“Someone you know?” Liam asked.
“Er, yeah. Can I have a look?”
He pushed the laptop towards me. “There you go. Knock yourself out.”
I felt him watching me as I sat on the bed. The story had gone up late last night, which was why Molly and Shenice hadn’t seen it, and it was stomach-turningly vicious. It was all there, every last detail I’d innocently given to Kelly. And what was even worse was that people had added comments, horrible things they’d never dare to say to Hannah’s face. I shut the lid of the laptop and tried not to cry. It had to be Kelly – no one else could have included the bit about Hannah’s turban making her feel like Professor Quirrell, the bit that Hannah had told me in confidence and I’d passed straight on to Kelly. It didn’t matter that I’d thought I could trust her – I was pretty sure that wouldn’t make Hannah feel any better.
Without a word to Liam, I got up and stumbled along the landing to my room. My phone showed six missed calls from Molly and five from Shenice. We met online and our emergency talks lasted for over an hour. They agreed that Kelly must be the brains behind JUICE ON JUDE’S, although I’m not so sure she didn’t have help. Looking back, Jimmy had been really shifty at the first magazine meeting, maybe he’d been working on the JUICE ON JUDE’S site then.
And if he’s involved…how many of the others are digging out people’s secrets and reporting them back to Kelly?
The worst thing is that I can’t tell anyone about any of this without incriminating myself. What am I going to do when Hannah finds out what I’ve done? She’s going to kill me and I totally deserve it.
Joining the circus looks pretty good right now.
Chapter Thirteen
E-PETITION Number of signatures: 1100
I don’t know how Kelly Anderson sleeps at night. I lay awake until the early hours and for once it had nothing to do with Joshua and Ethel – the headlines from JOJ just kept playing over and over in my mind. I didn’t know what Hannah would do when she found out I’d betrayed her but she’d be devastated that everyone knew her secret. When I finally did nod off, I dreamed that she told Mrs Pitt-Rivers I had ruined her life and I ended up in prison.
I’m not really sure how I got through the day, to be honest – it felt as though everyone was whispering and pointing at me. It was actually a relief to come home and play peek-a-boo with Ethel and Joshua, who might dribble on me and bite my fingers but who weren’t twisting my words for their own entertainment. Mum knew something was wrong, I could feel her watching me at teatime as I pushed my food around the plate, so I made an excuse and escaped upstairs before she started asking questions.
Rolo seemed to sense I was down because he lay at my feet even though I didn’t have any cheese on me. I rubbed his soft ears and half-heartedly tried to concentrate on my fractions homework, then my phone flashed up a message. I glanced at the screen – it was from Molly.
Have you seen JOJ?
No OMG. No exclamation marks. No kisses. A worm of nervousness crawled through me. What now?
No, I typed. Do I need to look? xx
Within seconds, my phone pinged again. Ask Shenice.
Gnawing my lip, I got up and went to see Liam. He was lying on his bed, white headphones plugged into the laptop. There was no point asking him if he’d checked JOJ – he was still sulking over all the negative WOLF BRETHREN coverage.
He yanked one earbud out of his ear and the tinny screech of guitars filled the air. “Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”
“Never mind that, I need the laptop.”
“What’s the magic word?” he said, placing a hand on the top of the screen. “If you get it wrong, you have to bring me a cup of tea every morning for a week.”
My nerves were jangling – I didn’t have time for his stupid games. Snatching the laptop away from him, I typed in the JUICE ON JUDE’S address with shaking fingers. Downstairs, I heard the faint ring of the doorbell and ignored it. I had far more urgent things on my mind. Why hadn’t Molly just told me what it said? I wondered, as I waited for the JOJ logo to load. What had Kelly done now?
“Cassie?” Mum’s voice floated up the stairs. “Shenice is at the door.”
I frowned. What in the name of Twiglets was she doing here? And why wasn’t this stupid page loading?
“Tell her to come up,” I yelled down to Mum.
“Oh no,” Liam said, folding his arms. “I’m not having you two giggling and talking rubbish when I’m trying to work on my music. Go back to your own room.”
