CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“HURRY UP, LEONA,” KIRA CALLED FROM THE driver’s seat as Leona walked out the front double doors of her huge brick house. Her dad’s vintage cars were in the driveway, making her already-impressive house that much more eclectic.
We’d parked on her street, sitting at the curb for close to fifteen minutes while we waited for her. But the second I saw her, I knew why. She looked delicious. Her brown hair had been set in curlers, leaving it all wavy, with her fringed bangs brushed to the side. She’d gotten new contacts and lined her eyes heavily with liner, giving her that model-just-out-of-rehab look. Her black minidress with strappy heels was a total ensemble!
Izzie whistled from the passenger seat as Leona climbed into the back with me. I smiled.
“You look ravishing,” I said, reaching up to touch one of her curls.
She shrugged. “No big deal.”
“It certainly is,” Kira announced before checking her mirrors and pulling out into the street. “You finally look like a real Kitten.”
Not true. Leona always looked like herself, which was exactly right for a Smitten Kitten. But Kira and I were only speaking to each other when necessary, and contradicting her right now didn’t qualify as necessary.
“Shove it, Kira,” Leona said, reaching over to adjust the strap on her sandals. “I just wanted to put myself back on the market. Worry about your own boyfriend.”
“When were you off the market?” Kira laughed. “And don’t worry about Joel. He’s just fine.”
Leona shot me a glance, then turned to look out the back window at the passing trees. “Let’s drop it. I’m just ready to have fun. That’s all.”
After the week I’d had, I was hoping that Chris’s party would be more on the hook than off, but I was wrong. There were at least twenty people standing on the front lawn of his two-story, red Craftsman’s-style home. A few were playing horseshoes (which I’m sure the neighbors loved), and some were just sitting on the porch watching and drinking, occasionally calling out winners.
Kira bumped the curb as she parked in front, causing the crowd to taunt us.
“Nice,” Leona murmured. I could see the splotches of red appearing on her neck and chest. It wasn’t a common thing for Leona to look petrified.
Izzie sighed longingly from the front seat. “I bet Sam liked horseshoes.”
“He probably did,” I said, trying to be supportive. Then I leaned over and pushed open the door. As the rest of the girls filtered out, grouping around me, I became uncomfortably aware that I was underdressed.
Leona was in a minidress, and Kira and Izzie were both in short skirts and ballet flats. I, however, was wearing a white T-shirt with jeans and sandals. They seemed to notice my clothes too.
“Jeez, Tessa, could you have even tried to impress Chris?” Kira said, fluffing her blonde curls. “I could have let you borrow an outfit.”
I wasn’t sure if Kira was trying to be friendly or if she was putting me down because she was still upset about the Joel misunderstanding. Either way, I decided to just be polite.
“Thanks for the offer.”
“Let’s go,” Leona said, looping her arm in mine and heading across the soft grass and toward the party. A few people said hi to me as we walked. I sensed that just by being here, I was getting part of my reputation back. Although at this point, I wasn’t really sure how much I cared.
The music was loud. Really loud. We wandered in, Izzie and Kira immediately heading to the kitchen in search of cups while Leona and I decided to stake out the scene from the living room.
We stood by the fireplace and scanned the room.
“Do you think the copy-Kitten is here?” I asked, swallowing hard. It made goose bumps rise on my arms, just thinking about being watched. Again.
“Naw,” Leona said. “I doubt it, since Joel’s not here.” She turned to me. “But then again, you seem to be the flavor of the week, so there is a chance she’s tracking you.”
“Reassuring.” I felt my phone vibrate in my jeans pocket and held it up to check the number. I drew in a harsh breath. “It’s Mary,” I murmured.
“Shit.”
“Language.”
“Sorry, Tess.” But then Leona reached for my phone, plucking it from my hands and putting it to her ear. “Tessa’s phone,” she said into it, looking sideways at me.
Her carefully lined eyes narrowed. “Yeah, see, Mary, I don’t think Tessa’s all that keen on talking to you right now. Why?” Leona laughed, reaching up to switch the phone to her other ear. “Maybe because you’re a sneaky bitch? Maybe because we saw you kiss her boyfriend—ex, whatever. Doesn’t matter. You violated Smitten Kitten code.”
There was a mix of sickness and relief in my stomach. I didn’t want it said so bluntly about Mary and Aiden. Saying it made it real. But then again, I was just so glad to have Leona stick up for me. I hadn’t felt protected in a long time.
Leona sighed. “Sure,” she said. “I’ll tell her. Bye.” Leona pulled the phone from her face and looked at it as she clicked it off, averting her eyes.
“Tell me what?” I asked, my heart racing.
