Page 80 of The Debutantes
There’s a moment where I feel like I’m in the middle of a game: tunnel vision, nothing but my heartbeat and what’s in front of me. The phone in my hand. The email on the screen. It’s from an address that’s just a random series of letters and numbers, but the account name is clear: the Jester. This email was sent to the entire Beaumont list. Students, faculty, parents, everyone.
It’s like a ball kicked straight to the stomach:everyone.The Jester made good on his threat to ruin our lives, and now everyone will know.
Dear Beaumont Community,
I write to you as a concerned neighbor. It has come to my attention that three of your students—Vivian Atkins, Piper Johnson, and April Whitman—are not at all the well-mannered Maids they appear to be.
Piper Johnson may be one of Beaumont’s top students, but she’s even more cutthroat than she lets on: under the guise of helping another Beaumont student with their college essays,Piper submitted a fraudulent application in that student’s name, intentionally sabotaging their chances at admission.
Lily. Piper helped her with her essays, didn’t she? Judging from the stunned look on her face and the way she’s talking quickly into the phone, trying to explain but not denying anything, I’m sure it’s true.
April stares quietly at her own phone.
April Whitman is hardly as mousy and quiet as she seems. Last year, she broke into the Krewe of Deus Den and destroyed countless floats and other property, nearly forcing the parade’s cancellation with her petty and remorseless vandalism.
The vandalism. I remember everyone freaking out about that last year. But even now that I know her better, know she has good reasons to be angry, it’s hard to imagine April doing that kind of damage all by herself.
But I can’t think too hard about it, because there, just beneath it, is my own secret, blazing up at me in sans serif.
Vivian Atkins, Beaumont soccer star, is hardly a team player. Her indiscretion is perhaps the most disappointing of all, if only because of how clichéd it is: she slept with her best friend’s boyfriend.
Only two sentences, but they almost knock the wind out of me.
I think,It wasn’t like that.
I think,Maybe it was.
I think, finally meeting Wyatt’s eyes,At least he can’t pretend anymore. At least he can’t deny it.
And then, another thought.
“Did you do this?” I jab my phone at the air.
“Are you kidding?” he explodes.
And I know from the broken look in his eyes that he’s telling the truth. But I should have guessed. He would rather spend the rest of our lives looking right through me, convincing himself it never happened. He’s so good at it that sometimes, I could almost believe I made it up, because that would be easier.
I hear the quiet scuff of sneakers on the pavement and turn to see April walking away.
“Wait,” I say. “Where are you going?”
“I need to find Renee.”
“We’ll come with you.”
April shakes her head quickly. “I have to go.”
“But Marty and the others could still be looking for us. You can’t—”
“I just have to go.”
She speeds out of the alley, leaving us behind.
I turn to Piper, who’s hanging up the call with her mom. “We can’t let her go off by herself.”
Piper looks like she’s pulled a whole all-nighter in the past ten minutes.
“We need to go home,” she says to Wyatt.
