We hung up, and I undressed and put on my pajamas. Before I got into bed, I couldn’t help but look outside at the room across from mine. Thiago had drawn his curtains. He almost never did that, and I felt a twinge of guilt again. Was he feeling just as bad as me?
Of course he was. I mean, it was his brother we were talking about.
Shit…
I got into bed and tried to sleep.
***
The next morning, I woke up with a head-splitting hangover. Parts of my body ached that I didn’t even know existed. My ears were ringing, I could hardly open my eyes, but before getting in the shower, I reached over and checked my Instagram.
My friends’ stories started off with them drinking and taking selfies and smiling, and ended with them wasted—dancing,jumping on the Di Biancos’ furniture, even hooking up while people filmed them.
I didn’t realize what was happening until the notifications started flooding in from all my followers. I stopped looking at stories and went to my profile page. What I saw made me sit up in bed. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
On my feed was a photo, posted from my own account, of Kate and me from years back, when we were twelve. Our arms were around each other and we were smiling, but there was a big red X over the top, and below it readI hate you, you wannabe.
What the…
The comments said:You’re the wannabe.
You’re a shitty friend.
Nobody likes you.
FAKE.
You suck.
Most of the comments were defending Kate, but some of them took my side too.
Kate’s a bitch and she doesn’t deserve you.
You’ll always be queen bee.
Fuckfuckfuck.
Who had hacked my account? How? Where had they gotten that photo? And why were they trying to hurt me?
One comment especially caught my eye, from a user named @omv_ovamat, whose profile photo was an image of Momo. It was scary. I hated that stupid doll, and I wondered what the hell was going on. The user had written:Now you’re like me, and soon you’ll be mine.
The profile had zero followers and no posts, and I was the only account it followed.
What the hell? I won’t lie, I was terrified, but I tried to keep in mind just how weird things had gotten at school too. Didn’t peoplein Carsville have anything better to do? I erased the photo and tried to text Kate on WhatsApp to apologize, but she’d blocked me. It made sense, but still, did she really think I was capable of posting something like that? And who had hacked my account? I changed my password. I couldn’t believe all this had happened, and it wasn’t even 9 a.m.
I showered and went downstairs for breakfast. I was so wrapped up in my own troubles that I’d totally forgotten Dad was leaving. His suitcases were piled up by the door—that was all I could take. As soon as I saw him eating breakfast with my brother, the tears started to fall. Dad looked up from his cereal and walked over, enveloping me in a big hug.
“Oh, honey…”
He was one of those guys who just made you feel protected. And around him, I turned back into a little girl. A little girl who needed her dad and whose heart would break when she had to watch him go. “Dad, stay, please,” I begged, even though I knew it was unfair.
“Don’t cry,” he said, stroking my hair with his giant hands. “I’ll be back in a few weeks to see you guys.”
Something inside me knew that wasn’t true. With all the problems he’d been having, how would he find time for us? My brother didn’t get up, and when I looked over at him, the grimace on his face made me realize I needed to get a hold of myself.You can’t let Cameron see you like this. You’ve got to be strong for him.So I forced a smile, let Dad go, and wiped away the tears. “What’s for breakfast?” I asked, trying and failing spectacularly to sound normal.
“Captain America cereal!” my dad said.
I tried to show enthusiasm. “Whoa, Captain America, cool, I want to try it!” I sat down next to my brother, feeling better as the tears on my cheeks dried.
