The Cinderella Society (30 page)

Lexy cocked her head in surprise. “Still playing the hero?” Her mocking laugh set my teeth on edge. “You’re in way over your head.”

“Funny how I’m not worried.” I leaned in to lock eyes with her. “Step. Off.”

I’d made eye contact with the bull, and I knew it was seeing red. She looked at the quaking girl behind me. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh? Have fun explaining the photos, Clark Bar. Not that anyone will believe you.”

“Everyone has a moment in their lives that changes everything,” I said, using my body as a shield between Heather and the Wickeds. “The thing they wish they could go back and erase from history. You have no right to hold that over their heads.”

“It’s not my fault if they’re careless. Secrets are only
secrets if no one knows. Once they slip up, their secrets are fair game.”

“Heather’s not the only one with secrets. Can’t you see what you’re doing to people?” I tried reasoning with her. She had to be human in there somewhere. “How would you feel if someone spilled your darkest secrets?”

Lexy’s hand stilled on the cell phone I suspected now held the incriminating photos. “Like I’d care.”

But she did. There was no mistaking that momentary blip of fear in her eyes.

I saw her mind putting things together. I was a Cindy, an insider in the world she’d worked so hard to leave behind because the Cindys were the only ones who could expose her.

I hadn’t meant it that way. It wasn’t until it tripped her up that I realized she thought I was talking about the accident. But it was out there, and I’d gotten her attention. The shift in power was palpable, and I held on with both hands. “Really? You mean there’s nothing you’ve ever done that you wanted to keep secret?”

Morgan looked between us, confused as always. “What’s she talking about?”

“Shut up, Morgan,” Lexy snapped. She studied me intently for a minute, then barked at Morgan, “Watch the loser.” She looked at me. “You and me. Two minutes.”

A sharp nod of assent from me, and Lexy headed off around the edge of the bleachers. If they’d brought backup, I hadn’t seen them, but I was glad the bleachers were in sight of SJ’s car anyway. I still didn’t have a death wish.

Lexy stood staring out at the track, turning as I approached. She gave me a once-over. “Little heavy on the primp meter today.”

“Is this a fashion consultation?”

“When did you grow a backbone, Parker?”

“When did you start blackmailing people, Steele?”

Her laugh was as dark as her soul. “So quick to point fingers. What do you know about what happened that day?”

“Enough to know there’s more to the story than the rumor mill lets on.” That’s about all I knew, but I could bluff with the best of them. “Enough to know you don’t want it getting out.”

“So we scut the pictures of Clark Bar and Captain Mop and you keep whatever you think you know off the grapevine?”

“Heather doesn’t deserve this. None of them do.”

“No one’s as pristine as you think, Thief. Not even my perfect big brother.”

I wouldn’t let her push that button.
Don’t think about Ryan
. “What’s your choice?”

Lexy looked from me to Heather and Morgan, then glanced over her shoulder at the red convertible tucked around the side of the school. “You can’t win, you know. I can’t wait to see this come back to bite you in the ass.”

“My butt, my problem. Do we have a deal?”

I held out my hand, and she looked at it with disgust. She grabbed it for one fierce shake before wiping her hand on her too-short, too-tight skirt. An outfit, I realized, that looked appallingly similar to my own getup.

“Morgan!” she yelled, and both girls snapped to attention by the snack bar. “Let’s go.”

Lexy turned back to me, contempt oozing from her cosmetically tightened pores. “You’re delusional if you think you can save them all. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

“I’ll take each one as it comes.”

I watched Lexy and Morgan until they disappeared into the woods, Morgan nipping at Lexy’s heels like a puppy. Heather was leaning against the snack bar, shaking. I might not be able to save them all, but I’d saved Heather. At what cost, I didn’t know, but at least Heather was safe.

For now, that had to be enough.

Chapter 19

DEFEATING THE WICKEDS
when you’re outnumbered, even just two to one, is a win of the highest order for the Cindys. Sarah Jane, Paige, and Kyra couldn’t sing my praises loud enough. They took me to The Grind to celebrate, all the while complimenting my amazing leaderly prowess.

