Elliot can’t stop shaking his head. “But what about the things you said on your blog—about him being your soul mate?”
“I was wrong.” A sob wells up inside of me as I say it. “And now the whole world knows because someone leaked it to a celebrity website. And everyone knows about my blog.”
“But how? Had you told Noah about your blog?”
“No. I hadn’t told anyone—apart from you.”
Elliot stares at me. “Wait a minute.” He takes his phone from his pocket and starts scrolling through his messages. “You thought I did it!”
“Only because you were the only one who knew. Or at least I thought you were . . .”
“But who else could know?”
“Megan.”
Elliot’s eyebrows shoot up so high they almost reach his hairline. “What? How would she know? You didn’t tell her, did you?”
“No. But maybe she saw something when she stayed over that night or maybe . . .”
“What?”
“Maybe Ollie told her.”
Elliot frowns. “How would Ollie know?”
“He was round at mine on Tuesday—in my bedroom. He could have seen my blog on my laptop.”
Elliot’s eyes are now practically popping out of his head. “OK, from now on can you please just assume that my response to anything you say is prefixed with a ‘WTF’!”
I nod and laugh.
“WTF was the Walking Selfie doing in your bedroom?”
“He came around to see me. He brought me a Christmas present.”
“A Christmas present? What was it?”
“I don’t actually know. I never got around to opening it. Ollie was the one who told me that Noah was a musician. He saw a photo of him on my mirror and he recognized him.”
“What—but—oh my God.” Elliot grips hold of my arm. “OK, I’m sorry but I think we need to be seated for this conversation. Seated in front of two chocolate milkshakes so that I don’t actually pass out from the shock.”
“Choccywoccydoodah?” we both say together. “Jinx!”
I link arms with Elliot—or attempt to link arms with the enormous Puffa jacket—and we walk out onto the pier. But despite the biting sea breeze, I feel a growing warmth inside of me. My worst fears from yesterday were all unfounded. I’m not alone at all. I’ve got my family and the twins and I’ve got my amazing best friend back.
Chapter Forty-Three
By the time we get to the café, I’m feeling even better. None of the nightmare scenarios I’d been afraid of happening yesterday have happened. We’ve walked right through town and not a single person has recognized me and there hasn’t been a single abusive comment. As long as I can avoid the Internet for the next year, I should be fine.
We order our milkshakes and find a table at the back. Normally I like to sit facing the door so that I can people-watch, but not today. Today, I instinctively sit with my back to the rest of the room, just in case.
“You know what, Penny, it’s Noah’s loss,” Elliot says, unzipping his Puffa jacket. “You’ll get over this eventually and move on, but if he’s the kind of guy who can be so deceitful then he’ll never be truly happy.”
I nod, wishing that I could believe him. “Thank you. I’m so glad I’ve got you. And you know what? No matter what happens in the future—even if I do one day, by some miracle, meet a genuine Prince Charming—no one could ever replace you. I’ll always need my best friend.”
I look at Elliot hopefully but he’s frowning.
“Well, well, well,” he says, pursing his lips the way he always does when he’s really annoyed.
At first I think he’s looking at me but then I see that he’s actually looking at something over my shoulder. I turn and see Megan and Ollie walking over to the counter, huddled in conversation. I feel a sudden burst of panic. What am I going to say to them? What am I going to do? But it turns out that I don’t need to do a thing because Elliot is already on his feet.
“Hey, Mega-Bitch?” he calls over to Megan.
Megan and Ollie turn and look over at us and in that instant I know for sure that they’re behind the Internet leak. As soon as they see me, they both look so guilty.
“Why don’t you come and join us?” Elliot says.
“Oh, no, it’s OK—we were just going,” Megan calls back, looking really flustered.
“That’s funny, because I could have sworn you’d just arrived.” Elliot starts walking over to them. I get to my feet and hurry after him.
“Hi, Penny,” Ollie mutters, not even able to make eye contact with me.
“Did you leak the story?” I ask, staring at Megan. She refuses to make eye contact with me too, staring at the floor. I take a step closer to her. “I said, did you leak that story about me?”
“About you what?” Megan hisses. “About you cheating with someone?”
“I didn’t cheat with anyone,” I hiss back. “I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he was with anyone.”
“Yeah right.” Megan looks at me scornfully. “If you didn’t want anyone knowing about it, why did you put it all over your stupid blog?”
“That blog is anonymous. Well, it was until you found out.” I turn to Ollie. “Did you see it on my laptop when you were in my room?”
Ollie doesn’t say anything, but his face flushes bright red.
I stare at him in disbelief. “You were snooping on my laptop?”
“It was right there,” Ollie says. “I just thought I’d have a read while you were in the bathroom.”
“I don’t think you’ve got any right to be judging anybody right now, Penny,” Megan says haughtily.
“Tell me,” Elliot says, turning to her, “do you go to night school to learn how to be such a bitch, or does it just come naturally?”