Chapter 9 - Rachel Refused Brooke’s Version Too
Rachel found me outside class the next day.
“Brooke sent you the folder.”
I stared.
“She told you?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
Rachel leaned against the brick wall.
“She offered me access.”
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
“Because I don't need five more videos of you being awful.”
I almost laughed.
“Good morning.”
She shrugged.
“I need my own video.”
“You have it.”
“Now.”
She looked at me.
“Because you released it.”
I nodded.
Rachel continued:
“Brooke wants to publish something.”
My stomach tightened.
“She told me she didn't.”
“She changed her mind.”
“When?”
“After comments started saying your full birthday video could be fake.”
Of course.
Some people said the seven-minute clip had been staged.
Others said Brooke edited that too.
Nobody trusts a camera once everyone learns it has an operator.
“What does she want to publish?”
“A timeline.”
I laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
Rachel nodded.
“I told her no.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because I would be in it.”
“So?”
“So I don't want my birthday turned into chapter five of Brooke's redemption project.”
That landed.
Rachel continued:
“She wants North Hall, Noah, Cara, me. Before-and-after cuts.”
“A pattern.”
“Yes.”
I looked toward the quad.
“You think there isn't one?”
“I think there is.”
Rachel didn't soften it.
“I also think Brooke doesn't get to clean herself by publishing everybody she helped film.”
Exactly.
“What does Lena think?”
“Same.”
“Cara?”
“She wants it out.”
“Noah?”
“Won't answer.”
Messier.
Good.
Rachel looked at me.
“What are you going to do with the originals?”
“I don't know.”
“That's probably the first useful thing you've said to me.”
I almost smiled.
Then:
“Campus conduct meeting Monday.”
“Mine too.”
“Are you going to say I attacked you?”
Rachel stared.
“You're serious.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“What are you saying?”
“That you smashed cake in my face, grabbed my collar, slapped me, and I punched you.”
“Then threw me.”
“Yes.”
“You're not calling it self-defense?”
She thought.
“Some of it.”
Interesting.
“The punch?”
“You had just slapped me.”
“Yes.”
“I had other options.”
I stared.
Rachel shrugged.
“I was angry.”
That irritated me for some reason.
“What?”
She looked confused.
“You're supposed to make yourself innocent.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because then I have to keep defending the innocent version.”
I laughed once.
She had no idea how expensive that sentence was.
Then Rachel said:
“Brooke thinks there are only two ways this ends.”
“What ways?”
“You get exposed or you get away with it.”
“And you?”
“I think you already did it.”
She gestured toward my face.
“The question is what you do after.”
I looked away.
That sounded suspiciously simple.
Life would correct it.
My phone rang.
Student Activities Office.
I answered.
The woman on the line informed me I was being temporarily removed from my leadership role in the senior class council pending the conduct review.
Not expelled.
Not suspended.
One chair moved away.
Exactly the kind of thing I had once described as someone trying to destroy me.
I ended the call.
Rachel had heard enough.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
She looked at me.
I corrected.
“They paused my council role.”
Rachel nodded.
No satisfaction.
That bothered me more than if she smiled.
Then my phone buzzed again.
Brooke.
I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE YOU NEED TO SEE.
I typed:
NO.
Three dots appeared.
Then:
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.
I stared at the message.
May you like
That was exactly the sort of sentence Brooke used before deciding something belonged to me anyway.
For once, I did not ask what it was.
