I feigned an interest in the slice of pizza in my hand. When she said it like that, it did sound rather…dumb. Perhaps asking Jason to kick Joel’s ass had not been my most reasonable moment.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “It’s nice that he wants to stand up for you.”
“And well he should,” Matt added. “It was his idea to throw that party, not yours.”
Suzie tipped her head from side to side. “I was the idiot who did a keg stand just because of a dare, and I know for sure he had nothing to do with that photo in the slideshow.” She shrugged. “There’s plenty of blame to go around, I guess.”
I gave a sort of grunt of agreement. “But mainly the blame goes to Joel.”
Suzie laughed. “Yeah, we can let him shoulder most of the blame.”
“What we need is proof.” I looked between my two friends. “If we can prove that he was the one who submitted the photo, he’d be in at least as much trouble as we are.”
Suzie turned to Matt. “Is there any way the AV guys could tell who submitted it?”
I frowned. “Yeah, wait a minute. How come they didn’t pull it?”
I wasn’t super close with Matt’s other friends but I liked to think there was a sort of loyalty among all us outcasts. They should have had our backs. They should have—
“They don’t know,” Matt said, cutting off my righteous indignation before it could really get underway.
He shrugged. “I talked to Howie and he said they barely looked at the photos. There were hundreds of them, after all, they just poured them in the scanner and threw it together at the last minute.
Suzie sighed. “So no help there then.”
Matt shook his head.
“Okay fine, maybe we won’t be able to get justice if we can’t get proof.” I bit my lip as I thought of the next best thing to justice. “So I guess the question is,” I said slowly. “How do we get our revenge?”
Suzie’s eyes widened. “Whoa, is it just me or did you sound a little evil just now?”
I smothered a smile as Matt joined in. “Seriously. You sounded very Kill Bill.”
I flashed him a haughty look. “You’re the one who said I was tough.”
He let out a snort of laughter around the sandwich he was eating. “I meant you’re not afraid to call people out on their crap, not that you ought to go wielding a sword at band practice.”
“Potatoes potahtoes,” I said with a smirk.
Matt turned to Suzie. “You can’t possibly be on board with this.”
My sweet little friend looked scarily scheming for a moment. “Oh can’t I?”
We both stared at her until she dropped her head with a laugh at our expense.
“You’re serious?” Matt asked.
She picked up her chips again. “I’m not gonna lie. It definitely occurred to me.”
“Wow.” I shook my head. “I did not think I’d see the day that little Suzie Bryers turned to the dark side.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You do know I spend the better part of my nights and weekends annihilating people, right?”
“Yeah, in a video game,” Matt pointed out. “With magic.”
She grinned. “Right, but those games are all about strategy and battle tactics. It’s hard not to let that bleed over into everyday life.” She shrugged like she hadn’t just admitted to being a terrifying force to be reckoned with.
“Thank God you’re my friend,” I mumbled. “I’d hate to have you as an enemy.”
Suzie beamed like that was the nicest thing she’d ever heard.
Matt eyed her warily. “So, what exactly did you come up with?”
Her smile grew. “Glad you asked. Do you have your phone?”
He handed it over and she grinned up at us. “My parents confiscated mine but I used my brother’s laptop and emailed these to myself.”
She handed his phone back proudly and I looked over Matt’s shoulder as he scrolled through old photos. She’d managed to find incriminating or awkward photos of nearly every uber-popular student in our school.
“You’d be amazed what you can find on social media if you look hard enough,” she said.
Matt whistled as I muttered, “Oh holy crap.” I glanced up at her. “You’re so much smarter than me.”
She laughed but I was totally serious. For all my talk yesterday about wanting revenge I hadn’t actually done anything. Oh, I’d made Jason feel bad about being friends with those morons, but all that had done was make me feel even worse. To realize that Jason was truly not the guy I’d thought he was after all this time—that just added insult to injury.
But Suzie, on the other hand…
She met my shocked stare with a look of innocence. “What? Dale lent me his laptop so I could stage a battle and destroy the enemy—”
She was referring to the game she loved so much, of that I was almost certain.
“But it wasn’t enough,” she said, a hint of red tinging her cheeks as yesterday’s anger and hurt came back all over again. “And then when Dale showed me those photos going around, all I wanted to do was strike back.”
Matt’s eyes were wide. “This would have done it.”
“You have everyone here,” I said, my own eyes nearly popping out of my skull as I caught a photo of Joel’s bestie, Ryan, looking nerdy beyond belief during a middle school choir performance. Even Jason was in there looking like a dork, much to my delight. Of course, he’d been in middle school, but still.
“Not everyone,” Suzie said.
When I looked up I saw a tinge of bitterness in her eyes. “I couldn’t find a single humiliating photo of Luke.” She shook her head. “It’s like the guy hasn’t had so much as a bad hair day in his entire life.”
I reached over and patted her hand. “We’ll keep looking. I’m sure there’s got to be something.”
“Wait,” Matt said. “Hold up. You’re not actually serious, right? I mean, you’re not actually going to strike back.”
