I told myself all these things, but it didn’t make things suck any less.

Justine’s seat was empty when I got to class. But her brother’s wasn’t. While Mr. Daud drew a diagram of a triangle on the board, I noticed Brody looking at me. I looked down at my desk, not wanting to see his face. To see him glaring at me. I kept my head down for the rest of class.

When the bell rang, I grabbed my things and ran toward the door as fast as I could. I wasn’t fast enough, though.

“Bailey, wait.”

I groaned quietly and stopped in my tracks. Brody was at my side a second later. I didn’t look at him.

“Can I talk to you a second?”

“Um… sure.”

I followed him out of the classroom and down the hall to a small alcove. We wedged ourselves in, and the quarters were so close that, for a second, our knees brushed. I couldn’t avoid looking at him now. But when my eyes met his, I was surprised not to see any anger there.

“I heard what happened,” he said. “With you and my sister.”

“Oh, um… I’m sorry, but I just—”

“Don’t be,” he said. “I knew it was her. Well, I thought it was. What she did was horrible, and I’m glad someone finally had the nerve to stand up to her.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah.” He looked down, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “You know… I’ve kind of liked you for a while.”

“You have?”

He nodded. “Actually, when I saw you hanging out with Justine, I was a little worried. That’s what I tried to tell you that night at my house. She’s manipulative and just… cold. I liked you because you didn’t seem like that kind of person at all. I’m glad I was right.”

I had no idea what to say. I was sure my face was the color of a tomato, and I knew that if I opened my mouth I’d just be a stuttering, stammering mess.

“Anyway,” Brody said, looking up again. His face was pretty red, too. “I was wondering if you’d want to go see a movie sometime. I don’t have my license yet, so one of my parents will have to drive us, but—”

“I’d love to!” I squeaked.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

We just stared at each other for a minute, neither of us saying anything. Finally, I cleared my throat. “Um, I should get to class…”

“Right… Right.”

We both slid out of the alcove and into the larger hallway. “You know,” I said. “If we start, like, hanging out, Justine is going to be really, really mad. She may actually try to kill us.”

Brody grinned. “I can take it if you can.”

“I can take it,” I said.

“Good.” He leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was quick. It was nothing. But it made me feel like a million little sparks were lighting across my skin.

“S-see you later,” I stuttered.

“’Bye,” he said.

Then I took off for biology in such a daze that I walked into the wrong classroom. Twice.

***

Over the next few days, the truth about Justine’s punishment finally came out.

She’d been suspended for two weeks, banned from all extracurricular activities, and placed in the school’s alternative education program for the rest of the year. Basically, that meant she had to take all her classes in one room, where she wasn’t allowed to talk or socialize with her friends. She even had a separate lunch. For a popular girl, there was no worse punishment.

It was harsh, but Brody said it could have been worse. Principal Roth had wanted to expel her, but their parents had begged and pleaded. I guess they’d won in the end.

Elsie still hadn’t come back to school. No one was talking about her or the video (which had been taken down) anymore, though. Instead, they were talking about me. Word had spread that I was the reason Justine had turned herself in. Some people hated me for it. Melanie and Wendy found every reason they could to torture me in cheerleading practice. Ryan and Justine’s boyfriend, Eddie, tried to spread gross rumors about me, but none of them ever took off. And not everyone hated me. Some people liked me for what I’d done—like Brody, and some of Elsie’s friends.

I wasn’t popular anymore, but I wasn’t alone, either. And at least there wasn’t any pressure about what I was wearing or how I fixed my hair anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t fun, but it could have been worse.

On Friday, Whitley and Nathan were going to pick me up after cheerleading practice and take me to a movie in Oak Hill, the next town over. Since I knew I could talk them into a quick detour, I volunteered to take Elsie her biology work from the past two weeks.

“That would be wonderful, Miss Caulfield,” Mrs. Robb said, placing a few worksheets into a folder. “And I know you take good notes. Would you be okay with photocopying them for her?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. I know she’s going through a hard time, and I don’t want her to feel too behind when she comes back.” She handed me the folder. “If she has any questions, tell her she can e-mail me.”

“I will.”

She smiled. “You’re a sweet girl,” she said. “Elsie’s lucky to have a friend like you right now.”

I wasn’t sure I’d go that far. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that none of this would have happened to her if it wasn’t for me telling Justine about her locker room behavior. I owed her an apology, I decided, which was part of the reason I was going to her house after school—to drop off her homework and to clear my conscience.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I told Whitley and Nathan as I climbed out of the backseat.

“If you take too long, we’re leaving without you,” Whitley said.

Nathan rolled his eyes.

“What?” she asked. “I don’t want to be late for the movie.”

I laughed. “It won’t take that long… I hope.” I shut the door and walked up the driveway to Elsie’s front door. The closer I got, the more anxious I felt. By the time I rang the doorbell, my heart had jumped into my throat and started dancing. I swallowed, hard, and waited.

Elsie opened the door. She was wearing sweatpants and a pink tank top, her curly hair whipped up into a messy bun. She seemed surprised to see me, her dark eyebrows shooting up her forehead. “Bailey? What are you doing here?” she asked.

I held up the folder. “I brought you some stuff from biology. Can I come in?”

She nodded and stepped aside so I could enter the house. She shut the door, then led the way down a hallway to her bedroom. The walls were covered with posters from different anime series. I recognized a few from when Nathan was in high school. I guess they were still popular.

She sat on the edge of her bed and took the folder from me. I watched as she opened it up and started flipping through the pages inside. “Wow,” she said. “There’s a lot.”

“Yeah… but I put a copy of my notes in there, too. So hopefully those will help.”

“Thanks,” she said.

“So…” I realized I was wringing my hands and stopped, shoving them into my pockets instead. “How are you? When are you coming back to school?”

“I’m… better,” she said. “I’ll be back next week, I think. But I’ve decided to quit cheerleading. It’s just too embarrassing.”

“Did you hear about Justine?” I asked.

“Yeah. Principal Roth called my parents. They wanted to press charges, but I told them not to. It would just make going back to school worse.” She shut the folder and put it aside. “I just can’t believe it was her. She’s always seemed so nice.”

“I know. She’s not who I thought she was, either.”

“How did she even know?” she asked. “Why would she put the camera there?”

“That’s… That’s actually something I came to talk to you about.” I looked down at my feet. “I told her. One day at lunch, we were talking and it was just stupid and I told her about walking in on you in the locker room. I’m sorry.”

“You… You did it?”

I nodded slowly, then looked up. “I didn’t know what she was going to do, though.”

“Oh my God,” Elsie said. “I should’ve known.”