Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
My alarm buzzes and it feels like I’ve barely slept. Between my late-night text conversation with Kamden, to my middle-of-the-night message from Hayes, I’m surprised I even woke up to my alarm.
After a long, drawn-out yawn, I open my eyes and snatch my phone off my nightstand, pulling it from the charging cord. I quickly swipe away my notifications so I can torture myself by rereading my conversation with Kamden last night.
Kamden: You’re unbelievable, Brogan. The fact that you’re the one pissed right now is beyond me.
Me: Quit playing innocent. All I did was lose a stupid bet and go to a hockey game. You invited your ex to your dorm.
Kamden: I didn’t invite her. She showed up. What part of that don’t you understand?
Me: I don’t believe anything you say anymore.
Kamden: You know what? Fuck this. There are a thousand girls in this school who would love to be in your position.
Me: Oh, you mean in the position of their boyfriend running around with his ex. Sure. I’m sure a thousand girls would love that.
Kamden: I’m not your boyfriend. Not anymore.
Me: You haven’t been my boyfriend for the past week. The minute you decided to ignore me instead of facing your problems like an adult you stopped being mine because you were too busy thinking about yourself. Have a nice life, Kamden.
I stop reading there because it only gets more painful after that. Although I said I was done with him when Avery and I left the arena last night, our relationship still felt unfinished.
Our conversation last night sealed the deal, though.
My dorm door comes flying open and Avery bursts inside like she’s running from an axe murderer. “B,” she cries. “Oh my God. Are you okay?”
I glance around the room, wondering if said axe murderer made his way in here without me seeing. “I’m…fine,” I tell her warily.
“You poor thing. You haven’t seen it, have you?” Her ass lands on the corner of my bed and she holds her phone in the air.
My eyes lock to the screen, and a shiver runs down my spine. My hands tremble, but I somehow manage to snatch the phone from her grasp to get a closer look.
“Where did you get this?” I gasp, barely able to catch my breath as the video of me pleasuring myself plays on repeat. I shake the phone in my hand, swallowing down the huge lump forming in my throat. “Why would Kamden do this to me?” I shout.
Avery’s face contorts as she looks at the video. “That’s Kamden?”
“Of course it’s Kamden,” I growl. “Who else would it be?”
She leans her head slightly to the right, observing the footage. “It’s so hard to tell because it doesn’t show his face.”
“Who all has seen it?” I ask in a panic.
“Brogan,” she gulps. “It was shared on Rosewood U’s FlashChat page. It’s since gone viral! It’s everywhere.”
My entire body breaks out in chills. This can’t be happening. This can’t seriously be happening right now. I cup my face in my hands, struggling to find enough oxygen to calm my racing heart. My eyes close, only to open immediately. I’m trapped in my own nightmare.
“Babe, you don’t look so good,” I barely hear Avery say. Her words sound so far away even as she’s sitting right beside.
“I feel dizzy,” I tell Avery. “I think I’m gonna pass out.”
Avery lowers me down until I’m lying on my back, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Minutes pass. I’m not sure how many but enough for me to realize this is really happening.
“I’m transferring,” I mutter into the pillow I’ve pulled over my head.
Avery grabs it and tosses it on the floor, so I cover my face with my hands. Then the bitch takes my arms and pins them to the sides of my body. “You are not transferring. With some time, this will blow over.”
My face scrunches. “How much time do you think?”
“Eh…” She lifts a shoulder. “A couple weeks. Months at worst.”
“Months?” I whimper. “Jesus Christ, Ave, how did this happen?”
Then it hits me.
My body shoots upright and all the blood rushes to my head. “I can’t believe he did this.”
“The guy’s got balls, I’ll give him that.”
“No kidding. He’s a heartless asshole.”
“No.” Her eyebrows hit her forehead as she looks back at her phone. “The guy has some big-ass balls. Hairy too. He should give those a trim. Gross.”
“Oh my God, Avery,” I hiss as I slap the phone out of her hand. “Stop watching that.”
I fling myself back onto the mattress, burying my face in my hands again. “This is a fucking nightmare,” I scream.
Digging my fingertips into my eyeballs, I make an attempt to pull myself together so I can find a way to save my reputation. But first, I need to know what I’m dealing with. I sit back up and hold out my hand. “Show me the whole thing.”
