Winter: A High School Bully Romance (Sunset Beach High Book 2)

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Winter: A High School Bully Romance (Sunset Beach High Book 2) Page 15

by McKayla Box


  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone. It's in a pink phone case, with the word bitch spelled out in rhinestones on the back. “Hers.”

  I take it from him. “Holy shit. How did you get it?”

  “You don't wanna know,” he says. “And we need to work fast because she's going to know I took it.”

  “How did you get it?”

  He backs up out of the driveway. “Can we just talk about that later?”

  I look at him. “I feel bad. You did this for me.”

  “I did it for you and Trevor,” he says. “I'm fine.” He shifts the car and we take off down the road. “The password is her name spelled backward.”

  “You've gotta be kidding me,” I say.

  He shakes his head. “Nope. I checked. It works.”

  “How the fuck did you get that?” I ask.

  He glances at me. “Seriously. I don't wanna talk about it right now.”

  I'm dying to know what happened, but I focus on the phone instead. I slide my finger across the screen, then type in the password. The screen unlocks.

  “I'm in,” I say.

  “Told you it worked.”

  I scroll through the pages of her apps, but I'm not seeing anything that looks right. “Did you look at her phone after you got it?”

  “Yeah,” he says. “Look at the very last page, second to last row. It looks like a giant L or something.”

  I scroll to the page and I see it. It's an L written in cursive.

  “The file's on there,” he says. “I saw it. Along with some practice ones.”

  I open the app and start exploring. I find the files, but I don't open them. I don't want to see myself having sex with Kane ever again. I walk myself how to create a video and it's stupidly easy, like copy and paste. I can't find anything that links to the uploads, but I don't need to.

  Athena is the one who did it.

  “I'm going to kill her,” I whisper.

  “Well, that would probably mean you'd end up in jail, so I really don't recommend that,” he says. “But yeah. You should be pissed.”

  I am beyond pissed. She has broken my life for fun and it wasn't even hard to do. She destroyed my relationships and my reputation with about five minutes of work in the app. I can't imagine ever doing that to anyone.

  Ever.

  “What do you wanna do?” Brett asks as we drive. “I think you tell Trev.”

  “Fuck Trevor,” I say. “He didn't believe in me. He doesn't get to know yet.”

  Brett sighs. “Okay.”

  “I know he's your best friend, but I'm serious,” I say. “He didn't trust me. That isn't solved because we figured this out.”

  “I know,” he says. “I get it. But what do you wanna do?”

  “First things first,” I say.

  I copy the app and send it to myself. Then I erase all traces that I've done that. I copy the files in the app and send those to myself, too. I erase the fact that I've done that. I'm tempted to just erase her entire phone, but I want the app on there. As evidence. I take out my own phone and snap several pictures of it, making sure the case is visible and showing that the app is in the screen. I don't want there to be any doubt that she used it and created the video.

  Then I delete the app from her phone.

  I drop it on the seat because I don't want to touch it for a second longer than I have to.

  Brett glances at it on the seat, then me. “Now what?”

  “Tell me what you did to get it,” I say.

  “Presley, I don't--”

  “Tell me.”

  He stops at a red light and bites his bottom lip for a moment. “Fine. She used to like me. She came after me one time when she and Trev were on a break or whatever the fuck they were doing. I turned her down, obviously. But she was always pretty obvious about liking me.” He shifted in his seat. “So, I, uh, reminded her of that.”

  “Oh my god,” I say.

  “I went to her house,” he explains. “Told her some bullshit about how Trevor was crazy to have broken up with her and that he was dumb for moving onto you.” He glances at me. “I didn't mean it.”

  “I know,” I say.

  The light changes to green and we start moving again. “Her parents weren't home. I started laying it on pretty thick and she was into it.” He shrugs. “I took one for the team.”

  “Jesus,” I say. “You fucked her? To get the phone? For me?”

  “I'm not discussing details,” he says. “All I'm gonna say is that I stayed until she fell asleep, grabbed her phone, then bailed.”

  “You didn't have to do that,” I say. “You shouldn't have done that.”

  “You wanna clear your name?” he says. “You wanna let people know what she did?”

  I nod.

  “Now you can,” he says. “It's all good.”

  “But, shit, Brett,” I say. “You...you didn't have to do that.”

  “You don't even know what I did,” he says, smiling. “And you won't. And let's be honest.”

  I look at him.

  “She might be a bitch, but she is kinda hot. Not like it was all torture.”

  I punch him in the arm and he laughs.

  “But we gotta decide what you wanna do,” he says. “Like, now. Because she's gonna be looking for me at school. I can lie about having the phone, but she's gonna know something's up.”

  “I have an idea,” I say.

  “Yeah?”

  “Pull over before we get to school,” I say. “We can get it all done then.” I pause. “And Brett?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Seriously,” I tell him. “Thank you. I owe you.”

  “You don't owe me shit, Presley.”

  He may not think so, but I know that I do.

  And I won't forget it.

  FIFTY

  I wait until lunch to make my move.

