Page 13

Please reply. I’m sorry. Pick up?

Tuesday, 10:24 PM

Is this Juliette? I don’t have your number saved. I’m not mad. Sorry, I went home. I think I have salmonella.

Read Tuesday, 10:25 PM

Even though Juliette and I had sent a few back-and-forth texts on Tuesday night, I still wasn’t totally convinced everything was okay with me and the girls until I got into homeroom on Wednesday. On time, I might add. Early, even. I’d barely sat down at my desk when they swarmed. Anyone would think I was Harry Styles.

Juliette spoke first. “Ollie-oop! I didn’t think you’d come in. What with the salmonella and all.”

Well, from her sarcastic tone it almost sounded like she doubted the validity of my food poisoning. “It was the mild kind of salmonella poisoning. Like, the two-hour-long kind.”

Juliette and Niamh nodded like this was completely understandable. Lara watched me like a cat stalking a fly.

“Okie doke,” Juliette said, scooting onto my desk again. “First up, the whole Will thing… you can trust us to keep it a secret. He knows we wouldn’t tell anyone.”

I tossed up whether or not to insist they had the wrong idea about Will. Only problem was I couldn’t really remember how much I’d told them in the first place, and to be honest, it was probably too late to backtrack now. So I nodded and glanced around to make sure no one had overheard.

“Also,” said Niamh, “we found out why he disappeared off Instagram.”

“Did you speak to him?” I asked quickly, half-horrified, half-eager.

The girls looked offended. “Please. You’re as subtle as a sledgehammer,” Lara said.

“We have our ways,” Juliette added.

“Lara’s close with his friend Matt,” Niamh said. “Matt said that apparently Will got his phone confiscated for coming home at four in the morning before his family wassupposed to drive home. So, we figured that was probably right around the time you stopped hearing from him, right?”

“Right.” Shit, did I look like I was thinking about Will naked? Because I was most definitely thinking about Will naked. I couldn’t help it. That night brought back memories. And I knew damn well why he didn’t get home until almost dawn that night.

“Apparently he was skinny-dipping with a bunch of girls from the lake houses,” Lara added with a smirk. “Did you and Will spend much time with all of those girls?”

Like I said, I knew damn well what he was doing that night, and it wasn’t a girl, that was for sure. If Lara was trying to upset me it was working. So this was the story he was telling everyone? I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me so much. It’s not like he could say what had really happened. But shit. It hurt anyway. I wrung my hands, furrowing my brow.

“Oh, sorry… did you not know?” Lara asked, all fake concern.

I plastered a smile on my face and looked back up. “It’s fine. How wasyournight? I saw you with a girl before I left the party.”

It was petty, but hey. It’s not like that was private. She’d done it with thirty-odd people practically munching popcorn in the front row.

Niamh snorted, and Juliette grinned, nudging Lara. “Did you get too drunk again, by any chance, Miss Lara?”

Lara held my gaze. I could read her expression fluently: “challenge accepted.” Uh-oh. “Maaaayybbeeee,” Lara said to Juliette.

“Lara kisses girls sometimes when she’s drunk,” Niamh said. “And weknowit’s because the guy she likes gets off on it, but she won’t admit which guy it is.”

“My bet’s on Matt,” Juliette said.

Lara scoffed. “Please,peasants. Also, I don’t kiss ‘girls’ plural. Just Renee. We have a symbiotic relationship.”

Juliette shook her head. “Yeah, well, I hope you’ve at least disclosed which guy you’re trying to impress to her. It’d be awkward if you both had the same conquest in mind, don’t you think?”

“Ask me no question, I’ll tell you no lie,” Lara said, glancing at me as Ms. Hurstenwild gestured for everyone to take their seats. I raised my eyebrow at her. Ever so briefly, she looked rattled. Then she turned away from me without a word.

I had a feeling I knew what she was trying to achieve by kissing Renee.

And I had a feeling I knew why it was such a secret.