I let out a little huff of annoyance, but I’ll admit that I hadn’t actually considered whether we would really do this or not. “What do you expect us to do? Nothing?”
Matt sat back and put down his sandwich. “I can’t believe I have to be the voice of reason here.”
“That’s because you didn’t have your most embarrassing moment put on full display in front of the entire student body,” Suzie responded mildly.
Matt had the good grace to wince. “Honestly, I didn’t think you guys looked so bad. Suzie, everyone’s talking about how you’re secretly a party girl—”
“Which isn’t true,” she interjected.
“And Margo…” His confidence waned a bit as he scratched the back of his head. “Well, now everyone knows that you’re hot so—”
I ignored his kind take on it and fixed him with a glare. “Yes, because that’s exactly what I wanted people to be talking about. My boobs.”
He flinched. “You’re right. You’re totally right. But—” He held up his hands to stop either of us from interrupting. “I need to point out a few key points.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “One, we don’t know with absolute certainty who was behind the prank.”
“Prank?” I interjected. “A whoopee cushion is a prank. This was not a prank.”
Matt continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You wouldn’t want to go and retaliate against the wrong person, would you?”
Suzie and I exchanged a look. She looked hesitant, but I was unmoved. I knew exactly who the culprit was, thank you very much. We all did.
“Two,” Matt continued. “If you were to get caught, you could get into even more trouble.”
Now that gave me pause. Suzie and I exchanged a look and I knew she was thinking the same thing. We could not afford to get into any more trouble.
“And three,” Matt said, holding up his middle finger. “It’s bad enough that hashtag went viral, if you escalate this, it could take on a life of its own. If you let it go, this will blow over. These thing
s always do.”
I pursed my lips and then let out a long exhale as I exchanged another long look with Suzie. “He’s probably right.”
Her grudging tone matched mine. “Yeah, I guess.”
I reached over and patted her hand. “It’s fun to think about though.”
Her face brightened a bit. “A girl can dream, right?”
“Absolutely,” Matt said. “I’d love to see their smug faces if these photos got out.”
I looked between my two friends. “Uh oh.” I grasped Matt by the shoulder. “Don’t tell me now we’ve lost you to the dark side too. I thought you were supposed to be the voice of reason.”
He grinned, but it looked strained.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked.
He gave a quick nod. “Yeah, yeah, of course. It’s just…” He shook his head, his expression clearing a bit. “This is just so stupid, that’s all. I wish there was some way I could make this right.”
Suzie tilted her head to the side, her smile sweet. “You don’t have to do anything,” she said. “This isn’t your fault.” She brushed her hands together to wipe off chip crumbs, her expression resigned. “Besides, you were right—about all of it, but especially that last point. This will pass, right?”
I nodded with more confidence than I felt. “Of course,” I said. “This is just another stupid trend and it’ll pass in no time.”
She gave a decisive nod. “You’re right.”
“Definitely,” Matt said.
It was agreed. We were decided—this would definitely pass and it would end soon.
I just wasn’t sure any of us actually believed that.
Chapter Nine
Jason
Two weeks. You’d think that after two weeks our classmates would have tired of this whole #GeeksGoneWild thing. But no. Call it immaturity or blame it on boredom, but the hashtag was more popular than ever.
It had taken on a life of its own, becoming something else entirely. A scavenger hunt of humiliation. A virtual game of tag among upperclassmen and lowerclassmen alike.
To be fair, it wasn’t all mean and vicious, which was probably the only reason that parents and teachers hadn’t stepped in to end cyberbullying. For the most part, it wasn’t bullying. Nine times out of ten the hashtag was used as a joke, as one friend tagging another when they were doing something stupid, or when they were drunk or high or whatever. It became a catch-all for embarrassing incidents and idiotic moments, for friends being stupid and for frenemies hoping to one-up each other.
But then there were the occasional jerks who took it too far. Like when Joel’s buddy Ryan posted that photo of poor Howie, one of the AV club guys, with his mouth hanging open and sweat dripping down his face in gym class. It was a jerk move no matter how you looked at it. There was nothing funny about it.
So yeah, occasionally one of those slipped through along with the harmless friend tags. After that Howie picture, I stepped in. I probably should have done it before then but I’d honestly thought it would go away. I mean, how bored were these people that this is all they could think to do with their free time?
Although, who was I to judge them when Margo was still clearly judging me. I kind of wanted to tell her that I’d addressed the football team. I’d given them a lecture on how they were risking the team and our season every time they crossed the line on social media with that stupid hashtag.
I’d heard some attitude from the guys, but they’d gotten the message. No one wanted a suspension keeping us from winning this season, not even the imbeciles who found Joel and his friends hilarious.
This stupid trend was wreaking havoc on our school. Not explicitly—it wasn’t like people were going around getting into fights or getting suspended. Not yet, at least. But there was a tension in the air, and it wasn’t just coming from Margo.
This new “game,” if you could call it that was making enemies out of frenemies, it was creating bad blood between people who rarely, if ever, interacted. Jose’s friends and Joel’s friends, for example. Once upon a time they would barely have been aware of one another’s existence. But now there was a friction there—there were glares and whispers and laughter. Not the good kind of laughter.
