Unfriendly Competition (15 page)

Sasha Silver:

We'll see. I'll keep you posted. C u in English.

Paige Parker:

Try 2 have a good lesson. And we'll talk more in class if u want.

I put my phone back in my pocket.

I looked both ways before I left Charm's stall, then hurried to gather his tack. I rushed through grooming and tacking him up, desperate to get to our lesson without running into Lauren.

I felt like I didn't breathe until I got into to the indoor arena and Mr. Conner hobbled inside, closing the door behind him and shutting Callie, Brit, Heather, and me inside.

He started to explain to us what we were going to do this morning, but I didn't hear his voice. Instantly, on repeat, I heard five words:
Lauren Towers is at Canterwood.

16

HISTORY LESSON

“SILVER, YOU WERE A DISASTER,” HEATHER
said, shaking her head at me. We were cooling the horses in the arena after our lesson. Brit and Callie, who'd just finished, walked Apollo and Black Jack out of the arena.

“I think I'm allowed to be unfocused for one practice,” I said. “Someone from
my
old stable, my old life is here. I left all of that behind to come to Canterwood, and now some younger, better dressage star decided to enroll.”

“You're being a
little
dramatic,” Heather said. “She's a
seventh
grader. Who. Cares. We're on the YENT. Who cares what Laura—”

“Lauren,” I corrected her.

Heather glared at me. “As I was saying, who cares
what
Lauren
does when she's here. Nothing's changing for us, and no one's forcing you to start inviting her to sleepovers just because she's from Briar Creek.”

I led Charm in another cooling circle. “You're right,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I don't have to do anything. So what if she's here? I don't care.”

With that, I led Charm out of the arena with Heather and Aristocrat close behind us.

*   *   *

An hour later, I'd made it to English class. But despite what I'd said earlier, I was still on constant lookout for Lauren—watching for her as I moved from class to class throughout the day. But I never saw her.

Brit and I headed back to our room after our last class of the day. Mr. Conner had canceled the afternoon lesson for a doctor appointment, and I'd decided not to practice again today—Charm deserved a break.

Brit and I got to our room and opened our backpacks, pulling out our homework.

“I think we're long overdue for a TV marathon, the second homework is done,” Brit said.

“Could not agree more,” I said.

We were twenty minutes into working when my phone rang. Heather's FaceSpace photo appeared on my phone.

“Hey,” I said. “Don't tell me. Did Lauren move into the room next to you?”

“Sasha, drop the Lauren thing for five seconds,” Heather snapped. Her voice was sharp and shaky at the same time.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “What's wrong?”

“You and Brit need to get over here. Right now.”

“Okay, but why? What's going on?”

Heather didn't even answer my questions. The phone line went dead.

I shut my history book and got up.

“We've got to go to the Trio's suite right now,” I said. “Something happened. I don't know what it is, but it's bad.”

Brit was off her bed in a second. She and I put on flip-flops and hurried to the Trio's suite. I'd only knocked once when Heather yanked open the door. She locked it behind us and, without saying a word, motioned for us to follow her into Julia's bedroom.

Sitting on Julia's bed was a teary-eyed Alison.

“What
happened
?” I asked. “Where's Julia?

Heather stared out the window, then looked back at me. “She's at her book club. She won't be back for a while.”

I was so confused. “Why are we in her room? And Alison, what's wrong?”

I sat beside her, putting a hand on her back.

Heather walked over to Julia's desk and picked up her laptop. She put it on the bed, motioning for Brit to sit by us.

Heather opened the laptop lid and woke it up out of sleep mode. The Canterwood gossip blog was pulled up.

I stared at it, frowning. “This is an old entry. I've already read it. I thought you guys had too.”

Heather shook her head. “That's not why I pulled up this page.” She clicked on Julia's Internet browser history and went to the last date a post had gone live. I didn't want to see what I was reading.

There were visits to Google, TMZ, a few gossip magazines and then, below those, were links to the Canterwood gossip blog.

Not the main page.

The
administration
page. Log in. Log out.

“No,” the word came out like a moan from my throat. “There's no way that Julia did that. This has to be a mistake. Someone else used her computer. Something. This can't be true.”