All night, I’d dreamed about the showdown at the school. Over and over again. Sometimes it ended with Lexy backing down; other times it ended with her winning. But every time, I made the same mistake. And every time, I had to watch it unfold like a helpless bystander. Like it hadn’t been my choice in the first place.

We waved to Audrey (who gave me double thumbs-up—seriously, she knows
everything
that goes on in this town), and Paige and Kyra went to grab us celebratory iced lattes.

Sarah Jane, who was blissfully unaware of exactly
how
I’d gotten Lexy to back down, was convinced I walked on water.

“I can’t believe you talked Lexy out of posting the photos,” she gushed. “I don’t agree with what happened in the—well, you know how I feel about that—but you did what none of
us have been able to do. You stopped Lexy in her tracks.”

By blackmailing her in return
.

And there it was in reality, just like in my dreams. Only now I couldn’t pinch myself and wake up.

I’d crossed into Wicked territory not once, not twice, but three times in the last forty-eight hours. I’d snooped through confidential files, put my toes over the slutty line with my Wicked-esque date-night outfit, and taken a walk on the dark side where my mission was concerned. What kind of role model showed the Reggies that the only way to win was to fight like a Wicked?

Kyra grinned at me as she and Paige slid in next to us with our drinks. “Word travels fast,” Kyra said. “Audrey says to tell you you’re a hero!”

The word left a bitter taste of how Ryan must feel every day of his life. Except he actually
was
a hero, even if he couldn’t see it. I was a Fraud with a capital F.

I thought about the charm bracelet and butterfly charm tucked away in my jewelry box along with the high-heel pin that had started it all. Bypassing the charm bracelet yesterday should’ve been a warning sign:
DANGER LINE APPROACHING: DO NOT CROSS
. The facts had been staring me in the face the whole time.

My metamorphosis was a failure. I never should’ve left the cocoon.

Sarah Jane was still showering me with praise, making my butterflies more uneasy with every word, when she stopped mid-rave and stared at something behind me.

I turned as she said, “Wait!” but it was too late. There in all his beautiful glory was Ryan, cozied up at one of the round tables with Fake Blondie. I gazed at his profile just
as Gennifer-with-a-G saw us. She gave me a sly smile, then angled Ryan’s face and locked lips with him in front of an entire table of Wickeds and Villains.

I looked away amidst whoops and hollers from their spectators, feeling acid rise in my throat that a thousand iced lattes couldn’t soothe.

The events of the last few weeks crumbled around me. A guy I’d fallen for who would never love me back, a blackmail mistake that put me on Lexy’s level, and an image that made my skin crawl.

Ryan was right. I didn’t know who I was anymore. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know.

SJ immediately sprung into protective mode. She guided me to the hallway, waited until the coast was clear, and opened the employee door so I could lick my wounds in private.

But the Club with its do-gooder vibes was the last place I wanted to be.

“I can’t.” I told her, taking a step back. Another. “It won’t change anything.” I turned and pushed through the doors to the patio.

Sarah Jane was on my heels. “Let’s get out of here. You don’t deserve this today. We should be celebrating your big win.”

“Stop
, Sarah Jane.” I spun to face her. “I failed, okay?
Failed
. And no amount of
CMM
work is going to fix that.”

SJ jumped when I said
CMM
and quickly scanned the area to make sure no one had heard. No one was near enough or paying attention to us, but Sarah Jane moved closer and lowered her voice anyway. “How can you think you failed? You
won.”

“I told her I knew about what happened that night. The night of the accident. I traded her secret for Heather’s: if she
didn’t post the pictures, I wouldn’t tell what I knew.
That’s
how I won.”

“But you don’t really know, do you?” she asked, alarm peeking through her calm facade. I could see her hastily reviewing what she’d told me. “How could you know?”

“I bluffed.” I scrambled to explain as horror crept across her face. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was trying to find common ground, something that would make her see Heather as a person, not a target. She misunderstood what I said.”

Sarah Jane’s shoulders relaxed a little, but I wasn’t finished. “I didn’t let it go, Sarah Jane. I could have, but I didn’t. I saw her fear and jumped on it. It was a way in, and I took it because I couldn’t think of any other way to win. All that mattered was saving Heather.”

