Six Little Secrets(19)

‘I asked Cece,’ Mr. Curtis said to Jackie, with a warning in his voice.

Jackie fell silent as Mr. Curtis turned his attention to Cece.

‘I’d like to use the restroom,’ she murmured.

Zoe sighed with relief. As much as she wasn’t looking forward to her turn, she wanted to have the opportunity to stop this sick game without anyone knowing her secret. Whoever this person was, wasn’t messing around. And if one of them alerted Mr. Curtis, who knew what was going to happen. They had to keep playing.

Zoe couldn’t believe she was starting to think of this as a game. A game involved two parties competing. This one was about humiliation, and it was completely one-sided.

Cece stormed off, barging through the double doors that led to the hallway.

Mr. Curtis turned to the rest of the group. ‘Back to work.’

‘Aye, aye, captain,’ Q said, saluting the teacher.

Zoe rolled her eyes. If anything, Q’s attitude alone would send him back here next week. And that was something she didn’t want at all. How had her life gone from quiet Saturdays in detention with Mr. Curtis to this? And what did any of them have to do with it? That was the key to figuring out what they all had done to deserve this.

Mr. Curtis left the area and went into the office, slamming the glass door shut.

Zoe had never seen him so agitated before. What was going on with him today? Usually, he wasn’t affected by anything. Was it that phone call he took before? Had something happened? It wasn’t her place to ask him. At least not today.

‘Nice save,’ Holly said to Jackie.

Jackie blinked at Holly.

‘We should clean this up,’ Teddy said, kneeling next to the scattered slips on the ground.

Everyone else helped except for Q.

But no one pushed him.

‘Can you believe Cece is a shoplifter?’ Q asked, then underlined his disapproval with a little whistle. ‘Who would have thought? I guess she isn’t as wealthy as she makes out.’

‘I did.’ Jackie organized her chain on the table as half of it was on the floor and slightly tangled.

‘How did you know?’ Holly asked.

Jackie shrugged one shoulder and took a deep breath before speaking. ‘She’s always bragging about her new clothes. It’s enough to make you take notice. Jessie Googled the prices of some of her outfits. The total was insane, like thousands of dollars. I know her parents are doctors, but that seems a little extreme. Besides, I’ve seen them at some school events, and they seem too frugal to allow Cece to go on crazy shopping sprees like that.’

‘Why do you care what other people do?’ Holly asked.

‘I don’t,’ Jackie said. ‘Jessie did the research. I’m just spreading the information.’

‘Your specialty,’ Holly said.

‘Can you get off my back?’ Jackie asked. ‘I’m not the one with the problem here.’

‘What does that mean?’ Holly asked.

‘Enough,’ Teddy said.

Zoe turned to him. She didn’t realize how captivated she was by Jackie and Holly’s conversation. She couldn’t believe that Cece shoplifted either. But thousands of dollars for clothes? It didn’t make sense that she’d resort to that. Did her appearance matter so much that she would commit a crime over it?

Teddy sat in his chair and opened the laptop.

‘Can you find the picture?’ Zoe asked.

‘I want to see it,’ Q said.

‘To delete it,’ Zoe said.

Q smirked at her.

‘It’s not even booting up,’ Teddy said, pressing the power button. ‘How does that even happen?’

‘Was the battery low?’ Q asked.

‘Is anyone good at computers here?’ Zoe asked. ‘Maybe if someone can boot it up, we can get the photo down?’ At the very least Cece wouldn’t have to get into trouble with her parents as well as everyone else she knew.

‘I can take a look,’ Holly said from the floor. She scooped up several pieces of paper and stacked them on the table.

‘I think we should let it go for now,’ Teddy said. ‘I think whoever did this, knew how to shut it down remotely.’

‘Let me take a look anyway,’ Holly said.

Teddy handed over the laptop.

Zoe started on her chain again, her mind wandering with what fate this person had in store for her.

‘That’s cold, man,’ Q said, sitting in his chair, not helping. ‘A double punishment.’

‘If she didn’t take the photo then she would have just been in trouble with her parents,’ Jackie noted.

‘She was about to post it when she froze,’ Teddy said.

‘This person must have it out for her,’ Jackie said.

‘He has something out for all of us,’ Holly said.

Zoe nodded. Her mind was full of possibilities, but none of them could connect the dots between the six of them. After stapling two more slips to the chain, she could no longer ignore the dull ache settling deep in her forehead. She put the stapler down and rubbed at her temples.

She glanced at the others in the room. What if one of them were involved? There were a lot of things that had happened since they’d come to the library. The tasks seemed well organized, but the timing was perfect—someone could be controlling the circumstances from nearby, but she came back to the idea that someone in that library was involved. Sure, she had arrived first, but someone could have easily set everything up before her.