I was pacing. I shouldn't be pacing. Why am I pacing?
"What are you pacing for?" Bennett asked me, leaning against the wall. "You shouldn't be the one who's worried. She is."
I let out a nervous laugh. "Yet here I am, pacing."
He grabbed my hand, making me stop pacing. "Just calm down. No need to freak out. Just keep your cool, like-"
"You?" I offered.
"I was going to say a cucumber," Bennett admitted with a small smile. "But I'm flattered that you think of that."
I couldn't help but smile back. "You're welcome."
"Bent, don't let me remind you that Naomi's taken," Jordan sang, making Bennett suddenly let go of my hand, letting it drop back to my side.
Bennett glared at him. "Why would you have to remind me?"
Jordan gave him a knowing smile. "Must I really?"
"What's in the purse?" I asked Jordan, wanting to change the subject.
Jordan gasped and held his purse closer to him. "It's not a purse!"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, what's in the murse?"
"It's not that either," he retorted. "It's a satchel. You wear glasses Naomi. You should be able to look straight in front of you and obviously tell it's a satchel, not a murse."
I snorted. "I'm looking straight, but I don't see it."
"Me neither," Bennett agreed.
"Oh ha ha," Jordan said.
"But really, what's in the... satchel?"
"You'll see."
Bennett looked around. "Where's Declan anyway?"
"You'll see."
I looked at him. "You're trying to sound mysterious, aren't you?"
"Am I?"
I decided to ignore him, which Bennett must have decided the same thing ever since they first met. School had just ended for the day, and the three of us- should be four though -are in the secluded west wing of the school. No one goes here unless they're couples wanting some privacy, addicts looking for a place to get high, or kids wanting to skip classes.
I looked down at my phone after hitting it a couple of times, since it's been short circuiting. I've put it in rice like Parker told me, but it hasn't work. Maybe it's because I got impatient and ate the rice. No, I'm just kidding. But I'm going to need to buy myself another phone, but I was due for a new one anyway.
"It's almost time," I told them. "She should be here by now."
With a wicked grin, Jordan pulled out his phone. "Then let it... begin."
Bennett and I walked over to one side of the double doors that opened to the west wing as Jordan went to the other side. The lights of the hall dimmed down until it was nearly dark. Jordan had explained to me that he synced the control panel to the lights of the school into his phone. Now he'll be able to turn the lights on and off from anywhere in the school. From the screams in a couple of classrooms, I bet Jordan was probably flickering the lights to freak some kids out, classic Jordan.
That was when I heard it, the faint sound of footsteps tapping against the hallway floor that was slowly getting louder, closer. They were in a slow, even pace, sometimes taking small pauses like the person was hesitating or confused. Suddenly the footsteps came to a stop at the door. A door was pushed wide open, hitting the wall at the side. I heard the slight grunt from Jordan who was hit by the door followed by a groan in pain, but it was covered by the sound of the door closing again.
It was dark- thanks to Jordan. My eyes still hasn't focused to the dark and I could see the faint figure of her.
"Hello?" A quiet hesitant voice let out. "Where are you guys?"
I was about to step forward but Bennett's stretched his arm out, blocking me to stop me. He put his finger to his lips, motioning me to keep quiet.
The figure looked around the place. "You guys find the weirdest place to meet up just so we wouldn't be seen together. The last time was in an abandoned amusement park, and it wasn't funny when you guys stuck me at the top of the Ferris wheel. I have a fear of heights now thanks to you."
I saw Bennett gave Jordan the nod, now we know for sure it was her.
"And then... there was light," Jordan voice said in the darkness.
The light panel directly on top of her came to life, shining down at her like a spotlight. I finally was able to get a good look at her, and she wasn't anything I expected.
She was a scrawny girl with a skinny frame, as if she was trying to starve herself to look like a model but ended up looking like a stick. She had leopard style rectangular glasses in front of her dark brown eyes. Her black hair was wild frizzy as if she gave up the brush years ago, and went with trying to calm it down in a pink headband with a red bow. She wore a pink collared shirt with a flower pattern, having a blue long cardigan sweater over it. There was a brown floral patterned pencil skirt and pink argyle socks in black flats.
