Greta steps closer, reaching for a book on the coffee table, and Maeve panics and closes the laptop. A little too suddenly, it turns out, as Aoife immediately buzzes to attention.
“Ohhh…what are you hiding?”
Maeve rolls her eyes. “Nothing.”
“Show us then,” Aoife says. “If it’s nothing.”
“God, you are so nosy.”
Aoife uncurls her legs, gets up from her couch and comes over to sit on the arm of Maeve’s.
“Go on, open it. I dare you. What was it? Something you clearly don’t want Greta or me to see.”
Maeve hugs the laptop. “Maybe I was looking at your TikTok and dying of second-hand embarrassment?”
Aoife sticks out her tongue. “I’ve blocked you on TikTok, so you couldn’t have seen it.”
“I have my ways,” Maeve says, though she does not have her ways and cannot see Aoife’s TikTok account. “That last video you put up is going to get you bullied for sure.”
As soon as she says it, she sees the open goal. Aoife has ammunition now to get her back ten times over. But they both know she won’t. Aoife might slag Maeve off from morning till night but, on pain of death, she’d never taunt her about bullying.
“You’re just jealous of how much my followers love me,” Aoife says with a smirk.
Greta is shaking her head, looking baffled.
“You two are exhausting. Would you not go out and kick a ball on a beautiful Sunday evening? I mean—” She stops as her phone starts to ring. Her brow furrows. She mutters something and steps out to the hall, answering as she goes.
“Wonder who that was?” Aoife says. “She looked kind of stressed.”
Maeve shrugs, reopening her laptop. But she heard his voice when Greta answered, and she’s almost certain it was Jon. She flicks a glance at Aoife, but Aoife doesn’t seem to have picked up on it. There are many things on which she and Aoife have opposite opinions—Taylor Swift, Percy Pigs, the color pink—but Jon isn’t one of them. They both find him hard work. He’s good at making the grown-ups laugh and they all love his company on nights out and nights in, but he’s less interested in the teens. He hides it well, he’s always reasonably friendly, but there’s something not quite genuine about it. Or maybe they’re just judging him against their aunts, who are full of warmth and energy at all times, whether you like it or not.
Their mum is calling them, for a late Sunday dinner, and together theywalk through the dividing doors into the kitchen. Greta is staying too, Leesa says—could Maeve go out to the hall and see if she’s off the phone? Maeve goes through the far kitchen door to check the hall, but Greta’s not there any more. She tries the den—maybe Greta went in there for some privacy on her call—but that room is in darkness. Then she pops her head into the living room and startles when she sees her aunt peering at her laptop screen. A sick feeling coils inside Maeve and, for a moment, she freezes, with no idea what to do. She’d left the laptop open, but she’d closed the tab, hadn’t she? She hesitates, fear and politeness battling, then steps forward, but Greta has closed the laptop and is moving toward the dividing doors to the kitchen. She hasn’t seen Maeve. And she couldn’t have seen the search results; Maeve is certain she’d closed the tab. She lets out a breath.
32
Nika
Sunday
Nika Geary runs upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Her parents will leave her in peace now that she’s done her daughterly duty, her polite chit-chat with Juliette Sullivan. Her phone is buzzing with notifications. She’s been getting messages from Ariana’s most loyal supporters on and off since Tuesday night, but this—the avalanche of notifications—feels scarily like things have gone up a notch. On her bed now, she pulls it out and clicks into Snapchat. She’s been added to a group chat called xNGx. Her breath stops.
@ItsNikaG two faced bitch
@ItsNikaG see u in school in few weeks if ur brave enough bitch
@ItsNikaG u sud just kys now
@ItsNikaG yeah kill urself save us the trouble
She scrolls, tears threatening. Every single one of their friend group has joined in, and wider friends too. Not Ariana. Ariana doesn’t need to.She’s got her minions on the job. Ariana who had texted her on Thursday to say she was welcome to Zach, that Ariana was kinda tired of him anyway. It would really help if she would tell everyone else that too…
Nika exits the group and throws her phone to the other end of her bed.
Moments later, the buzzing starts up again. She picks up her mobile. They’ve added her back to the group chat. She leaves again and they add her back. She switches off her phone and buries her head in her pillow. She knows what her mum will say. Delete Snapchat. It’s not that simple though. Stupid Ms. O’Donnell and her stupid message. How dare she? And it’s not surprising that Susan O’Donnell is Maeve Khoury’s aunt. Two of a kind.
Nika sits up straight.
Wait.
