Glitch || S. H.

3

I gave Nancy a little eyebrow wiggle saying nice job but I could tell she was slightly embarrassed by the scene Carol was making.

Steve told them to stop and reassured Nancy that Barb was just skipping today. Nancy and I both knew it was strange but we had to brush it off just to get through the day. I was about to sit back down but Jonathan wasn't there anymore. I would've asked everyone if they saw him leave but I knew they'd blow me off. So I took my new seat, unfortunately, next to Tommy and Carol. Just my luck.

The rest of the day went by normally. When I was leaving school I saw Nancy on one of the payphones talking to Barb's mom. I didn't interrupt hoping to get some context about last night, but no. I missed most of the conversation.

"Everything okay, Nancy? Other than what I gathered from lunch today about last night. Nice one."

"Yeah, it's all good. I'm just worried, you and I both know Barb, she would never skip school," she said while we walked to Steve's car.

"Yeah, you're right. But wherever she is, I hope she's okay," I said as I was looking ahead toward Jonathan and the others, taking Jonathan's backpack and him looking more nervous than usual, something was up and not in a good way. As Nancy and I got closer I heard Carol say 'that isn't creepy at all.'

"I was looking for my brother," said Jonathan.

"No, this is called stalking and being a creep. Plus, she told us you two were only friends, why do you have pictures like these," Steve questioned.

"What's going on," Nancy asked.

"Here's the starring ladies," said Tommy.

"What," I asked, highly confused.

"This creep was spying on us last night and there's pictures of Mollie from what I'm assuming is her bedroom. He was probably gonna save these for later," Carol explained.

I took the pictures from Carol and felt so violated. One picture was of me half naked, boobs on full display and partially in my pajamas, last night in my bedroom. The other one was of Nancy, which I'm guessing was right before she and Steve did, you-know-what. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I don't know what to say at the moment but only four came out of my mouth.

"What the fuck, Jonathan."

He looked at me basically pleading in silence, to help him out of this. I didn't want to help him at all. I just wanted to know if there were more of these, of me, at his house hidden from me. I deserved to know that much.

"See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but that's the thing about perverts. It's hardwired into them. You know they just can't help themselves." Steve said, ripping up the rest of the pictures. "So, we'll just have to take away his toy."

"Steve," Nancy said softly.

"No, please. Not the camera," Jonathan pleaded.

Steve took out the camera and held it out as if he was gonna give it back to Jonathan. Instead he let it fall to the ground. I didn't know whether to be happy about it breaking or heartbroken since I know he had to save up so much money for it.

Steve took the pictures, even the one of me out of my hands, and ripped them up. Honestly, I was happy he did that, shows he does have some respect for Nancy and I.

"Come on, let's go. The game's about to start," Steve said walking back to the school.

Nancy and I stood there not really knowing what to do. While looking down, she could see a partial picture of Barb. She picked up the remaining pieces while Steve was calling back to her. As she went back to Steve, he asked if I wanted to go with them. I was hesitant at first but I needed to hear Jonathan's side first and told Steve that I'd meet them inside.