𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 ✰ v. hacker

thirty-seventh ❀ irl

| VINNIE |

i wish i knew who'd leaked that stuff about stella...or rather, maisy. this past week at school, the attention she'd been getting had turned from positive attention and popularity to more joking and ridiculing. in the back of my mind, i was partially glad the fire was off of me, but now that it was on her, i felt absolutely terrible.

i hadn't done it. i knew that much. in my desperation to figure out who could have possibly printed out all that stuff about her, i briefly considered that maybe i'd gotten drunk and done that somehow. but obviously, there was no way that happened. still, i became caught up in trying to find who might have done it. every time someone brought maisy up while at school, i found myself listening intently and psychoanalyzing everyone in the surrounding area.

it was hopeless. i'd never figure out who it was.

a few times, people had come up to me, asking about our photoshoot and laughing about how i'd known who maisy was before everyone else. when i passed her in the halls yesterday, i saw someone asking about me and how we'd known each other.

"we used to talk," she said, right as i passed by. our eyes connected, and she immediately looked away. "but that was before this happened."

i could hear a bit of hurt and resentment in her voice. she waved a photo of her and harry styles up in the air and crumpled it up in her hand. i wanted to say something to her...anything that would let her know i hadn't done it, but i knew she wouldn't believe me. so i just walked away, pretending i hadn't heard her, but i definitely had, and i thought about what she said all day afterwards.

aimlessly, i scrolled through our text conversations, hoping that somehow i'd see those three dots and maisy would text me. i hadn't even gotten to talk to her at school...after we'd coordinated our instagram posts about the photoshoot brand deal, she'd ghosted me again. i missed talking to her, and i cursed whoever it was that had ruined our relationship.

"come on, bro, you're really doing that right now?"

i sat up, shoving my phone back into my pocket. jordan stood in front of me, his arms folded across his chest.

"whipped, for real." he rolled his eyes and plopped down next to me on the couch. "so, are we playing today, or you want me to be your therapist again?"

something wasn't sitting right with the way jordan was talking to me. annoyance bubbled up inside me. i turned to face him, my eyebrows furrowed. "what was that for?"

"what was what?" he folded his arms behind his head innocently.

"what do you have against maisy?"

"geez, i don't have anything against her. you don't gotta be so touchy." he looked away, adding offhandedly, "she seems nice. she's famous too...must be why you like her so much."

i stood up, feeling a fire begin to burn in my veins. "what is with you lately? ever since i started talking to maisy you've been really cold to me. if you feel like our relationship has changed since i started talking to her, it's not my fault...it's yours."

he glared back. "whose fault is it we didn't get to game on monday? whose fault is it we didn't get to game on wednesday?"

"monday i was studying. wednesday i had a photoshoot. neither had to do with maisy." i shake my head at him in disbelief. "i can't believe you're acting like this. what do you have against her?"

"wednesday you had a photoshoot with maisy," he corrects me pointedly, ignoring my question.

"and?"