Gen rolls her eyes, a condescending smile on her flawless face. “God, Tal, chill. Getting so aggro isn’t good for you; it gives you wrinkles. I wasn’t trying to tell anyone what to do. But if the reason for going out was to bump into the guys, it’s pointless.” She shows her cell phone. “I just got added to a group chat with some of the guys, and Vaughn said the hockey team has a curfew, so they aren’t going out.”
That piece of information is met with disappointment by most of my teammates.
“Check your phones, girls. He’s invited me to a party at his place. I don’t know how much of an inner circle thing this is though.”
The disappointment of a few seconds ago turns into excitement.
As I retrieve my phone from my locker, my texts have been blowing up. I find the group chat Gen was talking about, but I also have texts from both Tucker and Colsen. The guys ask me if I want to hang out at the party or if I would prefer to go to their place.
Mercifully, my mysterious stalker has been silent after the last text he sent before the show.
“Did you get invited?” Jodie asks. “I did.”
I nod.
It looks like everyone got Vaughn’s message.
“It turns out it wasn’t an inner circle thing.” Jodie says loudly enough to be heard over the chatter of all our teammates making plans for the party.
“Oh, shut up, Jodie,” Gen snaps. “I said that because I didn’t want anyone to be disappointed if they hadn’t been included.”
My BFF snorts. “Sure you did.”
Before Gen can respond, Talia climbs onto the wooden bench in front of the lockers and sticks two fingers into her mouth to whistle.
“Girls. I don’t know if we should go. What if we get caught?”
Olivia, one of Gen’s best friends on the team, reassures Tucker’s sister. “We’ll be ok. See what Vaughn said? If we’re all there, they can’t kick us all out. And he said we’re just gonna have a few drinks and mingle, no loud music or crazy party games.”
“That isn’t what I’m worried about,” Talia says. “We were all out on the night of Tucker’s birthday. And yet, the thing that got us all in trouble was a photo of Taryn and Tucker. Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe we have a rat in our group.”
Talia’s glare is directed at Gen. It’s so obvious that Gen can’t help but react.
“I don’t understand why you’re looking at me.”
“You don’t? Let me spell it out clearly, so even you can understand. I really don’t think that Carole seeing that photo was a coincidence. I think that you showed her or sent her that picture because you were hoping to get Taryn kicked out of training camp.”
Genevieve’s reaction is shocked and outraged, but I don’t know if I believe her.
“How dare you?” She gasps. “Taryn is one of the best dancers on our team. Why would I want to get her kicked off of camp?”
It’s Jodie who answers that question. “Because you’re fucking jealous, Gen. You’ve had it out for Taryn from the second we set foot in town. You sabotaged her outfit before her solo audition, that the onlyphoto of our night at Starstruck had Taryn in it and then you even kicked her in the head. What more proof do we need?”
It’s no surprise that Gen doesn’t admit to any of the accusations against her.
“If anyone is jealous, it’s you two. And Taryn, if she put you up to accusing me in front of everyone. The costume was an accident, and so was the kickline. If anything, it’s your fault I kicked Taryn, because you were half a beat behind and you kept shifting your weight on me, Jodie. I lost my balance. I didn’t mean to hurt Taryn. And that photo wentviral. You should know what that means since you have quite the social media following.”
Jodie and I look at each other. Neither of us really believes Gen, but at the same time, we can’t prove beyond any reasonable doubt that she’s behind every incident that has involved me.
“If you’re telling the truth,” Talia bites out. “Vaughn should be right then that if we all hang out and if we don’t go out in public, we should be safe from repercussions even if we got caught.”
It’s Genevieve’s turn to glare at us. “I agree. I think we should all go. I want to try to get Mack to talk to me, and tonight might be my best chance. He’ll be happy after he scored a hat trick. Hopefully, he’s going to let me explain myself.”
“So if we all go,” Jodie insists. “There won’t be any surprise photos of Taryn or anyone else you feel threatened by shared with Carole or Lexi?”
Gen crosses her arms over her chest. “I didn’t share anything with Carole, so yeah. I just want to party a little bit and try to make my boyfriend see reason. You do you.”
“Ok, then.” Olivia claps her hands, jumping up anddown. “Let’s go get changed and party all night with the hockey players!”
