Page 19 of How to Get Revenge on a Cheating Ex
“I don’t know.” It comes out more defensively than I’d intended and I rub a hand over my forehead. “I don’t know,” I say, softer this time.
Jane’s hand lands on my shoulder and I whip my head around to stare at her in alarm.
Pat. Pat. Pat.Three solid, thumping pats to my shoulder and Jane’s giving me this awkward grimace.
“What is this?” I demand. “Are you trying to comfort me right now?”
She shrugs. “I thought I’d try.”
“Well, cut it out. It’s bizarre.”
My sister might have my back, but touchy-feely we were not. I inch away from her and see her flicker of relief that she’s not expected to hug me.
“It’s not only strange, it’s unnecessary,” I continue. But my voice sounds off. I sound just as uptight and prissy as Zack makes me out to be. My enunciation is absurdly on point. “There’s been a mistake. Zack is wrong. And I will prove it.”
I have proof.Zack’s words from earlier are a punch to the gut, and I shift on the bed so I can reach my phone in my back pocket.
Jane watches me with a frown. “What are you doing?”
“Texting Zack. He said he has proof, but obviously he’s wrong. Or he’s lying.”
Why would he lie?
That question will just not quit. Zack has no reason to lie, and I know it. Grayson is his best friend.
In an instant, my mind conjures up every strange Zack interaction I’d witnessed these past few days. The way he’d been acting so off around Grayson...
I text Zack with cold, numb fingers.
“You sure you want to do this?” Jane reads the short text over my shoulder.
Me:Show me.
“I’m sure,”I lie.
My heart starts racing again and my already shaky limbs are outright trembling. I clasp my arms around my knees and hold on tight.
Jane’s hand lifts and hovers. I think she’s about to take another stab at comforting me again, but she drops her hand to her side with a sigh. “Do you want me to call a friend?”
I nod.
A friend. Yes, a friend would be good.
But even as I nod, my mind flips through the list of potential friends who would rush over to be with me during my moment of crisis and it comes up empty.
Macy, Bridget, and the other girls I hang out with at school are still at the party. And even if they weren’t, I’d feel weird talking to them about Grayson. They’reourfriends, not mine.
And, if I’m being honest, they’re probably more his friends than ours.
They’d not only laugh at me for doubting Grayson, they’d turn right around and tell him that I’d actually believed Zack.
Zack, who’s obviously lying. This is one of his pranks. A joke he’s playing at my expense.
That’s the only option.
My phone dings and I stare at it. Then I look to Jane and she picks it up with an expression of grim determination.
She looks first. I wish she hadn’t because I see it on her face. I see her horror and then her pity when she hands me the phone with a picture on the screen.