Brit's hand was on her forehead. “I can't believe this,” she whispered.

“What can't you believe?”

Heather, Brit, Alison, and I jumped as Julia appeared in the doorway. We hadn't even heard her come in.

“What can't you believe?” Julia repeated, looking at us with an amused smile. Her eyes landed on the laptop. “Did you read something awesome online?”

Heather stood, walked over to Julia and stopped when the two were almost nose to nose.

“I did read something online,” Heather said.

I'd never heard her voice like this. It sounded like she was choking back tears of sadness, disbelief, and a dozen other emotions. Julia looked at her, still not seeming to realize what had happened minutes before she'd arrived.

“I read,” Heather continued, “your Internet history. I wish I'd known that the infamous Canterwood blogger was living in my suite.”

Julia's face turned white. For a second, I thought she was going to crumble to the ground.

“Heather, listen, I was angry about the YENT. I started the blog and—” Julia started, but Heather cut her off with a wave of her hand.

“I don't care why you started it. What you did, what
you wrote—especially about your ‘friends' was disgusting. Get out.”

Julia shook her head. “What?”

Heather stared her down. “I said get out. Go straight to the headmistress's office and tell her everything.”

Julia's eyes locked with Heather's. “No way. I'll be expelled for a stupid blog. I'll stop. I'll never write another word—I promise. Please just—”

This time, Julia stopped herself at the look on Heather's face.

“You go tell her now, or I'm giving her your laptop,” Heather said. Her tone was deadly calm. “I will never be your friend again, and I don't want you living in this suite. You
will
get expelled. And you deserve it.”

Heather stepped away from Julia, sitting in her desk chair. “I'm done talking. Go.”

Julia's face turned a deep purple. Without a word, she turned walked out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut on her way out.

The four of us sat in silence.

For a long time.

*   *   *

That night, Brit and I were in our beds, reading. Kind of. It had been hours since the Julia incident, and we hadn't
heard anything. We'd done our homework, but I hadn't been able to concentrate. I couldn't believe Julia had done this. Julia, part of the most powerful clique on campus, had lowered herself to a level I hadn't even known she was capable of. It felt as though I'd never known her at all.

My phone buzzed on my bedside table. I opened BBM and there was a single message.

Heather Fox:

Julia got expelled. She's already gone.

“Omigod,” I said.

Brit sat up in bed. “Julia?”

I nodded as I typed back.

Sasha Silver:

Are you and Alison okay?

I waited for the message to deliver, but a red
X
appeared over the Heather's smiley face symbol. She'd turned off her phone.

I put mine down and turned to Brit, who was waiting.

I struggled to form the sentence. The words sounded weird in my head.

“Julia's gone.”

17

REALLY GONE

FRIDAY FLEW BY IN A FLURRY. NEWS ABOUT
Julia's abrupt departure spread all over campus. No one would stop talking about it. The only people who weren't, were Heather, Alison, Brit, and me. It was too soon—too raw. We'd all been betrayed by someone we'd considered a friend. I wasn't in a place to deal with it yet.

During the morning's riding lesson, Mr. Conner brought up Julia's absence. He talked about how he regretted that she felt it necessary to create the blog and do such harm to other people. He said that he hoped she sought help, so she could return to the student she had been and would one day fulfill her potential as an excellent rider. All of us had been quiet through Mr. Conner's speech and the lesson that followed.

I used it to distract myself from thinking about Julia. More than anything, I needed to focus on Huntington.

I moved through my classes in a daze, not hearing half of what the teachers said. None of them talked about Julia, but her absence felt ever present. I kept expecting to see her in the hallway or in one of the classrooms.

But she was really gone.

I walked across campus, back toward my dorm after my final lesson before Huntington. I'd managed to stay focused, and Charm and I had worked hard—with barely a misstep.

Jacob had BBMed me just as I'd finished grooming Charm.

Jacob Schwartz:

Are you hanging in there with the Julia situation? I'm so sorry, Sasha.

Sasha Silver:

I'm not great, but I'm trying 2 stay focused on 2mrw. I just don't understand how she could do this 2 us tho. Maybe 2 me since we were never superclose, but what abt Heather and Alison?