GABRIEL***I should have known better.It had taken all my courage to ask Emily the question that had been looming over my head for years and all I had gotten in return was an accusation. And to make it even worse, Harry has taken her side.He had called me that night after Emily and I had talked and I had tried to the best of my ability to explain what was going on, hoping that he would at least help me help Emily, but he told me he felt that it was best to take Emily’s side because it seemed that the whole situation was hard for her.I tried to tell him that the smart thing to do would be to help her if being on her side was what he really wanted, but I could tell what he was thinking. Even in his silence, I could tell that he thought that what Emily had told her was true. He believed that I was capable of sending such a message to Emily and to myself just so I could mess with her.I was angry but I also felt guilty. I hadn’t known that the small things I had been doing to upset Em

Bakersville Middle school***It was the last year of middle school. The rumors had long died down, both the ones that were true and the ones that were fake. It had been months since Gabriel had stepped in to defend Emily from the saga of the first kiss and the rumors that came with it and she had managed to go through it unscathed but so much had changed while still remaining the same.Something had shifted in Emily. She couldn’t place it, but something had changed.She had expected to be thankful to Gabriel for what he had done but she found herself thinking and feeling something entirely different. She found herself feeling and thinking that if Gabriel hadn’t taken on that mindless dare in the first place, she wouldn’t have had to be protected in the first place.She found herself feeling and thinking that Gabriel was essentially protecting her from himself. She didn’t know how to feel about this. She didn’t know how to deal with this realization. As soon as it came, it did so wit

GABRIEL***"Have a great weekend," the professor said and as soon as he walked out I flew out the door after him.I needed to go back to my room and figure out what I was going to do about this whole anonymous text situation, now that I was all alone. It was annoying to have to figure this out alone when I wasn't the only one involved and when I didn't know where to start but I had motivation: my reputation was on the line.The only thing I had been able to preserve as my childhood and teenage years were falling apart was at stake, and I needed to make sure it remained intact and untouched by the trauma of my past. If I was being honest, I had to keep reminding myself of that because my default thought had been 'you're doing this for Emily', but why would I do something for someone who clearly didn't want my help, someone who actually thought I was the culprit?My anger had subsided over time since our interaction, but not to the point where I could understand her because I couldn't

GABRIEL***I’ve seen that you have decided to work together. And with your significant others, too. How cute. If you want to keep your reputation, you’re going to have to do what I want. And I want both of you to find out who I am, alone. You can’t tell your partners. If I find out that you did, I will ruin your life. The first test to see whether you are agreeing to my terms is for the both of you to go to the football pitch tomorrow night. Remember, if you tell your partners I will find out.This text was sent to me early in the morning and I have not been able to sleep ever since I got it. Sleeping had been hard enough because we had not made any progress in the meeting that we had had under Harry’s suggestion. I knew that it would be awkward, and although she apologized, Emily still found a way to make things difficult.I knew her enough to know that she was making the comments she made because she was bitter about the fact that she was wrong and I was right. She hated the though

EMILY***I had made it back to my dorm room and I had hoped to get some sleep before I had to wake up again for my classes but I had been unable to sleep. The fact that I was right shook me to my core. I had correctly predicted that the person who was sending us the texts was targeting our relationships.I had shared this with Gabriel at that moment and I could tell he also knew that it was true. It just made sense. We managed to find out the reason, but we had many other problems. The first problem was the fact that we couldn’t share this information with Harry and Harper.It was clear that we couldn’t work with them anymore, because the person, who was clearly spying on us would consider that as us having told them what they had asked us to do. The second problem was the new perspective this realization had given us, the realization being that it was not us who had enemies, but it was either Harper or Harry.Targets had been placed on our backs for the mere fact that we were dating