Choking Game (16 page)

TWENTY-FOUR

Teenage Revenge
@TeenageRevenge
I caught a wounded angel's tear, it seeped into my palm and left a glimmer of hope #angels #betrayal #tears #hope #hurt #friendship #videos #hackers

~Your hashtags are all over the place.~

"You should be glad I'm finally doing my own hashtags instead of criticizing me."

~I'm not criticizing, just suggesting you could organize them better.~

"It's my Twitter account. My tweets and hashtags are spontaneous. Get your own account if you want to be organized."

~Sorry for trying to be helpful.~

"Do you think Angelica thought it was rude for me to leave the room?"

~More like awkward. I think you pretending you had to go to the bathroom right when the video showed Roger yanking on her jeans made her feel uncomfortable.~

"I didn't want to watch it. I can't help it. It didn't feel right for me to watch it."

~I think I know why.~

"Why?"

~Maybe because you think of her as some kind of an angel. I mean, look at your tweet for crying out loud!~

"Maybe. I just didn't like seeing her get hurt. That's all."

~I think she understands. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Let's go back. I'm sure the video's done.~

"I'm sorry, Angelica," Luke said.

"About what? That you found this? Are you kidding me? This is the best news I've gotten since this happened to me!" Angelica said.

"What do you mean?" Luke said.

"I'll tell you what I mean, but first, get rid of this virus and everything that could possibly spy on us," Angelica said.

Luke started to pound the keyboard.

"I'm sorry I left. I didn't want to see the rest of the video. I'm sorry."

~This is something you don't have to apologize for.~

"No," Angelica shook her head, "don't apologize. I didn't want to play the video to make you uncomfortable. I needed to see what was in it. It was important for me to see it. You see, Roger is suing my mom for the custody of my sister. Before this video, I had no proof of what he did. This video is gold. It's my proof. I also know the picture on Instagram was from this video. Now I finally have the chance to make things right."

"There." Luke clicked one last time and stretched like a cat. "It's clean. Your laptop is as good as new."

"Thanks," Angelica said. "Now, this is what I plan to do. First, I need to back up this video. I need a copy somewhere safe in case my computer gets hacked again. Second, I'll show it to my mom and her lawyer. I think with this evidence, the a-hole will drop the lawsuit because the last thing he needs is to be disbarred and face the cops."

"Sweet! Great job, Luke!"

~I am so excited I can barely contain myself!~

"Third, I'll have a chat with Jessica," Angelica's face hardened. "She'd better have a good explanation for this."

"That may be a long shot."

~I agree.~

"And finally, I may post this video," Angelica said.

"Post it? Like for everyone to see it? Where?" Luke said.

"I don't know yet," Angelica said.

"Why would you want to do that?"

~I'm asking the same question here.~

"I haven't figured it out yet," Angelica said. "I'd like the people who posted all that garbage about me to see what really happened. I feel like this is the only way I can defend myself. I know it's a little bit too late now, but better late than never."

"You need to be careful about this," Luke said. "Remember, once you post something, it'll be out there forever. You can never take it back. You have to be absolutely positive that this is something you want to do and that you'll never regret it."

"I know, Luke," Angelica said. "This is a big decision and I have to think of the lawsuit and my mom, my sister, and who knows what else. I just wish I had a way to tell my side of the story without leaving the video out there."

"Hey!" Luke got up and began pacing the room. "Did you know that you can send 15-second videos on Snapchat?

"Really?"

~As if you needed more crazy ideas!~

"Yeah," Luke said. "I could put together a sequence of 15-second videos that pretty much tell the whole story and group chat it to the people in your old school. You just need to get their phone numbers."

"I think that is a great idea, Luke," Angelica said. "I need to talk to Jessica first. Let's meet back together tomorrow, and I'll tell you what I found out."

"Sounds good," Luke said.

"Good luck, Angelica."

~Why can't you be that nice to me?~

"Why are you complaining? I AM nice to you."

~You're joking, right?~

"No, I'm not. Have I ever called you a bad name or something?"

~It's not about names. It's about the
attitude
.~

"Oh! It's about the
attitude
, I see. Well, that cuts both ways."

~You still need to treat me like everyone else.~

"Whatever. Like I said, maybe my attitude hasn't been the most positive, but you're no angel either, trust me."

~Getting through to you is not an easy job.~

"Then I guess we're even."

~Why do I feel like we're not?~

"That's your problem."

