Page 39 of Someone Just Followed You

‘Oh, hey there, am I speaking with Kirsten Clark?’

My eyes narrow. The voice is too creamy, too self-assured, to be some loser sat in a soulless call center in the Arizona desert. ‘It is, yes. And who’s asking?’

‘This is Selena Hart.’

‘Oh.’ I drop the lip liner.

‘You’re probably wondering how I got your number.’

I wasn’t, but only because my brain had frozen before she finished saying her name. ‘So how did you?’ I manage.

‘Kayleigh Jones has been sweet-talking me for months, trying to get my kids to join her online school. She gave me your number after we had a little chat ourselves.’

‘Right.’ My lips look weird in the mirror, pale against my made-up face. ‘I guess you’re calling about Maple’s new channel?’ I finally build up the courage to ask.

‘Well, you guessed right,’ she says, her Texan drawl still managing to sound clipped. ‘It was a shock, watching that video, and you know, a little hurtful too. I’ve followed Maple’s journey since she was a baby, and I suppose I felt a kind of kinship with you both, our content being so similar. So for Maple to say these things about me, well, I feel betrayed.’

Do I say that it was a shock for me too? Confide that Maple has suddenly developed this extra head, one that makes stupid decisions and won’t listen to reason, and I don’t know what the hell to do about it? Or do I pretend that Maple and I are as close as ever and face Selena’s wrath as a co-conspirator?

‘Anyway,’ she goes on, before I have to choose between two equally unappealing paths. ‘I’d appreciate it if she’d take the video down asap and stop accusing me of lying about my daughter’s whereabouts.’

‘So Ella is in London then?’ The words spill out before I can stop them – my desire to be in the know has always been my downfall. ‘Maybe if you got Ella to create some new content from there,’ I continue, ‘this would all be over in an instant.’

But Selena doesn’t rise to the bait. She releases a soft laugh, like she finds it cute how dumb I am. ‘Here’s the thing, Kirsten – and you know, I mentioned this at a speech I gave at the Meta annual conference just last week – we don’t owe the public anything. It’s important to remember that. Ella isn’t a politician, or a judge, or a public figure of any sort. It’s no one’s business if she’s in London, or Paris, or here with us in Austin.’

‘But wouldn’t it make your life easier?’ I ask, still feeling like there’s mileage here.

‘Maybe so, but it’s the principle that matters,’ Selena replies. ‘I have eight million followers, and I don’t say that to brag, but a number that large brings a weight of responsibility. Because they follow my lead for how to behave online, as do lots of younger, less experienced influencers. I’m not going to let public pressure force Ella into anything she’s not comfortable with.’

‘But you’re happy to pressure Maple into deleting her content?’

‘That’s not true. I have a soft spot for Maple; she’s beautiful, cute, likeable. She could go far in this crazy, awesome world of ours. Which is why I want to give her the chance to reverse what she’s started.’

‘And if she doesn’t?’ I ask, forcing my voice to sound steady.

‘Well.’ She sighs. ‘I imagine she’ll be learning the true meaning of regret very soon.’

Chapter 47

Kirsten

@JoelMTBchamp, TikTok

You know, my question is, if Selena Hart is capable of killing her own child, what is she going to do to the two kids who exposed her? #findElla

Almost everyone you meet in Provo is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon if you don’t want to get out of breath saying it, and there are dozens of churches, stakes and wards in the city. Our ward meets at a modern church by Rock Canyon Park. There’s an hour of chapel, then the kids disappear off to children’s classes, and every second Sunday, Garrett and I go to Bible study.

Church usually falls somewhere between soothing and dull for me, but today I’m mainly agitated, Selena Hart’s words on repeat in my head. I know exactly what a woman like her is capable of – it takes one to know one, I suppose – but how do I make Maple understand the dangers? She’s being so rebellious right now, I can’t get through to her.

‘Hey, Kirsten,’ Belinda sings over my shoulder as Garrett and I walk from the chapel to the classroom. Belinda is our old neighbor, and still salty about us moving to a house three times the size of hers. ‘What’s with Maple’s new YouTube channel?’ Her eyes are wide, like she’s horrified for me. ‘It seems so out of character?’

Luckily, we reach the classroom door before I have chance to respond. As I’m ushered inside by one of the men in suits, I give Belinda an apologetic look, a silent I’d love to give you the full scoop, but rules are rules.

‘What did she want?’ Garrett whispers as I sit down next to him.

‘What do you think?’ I whisper back. ‘Maple and Dylan’s YouTube video has gone viral, and now half of TikTok seems to think that Ella Hart is dead, either directly or indirectly by Selena Hart’s hand. Of course everyone’s got the popcorn out.’

‘Shit.’