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The girls scurried out of the bathroom, looking terrified.
Amerie finished drying her hands and stepped over to me, smiling weakly. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem. They had it coming.”
“I better go and find Addy. And you need to find Piper.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. “See you later?”
I nodded and waited for her to leave so no one would see me exiting the bathroom with her. That was the exact sort of shit Ali and Zara’s little spies would report back to them.
Once I was out, I headed for the junior hall and spotted Piper standing in front of her locker, looking at something on her phone. I sauntered over to her and affected a concerned expression.
By now, she would’ve found the note I slipped in her locker this morning. It said ‘Keep your mouth shut or consequences will follow’ with a printed cornucopia on top.
“Hey,” I said in a low voice. “I don’t mean to pry, but… are you okay?”
Piper looked up at me, brows dipping in a frown. Her face had lost some of its usual color, but she didn’t look too bad. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“I’ve just been hearing some weird rumors. But never mind. It’s probably nothing.”
I went to turn away, and Piper’s hand shot out to grab my sleeve. “Wait,” she said, voice tinged with alarm. “What rumors?”
“It’s really nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Jensen.” The panic in her voice was growing. “Tell me!”
I sighed and rubbed my jaw. “Okay, well… you know all those rumors people have been spreading about Amerie being on drugs?”
Piper nodded, eyes wide and innocent, like she wasn’t the main one spreading those stories. “Yes. It’s horrible.”
“Well, people are saying it’s you too. Not just Amerie.”
“What?” Piper’s nostrils flared with indignation. “I’m not on drugs!”
“I know. Don’t worry, I’m trying to shut it down whenever I hear it,” I said. “The person who’s been targeting Amerie is obviously doing it to you now because you’re her sister.”
“Who did you hear it from?”
“A couple of people. The first one was that girl from the basketball team,” I said. “You know, the really tall brunette one. I can’t remember her name. But anyway, I overheard her saying something about it.”
There were at least six tall brunettes on the basketball team, so Piper wouldn’t know who to confront based on that piece of information.
“What exactly did she say?” she asked, eyes narrowing.
“Apparently she was in the hospital when Amerie was there last week. She overheard your mom on the phone,” I said. “She was saying she’s concerned about both of her girls. Not just Amerie. Apparently she said, ‘Piper has been showing signs recently’.”
Piper’s eyes widened again. “What the fuck? Why would my mom say that?”
I shrugged. “That girl was probably just making shit up. Don’t worry about it.”
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from grinning at Piper’s expression. She was definitely worried about it.
“Anyway,” I went on. “She was telling Hillary, Cleo, and Rhea about it. But I had your back. I took them aside afterwards and told them it wasn’t true. But…” I trailed off and cocked my head, brows furrowing. “It was so weird.”
“What was weird?”
“They acted like they had no idea what I was talking about,” I said. “They claimed they weren’t talking about you at all. But they definitely were. I literally heard every single word.”
Piper’s face paled. The seeds of doubt and paranoia were well and truly planted in her mind now, and she was no longer sure if she could trust any of her friends or family members.
