Elena's POV
The burner phone won't stop vibrating in my pocket.
I'm standing in the main quad at Ashford Academy, surrounded by students. I've been at this university four days and hell is breaking lose already
The phone buzzes again. I put my hand in my pocket, trying to muffle the vibration from the cheap plastic. I don't need to look at the screen to know what it says. I've read the message seventeen times in the past hour. The words are burned into my brain.
TASK: Go to the main quad. Accuse Tobias Blackwell of beating you up and sexually assaulting you at last night's party. Do it in front of as many students as possible. You have until 2 PM. Failure penalty: your sex video sent to every student at Ashford Academy along with your name and dorm room number.
It's 1:47 PM already and I am still contemplating if to take the sender seriously or not. But when I think of how the phone appeared in my locker this morning, I am left even more confused
I woke up in a hotel room yesterday morning with the worst headache of my life, hangover. I was wearing a man's t-shirt and clean underwear that weren't mine. The last thing I clearly remembered was being at the freshman party dancing with Maya pulling me onto the dance floor, and then everything got blurry and wrong when those boys started taunting me.
The bathroom door had opened and he walked out. Tall, dark-haired, beautiful in a way that made me freeze. He saw me staring and I flushed in embarrassment
Then he told me flatly that I'd been drugged. That I was covered in vomit when we got to the hotel. That he changed my clothes but I shouldn't read anything into it because I'm not his type.
The words landed like a slap especially as memories came back. I had sec with him. I was begging him. Me! climbing into his lap. Me! Being completely out of control while he kept saying I was drugged. Last night, I was a whore. But I needed to be sure, so I asked if we had sex. He confirmed it and waved it off when he said he used protection and I wouldn't have consequences.
Then he tossed me that burner phone and left.
I thought he was the one blackmailing me. The stranger who saved me from assault only to assault me himself in a different way. He recorded the sex, made me look erratic. Now he is using it against me!
"Elena!"
Maya's voice slices through my thoughts. I turn and see my best friend rushing across the quad. Now how come she had designer sunglasses perched on her head and a leather jacket and boots that probably cost more than my entire scholarship stipend. She smile so bright and it reminds me of the day I once asked her it it hurts to smile so bright
Maya throws her arms around me and I hug her back automatically, breathing in her familiar perfume. Maya is the only person I have as both friend and family.
We stayed homeless at the trailer pack together before Ashford
"Oh my god, I've been trying to reach you all night," Maya says, pulling back and taking in my face. "My phone died at the party and I was so worried. Are you okay?"
"Your phone was dead?" I raise my eyebrows as I
I remember sitting in that hotel room, trying to call her, her phone ringing but no answer. Text after text that double ticked blue on WhatsApp, but no reply.
"Yes!" her face twists in more concern
"I'm fine," I hear myself say. "What are you doing here?"
Her face lights up. "That's what I wanted to tell you! I met at the party? One of the Blackwell twins? They are the richest on campus!"
Blackwell? That name sounds familiar. My stomach drops. "Yeah?"
"He's amazing, Elena. Like, genuinely sweet and interested in me, not just trying to hook up. And when I told him how badly I wanted to go to Ashford but couldn't afford it, he made some calls." She's practically bouncing. "I have a full scholarship now. No academic requirements, no work study, I just need to exist! Can you believe it?"
I can't speak for a second. Maya at Ashford. I busted my ass for a spot in this school and she got it in one night?
"That's incredible," I manage. "I'm so happy for you."
The burner phone vibrates. 1:52 PM.
"Come meet him," Maya says, grabbing my hand. "He's right over there. I told him all about you and he wants to say hi."
She's pulling me across the quad before I can think of a reason to refuse. Students part around us, or maybe around Maya with her expensive new clothes and confident stride. We stop near the fountain where a group of students are lounging on the stone benches.
And there he is.
This is the man from the hotel room. Tall and dark-haired, wearing a leather jacket and jeans, matching outfit with Maya. He's talking to another student but looks up when Maya approaches.
My heart stops. Then starts again, too fast.
Maya runs to him and he catches her, pulling her close. She looks up at him with pure happiness and he smiles down at her, warm and real and nothing like the cold, disgusting stranger who left me in that hotel room.
"Elena!" Maya waves me over. "This is Tobias. Tobias, this is my best friend I told you about. Elena Hayes."
Tobias? That is his name? Same Tobias that the burner phone asked me to accuse? Is he crazy!? He sent a message to the burner phone against himself?
Tobias turns to look at me. His face is polite. Friendly. Completely blank. He looks like he… he doesn't recognise me
"Nice to meet you," he says, extending his hand.
I stare at his hand. At his face. At the way he's looking at me like I'm a complete stranger he's being introduced to for the first time.
The burner phone vibrates again in my pocket.
I read the message. This is Tobias Blackwell. The man you're supposed to accuse.
But he's looking at me like he's never seen me before in his life. This is crazy! He is clearly a pervert!
