Hang Me Up To Dry《Max Thunderman》

4: Video

Now it's obvious.

I feel rejected. I was rejected. And it isn't the first time Max has made me feel this way. Since we met, he keeps reeling me in just to throw me back out again. And this time was much worse. He almost kissed me, he was holding my hand, he was calming me down like he cared about me. Then he goes and turns away and doesn't even talk about it before running off. What kind of person does that?

But the worst part is, I don't know if I'm sad or angry. Am I just upset because now I know he doesn't like me? Or am I angry because he was a complete jerk about it? He's been hanging out with me for only a couple days and he goes and pulls a stunt like this? I don't understand it at all.

And it completely sucks walking into school on Monday.

People are staring at me. Maybe... am I being paranoid? Maybe I'm just so flustered about everything I'm not seeing right. But I'm almost certain people are looking at me strangely. When I pass the quad, Max's friends are there, and they stare at me as I walk past. They were looking at me much like that yesterday too. But where was Max? He was usually with them at school.

I make my way to my locker, keeping myself distracted with thoughts of my painting still unfinished in art class. It seemed to be the only way my mind would stay off of the stares I was receiving.

"Hera!" Letti yells, sprinting through the crowded corridor. I purse my lips, now whoever wasn't staring, definitely is now. "Have you seen this?" She asks frantically.

I furrow my eyebrows as she wildly shoves me her phone, standing in front of me anxiously. I give her a strange look before staring down at her phone, a video popping up. It shows a girl across from the camera, which was being held by someone. I couldn't recognize where they were but the background was moving. My eyes widen and jaw drops as the girl turns.

The girl was me.

The video was Max and I on the ferris wheel but what I was watching was so, so much worse than the actual experience.

It's been heavily edited, so much that my voice doesn't sound like mine. And I was saying a bunch of things that I never actually said. Someone had made it seem like I was flirting with Max, that I was faking being scared just to get him to act. It showed me touching him instead of the other way around. The ending was the same as real life, Max rejecting me. Except that they show my face for one more second, my very upset and almost-crying face.

My breathing hitches once the screen goes black. This didn't happen. This would've never happened.

"Hera?" Letti asks gently, setting a hand on my shoulder, "Is it real?"

I shake my head frantically, giving her an answer as my voice wasn't seeming to work. I put a hand to my mouth, completely shocked at what I just watched.

"Hera, you okay?" Letti asks.

I shake my head again and still can't find my words, so I just hand the phone back to her and run my hands through my hair anxiously. The only words my mouth can see to form are, "Did Max do this?"

Letti looks at me sadly, but shrugs. Great. He did it anonymously. I didn't know which was worse, that he did it or that he didn't claim that he did it.

Through the pounding in my head and now-explained whispers from around the hall, someone calls my name from down the hallway. I know who it is immediately, so I spin around to Max running towards us. The hurt and anger that must be evident on my face causes him to stop a safe several feet away.

"I'm- it wasn't- the video- I didn't-"

I squint my eyes, and I think my lip twitched, so he stops talking, looking anywhere but me. The whole hallway was watching the scene, even if nothing was happening. I continued to stare him down, not really wanting to say anything. The clenching of my jaw and fists made it quite evident that I was not only upset but angry, I guess you can be both. When tears threaten to fill my eyes, I look away from him, not turning back as I stalked down the hallway.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot," I mumble to myself, striding uncomfortably into homeroom. I plop ungracefully into my seat and bury my face in my arms.

I don't look up as the room fills up, and only acknowledge that I'm at school when the teacher comes in. I hunch in my seat the whole class but watch the teacher and take notes as if I was actually paying attention, to keep any unneeded attention off of me.

I do this the rest of the school day. Ignoring the whispers, and even the laughs, that torment me as I walk through the halls. Walking around passively as my mind swirls with unanswered questions that I wasn't sure I wanted answers to.

Why did Max do it? Yes, he'd done some pretty awful pranks, but none like this. Pretty sure the worst was when he hung the principle upside down from a ceiling. But that had nothing on this. Why would he determine to ruin my school life? Why would he reject me, videotape it without my knowing of it, and post it on online anonymously for everyone to see? It wasn't like I was popular or anything, and I wasn't a bully either. I'm just an average girl trying to survive high school. I didn't do anything wrong. Which made Max heartless in many ways.

Heartless.

My eyes widen at the observation, and I pause in the middle of the hallway before sprinting across campus. I end up in art class before all the other students, but Ms. Jody doesn't care much. She probably just appreciated the excitement. So I get my painting quickly and roughly set it up before grabbing a paintbrush and white paint.

I try to slow down, as to not ruin all my work, and carefully trace out a white, heart-shaped hole on the crow's chest.

Heartless.

A heartless crow. A bad boy without a heart.

Seemed worth symbolizing.