“The American, Finley Roze, who is said to be marrying the future King of Andorra, Prince Aiden Agramunt Sorenson Windsor Rey, can’t seem to get her story straight. Her ring was noticeably on the correct finger recently, stating perhaps she feels she is ready to be Queen of Andorra. But in the photo, she was also seen kissing a baby, leading reporters to believe she might be hiding a secret of her own. Is she pregnant and is that the reason for the rushed engagement and the repeated lies to the press? Time will tell.”

I put the phone down, trying to ignore my rapidly beating heart and sour taste in my cheeks. The room spun as I turned to Linna and Jess, both biting their lips and processing what I’d just read from something called The Star, a tabloid that had dedicated itself to tormenting celebrities and royals.

My phone buzzed but I couldn't look at it.

My eyes were stuck on my laptop and the shiny pictures of my boyfriend with his arm around Alex. They were with a group of friends at the top of a ski hill, beaming for the camera in full gear. Then there was one of them on the lift. He was next to Alex in every picture. Hello! didn't say they suspected he and Alex were an item but made sure it looked like they might be.

My chest was so tight, my racing heart didn't have room to beat.

“I mean—maybe it’s not so bad,” Jess began.

“I say we go find who wrote this and fucking kill them,” Linna exploded with rage. “That’s such a lie. How can they write all that shit? We’re gonna sue. I’m calling your dad right now and we’re gonna sue!”

“Hello?” Jess answered a phone. I lowered my gaze to my hand, realizing it was my phone she had. She’d taken it but my hand didn't know. It was still clenched as if the phone was there. “No. She’s not saying anything. I don't think she’s breathing.” She lowered the phone, stepping closer. “It’s Aiden. Can you just—?”

“No!” I pushed past her and Linna who continued to rage like a crazy person. I pulled on my sneakers and my running jacket and burst from the room and out the door.

By the time I was outside, my feet were punishing me and the pavement.

I ran to the choppy gray sea, ignoring the cold sleet and pushing myself along the sidewalk. My heart raced, not from the run, not yet. That would come. But the picture of Aiden and Alex combined with the one of me kissing the baby and the way they’d focused the shot in on my ring and called me a liar, spun in my head.

It wasn't the first time someone had called me a liar. It wasn't my first rodeo at public shaming. And it definitely wasn't my first time feeling like the world was spinning out of control.

But it was the first time I’d been genuinely innocent and possibly betrayed by Aiden.

With Sheila, I'd deserved at least half the shit she did. I’d done it to her too. We were never even-steven but I’d never been completely innocent before.

It was a horrible feeling.

I’d done nothing but fall in love with the wrong boy, and he was only wrong because I wasn't right.

I wasn't good enough.

I was the wrong nationality.

But not to the boy.

Just to the rest of the world who had no right to be in my relationship.

And so to punish me, they were putting a girl they all wanted into the relationship, forcing her in there.

And I didn't deserve any of the things I’d received as a result. It was weird knowing I’d had no part in this.

I ran until I was about to puke, for a totally different reason than complete devastation, and realized I’d gone way past my normal turn around spot. Trying to catch my breath, I started walking, spotting a car, a small silver car, with someone taking pictures out the passenger window as the driver drove down the road slowly. When the man holding the wide-angle camera saw me notice him, he waved and took another photo.

I scowled and wondered what the hell was going on until it dawned on me he might be a tabloid reporter.

Which meant he got a photo of me sweaty and red and angry.

It was starting.

I imagined the next headline, something with my red sweaty face and some comment about my needing to lose my freshman eleven, though it was down to freshman nine since I’d started running.

Aiden had been right, they’d be watching. Now that they knew who I was and that I was here at school, they’d be looking for me, spying on me.

Completely pissed off, but spent from the run, I arrived back to the dorms in a fouler mood than when I left. I didn't have an answer for the predicament and I had class.

“She’s back. Here.” Jess handed me my phone.

“What?” I huffed into the phone, walking around the living room in circles, trying to catch my breath again.

“Can you not do that, please?” Aiden sounded dangerously pissed off, matching me in tone.

“Do what? Go for a run?” I tried to take longer inhales but coughed from the shortness of breath. “Because I still have to live, Aiden. And you can’t complain I’m getting fatter and then get mad that I go for a run. It doesn't work like that.”

“Fin, be fair. I never complained, I wouldn't. Ever. I love you. I don't care about the weight. I care that you saw that horrid article and ran off. I was worried. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine. But you should know some dick was taking pictures of me on the run. So I guess that means the next article will be that I’m trying to lose my freshman fifteen or that you don't love me fat which is why you’re always with Alex or something else completely humiliating. I have to go.” I managed to get my breath but didn't lose any of the annoyance.

“You know I never wanted this for you.” He didn't touch the Alex comment.

“But you made me do the interview. You knew what was going to happen. We could have gone longer without making this official.”

“Fin, we need to talk about all this.”

“I have to go. I have to shower. I have class in like thirty minutes. And when class is over, we’re catching our flights home. I don't have time to talk right now.” And I didn't want to. I wanted to be mad. Maybe it was irrational, but maybe I needed to be irrational a little longer.

“Fin.”

“I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up without checking to make sure he was still coming home with me. I honestly didn't care.

My shower was short and not nearly as therapeutic as I needed since the run hadn’t made me feel better.

