Chapter 9

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The next day, no one at Ashton Wellesley was gossiping about Trick anymore because they were too busy sipping the tea on Brit and her infamous Sassy screenshots. I texted my brother the good news and told him to get his ass back in class as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Brit became something of a social pariah. Kids were either talking crap about her or sending death threats her way. I didn't join in. Just kind of sat back and enjoyed the shitshow.

I'd say the girl got mostly what she deserved. Educated bitches like her ought to be raked over the coals for spreading around this kind of societal cancer, but, interestingly enough, it seemed that my peers were far more concerned with the petty knives she had stuck in her friends' backs than the fuckload of bigotry she dropped on our teachers. Smack talk wasn't anything revolutionary. I was pretty sure everyone at Ashton Wellesley, myself included, probably had similar messages burning holes in our inboxes. Maybe not to Brit's level of savagery but, honestly, not much separated us from her. We had simply been lucky enough not to be targeted and exposed. Bunch of hypocrites, the lot of us.

Principal Pratt suspended Brit for a week, along with her co-conspirators, in response to their derogatory comments toward Dr. Williams, our AP Chem teacher, and Mrs. Liu, one of the freshman English teachers. They had been making fun of Mrs. Liu's accent—even though her command over the English language was practically on Dickens' level—and using the N-word on Dr. Williams while spouting claims that she only got her job because the admin wanted more diversity on the faculty for PR. As though the woman's goddamn PhD in Chemistry from Cornell had nothing to do with the decision to hire her.

Both teachers had been placed on a leave of absence over the next few days. Parents were livid, threatening left and right to withdraw their spawn from this "second-rate shithole of an institution"—their words, not mine—while Principal Pratt frantically began rounding up students to investigate the security breach in our system.

I was almost recovered from my cold, though, still not functioning at 100%. First hour AP Chem dragged like molasses. I worried about Dr. Williams. She was unquestionably the meanest teacher at Ashton Wellesley, but she was also one of the best mentors I'd ever had. STEM subjects didn't come naturally to me like it did for Nat, and Dr. Williams had been a godsend last year in Pre-Chem, and this year she was again acting as my guiding light through the mind-fuckery that was kinetics and titrations.

Our sub had no clue what she was talking about, and my mind floated elsewhere. I spent most of the hour sending rapid-fire texts under my desk to classmates who were sitting right beside me. Then, I reached out to the kids outside of first period who were also taking AP Chem. Per my suggestion, nearly all of them agreed to write notes and cards of support and encouragement for Dr. Williams, and I volunteered to deliver them to her later that day. I also contacted Denver Chavez, a freshman on my speech and debate team and told him to rally the freshmen class to do the same for Mrs. Liu. He agreed.

On my way to second hour, thoughts about Zac and Brit ate into my brain.

Could he be the anonymous user?

Who else could've hacked into Brit's phone and exposed her on Sassy?

All signs were pointing to Zac at the moment. The guy was with her all night at Aleah's party and could've easily gotten her digits or even accessed her phone at some point, and, like Trick, she had been a monster to Zac in middle school, which made her a prime target on his so-called shit list.

I sat down in my seat and watched Zac enter the room after the bell. Not bad today. Only two minutes late.

"Feeling better this morning, babygirl?" he asked as he casually slid into his chair.

"Much better, thanks," I murmured. "How are you feeling today?"

He paused. "Why do you care?"

I got straight to the point. "Did you do it? Was it you?"

"Do what?"

"Brit."

He smirked. "I did. She was a freak in the sheets."

I rolled my eyes. "No, dumbass, the screenshots. On Sassy. Did you post them?"

He smiled cryptically and glanced away. "If I posted them, why would I fucking tell you? If I didn't post them, isn't this conversation pointless?"

"I'm going to get to the bottom of everything, one way or another," I assured him, "I was just giving you a chance to 'fess up. I hear guilt can be a heavy burden to carry. And it makes your dick smaller."

He chuckled under his breath. "My dick is doing just fine, thanks."

I figured Zac wouldn't tell me anything, but I wanted to gage his reaction. The rest of AP History flew by in a good way. Mr. Tilton was really coming into his own with this teaching shit. The manner in which he facilitated student engagement was very skillful. Neither biased nor overbearing, he always knew when to inject the right amount of momentum to keep our brains churning. The dismissal bell sounded before any of us realized it was time to go.

As I hastily grabbed my backpack to head out to third period, Zac stopped me. "What are you doing after school today? Shouldn't we start working on our project or something?"

I stared back at him in surprise. "Lemme get this straight. You wanna start working with me on our project?"

Zac started shuffling his feet. I held back a smile. The gesture reminded me of Old Zac as he supplied, "Just because I don't give a shit about my grades doesn't mean I'm gonna screw yours over."

"That's unexpectedly mature of you," I remarked. "Unfortunately, I need to drop off some stuff for Dr. Williams afterschool. I don't think today—"

"I'll drive you," he offered, "then we can hit the library afterwards."

I blinked again in surprise. "Huh."

"What?"

I tilted my head, trying my damnedest to get a read on his intentions. "Just trying to figure out if you're trolling me."

He laughed easily. "I'm not, I swear."

I was still suspicious as hell but decided to set aside my doubts for the sake of our project. "Fine. Pick me up by the math building at 3:40. Don't be late!"


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