Star Reporter by Tamsyn Murray

meteor to vaporize me from the planet.
    When that failed to materialize, I blinked and saw Nathan watching me. “What did they mean, Cassie?” he asked quietly. “Why did they say you’d put them on JUICE ON JUDE’S?”
    And that’s when the horrible truth dawned on me. The reason no one wanted to speak to me was because they all thought I was the person behind JOJ. They had no idea it was Kelly – they thought it was me who’d started the nasty rumours and spilled their secrets. But I couldn’t explain any of that – who would believe it was super-nice Kelly, anyway? My lower lip began to tremble. “It’s not what you think.”
    He shook his head, a disgusted expression on his face. “It’s you, isn’t it? You write JUICE ON JUDE’S.”
    The room started to spin as I fought back tears. Everywhere I looked, I saw furious faces. It was all too much.
    â€œI think I’m going to be sick,” I croaked.

Chapter Fifteen
    E-PETITION Number of signatures: 1377
    Mum didn’t ask why I was back so early, or where Liam was. She took one look at my tear-stained face, as Dad shepherded me in from the car, and took me straight upstairs to my room, where I threw myself onto my bed and howled my heart out. Sitting silently beside me, she stroked my hair until I stopped crying.
    â€œDo you want to talk about it?” she asked, offering me a mug of hot chocolate.
    Rolo reached up and licked my hand, like he was trying to make me feel better. I rubbed his head absently and shook my head at Mum. The last thing I wanted was to relive the whole horrible evening. And now on top of feeling rubbish about Hannah and Shenice, Nathan thought I was a gossiping bully. It didn’t matter how much I denied it, I could tell he thought I was too cowardly to come clean about what had really happened. All I wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up to find it had all been a dream.
    I sipped the hot chocolate, letting the rich milky sweetness soothe my frazzled nerves. Those Hogwarts professors are so right about chocolate – it really does have magical properties. But it was going to take more than hot chocolate to make everything better for me. I’d been so stupid. If only I’d kept Hannah’s secret to myself then Shenice would never have accused me of betraying her and maybe the whole school wouldn’t think I was responsible for JOJ and – and – it made my brain hurt just thinking about it. I pushed the whole tangled mess away and closed my sore, swollen eyes.
    â€œI think I threw up on Nathan’s shoes,” I sniffed, after a little while.
    To her credit, Mum didn’t look remotely amused. “I’m sure he understands.”
    And he thinks I’m evil and nasty, I wanted to add but didn’t. Instead, I let out a long, miserable sigh. “There’s no coming back from tonight. I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me.”
    â€œHe seems like a nice boy,” she said, in the same tone she used when she was shushing the babies back to sleep. “I’m sure he’ll come round in time.”
    I wished I could believe her but the truth was I didn’t think Nathan would ever be able to look at me again, never mind speak to me. And no one would believe Kelly was behind JOJ, there was no point in even trying to tell the truth. It didn’t matter that I’d been a victim too – everyone probably thought I’d posted the Egghead story myself to cover my tracks. The way things were going, I’d be a complete social outcast by the time the half-term holiday arrived.
    My head felt hot and aching. “I think I might go to sleep now,” I said, and hesitated, scared that the horrible empty feeling would come back the moment I was on my own. It was like I was four years old again and afraid of the dark. “I – will you stay with me until I’m asleep?”
    She smiled. “Of