An Unexpected Ally
I wasn’t expecting Alyssa to approach me again, but there she was, waiting outside the library after school. Her expression was nervous, her hands twisting in front of her as if she wasn’t sure she should even be there.
“Emma,” she said cautiously, glancing over her shoulder. “Can we talk?”
I hesitated, still unsure if I could trust her. “About what?”
“Vanessa,” Alyssa said simply, her voice soft but steady. “I think you need to know something.”
Against my better judgment, I nodded and followed her to a quiet corner of the school. She checked the hallway twice before speaking, her voice barely above a whisper.
“She’s losing it,” Alyssa said, leaning closer. “She’s more paranoid than I’ve ever seen her. And it’s because of you.”
“Me?” I asked, incredulous. “What could she possibly be afraid of? She’s already humiliated me in front of the whole school.”
“That’s just it,” Alyssa said, her tone matter-of-fact. “She thinks you’re going to come after her. She’s terrified you’ll find a way to ruin her, the way she ruined you.”
I stared at her, the words sinking in slowly. It didn’t make sense. Vanessa had always been untouchable, confident in her ability to manipulate everyone around her. The idea that she could be scared of me felt… surreal.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, my voice skeptical. “You’re her friend.”
Alyssa hesitated, her gaze dropping to the floor. “Because I’m tired of being her puppet,” she admitted. “And because what she did to you… it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t Logan’s fault either.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean?”
“She didn’t get those messages from him,” Alyssa said, meeting my eyes. “She saw them on his phone, sure, but he didn’t give them to her. She’s been trying to get under his skin for weeks—throwing herself at him, pushing his buttons. She got those messages because she was snooping. She waited until he left his phone unattended and took pictures of them.”
I felt like the ground had shifted beneath me. The narrative I’d clung to since the party—the betrayal I’d believed so deeply—suddenly didn’t seem so clear. But it didn’t erase the humiliation or the pain.
“Why should I believe you?” I asked, my voice trembling. “How do I know you’re not just covering for her?”
Alyssa sighed, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Because I have proof,” she said, scrolling through her photos before handing it to me. On the screen was a picture of Vanessa sitting in the library, Logan’s phone in her hands. The timestamp matched the week before the party.
“She bragged about it afterward,” Alyssa said, her voice quiet. “She said she wanted to teach you a lesson. That if you thought you could take Logan from her, you were wrong.”
My stomach churned as I stared at the image, the truth settling in like a heavy weight. Vanessa had gone to unimaginable lengths to destroy me, and Logan… he might not have been the villain I’d made him out to be.
“Thank you,” I said finally, handing the phone back. “For telling me.”
“Just be careful,” Alyssa said, her voice tinged with warning. “Vanessa’s not done with you yet.”
