The Player

Chapter 25

Brielle

8:43 PM

I couldn't believe it. He wouldn't do that. He couldn't do that. The whole world around me seemed to

blur as all I could fixate on was this. This awful thing that the man I once thought I loved did to me.

There was no way that I could recover from this, that I could somehow forget that this had happened. It

would follow me around for the rest of my life.

Once it's there, online, it can never go away. What would my brother think when he saw it? My

parents?

My hand covered my mouth as I choked back a sob.

My life is over.

And just like that my world crumbled.

"Oh my God, Brielle," Nicole said, at a loss for words. "I'm so sorry."

I tried to say something, but I couldn't. I nodded my head instead, or at least I think I did. The world

around me was numb, and I wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Why did he do this to you?"

I furiously nodded my head. I couldn't talk about this, not now.

"I- I can't," I choked out.

With those words, my resolve collapsed, and the floodgates opened. Tears streamed down my face as

I was overcome with sobs, no longer able to hold them back.

"Oh, Brielle," Nicole murmured sympathetically, pulling me into her arms. I cried into her shoulder as all

the day's events piled on top of one another and hit me at once. This was the worst day ever.

After I had made a significantly sized wet spot on her shirt, I pulled away, wiping my nose with the back

of my hands. "I think that I need to be alone," I sobbed laying down on my bed.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded my head, and she gave me an empathetic smile before rising off my bed. "If you need

someone to talk to, call me," she said, before closing the door behind her.

Once I was safely alone, I buried my face into my pillow, letting my tears fall once more. I counted all

the terrible things that had happened today. My brother betrayed me, Sam lied to me, Christopher was

using me, and now Derrick did...this.

I slowly dozed off, the lightheadedness from hours of crying carrying me to sleep. I prayed that when I

woke up, this whole day would just be a dream. Christopher wasn't using me, and we would still be

together. I would wake up and Derrick would have never posted it.

But when I woke up in my dark bedroom with a head splitting migraine hours later, all of my fears were

confirmed. It was all real, and no matter how much praying or dreaming I did, that wouldn't change.

A sliver of light creeped into my room as my door creaked open.

"Go away!" I groaned, using all my energy to throw a pillow at the door. I winced as I did so, my

headache causing all movement to become painful.

"What kind of friend would I be if I did that?" I looked up to see Sam cautiously walking into my room. I

turned away.

"Considering what you did to me, I don't think that you're much of a friend at all."

I felt the bed dip beside me as she sat. "I know, and I'm really sorry. But I promise that I didn't mean for

you to get hurt."

"Well I did." I clipped.

Her tone grew soft. "I know, and that's what I regret the most. But I promise that I was going to tell you."

I sat up, anger overtaking me. "Then why didn't you?" I said venomously. A look of hurt flashed over

her eyes before she quickly recovered.

"I just figured out yesterday and I knew that it would hurt you more if I was the one who told you instead

of Christopher. I told him that if he didn't tell you by the end of today that I would."

I rolled my eyes. "Well thanks to you, I heard the news from Melanie, who was all too happy to share it

with me."

She averted my gaze. "I know and I'm sorry." The sincerity in her voice caused my resolve to crack,

and all I could reveal was the hurt that she caused me.

My voice cracked. "What hurts me the most was that you didn't tell me right away. You gave Melanie

the opportunity to tell me. I would never do that to you."

She held my gaze. "I was wrong. There's nothing I can say to defend myself." Her breathing began

ragged as she began to cry. "It hurts me so much to see you like this, and it's even worse because I

helped cause it.

But please, believe me, I will never let it happen again."

I took a second to ponder over what she said. While I was mad, and frustrated with her, I was mostly

just disappointed. Disappointed because as my best friend she was supposed to protect me from harm,

not cause it.

But looking at her now, in front of me, I knew that there was no way that Sam wanted this to happen.

She had good intentions, and while it didn't go as planned, in the end all she wanted to do was save

me from the hurt that I was feeling now.

And after experiencing this pain, and knowing how much it sucks, I was grateful for that.

