#4 Truth and Nothing But (11 page)

“So you know I know what's going on with you, right?”

“The world knows what's going on with me. Please tell me no one sent you the picture.”

“Yeah, I got it. I thought your head had been photoshopped on it at first. No way would my niece do something like that. So what's the story behind all this?”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out.”

“If you didn't take the picture and send it to the guy and the guy's been trying to tell you he didn't send it to other people, then you gotta think about who had the most to gain out of y'all's demise.”

“I don't understand what you mean,” I said to her.

“If some other guy liked you, it seems odd that he would make you look that bad. So it's gotta be some girl who liked him.” When she said that, the name Trevy just kept ringing loud in my ear.

“But I don't even know how she could pull off something like this.”

“So there is a girl who liked him?”

“Yeah, real strong, real tough, real hard. All of that.”

“Then it's her. Someway, somehow she did it or had somebody else do it. She wanted to bring you and this guy down. You should talk to him.”

“He probably knows the whole story. He was trying to tell me something.”

“And what did he say?”

“I didn't want to hear it.”

“Uh! Girl!”

“I thought he sent my picture out to the world!”

“Yeah, but anyway that was definitely what she wanted; for y'all to be as far apart from each other. I'm telling you it's her. I might not be able to tell you how. You want to be a news reporter. Figure out the details.”

“You know my teacher just told me the same thing the other day.”

“And what have you done about it?”

“I've been trying to think through it. I have a pass code on my phone and my phone was locked up and I knew Yuri didn't do it. So, I just can't figure it out.”

“Well, talk to the guy. This isn't the end of life. I know you're not going to be able to erase this picture, and it can pop up anywhere. But as cute as you are, girl, being known as a sex symbol—let's just say that there could be worse things.”

“Ooh, Aunt Sadie!”

“I'm just keeping it real!”

I went to Yuri's room and asked her if I could use her iPad. When she said yes, I went back to my room, shut the door, and tried to FaceTime Reese. He didn't answer, so I went downstairs and had dessert. My mom pulled me into an embrace and said, “Whatever crazy thing your aunt said to you, forget it.” We both smiled. We'd come a long way, and the last thing I wanted was for my father to hurt her. I had to find out what was going on between him and Miss X, but I did have my own business to tend to, so I quickly ate a slice of sweet potato pie, washed some dishes, and went upstairs to call Reese again.

He picked up and said, “Yeah?”

“Hey.”

“What do you want? I just picked up to tell you to quit calling me.”

“I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to.”

“Yeah, you for sure are. Honestly, as if I didn't feel bad enough about everything that happened, the fact that you didn't even believe me or give me a chance to explain sucks. So you know, I'm over it now. Nothing else to say.”

“Well, wait. I wanna ask questions. I wanna know what happened. You've been wanting to talk to me, so certainly you know more than I do.”

“Because you wouldn't give me the time of day and formed your own conclusions, condemning me with the rest of the world, don't even come to me. I don't have the answers you seek.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

SWEETHEART

“Please talk to me,” I said to Reese when I called him back.

“It's Thanksgiving and all, Sloan. I'm with my family today. I don't have nothing else to say.”

“If you cared for me at all, you would—” I said before Reese cut me off.

“Wait, let me just stop you right there,” he said. “I cared for you a lot. But I mean, there's only so much a guy can take.”

“How do you think I felt these last days? My picture was sent everywhere from your phone. I thought you were the one who did it.”

“I get that the evidence pointed to me, but when you said you didn't send the shot to me, I believed you. Why was it so hard for you to do the same for me?” Reese asked as he looked down and paused for a second. “Don't get me wrong, if I would have seen it, I would've been flattered. I would have known it was for my eyes only. I ain't sayin' I would have erased it, but I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to see the goods. I actually deleted it from several phones. I was so angry.”

I could imagine Reese snatching people's phones and deleting it. He was the protective type. How could I have been so judgmental?

Peering directly into the camera, he said, “I thought I was clear. I've liked you all year. I act tough, but I had to get up the nerve to talk to you. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you.”

“So can you help me get to the bottom of all this, then? I'm the laughingstock, Reese.”

“My reputation is trashed too. They're thinking about pressing criminal charges, and it hurt me bad that you thought I hurt you.”

“I was wrong, and I'm trying to prove it. I've been doing a little digging on my own, and I've got some theories. Nothing I can prove just yet, but I can't get your old girl to crack.”

“You think it's Trevy, don't you?”

“You do too?”

