Page 47 of Just Can't Fall for the Enemy

Wait. Jill hadpostedthe new episode?

The full impact of my brother’s words hit me like a hammer to the face. “The video. Is it a brunette woman applying for some wildlife preservation job?”

“Yep. It’s a good episode, maybe your best so far, probably because it’s so different from your usual fare. But you didn’t answer my question. Do we have reason to worry?”

Reason to worry.That was the king of all understatements.

“No, no, no, no,” I moaned, grabbing my laptop and slamming it open. It took forever to connect to the hotel’s terrible Wi-Fi. I went straight to my channel and froze. There it was—a brand-new episode with my smiling face in front of the Huckleberry Creek Harvest Carnival.

“So you sent Jill a video you didn’t want her to use?” Ben asked.

“I didn’t mean to send that to her!” I snapped. “It was given to me in confidence by Sophie’s roommate. I swore I wouldn’t share it with anyone. Sophie didn’t even know I had it.”

“Oooh. That’s not good.”

“You think?” I exclaimed, skipping forward in the episode to the last couple of minutes. There sat Sophie in her video, looking vulnerable and brave. I was such an idiot. “I should have deleted it right away. I have to take this down.”

“It won’t do much good,” Ben said with a sigh.

“Why?”

“A bunch of other shows have already picked it up. They’re calling her Earth Girl, but I don’t think it’s derogatory. I think your subscribers really like her. You already have two million views, and it’s only been up a few hours. Just think what will happen now that most of the U.S. is awake.”

Including most of Huckleberry Creek. Sophie was supposed to work today—had she seen it too? I slammed my laptop screen closed, the movement almost dropping the phone tucked between my shoulder and my ear.Two million views.Most of my videos didn’t reach that for weeks. Of course my audience would makethisone go viral. “How can you be so calm right now?”

“It’ll only be an issue if Sophie decides to press charges. We won’t know our next course of action until we know how she feels.”

I knew exactly how she would feel. That was the worst part about all this. “I have to talk to her. I’ll call you back.”

“Good luck, little bro. You’re—”

“I know. I’m going to need it.”

“Yep.”

As I hung up, a knock sounded on my door.

I looked down at my rumpled clothing, which was still mostly intact, and made my way to the door. I slid it open to find Sophie standing there, her eyes pink but mostly flashing with anger. She wore her work uniform and stood with her arms folded across her chest.

“Sophie,” I breathed. “I was just going to find you. I have to explain—”

“There’s nothing to explain. This is what you do, and I should have seen that from the beginning.”

“What I do? But—”

“You use people. You get close to them, take what you want, and then move on to the next. It isn’t that hard to see.”

I gaped at her. “Sophie, listen to me. I didn’t do this.”

“Didn’t do this?” she exclaimed incredulously. “Then who did, Benny the Brontosaurus?”

“I would never post that without your permission. You have to believe me. It wasn’t supposed to be included.”

“Enough lies. Take your channel and your red Tesla out of my town and out of my life.”

“Sophie. It was an accident to send—”

“No!”

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