Chapter ElevenTaylor
I didn’t want to tell Kami that I knew about the photo of her and Kate and all the comments people had left. That I’d seen what that weirdo @omv_ovamat had written.
Now you’re like me, and soon you’ll be mine.
What was that shit supposed to mean? How was she supposed to be like that fucking coward, whoevertheywere? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to sit back and watch while everybody made my girlfriend miserable. I knew if I asked Kami, she’d probably tell me to let her deal with it on her own, but that wasn’t going to happen.
I called Perez, a friend of my brother’s from back in DC. He was a computer freak, and I knew if anyone could find this asshole, he could. Perez wasn’t a full-on hacker, but I was sure he could deal with a high school kid who thought they were being clever.
“Sure, dude,” he said when I explained the situation. “I’ll get right on it tomorrow. I’ve got another job to finish today, but I don’t think it will take long.”
“No worries,” I said. Then I googledMomo.That mask was creepy as shit. I’d heard of the Momo Challenge. Supposedly there were videos on YouTube where Momo came on the screen to scarekids while they watchedPeppa Pigor whatever and forced them to do things against their will, threatening to hurt their families or something if they didn’t. It had gone viral, then it turned out to be an urban legend, and I kind of lost track of the story after that. What was the connection between that image, whoever @omv_ovamat was, and my girlfriend?
“TAYLOR!”
Shit.
I closed my laptop as Mom charged into my room like a bat out of hell.
“Have you seen this damn house?” she shouted, throwing the door open so hard it struck the wall.
“I cleaned up…”
“There are condoms in my room! Used condoms!”
“What are you talking about?”
My mom was small and elegant. My brother and I were well over a foot taller than her, and yet, when she wanted to, she could scare the hell out of us.
“You get in there and clean it right now! And you better wash my sheets too!” She slapped me on the back of the neck.
“Jesus!” I shouted. “I told everyone the bedrooms were off limits.”
“I give you an inch, and you take a mile. You told me you were going to have a few friends over…”
“That’s all I did!”
She gave me a dirty look.
“I’ll clean it up, all right?”
“Damn right you will! Now get to it!”
I walked out and started cleaning…again. One thing was for certain: I’d never have another party again. I hadn’t even had a good time. Not after learning about my brother’s childhood infatuation with Kami, not after our fight, and definitely not afterJulian stuck his nose in it. That motherfucker got on my nerves. What was his deal? He was supposedly gay, but the way he hung all over Kami made me wonder, were they really just friends? I didn’t get what the hell was going on.
It had been four hours since I’d dropped Kami off at Mill’s. She was supposed to call me when her shift was over, and we were going to grab dinner and maybe watch a movie. Nothing too late because we had class the next day. I checked my phone, and it was like someone had been reading my mind:Hey, I can’t do dinner. Trouble at work. I’ll tell you later. Julian’s taking me home.
What was Julian doing at the café?
Honestly, ever since I’d started going out with Kami, it had been one problem after another. My brother and I barely talked. And I wasn’t sure why, but it was definitely connected to Kami. Did Thiago like her? I knew he had when we were kids, but that was ages ago. And now he had Maggie, the cute teacher.
So why did there seem to be some sort of vibe between Thiago and Kami, then? Was I just imagining things?
I went to bed early. I had a hangover, and all that cleaning and studying had worn me out. I slept like a baby. The next morning, when I got up, my room was freezing. It was only early November, but my teeth were chattering. I looked outside and saw it was pouring rain. Fucking Monday.
It was still dark outside, and I hated getting up that early, but I got dressed anyway. When I went downstairs, Mom was still asleep, but my brother was making coffee in the kitchen. He was wearing a sweater and boots, like me.
“You see how cold it is?” I asked him.
