The side parking lot sat behind the auditorium, past the equipment shed and the old media room, where Briarwick shoved clubs it wanted to brag about but did not actually want to fund.

Photography club met there on Mondays.

Bianca’s white SUV was parked near the curb.

Roxie stopped beside it.

Karen stopped with her.

Neither of them touched the car. Neither of them spoke. They just stood there in the heat, practice bags on their shoulders, sweat cooling on their skin, both of them watching the side door.

Waiting.

A few students passed near the main lot, laughing too loudly about Homecoming plans. Somewhere behind the gym, a car honked twice. Normal school noise carried around them, but the side lot felt separate from it.

Then the side door opened.

Lily came out first, head bent over her phone, laughing at something on the screen.

Bianca followed behind her.

Lily looked up first, and whatever she was laughing at disappeared from her face.

Bianca noticed the change and lifted her eyes.

They landed on Roxie and Karen waiting beside the white SUV.

For one second, Bianca forgot to smile.

It was small. Barely there. The kind of pause most people would have missed.

Roxie did not miss it.

Karen did not either.

Roxie tilted her head, letting Bianca see that she had noticed.

Then she smirked.

Bianca recovered fast, but not fast enough. Her mouth curved into that soft, sweet smile she wore when she wanted everyone to think she was above the room, above the drama, above every ugly thing she had ever done.

Too bad the side parking lot was almost empty.

No real audience.

No crowd to perform innocence for.

Lily slowed near the front of the SUV, eyes moving between Roxie and Karen. "What are you doing here?"

Karen smiled. "Waiting."

Lily’s expression tightened. "For what?"

Roxie looked past her, straight at Bianca. "For her."

Bianca adjusted the white cardigan over her arm. "That’s embarrassing."

"Is it?"

"A little." Bianca’s gaze moved over Roxie’s practice clothes, the sweat at her hairline, the dust on her shoes. "Following me after practice? Kind of desperate, Jones."

Roxie pushed off the SUV and took one step closer. "Say it to my face."

Bianca blinked, then laughed lightly. "Say what?"

"The rumor you started."

Lily shifted beside her. "You’re insane."

Roxie did not look at Lily. "I’m not talking to the backup singer."

Karen made a quiet sound that almost became a laugh.

Lily’s cheeks colored.

Bianca’s smile stayed in place, but her eyes cooled. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Yes, you do." Roxie stepped closer. "The rumor about my mom. Say it to my face."

For a moment, Bianca said nothing.

The late sun caught the side of her face, making her look soft from a distance. Pretty. Harmless. Exactly the kind of girl adults believed because she knew when to widen her eyes and lower her voice.

Then her mouth curved.

"Why?" Bianca asked. "Did it hit close?"

Roxie’s whole body went still.

Karen moved beside her. "Careful."

Bianca looked at Karen. "Or what?"

"Or you’ll find out."

Lily scoffed. "Oh my God, you two are so dramatic."

Roxie’s eyes stayed on Bianca. "You’re pathetic."

Bianca’s smile sharpened. "And you’re predictable."

"Am I?"

"Yes. You hear one little thing and come running like I personally ruined your life." Bianca tilted her head. "Maybe you should ask yourself why everyone believed it so fast."

Roxie hated that the words hurt.

She hated that Bianca knew where to aim.

She hated that her first instinct was to defend Claire. Claire barely defended herself, but she was still her mother, and Bianca saying it in that sugary voice made Roxie want to rip the smile off her face.

Karen stepped forward. "You need help."

Bianca’s eyes flicked to her. "And you need to stop pretending this has anything to do with you."

"It became my business when you started talking about people who don’t bother you."

Lily laughed. "Please. You love being involved. All of you do. That’s why you follow Bianca around and act like victims."

Roxie finally looked at her. "Nobody followed Bianca until she started acting like Zac’s rejection was a full-time career."

Bianca’s face changed.

Her voice dropped. "What did you say?"

Roxie smiled. "I said you’re obsessed. It’s sad. Zac dumped you, and now you’re spending your free time cutting uniforms and spreading rumors like that’s going to make him miss you."

Bianca stepped forward so fast Lily reached for her arm and missed.

"He did not dump me."

Roxie’s smile widened.

"No?" Roxie asked. "That’s not what it looks like."

Bianca’s eyes flashed. "I left him."

"Sure."

"I did."

"Then why are you still orbiting him like a dead satellite?"

Karen muttered, "That was good."

Lily snapped, "Shut up."

"You thought he was going to chase you? Please. You’re just mad because he stopped wanting you," Roxie said. "You’re mad because he looked at me and you couldn’t stand it. So you went after my hair, my uniform, my friends, and now my mom."

Bianca’s nostrils flared.

Roxie lowered her voice. "That is desperate."

Bianca stepped close enough that Roxie could smell the vanilla on her lip gloss.

Roxie expected a slap.

She did not expect Bianca’s hand to shoot into her hair.

