Ghostgirl 3 - Lovesick by Tonya Hurley

Author:Tonya Hurley [Hurley, Tonya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-31T05:00:00+00:00

“Not guilty,” Petula replied arrogantly.

“Objection!” Wendy Anderson interjected, stomping her foot like a spoiled child.

“You are too!” Wendy Thomas shot back, apparently not fully grasping the concept behind the presumption of innocence.

“Prove it,” Petula challenged smugly. “And you’d better have more on me than my sister’s T-shirts.”

Darcy took the cue. She pulled up digital pictures and video clips on her digicam and cell phone and texted them one by one to her buddy list, which just so happened to be everyone in attendance. Petula thought about challenging

170

the admissibility of the surveillance images on constitutional grounds, since taking the pictures was potentially an invasion of her privacy rights, but quickly decided that this situation probably didn’t rise to that level.

“These,” Darcy informed the jury, “were taken downtown the other night.”

As photo after photo loaded into cell phones, jaws dropped and gasps of surprise filled the room. There was proof positive of Petula lavishing attention and designer threads on a gaggle of grateful street dwellers. Oddly, the only person in the room smiling was Petula, whose placid expression, even more than the photographic evidence, revealed the pride and satisfaction she had taken in her handiwork. She couldn’t help herself.

“Every picture tells a story,” Darcy smirked, confident she’d given the jury sufficient reason to believe.

“And every dog has its day,” Petula warned weakly. “Or should I say every bitch?”

“Objection,” Wendy Thomas popped off. “That’s hearsay.”

The irony that The Wendys, who could give a tutorial in gossip, were using “hearsay” as a defense of Darcy was not lost on Petula. It was now plainly obvious to her that this trial was for show. Nothing she was going to say would affect the predetermined outcome. The verdict was inevitable.

Nevertheless, a certain sense of relief at being outed began to fill her as she remained silent.

“The prosecution rests,” Darcy exclaimed.

“Your turn,” Wendy Anderson said grudgingly, pointing at Petula.

Petula did not respond and looked up again at the crowd,

171

almost sympathetically. She could see their minds had been made up as well. It’s not that they were particularly hard-hearted or uncharitable kids, it’s just that people like them occupied a certain role inside and outside of school.

Their obligation to the needy was to host self-financing fund-raisers and put together bake sales, dance marathons, kissing contests, and the like that usually resulted in phantom proceeds. The main purpose of the events was to “raise awareness,” not to actually relieve suffering but to make everyone aware that you cared about the problem—from a distance.

Petula’s big sin was that she’d gotten her hands dirty, figuratively and literally. The kind of aid she was providing was specific and personal. Anybody could throw together a coat drive, she thought. This dealt with the surface issue of protecting against the elements—important work—but also put some ego and color back into their lives.

Petula was a big believer not just in her own superiority, but in her innate exceptionalism. She had an unconditional self-love that she found profoundly lacking in most everyone around her. It had given her tremendous power over others, The Wendys to be specific.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.