Page 24 of When Ellie Falls in Love

If Disney villains could personify a person, they did so in Abigail at that moment. She was pushing buttons on her screen as her Grinch-like grin spread wider and wider across her face. When she turned the phone around to Sadie, she could see exactly what Abigail had done.

And slowly, around the gym, Sadie could see her classmates receiving the notification.

Checking their phones.

Laughing.

Because Abigail had airdropped the picture toeveryone.

Sadie couldn’t breathe. It felt like every eye was on her, and it more than likely was. The exit was on the other side of the gym—through the crowd of people who had just seen a naked picture of her—so Sadie had no choice but to run.

Run through the crowd.

Run past Ellie calling her name.

Run out the door.

Run through the parking lot.

Arriving at a nearby park, Sadie collapsed onto a bench to catch her breath. She hadn’t realized she was crying, and she angrily wiped her tears away.

How could Abigail be so mean? Why did she hate her so much to dothat? Why had she trusted Trevor? Why had she sent those pictures to him?

Her tears increased with each question that rapidly fired in her mind.

With shaking hands, Sadie called her mom to come and pick her up.

Chapter 9

Ellie

Ellie watched in horror as Sadie ran out of the gym crying. Her eyes traced back the path Sadie had taken, which led her straight to Abigail Massey. She was standing smugly next to the drinks table, a satisfied look on her thin face.

How could she do this to Sadie?Whywould she do this to Sadie?

Gritting her teeth, Ellie marched over to where Abigail was standing.

Punching Abigail was assault. Ellie knew that. It did little to dim her desire to do so, but Ellie could throw verbal punches just as well.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” Abigail looked annoyed that Ellie would eventhinkshe could talk to her. “What’s your problem?”

“What’smyproblem?” Ellie scoffed. “How about how you just humiliated my friend for no reason.”

“Oh,” a smirk formed on Abigail’s lips, “I didn’t realize you two werefriends. Maybe I wouldn’t have done that if I’d known she hung out with the…” Abigail looked Ellie up and down with a disgusted look on her face, “queer kids.”

Ellie could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She was so mad she could almost feel the steam pouring out of her ears. Making a fist with each hand, Ellie dug her freshly painted fingernails into the palm of her hands.

“I’m sorry that you’re so insecure that you have to treat Sadie like shit to make yourself feel superior. But you don’t do this shit. To anyone. And if I were Sadie, I would be reporting your ass to the police. In fact, I think I’ll go give her that advice now.”

“She sent the picture.”

“And you just distributed it without her consent. Sounds a little like a felony to me.”

She had no idea if what Abigail did was, in fact, a felony. However, her words seemed to hit their mark, as Abigail, for a fleeting moment, looked scared. Ellie couldn’t look at her any longer. The longer she stood there, the angrier she became.

But she had to put her anger aside.

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