My Life Exposed

Blackmail

It's been a few days and I've yet to hear anything about the Scott predicament, so I call my father to see if there's been any update. "I was actually on my way home to speak with you about this. Scott will be coming to our house tonight. He is under the impression that he is getting paid, but instead, my lawyers will be there to explain the legal consequences of his actions. Just try and stay in your room so he doesn't see you. I want to make this as easy as possible and put an end to it." I agree to stay in my room and thank my father again for taking care of things. I call Jace to tell him what's going. "I'm coming over right now," he says. "Jace, you don't have to do that. I'm okay." "I know, but I want too. I'll see you in a bit." I head to the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat then go back to my room. Before I know it, Jace walks in. "Wow, that was fast," I tell him. "I wasn't going to let you sit here alone while this is happening. I'm here for you, Mila." While we're in my room, we hear the door bell ring and I know it has to be Scott. I really want to go downstairs and find out what's going on, but I told my dad I would stay in my room. All of a sudden, Jade walks in and says, "Oh hi, Jace. Funny seeing you here. Mila, do you know what's going on in dad's office?" "What? No, I have no idea," I tell her. "You're a terrible liar. Oh and I really hope you two aren't dating because that would be against the rules." "Shut up, Jade. We aren't dating; we're just friends." "I sure hope so," she says as she walks away. "Okay, now I'm a little nervous she'll find out whats going on," I tell Jace. "Don't worry, your dad wouldn't tell her. He wouldn't do that to you," he says. I sigh, "I sure hope not." After a few hours, I hear the front door slam shut which means the meeting must be over, so Jace and I go downstairs. We find my father in his office and ask him how things went. He holds a disc in his hand and says, "Don't worry, sweetie. No one will ever see this." He drops it into the fireplace and we watch it burn. I give my father a hug and tell him thank you again. "I don't think you'll ever have to worry about seeing Scott again either," he says. "Good. I hope you're right." Jace and I leave his office and he says "Well, this is good news. You don't have to worry any more, Mila. You're good now." "Thank God."He puts his arm around me and says, "I better get going. First day back to school tomorrow." "Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" "I'll see you tomorrow, Anderson." "I'll see you tomorrow, Henderson," I reply. He leaves and I go up to my room, finally able to breathe again knowing all of this is over. I take my time in the shower and get ready for bed. Just as I'm about to turn off the light, Jade walks in my room. "Oh my God, Jade. What do you want now?" She comes closer and says, "You know Mila, Scott is a really nice guy." I look at her, confused. Jade continues, "Wow Mila, a sex tape huh? I never would've pegged you to be that kind of girl." "I had no knowledge that he was even recording us. It was all done without my consent, but it doesn't even matter because dad destroyed the disc." "He destroyed a copy of the disc," she says. I freeze. "What do you mean 'a copy'?" "Well Mila, Scott was worried this deal would go south so he was more than happy to accept my $50,000 for the original copy." She pulls out a disc from her pocket. "Now I own it." "Jade, please do not show this to anyone. It would destroy me and our father."  "No, it would just destroy you if I send it in to Yale as your admission video." My mouth drops. "I'll do whatever you want, just please don't do this to me." She sits down on my bed and says, "Well come to think of it - this little 'friendship' you have with Jace? I don't like it. Either you end it and never speak to Jace again or Yale will get a present. If you decide to tell dad about this, I will still send it, because I will hide this where no one can find it." "How can you do this to me, Jade?" "It's rather simple. Jace and I belong together. So you will tell him that your friendship is over and you never want to speak to him again and your secret will stay safe. Do we have a deal?" I just sit there for a minute, taking it all in. I have no other choice but to say, "We have a deal." "Good. You can still have Yale and I can have Jace. That's the way it should be. I'm glad we could come to an understanding, Mila. See you tomorrow at school, alone." She turns and walks out of my room. I can't believe this just happened. I can't believe Jade has this over my head and I hate that I have to end my friendship with Jace and I can't even tell him why. This is going to be the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I have to do it. I can't risk that video getting sent to Yale or being seen by anyone else. I grab my phone and begin to compose a message to Jace. "Hey, I have been giving this a lot of thought and I think we should end our friendship. We can't be together and it's just really hard on both of us so I think we should stay away from each other. Please don't try to change my mind. Jade really loves you and maybe you should try to give her a second chance; she deserves that. I'm sorry Jace, I will never forget you. Just please respect my decision and let me go." I hit send