So Many Boys (The Naughty List #2)(45)
Author: Suzanne Young

Leona pressed her lips together and turned, holding my phone out to me. “She said she’s sorry and that she didn’t mean for it to happen.”

Grief rushed through me. It was the only way to describe the ache that pulled at my ribs, making my lip quiver.

“Listen,” Leona said. “I know this isn’t the time, but I think Mary may be my main suspect.”

“I thought you said it was Chloe,” I mumbled, sniffling once. I hated to cry off my makeup, but I wasn’t sure I could hold it in. My phone vibrated again in my hand, and when I turned it over, I saw Aiden’s mother’s number.

Was his mom calling me or was he in town? I clicked it off, sending it to voice mail before shoving it deep into my pants pocket.

“Aiden?” Leona asked. When I nodded, she slung her arm over my shoulders. “Figures. Mary probably just called him and told him that you—” She stopped as I noticeably tensed. “Never mind,” she said. “I’m sure they totally don’t talk on the phone or anything.”

Just then there were some cheers from across the room. I looked up to see Chris come in, dressed in his jersey. Looking very…athletic. A few of his teammates began chanting his name, and he held up his beer cup in greeting, but it was obvious where his attention was focused. On me. I gulped and looked away toward the front window.

“Straighten up,” Leona said, adjusting her own posture. I blew out a breath, pushing away the painful thoughts of Aiden and Mary. I needed to try to accept my destiny as a Smitten Kitten and what was right for me. I glanced up to see Chris standing there, beaming with his perfectly straight teeth.

“I can’t believe you came,” he said, reaching up to brush self-consciously at his blond hair. “You look great.”

I would have thought he was just trying to be polite, but his blue eyes looked positively honest as he gazed at me.

“Right,” Leona said with a laugh. “I think Tessa’s T-shirt is from this year’s Balenciaga collection.”

Chris looked over at her, seeming confused. I smiled.

“It was a joke,” Leona muttered, shaking her head.

“It was funny,” I assured her, pulling down on the hem of my shirt to iron out some of the wrinkles. I really should have worn something a little dressier.

“Obviously,” she said back, and glanced around the crowded room. “Okay,” she said with a long breath. “I’m going to find Kira and Izzie and get a drink. You two”—she looked between us—“have a blast.”

“Thanks!” Chris and I answered at the same time and then looked at each other somewhat awkwardly.

“Good luck with that.” Leona widened her eyes, then eased her way through the bodies in the room toward the kitchen.

Once she was gone, Chris moved forward to rest his muscular arm on the mantel of the fireplace. His biceps were huge—he didn’t even have to flex. I relaxed a little.

“The party’s great,” I said, having to talk a little louder than was comfortable for being this close. “I think the entire school is here.”

“Only the seniors,” he said. “Trying to play the role, you know.” He smiled at me. “Stuck-up jock.”

I laughed. “And the cheerleader.” I pointed to myself. “How cliché.”

“I did have to turn away a few juniors earlier. It was sort of fun, although I know it’s not nice to say being a dick is fun.”

I flinched. Juniors? “Who’d you turn away?”

Chris exhaled, leaning closer to me as he scratched at his head. “Um…Johnny Rake, Giselle…somebody, Chloe Ferril—”

“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “Chloe Ferril was here?” I spun around the room, my Kitten senses tingling, as I looked for the other members of my squad.

“Yeah…” Chris said. “She was here, all gothed out. Why? You two still don’t like each other?”

“I have to go,” I answered, turning back to him suddenly. The disappointment on his face was plain and I felt awful. But…if Leona’s original thoughts were correct, Chloe could be the copy-Kitten. And she might still be here!

With a quick apologetic smile, I turned to move away. A moment later, one of the defensive linemen ran in from the hallway. He swung his thick neck around until he found Chris and then grinned.

“Dude,” he called. “Check your e-mail!”

“Why?” Chris asked, stepping forward and touching my arm casually. My back tensed.

“Cheaters, man! Everyone’s getting a video of cheaters!”

Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket, tickling my leg. A second later, I heard Chris’s phone go off next to me—the ring tone of Washington High’s fight song. I would have been impressed, but at the same moment, several other phones began ringing. A mix of buzzing, dinging, and top-forty hits.

I gasped, my fingers trembling.

“What the hell?” Chris asked, taking out his phone and looking at it. I was too scared to look at mine. “Someone’s streaming a video.”

I stepped over and put my hand on Chris’s arm as I leaned in to look at his screen. There was an hourglass turning, loading a video. Glancing around the living room, I saw that everyone who had a phone was looking at it, and those who didn’t were sharing.

I held my breath, grasping Chris’s warm skin, not caring that I wasn’t into him. Not caring that not being into him might mean I couldn’t be a Smitten Kitten. Because whatever I was about to see, it would be bad. I could feel it in my pom-poms.

The hourglass faded, the screen showing a still from outside a window, looking into a classroom. Wait. Was that the music room? The image focused in on someone dashing into the room. It zoomed in.

I reached out to pull Chris’s phone closer to us. Riley Richards? Oh, frack! This couldn’t be good.

“Shit, Riley!” Chris called out teasingly, glancing into the party. “It’s you!” He pointed.

I looked up, seeing Riley standing in the middle of the room with his girlfriend, Jenn, his eyes widening at the mention of his name. Obviously he hadn’t gotten the call.

Jenn’s eyes darted around the room. “What?” she asked, laughing nervously.

I bit down hard on my lip and turned back to the phone. Riley was still in the music room, and I hoped that possibly, this was just a joke. But it wasn’t.

Megan Wright walked into the music room, going immediately to Riley, pausing uncomfortably close. I peeked at Jenn as she looked from person to person, wanting to know what we were seeing. Finally she ran over to Fredrick Henry and snatched his iPhone out of his hand.