A Different Blue(46)

offered a greeting as well.

“Hey, Brandon? Anybody try to take you out lately?” It was Colby, my least favorite of all of

Mason's friends. He was ugly, mean, and stupid. A triple threat. And he sounded drunk, which

didn't bode well for the evening. I avoided him whenever possible. It seemed tonight it would

not be possible.

“Not yet, Colb, but the night is young,” Brandon joked, always the friendly charmer.

“Mason says you got some pictures of that little senorita on your phone,” Colby slurred.

“They didn't confiscate 'em, did they?”

Even though Graciela had admittedly sent Brandon the naked pictures of herself, Colby was being

charged with solicitation and distribution of those pictures, and the rumor was that his parents

were fighting tooth and nail for his exoneration. But everyone knew what he had done.

“Shut up, Colby, you dumbass,” Mason barked, but his bark lacked a certain bite, and I sighed,

seeing the writing on the wall. I would be walking back to my truck, still parked at the school.

He and Colby had obviously settled in for the night. Lots of alcohol and endless episodes of

Ultimate Fighter.

“What? I saw that picture you have of Blue! Now that girl has a body that don't quit, know what

I'm sayin' – not like some little ninth grader!” Colby chortled.

My heart skidded to a screeching halt.

Mason cursed and threw something, his words lost in an obvious tussle as something crashed and

obscenities flew with several hard objects.

“She's in the other room, Colby, you freakin' idiot!” Mason spat, and Colby and Brandon

started to laugh, obviously not worried whatsoever about the fact that I might hear them

discussing my body or the fact that Mason had taken a picture of said body without my knowledge

or consent.

“Man, I saw it, too!” Brandon howled. “The whole school saw it. In fact, I think that little

Mexican chic saw it on my phone. Made it real easy to convince her that all the hottest girls

send me pictures.”

“Shut up!” Mason hissed, his whisper as audible as Brandon and Colby's laughter. “What the

hell were you two doin' lookin' at my phone?! Blue doesn't even know I took it!”

[page]I stumbled back to the bathroom, unwilling to hear anymore. My stomach twisted, and the

hunger that had growled at me moments before turned into a sour sledgehammer, and I wondered if

I was going to be sick. Graciela had seen a picture of me naked on Brandon's phone. Manny had

told me as much. But I had convinced myself it was just emotion, just a crazy rant, just him

lashing out at me for standing between him and what he perceived as justice. I had said nothing

to the police about what Manny had claimed. As far as I knew, nobody else had either.

I thought back to the evening when Graciela had been so angry with me. The night Manny and I had

rolled our eyes and joked about hormonal girls and their crushes. And it suddenly all made

sense. Graciela had looked up to me, had idolized me. And I had betrayed her. She thought I had

sent that picture to Brandon, a boy I knew she liked. A boy everyone seemed to gravitate to, and

who, for a moment, had let her bask in the light of his attentions. And so she had done it too.

My eyes were dry, but my chest heaved in an effort to hold back a sharp, dry cry that rattled

around my heart and clogged my throat with guilt.