Free Revenge of the Snob Squad by Julie Anne Peters

grew there,” I said.
    After the orderly left, Lydia gripped my leg through the covers and said, “Tell us the rest.”
    “Ow. Okay, don’t get a hernia.” I exhaled a long breath. “Where was I? Oh, yeah. The sisters sat me in a chair and made me
     hold out my palms. Then Ashley dripped candle wax on my wrists.”
    “Ouch. Didn’t that h-hurt?”
    “It hurt like crazy. I still have a scar.” I showed them my right wrist. “Ashley recited some chant, then told me about the
     initiation rite. About the secret. She said Zoe had passed. That she’d revealed a secret about me, and that I should tell
     one about her. That surprised me. I didn’t remember telling Zoe any secrets. And I didn’t want to tell what I knew about Zoe.
     She was my friend. But…” I stared off toward the bathroom wall. I wished Vanessa was there. Maybe she could show me how to
     lose myself in the mirror.
    “But what?” Lydia shifted on the bed and bounced my head. The headache roared back with a vengeance.
    I looked at Lydia, at the others. In a small voice I told them, “But I didn’t want Zoe to be in the club and not me. You know?”
    “Of course we know.” Lydia patted my kneecap. “Go on.”
    I gulped. “I only knew one secret about Zoe. So I revealed it.” Time stopped. The room whirled.
    “What was it?” they all said at once.
    I widened my eyes at them.
    Max shook her head. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
    “No, I want to. It doesn’t matter now, anyway.” Suddenly my stomach hurt. It felt like knives were in there, stabbing at flesh.
     That, plus the sore throat and the headache. Where was a doctor when you needed one? Close to convulsing, I continued, “I
     told them Zoe’s real name was not Zoe Zarlengo.” A moment passed to let them take that in, to let my heart begin beating again,
     before I added, “That’s all I said—at first. But of course Ashley needed to know Zoe’s real name. She said if I wanted to
     join I’d have to tell the whole secret. To prove I trusted the sisters.”
    “So you did,” Lydia said.
    “Yeah. I told them Zoe’s name was Kayla Ferguson.”
    The Snob Squad exchanged confused looks. “I don’t get it,” Max said. “So what?”
    “Ashley wanted to know why Zoe was using a false name. She wouldn’t let it go. She kept badgering me. Finally I told her the
     truth. I didn’t know. All I knew was that it was this big secret and I promised never to tell.”
    Prairie asked, “So w-what happened?”
    I said, “Ashley must’ve figured out the reason. And she must’ve run right upstairs after we left and told her father about
     it, too, because the cops were at Zoe’s house by the time we got there. What’s worse is, on the way home, Zoe said she made
     something up about me. She said I had a twenty-two-year-old boyfriend and we were going to elope. No one believed it until
     she showed Ashley a picture of her brother and me together. Oh, man.” Tears welled in my eyes.
    Prairie handed me a Kleenex. I blew my nose. “I never saw Zoe again. I found out later that her mom was hiding her and her
     brother from their dad. They’d been running from him for years. She must’ve guessed what I did. I never even got to explain.
     I never got to say good-bye.” The last word came out a squeak because a torrent of tears burst through the dam. They’d been
     storing up for a year, and now they all flooded forth.
    The Snob Squad just let me cry it out. Lydia patted my leg the whole time.
    Once I’d wadded up an entire box of hospital Kleenex, Lydia said, “Ashley Krupps is a snake.”
    I sniffed. “If she ever tells you she’s sworn to secrecy, just stab her in the back. Like she did to me.” Tears threatened
     again.
    Max stood. “Tonight. Peacemobile. Sleep-over,” she said. “We’re gonna kick Krupp’s butt from here to kingdom come.”
    Lydia and Prairie both nodded agreement.
    I had no idea where kingdom come was. But those were the words