She looked like the quiet girl at the back of the class. When she was called, she either mumbled out the right answer or say nothing at all. When she had to say an oral report, she would talk with her head down, avoiding eye contact or refuse to do it altogether. The girl you saw, but didn't know, didn't want to know, and never will.
But now we do.
She was scared, panicked, looking around the place. "Where are you? Show yourself. Stop playing games you guys."
It was then I stepped into the light in front of her. She stopped when she saw me, her eyes widening in alarm, but she found her composure and straightened herself.
"It was about time we finally met, Naomi," she said, her pink braces flashed as she talked.
"Do I know you?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "I doubt it. No one would in this stupid school. But then again, who would want to?"
"Who are you then?"
"I'm Evelyn Ford, a senior like you."
I blinked. "A senior? But I've never seen you before."
Evelyn scoffed. "Typical. Even the most unpopular girl in school doesn't notice me."
"Let's cut to the chase," Jordan said, his tone impatient and angry unlike his cheery one just minutes before. "You're the one who's behind the Nerdy Naomi website, haven't you?"
"I'm here, aren't I?" She replied back. "And you're the real ones who sent me that message, weren't you? I was surprised when I got the message from Hannah. It's usually Abby who runs it. She's the alpha of the so called pack after all."
"Now tell us, why did you do it?" Bennett asked, no, demanded. "Why did you make the website?"
"What makes you think I'm going to tell you?" Evelyn asked. "And I need to be somewhere. Since I know you're not the girls, I don't need, or want, to be here. Now if you'll excuse me..."
Evelyn walked towards the doors which she came from. But when she tried to pull open the two-way door only to find it locked. She then tried pushing the door, but it wouldn't budge. She let out a nervous chuckle, looking back at us, and kept trying to pull the door, leaning back but her feet slid on the floor. She used her weight (which wasn't much) to push the door but it wasn't working. So instead she turned around to try the other end of the hall. But just as she was turning, we heard the loud clunk of the doors closing. We looked at the other door and saw Declan had locked the doors, showing the key he used with a small smile before putting it in his pocket.
Evelyn sighed and turned back to us. "What do you want to know again?"
"Must I really repeat it?" Bennett asked her in annoyance.
She ignored that. "Well, it started when I moved here around sophomore year."
My eyes widened. "You've been doing this for three years?" I asked incredulously.
"And counting," Evelyn said. "I'll keep doing this even when we graduate."
Don't Naomi. First of all, I've ran out of places to hide a body. And second of all, orange is not my color, orange is not my color. I can't say the same thing for the boys.
"Keep talking before I stop you myself," Declan growled at her.
I looked at him. "You wouldn't hit a girl."
"She's not even human, doing something so inhumane like this. But if I do something, I'll get charged for animal abuse."
Well, he was right about that.
"Can I go back talking now?" She asked impatiently. "I moved because I was getting bullied in my old school. When I moved to Dartwell, whoop-de-doo, I was bullied too. It wasn't as bad as my old school because of you," she said, looking at me.
"Me?" I echoed.
"Yeah, you. If it weren't for you being so bullied, being everyone's target, I would be in your place. So I should be thanking you for being more unpopular than me. Thank you."
"Then why did you start the website? Why did you do any of this?"
"Just because I'm thankful that you got the bullies doesn't mean I'll worship you at your feet for that," Evelyn said. "It was survival of the fittest, every woman for herself. I needed to keep you bullied so the same thing won't happen to me. So, I started the website."
"I can't believe this," Bennett said, shaking his head.
"Well believe it," she retorted back. "It started out small. I usually watched-"
"-stalked," Jordan coughed.
"-you," Evelyn finished, glaring at him. "I tried to study your day, who bullied you, and what they did. When days got boring, with the usual bullying-" Oh, I'm sorry, my bullying got boring for you? Sorry about that "-I would come up with my own stuff, some from experience or things I came up from my head. But I barely had two readers, one of them I suspected was some creepy guy from his comments..."
