Chapter 2 Scarlett
Scarlett
Zoe Barnes was such a bitch! Scarlett could still feel the steam coming out of her ears when she got home from school.
She’d barely said a word on the drive home, not that Dylan noticed.
Scarlett’s mom had hired her a year ago to pick up Scarlett and Olivia from school when they had after-school activities, and to stay at the house until their parents were home from work.
Even though Scarlett didn’t need a babysitter anymore, Dylan was pretty cool and didn’t bug her too much.
Besides, Olivia still needed to be taken care of, and Scarlett didn’t have time for that.
Now Dylan was too busy talking to Olivia about her stupid science project to notice that Scarlett was upset.
It would be nice if she could at least ask Scarlett if everything was all right.
She went straight to her room and slammed the door, kicking off her shoes and blaring music from her phone as she opened Instagram.
As she scrolled through, her stomach dropped at the story Zoe had just posted.
A selfie of her and Ethan at the mall, their faces smushed together.
Why had she ever told Zoe about her crush on Ethan?
I mean, she’d only liked him forever. It was like a scene straight out of Mean Girls.
Zoe had promised to find out if Ethan liked Scarlett, only to snag him for herself.
And then when Scarlett got upset, Zoe turned everyone in their friend group against her.
But what made it so much worse was that Zoe and she had been friends since first grade.
They’d gone on each other’s family vacations, spent every summer at the same camp, and had sleepovers almost every weekend.
Zoe had been the one Scarlett called when she got her first period, the one who held Scarlett’s hand in the ER when she had sprained her ankle ice-skating and had to wait for x-rays at the hospital.
Zoe was always Scarlett’s go-to person. But when they started high school this year, everything changed.
Zoe went out for cheerleading, turned into this ultra fashionista, started giving more weight to clothes than the people wearing them, and began treating Scarlett differently.
She was critical of Scarlett’s appearance and complained that she was a Goody Two-shoes because she refused to vape like all the cool girls.
Scarlett wasn’t interested in spending hours on makeup and clothes, was too much of an athlete to risk her lungs for an e-cigarette, but Zoe was all about being cool.
Still, Scarlett had never expected her betrayal, especially not in such a hurtful fashion. Zoe was a different person now.
Scarlett took a deep breath and exhaled, blinking back tears. She missed her friend—the old Zoe. The one who had cared about her for who she really was. But maybe that Zoe was gone for good.
She sighed. She couldn’t keep holding on to what used to be. She would find new friends—ones who wouldn’t stab her in the back. She wasn’t going to let Zoe’s betrayal ruin her school year.
Her door burst open, and Olivia walked in. “Hey, Dylan and I are making chocolate chip cookies. Wanna help?”
“Knock much?” Scarlett snapped. “No. I don’t want to consume a thousand calories in sugar.”
“Okay, geez. Don’t bite my head off.”
“Shut the door!” Scarlett yelled after her, but Olivia was already halfway down the stairs.
Huffing in irritation, Scarlett got up and slammed the door again.
Little sisters were so annoying. Her phone pinged and she grabbed it, her heart racing when she saw the name on the screen.
Ben. Who needed stupid Ethan Manchester anyway?
She hadn’t told anyone about Ben yet. She’d been given all the lectures on meeting people online, stranger danger, blah, blah, blah.
But Ben was all right, and he lived far away—in Chicago.
Besides, all they were doing was texting.
It’s not like she was telling him where she lived or anything.
He’d messaged her on Discord. She was part of a Taylor Swift fan server, and they chatted off and on there until he suggested they move offline and text.
After that he didn’t participate much in the Discord server.
He said he was getting a little tired of Taylor Swift.
She knew what he looked like from his Instagram profile—he was sixteen and they had a lot of the same hobbies.
They both loved sailing and tennis, and both weirdly hated pizza.
She didn’t know anyone else who didn’t like pizza, but they both agreed that it was totally overrated.
She had told him that she lived in Connecticut, close to New York, and that they often went there.
He was impressed and said he’d always wanted to go to New York.
She didn’t give him her actual address, her father’s words ringing in her head.
She wasn’t allowed to put where she lived or where she went to school in any of her social media posts.
But she felt bad keeping things from Ben.
She didn’t want him to think she didn’t trust him.
Plus, he gave really good advice. She opened the message.
Ben: Your “friends” still being jerks?
Scarlett: Yah
Ben: They are F em
Scarlett: Yeah BTW Thx for the advice about no more sitters—so much bttr then having grndprnts here
Ben: NP. U r not a baby. What’s the mascot of your HS? Hopefully, something cool. Ours is so lame. A muskrat.
Scarlett: The Falcons
Ben: Very cool!
A knock at the door made her look up from her phone. “Scarlett, time to come down and do homework,” Dylan said.
“Okay, coming.” She texted Ben that she had to go, swung her legs over her bed, and opened her door.
When she got downstairs, the smell of fresh baked cookies wafted over her. She eyed the plate of chocolate chip cookies and couldn’t resist grabbing one. It didn’t escape Olivia’s notice.
“I thought you didn’t want to eat a ton of sugar.”
“Shut up.”
“Hey, you’re not allowed to say that.”
“Whatever.”
Dylan looked over. “I don’t see any homework.”
Scarlett rolled her eyes and retrieved her backpack from the hallway, bringing it to the kitchen table.
She pulled out her math book and got to work.
It was hard to concentrate though. She kept thinking about Ben.
Maybe she should be more open with him. He wasn’t hiding anything from her; he had even told her where he lived and what school he went to.
She knew his birthday too. She debated whether or not to talk to Dylan about it, but she was afraid Dylan would tell her parents, and she knew what they would say.
At least she knew what her dad would say—he’d have a cow.
But then again, he worried about everything.
They had to text him the minute they arrived anywhere, and when they were on their way home.
He rarely let them go to sleepovers—only if he knew the parents well.
Even then, he didn’t like it. He would have a conniption if he came home and the door was unlocked.
Nothing bad ever happened in their neighborhood, but he was always like, “you never know” and “be careful.” And he was a total freak about privacy.
Constantly checking her socials to make sure her pictures had no personal information.
So over the top. Her mom wasn’t quite as bad, but she always wanted to keep the peace, so she’d go along with her dad.
Scarlett had considered talking to her about Ben but decided to keep it a secret.
After all, her mother had secrets of her own.