I stride down the hall with my chin tipped up defiantly, ignoring the pressing stares. As I come up to the corner, at the edge of my vision I see Kristen huddled with a few other girls. I can’t help but slow down and sneak a glance. Since school started up again, she’s studiously avoided me, and I stopped trying to call after leaving her a week’s worth of pleading voice mails that went unanswered. I’ve tried telling myself that it’s only time she needs, that maybe the shock of her boyfriend’s arrest hasn’t worn off yet, and once it does, she won’t hate me for doing what I did. She’ll understand. We’re best friends.
When I approach, she looks the way she always does: immaculately put together, with every strand of her glossy blond hair perfectly in place, her makeup flawlessly applied. She’s wearing this creamy cable-knit sweater matched with a black skirt, more modest than her usual wardrobe, and when she sees me, I catch her midsmile. Her expression is almost demure. For a brief, shining second I think it’s going to be okay. She’s going to be on my side.
But then her face changes as she sees me. God, that look. She’s staring at me like I’m a bug she’d squash under her heel if it wouldn’t make such a mess.
She levels an icy glare at me as I pass and sneers. “What are you looking at, bitch?”
And that’s it. The final judgment. She might as well have stamped SCUM on my forehead.
The other girls around her giggle nervously, Tessa and Natalie among them. Now that I’m out of the picture, the pecking order has changed. They’ll all be vying for my old rank. I wonder which one of them will be bestowed the honor.
What everyone else thinks doesn’t matter, but what Kristen thinks does. I can’t pretend otherwise. I knew she’d be mad, but I also thought she wouldn’t throw so many years of friendship out the window. But that look on her face…my slim hope that her anger wouldn’t last dissipates, crushed to dust in some imaginary fist.
Tears, again. I fight them down and hurry around the corner without a word. At least I know where Kristen and I stand for good. Kristen, my supposed best friend. Former, now, I guess. What was I thinking? Warren is her boyfriend. I told the cops what he and Joey said at the party, after they found out about Noah from me. What they said about teaching him a lesson. And now they’ve both been arrested. It doesn’t matter if it was the right thing to do or not. Of course she hates me.