Chapter 31 27 May 2017
Hannah shoved herself to a sitting position on the sofa and glared down at her traitorous gold shoes.
‘How long have you been there?’ Madison asked.
‘Huh?’ Hannah rubbed at her eyes. ‘I think I fell asleep.’
‘Bullshit.’ Madison grabbed Hannah roughly by the hands and dragged her up off the sofa. ‘What did you hear?’
‘Nothing,’ she insisted. She extracted her hands from Madison’s grasp.
‘Let’s go.’ Theo took Madison gently by the shoulders and began steering her towards the door. She shook him off.
‘She’s lying,’ she snarled. Then she turned back to Hannah, eyes flashing. ‘If you ever tell anyone what you overheard, I will trace it back to you, and I will do murder. To you. While you sleep. Understood?’
‘Leave her alone, Mads,’ Theo pressed.
‘Gemma. The pact. I know you were listening.’
Hannah swallowed hard. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
For a moment, Madison was silent. ‘Good. Because if you let a single word about any of this slip, you and Ami will be in the hottest fucking water of your lives. Scalding, you get me? You will sit alone at commencement. Your invitations to graduation parties will disappear. And I will make it my mission to ensure your little sister suffers for the rest of her time at Prescott.’
Hannah shivered, an involuntary and uncontrollable little shake, and Madison laughed.
Hannah couldn’t care less about graduation parties and commencement seating.
Ami, on the other hand… this was precisely the situation she’d been trying so hard to avoid by coming here tonight.
But she’d procured nothing in the way of leverage she could bring home to Ami; instead, she’d landed her little sister in the shit.
‘You have nothing to worry about,’ she said through clenched teeth. ‘Because like I said, I was sleeping.’ She gave Madison an exaggerated yawn.
‘Perfect.’ Madison bared her teeth in something resembling a smile, then she spun on her heel and headed for the door.
‘She’s serious,’ Theo said softly when Madison had disappeared into the hall.
Hannah stepped over the discarded chenille throw and headed to the door. ‘I don’t doubt it.’
Without another look at Theo, she walked briskly down the hall, in the direction of the living room.
She wanted nothing more than to head home, immediately, but she had to think.
She fully intended to keep her word to Madison DuPont, but Madison was not a reasonable person.
Her silence wouldn’t be enough to prove her fealty – or guarantee Ami’s safety. She’d need to make an offering.
The living room was full of bodies dancing, sweating, groping. It was three-thirty in the morning. Inez was half-asleep in an armchair. Alastair and Charlene DuPont were nowhere to be seen. Hannah swerved and headed to the balcony doors. She needed some fresh air. She needed a plan – now.
On the balcony, the answer fell directly into Hannah’s lap.
Or rather, the answer was sitting in Bruno Alvarez’s lap, hands tangled in his thick black hair, tongue shoved all the way down his throat.
The two boys were in a lounge chair at the very end, in the shadow of the overhang from the roof.
At first, Hannah assumed it was Ethan, but a closer look showed Bruno’s hookup to have a larger, taller frame than slight Ethan Astor, and besides, Ethan wouldn’t be caught dead in a deep eggplant open-collar shirt.
She cringed, the realisation landing. Because she knew exactly who had come dressed in that shirt tonight. She flattened herself against the outside wall of the building.
Bruno and Oliver?
Now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure she’d seen Ethan leaving the after-prom party hours ago, alone. Maybe they’d broken up. Maybe Bruno was a free agent. Either way, a Bruno Alvarez–Oliver Morgan hookup would be like candy for The Upper Edge. And candy was exactly what she needed.
She pulled out her phone. It would be cruel to cast Oliver to the Instagram wolves, especially if Bruno and Ethan were still together, but he’d survive it, right? Maybe the gossip would even elevate her friend’s social cachet.
Or tank it altogether. Shit. Bottom line, Hannah needed something to capture all of Prescott’s attention, a juicy morsel of gossip that would prove to Madison that she had no intention of spilling her secrets.
And an Oliver–Bruno hookup was the perfect something.
The balcony had emptied out. Two junior girls stood at the rail, cups in hand, gazing dreamily at the city skyline.
Tyler Marsden was passed out on a lounge chair near the door.
Otherwise, it was just Hannah, Bruno and Oliver.
Soon, someone else would come out here and notice the make-out session in progress. They’d get the scoop.
Or, Bruno and Oliver would think better of themselves and break apart. The moment would pass. It was now or never.
Stomach churning, Hannah slunk along the wall until she could get close enough to the boys to take pictures without her flash. Then she put her phone on silent to switch off the shutter sound. The photos were going to be dark; it was the middle of the night. But she had to try.
Snap snap snap snap.
Hannah took four pictures. The balcony lights and the city below illuminated the scene just enough that, close up, you could identify the two intertwined figures.
This was going to work. It had to.
Five minutes later, Hannah was on the sidewalk outside the DuPonts’ building, walking to the subway.
She played with the photo settings for a moment, adjusting the exposure so you could more clearly identify both boys.
Not bad. First, she opened Instagram and logged out.
In minutes, she’d created a burner account.
From there, she DM’d all four photos to The Upper Edge.
Breaking from after-prom. Bruno’s got a new man?
The churning in her stomach turned to a hard knot. But she wasn’t quite done. Next, she opened her messages and texted Madison.
Your secret’s safe with me. By tomorrow, everyone will be talking about a brand-new Prescott hookup. I made sure of it.
That should do it.
Feeling satisfied – if slightly ill – Hannah descended the stairs to the 6 train and pulled out her MetroCard. When she emerged on Spring Street, the notifications on The Upper Edge were already popping. Her plan was working. There was no going back now.
With trembling fingers, she opened the app.