It's Not Over Yet (the seventh book in the glee series)

Chapter 66: Honestly, I'm Freaking Out

"So the good news is," Marley said as she walked to Finn's kitchen carrying a binder and set it down on the table, "that last night we raised about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Which is beyond what we expected and simply... incredible."

"Yay..." said Finn, though Marley wasn't feeling like celebrating, what with the stress that the gala had caused them.

"The bad news is, of course," Marley continued, "that someone managed to hack everyone's phones and has been periodically leaking data from them. My mom had to change her number."

"So did mine," Finn groaned. "Though, I'm sure it wasn't as bad. Most people weren't really looking into my phone and I didn't have too much going on there anyway. I do feel bad for everyone else. Especially our famous friends. They got the worst of it."

"Yeah," Marley sighed, taking a seat. "I just wish we could figure out who did this. It's obviously taking a while for people to go through all the information but what's out there already has been damning for all of us. This was a huge invasion of privacy and I know everyone wants a name. I've heard talks that people want to press charges and sue and honestly... I can't blame them."

"Neither can I," Finn sighed. "I was gonna say we should try to stay focused on the school but... Honestly, all I can do is worry about our friends. How's Kitty doing?"

Marley frowned and shook her head. "I can't imagine it's going well over in her house," she said.

***

"How could you keep this from me?" Kitty yelled, standing in front of Riley in their living room. 

"Shh," Riley hushed her. "The kids..."

But Kitty ignored her, continuing, "And how could you think it was a good idea to discuss it all via text message?"

"I'm sorry," Riley sighed. "For the millionth time. But it's not like anything specific was in those messages so it's not the worst thing that could've happened."

"Riley," Kitty crossed her arms, "you texted my mother about her rigging my election. About her committing a crime that implicates me, and implicating yourself in the process. Now that's out there and I'm being investigated. My political career could be over forever. How do you not understand the severity of this situation?"

"I do get it," said Riley. "But I'm asking you to put it into perspective. It could've been worse. Other people did have it worse."

"Right," said Kitty, calming herself for a moment. "I could've had it worse. I could've had my nude photographs leaked as well. Oh wait, that also happened. But guess what? People seeing my exposed private parts is nowhere near as awful as finding out along with the rest of the world that I'm mayor due to my mother cheating. I care more about my career and my future. The future of this family. I can't believe that you'd keep all of this from me, Riley... You should've told me what happened the moment my mother told you."

Stalking off, Kitty left Riley alone to feel even worse about the situation than she had before.

***

Over in Hill Country, Julie sat in her living room next to Skye, who had prepared tea for them. The tea sat on the coffee table, untouched, while the two women sat in comfortable silence.

Then, when it had become impossible to tolerate it, they were startled by the sudden opening of the door. Shawn walked in and Julie immediately rose to her feet, rushing to him.

"You're home!" she exclaimed. "I was so worried when you didn't come home last night."

"I'm not here to stay," he said, barely looking her in the eye. "I just came to get clothes. I'm staying down at a hotel."