Snitch by Kat Kirst

shoulders over and over dramatically proving to everyone how hard he was attempting to control himself .
    “You’re right. You’re right.” There was more laughter as hands slapped his back, con gratulatin g him on his decision. “I don’t need to do this. I’ll take one for the team.”
    They slapped mine too.
    “Shake?” Seth asked as he extended his hand.
    I stood still, anger refusing to let me move.
    “Good decision, boys,” Johnny piped up, grabbing my hand and inserting it into Seth’s sweaty palm. Our hands pumped up and down as the team grunted approval.
    “Lighten up,” Johnny whispered, leaning into my ear again. “It’s over.”
    I stepped back from the fight, exhaling air and an ger at the same time.
    It wasn’t over.

 
TTTT
     
    I stayed as far from Seth as I could the next few days. Whenever I had to be in the same room with him, I pretended he just wasn’t there. I didn’t make eye contact; I didn’t react to his presence. I tolerated him.
    “What are you going to do at practice?” Liz asked me.
    I remembered my bicycle chain. “Work on skills,” I said. “I’ll just focus on skills.”
    Liz put her arms around me and gave me a quick kiss. “Good boy,” she said.
    “Break it up!” Mrs. Mason called through the hallway. “Hands off the girl.” I smiled at Liz and pulled away , noticing her blush for the first time as Mrs. Mason wove through kids walking to lockers and classes to get over to us. “What do you know about Kate? When is she coming back?”
    Liz shook her head. “I really don’t know. It’s been pretty awful. Between the pep assembly and the internet…”
    “I can’t believe any of it , ” Mrs. Mason put her arm around Liz. “I’m so sorry. Tell her that.”
    “I will. The police are looking into who published the F acebook page about her. It’s been reported and blocked, and they’re pretty sure they can trace it , but the tweets—you can’t stop those.” Liz shrugged. “ I don’t know when Kate ’s coming back or even if she’s coming back.”
    Mrs. Mason shook her head.
    “What are kids thinking these days? This whole thing has been horrible, just horrible. You tell her we miss her and want her back. Tell her how sorry everyone is.”
    “I will,” Liz said. “Thanks.”
    Mrs. Mason left us and returned to her post outside her door, her face pinched into a mask of concern . Mr. Jones joined her at her door and the two leaned into each other talking. From the look on Mr. Jones’ face, Mrs. Mason wasn’t the only one who was upset about the whole thing.
    “Are you going to be able to talk tonight?” I asked Liz. The past few nights she had been busy with Kate. It was selfish, but I missed her.
    “I’m going back over to Kate’s, but I’ll call you around six. I need to be over there; there’s supposed to be some sort of meeting with the school today. Lots of people are being interviewed, including our favorite friend, Seth.”
    “That’s one meeting I would love to see,” I said, remembering the last time Mr. Perkins and Seth’s dad “talked . ”
    “Well, lots of people are involved. There were over a hundred posts the first day, most of them against Kate. Only near the end of the day were people trying to support her.”
    “It was pretty brutal,” I agreed.
    “It was pretty organized is what it was. Too many people posted pro-Seth. It took a while for the other side to post. Lots of kids in this school don’t like him very much because he’s picked on them too. He’s not all that nice to everyone, you know.”
    I had to agree with that. Seth made bullying a daily exercise.
    “I guess they’ve pretty much figured out it was Chrissy who set up the F acebook account, and if it was , I wouldn’t want to be her.”
    “Kate’s parents are pretty mad, huh?”
    “Mad? That doesn’t even begin to describe it. You know how school’s been lecturing us about cyber bullying? Well, Kate’s parents are demanding they follow