AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’d ask if you can keep this just to yourself,” Lizzie said, “But I feel like you might find that insulting.”
“Listen, Lizzie,” Hannah assured her, “whatever you say is just between us. I mean, I can’t promise that I won’t suggest you share it in the future, depending on what it is, but if you’re worried about me blabbing, don’t. That’s not my style.”
“I figured,” Lizzie said, visibly relieved. “Okay, so here’s the thing. When I was in high school, I wasn’t as quiet as I am now. I wouldn’t say I was a party animal, but I was more social for sure. I started dating this guy in the fall. His name was Daniel. He was on the lacrosse team. We broke up after winter break and it was kind of ugly, at least on his part.”
“How so?” Jessie wondered.
“After a while, I just thought our relationship was marking time, you know,” Lizzie explained. “It wasn’t like it was going anywhere, and I didn’t want to be tied down to him every weekend of my senior year if I didn’t feel strongly about him. So I ended things, although I was nicer than that when I told him. I just said I thought we’d grown apart and each deserved to have some freedom for the rest of senior year.”
“And he didn’t take it well?”
“In the moment he seemed to be okay,” Lizzie said, “but about a week later, I started getting nasty notes in my locker and online, calling me a slut, saying I was a cheater.”
She paused for a moment, clearly needing to compose herself.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Hannah said, both because she meant it and wanted to let Lizzie regroup.
“Thank you,” she said, before moving on. “I could never tie it to Daniel for sure, but some of the messages—online especially—referenced details that could only have come from him. I’m not saying he wrote the comments, but whoever did had clearly talked to him or someone he knew.”
“So what did you do?”
“I confronted him, but he denied it and accused me of doing it myself to get sympathy, so he’d get back together with me.”
“Okay, so what did you do next?” Hannah asked, doing her best to keep her growing irritation with this Daniel guy in check.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you go to the school administration?”
Lizzie shook her head vigorously.
“No way,” she answered. “That would have just made things worse. It was already getting around school but that would have blown the whole thing up. And since I didn’t think they’d be able to prove anything, I decided it wasn’t worth it, so I just rode the year out, knowing I’d be gone in a few months.”
“Did that work?”
“It wasn’t fun, but I managed,” Lizzie said. “Things calmed down over the summer and I felt like I got a fresh start here. Until a couple of days ago.”
“What happened?” Hannah asked, although she already had an idea.
“I started getting the messages again,” she said. “One was taped to the whiteboard outside my dorm room. Another was slipped under the door. I found one under the wiper blade of my car. That’s what really freaked me out the most. Whoever is doing this knows my car, Hannah!”
“And the language is similar?” Hannah asked, doing her best to keep cool so Lizzie would too.
“I mean, they reference me supposedly cheating on my ex. They used his name. They even used the lame nickname someone came up with for me online back in senior year. They did a tweak on Eliza Doolittle, calling me Eliza Do Everything.”
“That is lame,” Hannah agreed, “and kind of dated too.”
“Our spring musical was My Fair Lady, which made it painfully easy to come up with,” Lizzie explained. “But these messages are taking it a step further than the ones from high school.”
“What do you mean?” Hannah asked.
“A couple of them said things like ‘you’ll get what’s coming to you.’”
Hannah kept her expression neutral so as not upset her new friend more than necessary.
“Okay, that goes beyond harassment, Lizzie,” she told her. “That’s a threat. Did you keep the notes?”
“Yes.”
