel said, retreating back to that conversation. “I know we’re mad at him, but you have to spill—was he a good kisser?”
“You kissedwho?”
All three of us turned to the doorway, and the last person I expected to see took up residence on the threshold. “Jozie?”
I almost didn’t believe what I was seeing at first. My sister stood in the doorway, looking much different from the last time I’d seen her. She had chopped half of her hair off, her dark brown locks now coming to her collarbones. She had on bright blue eyeshadow, a color that clashed with her green sweater and plaid pants. That was Jozie—a fashion nightmare. At least the duffle bag she had slung over her shoulder was a safe and neutral black.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, utterly dumbstruck by her appearance. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“I’m here for homecoming, and yeah, we kept it from you so we could surprise you, butnone of thatmatters.” She spoke rapidly and then waved her hand in the air, batting the topic away. “Who did Rachel say you kissed?”
Ava stood up, gesturing for Rachel’s arm. “I—I have so much homework I should get started on—”
“It’s a Friday,” Jozie told Ava, seeing through the lie.
“Never too early to get started,” Rachel chimed in, grabbing Ava’s arm and shooting me a wide-eyed nod. “We’ll see you tonight?”
I almost asked her what tonight was when I remembered the homecoming game. I couldn’t imagine going, but Icouldimagine how disappointed they would be if I backed out now. “I’ll text you.”
Admittedly, there was a bit of betrayal lingering under my skin when they shut the door behind them, leaving me alone to fend off my sister, who looked like a wild animal ready to lunge.
