Busted

by Gina Ciocca

  He turned his head in my direction, but it was the only acknowledgment I got as I walked away. That two-second pause was all it took for Jordan to leave me in the dust.

  “Wait up,” I called. “We’re not done.”

  “I’m done,” he said over his shoulder. “I have to get to class.”

  “Jordan, wait.” I jogged to catch up. “I know you could get in a lot of trouble if you’re the one who leaked the info, but you can’t let Charlie take the fall. Kendall already sold you out on her website and she’ll do it again if she has to. You might as well come clean now.”

  Jordan spun around as I caught up to him and I nearly bounced off his chest. “Listen,” he hissed. “Whether I did or I didn’t, I’ll deny it no matter what anyone says. That’s all you’re getting out of me, Marisa. We’re done talking about this.”

  He turned and shoved the school doors open, leaving me alone in the cold.

  35

  All I could do was wait.

  I’d sent Jason the pictures I took in Mrs. Pace’s classroom with the hopes that all her data had been stolen and sold, not only the information from Charlie’s class. In the meantime, I pulled up the Busted website every so often to see if it was still there. It was. I’d decided to give Kendall until 7:00 p.m. before I made her very sorry she’d ever messed with me.

  Nick and I made sure to be in our pajamas by the time our parents came home from work. Not that I needed any help making my sick performance convincing when my anxiety levels had me looking as nauseated as I felt. I sat under a blanket with my knees curled to my chest, alternately rotating my bracelet from TJ around my wrist and tapping my thumb against the screen of my phone. Despite my request to talk, TJ hadn’t been in touch yet either. I didn’t even know if I still wanted to talk to him. How could I tell him Kendall had cheated with Jordan? Should I tell him? Did it make any difference at this point?

  My phone buzzed in my hand and I jumped. The screen read Message From Greggie-George. I opened it.

  Looked at your pics. Think I know where to start.

  My heart gave a little leap of excitement. I couldn’t help it. It was the first good news I’d heard all day. Aside from Jason agreeing to help and Nick finally getting with Charlie, but whatever. I typed in my reply:

  Tomorrow, same place, same time?

  A few seconds later, my phone buzzed again. Sounds good. Leave the asshole home.

  I tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. I was the one who’d shown Jason pictures of himself with his tongue down his girlfriend’s throat, pictures I’d climbed his house to take, and it was Nick who’d gotten under his skin. I bit my lip to keep from smiling as I responded.

  Might need to bring someone else. Someone less obnoxious.

  Someone who’d caught me in one too many precarious situations with Jordan Pace and had no desire to talk to me. Except now I knew I needed to talk to him.

  • • •

  “Mom, I’m going to pick up my homework,” I lied as I headed toward the door, coat in hand. I’d reached my limit with TJ’s silence and texted him that I’d be at the barn in fifteen.

  “You’re sick. Can’t your friend drop it off?” came the reply from the kitchen.

  “I’m feeling better now. Besides, I’ve been stuck inside all day.” I winced a little. Blatantly lying to my mother didn’t come without guilt. “I won’t be gone long.”

  My hand had gotten within a millimeter of the doorknob when the bomb dropped.

  “Who’s the boy in the video, Marisa?”

  My arm fell to my side and I turned to see my mother standing in the door frame between the foyer and the kitchen.

  “Who showed it to you?”

  “I found it. I’m not as out of touch as you think I am.”

  I sighed and looked at the floor. “He used to be Kendall’s boyfriend. He’s not anymore.”

  “Because of what happened on that tape?”

  I resisted the urge to point out that calling it a “tape” showed how out of touch she actually was. “No, Mom. They broke up before he asked me to the dance, but Kendall hates me anyway. So I had a date, but now I don’t, and that’s the end of the story.”

  “Not if I’m to believe that website.”

  That made my hackles rise. My grip tightened around my coat and my teeth clenched. “You know what would be nice? If you didn’t believe it.” I threw the door open and glared at her over my shoulder. “You know me better than that, Mom.”