~See? There! You DO have an attitude!~

"This is nonsense."

~Again! Attitude! Attitude!~

"Be quiet! I don't wanna talk about it!"

~What do you want to talk about?~

"That whole video thing."

~You mean Angelica's decision to post it?~

"Well, she hasn't made her decision yet, but it's kind of weird, don't you think?"

~I don't know. This is a tough one, even for me. On one hand, she is right. She needs to set the record straight if she wants to put this whole thing behind her. On the other hand, the Internet can be evil, no doubt about that.~

"I just don't want her to get hurt again or regret posting it."

~You're not giving her enough credit. She's smart and I think she'll think this through, unlike someone else I know...~

"What's that all about?"

~Relax, it was a joke.~

"I'm not laughing."

~There is one thing you should take away from the video story.~

"What's that?"

~What happened to Angelica was bad, really bad. It almost got her killed. But look at how much good it added to her good pile in the end! She now can help her mom fight the a-hole and save her little sister. She can defend herself and put the past behind her. I think, in the end, the Roger incident, the hacking and the video were all designed to make her stronger.~

"I'm listening."

~And remember this:
Even bad things can lead to good stories.
~

TWENTY-FIVE

Teenage Revenge
@TeenageRevenge
even bad things can lead to good stories #angels #hope #hurt #friendship #teenagers #goodthings #badthings #laughter

~You stole my line!~

"Like I said, go get your own account."

~You know I can't do that! I'm invisible!~

"And I'm not and never will be! So you have your invisibility and I have my Twitter account. I think that's fair."

~You have a strange sense of fairness.~

"Did you call Jessica?" Luke asked as soon as Angelica opened her door.

"I did. I can't wait to tell you all about it," Angelica said.

"I bet this'll be interesting."

~I'm dying here! The curiosity is eating me up!~

"When I first confronted Jessica, she denied everything," Angelica said. "So I told her a friend of mine works for the police and his job is to investigate hackers."

"Is there such a police unit?"

~I doubt it, but isn't it smart of her to say that?~

"I told Jessica my friend found out my computer was hacked from her computer. I also told her about the video, and if she didn't tell me everything she knew, I was going to file charges and she was going to be arrested because that's what my police friend said he would do," Angelica said.

"Did she believe you?" Luke said.

"Yep," Angelica said. "She totally freaked out. She basically told me the whole story in one sentence."

"So what exactly did she do?"

~Here it comes! This is exciting!~

"It wasn't even her idea," Angelica said. "Her mom came up with it."

"What?" Luke yelped. "Her mother hacked your computer?"

"No. Her mother paid someone to do it for her. It actually started with this painting competition Jessica and I and a couple of other kids from our school participated in. Jessica, I and one other kid from another school won the first few rounds, and the three of us were going head to head for the final prize, which was a two-page spread in The New Yorker magazine. We were supposed to e-mail scanned pencil sketches of our intended paintings first and then submit the finished canvas within a month afterward. We were given a theme—
The Power of a Spoken Word
—but no other guidance. Jessica couldn't come up with anything to draw. That's when her mom got the idea to hack my computer. She was hoping to find scanned pictures of my sketches and see what I was doing. They had the guy hack my webcam as well just in case I'd paint on canvas somewhere near my computer. Basically, her mom wanted Jessica to win so badly, she was willing to do just about anything."

"You have got to be kidding."

~I'm afraid not. I think I'm gonna be sick.~

"But then it got complicated," Angelica said.

"I can imagine."

~No, you can't. Now let her speak, I'm anxious to hear the rest.~

"The very next day after they hacked my computer,
the Roger incident
happened, and now they had this video of me and him," Angelica said.

"That's crazy," Luke said.

"It gets better," Angelica said. "Turns out Jessica's mom had a recent affair with Roger and was still very much in love with him. She's divorced and loves the good life in the suburbs. I think she was hoping Roger would dump my mom. But that's just my opinion, Jessica didn't say that. Anyway, after watching the video, her mom was pissed. What's really crazy, though, was that she wasn't pissed at Roger; it was me she was after. Jessica said her mom was beside herself screaming stuff like I was a whore sleeping with Roger behind my own mother's back and who knows what else."

"Do you really believe all that?" Luke said.

"I'm pretty sure Jessica told me the truth. She was so shaken, I'm positive she wasn't lying. I caught her off guard and she just spilled everything she knew," Angelica said. "I think she was actually glad it was out. To me, she sounded kind of relieved."