Pain burst across Roxie’s scalp as Bianca grabbed a fistful of curls and yanked hard enough to drag her forward.

Roxie choked on a sound.

Karen shouted, "Bianca!"

Roxie’s bag hit the pavement. Her hands flew up, grabbing Bianca’s wrist, but Bianca pulled again and Roxie’s balance broke. They slammed against the side of the SUV, then stumbled away from it, shoes scraping over the asphalt.

"Get off me!" Roxie snapped.

Bianca’s face was twisted now, all the sweetness gone. "Say it again."

Roxie shoved at her shoulder. "You got dumped, you psycho."

Bianca screamed and yanked harder.

Roxie hissed through her teeth, then grabbed the front of Bianca’s cardigan and pulled her in hard.

Bianca’s eyes widened.

Roxie drove her knee into Bianca’s stomach.

Bianca folded with a sharp gasp, but she did not let go.

They went down together.

Roxie’s hip slammed against the pavement. Bianca landed half on top of her, still gripping her hair like she wanted to rip it out by the roots.

Roxie grabbed a fistful of Bianca’s hair and pulled back.

Bianca shrieked.

"Get off me!" Roxie snapped.

"You’re trash," Bianca spat, face twisted close to hers. "Your whole family is trash."

Roxie pulled harder.

Bianca’s head jerked back, but her hand tightened in Roxie’s curls.

For one sharp second, Roxie saw the pavement beside Bianca’s face.

Gray. Rough. Close.

The thought came fast and violent.

She could slam her head down.

Just once.

Hard enough to make Bianca stop talking.

Roxie’s stomach turned, but her hand did not let go. She pulled harder instead, dragging Bianca sideways until Bianca’s shoulder hit the asphalt.

Bianca scratched at Roxie’s cheek.

Roxie felt skin split.

Then she stopped thinking.

She shoved Bianca down by the cardigan, climbing half over her as Bianca kicked and twisted under her.

"Say something about my mom again," Roxie breathed.

Bianca bucked under her. "Get off me, you psycho."

"Say it."

Bianca tried to slap her.

Roxie caught her arm and twisted.

Beside them, Lily screamed, "Bianca!"

Karen blocked her before she could reach them.

Lily shoved Karen hard in the chest. "Move!"

Karen smiled like Lily had just made her entire day worse in the best possible way. "Make me."

Lily swung.

Karen ducked, grabbed her cardigan, and drove her backward into the SUV. The impact made the car alarm chirp once.

Lily gasped.

Karen leaned in. "Bad choice."

Bianca kicked again, and Roxie lost her balance.

They rolled.

Hair came loose. Nails scraped skin. Someone’s elbow hit Roxie’s mouth, and she tasted blood.

By then, students were running from the side of the gym.

"Oh my God!"

"Fight!"

"Is that Roxie?"

"Record it!"

Phones went up.

Roxie heard them, but it felt far away. Bianca was standing now, dragging Roxie up by her hair, pulling her left, then right, like she wanted everyone watching to see Roxie bent and hurting.

Roxie grabbed Bianca’s hair with both hands and yanked back.

Bianca screamed.

Roxie shoved her against the SUV door.

The alarm exploded for real this time, shrieking across the lot.

Bianca slapped at Roxie’s face. Roxie pulled again, harder than before.

Something came loose in her hand.

A clump of Bianca’s hair.

For half a second, Roxie stared at it.

Bianca stared too.

Then Bianca lunged with a scream so sharp people backed up.

Lily tried to run toward Bianca again, but Karen caught her by the wrist and twisted her away from Roxie.

"Stay out of it," Karen snapped.

Lily grabbed Karen’s hair with her free hand.

Karen’s face changed.

"Oh, now you’re brave?"

A door banged open from the media room.

"Girls!"

Ms. Alvarez came running from the building, folders flying from one arm. Behind her, two photography club members stood frozen in the doorway, eyes huge.

Coach Miller appeared behind the crowd, already shouting.

"Back up! Phones down!"

Nobody listened fast enough.

Bianca still had Roxie’s hair.

Roxie still had Bianca’s cardigan twisted in one fist and the clump of hair in the other.

Karen had Lily pinned by the wrist against the SUV, breathing hard.

The car alarm screamed over all of them.

Ms. Alvarez stopped in front of them, horrified.

"Office," she said. "All of you. Now."

Roxie slowly let go of Bianca’s cardigan.

Bianca slowly let go of Roxie’s hair.

Karen released Lily’s wrist like it had burned her.

The alarm kept shrieking.

Students whispered behind their phones.

Bianca stood there, breathing hard, face red and furious in a way no amount of white cardigan could fix.

Roxie pushed herself fully upright, scalp stinging, shoulder burning, hair half out of its tie. Her cheek hurt. Her mouth tasted like blood. Her fingers were still closed around Bianca’s hair.

Their eyes met over the noise.

Bianca’s mouth trembled with rage.

Roxie smiled through the pain.

Because for once, Bianca did not look untouchable.

She looked caught.