Cece’s eyes were glued to the television screen as her shoulders slowly crept up to her ears. Her carefully rehearsed façade started to crack.
‘What are you going to do?’ Holly asked.
Cece whipped her head around. ‘What do you think I’m going to do? I’m going to sit here and finish this stupid chain.’
‘You saw what happened to Teddy when he did that,’ Jackie said.
Cece cut a look her way. ‘Nothing happened to Teddy. Some stupid ping went off on his phone. That proves nothing.’
‘Do you want to test that theory?’ Q asked.
Cece swallowed the truck-sized lump in her throat. She tried to sound cool about the entire situation, but the way that Teddy’s face paled she knew something had happened to his money. She didn’t want to test it, but she also didn’t want to post naked pictures of herself online. She had thousands of followers, a lot of them carefully curated fashion gurus who if they saw she was just some dumb high school student posting nudes would unfollow her instantly. Or would they share the photo, thinking she was making some fashion statement? Either way, it wouldn’t work in her favor.
What was the alternative? What did this person have on her? Her reputation was paramount—what had she done in public to allow someone to see her in any other state than perfect?
‘If you post the picture, you can always take it down right after,’ Jackie said.
‘Would you take the picture?’ Cece asked. She and Jackie weren’t exactly friends, but Cece usually tried to stay on the safe side of the cheerleader. Cece saw what happened when people went against Jackie.
Keeping her reputation squeaky clean was somewhat of an obsession for Cece. So there was no way this person, whoever he was, could know anything except for what she put out there. Her parents barely knew her. Not that they ever made an effort. They gave Hannah their full attention. She was on track to medical school to become a doctor like their parents, while Cece was more interested in fashion. A poor choice in career, according to her parents. She’d only had to mention it once before they berated her.
‘There’s no stability,’ Dad had said so many times before.
‘You need a backup,’ Mom always said.
A backup for her passion? No way. She was going to pursue this career whether they liked it or not. Though she would prefer it if they agreed with her. She hated the fact that they looked down their noses at an artistic career. Though neither of them had a creative bone in their body, so they wouldn’t understand.
Their constant need for her to live up to Hannah’s Golden Child persona drove Cece to do the things she did. They didn’t support her. So she found a way to support herself.
And now someone was going to expose that.
Or was this person bluffing?
Could she take the risk?
Her heart roared in her ears, bringing her attention to the truth.
No, she couldn’t.
Jackie was right. Cece could put up the picture to satisfy the person who was playing jokes on them and then take it down. Teens had their nude photos passed around all the time. She’d rather that be the topic of conversation than her secret. Her parents would never trust her again if they found out. And she’d get a worse punishment than detention.
‘Can you cover for me?’ Cece asked the group. Whether or not they liked each other, they were in this together. All of them were targets and would have their challenge.
Holly scooted into Cece’s seat since she was the closest to the office.
Cece ducked and crept behind Q and Teddy’s chairs.
‘Are you sure I can’t watch?’ Q asked.
Cece pinched him, squeezing the roll of skin that folded over the waist of his pants.
‘Ow!’ Q said.
The others shushed him.
‘I’ll see the picture soon enough,’ Q warned.
Not if she had anything to do with it. Once she posted the photo, she was going to delete it the moment her turn was over. No one in this room would ever see it. Besides, they weren’t getting their phones back until the end of detention.
Glancing at the clock, she didn’t have much time left, so she hustled over to the biography section, identified by a placard on the end cap.
It was far enough away from the others to keep her hidden, but close enough to be able to see the tops of their heads over the books to make sure they stayed put. Especially Q.
The laptop was set up on one of the shelves.
The screen had a note stuck to it with a pink Post-it, which read, ‘You contact anyone, and the game is over for all of you.’
Cece nodded as if someone was speaking to her. She couldn’t care less about the others’ secrets. She’d do anything to keep hers.
She moved her finger over the touchpad, and the screen came to life. A photo app was already up and running. Cece’s body filled the space. She ran her finger down to the bottom of the display and nothing came up. No taskbar. Nothing.
She thought about trying harder to contact the outside world, but she had to think of one thing at a time. And keeping her parents out of the loop was her number one priority.
She glanced over the books at the others.
Not wanting to push her luck, she moved away from the computer and lifted her sweater over her head. She folded it neatly and placed it on the ground. She did the same with her pants. All there was left was her underwear and bra.
They were all working on the chain. The sound of the staplers made sure to cover any sound she might make.
Over their heads, Mr. Curtis was still oblivious to anything going on. She supposed it was better having a teacher who was more relaxed than some who were like hawks. If she could be grateful for anything, it would be that.
She took a breath and moved in front of the camera, while simultaneously removing her bra. She shoved down her underwear and stood up.
She felt a little like she did in the dressing room at her favorite clothing shops, uncomfortable that someone might catch her. She shook away the thought, imagining she was in her bedroom privately changing. It was all she could do or else she might not have had the nerve.
Seeing herself on the computer screen made goosebumps ripple across her skin. A cold chill moved down her spine, and it took all of her strength to hold back the shivers that threatened to force her to crumple to the floor.
Tears pricked at her eyes as she reached forward and pressed the RECORD button. A countdown starting at ten blinked at the top of the screen.
Once the computer snapped the photo, she dropped to the ground and threw on her clothes, quicker than she’d ever done before.
Her body violently shook as she covered up. Her vision blurred and she sniffed, trying to hold back her tears.
When she stood up to see the photo, it was gone, and the app was gone, revealing only the desktop. The background was some cartoon creature that resembled a giant wolf. The skin above his nose was wrinkled as his lips turned up into a snarl, revealing sharp white teeth with saliva dripping down its mouth.
