15
My best friend filled me in on what happened
to Chase, treating it like prime gossip.
He asked every single one of our classmates,
but no one knew where I went.
Finally, our homeroom teacher told him I was
leaving the country today and was probably
already on the plane.
Chase went crazy, pushing through everyone,
trying to rush to the airport.
He didn’t even bother trying to answer the
reporters‘ questions.
It was like being publicly shamed meant
nothing compared to finding me.
In the end, his dad couldn’t stand the
embarrassment anymore and had security
drag him away.
I heard Mr. Sterling taught him a lesson the
hard way.
He beat him so badly he ended up in the
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hospital for two weeks.
If Chase hadn’t gotten into an Ivy League, he
probably would’ve gotten it worse.
The story blew up online, and the internet
mob descended on Chase and Bailey.
[They tried to use public sympathy to frame a girl who just graduated high school. That’s
disgusting.]
[Good thing she was smart enough to record everything, or they would have ruined her.]
Social media was flooded with hate for them.
Looks like the real world’s comments are a lot
more sensible than the ones in my head.
Because Sterling Corp ran a massive PR
campaign for him, most of the heat ended up
on Bailey.
Some people even doxxed her. She couldn’t
leave her house, and her family had to close
their fish stall.
Her parents already favored her brother, and
now that they had no income, they refused to
pay for her college.
They kicked her out and sent her to work in
another city.
“You have no idea,” my friend told me over
the phone. “Chase keeps showing up at my
house, asking where you are.”
I frowned. “If he’s harassing vou. don’t
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hesitate. Just call the cops.
My friend laughed. “What’s the big deal? After
what they tried to do to you, you think I’d let
him off that easy?”
“I told him you went to Iceland. Let him look.”
I sighed, amused. “What are you going to do
when he finds out you lied?”
“I’ll just say I misremembered and you actually
went to Antarctica,” she said breezily. “I’ll
keep him running for as long as I can.”
We both burst out laughing.
“Alright, have your fun. Just try not to break
him completely.”
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