Sweet Like Revenge

31 - Interregnum

"Poppy's gone?" Ryan shrieked into the phone on Tuesday evening.

"Gone," I confirmed. "Expelled."

"Expelled?"

I shrugged, smirking to myself as I flicked through my English notes. "Well, asked to leave was the term that Kat used. I guess she was on thin ice after the cheating scandal, and instigating the fight with Sienna was the final straw. Both the school and her parents thought it was best to get her as far from Irvine as possible."

"Holy crap, Ana," he shrieked. "I can't believe this. I can't believe you."

"I told you that I had a plan!"

Ryan burst into a round of laughter at my remark. "Excuse me? Nuh-uh, no you didn't! I really thought you'd lost your marbles for a second there, trailing after Asterisk like a lovesick puppy. Bleh. You could've given me a heads up, spared me the worry—"

"So you would've let me go through with it?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow. "If you knew what I was planning with Astor?"

Ryan near squealed with outrage. "Hell no! Are you crazy? There's no way I'd let you lock yourself in a room with a psychopath."

"Exactly," I agreed. "I'm sorry that I lied to you, Ry. Truly. But I did what I had to do to get what I needed within a window of opportunity. And I got it."

My best friend groaned. "I'll give you that."

"Thank you."

"What happened with the others, though? What about the football team?"

I chewed my lip. The memory of the pandemonium that the Black Book had caused making me feel a strange mixture of pride and guilt. "It all went to plan at first. I mean, I knew that Walsh and the school would protect the team at all costs. And I was okay with that, with the fallout of my exposé being purely social. That's all I ever really wanted. Total, public humiliation—"

"I feel a 'but' coming..." Ryan guessed.

"But," I conceded, "as it turns out, the fact that the squeaky-clean Panthers aren't so squeaky-clean is, for whatever reason, newsworthy. A local outlet caught wind of the story. 'State Champion's Sex Scandal', they're calling it. Real clickbait material."

Ryan lost the ability to talk for a moment, a thousand different words warring on the tip of his tongue. "The power of you," he managed to marvel. "The power, girl."

"I know," I mumbled, the unexpected turn of events impressing even myself. "Walsh is doing everything he can to keep the story from blowing up. That might include pulling the team from the semis. Can you imagine the media storm if they won?"

"Serves them right. Act like scoundrels, get treated like scoundrels."

"True."

"So, one name off the list," Ryan summarized. "Two, if you count Walsh's precious team. That's not bad, Ana."

I felt my brow crease as I tossed my English notes aside to lean against my bedhead. "There is one more thing."

"More?" he questioned.

I frowned. "Mhm. Sienna."

I could hear Ry re-positioning himself as he gasped. "Of course. What's happened to our dear, adulterating queen?"

I shook my head, genuinely clueless. Which was not a great position for a spy to be in.

"Missing in action," I revealed. "She wasn't at school today."