Play the Game Boy (BWWM)

chapter 8

Faith

I had gotten what I had been asking for days now –a distraction.

People's financial secrets were being leaked onto the Web ever since last night onto this new public website. The rich businessmen of this town were being outed one by one, their kids becoming easy targets to be ridiculed by the masses.

It must've been the first time I wasn't scared of being a prey. My parents' low income wasn't just a curse after all. It offered protection as well.

When I finished my shift that evening, the blue Audi was roaring in the parking lot, waiting for me. Brendan slid his head out of the window and let out after honking :

"Get in loser, we don't have all day."

I shook my head, chuckling. This guy truly was a joke.

I had called him up this morning and asked him if he had heard of or seen the new gossip-filled website. He had, and matter of fact, he had also come to the same conclusion as I had : somebody was leaking information from the files at his dad's firm.

"What do you want to do about it?" he had asked me.

"Honestly?" I had answered. "As much as I want to watch the rest of the secrets unfold, I still don't want any of my friends' family drama exposed, and if there's anything we can do about it..."

On the other line of the phone, Brendan had laughed —no, he had cackled.

"You want us to stop Gossip-girl from exposing the fakes from the riches? This isn't a TV show Faith. We're no detectives."

I had rolled my eyes at this.

"The police hasn't even issued out a statement saying they would investigate the situation meanwhile three families have already been ripped to shreds by the media and the public eye. People we went to school with are getting bullied because of it."

"Well maybe if they hadn't bullied other people, karma wouldn't be clapping back at them," Brendan had snapped, almost viciously.

He had sighed afterwards and a silence had crept between us at both ends of the line. I knew what he had implied. He used to get bullied by some of the same people who were getting their lives wrecked over by a stupid rumour site.

He didn't see why we should intervene which was understandable from his point of view.

"Look, you said that Meghan's parents also had a file. Nadine's mother probably does too. I'm just saying that if there's anything I can do, I want to protect my friends. Besides, the Wenthwards probably have a special file or two you might not want the world to discover."

The other side of the line had remained silent until he had said :

"Come to today's party and I'm in."

"Is this an ultimatum you're giving me?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Nah, it's a compromise," he had ended the call with.

And now here I was, in his spacious car, on our way to Nadine's cousin's birthday bash. It was annoying how he was constantly right. He had predicted, with his habitual confident smirk, that he'd find me at the party and here I was, being driven to the event by the devil itself.

"So, who at the firm do you think did it?" I asked him, strapping on my belt.

He shrugged.

"I dunno, it's hard to imagine a grown adult typing up rumours for teenagers to enjoy," he explained, speeding away from the parking lot. "I'm guessing an intern, somebody young and with a grudge against rich bitches. Somebody like you."