The Mask (Boys of Elmwood)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Everything good now?"

"Yes," I smiled to myself. "Thanks for telling me about her. I just feel so relieved now knowing she isn't going to smear my name again."

"That's good," Nessa responded. "Did you figure out how she got into your phone?"

"I didn't bother asking. She must've gotten into it by using some software. It's pretty easy to do that once you understand how it's done. I'm just going to wipe my phone clean so she doesn't get into it again." I said, tapping my forehead with a finger.

"You should. Better safe than sorry. Now I'm considering changing my phone too."

I chuckled at her paranoia, "You don't have to do that."

We spoke for a few minutes before ending the call. As soon as it was over, I began clearing my phone and restarting it. I had already managed to delete all the intimate photos I had of myself. Seeing those photos on the front page of a site where hundreds of students visited every day was terrifying.

To think any of them had seen them was far worse and I remained curious about it. What if someone did?

I couldn't be the only one awake that time.

I picked up my laptop again and when over the site, watching it get filled with fresh new posts. I hovered over the page, my eyes scanning the posts as I braced myself for any new intimate pictures of myself. There weren't any.

Thankfully.

When I went to the chats, I found a response from Ivana who was willing to give me twenty bucks for the assignment. As much as I wanted to do it, I wasn't in the right mind to. Not right now. I clicked away from her chat and headed straight into my chat with the admin of the site.

The name unknown.

My last message, a simple thank you, was still there.

'Is there any chance someone had seen those photos and downloaded them? I just want to be careful if someone has them, just in case.' I wrote quickly and pressed send.

Again, I found myself waiting. My one hand reached for the gold necklace I wore around my neck and I began twisting it around my finger while my other hand remained over my laptop.

My phone screen lit up on the side of my bed. It had finally rebooted and even when I wanted to reach it and start setting it up, I found myself waiting for the admin's response. It was odd how nobody knew who set this site up. It was created three years ago. I was in high school then, but it made me believe it had to be someone from my third year.

Probably Lucien.

Hopefully Lucien.

He was just perfectly handsome and so what if he was chaotic?

The ping coming from my laptop caught my attention. I saw the response from the admin and it was simple. 'Nobody saw it.'

'Are you sure about that?'

'I'm certain.' The admin wrote back quickly this time.

I bit the inside of my cheek and continued writing. 'But you saw it. You have it on your server, don't you?'

'I do.' The two-word responses were getting on my nerves.

'I want them deleted.'

'No.'

My brows furrowed at the response. What did that even mean? I didn't want to take the risk of my photos being shared by someone else. Again.

'Why not?'

'My wish.' That was all.

I frowned at the screen and paused for a moment before typing the next message. 'Please? I can't trust you to not share them with others.'

'I won't.' It's not reassuring but it's still something. I couldn't help but wonder if it was indeed a boy and not a girl running this site, especially the way the responses were.

'So you're just going to keep them for yourself rather than deleting them and giving me peace of mind?' I wrote on the chat before hitting send.

My mind raced back to Lucien. The handsome third-year student I had seen on campus a few times and out of campus too. I found myself hoping for a moment that he was behind this site, that he was the one I was currently negotiating with. After all, he was a computer science student and to create a private site like this, one needed skills.

The pinging sound from my laptop bought me back to reality. There were more than two words this time and now I wished I hadn't asked for more than two-word responses.

'I don't like solo nudes. My dick only hardens when I'm there in the picture, part of the performance, directing the act. Otherwise, it's simply...dry.'

My eyes widened and I blinked a few times, trying to swallow what he had said. It was vulgar, yes, but there was also something else, the raw honesty of it. It was shocking.

Hesitantly, my fingers reached the keyboard and I responded to him. 'So, you'll delete them?' Now, for sure I didn't want him to have my nudes.

'I will.'

'How can I be sure that you do it?'

'You can't be sure.'

'I want to be sure,' I typed quickly. 'I can't let anyone else see them or even get a hold of them. I really don't this over my head, disturbing my studies. The possibility of being humiliated by the world at a random Friday isn't something I want to experience again.'

'I will delete them.'

I took a deep breath and continued, 'In front of me.'

It was a daring move, but I needed the certainty. I had years left before I was going to leave this town and I couldn't risk ruining my name before that. High school was simple, there was no one sharing nudes or leaking them. This was different. Anyone was willing to do anything and after hearing from Dahlia earlier, I had to get them deleted.

The wait for his response felt like an eternity. By the time a new message popped up on my screen, I had bit half of my lips.

'Not possible.'

My heart sank. 'I need to be sure. I need to see you delete them. It's the only way I'll know for sure they are gone. Otherwise, how can I trust you?'

Moments turned into minutes and I was about to give up hope when I saw three little dots indicating that he was typing after a long while.

'I'll arrange it. But no tricks.'

My lips parted in surprise. Relief washed over me like a wave. I had managed to convince him, someone nobody had seen, nobody had known, the faceless admin of this site, to accept my request.

At that moment, all I wanted to do was call Nessa and Sabrina, to tell them what had happened, what was going to happen. But I know I couldn't do that.

Oo, who do you think is the admin so far? Someone from school or not? Will she be able to unmask him anytime soon?

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