Molly Adler,
Class President, Valedictorian, and National Honor Society Honoree
Windsor-Horne Academy
Every silent tear that rolled down Alivia’s face made me afraid to touch her, and I turned toward my parents, feeling completely lost and defeated.
“We’ll handle this,” my mother said without hesitation. “She won’t get away with it.”
“She already has,” Alivia argued, her voice raw and pained.
“I’m going to kill her—”
“You will do nothing, Shane!” my father barked.
“Jack,” Mom snapped, but I knew he wasn’t mad at me.
“I’m sorry, Son. You can’t engage, respond, interact in any way.”
“You just expect me to stand here and take it?” I paused but not to wait for a response. “This is all because of me, and I have to do something to make it right.” I got that my parents had no tolerance for it, but this was a direct hit to the girl I loved more than anything in this fucking world.
“That girl isn’t interested in making it right,” my mother stated as a fact.
“And meanwhile, to her I look like the pathetic girlfriend who needed her boyfriend to scam a guy into asking her out. To everyone else, I look like the one who’s bullying. I’m the one who needs to comment, say something, and end this once and for all.”
Mom shook her head. “You can’t engage with her, Liv.” Although her tone was much softer than Dad’s had been, the message was the same. Her amber eyes bounced between Alivia and me. “This kind of thing has happened in our lives plenty of times… hurtful lies that could so easily be spread with a few taps of a keyboard. Stooping to her level won’t work.”
“The best way to handle this is with damage control,” Dad added. “We have professionals who deal with this shit every day. Trust them… and us… okay?”
Without looking at me, Alivia quietly agreed, leaving me no choice but to do the same.
To say that bitch ruined the rest of our day was an understatement. Dad took on the role of calling Trey to let him know what had happened, while Mom spent a good chunk of time discussing the issue with her PR team.
Unfortunately, because Molly hadn’t violated any terms or policies, the site denied requests to take the post down.
In the meantime, Alivia and I paused our own accounts to stop the deluge of comments and reactions that kept flooding in. We fielded furious calls from Kim, Chase, and a few others, asking them to refrain from engaging in any way with anyone on our behalf. Many eagerly volunteered to support our statement and reveal the kind of person Molly actually was.
Who knew if that was enough? For each person who believed us, there would probably be two dozen who believed her.
It was an hour later when I finally managed to get Alivia to go for a walk, during which I did most of the talking. She listened to all I had to say, and really it was more of the same pathetic regretful apologies.
What else could I possibly voice that would make it better? The entire time, Alivia had an “it is what it is” kind of attitude that wasn’t fooling me. I knew she was suppressing any normal reactions she should be having to spare spending the last of our days together in a constant state of angst, and that had disaster written all over it.
While we were on our walk, her parents and brother had arrived to discuss the same damage control that my parents mentioned. That skank had brought Devil’s Lair into the mix, and that made it more than just stupid adolescent game playing.
Even though Camilla hugged me tight, and Trey offered a supportive pat on my shoulder, I could see the disappointment written all over their faces. I hated that I’d let them all down, and it was something I’d have to live with.
On my mother’s insistence, we waited until our brothers and my sister were all elsewhere, doing whatever, before the conversation began. Alivia and I sat there the entire time like spectators watching a high school bully drama play out.
Many phone calls later, our parents decided that we needed to prepare a formal statement explaining exactly what had happened, and it would need to be released in the morning. Lori would release a similar statement on Cannon’s behalf. The goal was complete transparency regarding Molly’s role in the reason behind my motive and my role in enacting it. Most important would be clearing Alivia from any and all wrongdoing.
With that tentative plan in place, our parents decided to head back to the city in the morning. Even though we were exhausted from the day’s events, it was very late when Alivia had finally fallen asleep. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop a deep-rooted dread from consuming me whole. Because of it, my skin crawled no differently than if it had been a colony of ants marching over it.
Grabbing a beer, I headed out on the deck to think, but ten minutes in I heard, “Hey, kid.”
I knew it was only a matter of time before Trey would corner me, and I was somewhat prepared. “Hey, Unk.” His eyes focusing on the green bottle in my hand forced me to shrug. “Long day.”
“Yeah, I get it.” He took a seat beside me, stretching his denim-covered legs as I braced myself for what would come. “You don’t look too happy to see me.” His unwaveringly serious expression contradicted the levity in his words.
“Of course I am.” I plastered on a fake smile. “See?”
“Perfect. Now just give the idiot in the house a thumbs-up to really sell it.” When I twisted to look through the glass doors, sure enough, my father was standing guard.
“Is he afraid you’re going to beat the shit out of me?” I was only half kidding.
“As tempting as that sounds, I can’t risk him suing me.” We both stared at the ocean, avoiding eye contact in some sort of battle of wills.
“Okay, well… since you don’t seem to be in a rush with your method of torture.” I stood just as he shook his head.
“Sit your ass down. Maybe I’m waiting for high tide.” The nervous laugh that escaped as I plopped back down had him smirking. “All kidding aside, you know I’m really proud of you, kid. You’re going to fucking kill it out there.”
“All because of you.” Why not butter him up a bit?
“Yeah, yeah… having said that, my beautiful girl is my priority.”
Here it comes. “She’s mine too.”
“You don’t know what priority means.” The insinuation held my focus.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, what that bitch did is inexcusable, but really that’s just a prelude of what’s coming.”
“Coming how?”
“Coming with you going out on tour. This is going to be a fuck ton harder on Livi than on you, Shane. I know your heart has been with her since you were kids, and you believe it always will be in one way or another. But shit happens. I won’t blame you for stupid choices that you’ll inevitably make without thought, because you’re just a kid.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her. I was trying to protect her,” I repeated yet again.
“How about you leave that up to me.”
“Like hell I will.”
He threw me a death stare. “Pulling shit like you did with that scholarship asshole was just the tip of the iceberg, kid,” he went on to say. “And still that’s nothing compared to what can happen once you’re out there, doing your thing while anything in a skirt tempts you. My best friend’s son or not, if you hurt her on purpose… well, then I’ll fuck you up.”