Page 128 of Good Sisters

‘Just spit it out, Julie,’ Louise said impatiently.

I was frozen to the spot. My heart was pounding in my chest.

‘About Jess giving him blow-jobs, and he has a photo of her topless, which he showed the triplets,’ Julie blurted out.

‘Jesus!’ Gavin gasped.

‘No no no no no, oh, God, no.’ Not Jess. Not photos, not horrible disgusting rumours. Not my beautiful Jess. A girl’s reputation was everything. How dare he? How could he hurt and humiliate Jess like that? The room was spinning and I realized tears were sliding silently down my cheeks. Please, no.

Louise put her arm around me and guided me down into my chair. My legs were shaking. ‘Breathe,’ she instructed.

‘So Liam punched him?’ Gavin said.

Julie nodded. ‘And the triplets tried to wrestle the phone from him, but the coach walked in.’

‘So Sebastian still has his phone?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is the photo on the iCloud?’ Gavin asked.

‘Oh, God.’ I covered my face. This could not be happening.

‘I don’t know,’ Julie admitted.

‘How do we find out?’ Louise asked Gavin.

‘We have to get our hands on the phone. Even if it is on the iCloud, it can be deleted from his photos app.’

‘What if he forwarded it to his mates?’ Louise asked.

‘Well, if it’s Snapchat, it’s gone. If it’s WhatsApp, you’ll see it on his phone and we can track down whoever has it,’ Gavin said.

I moaned – I actually felt like I was having a heart attack, my chest was so tight. ‘I told her to stay away from that arsehole. I knew he was poison. I’m going to kill her. How could she let him take photos? And give him … oh, God … oral sex. How could you let this happen, Julie? Why didn’t you protect her?’ I sobbed.

‘I tried, but I had to look after my guests and … I know I failed. I’m so sorry. Believe me, no one is sorrier than me.’

‘I think you’ll find that I am, and that Jess will be when she finds out. Oh, my God, how am I going to tell her? Does everyone in the school know?’

‘The kids on the team heard Sebastian boasting about the – the blow-jobs, but he only showed the photo to the triplets. Then Liam punched him and the coach came in and now Liam’s been dropped from the team for the semi-final. He’s absolutely devastated but he refused to tell the coach he had hit Sebastian to protect Jess. Harry and I were dragged up to school by the headmaster. Harry, the boys and I are doing everything we can to keep this from getting out.’

‘Oh, poor Liam, he must be gutted. That’s not fair. What a legend protecting his cousin,’ Gavin said.

I was in no mood to hear that anyone in Julie’s family was a hero – my fifteen-year-old daughter had been left in their care, neglected, and put in a really dangerous predicament by all of them.

‘He’s barely spoken two words since it happened.’ Julie’s voice shook. ‘He’s crushed.’

My rage exploded. ‘Not as crushed as I am to hear all of this. Not as devastated as Jess will be when she finds out that she’s the laughing-stock of the school and people are talking about her giving blow-jobs and looking at a photo of her breasts!’ I began to sob uncontrollably.

‘In fairness, Sophie, it’s not the boys’ fault or Julie’s,’ Gavin said softly. ‘Jess got herself into this situation. And the blow-job story is probably bullshit. Lots of teenage boys boast about things they did with girls that didn’t actually happen.’

‘I’m so furious with her! I told her to stay away from him and his family. I knew he was trouble,’ I spat.

‘Don’t be too hard on Jess,’ Louise said. ‘She’s a good kidwho fell for the wrong guy, drink was involved and things got out of hand. It could happen to anyone. It happens all the time. What we need to focus on is how to shut down the rumours and get rid of that photo. We need to be strategic about this to protect Jess and give Sebastian his comeuppance.’

‘Louise is right,’ Gavin said. ‘You don’t want this story going viral.’

‘Oh, Jesus, please, no,’ I gasped. The thought of boys and girls looking at Jess’s boobs and talking about her in a derogatory and disgusting way made me want to throw up.

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