CHAPTER 89

GIOVANNA KEPT HER HEAD DOWN and power-walked as fast as her Converse All Stars could carry her down E Hall. Seeing Maggie at school scrambled her head. Maggie shouldn’t have come. Should not. Giovanna had warned her, hadn’t she?

What does that tell you, Giovanna? Maggie doesn’t care what you think or say. She doesn’t care about you.

Giovanna had made some decisions during the last period. Finally and fully committed to the plans she’d wrestled with for days. Now all she had to do was execute them. Execute. That was exactly the right word, wasn’t it? She’d wanted to shield Maggie from all this. Unfortunately her ex-best friend ignored the warning. There’d be no protecting her now.

She hugged herself and kept walking. Even with her head down she could feel the stares from other students who had obviously seen the YouTube site. She heard the names, too. She didn’t have to look up to know they were directed at her.

“Jerk.”

“Moron.”

“Freak.”

And those were the nice ones.

Yesterday she’d worried that Hudson or Pancake would turn in the video clips to the principal. That was nothing compared to their real plan. This morning Giovanna had wanted so badly to protect Maggie. Meanwhile Maggie was plotting to destroy her with the YouTube post. How naïve could Giovanna be?

And now this thing with Mom. Giovanna’s life wasn’t pretty much over. It was over. She practically ran toward the lunchroom. She passed another exit and stopped to look outside —for just a moment. Exits everywhere —but no way out. Not for her.

Actually, there was a way out, but it had nothing to do with the exits. Giovanna shuddered. Keep moving, girl. You know you need to do this.

She should have stopped at her locker first. That would have been the efficient way. But she went directly to the cafeteria. Maybe she was stalling.

Of course she was.

But she had a good reason. She was scared to death of what she had to do.

The moment she stepped into the lunchroom she felt all eyes on her. She hadn’t planned to sit with Kat and Alexa, but she had to get away from the stares. She beelined it to the usual table.

“I can’t believe you have the nerve to sit here,” Kat said. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Do you know how bad they’re going to fry us?”

Oh, yeah. She knew. Her stomach swirled. She wished she had the backpack. She’d unzip it, reach inside, and —

“How could you be so stupid?” Alexa glared at her. “You saw Pancake’s camera. All you had to do was grab it. I can’t tell you how much I hate you.”

No more than she hated herself. Giovanna glanced up. So many kids looking her way —and they all hated her. Pancake sat at his usual table across the aisle. He looked like he’d just won the Super Bowl. Hudson was there, watching the exit. And Maggie? She was watching her. She actually looked . . . concerned. Like she cared. But that look was just pity. She probably felt sorry for the loser Giovanna had become.

Why did you come, Maggie? And suddenly she knew. Maggie wanted to see Giovanna go down when the film was released. Maggie had played her hand, and it was a winner. She was here to gloat.

But she didn’t look like she was gloating.

Wolfe, Skirt, and Zattora joined them at the table like soldiers climbing into a foxhole. Giovanna should have walked out right then. Nobody had said a word about her red shoes —but they’d noticed. Twice she’d caught Kat watching her —with a look as icy as Giovanna’s hands. Obviously they had bigger problems right now than her shoes.

Zattora waggled his smartphone. “Did everyone see the YouTube site?”

Wolfe answered with nothing more than a clenched jaw. Of course they’d all seen it. Everybody in the school had seen it by now. And they’d probably gone online and seen the news coverage of the City Hall sign —with six names on it. And Giovanna’s mom going ballistic.

“Police are still in the office,” Skirt said. “Are they going to arrest us or what?”

“Of course they will.” Kat gave Giovanna an acid stare. “Lead story. ‘Cops arrest mom —and later, daughter —on same day.’ You and your mom might be cellmates.”

Wolfe leaned in. “The news crews are still in the parking lot. Whatever happens —they intend to get it on film.”

A chill flashed through Giovanna. This was it. Police were here. News crews. It was perfect. She’d make a statement all right —and the whole world was going to get the message. Deep down, isn’t that what she wanted?

Instantly her stomach soured.

“We have to get our stories together,” Kat said. “Put a positive spin on this.”

Zattora snorted. “Exactly how do we explain away seven of us jumping one guy?”

“Come up with something. Say he threatened your little sister.”

“I don’t have a little sister.”

Giovanna’s stomach wasn’t feeling any better. Was her forehead sweating?

“Pull it together,” Wolfe said. “Kat’s right. We’ve got to get our stories straight.”

Kat leaned in. “As for the whole black paint thing —Picasso here did that all on her own. Alexa and I didn’t know a thing about it until after it happened.” She looked at Giovanna and nodded as if that would confirm it as fact.

“That isn’t true,” Giovanna said. “You forced me —”

“That’s a lie!” Alexa said.

Wolfe leaned in. “And we jumped Freak Show because Giovanna claimed he’d been stalking her after school.” He glanced at the others and nodded. “Isn’t that right?”

Zattora crossed his heart. “That’s exactly how it happened.”

“He never stalked me. He never did one thing to me.”

“Oh, now you tell us the truth,” Wolfe said. “I wish you’d mentioned that before we beat him up just to protect you.”

Kat, Alexa —all of them nodded. Giovanna was surrounded —and suffocating.

Giovanna had to do this. Now. It was amazing how anger, or hate, or whatever she was feeling for Kat, Alexa, and Wolfe at this moment trumped her fears. “Somebody is going to teach you a lesson, Wolfe. Every one of you.”

He smirked with a confidence that was growing as big as the lies he told. “Somebody like you? Right. You’re as stupid as you look.”

Everyone at the table laughed. At her.

Giovanna’s stomach filled with angry butterflies. She stood. Had to get to the bathroom. “I have something to show you. All of you. Wait here for me.”

“Where are you going, Picasso?” Kat glared at her. “If you go to the office and snitch in exchange for getting off the hook, you’ll so wish you hadn’t.”

“I’m going to my locker to get my backpack,” Giovanna said. “Then I’m going to the bathroom to hurl —or do you want me to do that here?”

“Eww.” Kat gave her a disgusted look and made a motion with both hands —as if trying to sweep her away like trash off the lunchroom table. “Go. Go!”

“But you’d better come right back,” Wolfe said. There was no hiding the threat in his voice.

Oh, she was coming back, all right. But not alone. She’d be bringing the Glock twins. “Want to come with?”

“You’re no match for us,” Kat said. “Watch your mouth or I’ll —”

Giovanna hurried for the exit. She had no intention of listening to Kat’s stupid speech. She had no intention of ever listening to her again.