A bullied girl meets the popular new student.
*****
"Still saying that you're perfectly okay?" Max whispers.
I'm surprised to hear that his voice is shaking.
"I'm going to find who did this to you."
*****
One time, I was the most popular girl in sch...
When I look up to see my parents again, Mom's eyes are filled with tears. She shakes her head in denial.
"She was blackmailed by some psychotic bastard, but that fucking piece of trash spread the pictures nonetheless." My fist is shaking as I ball it on my side.
Mom and Dad don't even comment on my choice of language.
"She was---" Mom stutters, as though she's thinking about something horrible that has happened in the past. She finally bursts into tears, and Dad pulls her into a hug, soothing her. He then kisses the top of her head.
The way Mom cries for Luna shows how this incident shatters her heart too. Her shoulders are shaking as Dad hugs her.
"What are you going to do now, Max?" Dad asks, his eyes holding something meaningful behind them, as though he's challenging me. "Are you going to leave her?"
My heart freezes in place. Leave her? That thought has never crossed my mind even just for a second, even when everything went wrong.
Yet, Dad reminds me that this is not going to be easy, that we have to face the world as a consequence. And this isn't only about me and Luna -- this is about our families too.
"No, I'm not going to leave her," I say without a doubt. I'm going to stay by her side, no matter what happens.
Dad stares at me, studying my expression as his eyes soften. "Then you know what to do."
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The thing I fear the most finally happens. Here I am, surrounded by my family in the living room. I'm sitting on the couch, staring down at my lap, my shoulders shaking as I hold back my sobs.
My family, however, can't just sit still, especially Mom and Aiden, whose emotions are all over the place.
Dad still sits on the couch, facing me, but his eyes are dark. I've never been afraid of Dad, but now I am. He's silent, but the aura surrounding him is lethal.
Mom paces back and forth, her tears rolling down her cheeks. "How could this happen?" Her voice is shaking as she squeezes her eyes shut, her legs moving around. "No, you shouldn't have gone through all of this. You shouldn't." She chokes on her tears while still pacing around, her hand trembling as she touches the crease of her eyebrows. "No, no. You didn't deserve all of this. You didn't deserve any of this. How could you go through that without telling us? Oh, God, Luna."
She wipes the tears in her eyes and lets her sobs break, making my heart shatter as I see how much this hurts her.
I've explained everything to them although I don't know whether it's enough or not. It's hard for me to speak without breaking down. I've thought that I can handle it, but the moment I see their faces, I can't hold it anymore.
Aiden is seething, his chest heaving up and down. I've never seen him so angry.
"That fucker," he hisses, speaking about Rory. "I'll make her pay."
