Josie already knew the answer. This group of kids--they weren't her friends. Popular kids didn't really have friends; they had alliances. You were safe only as long as you hid your trust--at any moment someone might make you the laughingstock, because then they knew no one was laughing at them.
Josie was smarting, but she also knew part of the prank was a test to see how she reacted. If she turned around and accused her friends of hacking into her email and invading her privacy, she was doomed. Above all else, she wasn't supposed to show emotion. She was so socially above Peter Houghton that an email like this wasn't mortifying, but hilarious.
In other words: Laugh, don't cry.
"What a total loser," Josie said, as if it didn't bother her at all; as if she found this just as funny as Drew and Matt did. She balled up the email and tossed it behind the couch. Her hands were shakin