Page 72 of What Goes Around

Before I could respond, her smile faltered as her eyes slid past me toward the crowd.

“…Okay,” she muttered. “Now that I’ve worshipped your transformation, can we talk about why everyone is acting weird?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said, glancing around.

We started toward the building.

“This is creepy,” Payton whispered. “What are they all whispering about?”

“No idea.”

Payton grabbed the arm of a nearby girl. “Hey, what’s going on?”

The girl didn’t even look up from her phone. “Check the school forum.”

Payton and I exchanged a glance and pulled out our phones as we walked.

The school forum had exploded.

Every top post was about the basketball team.

The first thread was pinned in bright red text:

EXPOSED

I tapped it.

Screenshots flooded my screen, group chats, DMs, private threads between the boys everyone idolized, defended, and excused.

Girls’ social media profiles were pasted into messages like trading cards. Photos rated. Comments on bodies like inventory lists.

A literal point system.

“She’s a soft 6 but she'd drink anything.”

“That one is a 3.”

As I scrolled, it got darker.

“Bet I get her upstairs before midnight.”

“50 says I’m first.”

And darker.

“Does she remember anything?”

“She was too wasted to prove shit.”

“She better not go to the cops or we’re all screwed.”

“We all have more to lose than she does.”

My stomach clenched as I scrolled.

The second post detailed drug use. Screenshots of deals. Drops on school.

Info no one should ever have written down.