“Oh, absolutely,” Valley Girl insisted, then fudged a bit. “Or she planned it alone. Either way, she’s guilty as sin.”
“But why would she do that to Connor?”
“She’s jealous,” Valley Girl hissed. “She’ll do anything to win the competition, and that includes cheating.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would she sabotage Connor? She likes him.”
“Because she can’t have him back.”
“News flash,” the first woman said dryly. “She’s sleeping in the same hotel room with him.”
“That’s only because he’s paying her.”
Maggie wondered if she had fallen down a rabbit hole. Their conversation sounded like a bad soap opera, and her head was starting to spin. And worst of all, she was sick to death of standing by idly while her reputation was being torn to shreds.
“He’s paying her to sleep with him?”
“Yes, and I would’ve done it for free,” Valley Girl whined.
“Lucinda, you’re delusional,” the first woman said. “You’ve had a crush on him since high school and he’s never even looked at you. Face it, he’s just not that into you.”
“He would be if she would just go away.”
Maggie’s head was going to explode. She had to get out of here. It was time to take a risk, stop hiding, stop running from her mistakes. She had to fight for herself, for her reputation, for her life. And for Connor. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her strength and shoved the stall door open. “Hello, ladies.”
Sarah saw her in the mirror and blinked in surprise.
Lucinda whirled around, then froze. Her face blanched and she stuttered in shock, “Wh-what are you…what…you…”
“Oh, shut up, Lucinda,” Maggie said, dismissing her as she stepped up to the sink to wash her hands.
Sarah slowly shook her head. “Wow. I did not see that coming.”
“Hello, Sarah,” Maggie said pleasantly as she grabbed a towel from the dispenser.
Her old friend began to laugh. “Maggie, I was wondering how long it would take you to find your spine again.”
Sarah was smiling in real pleasure and Maggie realized that maybe she hadn’t lost all of her friends after all.
“Well, I’ve found it now, so look out.” Maggie tossed the towel, then straightened her shoulders and shook her hair back defiantly as if she were about to go into battle. She looked at Sarah in the mirror. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
“Go get ’em, Maggie,” Sarah said, still laughing as Maggie stalked out of the bathroom.
Maggie stormed down the wide hallway to the judges’ room entrance. She didn’t much care what someone like Lucinda thought. What bothered her was that anyone else might think that she would resort to cheating. With a firm tug, she pulled the heavy door open. She no longer cared about contest rules and regulations. She had to find Connor and find out the truth. She wasn’t about to take the word of a silly twit like Lucinda again.