The Outfit Clash: I'm Told to Strip novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Maddie Fights

"Inside," I said. "Both of you. Now."

I pulled Maddie into my room and locked the door.

Will was already on his phone, his flannel still buttoned wrong.

"I'm reporting the post," he said. "And the comment. That's a threat with an address on it."

"Town police too," I said.

"Already dialing."

Maddie sat down on my bed and stared at her phone.

Her thumb kept scrolling.

"Stop reading," I said.

"They're calling me a thief." Her voice was very flat. "There's one that says my grandma's stitches are a gang sign."

"Maddie, give me the phone."

"There's one that says I seduced Hunter to get the suit order."

"Give me the phone."

She gave me the phone.

I put it face down on the desk next to Will's glasses case.

Then I sat beside her.

"Here's what we do," I said. "I call the university lawyer. We get it taken down by noon. You stay in my room. I'll put out a statement that you're a witness under the board's protection, and..."

"No."

I stopped.

Maddie was looking at the jacket on the back of my door.

"No," she said again. "I'm not doing that."

"Maddie..."

"He said I'm hiding behind you." She wiped her face with her sheep sleeve. "If you put out a statement, I am. I'm the girl the chair protects. I'm a footnote in your story."

Will had stopped talking on the phone.

"It's my name on that post," Maddie said. "It's my face. So it's going to be my answer."

"What's your answer?" Will asked quietly.

She stood up.

"My sketchbooks."

She had nine of them.

She brought them out of her room in a laundry basket.

Spiral-bound, swollen with glue and fabric swatches, the covers soft from being carried around for years.

Every page had a date in the corner in her round handwriting.

"I've dated every page since I was fourteen," she said. "My grandma made me. She said if anyone ever copies you, you'll need proof."

She flipped one open.

August of this year.

A pencil sketch of my suit, copied from a photo, with a note beside it.

"Aug 12. VP Sterne brought photo from mailroom. Says tribute piece for her nephew. Says design is public. Can't see which way the pleats go."

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