Chapter 359 - Held High

Chapter 359: Chapter 359 - Held High

The Nationals banner was still hanging above the main entrance when Roxie walked into school the next morning.

BRIARWICK NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

The letters stretched across the lobby above a photograph of the team holding their trophy, all of them smiling like nothing in the world could touch them. It was a day that should have stayed with the school longer than a few days.

No other team had ever brought a national title back to Briarwick High before them.

Now Roxie barely saw anyone looking at it.

Everyone was looking at their phones, and she knew exactly what they were watching.

Karen had sent her the first video before Roxie even got out of bed. By the time she finished getting dressed, there were already six different versions circulating. One showed Steve talking about Bianca paying him for Claire’s pictures.

Another started when Zac walked toward him. Someone had slowed down the part where Steve stumbled backward, while another account had zoomed in on the stain spreading across his pants before he ran.

The worst clips were the ones with captions written by people who suddenly thought they knew everything.

PRESCOTT ALMOST BEATS REEVES EMPLOYEE AT FAMILY HOTEL.

BIANCA REEVES CONNECTED TO ANOTHER BRIARWICK SCANDAL?

FIRST ANGELA HART, NOW ROXIE JONES. WHAT IS HAPPENING AT BRIARWICK?

Angela’s name was back in it even though she hadn’t been anywhere near the Reeves Grand.

Roxie hated that most.

She had almost convinced herself Angela would stay home again, but when she reached their usual hallway, Angela was already standing beside Karen with her bag pressed against her chest. She had tied her hair back and traded the oversized sweatshirt for one of their Briarwick Cheer jackets, although she kept tugging the zipper higher whenever students passed.

Roxie felt her heart pang. She stopped in front of them. "You came."

Angela gave her a tired look. "I came because apparently my best friends decided to do something stupid again without me."

Roxie and Karen looked at each other.

Neither of them had a good defense.

They had gone to the Reeves Grand trying to find out whether Bianca really got Claire’s pictures from Steve. Instead, they had managed to drag Angela’s name back into another exploding scandal.

Roxie reached for Angela’s hand. "We just wanted to know if Bianca really got the pictures from him. We didn’t mean to make everything worse."

Angela sighed and squeezed her fingers. "We can’t undo it now."

Karen bit her lip before pulling out her phone. "It got worse."

She handed it to Angela.

Roxie leaned closer and stared at the screen.

A repost of the video had already passed two hundred thousand views.

"What the fuck?"

Angela gave Karen the phone back almost immediately. "My name is in the comments again."

Guilt twisted harder inside Roxie. She reached over, locked the screen and shoved the phone toward Karen. "Stop reading them. We’re sorry, Angela."

"It’s not your fault." Angela looked toward the Nationals banner hanging farther down the hall. "Nobody even cares that we won anymore."

That made Roxie quiet.

Karen stopped chewing her gum.

Angela gave a small laugh, but there was no humor in it. "We spent how many months training? We went to Nationals, we actually fucking won, and now whenever somebody talks about our team, it’s because everybody saw my tits."

"Angela."

"It’s true."

Roxie looked around because she wanted badly to argue, but the hallway made it difficult. A group of sophomores near the stairs were watching one of the Steve videos. Someone whispered Bianca’s name as they passed. Two boys farther down looked toward Angela before immediately pretending they had been discussing something else when a teacher came near them.

The trophy case beside the main office had already been rearranged so their Nationals trophy sat proudly in the center.

Almost nobody stopped to look.

Roxie felt anger settling in her stomach again.

Bianca had already taken Angela’s privacy, and somehow she had managed to drag their championship underneath the same mess.

"We know what we did," Roxie said.

Angela looked at her. "That’s supposed to make me feel better?"

Roxie didn’t have an answer.

Karen took her phone back and shoved it into her bag. "The videos will die eventually."

"That’s what everybody said about my picture."

Karen’s expression tightened.

Angela immediately looked guilty. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing to me."

"I’m just saying."

"I know what you’re saying."

Roxie watched both of them and felt the same exhaustion she had been carrying since yesterday. The carefree Angela who always had a sweet smile waiting on her lips seemed to have disappeared somewhere beneath all of this. She looked pale now. Tired. She frowned more than she smiled, and every time Roxie caught her pulling at her clothes or checking who was looking at her, something inside Roxie hurt.