“Maybe we should give it a little?—”
“Show me!” I snap, curling my fingers. “I need to know, Ave. And once I do, I’m killing him.”
“Now calm down, Brogan.” Her voice softens. “You’re not killing Kamden…because I’m doing it for you. I already have plans for him. There’s duct tape and a shovel in my trunk. I bet the hockey team would help us bury him too.”
If anyone can make me laugh at a time like this, it’s Avery. I should probably keep a close eye on her, though, she’s been waiting for this moment for a long time. She might actually kill him.
After tapping onto her phone, she hands it to me and humiliation takes hold as I watch myself on the screen. This video alone has twenty-three thousand views and has been shared over two hundred times. Of those two hundred shares, I can’t even begin to imagine how many other views and shares there are. The math is making my head hurt.
As I’m watching, my head tilts slightly to the left, a smile tugging at my lips. “I actually look pretty fucking hot,” I confess. “If this were anyone else, I’d say get yours, girl .”
“Right?” Avery blurts out. “I was thinking the same thing. I mean, I didn’t watch the whole video because that’s just weird, but, babe, you look hot as fuck. I’m surprised guys aren’t banging down our door right now.”
Avery was right, though. Kamden is shown in the bottom corner of the video, but you can’t even tell it’s him because all it shows is his stomach. Ope. There’s a penis.
The worst part is, this doesn’t even make him look bad. If anyone figures out that it’s him, he will be held to a high honor while I’ll be ridiculed and shamed. Kamden has a smoking hot body and the girls are going to flock right to it. The guys will offer up high fives and might even crown him for his big cock. I don’t even want to think about what the female population at Rosewood U will say about me.
A knock at the door has me stuffing Avery’s phone underneath my ass, as if I’m hiding something that nobody has seen.
Avery jumps up and heads to the door, but I stop her. “I can’t face anyone right now.”
She moves closer and presses her eye to the peephole before shooting me a glance. “It’s Lucia and Jared.”
I sigh. “All right. Let ’em in.”
Avery opens the door, waves them inside, then pokes her head out, looking up and down the hall. “The paparazzi haven’t arrived yet,” she teases before closing the door. “But rest assured we will beat their asses if they do.”
It’s great that she’s making jokes, but at some point, I will have to leave this room and it won’t be funny anymore.
“Girl,” Lucia says with her arms spread wide. She’s coming at me like my grandma just passed away. “How are you, hon?”
I let her hug me and give her a couple pats on the back. “I think my mind is in a state of shock right now. But what can I do, ya know?”
“I’ll tell you what you can do,” Jared begins. “You’re gonna pull yourself together and walk out of this room with your head held high. If the world sees that this video has knocked you down, they’ll keep you down. But if you show them you’re unfazed, they’ll get bored with it.”
“Good point,” Avery tells him as she sits down at her vanity. “Just get up and get ready and go to class like nothing happened.”
My eyes widen and my heart races. “I can’t go to class. It’s too soon. The video is still getting shared. What if someone in one of my classes sees it for the first time during class. No.” I shake my head. “I’m not leaving this room today. Maybe not even tomorrow.”
“What about cheer?” Lucia asks.
“I’ll text Coach Wendy and tell her I’m sick. Unless she’s seen it, too. Oh my God!” I cry as I fall back onto the mattress. “Why is this happening to me?”
“Kamden Donnelly,” Avery grits out. “That’s why.”
My eyebrows pinch together tightly and I grind my teeth so hard I’m certain I just chipped a molar. “Kamden Donnelly is going to rue the day he double crossed me.”
My face twists with frustration as I grab my phone to find that I have even more notifications.I never even checked the ones that came overnight. Tears well in the corners of my eyes because I know what’s behind the dozens of texts and voicemails.
By now, my parents have probably heard. My sisters, my brothers. This is worse than a nightmare. This is a living hell. I can’t read them right now. But what I can do is give Kamden a piece of my mind.
Opening our text log, I practically pound out a message to him…
Me: I should report you for harassment and slander after this shit you pulled. I knew you could be an asshole, but I had no idea you were so coldhearted. How could you do this to me?
Then I block his call because I know he’ll deny any wrongdoing. I don’t even care to hear his pathetic lies. I just want him to know that I know it was him.
The damage is done. Now I have to clean up the mess.