Her stomach turned at the image, or maybe it had been what she’d just done.
Her photo was a small icon in the otherwise empty screen. She found the Internet browser and logged into her account. She didn’t know how much time she had left, but it wasn’t much. She’d hesitated too long before, and now she cut it way too close for any mistakes. She uploaded the photo. There hadn’t been any instructions on what she was supposed to write in the post, and she thought of nothing.
What could she say? It was obvious she’d taken the photo. She stared at her face, trying to keep her attention off the fact that she was naked.
‘Cece,’ someone said.
Cece jumped back and slammed the laptop closed.
Teddy’s eyes and forehead appeared on the other side of the shelf. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’
‘What are you doing?’ Cece hissed.
‘You don’t have that much more time,’ Teddy whispered.
Cece placed her hands on the laptop for a moment before lifting the top.
The browser was still open, and all she had to do was post it.
She moved her finger over the trackpad and hovered the cursor over the POST button. But she couldn’t force her finger to press down on the pad to send the photo. Her stomach rolled.
Again, she couldn’t help but think that this person didn’t have any evidence of what she’d done. Maybe the naked photo was her punishment, and the evidence was a bluff.
She choked on a sob and counted to twenty.
The screen on the laptop flashed then went dark. Her time was up. She gripped the edge of the laptop in her hands. ‘What? Wait!’
Something moved in her peripheral vision—it was the television again. It came alive, proving that this whole thing wasn’t a joke at all.
Cece ran down the aisle of bookshelves and stopped in front of the television. Her eyes widened as she tried to make out what her punishment might be.
Instead of a time warning, it was a video. There wasn’t any sound. It took her a moment to place the setting. When the blurry colors sharpened, clothing racks filled the screen.
And then the camera moved again. Cece recognized the location. It was one of her favorite boutiques, several towns from Pioneer Haven.
The video focused on her. It was strange seeing herself on the screen, especially when she didn’t know someone had followed her. She thought back to the last time she wore that white button-down shirt. It must have been two months ago. She had enough clothes in her closet to have a different outfit for every day of each season, and she recalled each time she wore them, so there were no duplicate outfits for at least that long.
She’d chosen that look so no one would suspect what she was about to do. She wanted to appear older and also blend in with the other shoppers.
Cece knew what she was going to see, but never expected anyone else to see it, especially not these people. Her heart thrummed in her chest, and her feet were like bricks, anchored to the floor.
The video was taken from a camera hidden behind a rack. Her blood ran cold. Someone had followed her there, knowing what she was about to do.
She could almost feel the tank top in her hands as she watched herself on the video check the size of the shirt. She watched herself look over both her shoulders before slipping the shirt off the hanger, rolling it up, and placing it in her purse.
And when the stalker clearly had the evidence he needed, Cece watched herself go to another rack and steal two more items before leaving the store.
The person holding the camera walked by one of the mirrors near the shoe department, but the screen moved too quickly for Cece to get a look at the individual who’d followed her. She only saw a blur, though it might have been the tears filling her vision once more.
Her heart roared in her ears. How had someone known about her stealing habit? Her fingers twitched at her sides. She wanted but to be taken seriously as a fashionista so she needed them. She loved the jealousy from the other girls in school when they saw the outfits and the thrill of taking something that didn’t belong to her. But now Jackie was going to tell everyone that Cece was a fraud.
And this person was going to show her parents.
She opened her mouth to say something when an email client opened on the screen.
Her parents’ emails were in the ‘To’ row. A cursor moved across the screen until it hit the subject line.
The words, Video from Cece, were typed into the space.
Then in the body of the email, the person typed, I made this video for you two. Tell me what you think. Love ya, Cecelia.
Cece tried to block the screen with her body to prevent the others from seeing. But it didn’t matter anymore. They already saw the video. The cursor opened the attachment link and the video uploaded into the email.
She pressed her hands against the screen as the cursor moved over the SEND button before the screen went black.
Cece pressed her forehead against the screen, and her breath hitched. Her parents were going to ground her for the rest of her life. And knowing how her parents were attached to their phones, they would get the email within minutes. She imagined them storming down to the school at any moment now and demanding an explanation.
This wasn’t a joke, not at all.
Cece peered over her shoulder at her classmates. Her gaze found Teddy. This person wasn’t messing around and would carry through with the threats. He already knew, but she said it aloud for the others. ‘Teddy, I think your money is gone.’
He slowly nodded and dug his hands into his jeans pockets.
He was still in the same spot across the way, inches from the laptop which held a nude photo of her. There was no reason for it to remain there.
Cece bolted across the room, back to the laptop. Even if Mr. Curtis caught her, she needed to delete that photo before anyone else saw it.
The others started talking, but their voices were muddled together, muted by her heartbeat roaring in her ears.
Even though Cece’s vision was blurred by the tears streaming down her face, she couldn’t mistake the movement of the cursor on the laptop. It scrolled over to the POST button and blinked.
‘No!’ she cried.
She pressed her finger on the touchpad and then the screen went blank.
‘No! No! No!’ She jammed her finger against the power button, but the computer wouldn’t turn on.
Panic seized her. Her breaths came quickly. Her head span, and black spots filled her vision.
A muffled voice filled her ears.
‘Cece,’ Teddy said. He was next to her, holding his hands out as if she might faint. She felt close to it. ‘You need to sit down,’ he said, taking her hand. He led her back to the table where the rest were staring up at her with wide eyes.
Teddy tilted his head to the side. ‘What did you say?’
Cece hadn’t realized she’d spoken until the words bubbled up to the surface again. ‘He sent it.’