The Cheerleaders(40)

The air around her was charged; it was almost as if everyone was more excited by everything going on than they were scared.

She had to talk to Ethan. There had to be some way—

“Out of the hall,” Mrs. Brown bellowed, sending a shot of panic through Jen. If she lingered too long, security would make her go to the cafeteria, where Bethany and Colleen and Mark were.

Band room. Jen took off for the auditorium, hurrying through the side door. Onstage, her band teacher, Mr. Garner, was conducting a lesson for the saxophone section. No one noticed Jen as she snuck up the side of the stage and went through the wings.

The door to Mr. Garner’s room, which the wind ensemble was allowed to use for practice, was open. Jen shut herself inside, grateful all of the chairs were empty. She tucked herself into the corner and took out her phone. Would someone like Ethan, who wasn’t swimming in friends, even have a Facebook page?

Ethan McCready did have a Facebook page. In the profile photo, his face was turned away from the camera, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head, but she knew it was him. Her finger hovered over the Add Friend button; she definitely couldn’t do that. People would see it, and they’d talk even more.

She swallowed and composed a private message to him.





The ticking in the clock overhead fell into step with the pulsing behind her eyes. A migraine coming on. She got them when she was stressed. When a (1) popped up over her inbox, the pounding ceased for a moment. Ethan had replied.





Her heart was speeding; she wanted to ask him if he was okay, how much trouble he was in…

An angry voice popped up in her head. Why would you do that? Why would you ask HIM if he’s okay after what he did?

Blood flowing to her face, she typed back:





It took Ethan a few minutes to come up with his response.





Jen drew her feet up on the chair, knees to her chest. She stared at her phone, at a loss for how to respond.

When she didn’t write back, Ethan sent another message.





Jen swallowed. Wrote back:





The backs of her eyes pricked. She imagined the look that would be on Juliana’s and Susan’s faces—on all of the cheerleaders’ faces—if they saw this conversation. If they saw her talking to Ethan McCready like he was a friend.

Another message from Ethan came through:





Jen’s veins turned to ice as she thought of how twitchy Mr. Demarco and Principal Heinz had been. And then that sad look in Tom’s eyes, like he wasn’t sure whether to believe her when she told him she wasn’t involved.

Ethan leaving Jen off the list had a simple explanation: He liked her. He always had, she suspected, and the thought must have occurred to everyone. There had to be something else, some reason for them to suspect—

Jen’s hand flew to her mouth. The note. She’d slipped the note into Ethan’s locker on Friday morning…Ethan was expelled for the hit list this morning…

Someone saw her. They saw her slip the note in Ethan’s locker—probably the same person who saw him scribbling a list of cheerleaders’ names after the scene in the cafeteria.

Jen jumped to her feet. She had to go back to Principal Heinz’s office, to tell him that they had it all wrong, that she hadn’t done whatever they suspected. Adding names to Ethan’s list, maybe? Fantasizing about revenge on her fellow cheerleaders for some unknown misdeed?

She waded through the chairs crowded into Mr. Garner’s room, knocking some over on her way into the hall. Immediately, a security guard appeared in front of her.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Jen’s body shut down. She couldn’t form the words: Principal Heinz. I have to talk to Heinz right now.

The sound of a metal door slamming at the end of the hall drew Jen’s attention. She turned. Locked eyes with Susan, who was putting her flute into her locker.

Jen’s insides went cold. How could she have forgotten that Susan had confronted her the other day, when they were shopping for dresses? She’d seen Jen put the note in Ethan’s locker. Did she seriously think it had something to do with Ethan’s list?

Susan looked away from Jen and hurried off toward the band room.



* * *



—

Friday was class Spirit Night, but Jen had very little spirit to contribute. She hadn’t spoken to Susan all week, even though no one could confirm that Susan was the one who told Principal Heinz about the hit list, about how Jen had slipped a piece of paper into Ethan McCready’s locker.

The cheer squad bake sale table was smothered in brownies, bags of caramel popcorn, marshmallow fudge. All things the cheerleaders would never eat in front of Allie, who seemed to subsist on almonds and kale juice and five-dollar bottles of water from Whole Foods.

The irony of being assigned the bake sale table hadn’t escaped the cheer girls. Jen watched Colleen Coughlin consider a rejected cupcake, its top caved in. Jen herself was nauseous from stolen licks of brownie batter.

The buzzer went off inside the gym, to a chorus of cheers and boos. The cheerleaders were taking turns manning the bake sale table. Jen’s event, the relay race, was later. Inside the gym, whoever was emceeing announced that it was almost time for the male kickline performances.