Who Was Where with Whom
Shock waves ran through me at the implications of that last sentence, and then, backing up, for the flat-out horrid feeling of being accused. Ten girls surrounding you and laughing about something you did will have that effect on you, no matter what the something or how true it was.
Fumbling, I said: “I was not.” My policy of ignoring Sparkle’s girls when they were obnoxious was suddenly in shreds. Everything was in shreds. I was splayed open in a crowded green-painted hallway while a group of miniskirted tigers circled, watching to see what I’d do.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, dumping textbooks in my locker.
Reese’s eyes narrowed. “Got it from the source.”
The source? The only other person who’d been there was—“You!” I rounded on Sparkle.
Sparkle laughed in my face, black hair tumbling. “I didn’t say one word,” she said.
“Liar,” I said. “You know perfectly well what I’ve got here.” I tugged my phone from my damp jeans pocket.
“Not a clue,” said Sparkle. I saw her glance behind me but I was too late. Three girls slammed into me. My phone squeezed from my fingers, banged to the floor. Another girl grabbed it and tossed it to Sparkle.
I felt my wrist where someone’s shoulder had crunched it. I was going to be a mass of bruises by Halloween. “Wow, way to ambush me with lies,” I said. “Bravo.”
Sparkle smirked. “I’m not the idiot who was snuggling with a boy on a rooftop in broad daylight,” she said. “You know how rumor spreads. I didn’t have to say anything.” She pressed buttons on the phone, which apparently had turned off again. “How do you get this thing on?”
“You could’ve said it wasn’t true,” I muttered, even though that made me feel all mixed up inside because of course I wished it was. How is it that you could want two completely opposite things to happen? I didn’t want this scene to happen, where a gaggle of Sparkle’s minions accused me of kissing Devon … but of course I would’ve liked to have kissed Devon. And would’ve much rather had that happen than what did happen on the rooftop. Even if it meant the teasing would be true.
“What’s wrong with your stupid phone?” said Sparkle.
“You dropped it,” I said calmly. “Congratulations.”
Reese was standing off to the side, eyeing me. She looked half-sad, half like she would like to gouge my eyes out with her manicure.
“Devon and I didn’t do anything,” I offered. “This was just a setup by Sparkle to get my cell phone and you know it.”
But Reese in love was not-nice Reese. She stabbed a finger into my shoulder. “He’s my crush,” she said. “I’m paying for him. You’d better back off.”
“Or what. You’ll poke me to death?” Several of Sparkle’s girls giggled at that. They wouldn’t have sided with me against Sparkle, of course, but I was irrationally heartened to know they would against dim-bulb Reese.
“Oh, take your stupid brick,” said Sparkle, and she shoved the phone into my chest.
“Thanks, chum,” I said. “Catch ya later, girls. This was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.” I ignored the fuming blond chick an inch from me.
Several girls grabbed Reese and pulled. “C’mon. Crane’s coming.”
Reese sent one more parting shot: “At least he met me in public.”
Reese. He’d met Reese? I was dying to know what they were talking about, but damned if I’d ask. “Where was that? The petting zoo?”
Sparkle smiled nastily. “Wouldn’t you like to know what he does when he’s not with you?”
The other girls laughed again as they tugged Reese off. Sparkle slipped through and to the front of the pack, marching them off to class or further mischief or wherever. Her black hair swung against her relatively subdued black beaded dress.
“That was interesting,” said Jenah behind me.
“You saw?”
“Not live and in person, but Elly Sinclair got a blurry video, and then Barry sent me three texts about it.” She tested the air with a finger. “Of course, it’s obvious from the disturbances in the hallway that some girl-girl altercation went down. And way to play into stereotypes, girls! It was about a boy.”
I groaned and tugged on my damp hair. “Why didn’t I think on the spot? I should’ve laughed and said something like, ‘Of course we were making out on the roof. It was awesome.’ That would’ve stopped them. And what did Reese mean by meeting him in public? Tell me. Do you know?”
“You aren’t going to like it,” said Jenah. “Francie told me that Ellen saw Reese and Devon at Blue Moon Pizza together last night. They were holding hands over the cheese sticks.”