Oracle by Alex Van Tol

silence when everyone’s eyes are on you.
    I feel like I’m not even inside my body as I walk toward the front of the gym. I just kind of float there.
    No one knows who ratted. Except for me.
    And Hannah can probably guess.
    I search her out among the grade eights. Our eyes meet, but then she looks away. I shouldn’t be surprised.
    I built this fire. And I’m going to burn alone.
    My eyes travel back to Kamryn. She’s sitting straight-backed on the bench with her arms folded tightly across her chest. A sour little smile plays across her face.
    And then I’m standing beside Ms. Parhar. She steps to the side so I can stand behind the microphone. Everyone watches me, and it’s quiet again. They expect something.
    I swallow.
    I’m glad I made a pit stop in the john just before break.
    I lean into the mic and say exactly that, because I can’t think of anything else.
    The whole school erupts into laughter, and I feel myself relax. A lot of people are smiling. I pull my courage from them and start.
    â€œI don’t really have a lot to say,” I say.
    â€œThat’s a first!” someone calls. More laughter.
    I smile. “I’ll just tell you the truth. This is already as embarrassing as it could possibly get anyway. I started the Oracle for my own purposes,” I say. “I wanted to, uh, I wanted to show someone I liked them.” I clear my throat. “And I guess I was too shy to tell her in person, so I set up a blog to trick her into liking me.”
    Someone sets up a wolf whistle, and a few laughs drift toward me.
    â€œAnyway, that plan backfired,” I say. “I embarrassed her and hurt her feelings, and I feel really bad about that.”
    A group of grade-six girls sets up a little chorus of “ awwwwww ,” and everyone laughs again.
    I look over at Kamryn. I’m sure she’ll want to kill me for identifying her, but I’m willing to take the risk. She’s already called me out. I don’t have anything else to lose.
    â€œI’m sorry,” I say to her. “I really am. It was a dumb thing to do.”
    Faces turn in Kamryn’s direction. She stares stonily ahead, ignoring them. I’m sure this isn’t what she had in mind.
    â€œAnd I’m sorry to everyone else,” I say. “Because I guess I tricked you too. Into thinking that the Oracle was a trustworthy site for advice.” I drop my eyes to the floor. It’s too hard to look into people’s faces when I’m admitting what a mess I’ve made.
    The murmurs start up again.
    â€œWait.” A voice rises above all the others. “I want to say something.” I look up to see Hannah picking her way down her row.
    Ms. Parhar leans back toward the mic to introduce the next speaker. “Hannah Cho, president of our middle-school student council, would like to have a few words.”
    Hannah jumps down from the stairs and walks briskly across the gym floor to stand beside me. She reaches up and pulls the mic off the stand. She’s used to talking to a gym full of people.
    â€œI’ve watched the Oracle grow from the start,” Hannah says. “And I know for a fact that Owen took every question seriously. He worked hard to figure out the best answer for each person who wrote in.”
    I stare. This was the last thing I expected from Hannah.
    â€œHe stayed up late a lot of times so he could finish answering questions. He used more than one source when he put together his answers. He did an amazing job.” She takes a deep breath. “And if you’re wondering how I know all this… it’s because I helped him.”
    Okay, correction. This was the last thing I expected from Hannah.
    Gasps and chatter erupt from the group. Hannah Cho? Involved in a hoax?
    â€œAnd this thing about it being fraud is ridiculous,” she says, fixing Kamryn with a glare. “I mean, yes, Owen put himself out there as the Oracle,