  I stormed out the door, wishing I could erase the moment I’d decided to spy on Jason Carvalho as easily as I’d deleted the evidence of it from my phone.

  • • •

  TJ’s house was lit from within, but the barn was dark when I parked my car. I opened the door and got out, twirling his bracelet around my wrist while I frowned at the lifeless building.

  He’s not coming.

  I was ready to gather my dejection and go when I heard a click behind me. I turned to see TJ close the front door of the house and head toward me, zipping his jacket. He stopped when he reached my car, staying near the passenger side with his hands shoved in his pockets. Like he didn’t want to get too close to me. He didn’t look angry. He looked…sad. Like he needed a hug.

  So, before I really knew what I was doing, I walked around the car and gave him one.

  “What’s this all about?” he said as my arms wound around his neck.

  “Just because.”

  “Because what?”

  “Because sometimes people need a freaking hug, okay?”

  He tucked his head into my shoulder and laughed as his hands settled around my waist, making me wish I didn’t have such a bulky coat on. “You’re right.” The stubble on his jaw tickled my cheek when he spoke. The way my body reacted, it was more like he’d rubbed against me with a face full of electrodes. I closed my eyes, still tingling from the sensation, breathing in the scent of evergreens, freshly cut wood, and winter air that clung to his coat.

  “This is nice,” he said softly.

  “This is nice.” I pulled back and ran my palm against the growth on his face. “I kind of like you scruffy.”

  He let me rub his jaw for a moment, exploring his features like a curious child. Until my touch became anything but childlike. My fingers ran over his cheek, traced his chin, grazed his bottom lip. Our mouths were inches apart, and I wanted to know how the grit would feel against my lips and not just my fingertips. I knew that must’ve been reflected in my eyes from the way he looked at me. I held his face in my hands, and rose up on my toes.

  “Marisa,” he breathed against my lips. And then he stepped back. “This may be nice, but it’s not why you asked me here.”

  I sank onto my feet, his rejection humming through my whole body. “Right.” There was still the matter of that buzzkill. I pulled myself onto the hood of the car and sat on my hands so they couldn’t get me in more trouble. “I got Eli’s stepbrother to help us out.”

  “You did? How?”

  “Long story. But he’s meeting Charlie and me at Galaxy Diner before school tomorrow, and I think you should be there.”

  “I don’t understand. After all this time, now he’s willing to help?”

  Tiny flurries began to settle in TJ’s hair, and I held my palm to the sky. “Honestly, he seemed to like the idea of turning it into a pissing match between him and Eli. Like he wants to one-up him. So I’ll leave it up to you to break it to Eli.”

  TJ shook his head. “Let’s see how tomorrow goes first. I’m not sure how happy he’ll be that his stepbrother had a change of heart.”

  “So you’ll go?”

  “Of course I will. See you then.”

  He started toward the house and I hopped off the car. “TJ, wait. There’s one more thing I should tell you.”

  When he turned, he studied me for a second. “Why
do I get the feeling this is the real reason you came?”

  I gripped the hood on either side of me. “I think you were right. About Kendall getting the stolen data from Jordan. I think he gave it to her.”

  A derisive twitch twisted the corner of his lips. “Did you figure that out while you were sneaking off in the woods together?”

  One mention of Jordan and the battlements were up again. It was like our moment ten seconds ago had never even happened.

  I pushed off the car and my hands curled in indignation at my sides. “Yes, actually, I did. I followed him this morning to get answers, and I got them. Sort of.” I sighed and leaned back. “Kendall and Jordan are a lot more involved than you think.”

  There. I said it.

  TJ cocked an eyebrow. “Involved?”

  “Involved. Like the kind of involved he and I used to be, but aren’t anymore, no matter what you think. That kind of involved.” Afraid I sounded a bit harsh for relaying bad news, I softened my tone and added, “I’m sorry, TJ.”

  He stared at the ground. “How long?”

  “Since this summer. Jordan gave her the guided tour of Templeton and I guess the rest is history.” I snorted. “Or maybe I should say chemistry.”

