Page 79 of The Debutantes
“Shit,” I hiss. “Mom.”
The panic on Wyatt’s face must be a mirror image of mine. “I thought she was still at the police station.”
“Well, she’s calling!”
“Well, don’t answer!”
“Obviously I’m not. I’ll just let it ring.”
For an excruciating minute, we all watch my phone with silent, anxious stares. Then the ringing stops. I breathe out.
Wyatt’s phone starts to buzz.
“Goddammit,” he mutters, ending the call.
In an instant, my phone is ringing again. A new worry pulses through me.
“Something might have happened,” I say.
“Don’t—”
I brace myself as I answer, putting on my best attempt at a casual tone. “Hello?”
“I need someone to explain this email to me right now.”
I freeze. This was not part of any of the worst-case scenarios that were spinning through my head. Despite her stern words, Mom sounds almost desperate. Scared.
“What email?” I ask.
“To the whole Beaumont list, Piper. Students, teachers, parents.”
“Mom,what email?”
“It’s about you,” she says.
I squeeze the phone so tightly my fingers hurt. “What?”
“And Wyatt,” Mom continues. “And April Whitman. And Vivian Atkins.”
They all stare at me, like they can feel their names through the phone, even if they can’t hear them.
“I don’t understand,” Mom says, her voice tinny in my ear. “It says you sabotaged another student’s Vanderbilt application.”
My heart starts to pound, my face hot.
They know. Everyone knows.Vanderbiltwill know, and the Jester did this. Not my brother, standing here like their helpless puppet, but whoever’s been pulling the strings.
“It has accusations about each of you,” Mom continues. “Piper, is this true? Did you do this to someone?” And then, after a small pause, “Was it Lily?”
Stop digging around other people’s secrets, or I’ll show the world just what you’ve been hiding behind those pretty masks of yours.
We forgot about the threat. We got too comfortable, thinking we could outsmart him. Thinking we could win.
We might have unmasked the Jester, but we forgot they could unmask us.
30VIVIAN
JANUARY 2, 10:40P.M.