"Anyway, I was working on the website when the girls came up to me. They bullied me, but not as much as they did with you, you always seemed to catch their attention. They did the usual made fun of me, called me names, then looked into my computer and found the website. They talked about how stupid I was making a blog, until I explained what it really was. Then-"
"Let me guess," Bennett cut in. "The girls came up with the idea that they could use their "popular" connections and make the website more known."
Evelyn laughed. "Of course not. They could never think of something so brilliant. It was me who came up with the deal. They'll tell everyone about the website, and as long as I keep on doing it and making it interesting, they'll acknowledge my existence and have people leave me alone. They went with it, but they just act that they control me. But in the end, I do. They're just my little pawns and I'm they're queen."
"I think we're dealing with a psychopath here," Jordan whispered to us, "what do you think we should do?"
"We can always put her in the mental hospital," I offered. "But it'll be rude having them suffer with her."
"I can hear you," she reminded us.
"We know," all of us said in unison.
"The website got bigger, more and more people started reading it. I started to extend it and made a Facebook page, Twitter page, and Youtube channel. There were people who tried making their own websites with my own idea, but mine was the biggest. I even took a chance with making merchandise, my uncle working in a company where you can customize merchandise. I give him a part of the profits in return. I even advertised the website. Of course I didn't make it too obvious so I'll be caught owning a bullying website. Most of them were in code, or tricks to reel people into the website and catch them."
I looked at the guys. Bennett had a straight face, trying to keep his cool. Declan wasn't doing much of a good job, looking like he wanted to hit her. While Jordan on the other was on his phone, typing away with whatever he was doing. He was probably bored with the villain giving away her evil plan and was playing some game on his phone.
"So now what?" Evelyn asked us. "Now that you know the huge secret, what are you going to do? Beat me up? Bully me? Or worse, turn me in? As if the school will do anything about this, they don't even know they're the most bullied school, ever."
"No, if we beat you up, it won't satisfy us," Declan said, getting a glare from me, when he added, "not that I would actually do that."
"Bullying you won't do anything," I told her. "You've been bullied for years, if I was in your shoes, four more bullies won't do anything. I would keep on doing the website."
"And if we turn you in," Jordan said, smiling but his eyes still glued to the screen of his phone, "where would be the fun in that?"
She unconsciously took a step back. "Then what are you going to do?"
"Easy," Bennett said, looking at us. "We're going to buy the website from you."
Evelyn blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You heard him," Declan said. "We're going to buy the website from you."
"Or must I really repeat it again?" Bennett asked.
"So what you're telling me is that you're actually going to pay me, the person who ruined her life just to save my own skin, for the website? Did I get that right?"
I nodded. "Yup."
Evelyn thought about this for a moment. "Okay then, how much?"
"Twenty thousand dollars."
She did a double take. "D-did you just say t-twenty thousand dollars?"
Bennett raised an eyebrow. "If you want more..."
"N-no, I'm just, I'm just wondering why exactly twenty thousand dollars," she asked, squeaking out the last part.
"Well let's see," Bennett mused, thinking about it. "Though the website is fairly basic-" she frowned at that "-it's still quite well known. Also it's a social-networking and blogging website which costs a bit more. Our technician expert-"
"That's me!" Jordan chirped brightly, looking up from his phone finally.
"-has thoroughly inspected the website and acknowledges it's creative and unique customization that must have taken a lot of your time out of you."
She snorted at that. "You can say that again."
"I've also discovered that you built and handed coded it all from scratch, very impressive of you," Jordan pointed out which Evelyn smiled at that. "And of course, you can't forget about the merchandise you made and the other follow up websites. It was then I estimated the worth of the website to be about twenty thousand dollars."
"So how about it?" Bennett asked her as he pulled out a check book out of his pocket. "If you hand us the website, the Nerdy Naomi website name including all of the follow up pages and channel, I'll be giving a check of twenty thousand dollars to an Evelyn Ford," he told her as he wrote it down on the check, ripped it out, and then held it out to her.
Evelyn hesitated for a moment, thinking the whole thing over how she could be twenty thousand dollars richer. When she reached out to get the check, Bennett swiped the check back to him out of her reach.
