Hi! It's Jacob. I know this is a long shot, and it's definitely weird sending you an email, but I want to talk to you about Viola, away from social media. Hope to see you at school tomorrow!
Bella couldn't speak. Her body was frozen as she stared into Beau's eyes, and her brain couldn't quite process the fact that Beau knew about YWN.
"Who told you?" Her voice came out in a whisper.
"Does it matter, Bella?" Beau looked betrayed. "I wanted to talk to you about it, but you avoided me. You knew what I wanted to say, didn't you?"
"IâI didn't know," she said in a shaky voice. "And, trust me, I didn't have a choice. I had to stay away from you."
Beau watched her for a while. "This is all related to that news about Travon's parents, drug dealing and grades, isn't it?"
Bella swallowed, not knowing how to explain herself. She had been caught, and the situation made her speechless.
"Bella, I thought we had an understanding," he said.
"We didâwe do, Beau. I was just... I was pressured to keep quiet. I didn't want things to get worse. But I realize how wrong keeping things from you was. That's why I'm hereâI came to tell you everything."
"What do you mean everything? There's more?"
"A lot more."
Beau stared at her, obviously taking in her words. Then, after a while, he gave her a nod. "Okay. I'm all ears."
Bella looked around, at the number of students moving around, and the number of ears. "Not here. Let's go somewhere else."
He put the book he was holding in his backpack, then closed his locker. Looking at her as he zipped up his backpack, he asked, "Where do you wanna go?"
* * *
Bella watched Beau approach the car through the windshield, her internal organs twisting together, intertwining. This wasn't how she wanted things to go.
Beau having an idea about what was going on had made it harder for her to figure out how to explain herself, somehow. She thought she had this, but now she was just lost.
She had been rehearsing her lines since Beau left to get her ice cream, but it was useless because at the sight of him, the words vanished.
He got into the car and slammed the door shut, giving her the plastic bag he was holding. She didn't ask for ice creamâshe only suggested they came here, to the same place Travon took her for their dateâbut she accepted it anyway.
Beau stared out the windshield, not minding her taking her time, and Bella studied his profile, her eyes focusing on the bruise on his temple. YWN was right in their emailâAshton really hurt Beau. There was a sore-looking bruise next to the Band-Aid placed close to his hairline, a reddened spot on the side of his neck, and other injuries distributed over the rest of his face.
She reached a hand to his temple and gently brushed her thumb over the bruise there. When he didn't move, she moved to the cut on his cheekbone, her stomach clenching when he winced.
He barely reacted, and she didn't know what she was doing, but she reached for the Band-Aid. He didn't let her hand get close before flinching.
Her hand dropped to her lap. "Why aren't you talking to me, Beau? We drove here in silence," she said with a shaky voice.
"You didn't speak to me either."
"Because I was waiting for you to speak first." I'm not going to cry! "I'm sorry, okay? Do you think if it was easy for me to say, I wouldn't have told you?"
He sighed. "Bella, I'm not saying you should've told me everything. If you told me you didn't want to talk about it when I asked, I would've understood. But that day I drove you home, you told me you were fine, even though it was obvious you weren't. Then you started ignoring meâfor no reasonâand no matter how hard I tried to get you to just talk to me, you walked away.
"People only ask the 'are you okay?' question to be polite. It's always obvious whoever you're asking isn't fine. And, that aside, I asked because I cared about youâI still doâand I'm scared of making the mistake of neglect again."
Her heart pounded against her ribcage when she realized who he was referring to, and she felt bad for making him bring up his dead sister. "I'm sorry." Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, and Beau looked at her.
His warm eyes met hers. "I hate being mad at you, you know that."
She swallowed and looked away, but didn't say anything.
"Do you want to go home?" he asked softly after a while, respecting her silence.
Bella shook her head, then turned so she was completely facing him. She took his right hand with both of hers and began tracing circles in his palm to give herself time to gather her thoughts.
She thought about the harassment she had received in the last few weeks, the sting she felt on her face and in her heart after Viola hit her, how broken Travon looked after the email of him went out, the look Jun, Fleur and Frankie gave her, and the injuries on Beau's face at the moment.
