Page 121 of A Sky Full Of Stars

“Jesus. What happened?”

“I don’t know the details,” he mumbles and I almost laugh until a thought hits me. Why would he care about Jaiton? And why would I? Unless.Oh God.

“It’s me, isn’t it?”

“What?” His voice raises an octave.

“It’s me. I would have been graduating next semester, which means my classmates are probably preparing for their futures and—”

“They are not your ‘mates,’” Luke snaps, and it’s at that moment that I realize he knows.

“You’ve seen it, haven’t you?” I ask, trying to breathe through the panic suffocating me.

When nothing happened after I was sent the mostly naked photo from an anonymous number, I assumed that, like everything else, the photo had been an empty threat. I even spoke to Gran about it and gave her the heads-up, just to be sure. Only she didn’t need it. She’d seen the photo and wasalready doing everything in her power to bury it. At the time, she promised no one else had seen it.

Now, I’m not so sure that’s true.

Luke’s silent again until he curses under his breath, and that silence tells me everything. Even before he says, “Yes.”

“Oh God.” I feel nauseous.

Luke may be loose about a lot of things, but he rarely gives his phone number out. If he’s seen it, then…

“It’s public, isn’t it?” I swallow a lump in my throat as my heart stops, waiting for the answer.

“It was, but it was promptly taken down. The original owner of the image issued a statement. It wasn’t him that released it.”Him. Holy shit.

“How do you know all this?”

“Gran.” He’s quick to answer, but again, his voice wavers.

I want to ask about Thomas. I want to ask if any of his friends have seen it. If any of them have contacted him, but I can’t…and I hate that.

“So the image has gone, but…”

“It’s still being talked about. We haven’t told anyone where you are, so if you stay over there, you’re likely to avoid questions.”

Jesus.

While I’m not at all ashamed of the image or the fact that I did it—after all, I was the one that danced half-naked and put myself in the public eye—I still don’t need the controversy surrounding my family. They don’t deserve that.

“Maybe I should own it?”

“What? No, Lainey. Just stay there. It’ll soon be yesterday’s news.”

That doesn’t help the people it’s affectingnow.

To think I’d been close to texting Thomas, close to telling him I was finally okay…to potentially dragging him into my problems. Again. Now isnotthe time for me to be stepping back into his spotlight, even if it’s only a text. Once again, I need to wait it out until it all blows over. Or at the very least until he makes the first move, until I know he’s in a better place.

It’s been close to two years, and neither of us have used our “exemption.” I’ve been holding out hope that like me, Thomas just needed a little more time.

“Okay, Luke. I trust you. And I’m sorry. I hope this doesn’t cause you any trouble.”

“Chicken Little, the sky is not falling. It’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m worried aboutyou. Plus, don’t you know…trouble is my middle name.”

It’s another few months before the dust clears enough that I finally feel confident messaging Thomas. Luke was right. The sky wasn’t falling. It was news until it wasn’t. And as far as I could tell, the news didn’t get much further than the dance community, and that’s something I no longer want to be a part of.

After taking on some paid work in a bar in Bali, I returned for another volunteer job while I contemplated what to do next. I wanted to travel, but I wanted to see so much of the world that I didn’t know where to start.

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