After her last class, she went outside and there was Jeanie standing with Kade and a bunch of his friends, laughing. Anger swelled through her as she stalked over to the group and stood right in front of Jeanie, glaring at her. “I know you’re behind this, Jeanie Francis.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jeanie insisted, but a smirk covered her face.
“So it looks like your cousin got caught cheating, huh? That’s too bad.” Kade laughed. “Gosh, I’m so sorry about that.” Sarcasm dripped from his words.
Before she had a chance to correct the jerk, Angela came hurrying up and stood beside her. Her face was pinched in fury. “Jeanie, this is low. Even for you. I know you did this. Blake would not copy someone else’s work. He’s not like that.”
“Of course he did. Mrs. Grimshaw had the paper to prove he did. The evidence wouldn’t lie, would it?” If it was even possible, Jeanie’s smirk widened, threatening to split her face.
“I’m going to prove he didn’t do this.” Angela crossed her arms, staring daggers at both Jeanie and Kade. “And then, whoever is behind this will pay the price.”
“Right.” Kade tossed out a hard, mean bark of a laugh. “You just go ahead and prove that.”
“Come on, Kade. I’m tired of these…losers.” Jeanie took Kade’s arm, and they walked away with his friends, all of them laughing.
Angela turned to her, bright spots of red highlighting her cheeks. “You know Blake didn’t cheat, don’t you? You believe him.”
“Of course I do.” She sighed. “But someone hacked his SupremeMax Drive account, too. This fake paper is on the drive and the one he wrote is gone.”
“Oh, no. How did that happen?”
“He used areallysimple password.” She rolled her eyes. “Angela.”
“Oh… no.” Her blush threatened to take over her whole face now.
“Oh, yes. My cousin is really smart… except when he isn’t.”
“So how can we prove he didn’t really do this?” Angela frowned.
“I have no idea.” Anger and panic engulfed her at the injustice of everything. Blake didn’t cheat, but they had no way to prove it.
Heather sat at Jimmy’s, waiting for Livy. She’d made these dinner plans yesterday, but now what she really wanted was to stay with Blake. But Jesse decided to take him out on The Destiny’s dinner cruise, so both of them headed out for the evening. And going out on The Destiny would hopefully keep Blake busy and lift his spirits some. Maybe.
He was so upset that he couldn’t prove that he was telling the truth. Though both she and Jesse believed him. So did Emily. They just needed proof to show the school. But it appeared that wasn’t going to happen.
Livy slid onto the chair across from her. “Sorry I’m late. Oh, my gosh. Emily told me what happened to Blake. That’s terrible.”
“It is. And to make matters worse, when I first heard what happened, I was uncertain. Blake said he didn’t do it, but I was afraid I’d be one of those enabling parents. You know the ones. The parents who fix everything for their kids and never make them take the consequences. I kept second-guessing myself.” She took another sip of her beer. “Not Jesse, though. He immediately believed what Blake was saying. I should have been like Jesse.”
“Hey, parenting isn’t easy. We try and do the best we can. And those hovering, enabling parents drive me crazy. Their kids grow up thinking they can get away with everything.” Livy shook her head.
“But even though I believe Blake is innocent, I don’t think there’s any way we can prove the truth.”
“Prove the truth about what?” Austin walked up to their table.
Livy jumped up and threw her arms around him. “You’re back. I didn’t think you were returning for days.”
“I missed you.” He wrapped his arms around Livy and held her close for a moment. “I went by Parker’s and Donna told me you two were meeting here for dinner.”
“Sit. Join us.” Heather motioned to a seat.
“You sure I’m not interrupting a girls’ night?”
“Not at all.”
“How’s your mom doing?” Livy asked as she and Austin sat down.
“She’s holding her own. Still weak. But not getting worse. They have her on some new meds that seem to help her pain but make her groggy, so she doesn’t like to take them.”