Before she could change her mind, she said, "I think... I think I'm being cyberbullied, Beau. No, I'm sure about it." He didn't say anything, so she moved to the inside of his wrist and traced his muscles.
It was a distracting action for the both of them, but they tried to focus on the most important thing.
"And I think the people Travon was in that contract with are the bullies. I'm not sure, but that's what I think."
"Yang, Winnie and Noelene, right?"
She looked up at him, wondering how he knew. She thought he just found out from someone. "You saw the contract?"
He nodded, and she blinked a few times.
"Yeah. Them," she said. "They hacked my Twitter account and tweeted about Viola's dad's death when I didn't even know about it. They seem to know what I'm doing, and now I've been ordered to stop using my accounts or my life will be ruined.
"They even have a YouTube channel dedicated to posting videos about my personal life." She could no longer hold in her tears. "It's horrible, Beau. I've been building this Internet life for two years, and someone just woke up one morning and started telling me what to do."
She remembered the emails she was sent.
"Wait. I'll show you something." She cleaned the tears from her face, put the plastic bag in her lap away, then took her laptop out of her backpack. She logged into her Gmail account and checked her inbox.
Her brows furrowed when she saw that YWN's emails were gone, like she never received them.
"This can't be possible," she whispered, staring into the screen as if expecting the emails to just pop up.
"What's wrong?"
"Last Saturday, they sent me an email, threatening me and telling me to stay away from you, but it's not here. It's gone. All their emails are gone, Beau!"
Beau looked at her for a few seconds. "You said your Twitter was hacked?"
"Yeah." She looked at him, her worry lines on full display.
"And now the emails they sent you are missing."
She nodded, her eyes getting glassy like she was going to cry again.
"Bella, I don't think it's just your Twitter that was hacked. I think it's your whole laptop."
Her heart stopped beating in her chest, and Beau took out his phone and put it on. Something seemed to occur to him, and he stopped.
"How long have they been doing this?"
"Since that day in your carâyou know, the day we..." She trailed off, recalling their almost-kiss. A faint blush went up her cheeks, despite the situation, and she prayed he couldn't see it. "It started with a text. Then a note in my locker."
"And you kept quiet."
"When the text came, I thought it was a prank," she defended, her voice trembling. Was he accusing her?
"And the note? Did you think it was a prank, too?"
She looked away from him, her jaw tightening on its own. "No," she mumbled.
He released a breath. "Why didn't you speak up then? Why now?"
"Are you trying to blame me for this?" More tears escaped her eyes as she turned to him. She was angry for some reason, perhaps as a result of the pent-up frustration.
"Don't misunderstand me, Bella. I'm just asking to get something straight. Why did you let things come this far before speaking up?"
"I don't know. They brought you into it and I couldn't handle the thought of someone else getting hurt because of me. Especially someone I really care about."
Her confession lightened the atmosphere, and he stared at her. She was crying, stabbing his heart, and he gently took her hand and pulled her to himself. It was a bit uncomfortable hugging in a car, but they managed to make it work.
Bella held onto him for a long time, tightening her arms around his neck every few seconds, trying to break every barrier between them. And it felt good in his arms. It was assuring, and every trace of fear she felt for YWN vanishedâat least for the moment.
"I'm sorry about the way I acted today. If I do it one more time, never talk to me again," Beau said, his hand finding her hair. He pulled her even closer, leaving no space between them.
"It won't happen again. Not for a while, at least," she whispered to him, basking in his embrace for a few more seconds.
When she pulled away, just enough to look at him, he cleaned off the remaining of her tears, and as he did this, she remembered one last detail.
"One more thing," she said to him, pulling further away so she could sit.
"Okay."
She swallowed. "Beau, I... Travon told me the real names of the people he was in that contract with."
"He did?"
"Yeah." Her heart was beating in her ears. "It's Frankie, Jun and... Fleur."
Beau was silent for a while, then he asked, "My sister?"
