ARIA’S POV
My world is falling apart, piece by piece.
I can’t walk down the hallway without hearing whispers. I can’t go to my locker without seeing people looking at their phones and then at me with knowing smirks. I can’t sit in class without feeling everyone’s eyes on me.
The picture is everywhere. My naked body, my most private moment, is being passed around like some kind of joke. People are screenshotting it, sharing it, making comments about it.
And somehow, my list got out too. The thirteen forbidden things I wrote down in a moment of private rebellion. Now everyone knows my deepest fantasies, my most secret desires.
I’m not just the fat girl anymore. I’m the slut. The whore. The girl who wrote dirty fantasies and then acted them out for everyone to see.
The worst part is the comments. People are ranking my body, critiquing it, making jokes about it. They’re saying things like “I can see why Miles cheated” and “desperate girls do desperate things.”
I try to find Camile during lunch, hoping she’ll have something comforting to say after leaving me looking extremely angry at the realization that I had actually sept with someone aside Miles, and I didn’t even tell her.
I don’t find her so I leave school early anyway, walking home through neighborhoods where I hope no one will recognize me. But even on the street, I feel like people are staring. Like somehow they all know.
When I get home, I can hear voices in the living room before I even open the front door. My parents are talking to someone, their voices sharp and angry.
I walk inside, and the conversation stops immediately.
My mom and dad are standing in the living room, both looking at me with expressions I’ve never seen before. Disappointment mixed with anger mixed with something that might be shame.
“Sit down,” my dad says, his voice tight.
“Dad, I can explain—”
“Sit down, Aria.”
I sit on the edge of the couch, my hands shaking.
“We got some very disturbing phone calls today,” my mom says. “From someone at your school.”
My stomach drops. “Mom—”
“They were calling to tell us that there are inappropriate pictures of you circulating around the school.”
“Pictures of you naked,” my dad adds, his voice getting louder. “Naked, Aria. For everyone to see.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“You didn’t mean for it to happen?” my mom asks. “You posed for these pictures, didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like?” my dad demands.
“We are so disappointed in you,” my mom adds. “This is not how we raised you.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t fix this, Aria. Sorry doesn’t take back what everyone at school has seen.”
“Do you have any idea how this reflects on our family?” my dad asks. “On us?”
“I didn’t think about that.”
“No, you didn’t think at all. You just acted like some kind of…” He trails off, but I know what he was going to say.
“Like some kind of what, Dad? Say it.”
“Like some kind of slut,” he finishes quietly.
The words hit me like a physical blow, and I start crying.
That’s when the doorbell rings.
My parents look at each other, then my dad goes to answer it.
“Miles,” I hear him say. “Come in.”
Miles walks into the living room, looking serious and contrite. He glances at me, then at my parents.
“Mr. and Mrs. Carson,” he says, “I need to talk to you about what’s been happening at school.”
“We’ve heard enough,” my mom says. “We know what Aria has been doing.”
“That’s just it,” Miles says. “This is my fault.”
My parents look confused.
“Your fault?” my dad asks.
“Yes, sir. The pictures that are going around… someone must have taken them from my phone.”
I stare at Miles in shock. What is he doing?
“Your phone?” my mom asks.
“Yes, ma’am. From when Aria and I were… when we were dating. Someone must have hacked it or gotten into it somehow.”
My parents exchange glances, and I can see relief starting to creep into their expressions.
“So you’re saying these pictures are from when you two were together?” my dad asks.
“Yes, sir. And I take full responsibility. I should have been more careful with my phone security.”
This is insane. Miles never saw me naked. We never got that far. But my parents don’t know that, and they’re already looking less angry.
“Well,” my mom says slowly, “that’s different then.”
“Is it?” I ask.
“Of course it is,” she says. “If you were in a committed relationship, that’s… that’s more understandable.”
“It’s still not appropriate,” my dad adds, “but it’s not as bad as we thought.”
Miles suddenly drops to his knees in front of me, right there in the living room.
“Please forgive me, Aria,” he says, loud enough for my parents to hear. “I’m so sorry this happened. You don’t deserve what you’re going through.”
My parents are eating this up. They love Miles, they always have. He’s safe, he’s familiar, he’s from a good family.
“Miles, you don’t need to apologize,” my mom says gently. “It’s not your fault someone violated your privacy.”
“But it is my fault,” he insists. “I should have protected her better.”
“You’re a good boy, Miles,” my dad says. “We know you care about Aria.”
I want to scream. I want to tell Dad the truth – that Miles cheated on me, that he called me fat, that he’s lying right now to cover for something he didn’t even do.
But looking at their faces, seeing how much calmer they are now that they think this is just a privacy breach from a relationship they approved of, I realize they don’t want the truth.
They want the version of events that makes sense to them. The version where their daughter made a mistake with her nice boyfriend, not where she was used and betrayed by some tattooed bad boy.
And I break down into tears.
30
