Chapter 111

BeckettAfter Ella and her mom went home, our house felt strangely empty.It was ridiculous, really. Ella hadn’t lived here in weeks. She’d only stayed with us for that one week while her mom was away on business, yet somehow the house still felt different whenever she left it. Maybe it was because that week had changed everything. Before Ella stayed with us, I had spent years pretending she was just the quiet girl next door. Afterward, pretending became impossible.Now I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on her face every time another anonymous message appeared.Not anger.Not even fear.It was disappointment.Like every new secret forced her to wonder whether she’d been wrong to believe in me after all.That hurt more than the messages themselves.Dad was already in the garage when I walked in. The large shelving unit Sean and I had installed weeks ago stood against the far wall, lined with paint cans, old football equipment, and boxes Mom kept promising to organize someday.I s

Chapter 112

Ella There are some names you don’t expect to hear again because you’ve already buried the version of yourself that belonged to them. Jamie was one of those names. Not because she had died or moved across the country or done something dramatic enough to deserve becoming a forbidden subject. If anything, the way our friendship ended had been painfully ordinary. There hadn’t been one giant fight. No screaming in the hallway. No dramatic declaration that we were never speaking again. She had simply started disappearing. First, she stopped sitting with me at lunch. Then she stopped waiting for me after English. Then my messages took longer to answer until eventually they weren’t answered at all. By the time I realized Jamie had chosen everyone else over me, she had already made it look like we’d never been friends in the first place. Which was probably why hearing her name from Beckett’s mouth made my stomach drop harder than Amber’s ever could. “What did you just say?”

Chapter 113

EllaI read Jamie’s message so many times that the words stopped looking like words.I’m sorry, Ella. I can’t keep being caught in the middle of you and Beckett.Two years ago, I hadn’t questioned it. I barely remembered reading it. At the time, my entire life at school had felt like one giant humiliation, and Beckett had been at the center of enough of it that Jamie mentioning his name probably hadn’t seemed strange. Everyone knew Beckett picked on me. Everyone knew his friends did too. Jamie had been getting comments because she was friends with me, so I must have assumed that was what she meant.Now I couldn’t understand how I had ever let those words go.Beckett had never talked to Jamie.At least, that was what he said.And the terrifying thing was that I believed him.A few months ago, I wouldn’t have. I would have looked at Beckett’s face, remembered every joke and every laugh, and automatically assumed there was another cruel story I hadn’t known about. But the boy standing in

Chapter 114

EllaBy the time the final bell rang, I had changed my mind about meeting Jamie at least twelve times.Maybe more.Every class had given me another reason not to go. I could tell the police. I could hand them the messages and let adults deal with it. I could block Jamie again and pretend the past deserved to stay exactly where I had left it.But every time I tried to convince myself of that, I saw the same message.I know who started this.That was the problem.Once you knew someone had an answer, it became almost impossible not to ask the question.Lila stayed glued to my side as we left the building, which was comforting in theory and mildly terrifying in practice because she looked like she was preparing for war.“You’re really taking this seriously,” I said.She adjusted the strap of her bag. “I told you I was bringing protection.”“You brought a metal water bottle.”“It’s heavy.”“That is not protection.”“It becomes protection if I swing it hard enough.”I stared at her.“What?”

Chapter 115

EllaFor several seconds, nobody says anything.I keep staring at the last four numbers on Jamie’s screen as though they might rearrange themselves if I look long enough. They don’t. I know those numbers. I’ve typed them when my phone died and I borrowed Mom’s. I’ve written them on emergency contact forms. I’ve watched them flash across my screen at midnight when Lila called because she couldn’t sleep.I slowly turn toward her.Lila has gone completely white.“Ella…”“Tell me that isn’t your number.”She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.That’s worse than any answer she could have given me.Jamie stands. “Maybe we should—”“Don’t.”My voice is sharper than I intend, but I don’t care. Not right now. My heart is beating so hard it hurts, and suddenly every awful thing that’s happened over the last few weeks is rearranging itself in my head. The notes. The pictures. The rumors. Lila always being there afterward.Lila knowing exactly how scared I was.Just like Jamie had.“Tell me,”

Chapter 116

BeckettThe second I say my cousin’s name, I wish I could shove the words back into my mouth.Not because I think Tyler is standing outside Ella’s bedroom taking pictures or sending creepy messages to her phone. That makes absolutely no sense. Tyler graduated two years ago, moved away for college, and barely comes home except for holidays. The last time I saw him was Christmas, when he spent most of dinner complaining about his roommate eating his protein bars.But Tyler used to live next door to Ella.More importantly, Tyler knew everybody.Amber. Jamie. Sean. Half the older kids who started the anonymous account freshman year.And me.“Tyler?” Ella asks.I nod.Her expression changes slowly. “Your cousin Tyler?”“You remember him?”“He lived beside us for three years, Beckett.”Right. Stupid question.Lila comes down from the bleachers. “Why does he have your dad’s old phone?”“My uncle was going through a divorce. Tyler broke his phone, Dad had an extra one sitting around, so he ga