The video suddenly stopped and went to a black screen with bright red writing.
SO THE VIRGIN ISN’T REALLY A VIRGIN. WHAT ELSE WILL SHE LIE ABOUT??? #sextapeslut #fuckyoulaney #blacklistbitch
After that, the horrible video started playing on a loop again—just those few seconds of my assault. The few seconds that could be mistaken for a sex tape by anyone who had no idea about the dark truth.
I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my skin and hoping this was just a terrible nightmare. Adam and Trina stared at me, foreheads creased. “This is fake, right?” Adam asked, leaning over.
I choked out a whispered response. “No. It… it’s the video. The one the man made. When he…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence, but I didn’t need to. Adam and Trina’s eyes went wide with a mixture of comprehension and horror, and they abruptly stood up.
“Turn that off right now!” Trina screeched as Adam pulled me to my feet.
“I’m trying!” the deputy headmaster said, frantically mashing keys on a nearby laptop to no avail. He whipped his head around to look at the teaching staff. “Go and get the IT guys!”
The initial silent shock had worn off around us, and every student in the auditorium was staring at me and whispering. Some were even laughing.
“Go to your homerooms!” Sanders called out as his deputy attempted to stop the video from playing. “Now! All of you!”
“Come on, Laney,” Adam muttered, taking my arm. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
I couldn’t move. I was frozen with shock and fear.
Just yesterday, I thought I’d finally found a way to get past the horrible thing that had happened to me when I was younger. Not to forget it—I would never, ever forget it—but a way to move on and live my life without remembering Peter Elton and feeling ill every time I even thought about a man touching me.
Now it was here, right in my face. My dark, ugly past, coming back to haunt me in the worst possible way.
“I… I can’t breathe,” I whispered, sinking to my knees.
Ice filled my veins as I tried to process the shock. Who would do something so unimaginably cruel to me? That despicable tape only existed in one place—sealed court documents. That meant whoever managed to gain access to it knew that it wasn’t a sex tape. They knew it showed something unthinkably horrifying.
But they took it and used it anyway, depicting it as a sex tape that I willingly participated in.
“Come on. We have to get out of here,” Adam said, pulling me back up to my feet. He and Trina each slung an arm around me and helped me down the steps toward the front of the room, where the closest exit lay.
“Laney!”
I managed to weakly turn my head over my shoulder at the sound of my name. Hunter was standing at the top of the tiered auditorium, staring down at me with furrowed brows.
In those seconds, a snippet of one of his last messages flashed in my mind. I heard something shocking is going to be announced at the assembly today.
My throat closed up again, and my knees almost gave way as realization struck me like lightning.
It was him.
He did this.
He knew about the existence of the tape. He had access to a private investigator, too. One who could probably figure out how to access sealed court records and past trial evidence as long as he or she had enough money thrown their way.
A burst of adrenaline surged through me, and I turned back around and ran toward the exit, tears clouding my vision. My heart ached so much that it felt like it would swell up and explode right out of my ribcage.
When I reached the large foyer outside the auditorium, I stopped and put my head in my hands, letting the tears flood down my cheeks. Adam and Trina put their arms around me, muttering about how they were going to murder whoever was responsible for the incident.
Seconds later, Camila, Kiri, Riley and Penelope from the Medusa Society joined us and helped my friends form a circle around me so that no one could stare at me as they headed past.
“I’m sorry, Laney,” Camila murmured, stroking my shoulder. “If you trust someone enough to let them film you like that, then they should never betray—”
I cut her off. “It wasn’t a sex tape, Camila,” I said raggedly. “I was assaulted and the man filmed it.”