When I was dried and getting dressed, I caught a glimpse of the ring and snarled. I moved it back to the other hand, hoping the papers caught wind of the switch again. Assholes.

Leaving the dorm had become a thing. Everywhere I went people noticed me now. And even worse, they took pictures nonstop. I rushed into class and sat at the back, different from my normal spot in the middle. Keeping my head down, I opened my laptop and waited for Professor McNeill to begin speaking. But he didn't. He scanned the classroom, pausing when his eyes landed on mine.

“Fin, can you come down here, please.” He waved at me.

It hadn’t occurred to me that he knew my name. He was the one teacher I hadn’t tried bribing. There was no need to. The class was the one I enjoyed the most.

“Come down,” he said again.

I turned and looked behind me, completely confused but also nervous.

“Yes, you, come here.” He sounded impatient, making me get up. Slowly, I walked to him, awaiting an ambush or attack of some sort. When I reached the lower floor where he was, he patted me on the back and forced me to face the crowded classroom. “Does anyone here know Fin?”

A couple of phones were raised in hands.

“Sarah.” He pointed at one of the girls with her phone out. “Is there a reason you’re filming Fin? Or a reason why you were pretending to take a selfie before class started, but really you were getting this picture of her to add to your Instagram.” He tapped the iPad in front of him and put an Instagram post of me looking at my laptop up on the massive screen behind us. “You really ought to have made your account private if you were going to shame strangers.”

Seeing myself looking so big and with a double chin from focusing down at the laptop was painful. It had the taglines #PrinceAidenCouldDoBetter, #FinTheFake, #PrincessAlexForTheCrown.

Gasps and murmurs filled the room as my heart sunk, but I refused to let any of them see it.

Her cheeks flushed as she lowered the phone, the other phones started to lower as well.

“Does Fin not have the same rights and privileges as everyone else in the classroom? Who do you think you are, Sarah, to take photos and shame her this way? We’re currently studying international case laws on human suffering and here you are committing a crime of the moral kind. That’s interesting to me. Almost like you’ve missed the entire point of my class. Which is why I will be asking you to leave.” He pointed at the door. Gasps and murmurs filled the space even more. “Your other teachers will be notified of this as well. It’s a direct violation of the code of conduct. There is a zero tolerance at this campus for bullying.”

My heart stopped a second time.

Sarah’s cheeks were crimson and her eyes brimmed with tears, which I had to assume were more regret than remorse. She didn't know me or care about me. She’d posted it to be funny and get laughs and make people think she was cool. She didn't know anything about Aiden or me; she just didn't want to see me succeed. I knew all this because I had once been similar to Sarah. I was still similar to her. How many times had I bad-mouthed a celebrity or shamed them or made fun of someone who was detached from me?

“Wait,” I spoke softly as Sarah stood to pack her things. “I don't want her to get in trouble. What she did was lame and pathetic and rude but this is the rest of her life. It’s just a mistake.”

“Yes, it is. But that hashtag could become the rest of your life. What if ‘Fin the fake’ sticks and that's what people call you because Sarah was jealous that you nabbed a prince?” Mr. McNeill wasn't letting it die. “There are always consequences to actions. And in international studies, we are looking at how society prevents itself from falling into chaos by having rules and punishments. The evolving rules and regulations of our modern society are what separates us from who we were in the Dark Ages. And Sarah is a prime example of how the rules need to evolve with the technology. We have to strike hard and fast, fair punishment for crime, but remain vigilant in our efforts to maintain the world we have created. And to be the changes we want to see in our future.”

I shivered from his passion.

Sarah had paused in her packing up, and stared at him and me as silent tears streamed from her red-rimmed eyes.

“Sarah, what do you think the punishment should be for cyberbullying a fellow classmate, who has done nothing beyond being lucky in love? What do you think is fair for you to suffer, since you have publicly shamed her and possibly created a hashtag that could haunt her for the rest of her life? She’s completely innocent in this. A true victim. Answer me!”

“She should be kicked out of school,” the guy behind her said before Sarah could answer.

“I agree, sir. Sarah’s actions have made it okay to mock Fin, though none of us know her. They’ve pointed out a weakness in Fin for the world to poke at,” a girl at the back said loudly. “Honestly, which of us is next in Sarah’s mean-girl book?”

More voices and comments came forward.

“Silence,” Mr. McNeill said and turned back to Sarah. “Well?”

“I-I don't know. I’ll just go.” She grabbed her books and her laptop, stuffing it all into the bag she had on her chair.

“You don't want to offer a defense?”

“No, sir.” She was struggling with speaking and not sobbing out loud which made her voice waver. “I’ll go.” She finished packing and ran from the classroom, her steps the only noise as we all watched.

“If anyone is caught—and you will be watched—doing anything to Fin because of the person she’s dating, you will be punished to the full extent of our ability. Not only was this a warning to you all, this was the example. You will be kicked out of our school and you will lose your tuition money. Crime and punishment. Welcome to the new chapter. Open your books to page three hundred and ninety-four.” He glanced at me. “Take your seat. Your normal seat, not hiding up there in the back.”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded and hurried. He was terrifying, but he made all the bad feelings I’d been struggling with disappear.

It was crazy weird that a teacher had defended me.

There was a first for everything.