Page 127 of Keeper
The wheels in my head started to turn.
She started thinking of me when she realized she needed a new photographer.
She wanted to reach out to me, but she felt like she couldn’t.
So she logged into my cloud, about a week ago, to ‘see how I was doing.’
At the very same time, my nudes began circulating around the internet.
Could it be …?
“Marta,” I began, speaking sternly, “wereyouthe person who leaked my nudes in the first place?”
She dropped her guilty gaze to the floor. An eternity seemed to pass before she mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
My jaw fell open. But I didn’t speak because words failed me.
“Holy shit,” Tanner muttered. “You’re fucking awful, Marta.”
“You,” I said, able to speak at last. “Youdid this to me—all of it! You tried to ruin my life … how many times now?! And why?Why,for God’s sake? What do you have against me? Why couldn’t you just leave me alone?”
She didn’t reply.
“What’s your problem with me?!” I shouted. “Seriously, Marta, what the hell? What is it?”
She muttered something inaudible.
“I can’t hear you,” I said.
“Isaid, it’s because you’re so perfect.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You’re so fucking perfect and talented and pretty,” she said. “And everyone lovesyou, not me.”
“Gee,” Tanner quipped dryly. “Wonder why that is.”
“Everyone loves me?” I muttered. “What are you talking about? You were the most popular girl in school.”
She huffed. “I was popular because guys wanted to sleep with me. They never wanted to actuallydateme. Even when Brendan and I had our thing, he straight up told me he’d never date me because he didn’t like me like that. He said I wasn’t the type of girl a guy dates, but you,Ainsley,youare. Even a cheating piece of shit like Brendan knew that.” She pointed at Tanner. “And that’s still the case, even today. What’s the point of being popular if you can’t get a decent guy to actually be interested in you?”
Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“You were so good at everything you did,” she continued. “School, cheer, art, photography. All of it. And you didn’t even have totry. I have to trysohard at whatever I do, and even then, I’m onlyokayat what I do.I always compared myself to you and it made me hate myself. Even my parents compared me to you—hell, they still do. They always ask how you’re doing at school. I don’t even know what to tell them, so I just make things up and pretend like we’re still friends. They wish I’d go to college, like you. It doesn’t matter how much success I have with my business, they think I’m just wasting my time playing on the internet.” Her lip curled in disgust. “Ugh, I can tell they wished I was more like you instead of, well, likeme.”
A silence hung in the air. I never would’ve guessed Marta felt that way. The fact she’d kept all that buried inside her for so long explained the hot-and-cold patches and silly little spats that marred our friendship. Part of me appreciated that she was finally being honest, but … frankly … it didn’t make any difference now.
Her confession was too little and far too late.
“Marta, I’m glad you’re finally being honest with me,” I said. “But none of that is an excuse for what you did.Noneof it.”
Her tears had ceased. “No,” she said, regaining her composure. “It’s not.”
“I understand you want your Instagram page back.” I shook my head. “But I’m not willing to help you with that. Not after you used your page as a platform to try to destroy my life and get between me and Tanner. Like I said before, this is allwaytoo fresh right now, and what I need right now is a lot of time and distance from you.” I paused. “Honestly, it sounds like some time away from Instagram would be good for you.”
She bobbed her head, apparently understanding, or at least pretending to.
“Okay.” She rose to her feet and wiped her tears away with her fists. “For whatever it’s worth, I feel a lot better now that I’ve told you all that.”
