8 - Reveal

“Oh my gosh,” Preeti gasped. She had been staring at Bryan but turned to me, her full lips making an “O” and her big eyes comically wide. “Are you the girl everyone’s talking about?”

“Uh—” I looked back and forth between Preeti and Ella, taking in their eager expressions. “I think this has been blown out of proportion.”

Ella’s head fell back, and her mouth dropped open. Then she laughed and looked at me. “I didn’t think we’d find out who the mystery girl was, much less eat lunch with her.”

“There’s really nothing to this,” I said. Please let that be true, or let them get over this fast. I hoped their reactions didn’t represent the whole school. Though, it seemed like the rest of the school was doing all the messaging and spreading of the gossip. It looked like Ella had scrolled through a lot of commentary. I cursed. It was not good to be the topic of discussion for an entire school. Especially one this big. That’s how you get on the bad guys’ radar.

“Oh, there’s a lot to this,” Ashley