Page 24 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
“Wicked,” another student chimed in.
“Have you seen the front offices? They’re a wreck.”
Hadley’s heart stuttered. “Rome, I thought you were here all night,” she hissed.
“I was.”
“You mean all this destruction happened in only a few hours?”
“Goat party?” He shrugged.
She didn’t know how he could be nonchalant about it. This was bad. Really bad.
They hadn’t planned on the goats messing up the entire school. “I thought goats just slept all the time?” She’d pictured teachers finding goats under their desks or in their closets.
Not ripping papers to shreds.
She reached her locker and spun the dial. Charlotte stepped up beside her as she yanked it open. “This is why you wanted me with you this morning.” She glanced down the hall to where a teacher carried a small black goat from a classroom. Charlotte’s jaw dropped open. “It was you.”
“No.” She took out her chemistry book and shut the door. “It wasn’t.”
Sidestepping her friend, she peered into each classroom she passed on her way to the stairwell. Pure chaos.
Things like “epic senior prank” and “totally awesome” reached her ears. It was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Something people would remember.
Her heart hammered in her chest until it was all she could hear. Losing her friends in the sea of people, she pushed into the stairwell, veering to the right to duck into the alcove beneath the stairs. Vending machines hummed as the stomping of feet sounded above her head.
Why was she freaking out?
This was what she’d planned. What she’s wanted. To be the talk of the school. She wiped sweaty hands down her yoga pants and leaned forward, letting her hair fall into her face.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
That was what the anxiety-riddled Cassie would say.
But this wasn’t anxiety exactly.
As Hadley walked through that hall and saw the mess, she realized the school would search for those responsible. They wouldn’t stop until they had names.
Hadley pulled them all into this. Damien. Roman. The Madison siblings.
Spencer.
She didn’t want to think about the infuriating older boy, but he was tied into her thoughts of the night before. It wasn’t his school anymore, yet he’d helped them.
And now he’d get in trouble for it right alongside them.
“Hadley?” Damien rounded the corner. “What are you doing back here?”
She lifted her eyes to him. “We’re going to get caught.”
“What? How?” He didn’t look as alarmed as he should.
“The mess. You never told me goats were such a mess.”
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “If I remember, the only thing you ever asked me about goats was if I had any.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You should have seen my parents this morning when they found only the kids in the barn. A policeman came out to take a report.”
“Are they mad?”