"Just promise that you'll be completely honest with me from now on?" I said hesitantly. A huge smile

creeped on her face as she nodded her head furiously.

"I promise!" She pulled me into a tight hug. After she was done nearly squeezing me to death, she

reached into her bag and pulled out a cookie dough Ben and Jerry's ice cream pint. "I was ready to

bribe you if you didn't forgive me."

"Well, I could always change my mind," I said, reaching over and swiping it from her hands. She

handed me a spoon and I dug in, savoring the cold cream.

I could always count on ice-cream to make a terrible situation just a little bit better.

"Now I don't want to push my luck, but I really think that you should hear Christopher's apolo-"

I cut her off, raising my hand to signal her to stop. "Not right now Sam."

She quickly backed off, switching to another topic. "Then I think that we should both talk about the

elephant in the room."

My heart dropped. "You saw them?" She nodded her head. "I'm so sorry Brielle."

My tears began to return. If she had saw it, chances were that people from school had seen them too.

"I know that you're already beating yourself up enough, but what were you thinking Brielle?"

I buried my face in my hands, unable to look at her. "I don't know. I was young and stupid, and I wanted

him to like me." I saw her look of disapproval and I felt the sudden need to further explain myself.

"He was giving me the cold shoulder for weeks, and I thought that he was going to break up with me,

and I didn't think that I could live without him."

"So, when he asked me to send him naked pictures of myself, I...did. I thought it was the only way to

recapture his attention. But it didn't work. Two days later he broke up with me. And he's been

blackmailing me with them ever since."

Sam gasped. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

I shrugged. "Because I was ashamed I guess. I couldn't believe how stupid I was, and how used I felt. I

thought that if I kept it to myself, somehow it would disappear."

"But it didn't," she finished, and I murmured in agreement. "I know, I'm an idiot."

"No, you're not Brielle! You were vulnerable, and he took advantage of you, there is nothing to

ashamed of."

I half-heartedly agreed, wanting to believe her but not truly being able to do so. "I just don't want to

think about what people are saying about me."

"Then don't," she said, making a waving gesture in her head. "Who cares what they think?'

I thought about it for a moment, before reaching for my phone to open the post. "I'm just going to look

at the comments for a few seconds."

"Seriously Brielle, don't. It will do more harm than good." I ignored her warning, reading the comments

anyway. My eyes blurred as I scanned through all the horrible things and disgusting names they were

saying about me.

Before I could continue, Sam grabbed my phone and shut it off, tossing it to the other side of the room.

"That is not what you need right now. Just eat your ice-cream and I'll fix this situation." I nodded my

head numbly, the empty feeling inside returning. How was I going to face everyone at school?

I took a large spoonful of my ice-cream, but not even Ben and Jerry's could make me feel better

anymore. The cream felt painfully icy against my tongue.

Sam finally returned to the room, seeming to end a call with someone. She sat back on the bed as she

looked at me with pity.

"The good news is that I got Instagram to take down the post. The bad news is that we can't press

charges on Derrick because it is technically illegal for you to take the pictures, so you could get in

trouble too."

I let out a sigh. Of course, Derrick would get out scotch free. He always wins.

"Hey, cheer up," Sam said, noticing the continued decline of my mood. "I promise that it will get better."

"It sure doesn't feel like it."

She sent me a sympathetic smile. "It never does at first." She laid down beside me. "Now skootch over,

I'm sleeping here tonight."

I looked at her, confused. "You do know that it's a school night, right?"

"When a friend is in need, a friend is in need. We can skip school tomorrow and just lay on the couch

watching Marvel movies."

As tempting as that sounded, I knew I couldn't. I was going to have to face the school eventually, and

not showing up tomorrow would only bring more attention to the situation. As much as I didn't want to, I

was going to have to be brave.

"No, It's okay." I decided. "We can go."

"It's your call. But if you decide that you want to watch Thanos erase half the universe in onesies

tomorrow, just know I'm down."

For what felt like the first time since everything that had happened today, I genuinely smiled. "Good to

hear."

And even though I knew that I would have to face not only the entire school and Christopher tomorrow,

I felt a little better knowing that I would have my friend at my side.