I ignored him and stared at the blank screen, listening for the thud of Shenice’s feet on the stairs. It didn’t come. Instead, Mum shouted up again and she sounded annoyed. “She doesn’t want to. Come down here and speak to her yourself, please.”
Letting out a growl of frustration, I whirled around and headed for the stairs. “Don’t touch that laptop,” I instructed.
Shen had her back to the door when I arrived. “What’s up?” I asked. “Your internet isn’t broken as well, is it?”
“What’s up?” she said loudly, spinning around so that I could see her face was wet with tears. “Well, let’s see – could it have something to do with the fact that my so-called best friend has totally ruined my life?”
My mouth fell open. Who was she on about – Molly?
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean,” she went on, her face twisted with anger. “How long did you wait before you went running to tell Kelly? A whole day or did you text her the same night?”
“Shenice, I really don’t know—” I began, then trailed off as a horrific suspicion dawned on me.
“Save it, Cassidy,” she hissed. “I hope you’re happy with your spiteful new friends, because guess what? I’m never speaking to you again!”
She strode off down the path without a single backward glance. In shock, I closed the door and turned back into the hallway, only to see Liam walking down the stairs, the laptop in his hands.
“I’m not surprised she’s upset,” he said, turning it round to show me a photoshopped image of Shenice being bottle-fed by Mr Ramirez. “Cassidy Bond, what have you done?”
Chapter Fourteen
E-PETITION Number of signatures: 1220
Shenice is refusing to acknowledge I exist, Molly can’t decide if she believes me or not and every time I started to forget how miserable I was, I heard someone else sniggering about Mr Ramirez and Shenice’s mum. It sucks to be me so I can only imagine how much suckier it is to be Shen.
I couldn’t blame Molly for spending every break and all lunchtime with Shenice. But it meant I was left on my own and it didn’t seem fair. We should be working up to fever pitch discussing the ball tomorrow night. Instead, we weren’t talking at all and if I hadn’t already agreed to go with Nathan, I doubted I’d even be going. I caught him glancing over a few times during the day, a puzzled look on his face when he saw the permafrost between Shenice and me. I’d better explain tomorrow.
Mum must have worked out something was up because she tried to ask if everything was okay. It was just me and her; Dad was out doing an Elvis gig, Liam was putting in one final WOLF BRETHREN rehearsal and the twins were asleep. We were sitting with a tub of ice cream between us and the TV on low when she turned to me, a gently concerned expression on her face.
“Did I hear you and Shenice arguing yesterday? Is everything okay?”
For a moment, I was tempted to spill out the whole sorry story – how stupid I’d been in trusting Kelly – and let Mum cuddle me until it felt better. But I couldn’t face seeing the disappointment in her eyes when she realized I’d messed up again. So I summoned up a false smile and lied through my teeth.
“Oh yeah. It was all a big misunderstanding. We’re good now.”
She studied me for a moment. “You know I’m always here for you, don’t you? Even if my eyes are sometimes propped up with matchsticks and I’ve got my T-shirt on inside out?”
This time my smile was genuine. “Yeah.”
<
br /> She turned back to the TV. “Good.”
She dozed off not long after that and I sat staring at the tiny figures on the screen without really noticing what they were doing. Shenice and Molly and me have fallen out before, of course, but it’s always been over stupid stuff and we’ve made up eventually. The way Shenice had looked at me yesterday, like I’d stabbed her through the heart with a rusty knitting needle, had been different, though. I wasn’t sure if I could EVER make it up to her. What if she feels the same and we NEVER make up? How will I cope if I lose my besties for good?
I am trying my hardest to get into the party spirit but, after another day in the friendship-free zone at school, I’m pretty much ready to snuggle under my duvet and never come out. Not even the glittery ballet pumps Mum surprised me with when I got home from school were enough to lift the black cloud of gloom I had floating over my head. In fact, it wasn’t until I slipped Molly’s dress on and saw a strange girl reflected back at me in the mirror that I felt the first fluttering of excitement. In ten minutes, Nathan would arrive to pick me up and I’d get to spend the whole evening talking to him. At least I wouldn’t have to stress about accidentally ignoring Molly and Shenice – they’d be blanking me on purpose.
