So Many Boys (The Naughty List #2)(19)

Joel cleared his throat and shook his head slightly. “I have to go,” he said loudly. “But Tessa, I’ll get in touch with you later about that physics assignment.”

“Ugh,” Kira said. “I hate fortune-tellers.”

Both Joel and I turned to her and then back to each other. He smiled. “Don’t start on it without me, okay?” he asked.

Obviously he didn’t want me to tell Kira about the squad stuff, and maybe he was right. I was ready to take any excuse to get out of what would be an uncomfortable conversation with Kira. And besides, I had bigger pom-poms to shake.

“Okay,” I agreed.

Joel mimed wiping sweat from his forehead and then leaned down to give Kira a quick kiss on the nose. “I’ll catch up with you after school,” he said, untangling his arm from hers.

“But I thought…” Kira looked confused, a pout pulling at her well-glossed lips. “Never mind. I’ll see you then.”

Joel gave her hand a quick squeeze before walking away and down the hall. When I looked back at Kira, she was crying.

I widened my eyes and reached out to touch her arm. “Weeping willow, K! What’s wrong?”

“I think he’s breaking up with me,” she sobbed. “You know what I realized, Tess? He said space, as in needing space! He doesn’t like me anymore.”

“My word, no!” I immediately wrapped my arm around her in a hug, her blonde curls tickling my face. I couldn’t believe she was thinking so negatively. “Hey,” I said, pressing my lips into a smile as I pulled back to look her in the eyes. “He’s totally smitten with you, K. He practically told me so earlier.”

“Earlier?” she squeaked, blinking quickly. She dabbed at her black mascara, which had begun to pool under her eyes. “What did he say?”

I rotated my torso a few times as I spoke, stretching out my back. “I saw him in the hall after the meeting and mentioned the space thing. Sorry, K. It just slipped out. Anyway, he said that he thought maybe you wanted a break, but I assured him that you didn’t. And he was completely relieved.” I smiled, but Kira didn’t look happy.

“You guys were talking about our relationship?”

“Not really, we just…” I exhaled. I’d really thought it would cheer her up, knowing that he still adored her. But now she was getting upset instead. “Look, he loves you, K. That was all he said.”

Her jaw clenched just a little before she finally smiled. Kira had been stressed lately, and I didn’t need to make it worse by bringing up her boyfriend or mentioning cheerleading. No, I would have to go about this differently. Carefully.

Just as I was about to apologize again, Leona came running down the hall with Izzie in tow. “Bathroom,” she called. “Now!”

My stomach twisted at the urgency in her voice. Kira and I darted ahead of them into the girls’ room, exchanging a nervous glance.

Then the bathroom door swung open, banging against the wall with a loud clang. Leona was standing there with her cell phone in hand, her brown hair wild around her face.

“Holy crap, where have you two been?” she demanded, letting go of Izzie’s sleeve.

“I was looking for Joel,” Kira said, splashing cold water on her face. “And Tessa…was talking to him. To Joel, I mean.” She paused, water dripping down her cheeks before she reached over to crank out a paper towel.

“Look,” I said toward the girls, making my tone very serious. “Before you say anything, I need to tell you . . . I heard something awful in the hallway.”

Leona narrowed her eyes and looked me over. “What kind of awful? Spill.”

I took a deep breath. “I overheard Robert Bullard talking about SOS. He knew the name.” My heart was pounding in my chest, but Leona didn’t look nearly as stunned as I’d thought she should. “Did you hear me?” I asked.

“Tell her,” Izzie said, nudging Leona with her elbow. My breath caught in my chest. The floral smell in the bathroom mixed with my newly perspiring underarms was making me nauseous.

“Don’t get your bloomers in a bunch,” Leona warned. “But you have to look at this.” She held out her cell, and I leaned over its tiny display. I squinted. It showed a new message from the SOS e-mail account.

“They have a blog?” Well, it wasn’t a website, but close enough. And just as bad.

Kira pushed in next to me. “Really? That’s awesome. Why didn’t we think of that?”

“Because we were top secret, stupid,” Leona snapped.

“Or maybe you didn’t know how to set up a blog,” Kira shot back.

Leona scoffed, brushing her bangs away from her face. “Please, blogs are so easy to set up, even you could do it. And we both know how hopeless you are with technology. Hello, Facebook disaster of sophomore year.”

“I’ve been working on it!” Kira shouted back.

My brain was going fuzzy with tension overload when the bathroom door swung open, nailing Leona on the shoulder.

“What the hell?” she screamed. The culprit behind the swinging door was Chloe Ferril.

Chloe’s red mouth spread into a sarcastic grin as she looked from face to face. “Did they relocate cheer practice to the bathroom now?” She laughed to herself and waltzed in, her boots echoing through the tiled room. “Probably a good idea, since your routines are shit.”