Chapter Two: Her Fears

Lena's POV

I stared at that message for a good few seconds before I did something stupid. I actually called the number which was weird because we've never even had a call since we've been chatting.

It rang once and cut off, and I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at it for while before a video came through.

I opened it and my stomach dropped.

It was a video of me standing in the arena and all those scenes of me screaming, throwing my drink, smashing my cheer stick, and just every single embarrassing second of it from a clear angle.

It was already edited, captioned and well packaged up nicely for people to laugh at, and I rushed to check my social media through the link he sent with it even though my heart was in my throat.

It was everywhere already and the comments were piling up faster than I could read them.

I scrolled through for about ten seconds and then sighed of relied for a while because he had only seen the video. He would've recognized me because I've sent him a voice note quiet a number of times even though he had always refused to do likewise, probably because of insecurity.

I exhaled and kept walking.

The house was quiet when I got home but my dad was still up and was sitting in front of the television.

With how serious he was watching, I guess something was wrong and glanced at the screen only to see a news segment about strange movement near the outskirts of the city, possible werewolf activity detected in the area..

"There's money on the table for food," he said without looking at me when he noticed my presence. He then stood up and dusted his jeans like he was going out or sort.

"Where are you going tonight?" I asked, dropping my bag by the door and looking at him properly.

He was quiet for a moment before he said he was going out with some people to check on something, and I already knew what that meant but I asked anyway because I always did.

"Is it even safe? Is it legal, Dad?"

"Lock both doors when I leave," he said, standing up and grabbing his jacket from the chair,

"and don't open them for anyone," he added, and then he walked out, closing the door behind him.

The apartment went very quiet and I just stood in the living room staring at space.

I checked my phone and there was no messages yet from my anonymous "chattee"

I sat with that for a minute before tossing the phone onto the couch and going to bed without eating because I was not hungry. I was tired and I did not want to think about any of this anymore tonight.

The next morning, I got dressed and walked to campus fully committed to acting like nothing had happened.

That plan lasted about three minutes.

People were on their phones everywhere I looked, I could hear my own voice coming from someone's speaker as I passed and I walked faster.

Then Priya appeared beside me, like she had not completely abandoned me last night.

"Lena," she said almost immediately

"Please tell me that is not you in that video."

I kept walking.

"Lena."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, eyes straight ahead.

"Your voice is literally in it," she said, grabbing my arm to slow me down,

"and your jacket, I bought you that jacket, I know that jacket..."

"The video quality is bad." I replied sharply

"It is not bad at all, it is very clear, you can see everything... " She argued

"Priya." I called

"You threw a drink at the ice!"

"The acoustics in that arena are terrible," I said, and kept walking, and she made an annoyed sound behind me.

We had barely made it to the main path when a group of girls stepped directly into my way and I could they had been waiting but even before I could even open my mouth one of them pulled her arm back and threw an egg straight at my jacket.

It hit and I just stood there.

"That's what you get," she said

"for disrespecting him publicly and embarrassing yourself like that..." She added

"Excuse me?" Priya stepped forward but the girl was not done, her friends were already talking over each other, someone filming again.

I was so confused and didn't even know where to run to when a campus officer pushed through the small crowd and broke the whole thing apart.

Everyone scattered and I stood there with egg on my jacket and said nothing at all.

I checked my phone again and there was still nothing from him.

"What a proper jerk" I cursed under my breath.

The school notification came in while I was still standing there and it was that my fees were due.

Our lecturer had earlier told us that there was no payment, no test, and I read it twice before putting my phone away.

The job interview I rushed to afterward went badly within the first five minutes because they asked if I was a current student and I hesitated one second too long and that was all they needed. They said they could not take someone in my situation and the whole thing was finished before it had properly started.

My shift at the arena was worse. I broke an expensive vase within the first hour because I was distracted and my manager happened to walk in just right in time.

He looked at the vase on the floor, surprised then back at me.

"This would cost you your next salary, I hope you prepared your mind for that," he said simply,

"and it still won't be enough to cover it. You have $2000 to balance up to me" He added and walked away immediately.

I already know my manager, he always meant what he said and I might have to work the next month and the one to come to balance up, because my pay was just $1000 monthly.

Priya texted me that evening saying she was heading to her parents for the weekend and I read it, set my phone face down on the table, and sat in silence at the bar where I worked for a while before grabbing my bag and walking out.

I headed towards another bar to drink because I can really use a drink right now. I gulped in about 7 bottles or even more and even had to empty my account to pay for that.

By the time I was done, my vision was already very blurry and my head was throbbing so bad. I grabbed my bag staggering and headed out.

Even outside, my steps were not entirely straight and I could see how people stared.

The street was slightly soft at the edges, and I was trying to remember which turn to take. I didn't even know I had started walking without checking the traffic lights.

All of a sudden, I heard a very loud horn and when I looked up. It was headlights.

A truck was moving fast and it was coming straight at me.