Golden Girl

by Mari Mancusi

  “Oh. Well that makes it all better then.”

  I grimaced. “I know, I know. I’m not trying to defend her. She’s an abominable snow brat; believe me, I get it. But what can I do?”

  “You could go to the school. Or the cops. Or . . . something.”

  “I can’t,” I said. “Even if I wanted to, I don’t have any proof. And they’d want to know why I didn’t say something back when it happened. It’d be her word against mine, and her dad owns the stupid mountain.” I paused, then added, “Besides, I couldn’t do that to Becca.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Olivia’s minion, Becca?”

  I groaned. “You don’t understand. Becca isn’t like that. She’s a good person. She works really hard, and she doesn’t buy into all that popularity stuff. There’s something else going on with her, I know it. Like Olivia’s holding something over her head. But I can’t for the life of me figure out what it could be. I wish I could—I’m sure if I just knew what it was I could make her see it was no big deal.”

  Logan thought about this for a moment. “We could see if Todd knows,” he suggested.

  “Todd?” I frowned. “As in Olivia’s boyfriend, Todd?”

  “Ex-boyfriend,” Logan corrected. “He broke up with her last Saturday. Pretty much right after we ran into them.”

  “What?” I exclaimed, surprised. “Why?”

  Logan shrugged. “Evidently she started saying a bunch of stuff about me being a staff rat and he got mad. Todd’s not rich, you know. He’s a scholarship kid from the Bronx.”

  Golden Boy was on scholarship? I had no idea. And I was pretty sure none of the other kids did either. Obviously Olivia didn’t or she’d never deem him worthy enough for her princessdom.

  “Anyway, they got into a fight and he cut her loose. Told me it was for the best. Said she was kind of a psycho.” He blew out a long breath. “Until now I had no idea just how psycho he meant.”

  “Wow,” I said, remembering the dinner at Jacques’s. I had thought Olivia was acting a little crazy, even for her. “And now she probably blames me for getting dumped, on top of everything else. Awesome.”

  “In any case, we should go and ask him about the whole Becca thing,” Logan suggested. “He might know something.”

  “It’s worth a try.”

  • • •

  Logan insisted on coming along with me to talk to Todd, even though he was technically still banned from the mountain, and an hour later we were knocking on the snowboarder’s dorm room door. Todd answered dressed in jeans and a ratty Minecraft T-shirt. He grinned when he saw Logan.

  “Hey, man.” He greeted Logan, slapping him on the arm. “Come on in.”

  We entered the dorm room and sat down on Todd’s roommate’s unoccupied bed. I looked around: On the walls hung posters of all the snowboarding greats and one of skateboarder Tony Hawk. Todd’s trophies and medals covered the top of his dresser in a sea of gold, and a trash bin overflowed with empty cans of Red Bull.

  Todd plopped down on his desk chair, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “So, Miss Miller, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

  I drew in a breath. “Do you know Becca Montgomery?”

  “Sure. Olivia’s latest lamebrain. What about her?”

  I frowned, not appreciating his description of my poor friend. “She’s not—”

  “We think Olivia might be blackmailing her,” Logan cut in quickly. “Like she has something on her that Becca doesn’t want people to know.”

  Todd laughed. “Of course she does. Olivia has stuff on everyone in school. It’s like her hobby. Some people collect baseball cards. She collects secrets.”

  “Do you know what she might have on Becca?” I asked, leaning forward anxiously.

  But Todd just shook his head. “Sorry,” he said. “She didn’t mention anything that I can think of. Or that I remember, anyway. No offense, but that girl never shuts up. Half of what she said went in one ear and out the other.”

  “Okay,” I said, disappointed. “Well, thanks anyway.” I rose to leave.

  “Wait,” Todd commanded. I stopped in my tracks, turning to him.

  “Yeah?”

  “I said she didn’t tell me anything,” he said. “Not that we couldn’t find out.”

  I cocked my head in question. “What do you mean?”

