“I just got another one,” I said, making my lips tremble.
“Another text from your blackmailer?" she asked, frowning. “Right now?”
“I just… I don’t…” My breath was heavy.
“You don’t what?” she said.
“I don’t… I just don’t know…” I looked up from my phone and stared her dead in the eyes. “…how you could know that they were texting me.”
“I…” Her eyes went wide. “Well, shit, Aubrey, I just assumed,” Cynthia said with a nervous laugh. “How else is a blackmailer going to get in touch with you? Carrier pigeon?”
“I think you can answer that, considering I never said there was a blackmailer involved.”
Cynthia gaped at me before her eyes narrowed.
“What the fuck are you accusing me of?” she growled, facing me full on.
“I think you know exactly what I’m accusing you of,” I said. “You’re the one who’s been blackmailing me.”
“You’re crazy,” Cynthia shot back.
“Admit it. Admit what you did.”
“Fuck you,” she spat, inching toward the door.
“I saw the way you were looking at me when I danced with Jaeson,” I said. “I saw how angry you were. Is that why? You did all of this to me over a boy?”
“So what if I did?” she shouted. “So what if I took it upon myself to expose a slut sleeping around with the entire executive board of the club that you just so happened to get into as a fucking freshman?”
I clenched my jaw. “How dare you. How could you do this to me?”
Cynthia shook her head, pacing back and forth, staring at me in disbelief. “It’s my own fault, really. I should have known that someone as manipulative as you wasn’t too stupid to figure it out eventually.”
“Why?” I repeated. “Just tell me why.”
"I know about everything!” she screamed, darting toward me, getting right in my face. “Your stories, your sexual exploits, all of it. You almost got our club shut down with your shitty smut, for fuck’s sake!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“You almost got off the hook,” Cynthia said, ignoring me. “At first, I didn't think anyone would believe me.”
Cynthia was getting worked up, talking faster and faster. I waited patiently while she monologued. She had probably wanted to vent for a while, and now she finally had an audience.
"You look so goddamn innocent and naive. No one would believe you'd been sleeping around with half the school. So I waited, and I watched, and I figured when they finally shut VIP Lit down, that would be the end of it. But then…” She took a breath, glaring at me, scowling like a madwoman.
“Then what?” I asked firmly.
“Then you came forward and volunteered yourself!” she shouted. “And then suddenly, everyone knew what kind of a hack you were, getting your name attached to those serials. Sure, they loved you for a minute, but it would have been a flash in the pan. That writing never lasts. All it took was a word in the right ear or two and the gossip started flying all by itself. You’d been so worried about people finding out your identity, I knew you’d be humiliated if people found out what you’d been doing behind closed doors."
“But how did you even know I was the author in the first place, before the trial?” I asked.
Cynthia snorted. “A new girl shows up and all of a sudden Luka is printing smut? It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Honestly, I can’t believe how stupid the other students can be sometimes. And besides, I was the one who originally saw your writing sample when you emailed about joining the club as a freshman. Despite the wildly disparate subject matter, the writing was the same. The pacing, the flow, the word choices. I’ve spent enough time reading everyone else’s stuff that I knew it couldn’t have been anyone else.”
I stayed silent, letting her rant as much as she pleased.
“And then I saw the way Jaeson paid so much attention to you that day in the VIP Lit office. I couldn’t believe how quickly you’d managed it. I’ve been trying to get his attention since my first day at VIP, and I’ve gotten nowhere. He never gave me the time of day. I joined this stupid fucking club just to get close to him. He cares about this magazine so much,” Cynthia paused, catching her breath, looking less angry and more forlorn. “I thought if we had something in common, if I could impress him, he would notice me.” The fury returned, and she glowered at me again. “And then you show up. Days. That’s all it took. Days, and he was already all over you."
“I can’t believe you,” I said, my expression darkening.
