Chapter 16 BAD NEWS FOR THE CAT
I went to sleep thinking about Knight’s book. And woke up thinking about it. And walked halfway to school thinking about it. But then the book-thinking came to an abrupt halt, because Grayson was waiting at his corner for me.
Just like he’d promised.
This was good, I decided, our sort-of friendship. And it was tempting to keep things just as they were. Safe. Casual. Friendly. But what he’d said yesterday about me never talking to him before … it got me wondering if he was shy.
That had never occurred to me until yesterday, since he’d been so popular while he was on the football team. He’d always had friends. Until he didn’t. And maybe … he didn’t know how to go out and make new ones. Or approach people.
So as we walked to school together, I realized it was going to have to be me. I’d have to make the first move.
I’d start by asking for his number. So that we could text about the library booth, obviously. Maybe we’d talk about what we were both reading, but I didn’t want to get too carried away. And—to establish expectations and make it easier for both of us—I’d ask him at the library this afternoon.
It was a plan.
I breezed through morning classes, noting that people were—once again—talking about “Deer Hill Dirt.” But this time, they were criticizing it.
“Who publicly shares stuff from a group chat?” Taelor asked, right before lunch.
“It seems like that should be illegal.” Michelle hesitated. “I don’t think I’d want stuff I’ve texted getting out like that. If I say something to someone, it means I trust them. It makes me wonder if I’ve ever texted anything to Mary Heather that she’d post on the scroll.”
“Or Kat!” Taelor said. “But does anyone even have her number?”
Michelle snorted. “Just people who regret it now.”
“What about Jessica?” Taelor tilted her head. “She’s still sitting with them, but I never see her actually talk to them anymore. Do you?”
“No, I guess not. She just eats her lunch, then goes to the library.”
Oh. Huh. That was interesting information.
I sent Jess a check-in text when the lunch bell rang. Then I went through the cafeteria line and took my usual seat across from Grayson.
That was when I realized something was different today.
Mary Heather and Kat weren’t holding court at their table; they were the only ones there. Kat was hunched over her phone, scrolling angrily. Mary Heather was slumped in her seat, picking at her lunch.
Mary Heather never slumped.
“Clearly someone doesn’t like getting called out for bad behavior,” I muttered.
“Seriously.” Grayson tapped a pen on his notebook. “I guess they didn’t think about where all of this was inevitably going.”
As nightmarish as last week had been, I had to admit, I felt better without my old friends. Lighter. Freer. I could move on.
“Oh ho ho!” Kat’s voice suddenly carried through the cafeteria—loud, mean, and dangerously triumphant. “Look at this!”
It sent a chill through me. Just like in books.
Mary Heather straightened and leaned across the table to confer with Kat. Every so often, they glanced over their shoulders at me, expressions devious.
Beyond them, Jess’s eyes were wide as she met mine. She grabbed her phone.
I turned back to Grayson and the others, heart thumping. Something was happening. I didn’t know what it was, but I sensed the shift like a pressure drop before a city-demolishing storm. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could halfway hear thunder in the distance.
“What do you think they’re up to now?” Grayson asked.
“I wish I knew.” It was going to be bad, though. Kat didn’t laugh like that unless she had something truly treacherous in mind.
A nearby phone pinged with the sound of a Scrollr notification.
Then other phones buzzed.
Suddenly, it felt like I was trapped in a disaster movie where everyone was getting a warning about a gigantic tornado or something—everyone but me, that was. Take cover. Find shelter.
I considered hiding under the table. But before I could make a decision—fleeing to the safety of the hall was also a possibility—the entire cafeteria went quiet. One by one, everyone turned to look at me.
“What is it?” I asked softly.
Peter swiped around on his phone. “‘Deer Hill Dirt’ updated.”
I felt sick. What were they posting now?
“Hey.” Grayson bumped my foot with his. “It’ll be okay. After yesterday, who’s going to believe anything they say?”
