Six Little Secrets(20)

Then her mind drifted to Victor again. He had the keys to the school. And she’d witnessed most of the kids in that room treating him like a second-class citizen at least once. Maybe he was sick of it and wanted to offer some revenge.

No. He wouldn’t have stooped to that level. He was a kind man. Besides, what the notes said wouldn’t have lined up. Well, at least Teddy’s wouldn’t. Unless Victor needed money or something. At that point, they weren’t even sure what happened with Teddy’s money. The whole Cece situation was terrible, but the sweet man that Zoe talked to on a daily basis couldn’t be capable of something like that.

Could he?

Zoe hated that she thought of Victor as the mastermind at all, but she wanted to know what was going on before it was her turn to suffer.

Zoe had no idea about the secret lives of Teddy and Cece, so maybe she didn’t know Victor at all, either.

That possibility didn’t help with her headache.

‘Jackie,’ Holly said, her voice trembling.

The concern in Holly’s voice pulled Zoe from her thoughts.

Holly held up a red slip of paper, plucked from the pile in front of them. Thick black marker branded the front of the slip spelling out Jackie’s name.

Zoe was right. They looked through the pile after Teddy’s mission. They couldn’t have missed a red slip. Someone in that room was messing with them. Zoe just had to figure out who.

‘Give me that!’ Jackie hissed, reaching across the table and snatching the red slip from Holly’s hand.

Everyone leaned forward in their chairs, desperate to know the details about the next task and its possible consequence.





CHAPTER TEN




JACKIE



Three Days Earlier


‘What’s Erin’s deal anyway?’ Yvette asked Jackie.

Jackie glanced at her friend through her mirror as she finished slathering another layer of Pink Blossom on her lips.

‘What are you going on about?’ She tightened her ponytail and fluffed her curls one more time. Her look was in place and perfect. She expected nothing less.

Yvette blinked a few times and cleared her throat. She wiped at the corner of her red lips, a habit that gave Jackie insight into how nervous the girl was around her.

Jackie suppressed the smile trying to bubble up. Yvette was a new addition to Jackie’s group, and she was trying way too hard. Though Jackie appreciated the gossip fed directly into her ear, Jackie wanted to show her why she was the gossip queen.

‘She’s sucking up to Mr. Curtis big time,’ Yvette said, glancing over her shoulder.

Jackie took her time, knowing Yvette was waiting for her response. She closed her locker and turned.

Yvette’s eyes were wide with anticipation.

Mr. Curtis stood outside of his classroom with three other students. Tyler, Harry, and Erin.

Tyler and Harry were talking football, of course—those meatheads lived and breathed the sport. To anyone who wasn’t paying attention, it would have all seemed innocent enough.

Jackie had been searching for something to pin on Erin, and it looked as if she’d found a shred of something to work with.

The look on Erin’s face was priceless. Jackie rarely worked with hard evidence. It was too difficult to come by. The rumor mill served her well. It was less work, and it gave her creative freedom. It was a necessary tool to keep her at the top of the food chain.

During her brothers’ reign as the most popular guys in school, they made it appear effortless. As a girl and not part of a set of twins, she had to work harder. But the reward was so sweet. She was almost addicted, fueling the constant movement of information throughout her class and the school.

As she took in Erin’s expression, the wheels in Jackie’s head turned faster and faster, molding and shaping the rumor’s many parts. Erin was a senior, but Jackie’s wrath wasn’t limited to just the junior class. Especially when that senior thought she could bring Jackie down.

Erin’s information about Jackie’s ex-boyfriend was surprisingly spot on. Even though Jackie squashed the pathetic attempt from the co-captain of the cheerleading squad, she wasn’t done with her yet. Not after Erin almost spread the truth. If there was going to be any rumor about her, then Jackie would start it herself.

The sparkle in Erin’s eyes as she watched Mr. Curtis talk to the other football players was unmistakable. For once, she was happy to have mousy Yvette around to witness it. She’d have to keep her a little while longer. Erin only had a few more months of school, but Jackie would make sure they were miserable.

She would have preferred a different rumor. There were so many swirling about the school with Mr. Curtis at the center. Everyone liked him. He was attractive, which made most of the girls swoony around him. And since he was the coach of a winning football team, most of the guys looked up to him.

‘He’s such a creep,’ Jackie said to Yvette. She had to start the story slowly, plant the seed and then carefully fertilize it until it grew into a rooted weed, one that would continue to come back if Erin and her friends tried to cut it off at the head. ‘I heard they kicked him out of his old school for sleeping with a student.’

‘Really?’ Yvette asked, leaning closer.

Jackie had no idea if it was true, but it sounded plausible.

‘They kept it on the down low,’ Jackie said. She made sure to meet Erin’s eyes as they walked by.