“Which is just a way to justify being mean to people, but that’s your right,” Malone says. “Here’s the thing though, Libby—I sort of agree with you. Not about me being a slut, but about how it feels to regret something. Probably not in the way you mean though.”
Libby chuffs in a Well? way, like she’s impatient, but she shifts just a tiny bit in her seat. There’s no way she was expecting Kate to defend herself.
“Looking back on it,” Malone says, “yeah, I regret sending Troy that picture of me. But not because it makes me a slut like you tell people. I regret it because I did it for his approval, and as a feminist, I shouldn’t need any boy’s approval to feel confident. I definitely won’t be doing that again.”
Libby chuffs some more. She’s so good at it that she had to be a steam engine in a past life.
“But what I really regret is wasting my time worrying so much about you. I don’t think about my mom or my friends as much as I’ve thought about you. I even catch myself having arguments with you in my head. That’s just sad on my part. Who wants to live that way? I’m better than that. So in order to let all this go once and for all, I need to apologize.”
“For what?”
“Well, for two things: One, for getting in the way of you and Troy. I honestly thought you two were finished, but apparently you weren’t. You and I were friends in art, and I should have asked you what the situation was before agreeing to go out with him. It did nothing but cause problems, and girls shouldn’t treat each other like that.”
“Whatever,” Libby snorts.
“And two, I apologize for your drawing. I feel bad for what happened to it in the display case, because that piece was really excellent and I destroyed it. You shouldn’t have had to suffer that sort of humiliation. Believe me, I know.”
“You’re the one who did that?” Libby gapes at Malone, who’s looking back at her with just the slightest of smiles.
“You’re in so much trouble,” Libby says, tears pooling in her eyes.
“Probably.”
“I’m going to get you expelled.”
“Okay.”
“You think your life was ruined before, it’s over now!”
“Maybe.”
“I’m serious!”
Malone still hasn’t really moved, but now she put her hands out in an oh well way.
“You are such a bitch!” Libby shouts.
No one in the room makes a sound.
Malone sighs and says, “You know, Libby, maybe if you didn’t act this way, you and Troy wouldn’t have the problems you do. Maybe then he wouldn’t have broken up with you and come running to me in the first place.”
There’s a collective inhale as everyone gasps at Malone’s surgically focused insult. Libby stands frozen, gaping, then beautifully and 150 percent awesomely lets out a howler-monkey scream, a sort of primal wail that only our cavemen ancestors could have understood. Tears geyser from her eyes, and she shrieks before sprinting down the aisle and out Watson’s door, her sobs fading the farther she gets down the hall.
For a long moment, no one moves or breathes. Then Tina Manetti, Libby’s friend, raises her hand.
“Can I go check on her?”
“Of course,” Watson says.
Malone says, “I’m sorry for the interruption, Mr. Watson. I didn’t want that to happen here.”
Watson, who has been behind his podium the entire time, says, “You know, in my years of teaching, I’ve learned that sometimes you just have to let things play out. It’s all over, so let’s get back to our discussion.”
Of course, we don’t get squat done the rest of the period. Watson could begin juggling flaming bowling balls and all we’d be able to think about was Libby’s epic destruction. When the bell rings, both Ellie and I rush over to Malone, who doesn’t say anything until we’re in the hall.
“God, that was awful,” Malone says.
“Awful?” I say. “More like amazing.”
“Good for you, Kate,” Ellie says.
“I tried to be nice,” she says.
“What made you do that?” I ask. “Libby’s said stuff like that before.”
Malone stares at me for a good long couple of seconds. “Do you really want to know?”
It’s such an odd thing to ask, I don’t know how to respond. Why would I have asked if I didn’t want an answer?
“You’re the reason,” Malone says.
“I don’t get it.”
Malone frowns like she regrets bringing it up but knows she can’t go back.
“It’s just that watching how you’ve handled yourself these last couple of weeks got me thinking. A lot of people, after getting arrested like that, would’ve done their best to remain invisible the rest of the year. But you didn’t do that. If anything, you’ve put yourself out there even more, like you’re not going to let one thing sink you. I figured if you could do that, I could do it too. So I did. And I feel a whole lot better.”
When Malone finishes, there are tears pooling in her eyes.
“That’s why Tim finally walked off the field the other night,” Ellie says. “You didn’t know that?”
I shake my head, but now I understand his mystery text. The whole thing is so flattering, I’m not sure what the right response is.