“She would've had the most to gain. Also, I know she wasn't real happy when she found out I liked you. Everybody thought I sent those pictures to everybody else, but she was awfully sympathetic, like she knew for sure I didn't do it.”

“It wasn't fair that I had doubts,” I told him.

“That's just the thing. I wanted you to hear me out. But let's figure this out. I've been trying to get Trevy to crack, and she's smart. She's not telling me nothing.”

“Well, thanks for telling me. And I'm sorry I didn't hear you out.”

“That's all I wanted you to say,” he said, showing me his perfect smile before we said good night.

Yuri came into my room. I handed her the iPad. Before she left, she stared at me.

“Who were you talking to?” she asked.

“Reese,” I uttered, unable to lie to her.

“No, Sloan! Not that guy!”

“He didn't do it.”

“What are you talking about?”

I grabbed her empty hand and squeezed it. “Listen, I didn't take the picture of myself and send it to him, and he didn't receive it and send it out to a whole bunch of guys. It just didn't happen that way. Somehow Trevy had something to do with it.”

“Now, that's a story I believe,” Yuri said, surprising me with her support.

“Why?” I asked, happy that she believed the theory. I needed to figure this out.

“Because she's always looking at you crazy, like she wanted to scratch your eyes out or something. And she looks at him like she wants to have sex with him in front of the world or something. I don't know. She was just eerie. She tried to act like she was your friend, but I could see through it all. You didn't want to hear me. Did you ever let her use your phone?”

“She asked to see it one day at the football game.”

“And did you let her?”

“I can't remember,” I said as I thought back. “No, I didn't. She had hers on her all the time.”

“She didn't know she had her phone on her? See, that's just weird.”

“But she did ask me to unlock mine before she found hers.”

“So she could've gotten your code then.”

“Yeah, but I never thought she knew my code because she didn't use the phone. So I can't really verify if she saw it or not.”

Pacing back and forth, Yuri said, “Oh, you can verify.”

Frustrated, I sighed, fell onto my bed, and said, “Maybe I just want to pin this on somebody else so badly…”

“You want the truth, and if she did this, it changes everything.”

“But how are we gonna prove it?”

Yuri shrugged her shoulders. She came over and pulled me up. When she threw her arms around me, I instantly felt better.

“I miss our talks,” I said to her. “Let's not stay away from each other again. You didn't believe me.”

“Well, you kicked me out every time I wanted to change that. So, next time I know to keep pushing.”

“Yeah,” I told her. “We need each other.”

“We sure do.”

The next school day, as people were going into the gym, Yuri pulled me to the side and said, “I just got her. Let's go to the office. I taped Trevy spilling the beans on how and why she framed you!”

“What do you mean you have her?” I asked.

Yuri played me a recording of Trevy confessing to everything. She bragged to some girls that she was behind the whole thing because she didn't like them giving me credit for my growing popularity. She said I didn't do anything to deserve all the notoriety. Not only did she know the password to my phone, but she knew the combination to my locker. I remember us getting dressed in the same places and her watching me. I didn't know she was looking at what number I put into the lock. She also turned off my flash and put my phone on silent. So when she took the picture, I was none the wiser. She already had Reese's phone. She knew he never used his at school, so he didn't even know it was missing. She sent it to him, then sent it out from his phone, put his phone back in his book bag, and when Reese got called out for being the sexting culprit, he didn't even know he possessed the proof.

“Oh my gosh, Yuri, oh my gosh!” I hugged her tight.

The two of us told our gym teachers where we were going and ran to see Dr. Garner. Yuri had also called our parents, and when the recording was played for them, Trevy was escorted off the school property in handcuffs.

“Please can you call Reese, please?” I insisted.

Dr. Garner got Reese out of class. When he came into the office and saw all the people and a police car through the glass in the front of the school, fear set on his face. He thought he was in more trouble. I rushed up to him and hugged him so tight.

“Trevy did do it,” I took his hand and turned him toward everyone so they could apologize to us both.

Reese didn't care about any of that. Yeah, it was good to get his name cleared, but more than anything, he was happy I truly knew he didn't set out to hurt me. He cared more about my feelings than his own. Reese was a guy worth keeping.

“This Is My Story: A Student's Tale” by Sloan Sharp. I couldn't believe I was reading those words in the
Charlotte Observer
. It was thanks to the reporter I met at the debate who gave me some water. Once the debate was over, she wanted to make sure I was okay. She also gave me her card and told me I could submit anything. I was happy to get this. I just wanted her to look over it and give me her thoughts. I never thought it'd be published.

My words read: