Six Little Secrets(23)

Teddy nodded in agreement.

Everyone’s eyes were on Cece. Jackie wanted to change that.

‘Hey! Guys, this is about me now,’ Jackie said. ‘Let’s talk about who it might be after my turn.’

‘You were chosen next?’ Cece asked.

‘Yes,’ and then Jackie proceeded to fill her in on the task.

‘Writing something on your face with lipstick?’ Cece asked as if it were something more complicated than that.

‘We do have to find the word first,’ Jackie said, though she knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Unless it were a foreign word, she was sure she’d finish in time to be the first to complete the tasks successfully.

Teddy started shuffling through the chain he’d already completed.

‘What are you doing?’ Holly asked.

‘I found a red letter on one of these slips. I didn’t think anything of it before.’

‘Let’s do this,’ Jackie said.

While they all silently searched for the red letters, Jackie glanced at the other envelope, wondering what this person had in mind for the permanent humiliation. She couldn’t be distracted. She’d read the other one later.

‘It’s a B!’ Teddy said, ripping the piece of paper from the chain in front of him.

‘I have a J,’ Zoe said a few minutes later.

Jackie grinned. They had plenty of time to find all of the letters and with Teddy the brainiac in the room, they had a chance of figuring out the word with time to spare.

Take that, creepy stalker person.

She dug into the pile in front of her. After a few moments, she felt someone’s eyes on her.

‘What?’ she asked Q.

He sat in his chair, continuing to staple the paper chain together. He wasn’t even looking at the papers. ‘I’m wondering why I should help you.’

‘Because if any part of you is human, you will. I’m sure you don’t want your secrets exposed.’

‘I have no secrets,’ Q said.

‘Please,’ Jackie said. ‘You’re here for a reason. Just like the rest of us. Your time is coming.’

Q slid down into his chair and flipped over a slip of paper in front of him.

Jackie sifted through her pile, satisfied that everyone was working for her now. Sure, she’d help them when the time came but only if it didn’t involve too much from her. They had to make the chain anyway, so in a way, she was helping them complete the task for Mr. Curtis.

Before she knew it, ten minutes had already gone by, and no one else had found any more red letters. She had three to go and time was ticking.

‘Anything?’ she asked, exasperated.

‘We’re looking,’ Cece said.

‘Look harder!’ Jackie hissed.

‘We don’t have to do this for you, you know?’ Teddy said, more under his breath than anything. Standing up to people wasn’t in his nature.

She’d use that to her advantage if she needed to. That was her specialty.

‘There’s like a thousand of these,’ Jackie said. ‘We’re never going to find the letters and figure out the word.’

‘Yes, we will,’ Zoe said.

Jackie eyed her classmate. Zoe was rarely on Jackie’s radar. She was an outcast, someone she’d never associate with. She had enough people to keep in line, Zoe was the least of her concern.

It wasn’t hard. Zoe was as weird as they came. She dressed like she picked the first semi-clean thing from her hamper. She doubted Zoe had seen a hairbrush in who knows how long. And that tragic haircut, which looked as if a blind person had held the shears, was now showing Zoe’s roots. All around a hot mess.

Jackie had never been overly mean to the girl, but she hadn’t been nice. So why was Zoe helping her? Was it to get on her good side? She supposed she might turn a blind eye to Zoe’s fashion choices in the hallway if she helped her escape the punishment from whoever wanted to see them suffer.

‘A, here,’ Q said, turning a slip around, showcasing the red letter.

It was all about those bold red letters. She could have kissed Q if it didn’t mean totally ruining her reputation.

Two more letters. That’s all she needed.

‘Okay, we have a B, J, and A,’ Teddy said, writing those letters down in the notebook he’d lifted from his bag. ‘With two other letters in the word, that’s a lot of possibilities. We need to narrow it down.’

Duh, Jackie thought, though she didn’t say it aloud. He was helping her, but he wasn’t being helpful at that moment.

‘This is impossible,’ Cece said. ‘We’re never going to make it in time.’

‘Don’t be such a downer,’ Holly said.

‘Don’t look like you’re enjoying this,’ Cece said.

‘I have plenty of other places I’d rather be,’ Holly said.

Like screwing some guy?

It was hard for Jackie to keep her thoughts to herself, but she needed these losers. At least until her turn was over.

As her time ticked down to the end, everyone started moving quicker through their slips of paper.

Jackie’s heart felt as if it were going to beat right out of her chest. The other envelope stared at her like a challenge. She wanted to know her other option. Even though this one claimed to be permanent humiliation, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.