“Okay, then how do you know that this Daniel guy isn’t LostAxis? Maybe Daniel actually is the guy you’ve been gaming with.”
“LostAxis told me he hates sports and took the Math Olympics test. Daniel is obsessed with hockey and is worried about failing calculus.”
Cass gave me a knowing look. “Can’t say I’m surprised LostAxis sent you a fake picture. I warned you, didn’t I? You were catfished.”
I exhaled. Yeah, Cass did warn me.
“Kill me now,” I said, taking a large spoonful of pie. Thank goodness for pie, at least. Ironic, though. Pi had been a big comfort for me for years. Good to know pie worked, too.
“Death by pie seems a good way to go,” Cass says.
“Agreed.” I put another spoonful in my mouth.
“This is unreal,” Aimee said, taking my phone to look at the picture. “What are the chances? Well, I suppose at least it’s a good thing you get to work with the hot guy, not the lying, probably-a-basement-dwelling, neck-beard, catfishing guy.”
“Yeah, but did you forget about the Earl’s Whispers post? The whole school thinks I’mdatingthe guy in this picture. The picture that is actually of the shelter guy, Daniel, not LostAxis, whoever that really is.”
Aimee shrugged. “Daniel probably won’t see it. St.Francis is on the other side of Scarborough—I doubt he follows an Earl’s gossip account. And if he does find out, just tell him that you had no idea the picture was of him.”
“Yeah, and embarrass myself even more to the cool and very hot guy.” I liked Daniel so far, but I didn’t really know him well enough to trust him yet. What if he told Muniba and Andre about the photo manipulation and me pretending he was my boyfriend? Would they think less of me for lying? Maybe I’d lose this volunteer job. And Ineededa reference from them.
“Are you going to confront LostAxis about him sending you a fake pic?” Cass asked.
That was a good point. Ishouldsay something to LostAxis about the fact that he sent me a fake picture. Confronting Devin the other day had made me feel so much better ... Maybe telling off LostAxis for getting me in this mess in the first place would be cathartic, too.
But ... what LostAxis had done to me wasn’t nearly as bad as what Devin had done. Devin broke my heart and ruined my summer. All LostAxis did was lie to me about what helookedlike. Maybe he was self-conscious about his looks, which was fine. Not everyone gets to look like Daniel. I was the one who had Aimee make the picture and effectively tell the whole school I was dating him, so what right did I have to tell him off?
I needed to deal with the fact that I was now working with the guy in the picture. And I needed to deal with everyone at school thinking I was hung up on Devin. “I should just block LostAxis,” I said. “If he was dishonest about this, what else could he have lied about? Was he seventeen at all? Is he even in Canada?”
“I mean, you lied, too, though,” Cass said very gently. “You basically told the whole school you were dating the guy in the picture, and you’re not.”
“I know.” I’d created this mess. I took another spoonful of pie. Bumbleberry was now my favorite.
“Samaya, you really should at least tell Daniel about the picture,” Cass said. “That’s his face—he deserves to know you’re using it.”
I sighed. Cass was right, as usual. I would be mortified, but I had to tell him. “Ugh. Could this get worse?”
“Um ...” Cass looked nervously at Aimee.
“What?” I asked. My friends were hiding something. “Crap. Why did you ask me if I’dseen itwhen I got here? Is there another Whispers post about me?”
“Well,” Aimee said sheepishly. “Not reallydirectlyabout you ...”
I opened the Earl’s Whispers account. After scrolling past the gossip about some grade ten who’d been caught cheating at e-sports, and some speculation that Genevieve Larocque in grade eleven was actually a thirty-year-old undercover reporter (what?), I found the post that my friends were talking about. It was a picture of a guy and a girl walking on the path near the bluffs. His hand was in her back pocket, and hers was in his pocket. I’d recognize those butts anywhere.
I winced at the picture. “Devin just went all caveman on me today about the picture of me and Daniel, and now this? Also, how is Hana’s butt so ...perfect?”
Caption: Earl’s newest it couple have confirmed that they will be attending the Nerd Prom together in November. To be honest it’s shocking that Devin Kapadia would take anyone other than Samaya Janmohammad, even after their much-publicized split in June. Devin and Samaya will likely be awarded the top academic awards for their grade, and most assumed they would still go together—even just as friends. Clearly taking Hana to the Nerd Prom is Devin’s retaliation for Samaya being seen with that mysteriousnew gamer-boy. And what a retaliation it is! As of now, we deem Devin Kapadia the front-runner to win this breakup. All eyes are on Samaya to see if she’ll up the ante with her new boy and inch ahead of Devin.
The Nerd Prom was what everyone called the school’s academic banquet / fall formal, and it’s where the academic awards from the previous year were awarded. Everyone on the honor roll got a free ticket, but anyone else could buy one. Devin and I had gone together for the last two years.
“They’ve turned our breakup into a sporting event,” I said. “Someone needs to shut this account down.”
“Nope!” Aimee said. “Look at the post after it.”
I did—it was a close-up of Aimee’s artfully applied eye makeup, reposted from her own account, along with a caption that proclaimed her to be the best makeup artist at Earl’s.
Cass looked at me. “I don’t think getting rid of the account will stop people gossiping anyway.”