Leona pressed her lips together and turned, holding my phone out to me. “She said she’s sorry and that she didn’t mean for it to happen.”
Grief rushed through me. It was the only way to describe the ache that pulled at my ribs, making my lip quiver.
“Listen,” Leona said. “I know this isn’t the time, but I think Mary may be my main suspect.”
“I thought you said it was Chloe,” I mumbled, sniffling once. I hated to cry off my makeup, but I wasn’t sure I could hold it in. My phone vibrated again in my hand, and when I turned it over, I saw Aiden’s mother’s number.
Was his mom calling me or was he in town? I clicked it off, sending it to voice mail before shoving it deep into my pants pocket.
“Aiden?” Leona asked. When I nodded, she slung her arm over my shoulders. “Figures. Mary probably just called him and told him that you—” She stopped as I noticeably tensed. “Never mind,” she said. “I’m sure they totally don’t talk on the phone or anything.”
Just then there were some cheers from across the room. I looked up to see Chris come in, dressed in his jersey. Looking very…athletic. A few of his teammates began chanting his name, and he held up his beer cup in greeting, but it was obvious where his attention was focused. On me. I gulped and looked away toward the front window.
“Straighten up,” Leona said, adjusting her own posture. I blew out a breath, pushing away the painful thoughts of Aiden and Mary. I needed to try to accept my destiny as a Smitten Kitten and what was right for me. I glanced up to see Chris standing there, beaming with his perfectly straight teeth.
“I can’t believe you came,” he said, reaching up to brush self-consciously at his blond hair. “You look great.”
I would have thought he was just trying to be polite, but his blue eyes looked positively honest as he gazed at me.
“Right,” Leona said with a laugh. “I think Tessa’s T-shirt is from this year’s Balenciaga collection.”
Chris looked over at her, seeming confused. I smiled.
“It was a joke,” Leona muttered, shaking her head.
“It was funny,” I assured her, pulling down on the hem of my shirt to iron out some of the wrinkles. I really should have worn something a little dressier.
“Obviously,” she said back, and glanced around the crowded room. “Okay,” she said with a long breath. “I’m going to find Kira and Izzie and get a drink. You two”—she looked between us—“have a blast.”
“Thanks!” Chris and I answered at the same time and then looked at each other somewhat awkwardly.
“Good luck with that.” Leona widened her eyes, then eased her way through the bodies in the room toward the kitchen.
Once she was gone, Chris moved forward to rest his muscular arm on the mantel of the fireplace. His biceps were huge—he didn’t even have to flex. I relaxed a little.
“The party’s great,” I said, having to talk a little louder than was comfortable for being this close. “I think the entire school is here.”
“Only the seniors,” he said. “Trying to play the role, you know.” He smiled at me. “Stuck-up jock.”
I laughed. “And the cheerleader.” I pointed to myself. “How cliché.”
“I did have to turn away a few juniors earlier. It was sort of fun, although I know it’s not nice to say being a dick is fun.”
I flinched. Juniors? “Who’d you turn away?”
Chris exhaled, leaning closer to me as he scratched at his head. “Um…Johnny Rake, Giselle…somebody, Chloe Ferril—”
“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “Chloe Ferril was here?” I spun around the room, my Kitten senses tingling, as I looked for the other members of my squad.
“Yeah…” Chris said. “She was here, all gothed out. Why? You two still don’t like each other?”
“I have to go,” I answered, turning back to him suddenly. The disappointment on his face was plain and I felt awful. But…if Leona’s original thoughts were correct, Chloe could be the copy-Kitten. And she might still be here!
With a quick apologetic smile, I turned to move away. A moment later, one of the defensive linemen ran in from the hallway. He swung his thick neck around until he found Chris and then grinned.
“Dude,” he called. “Check your e-mail!”
“Why?” Chris asked, stepping forward and touching my arm casually. My back tensed.
“Cheaters, man! Everyone’s getting a video of cheaters!”
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket, tickling my leg. A second later, I heard Chris’s phone go off next to me—the ring tone of Washington High’s fight song. I would have been impressed, but at the same moment, several other phones began ringing. A mix of buzzing, dinging, and top-forty hits.
I gasped, my fingers trembling.
“What the hell?” Chris asked, taking out his phone and looking at it. I was too scared to look at mine. “Someone’s streaming a video.”
I stepped over and put my hand on Chris’s arm as I leaned in to look at his screen. There was an hourglass turning, loading a video. Glancing around the living room, I saw that everyone who had a phone was looking at it, and those who didn’t were sharing.
I held my breath, grasping Chris’s warm skin, not caring that I wasn’t into him. Not caring that not being into him might mean I couldn’t be a Smitten Kitten. Because whatever I was about to see, it would be bad. I could feel it in my pom-poms.
