She shook her head. She should be happy. It was the outcome she strived for. But this one stung more than most. Her mind conjured images of the blonde-haired teen with the haunted expression in her eyes, sitting obediently beside her lawyer at the front of the courtroom. The strength she showed to point out her attacker; the man sitting to Kate’s right. The way she articulated every little detail of what happened to her, and then the way her face dropped when the verdict was read out.
Not guilty.
She’d done her job, and done it well, but at what cost? That sweet young girl would have to live with the ramifications of what Monroe Wilson did to her—because she knew in her heart that he did. She would be plagued with fear and anger, even hate towards men, and for what? So Monroe could get his jollies from overpowering someone half his size? It wasn’t right.
Not guilty, Your Honour.
There had been such a cacophony from the stalls at the reading of the verdict, and though she wanted to join them in their outrage, she couldn’t. Beside her, Monroe sat with a shit-eating grin on his face, his meaty arm lifting to wrap around her shoulders and pull her into his sweat-soaked armpit. It had taken everything in her not to shudder at his embrace. Not to break down and cry at the sight of that poor, sweet girl sitting with silent tears rolling down her cheeks.
Kate groaned, letting her head roll to the back of the couch. In all her years in defence, she’d never had a case hit her so hard. She scrubbed a hand down her face, then sat up just enough to take a sip of her wine.
Her laptop chimed as it came to life, and she leaned forward, staring at the blinking cursor requesting her password. With deft fingers, she hit the keys, and her home screen lit up. She ran her fingers across the mousepad, the cursor hovering over the case files she needed to read before tomorrow, but she couldn’t face them. Not yet.
Instead, she pulled up Google. She’d overheard a group of baby lawyers talking about some new app where you could connect with people from all over the world. What had they called it? Class… no, Yearbook, that was it. Pulling her lip between her teeth, she took a breath and typed it into the search bar.
Yearbook, the app to connect with friends, both old and new.
Before she could overthink it, she clicked the link and signed up. Folding her legs beneath her, she took another swig of her wine then settled back into the couch. She filled in all the prompted details of her life; age, gender, school, occupation. She deliberated over which picture to upload as her profile, finally settling on a candid shot taken at a work luncheon a month earlier. It was one of few photos that caught her smiling.
Kate sat back, twisting her lips to the side as she clicked ‘okay’ and let Yearbook publish her profile. She went back to her homepage, and a list of ‘suggested friends’ popped up. Scrolling through, she considered each one carefully. There was the girl who rivalled her at every class, both striving for excellence. After clicking through her profile and seeing that she had indeed succeeded in becoming a surgeon, she selected the ‘friend request’ button.
There was the jock who’d tormented her through her dorky phase; before she’d had braces and her teeth still stuck out like Roger Rabbit. He was a definite no.
She was scrolling through a few others when a notification popped up.Anaru Kahurangi requests your friendship.
She paused.Anaru Kahurangi.Now that was a name she hadn’t thought of in years. She followed the link to his page, and his green eyes and cheeky grin took her straight back to her sixteen-year-old self. He had been the new boy at school, and she had been tasked with showing him around. A normally confident girl, she’d floundered to find words when she looked into his eyes. His laugh would send warm tingles through her chest, and at times, her heart would beat so fast she’d thought it would burst.
He was the most beautiful specimen of man she’d ever seen, and aside from her being his tour guide, he didn’t seem to know she existed. Long days had been spent daydreaming of Anaru wrapping her in his arms. Long nights too, if she was honest. She’d been in love with him, or at the very least, the idea of him. But that love was never reciprocated.
And now, all these years later, Anaru Kahurangi was reaching out to her.
She hesitated, unsure if she wanted to go down that road. Just seeing his smiling face brought all those feelings back to the surface, and she found herself longing to talk to him again.
What could it hurt? It’s just a simple click of the button.
And a one-way ticket to a broken heart.
She chewed her lip, her finger poised over the mouse.One little click.
Closing her eyes, she sucked in a breath and pressed her finger down.
You are now friends with Anaru Kahurangi.
Moments later, a speech bubble popped up at the bottom of her screen.Anaru Kahurangi wants to chat.
Kate’s heart thundered in her chest. She wasn’t ready for that. She hadn’t prepared; didn’t know a thing about this older version of her high school crush. She hadn’t expected him to contact her at all, let alone straight away.
Running her fingertip around the edge of her wine glass, she considered what to do. A little voice inside her mind told her to simply ignore it, but the louder part of her brain, the part that held social etiquette in high regard, wouldn’t let her do that. Neither would her sixteen-year-old self who would’ve given anything to have him talk to her.
She leant forward, swiping the bottle off the table and pouring another healthy glug into her glass. A little Dutch courage would see her right. Pressing the speech bubble icon, she watched as a box appeared on her screen and three dots danced beside Anaru’s picture.Anaru is typing a message.
Hey, Kate. Long time no see.
Without overthinking it, she quickly responded with,Hey, Anaru. It’s been a while for sure,then sat back and waited.
How are things? I see you’re working in law like you always wanted. That’s great.
He knew about that? As far as she was aware, he barely even noticed her when she hadn’t been showing him around campus. All this time she’d felt invisible, when apparently, he’d been paying more attention than she’d thought.