Page 124 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
With a prepped draft no less. Nothing like a little intel from his ex-boyfriend to know that Logan was meticulous about preparing his social media posts. A sickening wave of disgust goes through me seeing them all.
Seeing that he really is Legacy Lore.
But I can’t linger. I hit publish on the draft that includes a screenshot of a text conversation between Logan and Nicole about the video of me and Josh; all identifying information about himself is blacked out.
I have mere seconds, but I can’t help but scroll through the DMs. My heart pounding harder at the dozens of messages. Mostly from current Woodhurst students sharing gossip from this year’s Legacy hopefuls.
He’s going to keep doing this even after this weekend?
Then this better work.
I tap on the necessary settings and after I unplug my laptop from the projector, I gently return the phone and nod at Reid. Logan’s checking wires when Reid turns the mic back on.
“Oh, there we go,” he says, his deep voice amplified through the space. “Guess it wasn’t on.”
Logan throws his hands up, rolling his eyes.
Reid turns toward the crowd again. “Hi, everyone. I’ll keep this brief since I know you may not want to hear from me after what you saw in that video. You had a perception of me, of all of us Legacies, and I can guess that this video might have changed that.”
He pauses. I try to swallow the knot in my throat as he looks at me, holding my gaze a beat. The crowd hangs on his silence as much as his words. Because as shy as he is, as low as he feels, and as hard on himself as he may be, he’s dazzling. He always has been.
“All of us work hard to be exemplary. To represent Woodhurst welland do you proud. But what you just saw is the ugly truth. Legacy has driven us—all of us—to the point of breaking.”
He lets the stunned silence sit a moment before he continues.
I look over at Principal West and several alumni, who are all members of the selection committee, talking heatedly. They keep looking between Reid on the stage and me, as if trying to decide what to do.
I remind myself I’m no longer their student. West already paid me for the work. I made the doc I wanted to make for me, for Woodhurst and my friends. For Reid.
Whose eyes lock with mine at that exact moment, color high on his cheeks. I can see there’s a flood of words he wants to say, but based on his stony expression I can’t tell if they’re good or bad. I get my answer when he goes rogue a second later.
“I’d like you all to pull out your phones and search for a social media account called Legacy Lore.”
My entire body tenses.What?
Whatis he doing?
This wasn’t the plan. But he nods to the crowd, and in the next moment, everyone in the room has their phones out. The hum of shocked, whispered conversation rises as they read through the posts.
Though I do note there are several people who don’t look scandalized. They’re probably the ones who have been commenting on the posts and saying things they never would to our faces.
But all I can truly focus on is Reid.
The entire town now knows about his injury, his grades—everything. But he doesn’t return my imploring look. Instead he says to the crowd, “Thisis what the program has become. Threats. Backstabbing. Humiliation. Betrayal. Using what we’re going throughagainst each other. All for your approval. And I’m no exception.” He shakes his head. “This program could be what it claims to be, but this is what itreallyis.”
Our eyes meet again, and though my astonishment shifts to pride as I watch him claim everything he’s tried to hide, I’m still not sure if he’s angry with me or not.
I played a part in forcing his truth out. And he could, and maybe even should, resent me for that.
He looks away and faces the larger crowd again. “Before you donate or move here or submit an application to be a Legacy yourself, please think about whether this program is something you want to be part of, or something you’d like to change.”
Just as Reid hops off the stage, a high-pitched exclamation pierces from the center of the room.“What?”
Every eye goes to Nicole as she stands up, turns on her heel, and comes charging toward the AV table.
Here we go.
“Iknewit was you,” she accuses. “You’reLegacy Lore.”