  “She keeps files on people,” he explained. “On her computer. Pretty much everyone she knows has a file.” He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she’s really that much of a creeper—I know.”

  My heart picked up its pace. “And you think she might have a file on Becca?”

  “Only one way to find out.” Todd swung around in his chair, pulled up to his computer desk, and began typing away furiously.

  “Are you going to hack her account?” Everyone at Mountain Academy was given a log-in that could be accessed from any computer on campus. This way you could always pull up your homework or whatever you needed, wherever you were.

  “Don’t need to. I have her password,” he informed us. “Twelve twelve. The date of her mother’s death.” He turned to look at us. “Morbid, right?”

  I thought back to Olivia on the floor outside of Jacques’s, crying her eyes out, saying she wished her mother was still alive. It didn’t excuse what she’d done, I told myself. But it did make me feel the tiniest bit bad for her. After all, I couldn’t imagine something like that happening to my mother. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t even be able to function as a human being for the next ten years, never mind win any races.

  A moment later Todd leaned back in his chair, looking pleased with himself. “Okay, here we are.”

  I peered at the screen. Sure enough, we were on Olivia’s desktop. A selfie of her and her mom smiling into the camera wallpapered across the screen. Along with a set of file folders, carefully arranged and labeled with the full names of Mountain Academy students. Wow.

  “I don’t even want to know what she has on me at this point,” Todd laughed as he moused over his own name. He right-clicked and gleefully hit delete. I gave Logan an alarmed look. We were going down a slippery slope, and I knew it.

  It’s for Becca, I tried to remind myself. You’re doing it for Becca.

  “Here we go,” Todd announced a moment later, dragging a folder with Becca’s name across the desktop. “Now let’s see what she has on your friend.”

  As he clicked on the folder, my breath caught in my throat. I peered down, not sure I really wanted to see. It had to be something really bad if Becca was willing to give up our entire friendship over it. But what could it possibly be?

  I scanned the Word document. A few nasty comments about Becca’s wardrobe. A few notes about her recent times on various snowboarding events. A few suggestions to “let her borrow some clothes so she doesn’t embarrass us at the next mixer.”

  “Hmm, nothing incriminating,” I remarked, a sinking feeling settling in my stomach. Had I been wrong about Olivia holding something over my friend’s head?

  “Wait. There’s a video,” Todd pointed out, clicking on one of the .mov files. A moment later a QuickTime video popped up on the screen and began to play. It appeared to have been taken at some kind of school dance. The camera panned the rec center, focusing on a few Boarder Barbies hanging out on the sidelines, looking bored.

  “What does this have to do with Becca?” I wondered aloud. Maybe it had accidentally been placed in the wrong folder?

  As if in answer, the camera swung around, exchanging the view of the dance floor for that of a window. Then it zoomed in, focusing on two people outside the rec center.

  Two people kissing. One: my should-have-been boyfriend, Cam.

  The other: my best friend.

  Todd turned to me, raising a questioning eyebrow. “Does this mean anything to you?” he asked.

  I couldn’t answer. Just stared at the computer screen, rendered speechless.

  When had this happened? I reached over Todd to grab the mouse, right-clicking the video file to disco
ver the date. I drew in a horrified breath. It was last year. The very same day of the fateful race that had sent me to the hospital. The very same dance, I suddenly realized, that I was supposed to go to with Cam in the first place.

  I felt as if I’d been punched in the gut.

  “And . . . that’s all she wrote,” Todd said, turning back to me. “Did you want to look up anyone else while you’re here? She has this classic video of Ava slipping on ice and falling flat on her face.” He smirked impishly.

  “We’re good,” Logan replied, cuffing him on the shoulder. “I’ll catch you later, okay?”

  Todd gave him a salute. “Hurry up and get yourself unbanned, dude. I’m bored to tears without someone worthy to race.”

  Logan gave him a mock salute, then led me out of the room, closing the door behind us. Once we were safely in the hallway, I drew in a huge, shaky breath.

  “Are you okay?” Logan asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, still feeling a little dazed. I quickly explained the backstory so he’d understand what Becca had done.

