There, front and center, she found a link that, in turn led to even more pictures of some nearly naked girl in very provocative poses. She blinked and looked again. Even without the identifying comments below, she knew that was her in the pictures, or at least it was supposed to be, she realized, nearly gagging.
How had this happened? Where would Annabelle have found pictures like this? Misty had never been photographed even close to nude in her entire life, except maybe in some embarrassing baby picture taken after a bath. Her parents would have sent her off to an all-girls school in some remote place if she’d ever even considered doing such a thing.
“It’s not me,” she said in a whisper. “There’s no way.”
“Well, I know that,” Katie said without hesitation. “But she’s gone way too far this time, Misty. These pictures will be all over school tomorrow. The site’s already had, like, three thousand hits or something. Who knows how many kids at school have printed out copies? Some teacher’s bound to see them, and you know what will happen after that.”
“I’ll probably be expelled,” Misty said, sickened by the thought of the whispering and the destruction of whatever was left of her reputation.
Worse was what this would do to her parents. Even though those pictures had nothing to do with her—anyone who wasn’t half blind could see that she wasn’t built like that—there would be talk.
She sighed heavily. At least she had her answer to her question earlier today. Things could get worse.
Misty wasn’t in class on Thursday. In fact, she wasn’t even in school. Laura checked the attendance records and saw that she simply hadn’t shown up. There’d been no call from home, nothing.
She also knew something was up around school. She’d seen the kids huddling in the corridors, whispering and giggling over something that clearly was circulating at warp speed. A terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach told her it had something to do with Misty’s absence.
Just as class ended, she noticed Katie Townsend heading toward Annabelle with a glint of real fury in her eyes. Laura automatically headed in their direction to intervene.
“You’re nothing but a low-down, lying bitch!” Katie shouted, stunning Laura not only with her choice of words but the venom behind them. Even Annabelle looked taken aback for once. The smug expression she usually wore around school was wiped away in a heartbeat as her friends stared at the two girls with shock, waiting to see what would happen next.
“Okay, that’s it!” Laura said. “Katie, Annabelle, we’re going to the office.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” Annabelle protested indignantly. “She just attacked me. You all heard her.”
“We all did,” Laura confirmed. “I think the more important question might be why.”
She saw the sheen of tears in Katie’s eyes as they neared Betty Donovan’s office and knew she was terrified of another suspension. Laura wanted desperately to console her, but the situation was out of her hands. She just wished she had some idea about how it was likely to play out and what on earth had sparked that uncharacteristic outburst.
Betty stepped out of her office, saw the three of them there and motioned for them to come inside.
“Okay, Ms. Reed, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” Betty suggested.
“These two had words in my classroom just now,” Laura began, only to have Annabelle once again interrupt with a protest that she’d never opened her mouth.
“If anyone ought to be in trouble, it’s Katie,” she said, still radiating indignation. “My mother is going to be all over you for this.”
“I’m sure,” Laura said wryly. “I’m hoping, though, that we can get to the bottom of this. Katie, would you care to explain why you said what you said to Annabelle?”
Katie shook her head, staring mutinously at Annabelle. “She knows what she did. She thinks she’s some budding superstar, but she’s no better than tabloid scum.”
Betty regarded her with the same surprise that must have been on Laura’s face earlier. “Harsh words, Katie.”
“She deserves them and a lot worse,” Katie said unrepentantly.
“You may believe that, but we don’t know why,” Laura told her gently. “Isn’t it time we did?”
Katie finally turned to her with a pleading expression. “I can’t talk about it, but I promise you it’s really, really bad.”
Betty clearly had been a principal long enough to recognize they were at a standoff. So did Laura. It was Betty, though, who suggested, “Annabelle, why don’t you wait outside for a minute?”