“What?” Brody’s hand remained reaching toward her.

“Don’t talk to me.” Eve felt herself shudder. “Don’t come near me, ever again.”

The crowd behind her seemed to inhale as one, hushed.

Mr. Flynn at last succeeded in pulling Brody away. “Come on, now. Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay, fine!” Brody yelled back to the crowd as they left. “But, hey! Eve! Are you ever going to tell the truth?” He and Mr. Flynn neared the door. “Isn’t is obvious?” he hollered to the entire eighth grade. “Eve Hoffman wrote the list herself! She told me so!”

At that, the kids behind Eve moved away from her, joining Caleb and the other guys. Eve felt them watching her, and knew everyone’s feelings toward her had instantly flipped.

“It’s true,” Caleb told the crowd. “Eve wrote it. Brody liked her, so he didn’t want to tell on her. But now…”

Could Eve turn to her classmates, explain to them that Brody and Caleb were lying? No one would believe Eve, no matter how awful Brody had been that night. All he had to do was say the word and Eve was done for.

She could stay, and try to fight back.

But something else mattered much more.

Eve grabbed Nessa’s hand. They both knew what they had to do next.

Find Sophie.

29

SOPHIE

She sat on the piano bench with the lights off. Her secret was out. Her mascara streaked across her cheeks.

She’d thrown an insult at Brody that her mom had shouted at her dad one day. “You peaked in high school!” her mom had cried. He’d snapped back, “You too.”

Knowing she’d repeated those words, even to Brody, made her ill.

When Nessa and Eve came into the room, Sophie couldn’t lift her head to face them. Instead, she stared at the piano pedals. She worried that if she looked at their faces, she’d cry more.

“Brody’s right, guys,” she forced out. “I was mad that he didn’t ask me.”

She instinctively dabbed under her eyes with her shirt, and the sequins scratched her nose.

Crying was for the weak. But she felt weak.

“I wanted the most popular, richest guy in school to ask me to the dance,” she continued with a sniffle. “I mean, everyone thought he would. Before this stupid list came out.” Neither of the girls answered her, but she felt them move closer to the piano. “And he was right that I live in Silver Ledge, okay? But my dad isn’t in jail!”

“Even if he was, that doesn’t mean anything about you and shouldn’t be an insult!” Nessa broke in.

Sophie held up a hand to stop Nessa from saying any more. “I didn’t really care about ‘justice,’ okay? I wanted to find evidence so I could take down the list writer and get a new one written. Be number one, like I thought I was.”

Sophie felt a sob lodge itself in her throat, but she gritted her teeth to hold it in. “I should’ve just let him kiss me! Then none of this would’ve happened!” The sob shot out of her. “I just … I don’t know why, but I just didn’t want to.” Sophie put her head in her hands. She couldn’t let Nessa and Eve see her like this. From far off, she heard the dance music start up again. “I just want to run away.” Sophie heard her voice waver. “Get on a bus, take it to the train station, get on a train, take it across the country.” She thought of her dad. How he had left. Where was he this month? Austin? She wiped her nose again. She had to keep it together. “But I can’t. So I’ll just run home.” Sophie got up and headed toward the door, facing away from Nessa and Eve.