Page 18 of The Flirty Forward

“Hello, this is Chloe,” I hear a voice say on the other end.

“Hi, Chloe, my name is Stephanie Winston. I’m a friend of Brielle Campbell, who’s dating Aiden Brooks.”

“Yes, I know Brielle. How can I help you?” She’s polite but also has an edge about her, like maybe I’m bothering her.

“I won’t take much of your time. I’m just calling because a situation at my school has developed because of one of your players, and I was hoping you could help me.”

“One of the Green Thunder players?” she asks.

Now,she’s paying attention. “Yes. This is in regard to Sebastian Hart. Apparently, he made some comment about me the other night in a press conference. I don’t really care; I can’t stand the guy personally. However, now there are reporters and crazy people camped outside my school. They were here last night and first thing this morning. I don’t appreciate it, and my bossreallydoesn’t appreciate it. My principal said it needs to be taken care of. He told me if it wasn’t resolved, I wouldn’t be able to teach here for a few days. And let me just say that I am not going to quit doing my job just because some idiot on your team can’t keep his mouth shut.” I finally take a breath.

“I understand. Let me deal with this, and I will get back to you within a few days.”

“No, it needs to be dealt with today,” I tell her, using the lawyer voice my parents always use.

I hear her sigh through the phone. “Fine. It will be dealt with today. Please do not address the press or make any comments until my team can be there to make a statement.”

“Sure. As long as it’s taken care of soon, that’s fine.”

“It will be dealt with today.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

We both hang up, and I take a deep breath.

“Did you just tell off Chloe?”

Chapter 6

Stephanie

I jump in my chair. “Bri, you scared me to death. Make some noise next time, will you?”

“Did you seriously just tell off Chloe?” her eyes are alight with excitement.

“No, I just told her she needs to deal with the people outsidetoday. I am not losing out on several days of teaching for something that is not my fault.”

My students start filing in for class, and Brielle takes a step backwards. “I’ve gotta go, but I’m so proud of you.” She heads out the door, and I shake my head. This is a mess.

“Hey, Miss Winston,” Dante says as he stops in front of my desk.

I push all my negative thoughts aside and focus on my student. Dante’s a good kid. He’s gotten close to Aiden and Brielle; they go to most of his hockey games when they can. Aiden has stepped in to encourage him and put into him. “Hey Dante, what can I do for you?” He’s usually pretty quiet and sticks to himself; I’m actually surprised he’s at my desk talking to me right now.

He looks away for a moment and then back at me. “I, uh, just thought you should know. There’s some...bad stuff going around about you online.” He rubs the back of his neck, looking all kinds of uncomfortable. “Just thought you should know, so you could fix it.”

I stare up at him in shock. “Where?” It’s the only word I’m capable of.

He shrugs. “Everywhere.” I grab my phone. “Maybe start with the Green Thunder fan page,” he says.

I’m already looking it up. “Thank you, Dante.” I pull up the social media accounts for the Green Thunder. It takes only seconds for me to find what he’s talking about. There’s a post about Sebastian, and then...My eyes widen when I take in the post. I look up at Dante and then back at my screen. “What in the world?” My eyes skim the comments for just a few seconds before I stop and put down my phone. I keep my face calm, but inside I’m fuming. I can’t believe the things people are saying about me. I face my students and focus on the task at hand.

By some miracle, I get through my next few classes. When lunch rolls around, I don’t even get up from my desk. I pull out my phone once again and look online. This time I just type in Sebastian’s name. Immediately, pictures pop up of me. None of them are great; they’re of me outside the school. Each one has a story with it, and none of them paint me in a good light. I scroll through memes, threads, socials, and more.

“Stephanie?” I drop my phone, startled as Brielle comes into my classroom. “What are you doing?” she asks. I stare at her a moment, not even sure what to say. I feel like I’m going to be sick to my stomach. I vacillate between anger and sadness; it’s as if my mind doesn’t want to shut off from all the things I read online. “You didn’t come to lunch, so I thought...hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Steph, what happened?” she asks, taking a seat at one of the student desks.

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