The hourglass faded, the screen showing a still from outside a window, looking into a classroom. Wait. Was that the music room? The image focused in on someone dashing into the room. It zoomed in.
I reached out to pull Chris’s phone closer to us. Riley Richards? Oh, frack! This couldn’t be good.
“Shit, Riley!” Chris called out teasingly, glancing into the party. “It’s you!” He pointed.
I looked up, seeing Riley standing in the middle of the room with his girlfriend, Jenn, his eyes widening at the mention of his name. Obviously he hadn’t gotten the call.
Jenn’s eyes darted around the room. “What?” she asked, laughing nervously.
I bit down hard on my lip and turned back to the phone. Riley was still in the music room, and I hoped that possibly, this was just a joke. But it wasn’t.
Megan Wright walked into the music room, going immediately to Riley, pausing uncomfortably close. I peeked at Jenn as she looked from person to person, wanting to know what we were seeing. Finally she ran over to Fredrick Henry and snatched his iPhone out of his hand.
“Hey!” he yelled, but Jenn was already staring at the screen, her lip curling. It reminded me of how freaked out Megan was when I saw her in the hallway that day. Wait. Was that when this was shot?
“Is Megan here?” I whispered to Chris, tilting my head toward his.
He furrowed his brow as if thinking and then shook his head. “Don’t think so.”
“Good.”
The music had stopped and the party was quiet, other than a few expletives and snickers. My throat was dry with anxiety. This copy-Kitten had seriously crossed the line. This was a heinous violation of privacy! No one—not even a cheater—should be exposed like this.
“Nice, Riley!” someone called from across the room. “Megan’s hot.” Riley didn’t look up; he kept his eyes trained on the ground, his face colorless.
I blinked quickly, my heart thudding. On the screen Riley and Megan were whispering to each other, and then, they got closer.
“Make out! Make out!” a football player started yelling, soon getting the entire room to chant.
“Slippery eel,” I murmured, looking around the room. The copy-Kitten had no idea the damage she was inflicting, both for the victims and for SOS. Jenn lowered the phone, holding it away from her like it was poisonous.
“Megan!” she screamed loud enough to make me jump. “My best f*cking friend?”
Riley didn’t look up at her. He was still, like a statue, taking slow breaths.
The screen on the phone went black, and I thought it was over when another video began. “Oh, no,” I whispered, wondering how much worse it would get.
At first, I couldn’t understand the picture. The camera was shaking, moving amid blue and red flashes. Then I saw some people gathered below. “Is that—”
“The mall fair,” Chris said, turning to me. “I was going to see if you wanted to go the other night.”
Sigh. It was nice of him to think of me. I was about to smile when it occurred to me. Would I be on the next tape? My word, I was about to get exposed to the entire school even though I hadn’t actually done anything wrong!
“We’ve got another one!” someone yelled.
My body immediately tensed, and I looked over at Chris’s phone. On the video the camera zoomed in, focusing on a steel cart of what looked like a Ferris wheel. Definitely the fair. Rock, paper, scissors! This was it.
But instead of me, I saw Jenn, her short dark hair blowing in the breeze. She was a cart ahead on the ride. She was talking with someone. Then she smiled and moved to press her mouth on a guy. I didn’t recognize him, but he certainly wasn’t Riley. My word. It was a double cheat!
The screen went blank, and then words appeared, scrolling across the screen.
You’ve just been busted by SOS.
I put my hand over my mouth, surprised. I felt horrified by the tactic, yet relieved that I wasn’t on the tape. Even though the copy-Kitten had definitely thought I’d done something wrong, she hadn’t outed me. I tilted my head, considering that.
“You pig!”
My eyes snapped up in time to see Jenn slap (really hard) Riley high up on his cheek. He stumbled back, holding his face, and narrowed his eyes at her.
“Me? And what the f*ck were you doing, Jenn? Was he choking? Were you giving him CPR?”
Chris snorted from next to me but straightened up when I looked sideways at him. Watching this scene was way too intimate, yet I couldn’t turn away.
Jenn’s face twisted, and then she reached up to brush her hair away from her face. “She’s my best friend,” she whispered harshly. “You were screwing my best friend.”
“No, I wasn’t.” Riley shook his head. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, shit. It’s Tate!” Jordan Prichard (captain of the football team) called, pointing toward the doorway of Chris’s house.
Tate’s eyes widened at the mention of his name, and he raised his chin in greeting. His face softened when he saw Jenn, and he opened his mouth to say something to her. But Riley was off.
In about one point three seconds, he had Tate on the floor, beating on him.
