“You could, but I mean, there’s no proof. Crazed is all about being anonymous, right? It’s not like he used his normal name or his screen name when he posted it.”
She’s talking like she knows who uploaded the picture because she does. We all do. Who else could it be? Nobody hates me nearly as much as Gavin does, and why? Because our fathers were two-timing assholes who couldn’t get their story straight long enough to keep them out of prison for embezzlement. Somehow, Gavin thinks my dad is responsible for what happened.
I’ve never really understood that. Gavin isn’t the only person who lost his dad all those years ago. We both lost our fathers. We didn’t have to lose each other, too, but Gavin made pretty damn sure that we did.
I pick at my food, wondering what I’m going to do. Karen is right that it’s not the worst thing in the world. I mean, everyone very nearly saw my panties. It’s not like they saw my pussy or anything like that. That would be horrible. It’s not like they saw my nipples or the fact that I was wearing a matching bra that day. The real question is just, why did I have to be such a klutz on the first day of school? Of all the days to be clumsy, it shouldn’t have been day number one.
But it was.
“Miss Emilia Riley to the principal’s office,” a voice says over the loudspeaker, and suddenly, all of the chatter in the cafeteria comes to an abrupt stop. Great. I wonder why I’m being called into the principal’s office? What could it be? Hmm. Let me run over some ideas.
“Maybe it’s not something bad,” Adalee says.
“Maybe he just wants to talk to you,” Karen says helpfully. “Maybe you won a prize or something.”
“I appreciate the pep talk,” I tell them. “But we all know that isn’t true. We all know exactly why he wants me there. Fuck. Here,” I shove my uneaten food toward Adalee. “Stop fucking with your beans and just eat my sandwich, okay?”
Then I turn and leave, walking away. I try to ignore the way my cheeks flush as I hurry out of the room. It’s weird having everyone stare at me. It’s humiliating. Embarrassing. I’m so not used to having everyone’s attention be focused on me that I don’t really know what to do with it. I’m much more comfortable being a wallflower and just blending in.
That’s kind of what I’ve been for the last few years, anyway.
Ever since our dads were taken away, Gavin and I have lived very different lives. He chose to go into sports and become one of the star athletes of the school. It’s hard to blend in when everyone’s staring at you all of the time. I chose the opposite approach. I buried my head in my books, hoping that one day, I’ll be able to find peace.
Apparently, that really was a pipe dream.
“Hey Clumsy,” a boy snickers as I walk past him in the hall. I ignore it, blushing harder. So yeah, everyone at the school knows that my ability to walk is questionable at best. Maybe there really are worse things.
“Hey,” a girl walks by. “Fall down any stairs lately?” She bursts into laughter, like this is the most hilarious thing she’s ever heard, and then she keeps going. Ducking my head, I hurry down the next hallway and scramble to the principal’s office.
Just as I’m about to reach for the door, it opens and Gavin walks out looking pissed as hell. He glares at me as he walks by, shoving me with his shoulder as he does. Shit, that fucking hurts, but I don’t cry out or complain at the gesture. He’s obviously pissed about something. Why was he in the principal’s office?
Does Principal Davis know what he’s done?
I step inside the office and the secretary looks up at me.
“Emilia,” she says. “He’s waiting in his office for you,” she looks at me with something on her face that I can’t quite read. Pity? Is it pity? Or is it shame? I can’t really tell. I probably don’t want to. Okay, so it’s not just the students who have seen me falling on my stupid face. It’s the teachers, too.
Perfect.
I move past her and take a deep breath outside of the door. I raise my fist and knock, and almost instantly, he calls me inside. I push open the door and step into the oversized office that Principal Davis calls home.
“You wanted to see me?” I ask.
“Have a seat.”
He gestures to one of the chairs in front of his desk, and I sit down. So this definitely isn’t about a prize I’ve won. He’s frowning and staring at his phone, and as soon as I’m sitting down, he sets his phone on the desk and looks at me.
“Is there something you’d like to tell me about?” He asks.
“Um,” I don’t know what the right answer is here, so I just shrug slightly. That was the wrong thing to do. Principal Davis shakes his head, obviously disappointed.
“Apparently, there’s a picture of you going around the school today. Do you know anything about that?”
“I fell on the first day of school,” I whisper. “Someone took a picture of it.”
“And now the picture is, what do you kids call it? Going viral? The photograph is going viral, apparently, especially at our school.”
Shit.