The Hunt

5. Everly

5

Everly

“Excuse me!” I called out to the blonde girl in front of me as she stepped out of the lecture hall. “You dropped your pen!”

I stooped to pick the pen up as I spoke, and the girl turned back to me with a bright smile. “Oh, thank—”

She cut herself off abruptly, and her smile vanished, replaced with a sour expression. Then she snatched the pen from my hand and stood up straight. “Thanks,” she muttered before turning and stalking away.

“You’re welcome,” I said under my breath, wondering what on earth her problem was.

Come to think of it, what was everyone’s problem today? It was so weird. My first class had been fine, but the next one was full of people whispering to each other behind their hands, and it always seemed to happen after they caught a glimpse of me. A couple of girls had even glared daggers at me and then went on to ignore my presence like I was a ghost after I tried saying hi to them.

I honestly had no idea what was going on. I could only assume that everyone was hungover from the weekend and in foul moods as a result.

I put my sunglasses on and set off across campus, heading for the library. On my way, I passed the West End Café and spotted Tessa, Bree, and Sloane through the window, huddled at a table with tall latte glasses.

Shit.

I stopped in my tracks. Had I forgotten about a meetup with the girls? I racked my brains, then realized I hadn’t checked our group chat for the last three hours. I’d been too caught up with my back-to-back classes.

I stepped into the café and hurried over to the table. “Sorry, I haven’t even had a chance to look at the chat today!” I said. “I’ve been so busy with classes. I must’ve missed—”

As I spoke, Tessa picked up her bag and plopped it right on the chair I was about to slide into.

“Oh, sorry. Was this a private thing?” I asked as a spike of hurt twisted in my chest. I tried to play it off with a casual smile, but it barely held. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might be intruding.

Tessa gave me a saccharine smile that didn’t meet her eyes. “No, it’s not private. More like exclusive ,” she said in a biting tone. “No raging homophobes allowed.”

My eyes flicked over to the other girls. Sloane wouldn’t look at me, and Bree’s face was set in a mask of disdain.

“Um… is this a joke? I don’t get it,” I said, heart thumping painfully fast.

“It’s all over campus, Everly,” Bree said stonily. “Apparently you hate gay people.”

“ What ?” My eyes widened with incredulity. “That’s not true!”

“It’s not just one person saying it, Ev,” Sloane said softly. She still wasn’t meeting my eyes.

“That shit really doesn’t fly here,” Tessa added. “Not in this day and age. Maybe it’s okay where you come from, but—”

I cut her off. “No, it’s not okay where I’m from!” I said hotly, lifting a palm. “Seriously, I swear , I’m not homophobic! Who the hell is even saying this stuff?”

Bree exchanged a dubious glance with Sloane. Then she sighed and handed me her phone. “Open Holler.”

I frowned and clicked on the black and white H icon on her screen. Holler was a bit like the Gossip Girl app, but it was exclusive to Hollingsworth. Students could send in tips or comment on posts, and it was all anonymous. I’d continually put off downloading it because it seemed so silly and high-schoolish, but I majorly regretted that decision now.

Today’s top post featured a clear photo of me, taken during my first class of the day. The student who’d sent it in had attached a story filled with total lies about me.

Avoid this girl LIKE THE PLAGUE. Seriously!! She was sitting in front of me today and I could see everything she was doing on her laptop. I guess she didn’t realize I could see. Or maybe she didn’t care??

Anyway, she was on some streaming site writing a comment about how gay people should be forced to put content warnings on all their videos. Just for existing, I guess?? Then after that, she went on some weird forum and complained about gay/bi people on that. I literally saw her write these exact words: ‘I’m sick of being forced to witness their immoral lifestyles’.

So fucked up! We need to stamp this shit out at Hollingsworth. No hate welcome on our campus!!

The comments were filled with people agreeing with the original poster or expressing shock at the revelation.

HollerAnon236: Yup that tracks with my experience. I overheard her at a party saying the most hateful homophobic shit I’ve ever heard after she saw two guys kissing. Unbelievable.

HollerAnon781: OMG I actually know her! She lives in the same hall as me. Always seemed so bubbly and nice. Never would’ve guessed she was such a nasty bigot. Crazy!!!

HollerAnon902: Wouldn’t surprise me if she’s racist too. These things go hand-in-hand most of the time, right?

HollerAnon156: Yup agreed. Probably got a bunch of internalized misogyny going on too. It’s always the same with these fascist assholes.

HollerAnon332: Ew what a bitch.

HollerAnon379: Go back to the Stone Age please….

I stared at the words, my brain scrambling to put them together in a way that made any sense. My pulse was pounding so hard I could feel it behind my eyes, and heat was flooding my cheeks, a wave of humiliation mixed with anger.

