Chapter 30 #2
“I haven’t seen Jade,” he said, something passing across his expression. “Or Ashton, or Kyle, or Riley.”
His meaning created a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Jade’s absence was strange enough; the fact that they were all missing was a bad sign.
No way would Jade miss the Homecoming King and Queen announcement.
No way would she miss her last homecoming.
And what was the likelihood of none of them showing up to their senior homecoming dance?
“All right,” the DJ called into the microphone as the final slow dance wound down, drawing everyone to attention. “It’s that time of the night—time to announce Homecoming King and Queen!”
“Connor Bray and Jade Dyer,” Maisie muttered under her breath, shooting me a knowing eye roll.
Connor smoothed his hands down her upper arms. “Connor Bray and Maisie Matthews.”
She snorted. “You wish.”
“I’m sure I could’ve bribed somebody.”
I smiled at the two of them while everyone waited, eager of the next bout of mic feedback. My pulse was steady, and the only thought on my mind was whether or not Jade was here to accept her crown.
Surely she wouldn’t have skipped the dance. Everyone would’ve been looking to her after last night at the game, so surely she’d come and hold her head high.
I looked around the dancefloor again, but couldn’t find the girl wearing a golden gown.
“For our queen,” the DJ began, drawing out the word and anticipation as long as possible. Everyone seemed to hold their breath and lean in, as if they wanted to be the first to hear the name uttered. “Madison Oliphant!”
I almost convinced myself I imagined him saying my name, or it was one of those weird flukes where words just sounded like other words. But, no, everyone in the gym turned to me, filling the air with a roar of applause. Maisie’s eyebrows were raised in surprise, but she clapped anyway.
Connor’s expression, though, reflected my thoughts. There was no way I should’ve won. People voted on Monday, before anything hit the fan. Everyone would’ve voted for Jade and Connor—there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. Something was wrong.
Maisie took my clutch from me at the same time that someone shoved me from behind, hard enough that I stumbled in my heels, barely managing to catch my footing.
When I turned, there was no one there. A girl I didn’t know grabbed my arm and pulled me forward, and then someone else replaced her hands.
Like a leaf, faceless students carried me forward through the stream of people, toward the middle of the dancefloor where the spotlight shined.
Mrs. Diego came up with a silver tiara and sash, and I lowered my head reflexively, even though my pulse was racing. “Congratulations, dear,” she said with a smile, one I couldn’t muster to return.
Something’s wrong.
“And for our king.” The DJ pulled out yet another dramatic pause. “Logan Castle!”
A collective sound of confusion rose through the gathered students, because most of them had most likely never heard the name Logan Castle in their lives.
For a split second, I imagined it like a horror movie—that Logan would walk through the crowd of people. Or, even more dramatically, Jade would have him by the hand, somehow having kidnapped him and forced him into the Brentwood gymnasium.
But no, the Jefferson High quarterback didn’t walk onto the dancefloor.
Ashton Shaw did. He had his tie wrapped around his head, the top three buttons on his collar undone, and his hair mussed.
In his hands, he held what looked like a huge stack of printer paper, hugged to his chest so I couldn’t see what was on it.
“Extra, extra!” he called while staring straight at me, gathering the papers in his grip. “Read all about it!”
And then he flung them upward, creating a confetti bomb of white.
I flinched, shielding my face from papercuts, but the students around me scrambled to snag sheets of their own. Ashton disappeared through the crowd, letting out a whoop that was somehow louder than the excited chatter of voices and papers passed around.
Someone thrust a piece of paper into my hand, and an arm came around my back.
I turned to find Kyle standing there, his dance attire mussed like Ashton’s, except his tie wasn’t wrapped around his head.
“That dress looks good on you, Maddie,” he told me with a wild grin, and without hesitating, he pressed a wet, hard kiss to my cheek.
Kyle swung away as I wiped away his slobber, barely fighting the urge to vomit. I looked down at the paper he’d shoved into my grip. It was a picture, one I immediately recognized.
The picture Maisie had taken of Logan and me in my yard.
brENTWOOD BABBLE EXCLUSIVE
Scan the QR code to reveal the secret couple!
By the time I’d read it and processed what it meant, almost everyone in the gym had their phones out, their screens glowing up onto their faces.
I didn’t have my phone—I’d given my clutch to Maisie.