"Hm," Luke made a face, "I'd be careful if I were you."

"I am, Luke," Angelica said. "Don't worry, I learned my lesson."

"Pretty crazy lesson."

~More like a tough one.~

"The rest is kind of sad," Angelica said. "Jessica's mom had a fit and posted that picture of me and Roger with a caption on a fake Instagram account. She talked Jessica into re-blogging it. Her mom used everything she could from Snapchat to Facebook to destroy me because to her, I was the reason why she couldn't have Roger."

"That's sick."

~I'd throw up right here if I had a stomach.~

"That is sick," Luke said.

"Sick and sad, if you think about it," Angelica said. "I mean it starts as a stupid competition for a magazine spread, and it grows into such a monster that stampedes everything in its path. It's ridiculous."

"Ridiculous, insane, despicable, hurtful, vile, you name it."

~Angelica's back to being a poet. I like that stampeding monster metaphor.~

"So what are you gonna do now?" Luke said.

"I'm not going to press charges," Angelica said. "The damage is done. Going to court won't take it back. Jessica is scared and, from what she told me, her mother needs treatment. She drinks and throws fits like crazy. Jessica's going to talk to her dad and see if he can somehow make her mom get help. Even though they're divorced, Jessica's dad supports them financially one hundred percent. I don't think her mom has that many options. I did tell Jessica I was going to use parts of the video to clear my name and set the record straight. I promised not to tell anyone who was responsible for the initial rumor and for the video. But I also told her if she or her mother did anything to me or my family ever again, I was going to make sure the whole world knew what they did."

"You were too nice to her," Luke said.

"Did you ever finish the painting for the competition?"

~I doubt it.~

"No, I got too busy killing myself, remember?" Angelica smiled.

"Did Jessica win that New Yorker spread?" Luke said.

"No, she didn't!" Angelica said. "The other kid did."

"Awesome!"

~Amen!~

"What were you gonna draw?" Luke said.

"
Rumors
, the one I showed you," Angelica said.

"You would have won with that painting," Luke said.

"No, I wouldn't have," Angelica said. "Funny thing is, I had no idea what to paint either at that time. This whole inspiration came to me after the rumors about me and Roger spread and I bled myself into a coma. All that madness turned into the most amazing inspiration I have ever experienced."

"You can win any competition with this painting," Luke said.

"I already did," Angelica winked at him.

"Really?" Luke said.

"Painting
Rumors
helped me heal. That's already a win, don't you think?" Angelica said.

"Absolutely," Luke said.

"I have a feeling your painting will hang in The Metropolitan Museum one day."

~I couldn't agree more.~

"So, what exactly do you plan to do with that video now?" Luke said.

"I'm gonna need your help," Angelica said. "This is basically what I've been thinking: I want to create a series of those short fifteen second videos for Snapchat. I want to make sure the story is clear about how it went down, but I want to make sure no one stores the video or any part of it. I stayed up late last night to put together a list of phone numbers of 240 kids who were in my grade back in New York."

"How did you get so many contacts so fast?" Luke said.

"I had help," Angelica said. "Not everyone was a total ass back there."

"Good for you."

~I wish I could help her, too. I'd do it in a heartbeat.~

"I will group Snapchat the videos to all of the people I have the contact for," Angelica said. "Before I send out the videos, I will send a group text about what's coming and why. I want everyone to know I had nothing to do with Roger, and what was said about me was a lie."

"So you're going to tell the whole story? You just said you promised Jessica you wouldn't," Luke said.

"That's right, I won't," Angelica said. "I won't name names. I will tell the story of how my computer was hacked, recorded the movie and then how a distorted version of what had happened started this vicious rumor and what it did to me."

"But everyone will know who posted the video. Once you tell about the painting competition, everyone will know."

~Good catch, MJ.~

"Don't worry, I won't get into that much detail. I'll definitely leave out the competition and why my computer was hacked," Angelica said.

"You know what will happen, right?" Luke said.

"Not sure I'm following," Angelica said.

"If the kids can't figure out why your computer was hacked and who did it, they'll be in a panic mode," Luke said. "They'll suspect each other."

"Serves them right," Angelica said. "Maybe they won't be so quick to judge and post garbage next time someone starts a rumor."

"You think people will be ashamed of what they did to you?" Luke asked.

