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“It’s about...” Katie cringed. “It says the truth about Piper Alvar.”
“What? Me? Let me see that!” Piper snatched it from her.
My grin stretched across my lips. I knew the exact moment she reached the best part when—
“Ahh!”
I sighed. “This is my favorite day since I started at this school.”
The Truth About Piper Alvar
Number One: Piper used to fool around with her cousin. They broke it off a year ago.
Number Two: Piper didn’t spend the summer in Spain. She was in rehab.
Number Three: Piper sneaks her sister’s ADHD meds and other pills to get through school and competitions. Hence, the rehab.
Number Four: Piper is in love with Everleigh Starling.
Number Five: And Everleigh feels the same way about her.
Piper stopped her shrieking once she reached the end. She just stood there—eyes huge staring at the paper.
“What is it?” her friends carried on. “What does it say?”
Everleigh read through the list. I knew exactly when she got to the right part because—
“Wait, what?!”
“Everleigh...”
Both Everleigh’s and my attention snapped to Piper.
“Is it true?” A soft, tender smile broke through. “You feel the same way?”
“Do I—?” Everleigh whipped around at the rapt, silent audience. “No! Of course not—”
Piper reeled back, tears springing to her eyes.
“No, I mean— Not of course not,” she said quickly. “I just meant— Piper, I’m sorry, but I don’t have those kinds of feelings for you. I have no idea why this says I do. You and I are just friends.”
I’d give Everleigh credit. She dropped the haughty, better-than-you tone for five seconds. Gentleness entered her words. She took a step toward Piper, reaching for her. “We are friends, right?”
Piper flung herself away and tripped over a chair. Both went down with a crash that made me and Lucien hiss.
“This is hard to watch,” he remarked.
Katie ran to her.
“Get off!” Shoving up, Piper stumbled over her feet—sobbing. Flat-out, crimson-eyes, snot-running-down-her-face, open-mouthed sobbing.
“Piper, it’s okay,” Katie said, getting her arms around her. “Whoever made that list is a sick, twisted shit who copied Ashton for attention. No one believes it— Piper, please don’t cry.”
“It w-w-was a sick, twisted piece of sh-shit,” she howled. It was hard to make her out through the tears. “But they didn’t... do it to copy Ashton.”
Piper broke free of Katie and turned on her as she approached to pile on the hug. She punched her in the mouth, popping Saylor off her feet.
Eyes bugging, I choked on a cry.
“How could you!?”
“Piper!” Everleigh and Katie screamed.
Everyone else just screamed—hollering their shock at the Queen Bee herself laid flat out on the concrete.
Did that just happen? That didn’t just happen!
“I trusted you,” Piper shrieked. “You did this just because you thought I was spilling secrets to that Dreg bitch, Sinclair? I told you it wasn’t me!”
The groaning heap that was Saylor Burkhardt tried to get up and lolled. She tipped onto her front and choked, spitting blood. “What. The. Fuck!” Saylor’s voice reached new decibels. “You hit me! I can’t believe you hit me!”
“I can’t believe you wrote this!” Piper flung the stack at her.
The wind caught it, carrying sheets over the balcony to shower around us. Lucien and I ducked out of sight. Drawing me in, Lucien encircled my waist—his arm warm and solid around me. I didn’t see a reason to move. So I didn’t.
“I didnth’t thrite it.” Saylor’s mouth was swelling fast. “It wasn’t me, you thucking idiot!”
“Oh,” I crooned. “Saylor is not striking the right tone right about now.”
Lucien chuckled in my ear, then nibbled on it. Heat pooled in my middle. What was happening right then was the only possible thing I could want more than seeing Saylor Burkhardt as a bleeding mess on the ground.
“I know it was you,” Piper flung. “You’re the only person I told. If it wasn’t you, who was it?”
Saylor didn’t get a chance to answer. Piper grabbed Katie’s hand and dragged her away, marching them both off the balcony and away from Saylor. Piper’s sobs echoed back long after I lost sight of her.
No one on the balcony was speaking. Two girls rushed to help Saylor up, but they didn’t say anything. They were looking where everyone else was. At Everleigh who gazed after Piper but stood beside Saylor—not making a move in either direction.
“Saylor, you did this?” Everleigh asked so softly, the wind tried to snatch the question away before it reached me. “All because you thought she told Sinclair about Rhys?”
“It wasn’t me!”
Everleigh shook her head. “This is fucked up even for you. Even if Piper spilled to the Dreg, she didn’t tell the whole damn school. She didn’t do this.”
“Shut up and thisten to me.” Saylor shoved her helpers off her. Blood soaked her mouth and chin. Flailing around on the ground knocked her hair loose from her bun and dirtied her expensive, cashmere sweater. Between the wild eyes, the shock still on her face, and her staggered walk, she looked like she just escaped the Hunger Games. “I had thothing to do with that list—”
