Chapter 40 Kyle
Kyle
Lily: We need to talk. Call me when you see this.
Lily: It's urgent.
I waited patiently for the day to end, and just as Florence had instructed, I returned to her room to retrieve Oliver's phone.
But she wasn't there when I arrived, nor was the phone anywhere on her desk.
Apparently, she'd left and taken it with her.
She was definitely smarter than I'd given her credit for.
Just as I was about to leave the room without any hope, I heard footsteps echoing down the hallway.
I cracked open the door just enough to see Florence walking toward me with Oliver at her side, apparently with the same plan as me to retrieve his phone.
I quickly retreated and hid in the supply closet.
I had to stop Florence from giving Oliver the phone, but I also wanted to hear what excuse my friend would make to get it back and whether she would fall for his lies.
From inside the closet, I could see the entire room through a small gap between the doors. It was the perfect vantage point to observe them without being detected.
Miss Reynolds entered first and sat down at her desk, followed by my friend a few minutes later. He locked the door behind him and leaned casually against her desk, fidgeting with some pencils.
"I'm telling you, he doesn't know anything," Oliver said to Florence in a nonchalant tone.
Florence watched him play with the pencils, clearly impatient. "So why does he want your phone?"
"I think he wants a video I recorded of his girlfriend’s brother having sex with his best friend, so he can delete it. As if I'd be stupid enough to let him do that."
My heart sank. So there definitely was a video of Leo and Jeremy. Lily and I hadn't prevented anything. We'd just changed the location where it happened.
"And why do you have that video? Are you planning to hurt Leo the same way you're hurting me?
" Florence's voice was almost broken. I never heard her like that.
She was the strongest woman I ever met, or so I remembered her.
Now that I'm older, I'm starting to see that adults aren't as unbreakable and cold as I used to think.
"Dear Flor, I've done everything to you except hurt you," Oliver replied with casual cruelty.
I was shocked to hear Oliver address our teacher with such disrespect and familiarity. I'd never heard him speak to any adult like that before.
She gripped his wrist tightly, stopping his fidgeting. "You're hurting me by threatening to spread a video, and you know it. If you wanted me to stay with you, that was the worst possible way to do it."
What the hell was she talking about? I tried to stay as still as possible so they wouldn't detect my presence, but this conversation was making me increasingly uncomfortable.
He smiled at her, but it was one of those dark smiles that made your skin crawl. I wouldn't doubt that she was feeling like that right now. "So why did it work?"
"But I'm not with you out of love anymore, but because of the threats you're giving me," she said, her voice trembling slightly.
Love? What the fuck was going on here?
"Are you saying you're with me against your will? That you don't love me? Choose your next words very carefully, Flor."
"I'm saying there were better ways to keep me by your side than threatening me," Miss Reynolds said softly. "Please give me your phone password so we can handle this peacefully, as we did in the beginning."
She began to tenderly lift the hand that was gripping his wrist toward his cheek, but he stopped her before she could complete the gesture.
"That's where you're always wrong, Flor, thinking I'm stupid enough to fall for your manipulations over and over again like I'm a child."
"But you used to fall for them so easily before," she whispered.
"But not anymore, darling," he replied, placing his hand on her neck.
I was utterly disturbed by what I was witnessing. I'd always known Oliver could be a bully, capable of hurting people both physically and mentally, but even our teacher? This was beyond anything I'd imagined he was capable of.
I decided to burst out of the closet to intervene, but just as I was about to move, Florence smiled.
He wasn't hurting her. She was enjoying this.
"Oh, you think you're a grown man now?" she purred.
"Of course I am."
She stood up, cupped his face with both hands, and kissed him. Actually kissed him on the lips. My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but suddenly so many things made sense.
Oliver's grades are mysteriously good despite minimal effort. How he never got in trouble despite deliberately causing problems every day. Florence's comments about my maturity over the past few days. Had she been interested in me, too? This was so incredibly messed up.
I couldn't stand watching anymore. I was completely disgusted. So I emerged from the closet, still slack-jawed, and watched as they both froze in shock at seeing me.
"Kyle, I can explain," Florence said immediately, frantically fixing her hair and clothes.
"There's nothing to explain. Give me the phone."
"Hey, man, I'm sure we can work something else out," Oliver said, stepping protectively in front of Florence.
"I don't think so. Give me Oliver's phone, and I'll leave quietly."
They looked at each other uncertainly, unsure whether they should let me go so easily.
"Listen, I'm not interested in whatever sick relationship you two have going on, or what else might be on that phone.
All I want is Leo's video deleted, so give me the phone, and I'll leave peacefully, as if I never saw any of this.
" I meant every word. What I'd witnessed was disgusting, but it wasn't my business to deal with, especially since I had my own issues to deal with right now.
"Yeah, well, there's a problem with that," Oliver said.
"What problem?" I asked impatiently.
"I'm not the only person who has the video," my friend admitted.
"Who else has it?"
No one answered, so I asked again, more forcefully. "Who else has the video?"
"Brandy. I sent it to her on Saturday night to show her why she shouldn't be with her boyfriend."
Holy shit. This was going from bad to catastrophic. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Okay, I can handle Brandy. Hand me the phone now, and I'll leave."
Florence reached into her jacket pocket and handed me the device. Oliver looked at her with disgust, as if he knew it was a mistake, but he didn't object.
I grabbed the phone, took a deep breath, and left the room as quickly as possible.
Walking away from that scene, I was certain of three things:
First, neither Oliver nor Florence had released the video yet, which meant Leo no longer had the same motive for revenge that had driven him in our original timeline.
Second, no matter how hard we tried to change the past, some things simply wouldn't change because they were beyond our control, and Lily and I had to start making peace with that reality.
And third, that things were always more complicated than they appeared on the surface, making it impossible to be the hero in every situation.