Fire with Fire

I’VE THOUGHT ABOUT QUITTING YEARBOOK committee a few times, but I keep telling myself to stick with it, even though I haven’t gotten to do any photo collages yet. It’s hard, because the fun jobs are already taken, and even if you ask if you can help, they pretend not to hear you.

The only person who hasn’t totally ignored me is a sophomore named Marisa Viola. She goes over all the page proofs, looking for formatting errors or misspellings in the text. I pulled a chair up to her desk and read over her shoulder. She’s super fast, and she’s circling things in her red pencil before I can even notice them, but I think it’s still good to have a second set of eyes looking out for mistakes.

After our Monday meeting, I decide to pop over to the library so I can take out one of those grammar and punctuation books. That’ll definitely help me do a better job.

On my way there, I pass by the gym offices. Coach Christy’s door is open. She’s having a heated conversation with someone. And then I see Rennie, sitting on her knees in one of Coach Christy’s chairs. She ducked out of yearbook early. All Rennie does is obsessively look through homecoming pictures and leave early. I swear, I don’t understand why she even bothers.

As soon as I pass by, I press myself up to the wall and listen.

“Rennie, you didn’t even show for the entire last month of our cheer practices,” Coach Christy says with a sigh. “You’re not exactly in good standing with me at the moment. You understand that, right?”

“Why do you think that is? Because of Lillia! How could I be around someone who’d steal homecoming queen from me?”

I hear Coach Christy’s chair creak, like she’s leaning way back. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, Rennie. I counted the ballots myself. I was the only one to touch them. Lillia Cho won homecoming queen fair and square.”

I expect Rennie to back down, to listen to reason, but the exact opposite happens. With an unwavering voice, she says, “I won homecoming queen. I did. I’ve asked, like, everyone who they voted for, and, like, ninety-nine percent of the population said me. All I’m saying is that if we had a revote, you’d see. I’ll pay to get the ballots printed up myself!”

“Rennie, please let this go. You and Lillia have been friends for a long time. You don’t want to let something as petty as who won some cheap plastic tiara ruin your friendship, do you?”

Rennie laughs. She laughs and it sends shivers down my spine. “There is no friendship. And you can tell me all you want that perfect little Lillia had nothing to do with me getting screwed over that night, but I’ll never believe you. Also, you suck as a cheering coach and your routines are all tired and nobody likes the music you pick for the halftime routines!”

In a flash Rennie’s flying past me down the hall.

It scares me to know that Rennie figured out what we did. But thank God there’s no way she can prove it.