1:03AM
SCHEDULE FOR OCTOBER 31ST
1. Carve my name into a pumpkin.
2. Bake some treats.
3. Have fun, then go to HalloWiener.
4. Exchange thumb drives with the MC (without him knowing, of course).
5. Smile when everything I've recorded of Bella and her not-so-truthful friends plays in front of the whole of LA (and, hopefully, the world).
Perhaps the only thing worse than being cyberbullied was having an emergency honors math test on a Thursday morning. Bella was completely unprepared, and if she wasn't already skilled in math and hadn't made up with Beau, she would've been getting ready to host a party for her first high school F.
Thankfully, she was one of the few smiling students at the end of class.
Mr. Dylan looked overjoyed, definitely pleased with the outcome of his action. Such an evil man.
"Hey, Bella, do you have a sec?" she heard behind her as she walked out of class, and abruptly turned around, bumping her head into the shoulder of a guy she didn't know she had the class with. He growled at her, and she smiled apologetically, rubbing her forehead.
"Rude," the boy mumbled, then walked away.
Bella ignored him and stepped away from the door, Jake coming into view immediately.
"Hey," he said, smiling and putting his dimples on display.
"Hi. What's up?" She put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.
"Um, did you see my email?"
Of course she did. It had almost given her a heart attack. When she received it, she had thought it was from YWN, and had already began dreading what they wanted to tell her. She had released a huge sigh of reliefâmuch to the concern of Maggie-Lyn, who was now watching her like a mother henâwhen she saw that it was from Jake.
Honestly, she was expecting something from YWN, but, at the same time, she prayed they wouldn't contact her again.
"Yeah. About... Viola."
"Yeah." His smile turned to a faint blush, and she lifted her eyebrows. "You're not mad about it, are you?"
"No. Why would I be mad?"
"I don't know. I'm not an expert on girls' emotions."
She smiled. "Don't worry about it. We're good. So, what exactly did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well, Vi and I have been hanging out for the past couple of weeks and, after your fight, she hasn't stopped talking about you. She would recall something the both of you did together and smile at the memory. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but on Monday, she had a meltdown and..." He paused, as if wanting to add dramatic flair. "Bella, she misses being your friend. Things are hard for her right now and she's an emotional wreck, but I'm a hundred percent sure she still cares about you."
She digested his words first, then nodded. "So... you think I should talk to her or something?"
"You could try."
She couldn't decide if she wanted to believe Jake or not. Drama was waiting at every corner and she was trying her best to avoid it.
"I don't know, Jake," she admitted. "I don't think she'd listen to me."
"I know how bad your fight was, okay? But you never know what'll happen. Just give it a try." He gave her a pat on her upper arm, then walked away.
She stared after him, running his suggestion around her head for a moment. But she still couldn't come to an agreement.
* * *
Bella was alone with Beau in the computer room during lunch, her laptop set in front of her.
She had snuck in a bag of potato chipsâwhich she got from the vending machingâafter they agreed to come here for research when they met in the cafeteria. The music from Beau's headphones, crunching of chips, and the low hum from the computer fan were the only audible sounds in the room.
As Beau put himself to work beside her, she pretended to be busy with her ninety-nine unread emails. Those ones were from Twitter, Facebook, and some other apps she used when she still had her phone.
Beau pushed his black headphones down so it was around his neck, causing the music to get louder.
"Instrumentals?" Bella asked after listening closely. "You're listening to instrumentals?"
He smiled, scrolling through a cyberbullying article on Wikipedia. "I have quite a lot. You want to listen?"
"Uh, no, thank you."
"I feel insulted. Fuel me."
She laughed, then put a chip in his mouth. "You're paying me later." She shook the bag. "You finished my chips and I cherish my comfort food."
"I don't think potato chips qualify as food." He put his phone on and turned off the Bluetooth, abruptly stopping the music.
"It's saving your life right now, so it's food." Her eyes went to rest on the spot on the side of his head, probably for the millionth time, and she debated asking him why he and Ashton fought.
The wound was obviously healing, but it looked like it still hurt.
She reached her hand to it and slightly brushed her fingers over it. He flinched, immediately stopping what he was doing on the computer.