She wanted to kill Bianca all over again.

The police were still moving slowly. Bianca was still suspended at home. Steve had admitted enough to make everything uglier without giving them anything clean enough to end it. Now the videos had pushed the entire mess outside Briarwick, where Principal Gonzalez couldn’t threaten detention every time somebody opened their mouth.

The first bell rang.

Angela looked toward their classroom and stayed where she was for several seconds. "I don’t want to go in there."

Roxie immediately tightened her hold on her hand. "We’ll be with you."

Angela looked at both of them before nodding.

By lunch, the videos had spread even farther.

Mason dropped into the seat across from Roxie and Zac with his phone already in his hand. "You’re famous."

Zac looked up from his food. "Fuck off."

"I’m serious. Somebody edited dramatic music over Steve running away."

Karen sat beside Mason. "I saw that one."

Roxie stared at both of them. "Why are you watching them?"

"Because everyone else is," Mason said.

"That’s a terrible reason."

"It had three hundred thousand views." He glanced back down at his phone. "And I looked good in this one. Think I’m gonna be discovered?"

Zac took Mason’s phone and turned it facedown on the table. "Discovered as ugly, maybe."

Mason looked offended. "Just because the comments are calling you the perfect man doesn’t mean you can slander me."

Angela arrived a few seconds later and stopped when she saw them sitting at the cheer table. "Why are you here?"

Mason looked around at the other cheerleaders, who seemed perfectly content to let them stay. "Apparently I’ve been adopted."

Zac shrugged. "Against my will."

Angela sat beside Karen, and for a little while nobody mentioned the videos.

That lasted maybe thirty seconds.

Angela looked toward the other end of the cheer table where Kendall sat with Ava and several girls from the team. Most of them were still wearing their championship jackets. A few tables away, somebody was watching one of the Steve clips loudly enough that his voice carried through the cafeteria.

Angela lowered her eyes.

Roxie noticed immediately.

"So," Mason said, jumping into the silence, "anybody want to hear how Kyle almost failed his history quiz?"

Karen looked at him. "No."

"He wrote Abraham Lincoln for three different questions."

Angela gave a weak laugh.

Roxie appreciated the attempt.

Then someone behind them whispered Angela’s name and Angela heard it.

Her smile disappeared so quickly, it was heartbreaking.

Roxie turned around so quickly the students behind them immediately looked away.

"Keep talking," Zac said quietly.

Roxie looked back at the table.

Angela was staring down at her food, her eyes already wet.

Roxie reached for her hand. "Hey."

Angela shook her head. "I’m fine."

Karen sighed. "That word is seriously pissing me off."

"Karen."

Angela wiped beneath one eye before the tear could fall. "I’m just tired."

Karen’s expression softened. "Then tell us you’re tired. Tell us you’re pissed. Tell us whatever the hell you actually feel."

Angela looked around the cafeteria. "How else would I feel? Everyone’s looking at me."

Roxie followed her gaze.

Some people were.

Plenty weren’t, but Roxie understood why that didn’t matter once your brain convinced you every pair of eyes was on you. She remembered living like that herself, constantly wondering what people knew, what they had heard and whether every laugh across the room had something to do with her.

Roxie moved closer and wrapped an arm around Angela. "Look at us."

Angela turned toward her.

"Forget them for a minute. Look at us."

Angela gave her a shaky smile and wiped at her eye again. "I hate this."

Roxie squeezed her hand. "I know."

"We were supposed to come back from Nationals and everybody was supposed to talk about us winning."

Her voice shook harder.

Karen moved closer on her other side.

Angela stared down at the Briarwick Cheer logo stitched across her jacket. "Now every time they look at me, I know what they’re thinking about."

Guilt twisted through Roxie’s chest.

Yesterday had made everything worse. They had gone to the Reeves Grand looking for answers about Claire, and instead the videos had connected Angela’s name to another scandal. Roxie knew none of this was Angela’s fault, but she understood why Angela felt like she had ruined something for all of them.

A chair scraped farther down the table.

Kendall stood.