"Unfortunately." She took his hand and squeezed it when she saw his expression change. "I wish it wasn't true, but I can't change anything."
"No, Bella," he whispered, "it makes sense now."
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
He fixed his eyes on hers. "Fleur gave me that contract. She said she saw it fall out of your backpack and wanted to give it back, but stopped when she sawâby mistake, she saidâwhat it was. I could tell she was lying about that part, but I didn't think too much about it."
Bella thought about this. This was what Fleur probably pulled Beau out of the cafeteria for the day Travon told her who YWN was. "But why would she give it to you if she's guilty?"
"I have no idea, Belle."
* * *
While Maggie-Lyn got ready to make another video, Bella waited for somethingâsomethingâto happen. And it was one painful session.
"Bella, which of these bandanas literally says LA?" Maggie-Lyn asked, holding a yellow polka-dot bandana in her left hand and a bright blue one in her right.
Bella looked over her shoulder, from her spot by the study table, and studied the bandanas for a few seconds. "The yellow one," she said. "I like the way it looks with your dress."
Maggie-Lyn smiled, then proceeded to tie the bandana around her head. She made a bow with it, examining every step in the full-length mirror. "Check me out, cous," she said in a proud voice, and Bella sighed, then turned to her. Maggie-Lyn never took a hint.
"Wow, you look literally amazing. Your fans will be amazed!"
"That literally hurt more than it made me feel good. Did I do my face wrong? Is it too flashy?"
"Relax, Mag. You look perfect. I just sound like this 'cause I'm exhausted. It was a rough day at school and I think I need thirty hours of sleep."
"Whoa! That's literally, like, three days. It's as good as being in a coma."
"I don't think being in a coma is such a bad idea right now."
Maggie-Lyn sat on the bed and turned to her. "Is Travon still on your mind?"
"I wish," Bella replied without thinking, immediately regretting it. Maggie-Lyn wouldn't leave her alone now. "Look, don't worry about me, okay? Go give your fans something to watch. Announce the onesie challenge winner and make her happy."
Maggie-Lyn stared at her for a while, then said in a voice that surprised Bella, "You know I'm worried about you, right?"
Bella was surprised, but she quickly recovered. "You can't worry about me until you have at least fifty cats and a walking stick."
"And you just had to literally ruin the moment." She stood, then moved to her laptop on the dresser. "The video shouldn't last longer than twenty minutes. Are you staying?"
"No. I have to call my dad."
"Use my phone," her cousin offered, a little too quickly, then grinned like a lunatic. "Literally accept it as a favor, 'cause I never give anyone my phoneâit's literally a priceless possession."
"I have to ask, Maggie-Lyn," Bella said, standing and walking to her. "Do you know what literally means? 'Cause it seems like you don't. You're literally abusing the word."
"Whatever. I'm literally feeling generous. Here. No appreciation, please. What are cousins for?" She took her phone from its sparkly cocoon on the bed and gave it to her.
"You mean except assaulting my poor ears?" Bella teased, and her cousin gave her a sarcastic grin.
"It's literally a family thing. My mom told me. Trust me, it's not that bad. Where would I literally be without this talking talent from heaven?"
Bella smiled, then looked down at the phone. Not having a phone was frustrating, especially now that she needed it. Looking back up at Maggie-Lyn, she asked, "Can I make more than one call?" She gave her puppy dog eyes, hoping she would say yes.
"If it's a call to a boy," she wiggled her eyebrows, "then yes."
Bella gave her a quick hug. "Oh, thank you, Mag. I love you."
"I literally love you, too."
As Bella walked out of the room, she couldn't help the goofy grin that spread across her lips at the thought of talking to Beau again. Somehow, knowing he was on her side decreased the effect of YWN's threats.
* * *
Getting 5000+ words ready for this double update was... wow! How'd I do? Thoughts on why Fleur did what she did?
A huge thanks to the darling Elle for motivating me. Much love to you!
Don't forget to show this book some love by hitting the star below and leaving me a comment if you'd like. Thanks for reading! I really can't find suitable words to express my appreciation. And to my lovely silent readers: ð