Page 86 of What Happened to Lucy Vale

Lucy Vale was lying.

Noah Landry was off the swim team. Noah Landry was going to jail.

Lucy Vale wanted revenge because Noah had dumped her in October.

Noah Landry wanted revenge because of the photos from Lucy’s old school.

It took days for the rumors to compound with any certainty. For a while we lived with shudders of suspicion, hoping desperately that there had been some mistake—that Lucy Vale would come back to school, sheepish but smiling, ready to admit that she’d punked us. But afterKyle Hannigan saw Sheriff Connelly and Lieutenant Steeler talking with Principal Hammill and Noah’s parents outside Administration, we knew.

Something had broken. Something had gone terribly wrong.

A national cold front dropped temperatures to below zero. The wind was as sharp as a razor. The sun was almost macabre, grinning in a frigid sky. We felt as if we were sleepwalking through an alternate reality, as if the worst imaginings of the internet had come to life around us.

We couldn’t bear to see what people were saying on the internet. We jumped whenever we got a new alert on Discord. All the news was bad—a darkening, a thickening of signs, all pointing to disaster.

@gustagusta:the sheriff was at Noah Landry’s house last night

@gustagusta:My mom saw the car on her way back from the grocery store

@badprincess:did you guys notice that the Strut Girls aren’t following Lucy on TikTok anymore?

@meeksmaster:the Sharks’ Facebook page is a blood bath

@meeksmaster:you should see some of these comments

@nononycky:the Sharks have a Facebook page? lol

@meeksmaster:it’s not funny

@meeksmaster:these people are unstable

@meeksmaster:they should all be rounded up and shot

@hannahbanana:this is like Jalliscoe’s wet dream

@brentmann:do we know for sure Lucy has no ties to Jalliscoe?

@badprincess:you really think she’s making everything up??

@brentmann:that’s what Bailey thinks. And Bailey’s her best friend

@ktcakes888:* was * her best friend

@spinn_doctor:I told you that Lucy Vale wasn’t as innocent as you guys thought

@nononycky:you told us that the Vales were con artists from Canada

@spinn_doctor:close enough

We didn’t know what Lucy Vale was doing or thinking during that time. We didn’t know whether or not she intended to come back to school. Nick Topornycky tried to wheedle information from Ceecee, Lieutenant Steeler’s wife and our front office mole, and reported uncharacteristic pushback and a completely novel commitment to following Administrative protocol.

@nononycky:she practically bit my head off

@gustagusta:nah. that would have involved standing up

Akash reported movement in the Vales’ house and lights burning in the windows. But other than that, the place might have been abandoned. There was no movement in or out. The Toyota hybrid and Lucy Vale’s used Honda Civic remained immobile in the garage. Lucy Vale’s bike stayed on the front porch. When it snowed, the front walk went uncleared. Although Akash did report seeing footprints around the house, as if someone had been circling late at night. The trash bins never even made it down the driveway on collection day.

We debated texting Lucy. But we couldn’t. We all felt too awkward. By then we carried around the contaminant of guilt; from our server had seeped the old rumors aboutLoosey Lucy. Not a nice girl at all. Not trustworthy. A loose cannon. Prone to picking fights, starting shit, getting into trouble. Troubled.