"But first, we want you to prove that you indeed own the website. Could you by any chance log into it for us?"
"I don't see why you need to do that, I feel a bit offended that you don't trust me." Really? Really? "But okay then."
Evelyn took out a phone, out of her canvas bag that had anime characters on top of it. "I never log out of the website, I'm too lazy to keep on having to log in and off the website," she told us. "But I guess just this one last time I can log off and log back-" she was silent for a moment, staring at her screen in confusion "-that's weird."
I raised an eyebrow. "What is?"
"The website, it's already logged out." She shook her head. "No, maybe I just logged out of it accidentally. I'll just log back in." In a few clicks, Evelyn typed in the username and password before clicking to enter. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she typed in the username and password again and again. "I don't understand, the website is saying I'm typing in the wrong password. I think something's wrong with my phone or even the website itself, it's not letting me back in."
She tried doing it one more time, and then she looked at us in nervously. "I don't understand. Now it's saying what I've been typing used to be the previous owner, and that I'm no longer the owner of the website." Her eyes widened in realization and she looked at us. "What did you do?" She demanded.
The spotlight was on top of Jordan now who deliberately turned on the panel directly on top of him. The rest of us couldn't hold back the eye rolls as he took the glory.
He wore a smug smirk and touched his chest. "Oh, how could you underestimate the Jordan Wallace in his territory of the virtual world?"
"If you've known him for as long as we did, you can underestimate him in a lot of things," Declan grumbled.
Jordan ignored that. "You should've figured it out when Bennett called me his, what was it again Bent?"
Bennett sighed. "Technician ex-"
"Technician expert!" Jordan exclaimed, pointing at her. "And you can't possibly think I would just study your so called "website". The moment I entered the site..." His smile vanished and he looked at Evelyn coldly. "It was mine."
"H-how?"
He smiled, but it wasn't his usual mischievous one. It was cold, fake even. No more jokes anymore, he was getting serious. "As a hacker-" emphasizing on the word "-I'm able to easily hack into your site with your beloved username and password."
"Once I was in..." Jordan laughed. "I could do anything."
Jordan turned to us. "Ask me, what I mean by anything?"
I rolled my eyes. "What do you mean by-"
"When I mean anything, I mean, anything!" He exclaimed. "Besides changing your username and password, which is the obvious first thing you must do once you're in someone's account. I had a little... fun.
Jordan's definition of fun is different in so many levels.
"As you went on giving away your villainous evil plan, I was on my phone. But I wasn't checking my status or playing some game, which I should have because it was pretty boring. Instead, I've unleashed a virus onto the website, just a prototype, still haven't come up with a name yet. I wasn't originally going to use it, but now that I know you're a bad guy, it's put into good use. Of course, don't feel too flattered, I also set the virus on the other unofficial websites, as long as it has the words "Nerdy Naomi on it", the virus eats it right up. Anyway, it would mess with the people's accounts on the website since it's a social-networking site. But the mistake is that it's also connected to other sites, you're able to make an account or log in with previous accounts such as... Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the classic email of course.
"No," Evelyn said, shaking her head. "No, it couldn't."
"Oh yes, it did." He turned to us. "Ask me, what it did?"
Bennett and I looked at Declan.
"No, I'm not asking the question."
"We did the others, now it's your turn."
"Fine," he growled. "What the hell did it-"
"It turned a person's whole life depended on the internet upside down."
There were times I found Jordan absolutely funny, hilarious, and childish even. But right now, I've never been so scared to know how much he could do once his hands touched a computer.
"The virus would multiply, spread through each person's accounts. It would spread some more, and even more. It would change their passwords, find private pictures and unleash them, find private messages and share them, and so many other things. Of course, it wouldn't be to everyone. Bennett would give me a lecture if I would do something like that. It was only to the people who originally came from the website. Once they figure out it originally came from that website, you're screwed."
"You're bluffing," she spat. "You couldn't possibly- No. Even if you did, there's no way they can figure out the virus came from my website. People are too stupid to figure that out."
"Yes, you're right about that," Jordan said with a frown.
Evelyn smiled. "See, you really were-"
"Not unless I helped them out a bit."
