Chapter 44
Maeve
Monday
Maeve is lying on her bed, scrolling. From downstairs, she can hear her mother talking to Aoife.
The best thing about summer nights is that her mother is not on her case to get her stuff organized for school.
Nothing to get up for tomorrow morning, nothing to go to bed for tonight.
She’s just thinking about putting a film on her laptop when a Snapchat notification from an unfamiliar account pops up.
The account is called AWGoss. She clicks in and sees a photo that’s confusing because it’s familiar, but from long ago, and it takes a moment to work it all out, to realize that it’s her diary.
At least, it looks like her diary. It must be just the same cover as hers—the white background and the pink flamingos; hers disappeared years ago.
But then why is she being tagged in the post?
A video appears now. A video that begins with the same diary.
Then an unseen hand opens the cover and the camera zooms in on the writing on the first page.
She knows this writing. She knows this inscription:
Property of Maeve Khoury
Address: 42 Rowanpark Drive, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Age: Almost 13
And in block capitals: AOIFE IF YOU’RE READING THIS YOU’RE DEAD
No, no, no.
She sits bolt upright, cold and sick, staring in horror.
How…? The unseen hand turns the page. There it is: her writing, her diary entries.
No…She closes her eyes, trying to make it stop, to make it disappear.
The audio—Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”—is still playing.
The video is still playing. She forces herself to open her eyes.
The pages are flipping forward. She knows why.
This is the boring stuff, the what-I-did-in-school-today stuff.
The other stuff is further along. And she knows what it is.
She remembers writing it. Her face grows hot, her stomach cold.
How can she stop this? Panic surges up inside.
Who can see it? Everyone. Everyone can see it.
Whoever is behind the account AWGoss has tagged everyone in their year.
The pages keep flipping. She knows what’s coming.
The distant memory is now clear, burned on to her brain. And there it is, on her screen:
…So here goes, I’m in crush with Ariana…
Maeve makes it to the bathroom just in time to throw up.