“Stop it!” Jenn screamed, running over to try to pry her boyfriend off of her…other boyfriend.
It was mayhem. People were cheering, both guys and girls, but no one was stopping the fight. Jenn’s mascara had begun running down her face, streaking her like a scorned prom queen, and Tate covered his head as Riley continued to hit him.
“Stop them!” I yelled at Chris, pushing his arm in that direction.
“Let them fight,” he said, sounding completely jock. “They need to get it out.”
My mouth opened in disgust. That was a horrible idea! And I should know. I got hit in the head with a clock last year during a fight!
Well, this just wouldn’t do. I stomped over, grabbing a beer out of Deon Mosely’s hand, and pushed my way toward the three cheaters struggling on the floor. When I got to the front of the wrestlers, I threw the cup of beer at them.
Everyone gasped at once, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the Smitten Kittens run in from the kitchen. Leona laughed, nodding proudly. Izzie covered her mouth, looking terrified, and Kira stood there, a blank expression on her face. She probably didn’t think it was very SK of me to toss alcoholic beverages on people, but I felt justified.
“What the frig?” Jenn yelled at me, her white blouse soaked, showing the lace of her pink bra underneath.
Riley was still sitting on Tate, but he was panting loudly as he stared at his girlfriend, beer dripping from his head. Tate’s eyes were closed, his face covered in microbrew, but his hands were pinned, making it impossible for him to wipe it away.
Then the strangest thing happened. Like—totally and freakishly unexpected. Riley reached out to grab Jenn and pull himself to her. He hugged her tight, tucking her head against his chest as he brushed at her wet hair.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry.”
I dropped the plastic cup to the floor with a ping and watched them. Watched as Jenn drew back, touching Riley’s face, wiping off the liquid. Tate was still lying on the floor, stunned.
Jenn started to sob. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Riley buried his head against her shoulder as he began to cry, shaking from it. The crowd murmured, then began to dissipate as someone turned the music back on. But I stayed, unsure of what had just happened.
“What the hell?” I heard, and turned to see Kira standing next to me.
“Language,” I said.
“Heck. Now…are they not breaking up? Someone just told me that SOS sent out a video of both of them cheating.”
“Not SOS. Fake SOS.”
“Whatever,” she said, putting her hands on her hips as she studied the couple.
“They must have realized they were still in love,” Leona called, coming to stand on the other side of Kira. “Like seeing the cheating made them want each other back. Not sure. But it sounds sick and twisted.”
“It’s totally understandable!” Izzie said, reaching out to touch my shoulder as she stood next to me. “If I saw Sam cheat, I’d still want him back.”
I swung to face her. “That’s not a good thing,” I said. “That’s not love. And Oprah would not approve.” I sighed. After my time away from the squad, I felt like all of us had lost a little self-esteem. “Iz,” I said. “We’re going to rebuild your inner Kitten. Understand?”
She blinked her round green eyes at me and nodded once to show she understood. I turned back to see Tate slowly getting up. His bottom lip was a little puffed, but otherwise it looked like most of the damage was superficial. He stared after the couple, his face looking contorted, sad.
Then he glanced out at the party, people going back to their lives now that the fight was over. His eyes met mine for a second, and I felt it. The loneliness. He did love Jenn. But she didn’t choose him. She chose her boyfriend.
Before I could smile my support, he turned and limped toward the door and out into the dark Washington night. I sighed heavily, about to turn away, when I saw him.
My entire body reacted. Aiden was standing out on the lawn of Chris’s house, dressed in a wrinkled tracksuit, his short hair messy. He held up his hand in a wave, looking solemn.
I blinked back the burning in my eyes but couldn’t look away from him. He was here for me. He had come to see me.
“Is that—” Kira stopped, her head snapping toward mine. I could feel her stare on my cheek. “What are you going to do?” she asked. Her words hung in the air because I wasn’t sure how to answer.
“Go talk to him,” Leona murmured. “Guy looks pathetic.” She glanced back over her shoulder and then leaned forward to whisper to me. “I’ll distract Chris.”
I nodded, not caring what she did with Chris. Aiden was outside. And I had no idea what to say to him.
SOS CHEASTER CONFIRMATION
CASES: 001 and 002
CLIENT: Riley Richards and Jenn Duarte
STATUS: Case closed
This is a notice that the cases against Riley Richards and Jenn Duarte have been completed and closed.
Both were confirmed cheaters and both were exposed. The fact that they stayed together, and made out at Chris Townsend’s party, is beside the point.
One of the accomplices, Megan Wright, has decided to switch schools, which we feel is for the best.
Remember, cheaters never win. Especially with SOS on the case.
Keep kicking ass,