“So, are you ready to take pictures of us at the nursery for the Lily line?” I asked, wiping pizza grease from my fingers.
“I’m not sure why you’d want me. I’m not much of a photographer.”
“You don’t have to be. Gia and I will set up the shots. We’ll make it easy—point and shoot. Your sister is desperate to model, and since I haven’t made any new clothes in a while, this might be her only chance.”
“She wants to model?”
“She asked me to model my stuff when I first got here.” Although, now that I thought about it, she didn’t seem very enthusiastic about modeling the Lily collection when Gia suggested this photo shoot. “Hey, is something bothering June lately? She seemed kinda quiet that day we were working with the succulents.”
“You see her more than I do. You tell me.”
I honestly wasn’t sure. She was chatty like normal at work, but sometimes she went quiet when we were in the garden.
“Addison isn’t bothering her, is she?” Rowan asked.
I shook my head. “If she is, I’m not seeing it. What was it that Addison did to June, anyway?”
He exhaled slowly before putting his pizza down. “June never told you?”
I shook my head.
“June used to have this YouTube channel where she did book reviews and gossip about books and stuff. Last fall she got these anonymous comments on her videos. Nothing you would automatically identify as bullying or anything, but kinda...off. Things about the way she looked, or her clothes, instead of her content. Passive-aggressive stuff about the maturity of the books she was reviewing, or about the fact that they were mostly fantasy. Really, if you saw any of these comments on their own, you’d think nothing of it. But together...it became a pattern.”
“Addison was doing this?”
He nodded. “It was several people doing it. One or two would start, and it would open the floodgates and others would join in. It was so subtle. I told June to delete the comments, but she left them. Honestly, they were gaslighting her so well she didn’t even realize it was abuse. But it took a toll on her. Like, she had her hair in braids once, and a few people made comments about them. Not negative, but still. So she had Mom take them out. Stuff like that.”
I frowned. “Addison’s a bitch.”
He didn’t say anything for a while. Finally he spoke. “She wasn’t, at first. We’ve known each other a long time, and she was one of the only people around here who really made an effort to get to know me. I’ve always been quiet, so I kind of blended into the background when we were kids. But she noticed me, you know? She was always kind of judgy, but kinder in private. Anyway, for the last few months before we broke up, she started getting more wrapped up in thesesocial media personalities. You know, like, teen YouTubers? She kept bugging me to help her start her own channel. But I didn’t have the time. We were all at Bell’s Pond one night, and I happened to catch her on her phone making a comment on June’s latest video. I had no idea she even knew about June’s YouTube before that. Addie tried to reassure me that these comments weren’t harassment, and they were actually helping Juniper. That all the attention on the videos was making June more popular, because of followers or something. She didn’t tell us before then that it was her and her friends commenting, because she wanted to surprise us when a video went viral thanks to her ‘algorithm manipulation,’ as she put it. Then she said I should be commenting, too, and we could launch a spin-off show on June’s channel, leveraging off her popularity. Meanwhile, my sister’s self-esteem was taking a serious beating. Anyway, I broke up with Addison on the spot. I knew she could be a bit superficial, but I had no idea she was that bad. She honestly thought June’s fame was more important than her self-esteem.”
Boy, did I know what it was like to be blindsided by someone you thought you knew. Now I fully understood Rowan’s dislike for people chasing internet fame. “Poor June. Why did they leave negative comments, though? Wouldn’t lots of gushing help the algorithms, too?” I paused. “Do you think it’s because she’s Black?”
He shrugged. “Maybe? But June was teased for years in school. She used to be very gullible and earnest, so she was an easy target.”
“She’s still earnest. It’s what I like best about her.”
“She stopped YouTubing after I told her it was Addie and her friends behind the comments. Addie said she’d stop, but the whole thing was soured for June.”
“And she’s not getting the same harassment on her Instagram?”
“Not as far as I know. I’m checking it regularly.”
Ugh. I felt terrible for Juniper. This explained a lot about her moodiness. A thought occurred to me. “Hey, was Cameron one of the harassers on YouTube?”
“I don’t think so. It’s not really Cam’s style. The comments were kind of...subtle, you know? Cam’s not one for passive aggression. Anyway, it was just Addison and the girls she hangs with who admitted to it.”
“Leanne, too?”
“No, of course not. Leanne was as pissed as I was when we found out.”
I was skeptical. Leanne had kinda grown on me, but there was something awfully mischievous about her. I remembered her fixation on June’s bookish prom dress. “Are you sure? I mean, the commenters were anonymous—one of them could have been your best friend.”
He shook his head emphatically. “Leanne wouldneverdo that to June. Trust me.”
I wasn’t so sure. My instincts were telling me that something wasn’t right between Leanne and June. Maybe Rowan was too loyal to his bestfriend to see it. But then again, maybe I was wrong. My instincts had failed merecentlywith Matteo.
My thoughts flashed back to Addison. She was the villain here.
