The Mask (Boys of Elmwood)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

'There's only one slut in town and her name starts from A. Stop flirting with my boyfriend you dumb whore before I smear your name all over this site and let everyone know who you are.'

My eyes wandered over the homepage of the dummy site of the university and I froze when I saw Dahlia's message pinned. I stared at the screen, reading the words over and over again. She knew what she saw yesterday. It was light-hearted, harmless banter.

She knew the truth. Right?

Opening up the comments, I began going through all of them.

'I think I know who it is...'

'Hope the boyfriend's worth it, honey. That's how exactly I lost my ex to a whore last year.'

'This is juicy! Where's my popcorn? I bet it's someone from the first year.'

I clicked out of the comments page and returned to the homepage. My eyes darted left and right, all over the live feed and the section where new posts were coming.

'I'm out of my depth. Anyone got a hookup for Molly? Dm me. No deliveries, only meetups and at the campus.' The post was about a boy asking for drugs. There are several thousands of them that date back to three years ago when the site was first opened.

'Looking for someone to complete my assignment. It's due on Tuesday, Python-based—6 pages. Willing to pay whatever it is, cash, pills, blowjob, whatever. I just need it done before I get kicked out.' My eyes wandered over to the corner, below the post where I found the girl who made the post.

Ivana, she was in the same year I was but a semester behind as she joined at the beginning of the year while it had already been a few months for me.

'Hey Ivana, it's me, Aria. I saw your post about needing help with your assignment. I know we haven't talked much before, but I'm pretty confident I can do this for you. I've done a couple of assignments for others. My rate is pretty cheap too, only twenty bucks and I'll do it. If you still need someone, call my number or see me on campus.' I quickly write to her and hit the send button to take my mind off Dahlia's post.

When I got back on the homepage, I scrolled through the site once more, reading the rest of the posts. Most of them were about either hookups, drugs, or gossip. That was all that could be found on this dummy site of Elmwood University. It wasn't listed anywhere. You had to receive a special link once you joined any program at the university. It was all up to you if you wanted to sign up or not.

Everyone could only create one account and that too under their own name. There was a strict rule about snitches. Anyone who went to the university's staff about the site or whatever was being posted on it would get stitches.

Just a month ago, there was a boy who went to the staff to report his girlfriend, who had just broken up with him and she used the site to get her assignments done. The day following the report, the site went dark. It was almost as if it was dead. But the day after it, the site was back online and the boy arrived on campus with his face scarred by fresh stitches and a busted lip.

No one knew who did it, but it sent a message to everyone to keep their mouths shut when it came to the university's staff.

I considered it a cool site to earn some quick cash and attention. There was always something or the other going on. The gossip was as fresh as it could get, until today, when Dahlia posted about me.

"Oh my fucking god, did you really do that?" Nessa screamed on the phone, her voice screeching in my years.

"No, no, I didn't. I wasn't flirting with him. We were just talking about the play and he wanted me to join because he thought I would look good in a corset. I told him I was occupied with other things and couldn't commit. We only spoke for a minute and Dahlia saw us, she knew there was nothing going on, she knew well I wasn't flirting with him." I hurriedly explained on the phone, my voice filled with desperation as I was trying to prove a point.

"Did he comment on your boobs?" She gasped on the other end.

"No, he just—he just said they'd look good in a corset." I tried to find the words to explain what had happened yesterday.

I didn't think much of it, to begin with.

"He was flirting with you."

"I wasn't," I leaned back against the bed and confessed. "And now Dahlia's threatening me behind the screen. She's a bitch."

"Who can't control her own man. Mhm. This sounds fun. You should flirt with him tomorrow and piss her off even more." Nessa suggested, and I didn't even take her suggestion into consideration for a moment. She was crazy as they could come, always taking revenge and throwing claws.

"No, I'm just not going to talk to anyone." I slammed my laptop shut and tossed it to the side.

"What about me?"

Before I could say anything, the door to my room burst open and Nessa walked inside with a pout on her face. I quickly drew the phone away from my ear and jumped up from the bed upon seeing her.

"Surprise, surprise." Her arms spread in the air and she smiled.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you on a date?" I questioned her, my brows furrowed. Tonight was the only night I thought I could be with myself, at least for a few hours as Nessa was on a date and my other friend, Sabrina was having dinner night with her family a town over.

"I was," She jumped on the bed and tossed her bag on the side. The red dress she had been wearing rid up to her thighs as she leaned back. "It was good, the food and all but as soon as we went into the car and began kissing, he got a boner and then he finished. It was a sign for me to not date men on the internet."

"Oh my god." I slammed my hands against my mouth, completely surprised.

Nessa chuckled, but there was a trace of disappointment in her voice. "I thought he was a decent guy."

I moved closer to her and sat down, surprise still clear on my face. "I thought the same too. He even looked cute in the photos."

She sighed and rose up from the bed. "What were you doing all evening?"

"Just been online on the site, seeing all the fresh posts and hoping there wouldn't be another one about me," I said, glancing at the laptop that was on the side of the bed. That was all I had done tonight. Absolutely nothing.

"Don't focus on it too much. I had my name ruined a thousand times and frankly, I don't care. I'm still going to suck some committed man's dick for all I care, especially if his girlfriend is someone like Dahlia," She rolled her eyes back, frustrated just as I was. Extending out a hand, she placed it over mine and tapped it twice. "Poor you."

"I'm fine." I narrowed my eyes.

It truly wasn't a big much of deal, having my name on the front page. It was more about Dahlia. I thought we were friends and to think that she'd call me a 'dumb whore' was surprising.

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