My breath hitched as I tried to force my next words out, my throat tight with the effort. “It’s not true,” I said, gaze shooting between the girls. “Do you honestly believe this shit?”

Sloane finally met my eyes. “I really don’t want to, Ev, but more than one person said it.”

“It’s all anonymous! It could be the same person pretending to be multiple people!” I said, shaking my head. Hot tears spilled out over my cheeks. “Can’t you see what’s happening? This is Jake! It has to be!”

Bree’s expression shifted from dark disdain to a contemplative frown. “You think he wrote all that stuff just to get at you?”

“Yes.” I wiped my face with a shaky hand. “I told you; he hates me and wants me gone. He’d probably do anything to make me leave. I mean, just look at the message he sent me yesterday.”

I opened my texts and showed the girls the most recent pile of abuse Jake had sent to me.

J: Think you’re safe here, cunt? Think again. Just fucking wait and see what happens. By the time I’m done you’ll be begging me to stop, but I won’t.

Tessa, Sloane, and Bree stared at the words in silence.

“Wow,” Sloane finally said in a breathless whisper. “He’s disgusting.”

“See?” I sniffed as more tears pricked at my eyes. “He basically admitted that he’s planning a bunch of stuff to ruin my life here at Hollingsworth.”

“How do we know you didn’t send that message to yourself so you could have a convenient scapegoat to blame if you got caught doing something?” Tessa asked, narrowing her eyes.

“I didn’t. I would never do something like that.” I slowly shook my head and opened my tote bag to display its contents to her. “And look… I didn’t even take my laptop to any of my classes today. It’s back at the dorms. So how could that person have seen me using it in the lecture hall?”

Bree and Sloane gave each other uncertain looks. Tessa continued to look mad as hell.

“Please,” I went on, voice cracking with hurt. “I thought we were friends. I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I thought you’d all gotten to know me well enough to know that this stuff can’t be true. At all . I’m not homophobic, or racist, or anything those comments are saying. And I’m not lying about Jake either.”

Sloane’s shoulders slumped, and guilt flashed across her face. “She’s right,” she said, gaze shooting between Bree and Tessa. “I mean… we’re really just believing the first rumor we hear about her? That’s insane.”

“It’s not just any rumor,” Tessa snapped.

Bree’s lips pressed together in a firm line, and she leaned forward. “Tess, come on. We need to talk about this properly,” she said. She looked back at me and patted the table, indicating for me to take a seat. “I’m sorry, Ev; you’re totally right. We should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt and agreed to hear you out first.”

“Thanks,” I murmured.

Tessa snatched her bag off the seat and rose to her feet. “Fine. Whatever. Have fun, guys!” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. With that, she stomped away and exited the West End.

Bree sighed as she watched her go. “Just give her some time,” she said, looking back at me. “She’s really sensitive about this sort of stuff.”

Sloane nodded in agreement. “I’m not sure if she told you about this yet, but her best friend in high school was bullied really badly after she came out.” She paused and lowered her voice. “Like, so badly she ended up trying to kill herself.”

My stomach lurched. “That’s horrible.”

“Yeah. She’s fine now, but it was really bad back then. That’s why this kind of stuff upsets Tessa so much.”

“She’ll come around and listen to you eventually,” Bree added. “Like I said before, she just needs some time to process it all.”

“But you two…” I trailed off, eyes flickering between the girls. “You believe me?”

Bree was silent for a moment. Then she nodded. “I can tell you’re not lying about the Holler stuff, unless you’re the best fucking actress on the planet,” she said. She hesitated and leaned forward, eyes narrowing slightly. “But you are hiding something, aren’t you?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Something about this Jake guy. I mean, there’s no way he’d go to such crazy lengths to run you off campus just because you caught him cheating,” she said. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Some other reason for him to want you gone so badly.”

I sighed and looked down at the table, fingers anxiously twisting together. “Yeah,” I finally murmured. “You’re right.”

“So what is it? What did he do to you?” she asked. “Or what did you do to him?”

“Did he really cheat?” Sloane quickly added.

“Yes. But I didn’t actually find out about that until after I dumped him,” I replied. “He kept cycling between apologizing and flying into rages after the breakup, and that’s when he admitted he’d been sleeping with other girls the entire time.”

Bree leaned even closer, forehead creasing. “So why did you dump him? And why does he hate you so much?”

“I… I don’t even know where to start with this,” I said softly. “It’s such a long story, and honestly, I worry you won’t even believe me, because it’s just so—”

“Girl.” Bree lifted a palm. “Just take a breath and start from the very beginning. One word at a time. You can do it.”

“Okay.” I inhaled deeply and looked her in the eye. “I’ll tell you everything.”