36

By the time I got home, the deadline I’d given Kendall had arrived. I sat in front of my computer and took a breath, praying this would be the time when I’d get the message Page No Longer Available.

But no. I was still there. Jordan was still there. Every nasty, untrue thing she’d said about me still glowed black and red on the screen.

That did it.

I grabbed my phone and started a new message to Kendall. To it, I attached the photos I’d taken of her opening the door to Jordan the night Charlie and I followed him to her house. Then I wrote: I think your principal might find these interesting.

Mere seconds later, I felt a buzz in my hand. I had her attention now.

You wouldn’t.

A smirk curled on my lips. She’d seen the message between the lines, as clear and obnoxious as the word Bitch flashing on her godforsaken website: if I could prove her connection to Jordan, I could create a connection between her and the stolen information. I’d have to sell Jordan out at the same time, but after all the drama he’d caused in my life, I had a hard time feeling overly guilty. I hit the voice activation button on my phone and spoke my reply, hoping the haughty confidence in my words would somehow emanate from the screen when she read them:

“Try me.”

• • •

Page No Longer Available

The next morning started with the sweet taste of victory. Kendall had texted me in the middle of the night to let me know that her miserable website had finally been stricken from the face of the internet. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the calls from coming, and I still had no idea how the pranksters had gotten my number. Two different blocked calls came in as I headed to the diner before school to meet TJ, Jason, and Charlie. And then a text from Kendall:

Are we good now???

I smirked as I put my phone back in my pocket without answering and headed across the parking lot to the diner. I’d reduced her to spaz-texting. Maybe this day would have lots of good things in store.

Speaking of good things, TJ pulled into the lot. I waved as he stepped out of the car.

“I’m glad you decided to come,” I said.

He stepped up onto the sidewalk next to me. “Pretty sure I have more reason than ever to want the truth, right?”

Before I could get another word out, my phone buzzed again.

“You’re being paged,” TJ said. He held open the door. “Maybe we should get inside.”

I followed him in, sneaking a peek at my phone as we walked.

It’s not what it looks like with Jordan.

Sure it wasn’t. I dropped my phone into my pocket as the hostess led us to our table, rather enjoying the knowledge that I had Kendall squirming.

Charlie and Jason were already seated at the round table in the middle of the dining room. Jason had an empty place setting in front of him, but Charlie was picking at a bagel with cream cheese. The girl needed to be fed every three hours or things got ugly.

“Charlie, Jason, this is TJ,” I said as we pulled out our chairs. “You might remember him from his former Templeton status.”

“I remember,” Jason added, eyeing TJ. “Weren’t you banging Kendall Keene?”

“She’s my ex,” TJ said with a snort.

I looked at Charlie. “And we think Kendall’s the one who set up Charlie, and that she did the same to TJ when he went to Templeton.”

“Kendall Keene?” Jason looked befuddled for a second, then tipped his chair on its hind legs and put his hands behind his head, letting out a low whistle. “Shit, man,” he said to TJ. “That’s rough.”

Kendall’s ears must’ve been ringing, because my phone buzzed again. I slipped it out of my pocket and held it under the table.

You’re not answering me.

Holy hell. What Kendall lacked in people skills, she made up for in powers of deduction. Not.

“But I don’t get it,” Jason said. “Why would Kendall do something like that?”

I set my phone on the table. “That’s the part we haven’t figured out.”

“Yes, we have. Because she’s a bitch,” Charlie said.

I gave her a look. “We don’t know for sure that she’s even behind it. All we know is that she and Jordan are apparently closer than we realized, and if anyone could be suckered by a pretty face, it’s him.” I looked at TJ through the corner of my eye, hoping he cared more about my silent apology for defending Jordan than what I’d implied about the nature of Jordan and Kendall’s relationship. He looked down at the table.

“A pretty face and hot body,” Jason added. Charlie punched his arm.

“The two of you can’t say anything about this,” I pressed. “It will never work if she gets wind of it.”

Charlie gave a dismissive wave of her hand, having already sworn her silence. “So what next?”

Jason tipped his chair forward and put his phone on the table. “Let me answer that.” He pulled up the photo I’d sent him of Mrs. Pace’s spreadsheet and enlarged it. “This kid right here.” He pointed to a name. “Chris Daly. He plays hockey with me, and he’s been benched the last few games for academic probation. Everyone kept saying he’s gonna be kicked off the team, and then all of a sudden he’s not only playing, he’s fucking starting. I heard him bragging about how he got off when they questioned him by memorizing a bunch of shit and making it look like he’d”—he raised his hands near his shoulders and made air quotes that looked more like walrus teeth given his long, lanky fingers—“been taking his studies more seriously.”

