After a sudden hiatus from social media, popular YouTuber Belinda Quincy feels like she has her mojo back and attempts to do something to make it up to her fans. But that's when a mystery girl's music video goes viral.
Jealousy creeps in at all the...
Hi! It's Jacob. I know this is a long shot, and it's definitely weird sending you an email, but I want to talk to you about Viola, away from social media. Hope to see you at school tomorrow!
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Bella couldn't speak. Her body was frozen as she stared into Beau's eyes, and her brain couldn't quite process the fact that Beau knew about YWN.
"Who told you?" Her voice came out in a whisper.
"Does it matter, Bella?" Beau looked betrayed. "I wanted to talk to you about it, but you avoided me. You knew what I wanted to say, didn't you?"
"I—I didn't know," she said in a shaky voice. "And, trust me, I didn't have a choice. I had to stay away from you."
Beau watched her for a while. "This is all related to that news about Travon's parents, drug dealing and grades, isn't it?"
Bella swallowed, not knowing how to explain herself. She had been caught, and the situation made her speechless.
"Bella, I thought we had an understanding," he said.
"We did—we do, Beau. I was just... I was pressured to keep quiet. I didn't want things to get worse. But I realize how wrong keeping things from you was. That's why I'm here—I came to tell you everything."
"What do you mean everything? There's more?"
"A lot more."
Beau stared at her, obviously taking in her words. Then, after a while, he gave her a nod. "Okay. I'm all ears."
Bella looked around, at the number of students moving around, and the number of ears. "Not here. Let's go somewhere else."
He put the book he was holding in his backpack, then closed his locker. Looking at her as he zipped up his backpack, he asked, "Where do you wanna go?"
* * *
Bella watched Beau approach the car through the windshield, her internal organs twisting together, intertwining. This wasn't how she wanted things to go.
Beau having an idea about what was going on had made it harder for her to figure out how to explain herself, somehow. She thought she had this, but now she was just lost.
She had been rehearsing her lines since Beau left to get her ice cream, but it was useless because at the sight of him, the words vanished.
He got into the car and slammed the door shut, giving her the plastic bag he was holding. She didn't ask for ice cream—she only suggested they came here, to the same place Travon took her for their date—but she accepted it anyway.
Beau stared out the windshield, not minding her taking her time, and Bella studied his profile, her eyes focusing on the bruise on his temple. YWN was right in their email—Ashton really hurt Beau. There was a sore-looking bruise next to the Band-Aid placed close to his hairline, a reddened spot on the side of his neck, and other injuries distributed over the rest of his face.