"What?"
"Check out the website," Jordan said, nodding to her phone. "Oh, but don't log in, just enter in as a guest. I don't want to remind you that your username doesn't work anymore."
She grumbled something under her breath and went to the website home page. She paused, scrolling down her phone franticly. Then her phone fell out of her trembling hand, crashing on to the floor that made a huge crack on the screen.
"Remember that part when you advertise your website to make is more popular? Well on the homepage, the whole thing is blank with a small message to the disappointed previous people of the website, which was also personally sent to them by email and replaced all of your ads. What was it again?" He looked down at his phone, and then showed it to the rest of us.
The Nerdy Naomi website is no longer in service. It has been removed due to the violation of the first article in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood". Also, it was discovered a virus had originated from the website and has spread to linking accounts to the people of this website only.
Sorry that you're all screwed. Whoopsy-daisy.
If anyone has any questions, comments, concerns and hate mail, please send it to my email, phone number, or see me directly in either my home address or to my school, Dartwell High which I am a proud student in her senior year. Thank you for joining my website to make fun of a girl we barely even know who's actually more awesome than all of us combine, and I'll see you all soon.
Evelyn Ford
There was a long silence until I broke it off.
"I didn't know it was possible, but Jordan is actually scarier than Declan."
"That settles it," Declan said. "I'm officially deactivating all of my accounts. Screw the internet when Jordan controls it."
"I thought you guys didn't know who the person behind the website was," I said.
"We didn't," Bennett answered back. "But then Jordan must have prepared it all if she turned out to be a bad guy. He did this all last night and well, just a few minutes ago."
I let out a low whistle.
"You ruined me," Evelyn said. "You just single-handedly ruin me."
"Now you know the feeling," I said.
"I'm guessing that deal you offered me-"
"-is gone," Bennett said, tearing the check to shreds in front of her.
"Now, we're going to need you to sign the website over to us in this contract," Jordan told her, pulling out a stack of papers from his mur- I mean satchel.
She glared at him. "Why do you want me to sign that contract of yours when you pretty much already own the website?"
"Just to have proof on paper," Declan said with a shrug. "We like to have it written on paper when we win."
"You just never knew you had an opponent," Bennett said. "But it was already too late when you did."
I smiled. "Checkmate."
"I know when I'm beat," she grumbled. "That's something losers have to accept. You know what I'm saying, right Naomi?"
I said nothing.
"Pen?" Bennett offered, holding out the pen he used to sign the ex-check along with the contract.
Evelyn swiped it out of his hands and began flipping through the contract, scanning it over, already knowing what is in the text.
"Before we found out it was your idea for the deal between you and the girls," I said, "we thought they were forcing you to make the website."
"Did you now?" She mused as she began signing her name, initials and signature in the pages one by one.
"And we thought that when we got you out, you would be thankful to us."
Evelyn chuckled, shaking her head. "You thought you were going to be my heroes? My knights in shining armor? Well too late for that, I gave up on such things a long time ago." She flipped a page, and continued signing. "And don't act so high and mighty about yourself since you've got your own."
I glared at her. "I'm-"
"-not?" She asked. "Don't make me laugh. If you weren't so bullied, I wouldn't have made this website to keep it like that. If I haven't made that website, you wouldn't have been as bullied as you are now. If you haven't been so bullied, you wouldn't have met them. If it weren't for them, the girls wouldn't have taken interest you. If the girls never took an interest of you, I wouldn't have stop being against you in the website. If I haven't stopped being against you in the website, you would still be bullied. If you would still be bullied, you would have never met Parker." Evelyn smirked at me. "You should be thanking me."
I took a step towards her, but Declan tried to hold me back by holding onto my arm. I yanked my arm back. "I don't need you to thank you for anything!" I exclaimed.
"Then why are you so angry? Maybe it's because you know it's true?" She asked, taunting me. I should be ignoring it, but I can't. "And I know you think you're better than me because I sank so low as to save myself by making this website. But you're like me, you're just like me. You know it yourself that you would have done the exact same thing," she spat.
That was like the final shot. I made my way towards her, and held her up at the collar. The fabric of her shirt crumpled in my fists.
