The Enemy Hypothesis: A Brazos High Novella

each other and eliminate bullying. I still remember that video they showed us because it was so unbelievably cheesy and lame. But the content was good, and the Un-bully app’s goals are noble. They discussed the statistics of bullying and how it affects self-esteem. They made a good case for why we should all be kind to each other. Only there’s a really big problem here.
The app is not making us kind. It’s making us fake. It’s making us all become enemies here at Brazos High. Instead of going home happy at the end of each day, feeling like I’ve made a true difference, I’m going to bed exhausted and dreading the next day where I’ll be obligated to be the extremely nice and generous Abby Pena that everyone loves. All for the sake of winning a car.
It sucks, but winning that car would be worth it.
But it’s because of this app that I don’t trust a single bit of what just happened.
Mark exhales loudly and rocks back on his heels. “That was… something.”
“Yeah,” I say with a snort of disbelief. “What are we going to do?”
“We have to tell on her. Normally I’m not a narc, but come on! She has to be taken down.”
Anxiety fills every inch of my body and I start pacing the small room just to let some of my energy out. “I don’t know. What if it’s a trick?”
Mark cocks an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
I reach the end of the room, turn on my heel, and start pacing back. I find it’s a whole lot easier to stare at the gray tile floor than to meet Mark’s gaze. He’s just too cute to function. Who does he think he is, showing up at school in those tight dark jeans and baby blue T-shirt? He must know how good that color looks on him. He’s doing it on purpose. Just rubbing in how cute he is so that every girl swoons over him and then gives him kudos for no freaking reason. Ugh.
“What if Janelle and Annabel are working together? What if it’s all fake?” I say as I pace back and forth in the small storage closet. “What if they just want us to go run off and tell someone and then the principals will investigate and find out that Annabel is totally innocent and we get in trouble for making up rumors? They’d kick us out of the contest for this. Then the car will never be mine.”
“You mean the car will never be mine,” he says in this insufferably playful way.
I scowl at him. “I don’t want you to win the car but I definitely don’t want someone who is cheating to win the car.”
“Look,” Mark says, running a hand through his silky black hair. I really wish I had kept my eyes on the floor so I wouldn’t have seen that just now. It’s such a sexy move it should be illegal. “I’m just as paranoid as everyone else, probably more so now that I’m in the top five but… Janelle looked sincere. I think we should trust her.”
“How well do you know her?” I ask.
“Not at all. I didn’t even know her name until just now.”
I groan. I know Janelle from class but we aren’t really friends. She hangs out with the band and none of her friends overlap with mine. “Then what makes you think we can trust her?”
Mark shrugs. “She had photo evidence, and she seemed like she wanted to help.”
“Yeah but everyone wants to win,” I say, continuing my pacing from one end of the closet to the other. I get about ten steps each way, but it’s better than standing still. “People are going to do crazy things to get points—or to demolish the people at the top. We’re prime targets right now.
I reach the wall and turn around, only to be stopped by Mark standing right in front of me. He puts his hands on my shoulders. “Breathe,” he says.
But he’s so cute it’s hard to breathe under normal circumstances. It’s even harder to breathe now, when I’m in the middle of a freak out and can practically visualize that car slipping from my grasp. I stare up and look into his dark eyes. For a few moments, I totally forget to breathe.
Mark’s lips turn up into the smallest little smile. “Inhale,” he says softly.
I do, slowly pulling air into my lungs.
“Now exhale,” he says a moment later. His hands are still on my shoulders and we’re standing so close in such a small space. My heart is positively going wild.
With great concentration, I manage to exhale without going into full on hyperventilation mode. “Again,” Mark says. I breathe in and out a few more times and it does actually help me a little. I don’t feel like I’m on the verge of panic anymore, but I’m not exactly happy about this whole thing.
“We should tell on her,” Mark says. “We can do it anonymously.”
“But what if it’s a trick?”
Dropping his hands from my shoulders, he scrunches his face up in disbelief. “Eh… that’s a long shot.”
I suddenly miss the warmth of his hands. But I will not think of that. I swallow. “I don’t want to risk it. If we tell, and it really was a trick and Annabel and Janelle were partnering up to take us out of the competition, then we’re over. We’ll be kicked out and we won’t get the car.”
“Okay, but what if Janelle was telling the truth?” Mark says. “What if, no matter how many volunteer hours we put in, or how many nice things we do, we’re still always five thousand points behind her?”
“As much as I want to believe that, I can’t,” I say after a moment of thought. “I just have to trust that the best person will win. After all, the video said it’s a special algorithm. There’s no way it got hacked.”
“Everything can get hacked!” Mark says, throwing up his hands. “I’m giving