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In response she crossed her arms, and didn’t say a word.

I don’t even know what Ms. Libel lectured us about. All I could feel was the anger radiating off of Sarah—and I didn’t need my powers for that. I spent most of the hour trying to become small, hoping she’d start ignoring me any minute now, or that I’d miniaturize and fall through the holes on my chair and scuttle out the door like the roach I’d apparently become.

When the ending bell rang, I expected to head out and run another gauntlet in the halls—but instead I found myself being dragged to one side.

“Sarah,” I protested, as she hauled me into the nearest bathroom.

“Everybody out!” she demanded, and the three freshman present followed her command. She then leaned against the door so that no one else could come in, and looked at me. “What the hell, Jessica.”

“What?”

“Ryan told me that the entire baseball team is supposed to send you threatening messages, because you’re some kind of master hacker, talking shit about Danny. I find that only slightly less believable than the bra-picture thing—but since everyone else believes it, you need to explain.”

There was no explanation. I shrugged. “It’s true.”

“So—you’re the one who ruined prom?” The expression on her perfect face curdled. “Do you realize that that was the only prom Ryan and I were going to get to have together?”

“You’ve still got two left.” As my mother was so fond of saying.

“I’m not an idiot, Jessica—Ryan’s hot. No matter how much we love each other now, he’s going to college half the countryaway. I’ll be lucky if he waits until Thanksgiving to dump me. So, yeah, thanks for ruining what should’ve been one of my most important memories for my entire life.”

“Are you kidding me? Did you even read the screen?” Kids were beating on the door outside the bathroom, trying to get in.

She stared at me, still pissed, and then realization seeped in and her voice dropped so low it was hard to hear. “He didn’t, did he? To you?”

“Not me?—”

“Then why the fuck did you do that, Jessie?” Back up to normal volume, even louder.

“Just because he didn’t rapeme, doesn’t mean it’s not true!” I was shouting and I didn’t care.

“Let me in there now!” An adult voice shouted through the door. Sarah leaned forward, and then was shoved aside, as Mrs. Ellis pushed in to look around. “Is everything all right in here?”

“Yeah. Everything’s fine,” I said, and slipped past both of them to head back outside.

I made it to lunch, somehow, but I wasn’t hungry. My arms were bruised from being hit, and my pride—well, I never knew just how much I’d had of it till then. But seeing that Lacey’d saved me a seat in the back of the library to quietly ‘study’, choosing to spend her lunch hour essentially in detention in the library with me?—

“Thanks,” I said.

“Shhh!” Mrs. Frost said, from three stacks away.

Lacey pulled out a piece of paper and wrote on it before handing it to me—the original form of texting.

Danny’s not at school today.

How’s it been?

Bad.

Kids keep hitting me in the halls.

She scowled.

What?

Yeah.

And I’m pretty sure Robbie was going to spit in my hair, but I hit him with my backpack ‘accidentally’ first.