Somebody Who Actually Cares
26. Fake News Crocodiles
27. Second-hand Kisses
28. Hijack
29. Piss Off, Ghost
30. Dawn of the Final Day
31. Kat’s Cradle
32. The Girl Cut Out of the World
33. And My Axe!
34. A Livestream
35. Life Buoy
36. Revenant
37. Season Three, Episode One
38. A Cure for Apathy
39. A Cautionary Tale for the Lonely
Acknowledgements
The photos transferred in a handful of seconds, morsels of naked flesh flickering across the progress bar as the three boys shielded the screen with their bodies. Every tab open in the browser was a weapon, armed, the images their ammunition. Target locked.
It seemed funny, that exposure could wipe somebody out of existence.
Wesley Graham couldn’t stop jiggling his legs – nerves, excitement, he didn’t know – as he glanced around at the half-empty study room, squinting against the early autumn sunshine that glowed in the scratches and finger-smears on the windows. Most of the school PCs were occupied, screens of half-finished essays or YouTube videos. Others in their class, apparently taking the final year of school seriously, had ranged their burden of early coursework across the tables in the centre of the room. Mr Buttercliff, charged with supervising, was much more invested in Clash of Clans on his phone.
‘Can you please stop that?’ said Luke, punching Wesley’s leg.
The dull pain did little to help him hold it still. Although Wesley had been around during the last trolling campaign, one undoubtedly larger than this, he had been little more than a spectator. This time he was on the front line. They had somebody to impress, so this had to go off without a hitch. He willed his restless leg to stop betraying his gut full of nerves.
In the far corner of the room, hunched over her MacBook, was Kat Waldgrave. It was the first time they’d seen her in school for a few days, and her usual ponytail had gained a strand of plasticky pink that curled into the light brown skin of her neck. The sunlight conspired to hide her screen from Wesley’s gaze, but he was sure her website would be open in a tab somewhere, just as it was on their screen.
‘Imagine if she actually looked like this,’ said Justin, sandwiched between them in front of the computer.
Luke plucked a USB stick from the PC and grinned. ‘We’ll always have Photoshop.’
Scrolling through the images, Justin sighed under his breath. ‘I wish any actual girl looked like this.’
‘Sounds like somebody’s struggling with NoFap,’ said Wesley.
The joke was a risk. They hadn’t been friends for long, and sometimes it took a while to earn the right to take the piss.
‘No way!’ said Justin, apparently not offended despite his protest. ‘It’s been three weeks and I swear my mind is clearer than it’s—’
‘Please don’t start with that again.’ Luke brought up the login window for Kat’s site and typed in the password that had been stolen for them.
‘How long’s it going to take?’ said Wesley, pressing his fists into his knees to keep them from bouncing. The Photoshopped pornography had been his idea, and he had felt elated when it was accepted.
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