People moved aside to let us through. When Julian saw me, his expression changed.
“Kam, tell them to leave me alone!” he shouted with fear in his eyes.
Julian, scared?
That was something new.
I didn’t say a word.
I just stood there.
Watching.
And that made me as guilty as anyone for what happened and what was to come.
That’s something I’ll never forgive myself for.
“Julian Murphy lied to all of us! He’s the one who spray-painted the lockers! He’s the one who put that video of Kami on Instagram! He’s the rapist!” Danny shouted.
“I didn’t rape anyone!” Julian shouted, staring at me.
Again, Danny hit him in the face, using his good arm. “You liked that? Taking off Kami’s clothes and recording her without her permission?”
I felt my hands and legs starting to shake. Taylor, whose arm had been around my shoulder, stepped forward, and his brother instinctively embraced me.
“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch,” Taylor said, stepping closer to Julian.
Julian’s head was down. The crowd seemed nervous. Thiago was as tense as a bowstring. Taylor punched Julian.
Danny cheered. “Who else wants to give this liar and manipulator what he deserves?”
Everyone was shouting and cursing.
“You know what I’m going to do?” Danny said. “Exactly what you did to Kami, you piece of shit.”
“I need to get out of here,” I told Thiago, but he just hugged me tighter, he didn’t move.
“Take off his clothes,” Danny told his friends.
Taylor didn’t participate. He just stood there watching as Danny’s friends did what he said, laughing the whole time.
Julian wriggled and screamed, “Leave me alone!”
“Come on, take out your phones! Record him! Put it all over the internet! After all, that’s what you did, isn’t it, Julian?”
Danny kicked Julian in the stomach, and he doubled over in pain. Taylor seemed to be supervising the whole thing. I wanted to get out of there; I didn’t want to be a part of this. Even if he deserved it, what they were doing wasn’t right. I believed in justice, and abiding by the law…
“Stop it!” Julian cried, but it was pointless. People were laughing. They stripped him naked as he crouched down, scared of getting hit again. Everyone snapped photos and took videos of him on their phones.
It wasn’t right.
It wasn’t right at all.
I was asking myself what would happen next when the principal and a bunch of teachers showed up. The last thing I saw before Thiago spun me around and whisked me away was Danny spitting in Julian’s face.
People dispersed in all directions. I noticed Kate was there, frozen, unable to believe what was happening.
“Come on, get in the car!” Thiago said, jumping into the driver’s seat.