The phone won't stop buzzing. My heart is racing. Maya is smiling. Tobias is waiting for me to shake his hand. Everything looks staged
I feel like I am being used. Something inside me snaps. I see red
All the fear and confusion and rage from the past twenty-four hours comes flooding up. Someone drugged me at a party. Someone tried to assault me. Someone filmed me having sex while I was out of my mind. Someone is threatening to destroy what's left of my life if I don't do exactly what they say.
And this man, this privileged, wealthy man standing in front of me, is pretending he doesn't know me. He started everything!
I ignore his offered hand.
"You're a piece of shit," I clench my jaw so tight, I can feel my ass hole clenching too
The words come out loud. Too loud. I draw the attention of students nearby. They now stop and turn to us
Tobias's hand drops. His expression shifts. "I'm sorry, do we know each other?"
"Don't you dare," I spit. The phone in my pocket won't stop vibrating and my vision is starting to go even redder. "Don't you dare pretend you don't remember."
"Elena," Maya says softly, touching my arm. "What's going on?"
I shake her off. "You slept with me. Last night! You took me to a hotel and you slept with me and now you're sending me these disgusting messages."
The quad goes quiet. Everyone is staring now. Phones are coming out. I can see it happening in my peripheral vision but I can't stop. The words keep coming.
"You drugged me at the party. Or had someone do it. You pretended to save me from those boys! And when I was barely conscious you had sex with me and filmed everything and now you're blackmailing me."
"Whoa." Tobias holds up both hands. His voice is calm, almost pleading. But I still catch a hit of the voice sounding like he is dealing with a crazy person. "I think you have me confused with someone else. I've never seen you before in my life."
"Liar," I scream. "Pervert!" I am shaking in anger. "You're lying. I know it was you. I remember your face. You think you can escape this because you are rich!?"
"Elena," Maya steps closer to me. "Stop. I was with him throughout the party. He wasn't with you. Calm down, remember you have anger issues. I think you are confused"
"I'm not confused." But even as I say it,
I start to doubt myself. Maya won't lie about being with him last night. Perhaps the drugs made me hallucinate.
"Listen," Tobias says, and I can hear the anger creeping into his voice. "I don't know you, but your friend has told me you are a scholarship girl. Scholarship girls are always desperate. It is clear that you have discovered who I am and you are trying to sleep with me, or accuse me of something hideous just to elevate your status in the school."
His words strike me hard. I have just been reminded once again how poor I am.
People around us start to laugh. They start to whisper things I cannot hear clearly. I start to realise that I have made a mistake. A public confrontation wasn't the best idea, especially as I am new to this place.
"Tobias," Maya stretches her hand to calm him
"No, she needs to hear this." Tobias's voice carries across the quad. "I get it. New student, trying to make a name for herself, thinking if she can attach herself to the right family she'll finally belong here. But making up assault accusations? That's low even for…"
"There you are."
A new voice interrupts from behind. The voice is male Male, cold and precise.
"Thomas!" Tobias nods
Everyone turns. Another man is walking across the quad toward us, dressed in a perfect suit. Dark hair, tall, moving with absolute confidence.
He looks exactly like Tobias.
Identical. They're identical twins.
I feel the world do a wild spin. What am I seeing? Two of them. There are two of them and I have no idea which one was in the hotel room. Which one saved me. Which one I slept with. Which one is sending the messages.
The suited twin walks past me without even a glance. Like I don't exist.
He leans close to Tobias and whispers. Tobias nods. Thomas straightens and walks away, disappearing into the academic building.
"What…?" I whisper in confusion. "There are two of you?" I stagger backwards
The quad erupts.
"Scholarship slut."
"Desperate much?"
"She's literally insane."
"Someone recorded that, right?"
"Already uploading it."
"She is so done for! Challenging and accusing a Blackwell wrongly?"
I stand there frozen, staring at Tobias. Or the man I thought was Tobias. I don't even know anymore.
Maya touches my arm gently. "Come on, Elena. Let's go"
As we walk away, amidst the laughter and insults from other students, my phone buzzes in my back pocket. My real phone, not the burner.
Email from the Dean's office. I'm being summoned to a disciplinary hearing. Tomorrow morning, 9 AM.
The burner phone vibrates one more time.
You were supposed to accuse him of violence and sexual assault, not have a memtal break down. You failed the task. Punishment incoming.
Maya is saying something soothing and concerned, but I can't hear her over the rushing in my ears.
She pulls me close and whispers something.
I let her hug me. I can hear her now. I let her keep talking about how unfair this is, how people are cruel, how she'll stand by me no matter what.
Suddenly her phone buzzes on the table. She picks it up quickly, but not quick enough. I see the message and it says: Phase one com
plete.
Her fingers hesitate on her screen, then I see a quick smirk spread across her lips.
And I wonder if my best friend has been destroying me from the very beginning.