Roxie watched her start toward them and immediately felt her shoulders tense. Whatever expression was on Kendall’s face didn’t look comforting.

Roxie stood before she reached them and gave her a warning look.

Kendall only lifted one eyebrow and kept coming.

Angela looked up when she stopped beside the table. "Kendall..."

Kendall stared at her wet eyes before looking around the cafeteria.

"Wipe your fucking tears."

Angela blinked.

Roxie frowned. "Kendall."

Kendall ignored her. "I said wipe them."

Karen stared at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"A lot, actually."

"Kendall." Angela started but froze.

Roxie stepped slightly between them. "Watch your mouth."

Kendall looked at Roxie, then Karen, before turning back to Angela. "You think I’m happy about this? You think I like walking through school and hearing people talk about your picture instead of Nationals?"

Angela’s face crumpled slightly.

Roxie’s anger rose immediately. "That isn’t her fault."

"I know."

Kendall answered so quickly that Roxie stopped.

Kendall looked directly at Angela. "That’s exactly why I’m pissed."

Angela stared at her.

"We spent months getting our asses kicked in practice. We trained until people were crying, throwing up and limping home. We went to Nationals with people waiting for Briarwick to screw up, and we won. We fucking won, Angela."

Angela wiped at her face.

"Bianca already took enough from you," Kendall continued. "Now you’re going to sit here and let her decide how everybody remembers you too?"

Angela’s lips parted, but nothing came out.

Kendall leaned closer. "You want this school to pity one of its national champions?"

Angela looked away.

Kendall’s voice hardened. "Look at me."

Angela slowly raised her eyes.

"You want them to remember you like this, or do you want them to remember you as one of the girls who brought the first national championship back to this school?"

The cafeteria around them had gotten quieter.

Roxie could feel people listening now.

Kendall noticed too, and instead of lowering her voice, she straightened.

"You did nothing wrong. Bianca did. So stop walking around like you’re the one who should be fucking ashamed."

Angela’s eyes filled again.

Kendall pointed at her face. "And wipe those tears."

Angela let out something between a laugh and a sob. "You’re such a bitch."

"Yeah."

Kendall grabbed a napkin from the table and shoved it toward her.

Angela took it.

Kendall looked down at the championship jacket she was wearing and tugged lightly at the Briarwick logo near her shoulder. "Keep your fucking head high."

Angela stared at her.

"I’m serious. Bianca already got enough. I’m not letting everybody forget what we did because Bianca Reeves is a psycho."

Chairs scraped behind Kendall.

Ava and the other cheerleaders started getting up.

For a second Roxie thought they were coming over because Kendall had gone too far, but Ava stepped beside Angela and put an arm around her shoulders.

"She’s right."

Another teammate came around the other side. "We’re here."

Angela’s face folded again, but this time when she cried, Roxie didn’t feel the same panic.

The girls surrounded her.

Some rubbed her back. One hugged her from behind. Another reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

The cheer team had fought plenty over the year. They had screamed at each other during practices, gotten irritated, competed and said things they regretted.

But when one of them fell, the others always seemed to close around her.

Angela looked at Kendall through her tears. "Thank you."

Kendall made a disgusted face. "Fuck you."

Angela laughed.

Roxie did too.

Kendall turned away like she had already spent more than enough time being emotional, which only made the girls laugh harder while Angela wiped her cheeks.

Karen looked toward Roxie. "She has a very weird way of helping."

Angela sniffed. "I still kind of want to punch her."

Mason nodded seriously. "That probably means it worked."

Zac looked around at the cheerleaders surrounding Angela. "I’m scared of all of you."

Roxie ignored him and watched Angela.

After the girls slowly returned to their seats, Angela took a deep breath and pulled the zipper of her cheer jacket down from where she had been hiding behind it.

Then she looked around the cafeteria.

People were still watching.

This time, Angela looked back.

She straightened her shoulders before picking up her fork again.

The scandal was still there. Bianca was still sitting somewhere at home. The videos were still spreading, and none of them knew what the police were going to do next.

But Angela started eating again with her head up.

For the first time that day, Roxie looked toward the Nationals banner visible through the cafeteria doors and thought maybe Bianca hadn’t taken everything after all.