"I've been wanting to ask you about this," she said, looking him in the eye.
"It's nothing, Bella. Forget it, okay?"
"It's obviously not nothing."
"Then just forget it." He turned back to the computer. "It was just a fight. Nothing to worry about."
YWN's email echoed in her head. "You have bruises on your face, Beau. Of course I'm worried."
He smiled, then glanced at her. "You're way too young to be worrying," he said, making her remember what she told her cousin the day before.
"What happened, Beau?"
He leaned his forearms in front of the keyboard, then crossed them over each other. "It was because of my sister, and I don't want to talk about her right now."
She didn't think Beau was lying to her, but she could guess he wasn't saying everything. YWN said she had something to do with it. "You're mad at her," she stated.
"More than mad," he confirmed. "I can't believe what she's doing."
"Beau, she's your sister, and I don't want you guys to grow apart because of me."
"Don't blame yourself for that, Belle. It's all on her."
"But I don't want this." She bit her lip for a moment. "You two have already been through so much andâ"
"Hey." He playfully pulled on her nose. "Stop that, please. Like you said, she's my sister, and I'll eventually forgive her."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Of course." He flashed her a smile and, even though she found it adorable, she didn't feel better.
Fleur didn't deserve her supportâit didn't take a genius to realize thatâbut Bella couldn't sit back and watch the delicate relationship between her and Beau get even more delicate.
She gave him a small smile, then turned back to her emails.
Beau sighed. "Okay, I promise," he said, and she turned back to him. "I promise to pretend she doesn't have anything to do with this."
It wasn't what she wanted to hear, but she smiled wider, deciding to let him be for now. "Don't forget you take promises very seriously."
"I didn't know you listen that well."
"I do," she replied with a proud look on her face, jutting her chin out, and he looked at her lovingly.
The way he was looking at her made her weirdly happy, and she didn't want him to look away.
"I honestly see no reason why anyone would want to hurt you." He stroked her hair, stopping when his hand reached her face.
He gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb, and, after a while, leaned into her and placed his forehead against hers. She drew in a breath at the unexpected action, and her eyes closed without her permission.
She breathed him in, not understanding why they were always holding back when it came to each other. They spent a lot of time together, but that was it. It was like something was always stopping them from making a move.
But this? This was amazing. Their proximity was injecting something strange into her system, and courage flowed through every vein in her body.
Her hand went up to caress the side of his neck, before going to rest on his shoulder.
"Bella," he whispered.
"Yeah?"
He took some time before asking, "What does this mean?"
Her eyes opened, and she saw him staring at her. Just like the first time she was this close to him, she saw the unbelievable innocence in his features, the cool brown of his eyes. Despite his bruises, he still managed to look faultless.
For a minute, Bella forgot they were surrounded by computers in a high school, and that anyone could walk in at anytime, and let herself drown in the moment.
"What does what mean?"
She felt his arms wrap around her waist, and he pulled her closer. "This," he said.
Make a move, Bella, she told herself, then moved her hand to his hair. "You know what it means. Iâ"
The notification from her laptop cut her off, and they both sighed.
"You probably want to check that, don't you?"
"I think I should."
Reluctantly, they pulled away from each other, and Bella turned to her laptop. An email just came in.
She shared a look with Beau, and he gestured for her to go on. When she saw who it was from, her hand froze on the mouse. Beau saw her expression and pulled the laptop closer to himself.
YWN Official
Subject: You're doomed, baby!
I can't believe instead of doing as I said, you told him! And you have the guts to be all cozy and romantic with him. I'll ruin you, Belinda. I promise you.
"This is sick," Beau whispered to himself, then closed the laptop and took Bella's hand.
He pulled a dazed Bella out of her chair, then the room, and turned her to face him.
"They could see us, Beau," she said, on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Yeah. And I think this is even more than we think. God, how can my sister do this?" he mumbled, saying the last part to himself and running a hand over his face. Then he lowered his voice as he said to her, "Bella, they've been watching you."
* * *
To touch or not to touch.
Hatred was going off of Bella in waves as she stared at her laptop like it was about to trigger the apocalypse.
