Six Little Secrets(17)

Her stomach turned at the image, or maybe it had been what she’d just done.

Her photo was a small icon in the otherwise empty screen. She found the Internet browser and logged into her account. She didn’t know how much time she had left, but it wasn’t much. She’d hesitated too long before, and now she cut it way too close for any mistakes. She uploaded the photo. There hadn’t been any instructions on what she was supposed to write in the post, and she thought of nothing.

What could she say? It was obvious she’d taken the photo. She stared at her face, trying to keep her attention off the fact that she was naked.

‘Cece,’ someone said.

Cece jumped back and slammed the laptop closed.

Teddy’s eyes and forehead appeared on the other side of the shelf. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘What are you doing?’ Cece hissed.

‘You don’t have that much more time,’ Teddy whispered.

Cece placed her hands on the laptop for a moment before lifting the top.

The browser was still open, and all she had to do was post it.

She moved her finger over the trackpad and hovered the cursor over the POST button. But she couldn’t force her finger to press down on the pad to send the photo. Her stomach rolled.

Again, she couldn’t help but think that this person didn’t have any evidence of what she’d done. Maybe the naked photo was her punishment, and the evidence was a bluff.

She choked on a sob and counted to twenty.

The screen on the laptop flashed then went dark. Her time was up. She gripped the edge of the laptop in her hands. ‘What? Wait!’

Something moved in her peripheral vision—it was the television again. It came alive, proving that this whole thing wasn’t a joke at all.

Cece ran down the aisle of bookshelves and stopped in front of the television. Her eyes widened as she tried to make out what her punishment might be.

Instead of a time warning, it was a video. There wasn’t any sound. It took her a moment to place the setting. When the blurry colors sharpened, clothing racks filled the screen.

And then the camera moved again. Cece recognized the location. It was one of her favorite boutiques, several towns from Pioneer Haven.

The video focused on her. It was strange seeing herself on the screen, especially when she didn’t know someone had followed her. She thought back to the last time she wore that white button-down shirt. It must have been two months ago. She had enough clothes in her closet to have a different outfit for every day of each season, and she recalled each time she wore them, so there were no duplicate outfits for at least that long.

She’d chosen that look so no one would suspect what she was about to do. She wanted to appear older and also blend in with the other shoppers.

Cece knew what she was going to see, but never expected anyone else to see it, especially not these people. Her heart thrummed in her chest, and her feet were like bricks, anchored to the floor.

The video was taken from a camera hidden behind a rack. Her blood ran cold. Someone had followed her there, knowing what she was about to do.

She could almost feel the tank top in her hands as she watched herself on the video check the size of the shirt. She watched herself look over both her shoulders before slipping the shirt off the hanger, rolling it up, and placing it in her purse.

And when the stalker clearly had the evidence he needed, Cece watched herself go to another rack and steal two more items before leaving the store.

The person holding the camera walked by one of the mirrors near the shoe department, but the screen moved too quickly for Cece to get a look at the individual who’d followed her. She only saw a blur, though it might have been the tears filling her vision once more.

Her heart roared in her ears. How had someone known about her stealing habit? Her fingers twitched at her sides. She wanted but to be taken seriously as a fashionista so she needed them. She loved the jealousy from the other girls in school when they saw the outfits and the thrill of taking something that didn’t belong to her. But now Jackie was going to tell everyone that Cece was a fraud.

And this person was going to show her parents.

She opened her mouth to say something when an email client opened on the screen.

Her parents’ emails were in the ‘To’ row. A cursor moved across the screen until it hit the subject line.

The words, Video from Cece, were typed into the space.

Then in the body of the email, the person typed, I made this video for you two. Tell me what you think. Love ya, Cecelia.

Cece tried to block the screen with her body to prevent the others from seeing. But it didn’t matter anymore. They already saw the video. The cursor opened the attachment link and the video uploaded into the email.

She pressed her hands against the screen as the cursor moved over the SEND button before the screen went black.

Cece pressed her forehead against the screen, and her breath hitched. Her parents were going to ground her for the rest of her life. And knowing how her parents were attached to their phones, they would get the email within minutes. She imagined them storming down to the school at any moment now and demanding an explanation.

This wasn’t a joke, not at all.

Cece peered over her shoulder at her classmates. Her gaze found Teddy. This person wasn’t messing around and would carry through with the threats. He already knew, but she said it aloud for the others. ‘Teddy, I think your money is gone.’