[on hiatus] Metamorphosis of a Mean Girl (How To Rule Your High School Part 2)

Chapter 6: Fallout

I'd hugged my arms around myself through the entire evening, as Vicky's father detailed how we were all going to proceed after "Dakota's" article. He was terrifying, with his sharply cut suit and impeccably knotted tie. As he went over just how he was going to serve the school with papers alleging defamation and libel on my behalf, suddenly Victoria's plan seemed like it was spiralling wildly out of control.

You need to stop this, I texted her, my fingers shaking as I typed it out. My father was asking Mr. Carrington whether or not they should be demanding Dakota's expulsion and serve her with a civil lawsuit, too. My mother was smoothing my hair, caught between fretting over me and making sure the men were plied with dad's best scotch.

Calm down.

Vicky pinned me with a glare from across the room, where she sat beside her dad, her face as hawklike and shrewd as his. Brett sat beside me, tense at the edge of his seat, his hands fisted against his mouth as his elbows rested on his knees. Even though my entire family was in the room, I'd never felt more alone in my life.

If only I'd never gotten out of Brandon's car.

"Maybe...maybe we should just wait," I managed finally, my voice as sticky as glue in my throat. Mr. Carrington, glanced at me for the barest of moments before he continued to talk with dad as if I hadn't said anything.

"I'm gonna take Madison upstairs," Victoria announced, "Today has been a lot."

"I'll send up some dinner." My mom patted my head, her eyes brimming with tears while the rest of her face barely moved from all her Botox.

Brett followed Victoria and me up the stairs, his footsteps as weighty as the scowl that hadn't left his face since I'd walked in.

"Why don't you go find us that food," Vicky said to Brett, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. "I'll get this one into comfies and we can just watch some TV or something."

Brett blinked at Vicky as if he'd been lost in thought before he scrubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, maybe you could. I need to talk to Maddie." When Vicky didn't move, he added, "Alone."

His eyes found mine, hard and unrelenting, and my stomach dropped. I gulped a swallow, my tears as close to the surface as they'd been all day.

Vicky's arm tensed around my shoulders, but her expression remained as gentle and peachy as it had been since she'd addressed Brett. "Now? I think Maddie's been through enough today." She didn't wait for Brett's reply and wheeled me around, leading me into my room.

"Vic–"

"Food, babe." Vicky said over her shoulder, before she closed the door behind us. Her arm left my shoulders as she whirled me to face her.

"You need to get it together," she whispered, her blue eyes wide and incredulous. "This is kiddie stuff compared to what I have in mind for the bastard who played you."

"But–" I began, my chest tight.

"But nothing." She shook my shoulders. "The world doesn't take teenaged girls seriously, Maddie, so what do we do? We make them listen. We make them pay attention. We make the ones who hurt us pay."

My shoulders crumpled, cowed by her grip and her words. I stared down at the carpet as it blurred beneath my tears.

"Welcome to the big leagues, kid. You said you were in. You can't back down now." She shook her head at me, her jaw set. "Please don't tell me you told someone."

"I didn't! But anyone could have seen us giving that USB to–"

Vicky's face had relaxed the moment I'd confirmed that I hadn't told anyone. "Ernie MacMillan won't talk. Not if Harvard is on the line." She turned away to riffle through my dresser and pull out a pair of sweatpants and a loose cotton tee. "Change. And take a breath, will you? The world isn't ending just because Daddy's filing papers."