13
Aiden was tense for the rest of the day. It was obvious to everyone who crossed his path. I know he’s upset and it means a lot because I know he cares about me, but I’m glad that situation didn’t escalate to a point where Aiden got expelled because of me. Aiden’s smart; he can get scholarships without a problem, and I can’t screw that up for him by letting him start a fight over me. His future is more important.
We didn’t get to talk about it all day, so when he drives me home after school, I tell him the whole story, about Ryan grabbing Kaitlyn and everything.
He doesn’t really say much, except to swear under his breath.
He mumbles something about hoping Ryan doesn’t turn out like his father, a statement that punches me right in the gut. It’s easy to forget that Aiden had to live with Ryan’s abusive dad as a kid.
Aiden drops me off and promises to be back soon to go to the interview he has scheduled today to talk about his father. I grab something to eat and get changed while Aiden picks up his brothers and takes them to Mason’s house, where Aiden tells me Natalia happily dotes on them, pestering them to fill their plates with her homemade tamales. He comes back to get me a bit later, with a tamale that I eat with a guilty conscience, and soon we’re at the news station.
We haven’t heard from Kessler since his birthday card threat, but Aiden hasn’t let that stop him. If news stations request interviews from him, he’s happy to give them. The more people who learn about what a shitty person Kessler is, the better.
Once inside, they whisk Aiden away to the interview, and I stand off to the side behind the cameras while the news team sets Aiden up with a mic and gets him into position. He looks at ease, confident as always, like he knows exactly what he needs to say and isn’t afraid to say it.
I take a seat in a chair off to the side and unlock Aiden’s phone. I don’t snoop through it—I don’t need to. If anyone was hiding things in this relationship, it was me. But not anymore.
I open S-Live Time as they prep Aiden for the interview, start their sound checks, and do all that other stuff they need to prepare. It’s a local station, but people from the whole state tune into this show. Scrolling through S-Live Time, I laugh at the stupid pictures and videos. It would be so cool to just be able to have social media. To post pictures with my friends and not worry about giving my location away to a murderer. I could theoretically have an anonymous account, but then I’d just get sad looking at everyone posting while I couldn’t share selfies or pictures of my friends.
I stop scrolling when I come across a video. It looks familiar, so I put the phone on mute and press Play. My heart drops. This is not happening to me. This can’t be a coincidence. First the file and now this? People are talking around me but I can’t make out the words. It’s all just mumbled-together sounds.
The chair I was sitting on tips over as I stand, and I think I get yelled at for making noise while they’re live on air, but I don’t care. I need air.
Somehow, I get through the building without actually seeing anything I’m looking at or processing the signs. Once outside, I lean against the sturdy brick wall and take a few big, deep breaths. I hold out the phone in front of me, turn the sound on, and press Play.
It’s a video shot inside a high school, my high school, of Kaitlyn and me going at it in our first big fight. My face is clearly visible. My voice is clear as water. There’s the Go Lions! mural in the background, even if it’s just in the corner of the frame.
It’s me. Online. The very place I’ve been trying so hard to avoid.
I think back to when this video was taken. I went to Ethan Moore and tried to get him to take it down. He refused. I had to trick him into a locked closet and steal his phone and laptop, only to be told by Aiden that he’d already taken care of it.
Aiden said he’d taken care of it.
Then why is it still here? Why is my face still on the internet?! Has it been here the whole time? Has Tony already found it? Is he on his way here? The door opens, and Aiden steps outside. He looks around then spots me leaning against the wall.
“Hey, are you okay? You ran out of there.”
“Have you been lying to me this entire time?” I ask.
“What are you talking about?”
I wave his phone erratically in front of his face, my heartbeat loud in my ears. “Have. You. Been. Lying. To. Me?”
Aiden’s expression gives nothing away, his voice annoyingly calm despite my outburst. “I heard what you said. Would you care to elaborate?”
My throat closes. How can I elaborate? There’s a video of my face and location on the internet! All I can do is shake the phone in front of him. He reaches out to gently stop my flailing hand and takes the phone from it. He unlocks it and watches the video that’s already on his screen.
I find my voice. “You said it was deleted!”
I can’t believe this. How long do I have until Tony finds me? Does he already know?
Aiden’s face turns hard. “I did delete it. Ethan didn’t post this.”
“Then why is my face still online?!”
My head pounds. I have so much to lose. After all I’ve been through, this is what’s going to take me down? Kaitlyn’s going to win after all.