"Some may, others won't care," Angelica shrugged. "I don't really care either. It's all in the past and I can't change that. I can only put it behind me by telling my side of the story like I should have when it started. That's all I want—to be done and move on."

Teenage Revenge
@TeenageRevenge
tweet and retweet if you've ever been bullied #bullying #schoolbullying #hurt #fear #StandUpForYourself #FightBackBullies #retweet #follow

"Do you see that number? I've got like 48,000 followers! Why didn't you tell me?"

~Why bother? I'm not monitoring your followers. That’s your job! It's your account. You said so yourself.~

"Oh, we're pouting..."

~No, we're not. We're just communicating.~

"Okay. Stop the babble and yes, I thank you for getting all my followers. I'm sure your hashtags made all the difference."

~With a little less sarcasm I might even accept your apology.~

"I'm not apologizing."

~Of course you are. You just don't know it.~

"Whatever."

~Good enough, apology accepted.~

"What do you think of my idea−"

~What idea?~

"Let me finish!"

~Oops.~

"I want to start this blog about kids who are thinking of suicide, kids who have been bullied, kids who are depressed..."

~Sounds like a pretty depressing blog.~

"It's not going to be depressing. I want to post stories that could have ended badly but didn't. You know, like Angelica's."

~What about your story? Would you post your story on that blog?~

"I don't know how my story ends yet."

~Would you think about it?~

"Sure."

~Then go ahead, create the blog. It could be interesting.~

"I'll talk to Luke and Angelica about it tonight. They might want to get involved."

~I think they will.~

"Dude, you've got 52,000 followers!" Luke called. "And these are real kids, no click farm fake accounts!"

"Are you serious?"

~Let me see! Let me see!~

"Holy smoke! When did this happen?"

~Did I fall asleep or something?~

"It was that last tweet. People retweeted it like crazy. They're still retweeting it. Dude, you're famous!" Luke said.

"Teenage Revenge is famous. No one except Brenna Greer and you guys knows who TeenageRevenge is."

~Who cares! You've got 52,000 followers! I love followers! Everybody loves followers!~

"Come in, Angelica's already here," Luke said.

"You have a really nice home, Luke."

~This is huuuge! See? Not all homes look alike around here.~

"MJ!" Angelica said. "How did you get all the followers?"

"I don't know. People must have liked that last tweet."

~Seriously? After all I've done for you? Let me tell you something: if I wasn't attaching all my ingenious hashtags to your silly little tweets, you'd never have any followers!~

"They sure did," Angelica said. "I have an idea about that. I wanted to see if you guys wanted to set up a blog with me."

"What kind of a blog?" Luke said.

"About the stuff people like us worry about," Angelica said.

"Like what?" Luke said.

"You know, bullying, school, the pressure, even suicide," Angelica said.

"This may sound crazy, but I had the exact same idea and wanted to talk to you about it."

~Don't change the subject! We're not done talking about my Twitter contributions!~

"You did?" Angelica said. "That must be a sign! We have to do it!"

"It's a great idea," Luke said. "I can set it up. This is the perfect time, now that you have so many followers, MJ. All you have to do is tweet everyone to go on the blog and we'll generate loads of traffic!"

"No problem."

~No problem? Yes problem! It's my account, too! I did all the hard work! Where's my appreciation?~

"I can already see the tweet and the hashtags."

~What? Come again? Hashtags? I'm going nuts!~

"I have this nagging, extremely annoying inner voice that comes up with all of my hashtags. I don't have to worry about a thing. I know I can just let it do its magic and the followers will find us."

~Us? Did you say US? Did you really mean it?~

"I mean it. This voice is incredible."

~Oh! MJ! I'm having a meltdown. And it's the good kind...~

"I wish my inner voice talked to me more often," Angelica said. "Maybe I'm not listening."

"Frankly, I don't know what's better."

~Be quiet. You don't need to end my bliss so soon.~

"How do you want to name the blog?" Luke said.

"How about TeenageRevenge? Is that okay with you MJ? You've already got so many followers, it'd be easy for them to remember the blog name," Angelica said.

"Sure. No problem. We can name it TeenageRevenge."

~I can't wait to get to work on this one! I'm going to have a field day!~

"I can already see one the posts." Angelica stood up and announced theatrically, "All the things zealous mothers and spineless children do to get ahead."

"That's what I call a Teenage Revenge!" Luke laughed.

"We can have an open forum for people to tell us what happened in their schools," Angelica said.