Page 41

“Yeah, I see it,” I tell her. Luckily, I don’t have to do the work of correcting the poster. Somebody else already has done it for me.

navaronne1976: pay attention. She said “Halverson.” Anybody class of ’94 knows what she’s talking about

“Nice,” I say under my breath, just as another text from Bristal comes in.

“Halverson?” Kenzie asks, scrunching her nose at her phone. “What’s that all about?”

I bite my lip and read Bristal’s text, which has a screen cap of the comment from navaronne1976 and says—somebody is picking up what we’re throwing down.

I respond with, they’re not the only one, and send along my own screen cap of a comment that just posted a second ago.

whorevath1977: Halverson. Haven’t heard that name in a long time.

“Somebody didn’t take kindly to you trying to recast the Lytles,” Kenzie says, turning her phone so that I can see.

SweetieCorn94: Nice try on calling the Lytle’s patriots. More like thugs.

I shrug. “It was worth a shot at reminding people that the Lytles have a long history of serving their country. Some people aren’t going to like it. Whatever.”

I try to be casual, Bristal-style, but a new comment pops up on Kenzie’s phone that takes the breath out of my lungs and sends dark spots across my vision.

whorevath1977: Tagging Erin Hendrix.

“Oh, shit,” I say, my hand going to my chest, where I can feel my heart galloping.

“Lydia? What?” Kenzie asks, reaching out to grab my wrist. She glances at the new comment, but of course it means nothing to her. MacKenzie doesn’t know who Denise Halverson is, or why I would care that someone is running to Erin Hendrix—not that I shouldn’t have expected it. The only thing that travels faster than news in Henley is STDs, but resolving to tear off the Band-Aid and being responsible for exposing someone else’s wound are two different things.

I pull away from Kenzie’s grasp and shoot a text to Bristal. Bathroom, now.

“Lydia? Are you okay?” MacKenzie asks as I get up.

“I’m fine, I’ve just got to . . .” I lock eyes with Bristal, who gives me a little salute on her way out of the cafeteria. Kenzie follows my gaze.

“Oh, okay. Got it,” she says stiffly. “Emergency podcast meeting with the new, trashier best friend.”

“It’s not like that,” I say, but she just waves a hand at me as I backpedal. “I’ll explain later.”

Bristal is waiting for me in the bathroom, leaning against a sign that reads NO VAPING while she vapes. “I saw,” she says. “Erin Hendrix is about to get a serious blast from the past.”

“Yeah,” I say. “And it’s my fault.”

“Fault?” Bristal’s brow furrows. “More like this was your goal. You wanted to talk about things people refuse to acknowledge, and you found a flat-out missing person cover-up. You should be ecstatic not . . .” Her eyes follow me as I lean against the wall and slide downward.

“Not on the floor,” she finishes. “Dude, you okay?”

“I think so,” I say, pushing my palms into my eye sockets. “What does a panic attack feel like?”

“I don’t give a lot of shits, so I don’t really know,” she says. “But get up before my foot gets you up. You did good work. You found this girl that everyone had forgotten.”

“You don’t understand,” I moan, hands still covering my eyes. “I go to church with these people, and Erin is a super nice woman. I should’ve talked to her before I aired the ep. I bet her phone is blowing up right now and she probably has no idea why.”

“Better to apologize later than ask permission first,” Bristal says, pulling out her phone. “We’re getting listens. There’s a bump in your downloads. These are all positive things.”

I pull my hands away from my face and look up at Bristal. “Positive things,” I repeat. “You’re right. Solid content. Good stuff. Interaction and listens and maybe even some Ivy Leagues taking notice.”

“Speaking of good stuff,” she goes on. “I got some great stuff out of Cousin Larry for the ODOT ride-along. The audio isn’t awesome because I was using my phone, and the windows were down because he was smoking and I was vaping.”

“Bristal!” I cry, coming to my feet at the thought of bad audio. “I hope it’s usable. And you shouldn’t vape,” I remind her.