"Listen here," I told her, looking into her eyes through my glasses and her own. "I'm not like you, I'm nothing like you, and I'll never be anything like you! You-"
I stopped. I just stopped. I looked into her eyes and I saw... me.
I saw a girl who had no one, was no one. I saw someone who was instead teased, ignored, avoided by kids her own age. I saw someone who was first bullied before she knew what the word meant. And I watched as that someone grew to distrust people, her own family, her own classmates, and even herself. Her heart was locked tight in layers and layers of cages, and the key was thrown far into the sea.
But that was when it ended. The very key I threw away was searched long and hard until it was finally found and hand delivered to me by them, the guys. And it was them who unlocked each cage one by one, patiently and with care until they picked up the heart out of its cold prison and handed it back to me. Evelyn's heart though it still locked up, the key still at the bottom of the ocean. And I'm afraid it'll stay like that.
She was right. I'm just like here. But that was before I met the guys. I used to be her, is what she should have said.
I let go of her collar, the both of us backing up away from each other. I turned around, not wanting to meet anyone's eye.
"You can finish up," I said quietly.
Getting the key from Declan who wordlessly handed it to me, I opened the door and closed it behind me with a loud clunk.
Just like the sound of that key when it hit the bottom of the ocean floor.
Okay, I made a mistake, it's actually two chapters from now which will be the special. But ta-da, I'm done! The one in the spotlight of this chapter wasn't just Naomi, but Jordan too! I couldn't help but admire the Jordan I just portrayed in this chapter. He was kinda... hot. Also, meet Evelyn Ford! I was inspired by her appearance with Ugly Betty and Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Mia in The Princess Diaries. I read this book that had some mean girl make a blog about another girl during the time I was reading the book and had already made the website. And I worked on that idea, but the website will be used further than just in the book. And I will make the website even further in the book, just... wait.
I have another song for you guys. I love this song, love to hear it all the time, it was one of my first rock songs back when I was little. I had Rock Band on my nintendo DS, and I would play this song and other songs. I think it was that game that got me to love rock. Anyway, here it is, In Too Deep by Sum 41. And there's another meme for you guys, enjoy.
Anyway, I want to acknowledge a comment someone made in Chapter One: I Said Leave Me Alone,
I lied there in the dry, green grass, motionless. There was a small wind that blew my hair off my face. I tried to blink back the tears, but for once they weren't listening. I choked back a sob and lied there alone. ...
A girl name BubblesThePenguin commented: "There are people right now sobbing because of this character and some of it's because lots of people can relate or they feel emotion over this but I think the sad part is whenever this happens to someone in real life, no one tries to help, no one stands up for them, no one cares, either that or they're too afraid of their precious social status to help people. This is the sad truth of the real world. I've seen happen to other people, so I help. Then I started seeing it happening to me."
And I replied: "You know what? That was just amazing. Everyone: readers, characters, you too Raymond.
That was brilliant, and yes you're right about that. I hate bullying, I hate seeing it, I hate reading, so I write about it. When I started this story, it was about to be some nerd and some bad boys. But then this idea of bullying started to form and I worked on it. Then readers began to talk about bullying, telling their stories, saying how they hate it, I just found it... amazing how so many people are so affected by that one word: thank you. And you made a huge point on this, so really, thank you for sharing this."
Then she said back: "I'm really happy you made this story because it gives people something they don't have....trust and hope. When I began reading this I felt so sad because I could relate but when I saw people, characters in this story standing up for what they believed was right. It gave me hope that no matter how much you struggle in the end there's always that one person who will help you. And in this case three :) So this showed me that you don't need to cut to release pain, you just need friends. And that is what help you, trust hope and friendship. So thank you for making this I story, because right now, it's helping billions of people who have bullying problems all over. You should be proud "
And I told her: "I'm really happy that I made this story too. So many people have the chance to be known, but only a few make a difference and give a message with the chance. Wow, I'm tearing up over here..."
Bubbles, I just want to dedicate this chapter to you. Thank you for sharing that what me, I'm so happy you pointed that out.
RubixCube89201