chapter 4
1284 Words
The photos showed up Friday morning.
I was at my locker when Riley ran up, phone in hand, face pale.
"Matea. You need to see this."
She showed me i********:. Someone had created an account called @westwoodtea. The latest post was a picture of me and Kai in his car yesterday morning. The caption read: "Blackwood's stepsister getting the royal treatment. Special ride to school? 👀"
There were already two hundred likes. Fifty comments.
She wishes.
Gold digger family.
Bet she's loving the attention.
Kai can do SO much better.
I scrolled through more posts. Pictures of me in the hallway. Me at lunch with Riley. Me walking to class. All with captions that made me sound desperate or pathetic.
"Who made this?" I asked.
"No one knows. The account's anonymous." Riley grabbed my arm. "But everyone's seen it. Like, everyone."
As if on cue, a group of girls walked past. One of them looked at me and whispered to her friend. They both laughed.
My face burned. "This is insane."
"It's Madison," Riley said. "Has to be. She probably has someone running the account for her so it can't be traced back."
The bell rang. I slammed my locker and headed to first period.
In English, people stared. In calculus, someone moved seats when I tried to sit down. By third period chemistry, I wanted to disappear.
Kai was already in class when I walked in. He was looking at his phone.
When he saw me, he stood up.
"Matea—"
"Don't." I went to my seat in the front.
He followed. "I didn't know about the account until this morning."
"Good for you."
"I'm serious. This is—" He stopped as Mr. Chen walked in.
"Alright, everyone. Today you'll be starting your projects with your partners. Use the class time to plan your approach."
Kai moved his chair next to mine. Close enough that I could smell his cologne.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
"About molecular structures? Sure."
"Matea."
"What do you want me to say, Kai?" I kept my voice low. "That I'm fine with someone posting pictures of me all over i********:? That I love being called a gold digger by people I've never met?"
"I'll find out who's doing it."
"Let me guess. Madison?"
He didn't deny it.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked. "Tell her to stop? She's your ex-girlfriend. Everyone knows she wants you back. This is her way of marking territory."
"That's not—" He ran a hand through his hair. "It's complicated."
"No, it's really not." I opened my notebook. "Now can we please just work on this project?"
For the next forty minutes, we worked in silence. Well, mostly silence. Kai kept trying to start conversations that had nothing to do with chemistry. I shut him down every time.
When the bell rang, I packed up fast.
"Matea, wait."
I kept walking.
He caught up to me in the hallway. "We need to work on this project outside of class. When are you free?"
"I'll let you know."
"How about tonight?"
I stopped walking. "Tonight?"
"Yeah. We could—" He noticed people staring and lowered his voice. "We could work on it at home. After dinner."
At home. Where our parents would see us. Where it would look normal, like two stepsiblings working on homework.
"Fine," I said. "But just to be clear, this is for the project. Nothing else."
Something flickered in his eyes. "Right. The project."
Lunch was a nightmare.
I sat with Riley and her friends, trying to ignore the stares and whispers. Madison sat at the senior table, holding court like a queen. Every few minutes, she'd glance over at me and smile.
"She's loving this," Riley muttered. "Look at her."You're stronger than me. I would've thrown something by now."
My phone buzzed. I checked it under the table.
Unknown: You think you're special because you live with him? You're nothing. Stay away from Kai or it gets worse.
My stomach turned.
"What is it?" Riley asked.
I showed her the message.
"Oh hell no." She grabbed my phone. "We're reporting this."
"To who? It's from a blocked number."
"Then we tell someone"
"And say what? That someone's being mean to me online? Riley, everyone here has money and connections. I'm the new girl with a target on my back. No one's going to help me."
She looked like she wanted to argue but couldn't.
Another text came through.
Unknown: Wearing his jacket won't make you special either.
I looked down. I was wearing Kai's jacket. He'd left it in my car yesterday and I'd grabbed it this morning without thinking because it was cold.
Someone was watching me. Right now.
I scanned the cafeteria. Madison was still at her table. But the girl next to her, a brunette with sharp features, was looking right at me. When our eyes met, she smirked.
"That's Vanessa," Riley said. "Madison's best friend and captain of the cheer squad. If Madison's the queen, Vanessa's the executioner."
I took off Kai's jacket and shoved it in my backpack.
The rest of lunch, I felt eyes on me.
By the time the day ended, I was exhausted.
I took the bus home. Mom and Richard wouldn't be back until six. I had the house to myself for at least two hours.
I went straight to my room, closed the door, and let myself breathe.
My phone buzzed again. I almost didn't check it.
Kai: You okay?
typed: Fine.
Kai: Liar.
Kai: I'm handling it.
Kai: See you at 7 for the project.
I threw my phone on the bed and tried to do homework. Couldn't focus. Took a shower. Still felt dirty. Put on sweatpants and a t-shirt and was debating hiding in my room all night when I heard the front door open.
"Matea?" Kai's voice.
I checked the time. Six-thirty. Mom and Richard weren't home yet.
I went downstairs. Kai was in the kitchen, still in his school clothes, pulling out ingredients from the fridge.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Making dinner." He glanced at me. "You eat pasta, right?"
"Since when do you cook?"
"Since I was twelve and Dad worked late every night." He set a pot on the stove. "Sit. We need to talk."
"I thought we were working on the project."
"We are. After we talk."
I sat at the counter and watched him work.
talked to Madison," he said after a minute.
"And?"
"She denied making the account. Said she has no idea who did it."
"You believe her?"
"No." He stirred the pasta. "But I can't prove it. The account's anonymous. Could be anyone."
"It's not anyone. It's her."
"Probably." He turned to face me. "Look, I know this sucks. I know you didn't ask for any of this. But Madison's not going to stop just because I tell her to."
"So what am I supposed to do? Just take it?"
"No. You fight back."
"How?"
He was quiet for a long moment. Then: "By not letting her see it bother you. By showing up every day like you don't give a damn what people think. That's what pisses people like Madison off the most. When they can't get to you."
"Easy for you to say. You're Kai Blackwood. Everyone loves you."
"Not everyone." His jaw tightened. "You think I wanted this? You think I wanted my dad to remarry and bring someone new into this house? You think I wanted to deal with everyone at school making jokes about my hot stepsister?"
I blinked. "What?"
He turned back to the stove. "Forget it."
"Kai—"
- Writer
