“It’s fine,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears.
“Kami, are you OK?” came a sweet voice at the bathroom door. A head of frizzy curls appeared; it was Ellie.
Kam wiped away the last of her tears and forced a smile. “I’m OK, Ellie.”
“I’m sorry for everything…” she said, looking at me. “You were right about Danny.” Ellie stared at the ground. I’d almost forgotten she’d hooked up with him.
“It’s all right,” Kami said, and before Ellie could say anything more, a voice came over the PA:Attention, students: This message is to inform you that starting tomorrow, students will be required to turn their cell phones in at the office prior to attending class. There will be no exceptions! Cell phones are not to be used on school grounds outside of extraordinary circumstances and only with the permission of the administration.
Ellie and I both opened our eyes wide, but Kami seemed unfazed.
“This is bullshit, right?” I asked.
“I wish,” Kami said. “He told Danny and me in his office. It’s supposed to be an anti-cyberbullying measure.”
“Give me a break!” Ellie said, leaning back against a stall door. “As soon as we’re out the door, we’ll all have our phones back and this shit will keep happening. Doesn’t he realize that?”
“At least now I can relax knowing that nobody is looking at naked videos of me while I’m walking down the hall,” Kami tried to joke. “And no one can send my brother threatening messages during the school day.”
“Your brother has a phone?” Ellie asked.
“It’s just for emergencies,” Kami replied, rolling her eyes. “My mom insisted on it. Dad was against it.”
“What are we going to do without our phones?” I grumbled.
“I guess we’ll have to actually talk face-to-face,” Ellie said, making me laugh.
“I bet nobody will have the balls to talk shit to me to my face,” Kami said. I could tell she didn’t think the new cell phone ban was such a bad idea.
We left the bathroom as the bell rang, and everyone walked out of their first class. All they could talk about was their phones.
It’s mine. I’ve got a right to have it on me.
Why the hell can the teachers have theirs if we can’t have ours?
We should protest!
I’m going to tell my dad to talk to his lawyer.
And wherever you looked,every single personhad their phone in their hands, as if afraid someone might come along and grab them from their back pockets. It was kind of sad, thinking that our generation no longer knew how to live without them, but I guess that’s how it was. Our phones were an extension of our bodies, always there to check the time, look at our messages, scroll through our photo library…
I heard a girl shout, “Hey, dickhead, what are you going to do now that you can’t use your phone to film people without their consent?”
We turned to see Danny headed toward his locker.
The three of us froze. I was surprised by how people had risen up to defend Kami. I didn’t have the highest opinion of the population of Carsville, but they really seemed to come together to let the former basketball star know how much they disapproved of him.
And I was there to enjoy watching him fall from grace. Fuck him. Fuck him for real. If people wanted to gang up against that pervert, I was happy to join them.
“Rapist!” another girl shouted, and her friends started in along with her.
“Why don’t you just get the fuck out of here?”
That wasn’t the end of it. Soon they were circulating a petition to have Danny Walker expelled from school. Kami stayed out of it. She had made it clear that she didn’t want to be part of anything. She just wanted to forget what had happened and never talk about it again. But through no fault of her own, she’d become the center of attention again, no longer someone people hated, but a feminist symbol and a concrete reason to fight against sexual harassment at school. I understood her reasons for standing aside, but I admired what these girls wanted to do. Danny Walker shouldn’t be allowed to stay at our school.
OK, so there was no proof. True enough. But all the signs pointed at him, and there was nothing I wanted more than to see that bastard go down.
More than anything, people were pissed about the phones. We were supposed to put them in a plastic bag with our first and last names on them, and they were going to be locked up in a special room in the office. The students were furious about having their phones taken away, and they felt there was just one person to blame for it: Danny. So you can imagine the kind of treatment he was in for. Things got worse for him by the second. Hardly anyone would speak to him. Following my lead, the basketball team had turned its back on him too. He deserved to be left out in the cold.
Kami was my girlfriend, after all. Everyone knew it. And all that bullshit between them, talking trash and taking sides, that was over. I was the king of the school now, and Kami was my queen. Anyone who messed with her would have to face the consequences.
One of the people hardest on Danny was Julian. He insulted him every time he saw him, and he was part of the group that ganged up on Danny one day outside school. I would have joined them, but Kami begged me for over half an hour to stay out ofit. She didn’t like the turn things had taken and said she didn’t want to see me stoop to Danny’s level. She and Julian had a nasty fight about it, and even Ellie had her say, telling Kami she couldn’t expect everyone to just leave Danny alone after what had happened.
Danny ended up in the hospital with a broken arm. And that was when I realized things were starting to spin out of control.
Way, way out of control.
