The Anti-Prom - By Abby McDonald Page 0,75
must have been keeping this stuff as blackmail, or some weird power trip. How was I supposed to know?”
“Right,” Jolene snipes, sarcastic. “Because why would you pay attention to anything that isn’t all about you?”
“It doesn’t matter how it happened,” Meg tells her before I can answer. “What matters is what we do now.”
Jolene shrugs, scrunching water from her dress. “Why do we have to do anything at all?”
“Are you serious?” Meg glares at her. “Can you just imagine what will happen to them if that information gets spread around? All it would take is one mention on the school network, or for Jason to pass the diary on to someone else . . .”
I shiver at the thought. Those girls don’t deserve it. God, even Kaitlin wasn’t cruel enough for that. No, this was all my doing. I didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t make a difference when it comes to gossip and rumors. All their darkest secrets, and now I’ve let them loose. How could I miss this stuff?
“Meg, let it go.” Jolene shrugs. “We left the diary in his room hours ago.”
“Exactly.” Meg stands firm. “And now we’ve got to get it back.”
“Back?” Jolene looks up. “It’s four thirty in the morning!”
“So what?” Meg is riled up now, her face totally serious. “We don’t have a choice. Right, Bliss?” She appeals to me, but I don’t need convincing.
“She’s right,” I say, already sick with guilt. “Kenji, Miranda — they’re good people. We’ve got to make this right. All of us,” I add, before she can pull a tantrum and bail again.
Meg and I stare at her, determined: two against one. Jolene shifts and sighs, but finally she rolls her eyes. “Fine, whatever. But this is it. Nothing else.”
“Good.”
We squelch along behind her as Meg leads us back through the house. Nearly everyone’s crashed out now, but I don’t even want to think about how I look. The pajama outfit that was sweet and adorable is now clinging to my skin like I’m an extra in some X-rated rap video.
“If we’re lucky, he drank so much he’s still passed out somewhere,” I tell them, trying to focus on a plan. “We can snatch the diary back, and it’ll be like we were never even there.”
“Aren’t you going to say good-bye to all your friends?” Jolene can’t resist digging at me as I find Meg’s purse and pass her the car keys. “Or you can go out a different exit, so they don’t see us together.”
“It’s kind of late for that,” I mutter. And it’s true. As we head to the hall, I see Kaitlin come through the side door, wrapped in a bathrobe, with her damp hair scraped back. She catches sight of me and glares, then Courtney and Brianna appear behind her, all stopping dead the moment they see me. My friends. Or, at least they used to be, but now they’re lined up like some kind of firing squad, ready to throw me out for crimes against the social order. Any chance at all I could smooth things over with them dies with the ice-queen looks they all shoot my way. Never mind the scene with Kaitlin; leaving with Jolene and Meg is definitely going to get me exiled from their group forever.
It’s too late to take it back, even if I wanted to. I keep walking.
Nobody says much as we pile into the car and take the exit out of town — again. Meg hums softly along with the radio, while Jolene kicks her bare feet up on the dashboard. At least now I’ve got her in a confined space, without any water nearby. Or weapons. All the same, I check that her backpack is stashed out of her reach before leaning forward.
“Jolene,” I try. “Jolene, would you just listen to me? You heard me back there. I told them all where to go! You can’t still be mad.”
Jolene messes with her hair, ignoring me.
“I know I should have said something before, in the living room. I just wimped out, OK? But I made it right in the end.”
She looks out the window.
“OK.” I sink back onto the damp seat. “Be like that.” I turn to Meg instead. “How did it go with Tristan? Did he mind your leaving?”
She meets my eyes in the mirror. “No, he was fine with it.”
I begin to get a bad feeling. Another one. “But it all worked out, right?” I ask, anxious. After everything, I wanted Meg to get