  The school day is pretty much a continuation of the day before. People are looking and whispering around me. My friends won't look at me. I catch Athena laughing with Shanna as I walk past.

  But I'm happy to wait.

  I eat lunch in the computer lab, but I finish fast, so that I can get to the audiovisual center on the other end of campus. Every day after lunch, they broadcast the day's announcements via video screens in each classroom.

  It's perfect.

  I find the room and push open the door. Two girls are sitting at a desk with multiple computer monitors in front of them. One is hunched over the keyboard, typing furiously, but the girl closest to me turns in my direction. She's wearing a super cute pair of purple cat-eye glasses.

  She frowns at me. “We're about to do announcements.”

  “I know,” I say. “I wanna buy some time.”

  “You wanna what?” she says.

  “Look at me,” I say. “Do you recognize me?”

  The girl starts to say something, but then her expression changes. “Oh, shit. You're the girl.”

  I force a smile. “Yeah. The girl.”

  She taps the other girl on the arm, who looks up, annoyed. “What?”

  The first girl points at me and the second girl takes notice of me for the first time. She studies me for a second. “You're porn girl.”

  “Is that my name now?” I ask.

  She winces. “Fuck. Sorry. Not how I meant it. You were...in the video.”

  I nod. “I was in the video, yeah. And it's okay. I get it. But I need some help.”

  They look at each other, then back at me.

  “What kind of help?” the girl in the glasses asks.

  I tell them what I want.

  They look at each other.

  “I'm not sure we can do that,” the girl in the glasses says.

  “What's your name?” I ask.

  “Michelle,” she says, then points to her friend. “This is Abby.”

  Abby holds up a hand.

  “My real name is Presley,” I tell them. “And it's nice to meet you.”

  “Hi,” Michelle say
s again.

  “What will it take for you to help me?” I ask. “Because I'm pretty much willing to offer up anything I can.”

  They exchange looks again.

  “What's on the video?” Abby asks.

  I tell her.

  She makes a face. “I hate her. She's an asshole.”

  “You don't even know,” I say.

  “Why do you want us to play it?” Michelle asks.

  “Because she's the reason I'm now known as Porn Girl,” I say.

  “What?” she says.

  “That isn't really me in the video,” I explain. “I know you won't believe me, but it's a fake. She created the whole thing. In an app that can take any picture and manipulate it any way.”

  “Jesus,” Abby says.

  “Deep fake shit?” Michelle asks. “For real? I've read about that stuff, but never seen it.”

  I nod. “For real. The whole thing was a fake to...do whatever it did to me.”

  “I'm sorry,” Abby says.

  I'm not sure they believe me, but it seems like they do.

  “Jesus,” Michelle says. “That's awful.”

  “I'm aware,” I say. “And that's why I want this played.”

  “Is there anything...bad on it?” Abby asks. “On the one you want us to play?”

  I shake my head. “Not a single word. No profanity, no sex, nothing. It's like the opposite of the video she put me in. It's literally someone talking. There's nothing in it that will get anyone in trouble. I swear to you.” I pause. “The only thing that might get you in trouble is actually just playing it.”

  They exchange nervous looks.

  “I'm willing to take the blame,” I say. “I don't want you guys to get in trouble.”

  They exchange another look.

  “We could say you got in here and locked us out,” Abby says. “Like, we had no control.”

  “I'm fine with that,” I say. “I'll go with whatever story you want me to tell. I'll leave you out of it.”

  Michelle starts to say something, then shakes her head. “No. I think there's another way and it's probably more believable.” She looks at me. “What kind of file is it? Can you send it to me?”

  “Just a video file,” I tell her. “I can email it or text it?”

  “Text it to me right now,” she says, pulling out her phone.

  She reads me her number and I type it into my phone. I attach the video to the message and hit send. “Okay, it's sending.”

  “What are you gonna do?” Abby asks.

  “I'm just going to upload it and run it,” Michelle says. “At the end of the announcements.” She looks at me. “The calendar stuff is all pre-recorded and I'll attach it to that. Then we'll just say we have no idea how it got in there?”

  “Are you sure?” I ask. “I really don't want you getting in trouble.”

  “We'll be fine,” she says. “None of the teachers really know how this stuff works anyway.” She looks at Abby. “You know they don't. We can convince them of anything in here.”

  Abby hesitates, then nods. “Yeah, okay.”

  “And you shouldn't have to deal with anymore of this crap than you already have,” Michelle says. “At the very worst, I'll get detention or something for letting it happen. But they'll never know where it came from.”

  “And you're sure you're cool with that?” I ask.

  She looks at her phone. “It just came through.” Then she looks at me. “Yeah, I'm cool with that. I think it's time we stop letting shitheads like Athena pull this shit and get away with it.” She nods. “I'm cool with it.”

  “Me, too,” Abby says. “We'll do it.”

  I want to hug both of them. “Thank you. So much. I owe you.”

  “You should go,” Michelle says, spinning in her chair, back toward her computer. “We'll get it set up. But you don't want anyone to see you in here.” She glances at me. “And so you can watch it.”

