Page 69 of Well, That Was Unexpected

Rina zooms in on one of the pictures, where Sharlot is kissing the boy. “This is Sharlot, George’s girlfriend. She’s right here, standing next to George. Hi, Sharlot!”

All eyes turn to Sharlot. She gapes back with open horror.

“See, I was trying to figure out who is the girl who’s managed to capture the heart of one of the most sought-after teenage heartthrobs of our country. George is such an important member of the Chinese-Indonesian community. I look at him as my younger brother, so maybe I’m slightly protective,” she says with a laugh. “I took it upon myself to do some research into George’s first girlfriend, since he’s all about respecting girls and so on, and one would hope that his girlfriend would feel the same way about being…well, respectable. But as it turns out, Sharlot is anything but respectable.” She zooms in on another picture, ofSharlot in a bikini, sitting on that same blond guy’s lap, grinning with her tongue out.

In a country as conservative as Indonesia, the picture is shocking. Sure enough, when I look back at the audience, many of them are sneering at Sharlot.

“Boo!” someone in the audience shouts. “Slut.”

The word unfreezes me—why the hell had I just been standing there, frozen for so long? There’s a sour taste at the back of my mouth that makes me want to retch. “Stop this now,” I say.

Instead, Rina continues speaking. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Sharlot and Bradley here have gone all the way, if you know what I mean.”

I look at Shar. Her face is a picture of utter shame and sorrow and it breaks me entirely. I turn to Rina, my blood boiling throughout my whole body, pounding an enraged rhythm. I grab the camera. I want to fling it aside, but the cameraman is ready for me and tightens his grip on it. “Stop filming!” I shout. “Is this what you want? To attack a girl on live TV?”

Rina lifts her chin. “I want to seek the truth. It’s my job. And I’m trying to protect our community. We’re an ethnic minority here, it’s important for us to uphold a good reputation.”

Something about it cracks me. I can’t think straight. My thoughts are a boiling mess of anger and panic. Indonesia is a conservative country that still shames women for premarital sex. If this were to be the big news of the night, Sharlot is never going to live it down. She’ll be radioactive for life. I need to make things right. There’s only one thing I can do to salvage the situation. “You want the truth?” I say, my voice coming out soft andpoisonous. “The truth isI’mthe liar. I was the one who misled Sharlot into dating me.”

“George!” Eighth Aunt barks from the side, but for once in my life, I ignore her.

“I lied to her all this time. All the chat messages that were sent to her from my profile, they weren’t from me. They were from—” Too late, I realize I’m about to throw Eleanor and Papa under the bus too. Shit. “They were from someone else,” I mumble vaguely.

“From who?” Rina says, her nostrils flaring, probably because she smells blood and is going in for the kill.

“Just—someone.”

“Are you saying your account got hacked?” she says with a little sneer that makes it obvious she doesn’t believe me.

“They were from me!” Eleanor cries.

Everybody gasps and turns to look at her, and she shrinks back for a second before straightening up. “What? I’m thirteen, I don’t know any better. And I just wanted George to be happy.”

“And me,” Papa says. Everyone gasps even louder. Eighth Aunt’s eyebrows are practically hovering above her head by now. He hangs his head. “It was—I thought I was doing something a father should do. Push his son to grow up, be a man. I’m so very sorry, Sharlot.”

“Those messages weren’t from you?” Sharlot says in a dreamlike voice. She gapes at me, as though seeing me in a wholly different light. I can’t blame her.

“I’m so sorry, Shar—”

“So, George Clooney Tanuwijaya,” Rina says, “the face of theapp to teach boys how to treat girls right, lied all this time to his own girlfriend. Let his little sister and his father pretend to be him so he could fool an innocent girl into dating him.”

An innocent girl. I breathe a small sigh of relief. At least the heat’s off Shar.

Rina snorts. “I say ‘innocent girl,’ but of course, the twist is that the girl he was fooling isn’t innocent at all.”

There’s a furious “Aiya!” and before any of us can react, Shar’s mom strides toward us with all the commanding air of an army general. She snatches Rina’s mic and flings it away. It crashes to the ground with a horrible screech. Everyone goes silent.

“How dare you?” Shar’s mom hisses at Rina. “What kind of journalist are you, preying on underaged teens for a scoop? Disgusting.” She spits at Rina’s shoes. “I was the one who started chatting with George. It was all me. Sharlot not want any part of it, so do not blame her for any of this. And while we’re on topic? Slut-shaming my daughter? Fuck. You.” She turns to Sharlot and puts her arm around her. “Come, we going home.” The two of them start to walk away, but Sharlot’s mom turns around and points a finger in Rina’s face. “You little shit, come anywhere near my daughter again and I will sue you for all you’re worth.”

And with that, they walk off, followed by Kiki, leaving the rest of us with nothing but the shambles of our farce.

Fauzi arrives, out of breath, with two security guards at his heels.

“Took you long enough,” Eighth Aunt barks. She cocks her head at Rina and her camera guy. “Get this trash out of here.”

As the security guards escort Rina and the cameraman away,Eighth Aunt halts them and says, “My dear, if you want to continue having a career in journalism, might I suggest moving very far away from Jakarta? Because you will never find work in the city again, I hope you realize that.”

Rina’s chin wobbles, but her eyes remain defiant. “I won’t be fired for doing my job well. This is going to be the story of the year.”

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