The doorbell rang at seven o’clock sharp. Dad got up to answer it but I dived across the room, practically breaking my neck in the process, to stop him from getting there first and unleashing some awful ancient joke (or worse) on an unsuspecting Nathan.
“Hi,” I said, as I pulled back the front door to reveal him standing under an umbrella. That’s when I realized it was raining, that light, misty sort of drizzle that Shenice hates the most. She claims it turns her hair into frizz faster than sticking her finger in an electric socket, and I suddenly remembered when she’d turned up to my rain-soaked birthday party last year wearing a Sainsbury’s bag on her head. Then I forced the memory away, because even if she repeated the look at the ball, I wouldn’t be invited to share the joke.
“Hi,” Nathan replied, and held out a little square box. “I thought about getting you flowers but I reckoned your dog would probably eat them. So I got you this instead.”
With a little gasp of surprise, I opened the box. Nestling inside was a shiny key ring, with a tiny silvery dog attached to it. I smiled, happier than I’d felt in days. “It’s gorgeous. Thank you.”
“Glad you like it,” he said, grinning. “Shall we get going? My mum is waiting in the car.”
I peered over his shoulder. His mum waved at me.
“I’m going now,” I called and both my parents appeared in the hallway. Dad made me cringe by shaking Nathan’s hand and Mum insisted on taking our photo, faffing about with the camera and going on about how fast we were growing up – so EMBARRASSING.
“Dad is picking you and Liam up at ten,” she reminded me as I pulled on my coat. “Have a nice time.”
“I will,” I called and realized I actually meant it.
Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad night after all.
I didn’t know who was in charge of turning our dingy school hall into a venue fit for a ball but they’d done an amazing job. Seriously, if I hadn’t walked up the school steps and through the double glass doors, I wouldn’t have recognized the place where I’d spent many an assembly picking at my nails and daydreaming. The hall had huge sheets of pastel-coloured satin sweeping down from the ceiling, like they have in swanky wedding venues, and twisty columns of balloons in each corner. At one end, there was a long table covered with food and drink with helium balloons on long ribbons, at the other was a stage with a sparkly silver backdrop behind it and a huge WOLF BRETHREN banner up above.
“Wow, it looks brilliant,” I said, pausing in the doorway to take it all in.
Nathan smiled. “My mum will be glad you think so,” he said and, when my forehead crinkled in puzzlement, went on, “she’s on the PTA. They did all the organizing and decorating for tonight.”
That was even more amazing – my mum had trouble organizing enough milk for our breakfasts. Then again, Nathan’s mum didn’t have Joshua and Ethel keeping her up all night.
It was a whole new experience walking in with Nathan. Seriously, I wouldn’t have been surprised if paparazzi had leaped out from behind the drinks table. EVERYONE said hello to him – the boys bumped fists and the girls fluttered their eyelashes. At first I smiled too, expecting people to say hi to me as well. But their eyes kind of slid over me as though I wasn’t there and a few actually turned their backs. Once we’d moved on, I had the uncomfortable feeling that people were whispering about me. Nathan was too polite to say anything but I know he noticed. Inside, I was dying. What was going on? Surely this couldn’t still be about my hair? Nathan must know about that but he’d never said a word.
Once I’d been ignored by what felt like the entire lower school, Nathan explained that the plan was for the band to play for about an hour and then one of the teachers was going to take over as DJ. I really hoped it wasn’t Mrs Pitt-Rivers – my mental image of her on the decks, blinged up to the max, wasn’t one I wanted to become a reality. I doubted she’d be down with the latest tunes, either, and nobody wants to bust a move to GREENSLEAVES.
And then I saw something that killed off the last shreds of my good mood entirely. In front of us, a few girls from our year were whispering, giggling and pointing. Following the direction of their gaze, I could see they were looking at Shenice. I wanted to warn her but she’d flashed me a “don’t even think about it” look the moment she spotted me and Molly had shrugged, so I wasn’t going to risk talking to them.