She kept wondering if it was motion-activated, or touch-activated, or even smell-activated. Ever since Beau explained to her what spyware could really do, she had been wary of touching her laptop, scared the camera would be activatedâif it wasn't already.
She couldn't be blamed; she had every right to treat that technological device like it was a bomb about to go off.
After almost half an hour of sitting by her study table, scared of something she couldn't quite comprehend, Bella counted down from three, willing to be brave about this. But just as she was about opening the laptop, Maggie-Lyn burst into the room like she was out of control.
"Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella," she squealed as she rushed over to her, a hundred grins on her face at the same time. She placed her hands on her cousin's shoulders, then squeaked, "Beau's here."
"W-what?" Bella asked, surprised.
"Beau's here," Maggie-Lyn repeated, her voice even tinier. "I just let him in and he's waiting downstairs."
"But he didn't tell me he was coming." Bella moved away from her, but she quickly stepped in front of her, her eyes as wide as the moon.
"Where are you going?" Maggie-Lyn sounded alarmed.
"I'm going to meet him?"
"Are you crazy? You can't meet him like this." She gestured in a wild manner to her face. "You have to fix your hair, scent your neckâ"
"Scent my neck?!"
"Oh, shut up. You don't know anything." She immediately went to the dresser and took out a fancy, expensive-looking perfume from the top drawer. She took off the cap and walked back to Bella.
Maggie-Lyn pushed Bella's hair over one shoulder and, before Bella could ask what she was doing, she spritzed the perfume onto her neck.
"There," she said, admiring her artwork. "Scented neck, check! Now, to top that off with some powder."
Before she could offer to get powder, Bella backed away from her. "That's enough. I don't need to doll myself up. He's Beau, and he needs to see me in my natural habitat." She gestured around. "Which is all of this."
"But I've always wanted to do this," Maggie-Lyn complained, pouting like a kid, but Bella ignored her and headed for the door.
If Maggie-Lyn knew even half of what she was experiencing, she would know that dressing up wasn't on her list at the moment.
"Not today, Maggie-L."
She rushed down the hallway and stairs, but slowed when she heard familiar voices. One of them was Beau's and the other belonged to Ashton.
Her stomach churned as she quietly went back to the top of the stairs so she could eavesdrop without them seeing her. It wasn't an action she thought about, but she didn't question the sudden urge to be stealthy.
"I told you to stay away," she heard Ashton growl, the annoyance in his voice thinly veiled.
"You don't get to tell me what to do, Milworth," Beau replied in a quieter voice.
"Of course I do, Algernon. What don't you understand?"
"Look, we're not doing this. Not here."
Bella moved down the stairs, wanting to see how they would react when they saw her, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Actually, I don't mind," Ashton said, oblivious to her presence. "You're scared of her finding out, aren't you? I could make things easier for you, and it'd all be over before you know it."
They both took one step away from each other when they noticed her, and she put on a smile that was only half convincing.
"Hey, Beau. You didn't tell me you were coming." She looked at Ashton for a moment, and he averted his gaze, uneasy, before walking past her and jogging up the stairs.
"Yeah," Beau started, trying to draw her attention away from Ashton, "I came to show you something."
Bella folded her arms over her chest, contemplating, asking herself if she should ask Beau what that was about and what Ashton meant by what he said. What didn't he want her to know? What was the complete truth behind their fight?
The words were burning on the tip of her tongue, and Beau watched her with a careful gaze, feeling more nervous than he liked.
Lay off him, Bella, she eventually told herself. You're not his girlfriend. Give him space. YWN is just making you suspicious. This is what they want; they want you to doubt him. Beau didn't lie to you earlier.
"Okay," she finally said, wanting to escape her consuming thoughts. "What is it?"
Beau's shoulders seemed to deflate, and he couldn't hide his relief as he said, "It's a few things I found out about," he glanced in the direction of the stairs, "you know what. I can't say there's good news, but there's bad news."
She nodded, telling herself not to freak out. "All right. Let's talk in the kitchen. I'll get us some drinks."
"Okay."
She stared at him for a while, before walking to the kitchen, and he followed slowly behind her. Despite Bella being aware that she was about to hear unwanted things, she couldn't get her mind off the fact that Beau was possibly keeping something very important from her. And she didn't like how that thought made her feel.