Her face card is PERMANENTLY declined
Genuinely a health hazard.
Do us all a favor and just kill yourself.
Every hateful post was designed to strip away her humanity, to make her something less than human. Something acceptable to mock, degrade, and destroy.
My hand went cold around the phone. Tears stung my eyes. My heart ached beneath the anger that sizzled red-hot just beneath the surface. "Oh, Mia. I had no idea."
She kicked at a piece of driftwood. "Yeah, well."
"I wish you had told me sooner."
"It wouldn't have changed anything."
"Of course it would," I insisted. "We could have talked to the school, the police."
"Mom, no," she cut me off. "They'd find a way to twist it, make me look even more pathetic. Same with Leah. It was pointless."
"You're not pathetic," I said firmly. "Leah was being harassed. Now you are. And it's not pointless to report it. This is cyberbullying."
She gave a hollow laugh. "Yeah, just like Leah's bullying stopped after she reported Alexis cutting her hair. Just like that, huh? It got worse, Mom. Not better."
I watched her, my heart heavy. Much as I hated to admit it, she wasn't wrong about that. But if the school hadn't put a stop to it, I would've pulled her out. I would have moved across the country if that's what it took to keep her safe, to protect her. I knew Viv and Daniel would've done the same for Leah.
"You mentioned the name Taylor. Do you mean Taylor Everett? The girl who used to live in this neighborhood?"
"It happened the year before we moved here. I heard the rumors, though. This account started targeting her, posting AI-pictures and videos of her, but fat, or with warts all over her face, or her naked in a vat of blood, her on her knees… you know." Mia picked at a loose thread on her sleeve. "I guess there was some investigation last year after she, ah… she almost drowned in a pool accident and was brain-damaged or something."
I felt sick. "Who the hell runs this account?"
She shrugged. "No one knows. It's anonymous."
I tucked the phone into my jacket pocket.
"Hey, that's mine."
"You'll get it back. Right now, I need it more than you do."
Panic edged her words. "For what? To stalk my friends?"
I had Mia's phone. I had names. And I was going to find out which one of those girls had Leah's blood on their hands. "To figure out the truth."
We stood there in the thinning light, wind pulling at our clothes. Apollo trotted back and shook himself, spraying water all over us, then he leaned his flank against my leg, his sides heaving from his run. The waves kept rolling in.
"Mom," Mia said. "I know it sounds bad. I know I look bad. I didn't go down to the beach. I told you about the diary so Leah's mom could find it, even though I knew it probably had bad stuff about me in there, too. That counts for something, right? I didn't… I didn't want her to die."
I believed her, and I didn't, simultaneously. The worst part was that both could be true: she had never laid a hand on Leah and yet had helped push Leah somewhere she couldn't climb back from.
I stepped close enough to smell the faint coconut shampoo scent clinging to her damp hair. "My job is to protect you. Even from your friends. Even from yourself."
She let out a shaky breath. "You're mad at me."
"I'm furious with you. For what you did. For what you didn't do. For what you still might be hiding."
"But you still?—"
"I still love you. That doesn't change. It also doesn't mean there aren't consequences."
