“And last thing, don’t hurt her. I know you two have this weird thing going on where you both pretend not to care. But she cares. Hailee cares about you Cameron; she’s just too damn stubborn to admit it. And I think you care too. So I’m warning you, as her best friend, if you hurt her, I’ll find a way to destroy you. I’m talking full on Carrie-style revenge.”
I choked over the breath in my lungs. “Jesus,” I mumbled.
“I’m serious, Cameron.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Oh, I didn’t doubt it. Asher was right, it was the quiet ones you had to watch.
Felicity gave me a curt nod and slipped out of the door, and I released the breath I’d been holding. Everything was such a fucking mess and the worst of it was, it wasn’t over yet. When school rolled around tomorrow, everyone would have seen the video of Hailee. And she would have to walk the halls at school knowing they’d seen it.
My fist curled as I swallowed the roar building in my throat. I couldn’t let my emotions get the better of me, not while Hailee was upstairs. So I stuffed it all down and went in search of the box of brownies and then I went to find her.
Brownies in hand, heart in my throat, I rapped my knuckle against the door only to be met with silence. “Hailee, it’s me. Cameron.” Way to go, asshole.
Silence.
“Hailee?” I peeked around the ajar door. “Can I come—”
“No,” she snapped, barely meeting my eyes.
“Too bad, Sunshine, you’re stuck with me.” I slipped inside, closing the door behind me, aware the action seemed to suck all the air from the room.
Hailee was sitting in the middle of Felicity’s bed, her back pressed against the headboard, knees bent, hugging a pink, fluffy cushion. Silent tears tracked down her cheeks. She looked so fragile and sad, a complete contrast to the girl I was used to dealing with. And the sight of her gutted me, squeezed my heart so tight I thought I might pass out.
“I’m so fucking sorry.” I moved closer, my eyes flitting between the end of the bed and the desk chair. Opting for the safest choice, I dropped the box of brownies on the desk and took the chair.
“You... you saw the video?” She blanched, a fresh wave of tears flooding her eyes. “Did… did Jason see it?”
I pressed my lips together wondering what the fuck I was supposed to do here.
“Oh God,” she groaned.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. We’ll make sure—”
“The whole school has probably seen it by now. You can’t make people unsee it, Cameron.”
No, I couldn’t. But I could threaten any fucker who tried to bring it up, to ever mention that shit in the halls at school.
“I keep trying to remember what happened,” Hailee said, her voice quiet. “Keep trying to see their faces, hear their laughter... but there’s nothing. That’s what I hate the most. That they did that to me, and I didn’t even know. I mean what if they...” She retched and the sound was so full of pain, it ripped open my chest. “What if they tried to do... more.”
“More?”
Her eyes slid to mine, widening with meaning. “No,” I said, unwilling to believe it. “Thatcher is fucked up, but he wouldn’t... Why, d
o you think someone hurt you?” The words lodged in my throat.
I’d assumed the video was the end of it, but what if it wasn’t? What if someone had actually physically hurt her?
Bile rushed up my throat as I breathed in through my nose, trying not to lose my cool.
“No, I... I don’t think so. I didn’t feel anything... you know?” She gave a little shrug as if it was no big deal.
But it was a big fucking deal.
“Fuck,” I ground out, clutching the back of my neck. “And I... we...” I’d touched her yesterday morning. Me. After someone might have... I leaped up, pacing back and forth.
“Cameron,” Hailee said, but I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t get the image out of my head of her lying there, out of it, while someone stripped the dress from her body, laughing, whispering taunts about how much she wanted it, how easy she was.
Bile rushed up my throat. No one had been recognizable on the video, the angle of the camera zeroed in on Hailee. Her body.