Free Forsaken by Dean Murray

Maybe you should just ignore them
and let it all blow over."
    If
he'd actually wanted to keep me from knowing he should have told me
they weren't saying anything.
    "Please,
just tell me."
    Isaac
sighed and then pointed down the hall. "Maybe I should just show
you."
    There
was a large bulletin board hanging between the elevators. Normally I
just ignored it, but Isaac walked straight to it, pulled down a hot
pink flyer, and handed it to me. It was a picture of me, but not just
any picture. Somehow someone had gotten ahold of the picture I'd had
taken just a couple of days ago, the one with the ridiculously
expensive sweater that Rachel had bought me. Below the picture was
the caption, 'Will Slut for Sweaters.'
    I
literally saw red for a few seconds. I closed my eyes, counted to
ten, and then turned to Isaac. "Who was it? I know you'll have
overheard enough to know which of those spoiled brats did this."
    It
was obvious that Isaac didn't want to come clean.
    "Adri,
this kind of thing never goes down like you think it will. If you let
her pull you into a mudslinging contest you're just going to regret
it in the end."
    He
was right. It really, really pissed me off, but he was right. There
was absolutely nothing that I could do that would punish her like she
needed to be punished. I could start nasty counter-rumors or convince
Isaac to hack into her tablet, but that would just invite more
problems and another round of retaliations.
    "Just
tell me who it was."
    "It
was Lexus."
    I
took a couple of deep, calming breaths, pulled the flyer out of
Isaac's hand, and hit the elevator call button.
    "Can
I ask where we're going?"
    "We're
going to tell the administration about these flyers and then we're
going to go from floor to floor and pull the rest of them down."
    The
office secretary promised to quietly get the staff and faculty to
confiscate any flyers they saw, which I knew was probably still a
losing battle, but at least it would force Lexus and her friends to
be more circumspect.
    I
thanked the secretary and then headed to the top floor of the school
and started working my way down. Isaac tromped along behind me,
obviously hoping that I wasn't going to try and push him into helping
with some kind of scheme to get even with Lexus and her friends.
    The
second floor was the worst; the bulletin board there was completely
covered with the hateful hot pink abominations. By the time we got
down to the first floor, I had a stack a quarter of an inch thick,
and I was even angrier than I'd been when we left the office.
    As
I pulled down the last flyer and threw the stack into the trash, I
saw a green poster off on one side of the front door. There was
something about it that caught my eye, but I couldn't place it until
I was standing right in front of the poster. It was for a band called
Fatal Angst and featured a list of show dates and locations, but that
wasn't what was tickling the back of my mind.
    There
was a picture of the lead singer down one side and he looked
alarmingly familiar. I tugged on Isaac's arm, causing him to look up
from the book he'd opened up almost as soon as we'd stopped moving.
    "Isaac,
does the guy on this poster look familiar to you?"
    "Hmm?
Yeah, I guess he does. He looks kind of like Albert from back home."
    I
was suddenly sure that it really was Albert. I'd almost forgotten
that he was in a band. He'd said they were starting to get some heat
down in Vegas, but I never would have guessed that they were going to
blow up like this.
    "We're
going to this show, Isaac. I mean I'm going. You can come if you
want, but I'm definitely going."
    "Okay.
I'll go online and check for tickets tonight. Alec may as well pay
for that, too."
    It
wasn't until we were back in the elevator and headed upstairs that
Isaac looked up from his book and gave me a questioning glance.
    "Does
this mean you're over Lexus and her friends?"
    "No.
Right now I'd happily push all three of them off the top of a
building, but there's nothing I can do