  He didn’t react. He didn’t even blink. He stood there, still as a statue, staring at the street. He stayed that way for so long that if he hadn’t been standing upright, I would’ve thought he’d died. I opened my mouth to ask if he was okay, but the sound of laughter cut me off. His laughter. Hollow laughter that told me he didn’t find this news funny at all.

  “Unreal,” he said. “Un-freaking-real. So she sent me up shit creek, hooked up with someone behind my back, and then hired a spy to find out if I was doing the same?”

  “Um, allegedly.”

  He threw his hands in the air and shook his head, still smiling like he’d lost his mind. “Guess you can’t make this shit up.” He spun on his heels. “I have to go.”

  And then he was gone.

  “Well,” I said to no one in particular. “That went well.”

  36

  By the time I got home, the deadline I’d given Kendall had arrived. I sat in front of my computer and took a breath, praying this would be the time when I’d get the message Page No Longer Available.

  But no. I was still there. Jordan was still there. Every nasty, untrue thing she’d said about me still glowed black and red on the screen.

  That did it.

  I grabbed my phone and started a new message to Kendall. To it, I attached the photos I’d taken of her opening the door to Jordan the night Charlie and I followed him to her house. Then I wrote: I think your principal might find these interesting.

  Mere seconds later, I felt a buzz in my hand. I had her attention now.

  You wouldn’t.

  A smirk curled on my lips. She’d seen the message between the lines, as clear and obnoxious as the word Bitch flashing on her godforsaken website: if I could prove her connection to Jordan, I could create a connection between her and the stolen information. I’d have to sell Jordan out at the same time, but after all the drama he’d caused in my life, I had a hard time feeling overly guilty. I hit the voice activation button on my phone and spoke my reply, hoping the haughty confidence in my words would somehow emanate from the screen when she read them:

  “Try me.”

  • • •

  Page No Longer Available

  The next morning started with the sweet taste of victory. Kendall had texted me in the middle of the night to let me know that her miserable website had finally been stricken from the face of the internet. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the calls from coming, and I still had no idea how the pranksters had gotten my number. Two different blocked calls came in as I headed to the diner before school to meet TJ, Jason, and Charlie. And then a text from Kendall:

  Are we good now???

  I smirked as I put my phone back in my pocket without answering and headed across the parking lot to the diner. I’d reduced her to spaz-texting. Maybe this day would have lots of good things in store.

  Speaking of good things, TJ pulled into the lot. I waved as he stepped out of the car.

  “I’m glad you decided to come,” I said.

  He stepped up onto the sidewalk next to me. “Pretty sure I have more reason than ever to want the truth, right?”

  Before I could get another word out, my phone buzzed again.

  “You’re being paged,” TJ said. He held open the door. “Maybe we should get inside.”

  I followed him in, sneaking a peek at my phone as we walked.

  It’s not what it looks like with Jordan.

  Sure it wasn’t. I dropped my phone into my pocket as the hostess led us to our table, rather enjoying the knowledge that I had Kendall squirming.

  Charlie and Jason were already seated at the round table in the middle of the dining room. Jason had an empty place setting in front of him, but Charlie was picking at a bagel with cream cheese. The girl needed to be fed every three hours or things got ugly.

  “Charlie, Jason, this is TJ,” I said as we pulled out our chairs. “You might remember him from his former Templeton status.”

  “I remember,” Jason added, eyeing TJ. “Weren’t you banging Kendall Keene?”

  “She’s my ex,” TJ said with a snort.

  I looked at Charlie. “And we think Kendall’s the one who set up Charlie, and that she did the same to TJ when he went to Templeton.”

  “Kendall Keene?” Jason looked befuddled for a second, then tipped his chair on its hind legs and put his hands behind his head, letting out a low whistle. “Shit, man,” he said to TJ. “That’s rough.”

  Kendall’s ears must’ve been ringing, because my phone buzzed again. I slipped it out of my pocket and held it under the table.

  You’re not answering me.

  Holy hell. What Kendall lacked in people skills, she made up for in powers of deduction. Not.

