That Scandalous Year

20. A Dangerous Game

She had no new posts for that week. Or the week before. And in keeping up with her secret online identity, Marie scrolled down comments from past entries.

And there it was.

Someone started a thread about her recent social activities. Because, of course, why not? She was everybody's favorite target.

User imfeeling22 commented that it was indeed odd that Marie was suddenly spending significant time with Clead, of all people.

Another one named illbe23 suggested that maybe Marie and Clead were up to something. Which eveningstar27 seconded, without further elaboration, that it was in line with Marie's character. And illbe23 added that there was no other reason for them to be cozy. User eveningstar27 replied, ikr. That one-liner had two dozen 'hearts.'

And then, someone who was relatively new to the blog, a user named nein99 asked, who is Little Miss Nobody, anyway? Are we going to find out eventually?

Marie had the urge to delete that last comment. She was in control of all blog content, after all. But, for what reason? They didn't violate any of the rules. Marie, as Little Miss Nobody, wasn't that mean or rude to her followers.

Instead, she decided to write a post about Eve and Alex.

Marie heard from Mitch that Eve was secretly seeing someone else from another school. She was just playing with Alex so she'd maintain her queen bee reputation in HRS. Eve was one of those people who believed that being in a romantic relationship put her on top of the high school social hierarchy. Marie snooped around and found out some truth to the tale. So, it was blog-worthy. She felt sorry for Alex, though. But not that sorry. He deserved it at some point for some reason.

The post was just a diversion, hoping everyone would jump off of that last thread, leaving the query about LMN's identity unbothered.

Another man-hunt was the last thing Marie wanted to deal with at that moment.

***

When school resumed, Marie was handed off involuntary information from a new revelation.

It was the end of that week. It was during lunch break. Marie was studying for a quiz in Calculus when Percy interrupted her.

At first, Marie thought it still had something to do with their community work partnership thing. But when Percy leaned over a little closer and spoke in a hushed voice while occasionally glancing at their sides, Marie knew something else was up. And it wasn't the good kind of thing.

"Can I ask you something?" Percy whispered.

"Um. Sure, Percy."

"Why are your friends saying that I'm LMN?"

"Who? What?"

It didn't register at first to Marie that Percy meant her former friends. She was so engaged in her newfound friends that she almost felt like her past was a decade ago.

"Eve, Steffie, and Erika interrogated me the other day," Percy said. "They think I may have something to do with that blog. Did you tell them something about me? I don't even read that thing." She also sounded like her anxieties had in them underlying nervousness.

Marie's mind was in a frenzy of thoughts that minute. People were trying to track her down again. Her latest post must've triggered Eve. Previous posts about her must not have been as big a deal as the latest one. This time, LMN must've hit the particular nerve. So, it must be true. Again, poor Alex.

"Percy, they're not..." Marie whispered as well. "They're no longer my friends. I have no idea why they'd think that. And I haven't talked to any of them in months."