“So you think he cheated?” I asked.

“Fuck yeah I think he cheated.” Jason pushed his phone toward the center of the table and kicked his chair back again, this time with a definite air of irritation. “And I’m out of the starting lineup because of it.”

“Perfect.” I grinned, and then added, “No offense,” when Jason scowled. “Now how do we prove it?”

TJ sat up straighter. “This is all well and good, but I don’t see how we can use any of it in our favor. Jason, it doesn’t sound like you and this Chris kid are friends, so why would he admit that he cheated, let alone tell you where he got the information?”

Charlie and Jason exchanged a look, then turned their stares on me. “Actually,” Charlie said, “this is where Marisa Palmera, private eye, comes in.”

“What are you talking about?” I shrank from her gleaming eyes, almost not wanting to know the answer.

Charlie hitched her head toward Jason. “We were talking before you got here, about how Chris…noticed you at some of the football games.”

“Noticed me how? Like the way the jerks in the bleachers noticed me at the last one?”

“No, no.” Jason shook his head and shot TJ a knowing look out of the corner of his eye. “This happened before any of that. It’s more like the way T here notices you.”

TJ squirmed in my peripheral vision, but I couldn’t look at him. I sat forward and gripped the edge of the table. “Where are you going with this?”

“Well…we thought—” Charlie shot a desperate look at Jason and then at me. “Jason was saying the hockey guys go to Fred’s Burgers after every game, and there’s one tomorrow night, so maybe if we all went together, you wouldn’t be alone, but you could still get him alone and—”

“No way.”

“Yes way!” Charlie shot back. “With the right cover story, this could be exactly what we need.”

“Um, this is exactly the worst idea ever. If he’s seen me at the football games, he’s probably seen me talking to you. And I’m sure he’s seen the video of the promposal. Even if I wear a shirt cut down to my belly button and a skirt that skims my ovaries, he’ll still realize what I’m playing at if I start chatting him up about hydrogen molecules.”

Charlie shrugged. “So what if he’s seen us talking? I give—gave—tours for the honors-program hopefuls all the time. So does the princess.” She punctuated the word with a disgusted curl of her lip. “Pose as a potential transfer, and boom, there’s how you know us.” I started to protest, but she talked over me, anticipating my argument. “I was at the promposal because I got asked to the dance. I tossed Kendall’s ass because she pushed you. There was an entire crowd of girls around us, and you don’t need to explain everyone who brushed up against you that day.” She put her hands in the air as if to say, piece of cake. “Let your lady parts do the rest.”

“You wouldn’t be so worried if you knew what Chris was like,” Jason added. “He’s not cheating in school because he’s a fucking scholar. Kid’s taken one too many pucks to the head, and the rest of the time, he’s stoned.”

“That could work,” TJ mused. He’d been rubbing his chin—which he still hadn’t shaved, and I wondered if it was specifically to drive me crazy—looking lost in thought, but his eyes came alive as he spoke. “You could tell him you’re a junior and want to transfer to Templeton for senior year. I’ll ask Eli to get—”

“If he’s in, I’m out.” Jason’s chair tipped back and he folded his arms across his chest. “I’m doing this for Charlie, not him.”

TJ studied him, like he was trying to decide if it was worth arguing. Then he nodded and turned to me. “Make it sound like you’re really worried, because you know you’ll have Jordan’s mom for chem and you heard her classes are tough. See if he bites.”

“And if he doesn’t?” I asked.

TJ shrugged. “Show him your ovaries.”

“Ha-ha!” Charlie clapped her hands. “Bracelet boy thinks he’s a comedian.” When I didn’t laugh, she cleared her throat and grew serious. “Will you do it, Marisa? The worst that could happen is that he doesn’t talk and we end up no closer to solving this than we are right now. We have nothing to lose.”

I sank into my chair and rubbed my eyes while three more pairs stared at me, waiting for an answer.

Finally, I sat up. My eyes locked on Charlie’s and I hoped she saw the message in them loud and clear: you’d better appreciate this.

“So?” she said.

“Guess I’d better polish up my ovaries.”