Page 131 of His Reckless Freshman

Resting my hand over my chest, I struggle to breathe as that sinks in. The rumors are true. They’re true!

“Who is this sicko?” I ask.

“I don’t want to say. It’s just a guy who was really nice to me, and then I stupidly went out with him. I thought he was great. He said all the right things, you know?” Her voice wobbles, tears tearing at the syllables when she keeps going. “And when he invited me back to his place, I just said yes without really thinking. His apartment is so cool, and I remember feeling lucky that he’d chosen me. I was picturing him as my boyfriend, jumping ahead into the future and imagining us walking around campus hand in hand. I’d be so proud of my smart, handsome, witty boyfriend.” She whimpers again.

“Oh, Julia. I’m so sorry.”

“I hadn’t planned to sleep with him that night, but he started kissing me and took me into his room. I just followed like a stupid, mindless lamb to the slaughter. When I lay down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling, it was covered with these cool red roses and fairy lights. It looked so magical, and I was caught up in how romantic it all felt. I had no idea there were video cameras hidden in the middle of them all. I had no idea he was recording the whole thing.” She sniffs. “He stripped me naked, Jolie. The camera would have caught everything.”

I blink, staring straight ahead, unable to answer her because something in my brain has just clicked.

The tumor I couldn’t find, it’s just come crashing into my consciousness, and all I can see in my mind’s eye is a ceiling covered in roses and fairy lights. A ceiling I stared up at while I lost my virginity to…

“Kieran,” I croak.

“What?” Julia snaps at me. “How do you know that?”

And now it’s my turn to cry.

Oh my gosh.

Did he record me too?

Panic surges through me in a hot wave. It’s so terrifying and overwhelming that I think I’m about to drown. Seriously. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe!

“Jolie? Jolie,” Julia snaps again. “How did you know it was Kieran?”

“I went on a date with him too,” I manage to rasp. “I saw that ceiling, Julia. I saw that ceiling!”

Okay, now I’m officially freaking out, like seriously losing the plot here.

Jolting off the bench seat, I start to run, the phone still clutched to my ear as I make a beeline for my dorm room.

By the time I get there, I’m out of breath, but Julia has stayed on the line with me, listening to me pant and sob in her ear.

Bursting through the door, I slam it shut behind me and actually walk all the way into the bathroom. Locking it, I slump to the ground, pressing my back against the door and pulling my knees to my chest.

“Jolie, just breathe. It’s okay. Just breathe.”

“It’s not okay!” I wail. “I slept with him too. Did he record it? Do you think he recorded it?”

“You slept with him?” Julia’s surprise is… well, understandable. We kind of told each other everything in those first few weeks. She knew how green I was. She wasn’t quite as fresh as me, as she’d had two boyfriends in high school and lost her V-card to one of them, and she seemed a little more prepped for the big bad world than I was.

But she hadn’t been prepared for Kieran.

None of us had.

“I’m really sorry to tell you this, but I’m guessing he recorded you too.”

Her words hit me like bullets, each one lodging into my reality and making me want to throw up.

“And if you’re not really careful, he’ll use it against you. Are you still working at the paper?”

“Yes,” I whisper. “Sort of. I’ve had one article published, and he asked me to do some research, but I screwed it up and now he’s ignoring me.”

“Quit.” Julia’s voice catches. “Walk away now.”

I go still. “But I don’t want to walk away. I want to be a journalist. I need to get articles published in the school paper. That’s what you wanted too.”