Sarah Jane stared at me like she’d never seen me before. Her normally peaceful aura was cracked and splintered because of me, which only heaped on my guilt. After everything she’d done for me, I’d let her down too.

Oh, sure, I could rationalize that I would never actually
out
Lexy. Never in a million years would I do that to someone, not even my worst enemy. But that’s the thing about blackmail. Its purpose isn’t to be used. It’s just a way to control people through fear.

Protector or not, I’d stooped to a level I couldn’t justify even to myself. And I’d indirectly implicated Sarah Jane in the process, the one person who’d been my personal cheerleader in the face of everything.

I dropped onto a nearby bench. Admitting it out loud made it all the more real. I was horrified by how easy it had been for me to step over to the dark side when it suited my purposes. And I’d used something far more heinous than a poor choice of rebound guy as my bait. I’d used the death
of someone’s mother, a well-respected Cindy, to contain my enemy.

“You made a mistake, Jess. No one’s perfect.” Sarah Jane tried to soothe me, but it felt off. Something had shifted in the air. Despite her best efforts to stay calm, fear rolled off her in waves. “You’ll find a way to fix it. Once you find another way to win—”

“I don’t even know if we
can
win, Sarah Jane. I’m fighting a battle even Paige doesn’t know how to win, and she’s been in the know for two years. How am I supposed to figure it out when I just got here? Where’s
my
leader?”

She blinked. I saw a lightbulb go on in her head. “You need a support system.”

“I don’t need another support system. I need someone to show me what the heck I’m supposed to do.”

“I can’t help you there,” she said, leading me to her car. “But I can get us out of here. We’ll figure out the rest after that.”

With a promise from me not to move an inch, Sarah Jane darted back inside The Grind. She came back out with her purse and a look of determination on her face. Less than a minute later, we merged into traffic.

She drove toward the middle of town, in the direction of my house, but took a right instead. We were headed for the lake.
Too many memories there
, I thought, and started to say so when she made a left past the railroad tracks and we drove out toward the mountains.

“Where are we going?”

Sarah Jane’s eyes never left the pavement. “Road trip.”

*   *   *

It’s ironic how failures in life are often preceded by warning signs that we don’t pick up on, either because they’re not
loud enough or we’re not paying attention. Like choosing to leave my charm bracelet behind. When the little warnings fail to do their job, the universe simply bumps up its campaign to get you back on track. Even if it means clocking you over the head with a major disaster to finally shake some sense into you.

No doubt about it, I’d been clocked a good one. I had the blackmailer scars to prove it.

When you hit rock bottom and start to bounce, sometimes you need to get away. No tunes, no talking, just the wind in your hair and the sun on your face. A total escape from past, present, and future. That’s what Sarah Jane did for me.

Or that’s what I thought she did.

Montgomery University sits snuggled into the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains. Its pristine campus has an Ivy League feel, but with a Southern charm all its own. It’s also the top women’s college in the country. My mom had gone there. Nan had too. I had no plans to, mostly because there were no guys. Although that did sound tempting right then.

Sarah Jane pulled onto the main street on campus, passing ivy-covered buildings and slowing to give snappily dressed girls with books the right of way. The grassy medians overflowed with flowers in purple, red, and yellow, and the sun didn’t seem quite as suffocating here as it had in town.

SJ found a visitor’s spot, cut the engine, and looked at me for the first time since we’d passed the
THANKS FOR VISITING MT. STERLING
sign. “Let’s walk.”

We wandered through the campus, taking our time and not bothering with small talk. We stopped occasionally at large etched tablets giving the history of some unusual buildings along the way, but mostly we absorbed the peace and positive energy of the campus. The air felt lighter here,
and I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with altitude. Sarah Jane had picked the right place if she wanted to calm my nerves.

Which wasn’t surprising. Sarah Jane had always been there for me. No matter how many stupid things I’d done (the list was long), no matter what kind of debacle my makeover had become
(debacle
was too kind a word), no matter how much I wanted to forget everything and hide under my bed, Sarah Jane had never let me down.