This wasn’t to say that everyone I hung out with was some bullying jerk. They weren’t. No one group was so black and white, and my friends were no different. My friends—my real friends—were just as annoyed by this immature new trend as I was.
Luke rolled his eyes with that dismissive smirk of his anytime anyone brought it up. Like me, he seemed to think it was a fad that would pass. And Julia…well, Julia would never publicly humiliate anyone. Some of her friends weren’t as kind, but Julia stayed away from all that. The only problem was, I was having a hard time being friends with Julia when she couldn’t seem to get it through that pretty head of hers that that was all we’d ever be. Friends. Just friends.
So yeah, not every one of my friendships had been affected by that stupid first-day stunt, but enough had.
My little speech in the locker room had definitely heightened the tension between me and a certain segment of the team. Joel had held his hands up, “Hey man, I didn’t start this.” Whatever. Let him claim innocence, I didn’t care. For purely selfish reasons I didn’t want to see him getting into trouble, so I couldn’t be too high on my high horse, now could I?
But things between us weren’t the same, and they probably never would be. Every time I saw his stupid smirk I thought of the way Margo had looked when she’d stared up at the stage.
And then that was followed by the way I’d felt when she’d blocked me, the first act in a concerted effort to pretend I didn’t exist, apparently. Quite the feat considering she and I were in the same classes and lived right next door to each other.
Like the hashtag, I told myself to give it time. She’d cool down, she’d come around. I figured it was just a matter of time before she stopped giving me the cold shoulder and at the very least went back to returning my smiles.
I wasn’t looking for her to totally forgive and forget just acknowledge my existence.
But again…two weeks. A full two weeks had passed and there didn’t seem to be any end in sight.
It wasn’t like I’d been all that psyched for senior year, but I could safely say that it was off to a terrible start. Between the tension on the field and the tension with my neighbor and the stress of dealing with a friend who wanted to be more than friends…
It took a toll. Namely in the form of my schoolwork.
Now, I was no slouch when it came to academics. I couldn’t afford to be. I might’ve been a good quarterback but I wasn’t so full of myself that I expected a free ride on that alone, and even if it got me through college, I wasn’t betting any money that I’d be good enough to go pro. So no, I wasn’t one of those guys who put it all into the game. I tried my best to do well in school, too. But like I said—something had to give, and apparently, that something was European History. My teacher tossed a quiz onto my desk and the F made me cringe. In my defense, it had been a pop quiz. AKA the work of the devil.
I’d had every intention of catching up on all my reading that upcoming weekend but that good intention had done me little good when my teacher had handed out the quiz.
I ran a hand over my head and let out a long exhale as the students around me packed up their books and headed out.
“You can make it up, Mr. Connolly.”
I looked up to see my teacher giving me a sympathetic smile. Then she wagged a finger at me. “But don’t procrastinate on the readings anymore.”
I nodded. I’d had her for American History last year so she knew me well, just like I knew her. Most importantly, I knew that while she would let me make it up, she wouldn’t erase the F. It would be dragging down my average for the rest of the semester.
I slowly packed up my own things, in no rush to get to my next class which was a study hall. This grade was the last thing I needed to deal with today. We had a home game this week, whi
ch we were more than ready for, but our first away game was only two weeks out and it was against a team that had beaten us badly last year.
I needed to focus on football, but my head hadn’t been right since school started. Hell, maybe I’d been in a bad place before that. But right now, it all seemed to come down to one thing.
To one person.
I could deal with the team drama, and the Julia weirdness, and I could even tolerate Joel for the remainder of the season if I really had to. But I needed to make things right with Margo. The more she ignored me the more I was aware of her. She seemed to be a permanent fixture in my head, taunting me and tormenting me because no matter how much I thought about her, it didn’t change anything. It definitely didn’t change the fact that she wanted nothing to do with me.
“If you’re all that worried about it, you could get a tutor.”
I stared at my teacher unblinking for a second too long before finally shaking my head. “Oh, uh. Yeah, that’s a good idea. Thanks.”
A tutor. Maybe that was the answer to all my problems. For the first time in weeks I felt a grin spreading across my face as I exited her classroom. Just like that, my teacher had handed me exactly what I was looking for, the perfect method to kill two birds with one stone.
Margo was a tutor. Everyone knew that she and Suzie had been forced to volunteer at the tutoring center as part of their punishment.
I knew exactly what I had to do to make things right.
I had to get myself a tutor.
* * *
I checked the tutoring schedule and found that Margo was tutoring during the hour break my buddies and I had before practice. Perfect. I couldn’t have planned this better if I’d tried.
I’d get help catching up on my grades and I’d get a chance to thaw my icy neighbor. For the first time in weeks that unsettled sensation started to ebb. There was hope for the first time since she’d blocked me that I could redeem myself, or at the very least explain.
The next day I headed toward the library, where the volunteer tutoring sessions were held, and found my way to the back to the stacks where tables were hidden between the towering bookshelves and thick carpets muted the hushed voices.
Love at First Fight: Geeks Gone Wild #1 Page 7