just as a million tears fall from my face. Not even two minutes later and Jace is trying to call me. I ignore his call and turn my phone off. I lay with my face in my pillow and just cry. I'm starting to wish I never came here. I wake up early for school the next morning so that I can leave before Jace tries to come and pick me up. When I get to school, nobody is here yet, so I go to my first class and take advantage of my quiet time to get ahead on my reading assignments. As the other students start to come in, I'm relieved that all the seats next to me are taken so that Jace can't sit next to me. I decide to turn my phone back on from yesterday and see that I have 24 missed text messages from Jace. I can't make myself read them. I put my phone on silent and put it away. Jace finally walks into class and I put my head down. This is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. When the bell rings, I jump up and rush out of class but Jace stops me at my locker. "Mila, what is going on? Last night we were fine then an hour later you send me this text saying that everything is over. What the hell happened?" "Jace, all I can say is that it's best we just stay away from each other. Let's not kid ourselves, it was never going to work between us anyway. Not with Jade and her plans to ruin my life." "Mila, did she say or do something to bring this on?" I'm quiet for a moment, then say, "No. We just need to part ways now before one of us gets really hurt. I'm sorry, Jace." I leave him standing there at my locker, looking upset. I don't want to hurt him, but I just can't let Jade destroy everything I worked so hard for. I really do have strong feelings for Jace, but I'm being pushed into a corner here and I don't know what to do. As im walking to my next class, Jade walks up to me and asks, "Was I not clear about you staying away from Jace?" "Well, why don't you make that clear to him because I am doing everything I can to push him away." Jade stops me and says, "You'd better hope so because it's just one stamp away to send in your little video to Yale." "I know, Jade. I will handle it so just back off please? I'm trying my best." I go to walk away and see Jace watching us. Crap, I don't need him asking me anymore questions. It's finally lunch time and I go find Brandi and Candace. I tell them everything that has happened. They both sit there in shock and Candace asks, "What are you going to do?" "Nothing. I'm going to stay away from Jace. It's the only thing I can do until I start Yale." "I'm so sorry," Brandi says, "I wish there was something we could do." "It's  okay. I'll just have to go by her rules for now." Candace perks up and says, "Hey, how about we hangout this weekend? Just us three and we can try to come up with a plan to bring this bitch down." "I don't know if that's possible but a sleepover sounds great to me," I say. Lunch ends and I head to my next class, which I so happen to share with both Jace and Jade. I take my seat right as the principal walks in with someone following behind him. "Class, I want to introduce to you our new student, Garrett Archibald. He comes from LA. Let's make him feel welcome here." Our teacher, Mr. Evans, says, "Welcome to the school. You can have a seat next to Mila." Garrett takes the seat next to me and gives me a smile that I return. I sneak a look at Jace and he doesn't look amused at all. Maybe this could be helpful. I could become friends with Garrett to get Jade and Jace off of my back. After class, Garrett walks up to me and says, "Hey, so I'm Garrett, as you already know." I laugh and say, "I'm Mila, as you already know." He asks me if I know of any good cafes around with good coffee. "Yeah, there's one just uptown. I can show you after school if you'd like." "That'd be great. I'll meet you out front after school?" "See you then," I tell him. As I'm walking to my next class, I feel someone grab my arm and pull me into a dark closet. I begin to fight my way out until I hear Jace's voice telling me to calm down. He turns the light on and I ask, "What the hell are you doing? Why are we in here?" "I need answers," he says. "Answers to what?" "Well for starters, why you just cut me out of your life and then next why are you all of a sudden going on a date with the new guy?" "Jace, I told you that it was best we just stay away from each other and I'm not going on a date with him. I'm just showing him where to get a decent cup of coffee around here. That's it." "Oh 'that's it'? Mila, why are you doing this? Do you understand what it does to me when I see you with another guy? It kills me."  I pause for a moment and say, "Jace, I'm not trying to hurt you. I just made a friend and I'm just showing him around. I'm not trying to date anyone or anything like that." "I know Jade said something to you the night that I left I just don't know what it is. We were fine being friends until I left. I need to know what happened." "Nothing happened, Jace. I just thought long and hard about everything and realized that this would be best for both of us." "Mila, you and I know that is not true." He comes closer to me and grabs my face with both hands. "Mila, please, just tell me what is going on." I grab his hands off of my face and tell him, "Nothing is going on. Just trust me that this is best for us. Please, just trust me," and I walk out of the door.