12

Audrey didn’t want to go straight home after the blowup at Melicia’s house. She didn’t want her dad asking too many questions. So she decided to grab a smoothie at the strip mall on her way home. She hoped some time and the drink might help. But that was not the case.

As she walked past a Mexican restaurant she couldn’t help but see the Barcombs, eating dinner at the table right by the front window. Dean Barcomb was sitting next to Hope with Hope’s mom on his other side. Also at the table was a boy Audrey guessed was maybe eleven, a little girl who was probably nine-ish, and an older guy, probably seventy, who looked like an older Mr. Barcomb—his dad, Audrey assumed.

She stumbled, her body and mind in total disagreement about whether she should keep going forward or stay there looking at the Barcombs. What if one of them looked up and noticed her? She didn’t think she could bear the idea of looking Hope or Dean Barcomb in the eye.

Still, she was frozen, staring like a deer in the headlights into the window of the Mexican restaurant.

She realized this was something she wouldn’t have had to deal with if she hadn’t taken the do-over. She never would have seen the Barcombs all sitting together like this if she was at home, grounded for admitting the truth. No, she was out and free. And the Barcombs were miserable.

No one at the table was talking or smiling. They were all just eating. The Barcomb family looked broken, actually. Hope looked deflated. Audrey thought back to the Hope who had made farting noises at Rachel as she passed. The girl in the window now was completely different. Audrey couldn’t even imagine her making a peep in the hallways at school.

Audrey jumped.

Hope’s little sister was staring out the window at her. Directly at her. Their eyes locked. Audrey tried imagining the conversations this girl had heard in her house over the last two weeks. The whole town knew about this scandal now. Audrey wondered how much had filtered down to the elementary schools.

The girl turned her head, puzzled. Seeing something in Audrey’s face she couldn’t quite work out.

The whole family dinner scene blurred as Audrey’s eyes welled up with tears again.

Audrey turned and ran back to her car.

She hid in her room the rest of the night. At one point, she thought of reaching out to her friends but couldn’t bring herself to do it. There was radio silence from Rachel, Bryant, and Melicia. Maybe they were mad she’d accused them. Or blamed her for writing the post. Or for even thinking of it in the first place. Joke or not.

At midnight, her phone buzzed with a message.

She picked it up slowly, praying it would be one of her friends but knowing in her gut it wasn’t. She knew exactly who’d sent it before she even looked. And she was right.

It was from the same sender that Melicia had texted back earlier.

Soon EVERYONE learns the truth. Unless . . .