But Grayson didn’t know Kat and Mary Heather like I did. They would not repeat yesterday’s mistake. Not after enduring one day of the humiliation they’d subjected me to for a week.
Peter looked up from his phone, glancing from me to Grayson and back. Then he tapped his screen a few times. His face was unreadable.
Maybe I could just … evaporate into a cloud and drift out of the cafeteria.
Grayson’s phone buzzed.
“Look at it, man,” Peter said in a low voice.
Grayson unlocked his phone and swiped to his messages. The screen tipped up—out of my view—while Grayson’s expression fell. “Oh.”
By now, the cafeteria was utterly silent.
And even though they were mostly behind me, I could feel Mary Heather and Kat staring at me. Waiting. Anticipating.
“What is it?” I asked again. Dread coiled in my stomach.
Grayson was very still for a moment. Then he stood up. “I—I have to go.” Without another word, he gathered his things, took his tray, and left the cafeteria.
At first, I just sat there, trying to figure out what happened. What had set Grayson off like that? Well, a link or a screenshot, probably. But what was in that post?
“I think,” Brian said slowly, “you should go, too, Virginia. Not wherever Grayson went. Leave him alone. But I don’t think you belong here anymore.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Peter said.
They were kicking me out?
This was the second time in as many weeks!
And where the crap was I supposed to sit now??
“Okay.” I couldn’t argue. They’d let me sit here because Grayson had let me sit here. Now …
Slowly, I staggered up and grabbed my bag. My phone. My tray.
That sense of feeling like nothing was real returned, like I was suddenly in the wrong universe where the cat’s box had been opened and it was bad news for the cat. But I was supposed to be in the other reality where the cat was fine.
I’d been so wrong.
Numbly, I dumped my tray and found myself in the hallway a minute later. What was time anyway? It seemed like I was just disappearing and reappearing. Then, in my back pocket, my phone buzzed. How had my phone even gotten in there? Hadn’t I been holding it?
I was definitely losing my mind.
Down the hall, a figure slumped against a classroom door caught my eye. Phone out, backpack between his legs, and head bowed low.
My phone buzzed again.
I unlocked it and saw a flood of messages from Knight.
Knight Errant:
Are you there?
I need you right now
Sorry
But something just happened.
It’s
Well it’s complicated to explain, but there’s this scroll and the girls who run it have been going after a friend of mine—their ex friend
She said some things she shouldn’t have, but I felt bad for her getting called out like that in public.
It didn’t seem right. But now there’s … Okay there’s this.
Screenshots. Of “Deer Hill Dirt.”
What? WHAT? Knight knew about the scroll?!
The hallway was spinning. Everything felt like it was off, like gravity had just given up and left for some other universe where people appreciated it more.
Focus, Virginia. I blinked a few times. Read the screenshots first.
I did. Then everything felt funny, even though it wasn’t. Nothing was funny.
Deer Hill Dirt
Virginia:
What?? OMG no I was just messing around
Jess gave me some tips
I don’t like Grayson
He’s so tall that he slouches
His clothes don’t even fit right!
I was being nice.
Don’t you feel sorry for him?
Look I thought Grayson was cute last year, just like EVERYONE ELSE DID.
But this year his hair looks like someone took a hacksaw to it
His clothes look like he stole them from a Ken doll
And he can’t even use a tote bag correctly
How does someone not know how to use a tote bag??
Okay final words on the matter:
I’m not trying to take Jess’s place.
She’s the artist
AND I’m not trying to date Grayson.
Like I said I was being NICE when I talked to him in the car.
You know … last week I saw him watching the football team practice before the final game and I swear he looked like he wanted to cry
But HE quit
I guess he regrets that choice but it WAS his choice
Read Caption
At the end of the post, the caption read, “we always knew u’d ditch us for him but does he kno what u said …?”
My breath caught and wouldn’t uncatch. What was happening?
Hands shaking, I closed the screenshots just in time to watch Knight’s newest message pop up.
Knight Errant:
I thought she was a friend, but she sent these messages
and they’re about me.