  “Ugh,” he said when I’d finished. “That’s pretty tacky.”

  “I know, right?” I exclaimed. “Like here I am, in the hospital, literally fighting for my life, and she’s all kissing the guy who was supposed to be my boyfriend. Who does that?” I scowled, squeezing my hands into fists. “I mean, not that I care anymore,” I added quickly, not wanting him to think I still had feelings for that slimeball Cam. “Just on principle.”

  “No, I get it,” Logan assured me as we stepped outside into the crisp November evening.

  The sun was just starting to set, casting deep shadows across the trails. Logan led me over to a nearby bench, and we both sat down. “She went behind your back. And she lied to you. That’s not cool.”

  “I guess Olivia must have caught them,” I added. “She probably threatened to text me the video if Becca didn’t do what she said.” Suddenly my best friend’s behavior was making a lot more sense.

  “What are you going to do?” Logan asked.

  Before I could answer, I caught movement across the way. Looking up, I accidentally made perfect eye contact with none other than Olivia herself. Her eyes narrowed as they caught mine, then she smirked and turned away. As if she had already won. I watched her go, my hands closing into fists again.

  “Ugh. Seriously, I just want to smack her upside the head.”

  “Or . . . you could go make up with Becca,” Logan suggested. “Perhaps that would be an even sweeter revenge.”

  I considered this for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right,” I agreed. “I’ll let her know I saw the video and that it doesn’t matter to me. That I forgive her. And that she doesn’t have to do Olivia’s bidding anymore.”

  I didn’t know if it would work. But to get my best friend back, it was worth a try.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Hey, Lex, over here!”

  It was Monday morning, and I’d just entered the cafeteria for breakfast. I looked up to see Brooklyn waving me over to our regular table. I forced yet another one of the fake smiles I’d been constantly wearing for the past week and headed over to talk to her.

  “How’s it going?” she asked. “You going to be joining us again soon?”

  “Looks like maybe next week,” I told her. “If my trainer gives me the go-ahead.”

  “Sweet!” Brooklyn cried. She reached across the table to give me a fist bump. “I can’t wait for you to start kicking Olivia’s butt again. Girl has gotten completely unbearable without you putting her in her place.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” I assured her. “That’s definitely on the agenda.”

  In fact, Operation Take Olivia Down was starting right now. As soon as I could locate Becca.

  It didn’t take me long to spot her, sitting over at her new usual table with the other Boarder Barbies. I watched, calmly eating my lunch, biding my time, until she rose from her seat and headed out of the cafeteria. I smiled. Middle-of-lunch bathroom break. My former bestie was nothing if not predictable.

  “Be right back,” I told my crew as I slipped out from behind the bench and headed toward the exit. I kept my steps slow, allowing her enough distance that she wouldn’t be able to tell she was being trailed. My heart thudded in my chest as I watched her enter the bathroom, the door swinging shut behind her. This was it. My chance to get her alone and confront her with what I’d learned.

  I entered the bathroom and peeked under each and every stall, making sure we were really by ourselves. Then I cleared my throat.

  “Becca?”

  I watched her feet freeze from behind the stall door.

  “Yeah?” she asked, her voice sounding tinny and scared.

  “Can we talk?”

  For a moment there was silence. But, of course, she knew she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever. Finally, the toilet flushed and the door swung open. Becca emerged looking cagey and wide-eyed. “Sure,” she said. “What’s up?”

  “Look, Becca,” I said, putting a hand on her arm. “I don’t know how else to do this so I’m just going to come out and say it.” I drew in a breath. “I saw the video.”

  Becca’s face drained of all color. Her hands gripped the bathroom counter so hard I could see her knuckles turning white. “How did you . . . ?” she croaked. “I mean . . . what . . . ?” She swallowed hard. “Oh, Lexi.”