  FIFTY ONE

  I make it to my seat in class just before the bell rings.

  My heart is beating like crazy and my palms are sweating.

  The teacher closes the door and tells us we'll get started after the announcements.

  I look at the big flat screen above the whiteboard and wait.

  Five seconds later, it flickers on.

  Michelle and Abby greet everyone with a couple of silly jokes, then start running down news related to the school.

  The drama department is putting on a production of Mamma Mia.

  The girls basketball team is playing in an away tournament this week.

  Yearbook purchases are due.

  I lay my hands flat on my thighs, pressing my palms against my jeans, waiting.

  There's a small feature on the student of the week, a tenth grader who just earned her black belt in judo.

  Then Michelle looks at the camera, smiles, and says “And now, here's a recap of everything that should be on your Sunset Beach calendar for the upcoming week.”

  Dates and events start to roll upward on the screen, yellow letters on a blue screen.

  Then the scrolling stops and the screen flickers.

  Then Athena's face is on the screen.

  My hands ball into fists on my thighs.

  “Hi,” she says, her hair and makeup just perfect. “I'm Athena Atkins. And I need to apologize.”

  Most of the kids in my class have been ignoring the announcements, but now they're watching, all of them staring at the screen.

  “I've done something awful,” Athena continues. “And I want everyone to know.”

  I look around the room.

  Even the teacher is now watching the screen.

  “I lied,” Athena says. “Actually, I made a video that lied. About Presley Baxter.”

  The majority of the room turns in my direction.

  “That video you all saw?” Athena says. “Because I know you all saw it because I made sure you all saw it. That video was a fake. I made it because I was jealous and because I wanted to embarrass her. And I just want to say I'm sorry.”

  My face is hot, the blood surging into my face.

  “I shouldn't have done it,” she says. “But it was all computer generated. I know there will be consequences for what I did. There should be. What I did was terrible. But I just want everyone to know that it wasn't real and that I'm sorry for what I've done.”

  The screen goes black.

  A murmur of whispers ripples through the room and people can't help themselves from glancing at me.

  Even the teacher is looking at me, like he's trying to figure out what he should say to me.

  I look down at the desk top.

  There's nothing for him to say.

  There's nothing I want him to say.

  I got what I wanted.

  The corners of my mouth flicker like it wants to smile.

  But I know it doesn't.

  Because I don't.

  Because I may have gotten revenge on Athena.

  But it doesn't really fix the things I care about most.

  FIFTY TWO

  “Hey, bitch!”

  I'm unlocking my bike from the rack after school and I've been waiting for it since the video ended.

  Shanna wouldn't bring her eyes near me in art.

  Which is the way I prefer it.

  But I've been waiting for Athena.

  And now she's looking for me.

  I pull the lock off the body of the bike and tuck into the holder beneath the seat. I don't turn around.

  “Hey, bitch!” she yells again, her voice closer now. “I'm talking to you.”

  Every iota of rage I've felt toward her is bubbling inside of me. It's her voice that starts the fire. It's her voice that reminds me of everything she's done to me.

  I let my bike crash to the ground and I turn around.

  The noise from the bike hitting the pavement startles her and she slows her walk, looking at me, then the bike, then me again. “What the fuck did you do?”

  I do
n't say anything.

  She marches closer to me and I see people following behind her. I assume they've been waiting for this.

  “That wasn't me,” she snarls at me. “I didn't apologize to anyone! How the fuck did you do that?”

  “Same way you did,” I say. “Same exact way.”

  She studies me for a long moment, her eyes narrowing. Then she whips out the phone with the rhinestones. She runs her finger across it and scrolls furiously. “What the fuck?”

  “Missing something?” I ask.

  “I...no...what the fuck did you do?” she demands.

  “Same thing you did,” I say. “Same exact thing.”

  She looks at her phone, then me again.

  I look at the size of the crowd around us, then look at her. “Thanks for apologizing. It doesn't fix anything. But I'm glad you admitted what you did.” I wave my hand around. “So everyone would know the actual truth.”

  Her jaw quivers.

  “But there's still one piece of the truth that people don't know,” I say. “Right?”

  “I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about,” she growls.

  I see Gina, Maddie, and Bridget in the ring of people. I see Shanna and her little crew on the opposite side.

  Good.

  I want them all to see.

  To know.

  “I wasn't convinced you really would know how to create the video from scratch,” I say. “You don't seem smart enough to me.”

  She bares her teeth, like an animal that wants to attack.

  “So I figured that you found a video and worked with that,” I say. “Just put my face over the girl's. Put Kane's over the guy's. With his permission, of course.”

  She stares at me.

  “But you were even lazier than that,” I say.

  Something flashes through her eyes.

  “Did you know that in that app you can work backward through your...projects?” I say. “That you can start at the finished product and work back to what you started with? I mean, if you're too dumb to delete the source material.”

  She licks her lips.

  “You just filmed yourself and Kane,” I say. “Had a little fun to...have a little more fun, I guess?”

  Her cheeks go pink. “That...that isn't true.”

 

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