Page 68 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
It finally started up again. Only, it wasn’t my doc. It was a blurry,bobbing image of a chaotic party. Of a girl wrapped around a guy. His back was to the camera. The room was dark and the video grainy, but the only thing that was absolutely clear was her face—myface—when I pulled back for a second.
Next to me Reid breathed, “What the fuck?”
Because it wasn’t just a video of me.
It was a video of me making out with Josh at that party last summer.
The voices around us rose with laughter and shock, and Principal West stormed onto the stage, waving his arms frantically at the projection booth. Just in time for the image of me pulling his son’s shirt off to be displayed across his chest. I had been so drunk, I didn’t even remember doing that. I hadn’t even realized someone else had come into the room.
Eons passed before the screen cut to black.
My ears rang, my body heavy and weightless all at once as I stood. Everyone staring. Low murmurs and shocked whispers.
Except from Reid, who looked like he wanted to set the gym on fire.
It was supposed to be a triumphant moment. Showing my work to the school. Becoming a Legacy. Securing my future out of Woodhurst.
My future with Reid.
I was in such shock, I wasn’t sure how I got out of there. But my churning stomach forced me to my feet.
I burst through the auditorium doors and managed to make it to the hallway trash can before I threw up. Hands wrapped around my hair to keep it out of my face. Delaney’s hands.
I cleaned up in the bathroom, rinsing my mouth and splashing water on my face over and over. Trying to convince myself I would be okay. Somehow I would be okay. But nothing worked. Delaney handed me some gum and rubbed my back. When we emerged, Reid, PrincipalWest, and my mom—more furious than I’d ever seen her—were all waiting in the hallway with somber expressions.
“Come with me,” Principal West said.
I shook the entire way to his office. Embarrassed and terrified and so confused. Why would anyone record that? Play it?
Who could hate me so much they’d do that?
As soon as the door closed, my mom rounded on him.
West’s expression flattened like he knew what was coming. “Dani—”
“What just happened to my daughter isunconscionable, Ryan!”
Hearing them call each other by their first names was always the creepiest reminder they went to high school together.
“This is simply not the kind of behavior the program can condone—”
The rest of Principal West’s speech was exactly what I expected the second I saw my face on the video. All about the rules and expectations of a Legacy. His first concern was not about how this happened or who was behind it. Or how humiliating it was. Or protecting me, his student.
It was about the way a potential Legacy made the program look.
Made him look. Made his son look.
It took me a moment to fully understand what he was saying. Which was that I was no longer eligible for the scholarship.
“That’sridiculous,” my mom spat.
I tried to defend myself, my entire face burning. “Kissing isn’t against the rules.”
“What about the person who recorded it?” Reid asked.
“And just played it in front of the entire school?” Delaney continued. “Aretheygoing to be punished?”
Principal West shook his head, holding his hands up. “Everyoneneeds to calm down. I appreciate you’re upset for your friend, but this really doesn’t concern either of you. I think it would be best if you left.”