  She looked so devastated. Obviously she was extremely sorry for what she’d done. Giving her my best forgiving smile, I pulled her into my arms and tried to give her a hug. Her body was stiff, and she was shaking like a leaf. Poor thing. She’d been suffering with this secret for way too long. Now she could just let it go.

  “It’s okay, Becca,” I assured her. “I don’t even care about what you did. I mean, sure, I probably wouldn’t nominate you for best friend of the year or anything. But—”

  She jerked away from the hug, staring at me with a horrified look on her face. “Please don’t tell anyone,” she begged, her voice hoarse.

  “I won’t,” I assured her, a little confused, to be honest. “But it’s really no big deal.”

  “No big deal? I could be kicked out of school! And if my parents found out . . .”

  “What?” I stared at her, now really, really confused. “It was just a kiss! I mean, I know technically we’re not supposed to be alone with boys, blah, blah, blah. But there’s no way they’d kick you out of school for something so . . .” I trailed off, realizing Becca was staring at me incredulously.

  “Are you talking about me and Cam?” she demanded.

  “Uh, yeah?” I frowned. “Isn’t that what you’re talking about? That video of you and him making out outside of the dance after my accident?”

  I could see Becca swallow hard. “Everyone knows about that,” she protested. “I mean, except you, I guess. But it was no big deal. He was upset cause you wouldn’t let anyone visit you while you were at the hospital. I was comforting him. He got the wrong idea. Did you even watch the whole video? The part where I punched him in the face two seconds later? That’s why Olivia saved it in the first place. In case he tried to say something—we wanted proof that he deserved what he got.”

  “Oh.” Now I was completely at a loss. If this were true (and I had no reason to believe it wasn’t) then why had she acted so scared when I’d first mentioned a video. Was there another video?

  “Becca,” I said, turning back to her. “When I said—”

  Before I could get the words out, the bathroom door burst open. Olivia and two Boarder Barbies sauntered in. She narrowed her eyes at me, then turned to Becca.

  “There you are!” she cried. “We were beginning to think you’d fallen in.”

  Becca’s face turned beet red. She shuffled from foot to foot. “I was just—washing my hands,” she stammered.

  “Well, wash them and let’s go,” Olivia announced. “We’ve got important things to do. The boys at table three won’t just flirt with themselves
you know.”

  I caught Becca giving me an anguished look.

  “You don’t have to do what she says, you know,” I reminded her softly, even though I was pretty sure, from the look on her face, that it would do no good.

  Sure enough, she just shook her head. “You don’t understand, Lexi,” she said at last. “And if you did, well, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be asking me to stay.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  I stared at the computer screen after dinner, my heart pounding in my chest as my fingers hovered over the keys. Did I really want to do this? It was breaking all sorts of rules. In fact, I could probably even get expelled from school. But what choice did I have? I had to know what Olivia was holding over Becca. If it wasn’t the Cam thing, it had to be something else.

  I drew in a breath. Then I typed in her password.

  The page loaded, and I soon found myself viewing Olivia’s desktop, the picture of her and her mom at the bottom of the half-pipe stretching across the screen. It didn’t take me long to find and select Becca’s folder, and I forced myself to click it open, as apprehension coursed through my veins.

  But the fear soon simmered to disappointment as I checked out each and every file. The same files that had been there before. Nothing new. Nothing incriminating. Nothing to give Olivia power over my friend.

  Frustrated, I moved to sign out of the account. But before I could, the dorm room door swung open. I looked behind me guiltily as I saw Caitlin step into the room.

  “What are you looking at?” she asked curiously, crossing the room and peering over my shoulder before I could close out of anything. “What’s that? What are all those names? And why do you have a picture of Olivia on your computer?”

  I sighed, deciding to come clean. “Do you promise not to tell anyone?”

  “Of course!”

  I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I believed her, but I felt the need to tell someone, and she was the only one available. “Fine,” I said. “I’m logged into Olivia’s desktop. I was trying to figure out if she had something on Becca that was making her act so weird.” I sighed. “But there’s nothing there. Nothing! I just don’t get it. I mean, did you know Cam kissed Becca?”