Jake looked down. “I didn’t mean for it to be like that.”
“Intent doesn’t erase impact,” I said. “You know better.”
He did. We all did.
High school came with its own etiquette and unspoken rules. I’d grown up with kids who made a regular habit of destroyingthe reputations of others around them just to prove a point. Leaving behind private school and privilege hadn’t meant that I was abandoning everything I knew. Kids in public schools did the same shit. They just did it with less finesse.
Image was everything. Control was currency. And Frankie… she was the one thing none of us could control. None of usshouldcontrol her either. As much as I hated her sleeping with Frenchy, she had a right to do whatever she wanted.
I walked over to him slowly. Not threatening. Just close enough that he had to hear me, had to reallylisten.
“She still loves us, you know,” I said. “Not the same way, clearly. Not likethat. If she did, maybe she would have noticed us long before now. I’m not proud of it, Jake. I hate that she picked someone else. But she loved us enough to stay quiet about our secrets. Even when we messed up—hell, especially when we screwed it up. She stayed quiet. She shielded us. What did you do? Torched her reputation in front of half the damn school.”
Jake’s throat bobbed.
“But here’s the part you’re not really going to like,” I continued. “She’s still going to walk out there, head high, with people whispering, and she’s going to win. Because she’s Frankie. And you?”
I let the words settle.
“You’re the guy who couldn’t handle losing her without making sure all of us, including her, lost something too.”
Jake closed his eyes. Tight. Like maybe if he kept them shut long enough, this would all go away.
It wouldn’t.
I turned away from him and grabbed the door handle.
“You want to fix this?” I asked. “Start by apologizing. Not just for what you said. For thewhybehind it. For the part of you that thought you owned a piece of her.”
I opened the door.
“And Jake?”
He looked up.
“If you ever pull a stunt like that again…” I smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “You won’t be welcome in this house. And when I’m finished, I won’t be the only one who sees you differently.”
Then I left him there.
Because there were still people out by the pool waiting for a show. Still eyes that would follow Frankie, still mouths ready to spin stories that weren’t theirs to tell.
But I wasn’t going to let her face them alone.
Not anymore.
I found her on the patio, standing near the pool like a queen surveying her court, Rachel at one side, Mathieu at the other. People still whispered. But no one dared approach.
She looked over her shoulder when I stepped outside.
I didn’t say anything.
She didn’t need me to.
She just gave me a tiny nod. The kind that meant thanks, and don’t push your luck, and maybe, just maybe, we were still on the same team.
Frankie didn’t look at me again after that nod. She didn’t have to. At the same time, I couldn’t miss the way her spine was still locked straight, too straight. Like she’d coiled herself so tight she might shatter if anyone pushed the wrong way. The whispers had softened, sure, but they hadn’t stopped. And everyone was still watching like she was a live grenade with a mascara wand.
No.