I searched for her, and by some chance, I had a straight line through the gathered groups of students.
Maisie and Connor were huddled close together, peering at the bright screen of his phone.
In almost slow motion, their heads lifted, gaze locking onto me.
In fact, everyone had turned toward me. I had a feeling it wasn’t because of the plastic crown.
“Uh.” The DJ sounded uncomfortable. “So… Logan Castle?”
This is it, then, I thought, the urge to laugh bubbling up. So this is when the shoe drops.
Maisie suddenly was in front of me, her hand gentle on my forearm. “Come on,” she urged.
She wasn’t the only person suddenly in front of me, either. The students who’d been surrounding me now pressed in, swelling as if the crowd had taken a deep breath. Phones with their flash on were bright in my eyes, blinding me.
“It was you in that Babble post?”
“Madison, you’re dating a Bulldog?”
“How could you!”
“Who knew you were such a bully?”
“Put your phones away, for crying out loud,” Connor had to yell over the noise, putting his palm over the camera lens closest to him. “Seriously? Phones down.”
Maisie grabbed my wrist hard and tugged. She pulled me away from the growing mob, and I stumbled after her as my mind whirled.
She pulled me into the closest girls room—which seemed to be a thing for us. Ava came in, hot on our heels, leaving the boys outside. “I swear I didn’t post anything,” she told me, eyes wide. “Using Babble’s name to spread that crap? Ridiculous!”
“I don’t,” I began, strangely breathless. “I don’t even know what was posted. I haven’t seen it yet.”
Maisie and Ava exchanged a look, and my brain was too muddled to properly gauge the meaning. After a moment of hesitation, Maisie wordlessly held her phone out to me, screen unlocked.
Whatever webpage it was, it wasn’t Babble.
I knew that immediately. The layout was horrendous and cluttered, and the signature Brentwood pawprints of Babble were nowhere to be seen.
It was, however, done in the same design as the Most Likely To list. In wannabe Babble fashion, there was in article front and centered on the page.
THE SECRET’S OUT AND IT’S TREASONOUS
Remember that juuuicy photo from last week, of a Bobcat cuddling close with a Bulldog? After going hard undercover, guess who discovered their true identity? Your Babble Queen, of course!
But buckle up and lock in, because I’m coming with allllll the receipts!
I couldn’t make sense of the words, but there were pictures—a lot of pictures.
Like a picture of Logan and me standing in front of my car.
He wore his red Expresso’s apron, and I was in a Brentwood sweatshirt, pushed up onto my tiptoes, pressing my lips to his cheek.
I immediately recognized it as the day before school started.
The picture was taken from across the street, zoomed in.
The next picture was Logan and me at the arcade at the mall, and though the picture was grainy, you could clearly see us hunched over the air hockey table. The shot had to have been taken right outside the arcade.
The next, a picture of Logan and me outside of the Wallflower diner, with his Bulldog varsity jacket over my cheer uniform, and I was staring up into his eyes.
A picture of me at the eighth grade Jefferson game.
Us standing at my car at the night of Noah’s bonfire. I thought of the high beams that’d followed me all the way to his house.
Logan and I on the sidewalk right outside of Expresso’s, the night we’d walked in on Maisie and Connor. I have eyes everywhere.
Logan and I holding hands.
I saw our relationship play out in grainy snapshots, from beginning to end. The last picture was a blurry photo of me leaning across the console of Logan’s car, wearing my homecoming gown, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. Not even thirty minutes ago.
The biggest betrayal in Brentwood Bobcat history, if you ask me! Madison Oliphant, Most Likely To Peak in High School, fraternizing with the enemy? It makes me sick! But the story doesn’t stop there…
Did you know that Madison is also a Brentwood Bobcat BULLY?
The door creaked open, and a new voice murmured something, but I couldn’t pull my attention away from the phone long enough to look up.
There was a picture of me shooting Lacey a dirty look at our lunch table. Evil eye, much?
A picture of me smiling after a cheer practice, but the way it was taken made it look like I was smirking at Riley, who had a pinched look on her face. She was rubbing her wrist. Laughing at someone else’s pain?
Me, standing in front of Connor and Maisie when Jade and I had caught them kissing.
Jade was out of frame, but you could clearly see the back of my head as I faced the couple.
From the angle, it was easy to see the shine in Maisie’s eyes.
Catching the secret couple—and threatening them at the same time!