Fifteen Lanes - S.J. Laidlaw Page 0,65
a reason to hurt me, since he still didn’t know what I’d done, but there was nothing to lose by asking his former girlfriend, Anoosha Kapur. Kyle had told me that Todd had ruined their relationship. Maybe that was a clue.
I looked for Anoosha as soon as I reached the cafeteria at lunch. I was disappointed but not surprised to see her in a large group of popular girls. If I hadn’t been so desperate, there’s no way I would have gone up to them.
“Grace, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Anoosha said as I approached. “How are you doing?” Her voice was full of concern. “Sit down.”
“Could we talk in private?” I asked, avoiding the stares of the other girls.
“Sure.” She stood up. “Watch my things,” she said to her friends, and she followed me out of the cafeteria and down the stairs to the school’s reception area. We sat down on one of the two couches.
“So, how are you really?” she asked.
“I’ve been better. I’m still trying to work out how all this happened. It’s a little confusing. I was wondering if you know anything about Todd’s involvement.”
“Probably no more than you do. He came to school bragging you’d sent him a topless photo. No one believed him at first, till he forwarded it to a bunch of people.”
“Wow! That’s already more than I knew. So Todd thinks it was me who sent him the photo?”
“He did at first, but then we all heard about the sexting and realized someone had been leading you on. I’m sorry you got tricked like that.”
“So Todd passed my photo on just to show off?”
“Partly, but he also hates your brother. You gave him a perfect opportunity for revenge. He had a crush on me last year and did everything he could to break Kyle and me up. One night at a party, I was drunk and I let him kiss me. I made a mistake, and Todd finally got what he wanted. Your brother dumped me. But even after we broke up I wouldn’t go out with Todd. He’s a bad guy, Grace.”
There wasn’t much left to say. Kelsey was the one doing the sexting, and Todd had sent my photo to the entire school to get back at my brother by humiliating me. Kelsey said it was Madison’s idea, but she’d lied about Madison sending my photo to everyone, so maybe Madison wasn’t involved at all. Mr. Smiley said two students had squealed on Madison. After Kelsey had admitted her involvement to me this morning she might have panicked that I’d change my mind about turning her in and decided to give Smiley someone else to blame. Todd was a slime for going along with her but, given what Anoosha said, it wasn’t hard to believe he’d pin everything on Madison to save his own skin. With college applications looming, they both had a lot riding on maintaining clean records.
I followed Anoosha back to the cafeteria and took a seat at my usual table. I was glad VJ wasn’t there yet. I needed some time to think.
I felt Madison’s presence before I saw her. She came up behind me and slammed one hand on the table, leaning in so our faces were inches apart.
“I know you’re the one who told on me. Smiley wouldn’t say who it was but I know!”
I was so shocked by the accusation that I didn’t know what to say.
“First you try to steal the boy I like by sending him a boob shot, as if your flat chest would attract any guy, and then you accuse me of being behind it all. Do you really think a hag like you is a threat to someone like me? Why would I bother to take you down? You’re already beneath me.”
“Look, I know Kelsey was the one sexting me. Why don’t we go tell Smiley together? You shouldn’t be taking all the blame for this.”
“Just because you’re a rat doesn’t mean I am.”
“I didn’t tell him you did it, Madison.”
“Yeah, right, who else would do it?”
“Smiley said two students came forward, so it couldn’t have been me. Maybe it was Kelsey and Todd.”
“You really expect me to believe that? You tried to steal the boy you knew I liked, and now you try to drive a wedge between me and my best friend. You just don’t give up, do you?”
“Ladies!” VJ arrived at the table, shouldered Madison out of the way and took the seat opposite