The Takedown(72)

Fawn pulled her Doc from the waistband of her pj’s and snapped my pic, then held it up for my perusal. I shoved the Doc away.

“Who’s the third girl in the pictures?”

It wasn’t Sharma, and it certainly wasn’t me. Fawn and Audra exchanged glances. Audra shook her head no.

“I’m sitting right here. I can see you, Audra Bethany Rhodes. Who’s the third girl?”

She shrugged, in a have it your way gesture.

“Fine, betch, it’s Ailey. Sorry. I know how much it bothers you that she and I have become friends. Even though you’ve blown me off to not screw around with Mac for the last four months and I never once held that against you.

“And for the record, maybe you’re hurt I didn’t tell you about all this, but at least I never doubted your loyalty. Did I stick up for you when I found out my dad voted to have you suspended? We only fought about it for two hours. And how do you think it makes me feel that he still went ahead and did what he wanted? Thanks for the vote of confidence, friend.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“Audra. Kylie,” Fawn said. “Come on, ladies, don’t fight.”

Audra looked at me, waiting for me to apologize. Ailey was the third girl. Audra had trusted Ailey with this secret when she wouldn’t trust me. No. Worse. She’d included Ailey in it. Ailey had been hanging around with my friends, for months, behind my back. She knew a whole world of things about my best friends that I didn’t. Things she knew I didn’t know.

“How much do you trust any of the girls?” she’d asked.

Right, because Audra was the Bra&Panties slut. Everyone knew but me, and I was the one who got put into the fake sex video? I thought of the posts that Audra had done to “defend” me. Li’l Miss Straight-A, she kept calling me; she wished I had more courage to stand up and set a better feminist example about the entire situation. I shook my head.

“Did you make the video, Audra?”

Audra laughed, then clapped her hands, slow and sarcastic.

“That’s perfect. You have some serious trust issues, Kyle. I mean, here you are blaming everyone else, but did you ever stop to examine why this is happening to you?”

“Only about a thousand times!” I yelled. “And maybe I have trust issues, but at least I’m not vengeful. How is hating your best friend for nearly a year better than being honest with her and working through the aftermath? I’m not such a beast you couldn’t have told me about B&P. This is just like your mother not changing the pescatarian setting. You’d rather feel vindicated and misunderstood than actually address the issue and feel better.”

My voice was shaking with emotion. Tears streamed down Audra’s cheeks. This was normally the part where one or the other of us would realize what a big scene we were making, crack a joke, and hug in a flurry of tears and apologies. Instead, Audra’s nostrils flared.

“You don’t know anything about my relationship with my mother.” Audra jabbed a finger into my face. “At least she’s awful to everyone. Your mother is amazing and she only despises you.”

I smacked her hand away. We were over. We were so completely over.

“You still haven’t said you didn’t make the video,” I said.

Audra put the lid on the gelato and tossed it back in the freezer.

“FCK you, Kyle,” she said. “I’m calling a car. Anyone else want a ride home? I’ll pay with my slut money.”





Audra pinged a car and went to wait outside. Fawn and Sharma swore they weren’t leaving because they were mad or were choosing sides, but, well, dot-dot-dot. After they left, I stayed downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen, trying to make sense of everything. When I finally went up to bed thirty minutes later, Mom was at the top of the stairs. It was the first time I’d seen her since our fight on Sunday.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

She frowned, an exhausted I expected exactly that kind of answer frown. She patted my arm and went to her room. I wanted to say that I was sorry. That I loved her. That, please, could she and I be okay now? Instead, as her hand touched the doorknob, I blurted out, “My hater cracked my Scholar app and sent off my unfinished college applications. And Audra is the Bra&Panties slut, which means all of my friends have been lying to me for months now. Also, I think I screwed up my relationship with Mac.”

“Whoa.” Her expression became pinched. “Why didn’t you tell me about the Scholar app immediately?”

Naturally this was the one she would pick.

“Because every second my life gets worse and I can’t keep up.” A small dry sob escaped me. “What if I don’t get in anywhere? Who’s going to accept me?”

Mom wrapped her robe tighter and cleared her throat. Here came my lecture. Instead she let out one short laugh.

“Thank God I’m not a teenager anymore.”

With a nod of her head, she herded me into my bedroom. She held the covers back as I climbed into bed. Then she sat next to me.

“First of all,” she said, brushing aside my bangs, “you just finish those applications and I’ll contact the admissions offices. And can I say, without you getting mad at me, that just because President Malin and I went to Ivies, it doesn’t mean you need to too. If college is about anything other than robbing families of money or filling up your time between your late teens and early twenties, it’s about what you make of it.”