Dear Love, I Hate You (Easton High)

I suspected the students at Easton would be curious about Zac and Love, but the images in front of my eyes call me blind.

Naïve.

This isn’t healthy curiosity.

This is a witch hunt.

The first picture shows a recently created, private Facebook group called “WHO WROTE THE CONFESSIONS? #FindZacAndLove” with, believe it or not, two hundred and ninety-seven members.

What the…

That’s like half the school.

There’s also a Twitter account dedicated to anonymous tip-offs. Its username? @FindZacAndLoveTips. The third screenshot Dia sent me displays a post in the Facebook group. It hoards speculations about Zac and Love’s identities, lengthy paragraphs packed with insults detailing why we’re the worst people on earth. Especially Love.

Well, me.

My throat tightens painfully as I skim over the comments.

“Love is such a whore. Think she’s taking clients?”

“Backstabbing bitch. She should be ashamed of herself.”

“Slut. No wonder someone close to her killed himself.”

Don’t cry.

They don’t know the whole story.

They don’t know you.

Names of potential candidates for Zac and Love keep piling up in the comment section, but none of them are accurate…

Except for one comment.

Brie’s comment.

Brielle Randall: My money is on Aveena Harper for Love. Didn’t her dad commit suicide? Also, anyone else notice she conveniently stopped showing up at school when the confessions came out? And why isn’t she in this group? That’s kind of suspicious. Just saying…

But the real horror? Her comment racked up a hundred and sixty likes. The majority agrees. The third picture Dia sent me exposes other people’s replies to Brie’s accusation.

Theodore Cox: No way. Aveena would never do shit like sleep with her sister’s boyfriend. Have you met her? She’s as close as you can get to a saint.

Axel Fletcher: I wouldn’t be surprised if she had tbh. Girl always came across like she was hungry for dick.

Finley Richards: @AxelFletcher, @BrielleRandall Will you two shut the fuck up? Aveena isn’t Love.

Lacey Mattson: I’m with Brie on this one. Aveena’s looking REAL shady here. Omg, can you imagine? Miss Goody Two Shoes screwing her sister’s man? TEAAA.

Diamond Mitchell: @AxelFletcher You’re a fucking pig. And @BrielleRandall, @LaceyMattson, the only reason Aveena isn’t in this group is because she’s at home RESTING. She’s sick. Stop reaching.

I don’t even get the chance to appreciate Dia sticking up for me before a hurricane of questions traps me in its eye. How does Brie know about my dad? Very few people at school know about that night. I was nine when it happened, years away from enrolling into Easton, and it’s not like I went around school blabbing about my childhood trauma.

Did she look into me?

My phone chimes with a new text, snapping me back to reality. It’s Dia again.

Dia: Vee, I have to ask… Is it true?