Free So Many Boys by Suzanne Young

mentioning cheerleading. No, I would have to go about this differently. Carefully.
    Just as I was about to apologize again, Leona came running down the hall with Izzie in tow. “Bathroom,” she called. “Now!”
    My stomach twisted at the urgency in her voice. Kira and I darted ahead of them into the girls’ room, exchanging a nervous glance.
    Then the bathroom door swung open, banging against the wall with a loud clang. Leona was standing there with her cell phone in hand, her brown hair wild around her face.
    “Holy crap, where have you two been?” she demanded, letting go of Izzie’s sleeve.
    “I was looking for Joel,” Kira said, splashing cold water on her face. “And Tessa…was talking to him. To Joel, I mean.” She paused, water dripping down her cheeks before she reached over to crank out a paper towel.
    “Look,” I said toward the girls, making my tone very serious. “Before you say anything, I need to tell you . . . I heard something awful in the hallway.”
    Leona narrowed her eyes and looked me over. “What kind of awful? Spill.”
    I took a deep breath. “I overheard Robert Bullard talking about SOS. He knew the name.” My heart was pounding in my chest, but Leona didn’t look nearly as stunned as I’d thought she should. “Did you hear me?” I asked.
    “Tell her,” Izzie said, nudging Leona with her elbow. My breath caught in my chest. The floral smell in the bathroom mixed with my newly perspiring underarms was making me nauseous.
    “Don’t get your bloomers in a bunch,” Leona warned. “But you have to look at this.” She held out her cell, and I leaned over its tiny display. I squinted. It showed a new message from the SOS e-mail account.
    “They have a blog?” Well, it wasn’t a website, but close enough. And just as bad.
    Kira pushed in next to me. “Really? That’s awesome. Why didn’t we think of that?”
    “Because we were top secret, stupid,” Leona snapped.
    “Or maybe you didn’t know how to set up a blog,” Kira shot back.
    Leona scoffed, brushing her bangs away from her face. “Please, blogs are so easy to set up, even you could do it. And we both know how hopeless you are with technology. Hello, Facebook disaster of sophomore year.”
    “I’ve been working on it!” Kira shouted back.
    My brain was going fuzzy with tension overload when the bathroom door swung open, nailing Leona on the shoulder.
    “What the hell?” she screamed. The culprit behind the swinging door was Chloe Ferril.
    Chloe’s red mouth spread into a sarcastic grin as she looked from face to face. “Did they relocate cheer practice to the bathroom now?” She laughed to herself and waltzed in, her boots echoing through the tiled room. “Probably a good idea, since your routines are shit.”
    Kira growled under her breath as Chloe elbowed past us into the handicapped stall and closed the door. Leona came to stand next to me, rubbing her shoulder. “Are you setting up the surveillance?” she whispered in my ear, nodding toward the closed metal door. “I just know it’s her. Bitch hit me with a door.”
    “And my routines rock,” Kira hissed quietly, biting at her nail and sidling up next to me. “We just need more practice. God, I hate her. You should totally fight her again, Tess. Only this time, kick her ass.”
    I darted a glance at her. I felt a hand on my shoulder as Izzie joined us. “I can’t believe she’s using the handicap stall,” she whispered. “That’s so tacky. She’s not even disabled.”
    The toilet flushed with a loud whoosh , and we scattered to our respective sinks, as though we hadn’t been loitering.
    “Ready for homecoming?” Chloe asked, stepping up behind Kira and me to run her hands under the water.
    “I’m not a cheerleader, remember?” I answered, holding her stare.
    She turned off the faucet before shaking out her hands into the sink. “That’s right.” She winked. “Forgot.”
    She moved back, studying her reflection as she brushed