  “But I don’t get it,” Jason said. “Why would Kendall do something like that?”

  I set my phone on the table. “That’s the part we haven’t figured out.”

  “Yes, we have. Because she’s a bitch,” Charlie said.

  I gave her a look. “We don’t know for sure that she’s even behind it. All we know is that she and Jordan are apparently closer than we realized, and if anyone could be suckered by a pretty face, it’s him.” I looked at TJ through the corner of my eye, hoping he cared more about my silent apology for defending Jordan than what I’d implied about the nature of Jordan and Kendall’s relationship. He looked down at the table.

  “A pretty face and hot body,” Jason added. Charlie punched his arm.

  “The two of you can’t say anything about this,” I pressed. “It will never work if she gets wind of it.”

  Charlie gave a dismissive wave of her hand, having already sworn her silence. “So what next?”

  Jason tipped his chair forward and put his phone on the table. “Let me answer that.” He pulled up the photo I’d sent him of Mrs. Pace’s spreadsheet and enlarged it. “This kid right here.” He pointed to a name. “Chris Daly. He plays hockey with me, and he’s been benched the last few games for academic probation. Everyone kept saying he’s gonna be kicked off the team, and then all of a sudden he’s not only playing, he’s fucking starting. I heard him bragging about how he got off when they questioned him by memorizing a bunch of shit and making it look like he’d”—he raised his hands near his shoulders and made air quotes that looked more like walrus teeth given his long, lanky fingers—“been taking his studies more seriously.”

  “So you think he cheated?” I asked.

  “Fuck yeah I think he cheated.” Jason pushed his phone toward the center of the table and kicked his chair back again, this time with a definite air of irritation. “And I’m out of the starting l
ineup because of it.”

  “Perfect.” I grinned, and then added, “No offense,” when Jason scowled. “Now how do we prove it?”

  TJ sat up straighter. “This is all well and good, but I don’t see how we can use any of it in our favor. Jason, it doesn’t sound like you and this Chris kid are friends, so why would he admit that he cheated, let alone tell you where he got the information?”

  Charlie and Jason exchanged a look, then turned their stares on me. “Actually,” Charlie said, “this is where Marisa Palmera, private eye, comes in.”

  “What are you talking about?” I shrank from her gleaming eyes, almost not wanting to know the answer.

  Charlie hitched her head toward Jason. “We were talking before you got here, about how Chris…noticed you at some of the football games.”

  “Noticed me how? Like the way the jerks in the bleachers noticed me at the last one?”

  “No, no.” Jason shook his head and shot TJ a knowing look out of the corner of his eye. “This happened before any of that. It’s more like the way T here notices you.”

  TJ squirmed in my peripheral vision, but I couldn’t look at him. I sat forward and gripped the edge of the table. “Where are you going with this?”

  “Well…we thought—” Charlie shot a desperate look at Jason and then at me. “Jason was saying the hockey guys go to Fred’s Burgers after every game, and there’s one tomorrow night, so maybe if we all went together, you wouldn’t be alone, but you could still get him alone and—”

  “No way.”

  “Yes way!” Charlie shot back. “With the right cover story, this could be exactly what we need.”

  “Um, this is exactly the worst idea ever. If he’s seen me at the football games, he’s probably seen me talking to you. And I’m sure he’s seen the video of the promposal. Even if I wear a shirt cut down to my belly button and a skirt that skims my ovaries, he’ll still realize what I’m playing at if I start chatting him up about hydrogen molecules.”

  Charlie shrugged. “So what if he’s seen us talking? I give—gave—tours for the honors-program hopefuls all the time. So does the princess.” She punctuated the word with a disgusted curl of her lip. “Pose as a potential transfer, and boom, there’s how you know us.” I started to protest, but she talked over me, anticipating my argument. “I was at the promposal because I got asked to the dance. I tossed Kendall’s ass because she pushed you. There was an entire crowd of girls around us, and you don’t need to explain everyone who brushed up against you that day.” She put her hands in the air as if to say, piece of cake. “Let your lady parts do the rest.”