“Do you want a drink?” Nathan asked, oblivious to what was going on. “I don’t suppose they’ll run to a SUGAR RUSH MOUNTAIN but I can probably get you a Coke.”
For a nano-second, I thought about confronting the girls, but it would only make things worse and Shenice wouldn’t thank me. Wishing I’d never heard of JUICE ON JUDE’S, or Kelly Anderson, I turned to Nathan and did my best to smile. “Coke would be great, thanks.”
It hurts me to say it but WOLF BRETHREN totally smashed it. Anjel fitted in so seamlessly that it felt like she’d always been part of the band, and she definitely looked the part as she strummed her bass. Everyone was rocking and a few Year Nine boys tried to create a mosh pit during “Hunt The Hunter” but the teachers soon broke it up. JOJ had been so certain WOLF BRETHREN were going to split up and it couldn’t have been more wrong – it made me wonder how many other friendships Kelly was going to try and ruin with her poisonous pen.
“They’re awesome,” Nathan said, nodding at the stage, and I felt a warm rush of sisterly pride. Liam might be a total pain but sometimes I didn’t totally hate being related to him.
“Yeah, they’re not bad, I suppose.”
I glanced sideways, to where Molly and Shenice stood. Molly wore her usual expression of total adoration as she sang along and it didn’t look like she even remembered that Anjel had supposedly ruined the band dynamics. Everywhere I looked, people were dancing and singing and even Mrs Pitt-Rivers seemed to be enjoying herself. It reminded me of ST JUDE’S HAS GOT TALENT! when I’d first realized Liam could actually play his guitar. I’d been amazed then at how popular they were, and it seemed like their fan-base had grown, because the cheers and whoops after they’d played their last song went on for ages. And I almost forgot how miserable I was.
“Not bad at all,” I said, as Liam and his band mates left the stage. “I wonder who the mystery DJ is.”
“Don’t look at me,” Nathan replied. “I don’t know either.”
All around us, people were wondering the same thing. The buzz of excitement grew with each passing second. When the hall door opened, every single person turned to look and I wondered if the months of sleeplessness had caught up with me and I’d fallen asleep on my feet, because a nightmare was unfolding right in front of me. The DJ wasn’t Mrs Pitt-Rivers at all. It was Mr Ramirez.
I glanced over at Shenice as the whispering started. She was frozen to the spo
t and looked like she was about to burst into tears. Oblivious, Mr Ramirez walked up to the DJ stand and put an enormous set of headphones over his ears. A minute later, a thumping bassline filled the room and drowned out the whispers.
Groaning, I put my hands over my face. “Please tell me this isn’t happening.”
Nathan looked at me sympathetically and I guessed he must have heard about what had happened. “Poor Shenice.”
A stab of shame squirmed through me as I wondered what he’d thought of the eggy photo of me on JOJ, but my embarrassment was nothing compared to Shenice’s. There was no way I could enjoy myself knowing that she was so miserable. Each time I looked over, her expression grew more and more upset. When I spotted a group of Year Eight boys circling Molly and Shenice, I knew straight away they were trouble.
Pulling silently on Nathan’s sleeve, I edged closer.
“Does your dad do requests?” I heard one jeer loudly and they all cackled with laughter. Shenice’s face turned a sullen red and Molly clenched her fists. I’d seen that look before – any minute now, she’d go all HULK SMASH on them and there’d be no going back. I stepped forward. “Leave her alone!”
The boys turned and stared at me.
“Shut it, Humpty,” one sneered.
“Don’t start anything with her,” another said. “She’ll put you on JOJ.”
That didn’t even make sense but I didn’t have time to think about it. “I’ll tell Mrs Pitt-Rivers.”
“Oooh,” one mocked, clasping his hands to his face as though he was terrified. “Please don’t tell on me!”
Nathan had clearly heard enough, because he stepped in front of me. “Leave it, George,” he said.
The boys looked up. “Yeah but—”
Nathan’s tone was light but it had a cold edge to it. “I said, leave it.”
For a moment I thought they’d argue, but then they sloped off. I opened my mouth to speak but Shenice silenced me with a glare.
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