Page 123 of Our Secrets and Lies

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Kelly’s phone pinged constantly.

Melissa:Ur brother is scum. Taylor is absolutely devastated. My stepdad is going mental!!!!! He’s going to get u all kicked out.

Alicia:Good riddance. St Jude’s shld never have allowed u scumbags in.

Chloë:Taylor is such a nice person ur brother is a dick.

Melissa:Pack ur bags u lowlife. Ur days at St Jude’s are over.

It wasn’t just her tormentors:there were tons of messages from all the other students in her class.

Ur brother is a lowlife.

Taylor deserves better than that scumbag.

Fuck off back to your old school.

Never should have given scholarships to filth like u.

We’ll get revenge for Taylor…

It was unrelenting, message after message after message. She didn’t know how she’d got through the day in school. It had been hell. She’dsprinted for the gates at four o’clock, desperate to be out of there.

Lucy was pacing up and down the kitchen when Kelly got home.

‘Did you see him? Is he okay? Did he speak to you? Is he sorry for being so rude? Does he realize now that he sent the photo?’ Lucy peppered Kelly with questions.

Kelly’s head was already splitting with the day she’d had. ‘No, Mum, I didn’t see Dylan today.’

‘I’vebeen thinking about it all day. It’s going to look very bad for Dylan. If the school finds out, he’ll be in big trouble.I’m scared, Kelly. He could get expelled for this. Sending a compromising photo of a girl is a terrible thing to do. Oh, God, this is bad, really bad,’ Lucy said. She was pale and looked worn out. ‘The school hasn’t been on to me. Do you think they know?’

Kelly swallowed backthe terror she felt rising in her chest. ‘I don’t know. But Mr Gough is really nice. Hopefully, he will be fair about it.’ Kelly said the words she hoped were true but she knew it was bad. Much worse than she had ever imagined. Everyone had seen the photo. It was a disaster.

‘Maybe no one else apart from the team has seen the photo. Have they? Did you hear anything?’

Kelly struggled to controlherself. ‘Unfortunately a lot of people have seen it.’

Lucy’s face crumpled. ‘Oh, Jesus, Dylan, what have you done? I wanted him to break up with her but not humiliate her. Oh, Kelly, what a mess.’ Lucy began to sob.

‘They don’t like any bad press for the school,’ Kelly said, clutching at straws, trying to convince herself as much as her mother. ‘I think Mr Gough will do everything he can tokeep this quiet.’

Lucy’s head snapped up and she looked hopefully at her daughter. ‘Really? That would be brilliant, if it can just blow over. I mean, it was just a stupid mistake.’

Kelly nodded, but she felt sick inside. There was no way this wasn’t going to have consequences, big ones.

Lucy grabbed her house keys from the counter. ‘I’m going to Jenny’s to see Dylan. I have to do something,I have to help him fix this. Maybe we can go to Mr Gough and explain it to him, make him see it was an innocent mistake. We have to try.’ Lucy hugged Kelly, then rushed out of the door.

Kelly collapsed into a chair and sobbed into her hands.

Lucy rang the doorbell. Jenny answered it.

‘Come on in.’

Lucy walked past her sister and straight to the spare bedroom. The door was locked. She stoodoutside and called Dylan’s name. Silence.

Frank walked out in his boxer shorts. He was eating toast and scattering crumbs on Jenny’s cream carpet.

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