Free The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

that she was thinking that any second we were going to tell her to get lost. Like the way she hesitated before talking. Or the way she laughed a little too hard at everything I said. It’s weird, the feeling of power you get sometimes when you’re popular, but I guess I try to use my power for good, not evil. So I’ve been letting Kelsie Sanders hang out with us.
    Anyway, so this afternoon we were all sitting there talking about whatever when Kelsie suddenly said all dramatically, “Okay, so I have to tell you something. About Alice.”
    â€œWhat, she did it with the entire football team last weekend?” I said, fishing in my purse for my lipstick.
    â€œNo, it’s way worse. I think she got an … abortion.”
    Kelsie lowered her voice to a whisper when she said the word abortion . I let my lipstick drop.
    â€œWhat the hell?” I said, and before I could say anything else, Maggie said, “Oh God, did your mom make you protest again?” Maggie goes to the same totally whacked-out church as Kelsie, so I guess she figured out what was up.
    â€œYes,” Kelsie said, rolling her eyes. She told us how her mom was always dragging her and her little sister to the Women’s Care Clinic in the city to protest abortion and how she tried to get out of it whenever she could, but on some Saturdays she found herself standing behind the gate of the clinic, holding up posters.
    â€œLike, ones with dead babies on them?” somebody said, and Kelsie shuddered a little and said yes.
    â€œSo, what? You saw her go into the clinic?” I asked.
    â€œYeah,” Kelsie said. “Last weekend. With her mom. She didn’t see me. They just rushed in there.”
    â€œWell, maybe she was just going for a check-up?” Maggie asked.
    I arched an eyebrow. “Like they don’t have doctors in Healy who do check-ups?” Naturally, everyone agreed with me.
    â€œDo you think it was from … that night?” someone else asked.
    â€œDo the math,” I said. “My party was what, close to three months ago? Perfect timing. I’m sure it was from that night.”
    â€œAnd the really gross and scary thing is…” Kelsie continued, and for a second I could see how much she was loving this, just getting to be in the center of our little group with all of us listening to her, “… I mean, she would have no idea who the father is. Tommy or Brandon? Isn’t that so totally skanky?”
    â€œTotally,” Maggie whispered.
    â€œI can’t even believe she used to be my friend,” Kelsie said. “It’s just, like, that was another time in my life, you know?”
    â€œTotally,” I said.
    â€œSo you don’t miss her?” Maggie asked. “You don’t even feel a little sorry for her?” I thought Maggie was acting weird. I mean, Alice was responsible for Brandon Fitzsimmons dying. And it wasn’t like Alice had to sleep with him at my party.
    What Kelsie did next really surprised me. We were just standing there in that girls’ bathroom with the green-and-white tile and the scummy sinks and instead of answering Maggie, Kelsie searched through her bag until she found a black Sharpie, and she opened up the stall next to us, the middle one. She uncapped the marker and wrote right there on the wall to the left of the toilet in letters that were at least two inches high.
    ATTENTION!
    ALICE FRANKLIN IS A HO SLUT WHORE WHO DOES IT WITH EVERYBODY!!!
    We all laughed, all of us, and then I said, “My turn.”
    ALICE FRANKLIN HAS GIVEN 423 BLOW JOBS!!! NOW THAT’S A LOT OF DICK!
    I stared at the graffiti and watched how quickly the shiny Sharpie writing dulled into a permanent black stain. The other girls behind me lined up to take their turns.

Josh
    I’ve been thinking about the accident pretty much all the time. The sounds of the ambulance. The sun beating down on me as they pulled me out of the car.