Aiden clicks around on his phone for a bit, then asks, “Thea, did you even look at who the original poster was?”
That takes the angry wind out of my sails. “No. Who?”
“It’s one of those cat-fight accounts. They find videos of girls fighting and post them on their own account. This was posted a while ago. They must’ve seen the video when it was originally posted and saved it before we deleted it.”
I drag my hands across my face and slide down the wall to sit on the ground. I guess this is me learning the hard way that once something is on the internet, it stays on the internet.
“I’m going to have to move sooner rather than later, Aiden. I can’t push it back now. Can we even still keep in touch? What if he keeps tabs on you? What if he figures out what you mean to me? Oh God, my mom’s going to flip.”
I don’t want to leave a second earlier than I need to. I shouldn’t have to. All I wanted was to be normal for two damn minutes before I never see my friends again, before I won’t feel Aiden’s hand in mine again, or his lips against mine. Why is my life so messed up that I’m going to be torn away from my friends and people I love?
The gravel crunches as Aiden kneels beside me. “No, you’re not. I just convinced you to stay. You’re not going anywhere until the last possible second.”
Tears escape, and I can’t help it. I’m being dramatic since I need to leave anyway, but now I won’t accomplish anything I wanted to do. I promised I’d help my friends—that I’d set everything right before I disappeared, leave them with a positive memory of me. But now I’m going to leave before I can fulfill any of my promises. Luke’s still in jail. Charlotte’s still confused about Noah and Chase. Chase himself is still heartbroken. Mason still doesn’t know about his dad, and Aiden’s dad is still an asshole out to hurt him. My heart cracks.
“I have to tell Agent Dylan, Aiden.” He’s the guy in charge of my case. He’s going to need to know something like this.
Aiden gently takes my face between his hands and forces me to look up at him. His thumbs brush the tears off my cheeks, and his eyes soften, a stark contrast to how they’ve looked all day.
“Thea,” he almost whispers. “You know I love you. You know I’m not just going to let you go that easy.”
This isn’t the first time he’s told me that, but every time feels like the first time.
“But—”
“No buts,” he interrupts. “Do you want to leave?”
I give him an incredulous look and move my face out of his grasp. “Of course not. You know that.”
“Then don’t. We can work around this. We can make the most of the little time you have.” He sounds hopeful, almost desperate. He’s trying to find a simple solution to a very big problem. “There’s nothing about the location in this video. Do you know how many high schools in America have lions as their mascot? Tons. The chances of Tony finding the video is already small, then he’d have to recognize you, and then figure out where it was taken.”
“You think I’m overreacting?” I ask him, not accusingly, but genuinely wanting to hear the answer.
He brushes the hair out of my face. “I think you’re already leaving anyway, so there’s no point in leaving before it’s time.”
“There’s always a chance, Aiden. And I’m sorry for accusing you. I know you’d never let me down. You’re the only person I can truly trust, I mean it. That was all the panic talking.”
He brushes off my apology, wrapping his solid arms around me as I rest my head against his muscled chest, and his chin rests on top of my head. I instantly feel better now that I’m cocooned in his arms.
“If it makes you feel better, call Agent Dylan. Tell him about it. Your safety comes first and foremost.”
I think about Aiden and my friends. Is it selfish of me to not say something about this because I want to spend more time with them? Mom’s face pops up in my mind. No matter how at odds we are with each other right now, I don’t want her to get hurt because of me. I know what she’d want me to do. I know what I should do.
“I’m going to call him and let him know.” The words come out strong even though I feel anything but.
“That’s a good idea. You can also find out exactly how much time we have left together. I hate waking up and not knowing if it’s the last day I have with you.”
The sincerity and vulnerability in his voice bring tears to my eyes. “Me too,” I whisper. I pull back to look at him. “Did you just run out of a live interview?”
He shrugs, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. “Maybe. But you scared me.”
I pull him back to me and laugh into his chest, my own full of love for him, and so grateful to have him.
“Worst case, he comes here looking for a girl with long, strawberry-blond hair.”
I look up at him. “It can’t be as simple as just dying my hair.”
“Of course not. But at least it’ll throw him off if—and that’s a very big if—he does come here.”
I don’t want to leave. And Aiden’s right. What are the chances that Tony even finds the video and figures out where it was taken?
Aiden picks up a strand of my hair and lets it drop. “It’d have to be something drastic.”
Platinum blond, here I come.