34

Mindy ushered me to the closest exit, which, unfortunately, was nowhere near the main exit, where Mrs. Pace had taken Jordan. By the time I made it back to my car, I knew I’d lost him. Not that it was going to stop me.

I turned on my car and pulled out my phone to call him.

“Jordan,” I said when he picked up. “Where are you?”

“At school.”

“Don’t bother lying. I saw you. Where are you going?”

He let out an annoyed sigh. “To school. What do you want, Marisa?”

“The truth. Meet me in the woods outside the bio wing when you get there. We need to talk.”

With that, I hung up and drove off.

• • •

Jordan was leaning against his car when I got to the parking lot. Scratches scarred his driver’s-side door handle, what I assumed to be evidence of the break-in he’d been so upset about. Part of me, a huge part, actually, was shocked that he’d waited. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d gone inside and blown me off, but when I pulled into a space and got out of my car, Jordan nodded wordlessly toward the woods, and I followed him.

We started down the trail used by the bio and geology classes for nature walks and plant and rock identification—and by kids cutting class for various acts of debauchery. Today it provided the perfect backdrop for confronting Jordan.

He brushed the remains of snow off a rock and sat down while I leaned against a tree.

“So tell me about Kendall,” I said.

“You first.”

“There’s not much to tell. She’s an old friend who moved away and came back.”

Jordan cocked his head. “I’m not coming clean if you don’t.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. She told me TJ might’ve been cheating on her, so she asked me to find out. In the process, he and I kind of…” I trailed off, not sure how to end that sentence. Had we fallen for each other?

Jordan snorted. “She thought he was cheating on her?” He shook his head and smiled humorlessly.

“And that’s funny because—she was cheating on him?” I prompted. When his stare fixed somewhere around my feet and he didn’t answer, I added, “With you?”

A few more seconds of silence followed. Then Jordan sighed. “I met her last year. I was helping my mom pack up her classroom for the summer, and Kendall was in the office trying to work out some issues with her schedule before she switched from regular to honors classes. She was slated to be in my mom’s class, so the secretary introduced her. We all started talking, but my mom had some things to finish up, so I showed Kendall around the honors wing.”

“Be still my freaking heart.”

“Look, I didn’t mean for it to happen, okay? I started thinking about her all the time and we exchanged numbers and she was the one who asked me to hang out first. She said she was seeing someone, but she made it sound like things were crap with TJ and it wasn’t going to work out. The last time I fell that hard for someone, it was you.”

He looked me in the eye when he said it, and his sincerity softened me a little. “Did she know about me?”

“Not specifically. She knew I had a girlfriend, but that was it. I had no idea you two knew each other until I saw that video on Charlie’s phone.”

“So you broke up with me, but Kendall still wanted to be with TJ,” I said.

Jordan nodded.

“Then Sara thought you were still hung up on me, so she stalked us and sent you pictures accusing you of cheating with me.” He nodded again. “And when Kendall found them, she got jealous and posted them on her website.” Another affirmation. “Boy, what a tangled web we weave.”

He scoffed. “Tell me about it.”

I took a breath and perched next to him on the rock. “I need you to be honest with me, Jordan. Did you give Kendall the data from your mother’s laptop?”

His mouth dropped open. “W-what—where did you get that idea?” he finally stuttered.

“You said she used you.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Oh crap. He’d said it, but to Kendall in his mother’s classroom this morning, not to me. I’d just given myself away, but I didn’t have time to worry about covering.

“Please, tell me. The only way to clear Charlie’s name is to figure out who’s really behind all this. If it’s you, then I need you to help us.”

Jordan shot to his feet. At the same time, the sound of voices met my ears and the ground crunched under footfalls that weren’t mine or Jordan’s. I swore under my breath and stood up as Mr. Leroche and his bundled-up bio class headed right for us.

But of course, it wasn’t just any bio class. It was TJ’s bio class.

He stood at the front of the group, hands deep in the pockets of his Paul Bunyan coat, dark curls framing his temples, and a look in his eyes like his worst suspicions had been confirmed. Like he’d been betrayed.

Damn it! How did this keep happening? I’d been alone with Jordan exactly twice in the past six months, and TJ had caught me both of those times. It was like he had radar or something.

“Mr. Pace, Ms. Palmera,” Mr. Leroche called out. “Shouldn’t you two be in class?”

“Shouldn’t you be inside?” Jordan answered. “It’s two degrees out here.”

“Perfect weather for experiments on the effects of snow on plants.” He flashed a smile. “Now get back to your lessons, or we’ll be forced to experiment on the effects of escorting two class-skippers to the principal’s office.”

“Ha-ha-ha,” Jordan deadpanned amid calls of “ooh!” and “burn!” from the bio class.

We shouldered our way through and I squeezed TJ’s arm as I passed him. “We need to talk later.”

He turned his head in my direction, but it was the only acknowledgment I got as I walked away. That two-second pause was all it took for Jordan to leave me in the dust.

“Wait up,” I called. “We’re not done.”

“I’m done,” he said over his shoulder. “I have to get to class.”

“Jordan, wait.” I jogged to catch up. “I know you could get in a lot of trouble if you’re the one who leaked the info, but you can’t let Charlie take the fall. Kendall already sold you out on her website and she’ll do it again if she has to. You might as well come clean now.”

Jordan spun around as I caught up to him and I nearly bounced off his chest. “Listen,” he hissed. “Whether I did or I didn’t, I’ll deny it no matter what anyone says. That’s all you’re getting out of me, Marisa. We’re done talking about this.”

He turned and shoved the school doors open, leaving me alone in the cold.