Superior

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Delaney

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Yeah. Right.

You may think that's true when you're watching someone else get trashed, but when you're the victim, it all changes. On that Monday after the disastrous encounter with Carlie, I would have preferred being pelted with rocks and tree branches rather than endure the stares and whispers that were directed at me.

"Is Caleb a good kisser?" one girl asked in English. I just gaped at her, appalled, until she looked away.

I spent my first four periods waiting for lunch, wanting to get away from my curious classmates. But when I sat down next to my best friend in our usual spot outside, she just glared at me.

"How could you?"

I pulled a vanilla cupcake out of my lunch and raised an eyebrow. "How could I what?" I asked tiredly, licking the pink frosting off the top.

"How could you go out on a freakin' date with Caleb Payne?"

I froze mid-lick and stared at Lizzy. "It wasn't a date."

"Then what was it?" she snapped.

"Um..." There really wasn't anything I could say, so I just stared at her blankly with my tongue on the cupcake. "Well, not a date."

"I think you're lying, because you know what I heard?" Her tone was dangerous.

"You're going to tell me even if I don't ask, aren't you?"

Lizzy narrowed her eyes. "I heard that Caleb was cheating on Carlie. With you."

"He wasn't," I promised, groaning. "Carlie was cheating on him. With Stevie Jackson. I swear on my life, Liz, I wouldn't willingly do something like that." Being tricked into it, of course, is another matter, I thought bitterly.

"Then why were you there?"

"I...because..."

"That's what I thought. I didn't realize you were that kind of person, Del."

"That's because I'm not!"

"Yeah, whatever," Lizzy muttered, gathering her things. "Oh, and you might wanna go and like, check Justis Kaye's Chatterbox page. He posted a video that you might find interesting."

I felt my stomach plunge down to my toes.

"I'm gonna go over to Samantha," she informed me, getting to her feet. "Maybe you should sit with your new boyfriend." The bitter sarcasm in her voice stung. It made me angry.

"So that's the kind of friend you are, then?" I demanded. "The kind that ditches a friend whose rep is being trashed, just because she wasn't involved in the scandal?

"Thanks, Lizzy," I said sarcastically. "Thanks a lot."

That gave her pause, but she didn't sit back down. Instead, she backed away, her expression conflicted. "You have frosting on your nose," she murmured, before hurrying away.

When she had gone and I was alone, I pulled out my phone and went to Justis' Chatterbox profile. Sure enough, there was a new video, posted that morning. I didn't want to click it...but I did anyway.

The picture quality was crap and the sound faded in and out, but it was obvious what was happening. It showed everything from Carlie pulling up the table cloth and seeing me to Carlie running out of the restaurant in tears. And it had something like five hundred comments. I felt sick.