I need more information on what they did last night. Find out any way you can and get back to me ASAP! Or else!

5:00AM

The bad news: spyware had some versions that allowed perpetrators to turn on webcams, and it was almost impossible to erase it from a computer.

The only visible solution Bella could think of as she took a warm shower the next morning was getting a new computer and creating new accounts.

She let the water go through her hair and wash away every bit of tiredness from her skin. She hardly got sleep the previous night, and it was taking a toll on her senses. Her thoughts were bumping into each other like a really bad car crash, and she wanted to scream her lungs out.

She finally stepped out of the shower after thirty minutes, smelling like fruit, and walked into her room.

She noticed Maggie-Lyn first. She was a little bent at the waist as she scrolled through her laptop, and there was a tremble in her hand, as if she was scared. Maggie-Lyn's eyes were wide as they darted around the screen.

"Mag," Bella called, and, startled, Maggie-Lyn turned around, her hand pushing something down the study table, sending it to the floor with a clatter. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," she answered too quickly. "I mean... nothing. I was just... checking what kind of apps you have... on your computer."

It was obvious Maggie-Lyn was lying, so Bella reiterated, "What were you doing on my laptop, Maggie?"

Her cousin looked nervous and, seeing that she wasn't going to reply anytime soon, Bella walked to her.

A panicking Maggie-Lyn moved so her body covered the screen. "You'll be late for school," she announced, but Bella fixed her with a hard glare.

"Step away from the laptop, Maggie," she said, sounding like a cop who just caught a criminal.

Maggie-Lyn shook her head, and Bella gently pushed her away from the device. Her cousin twisted her fingers nervously as she bent a little to see what was on the screen.

Bella went still when she saw it.

Maggie-Lyn was checking her emails and was reading YWN's latest email when she walked in.

She turned to her cousin to scold her for invading her privacy, her heart hitting hard against her ribcage when she realized she had some bribing to do. Maggie-Lyn could tell anyone what she saw.

The door was open a bit, and Maggie-Lyn was nowhere in sight. A worried look went over Bella's face, and she wanted to go after her, but realized she couldn't exactly do that while wrapped in a towel. Ashton could be in the house. So she closed the email window and turned to go get ready as quickly as possible.

But something caught her eye from the floor. It was what Maggie-Lyn pushed down by mistake—a phone she had never seen. Perhaps this was the backup phone her cousin was talking about. The screen was bright, indicating that it was still on and, curious, she squatted to pick it up.

Her blood seemed to freeze in her body as she read what was on the screen, and for a while, she couldn't move. In the phone was a text sent to her cousin at five that morning—a text from someone named YWN.

"You've got to be kidding me," Bella finally whispered to herself after taking things in.

* * *

Throughout the ride to school, Bella's legs kept twitching, and she constantly tapped her hand on her knee. She didn't even brush her hair—her hairbrush sat beside her on the backseat, along with a white ribbon.

It was hard for her to believe what was going on around her. Maggie-Lyn—her sweet, talkative, adorably annoying, often distracted and somewhat naïve Maggie-Lyn—was in this YWN nonsense, too.

A headache threatened to split her head in half as she wondered how and why Maggie-Lyn was involved. The text said, Or else.

"Are you okay?" Cody asked her from the driver's seat, his eyes fixed on the road.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine," she replied, looking out the window.

"You keep on shaking your leg in the back of my seat and it's distracting."

Ashton, who was in the passenger seat, looked back at her, his eyes settling on her hairbrush and ribbon. She barely acknowledged him, her mind far away from the car.

"You look... disturbed. What's wrong?" he finally said, and she turned to him.

"And why do you care? I said I'm fine."

They stared at each other, Ashton looking more annoyed than angry. He eventually shook his head and turned back to the windshield.

"Bella, that was rude," Cody said, glancing in the rearview mirror, but she stubbornly looked away and folded her arms over her chest.

She wrapped the ribbon around her hair as she quickly walked into school. Her eyes scanned the hallway, trying to spot Beau, but she couldn't see him around. Her hands worked in her hair, failing to get it into a decent ponytail.

When she realized she wasn't making any progress, she loosened the ribbon and tried again, but, this time, a few strands of her hair got stuck in the zipper at the back of her top, and she carefully tugged to get them free.

Her head was tilted back as she winced, struggled and looked like a complete idiot battling with her hair in a high school hallway.

She felt someone appear behind her and, before she could turn around, two hands were placed on her shoulders, and she was gently lead to the side, away from the students.

"Uh," she started, wanting to turn around, but the action caused the zipper to tug on her hair even harder. "Ow!"

"Hold on," the voice said behind her, and she immediately relaxed.

Bella stood still as Beau tried to free her hair from its chains, her head tilted back to relieve the pain caused by the tugging. Her left hand found its way to the back of her head, slightly brushing against his.

At the contact, an unusual tingle ran through her hand, and she quickly put it down. Maybe it was her imagination, but the way he suddenly stopped made it seem like he felt it, too. He pushed her hair over one of her shoulders, kind of similar to what Maggie-Lyn did the previous day, only gentler.

She felt her hair go free after a few seconds, and his fingers lightly brushed against the back of her neck in one last motion, before he moved to stand in front of her.

"Thanks," she said with a relieved sigh, finally tying her hair up in a ponytail and avoiding his eyes.

Beau smiled. "Don't mention it. How are you today?"

"I'm going to be honest with you and say I'm not feeling too good." Her eyes moved, and she saw Ashton a few feet away from them. He was staring at them—mostly at Beau—and he didn't look happy.

Beau followed her line of sight, but didn't look at Ashton for too long. "Why? Did they contact you again?" he asked, looking back at Bella, and she turned to him.

"What's up with you and Ashton?" It was out of her mouth before she knew it, and Beau glanced in Ashton's direction, but he was now gone. "And don't tell me it's nothing. I heard the last part of your conversation yesterday."

"Do we have to talk about that right now?"

"Why do I have the feeling you're hiding something from me?"

Beau didn't speak immediately, making her doubt him even more. If YWN mentioned their fight, the cause had to be important.

"What don't you want me to know, Beau?" she prodded.

"Let's just forget about that for now." He looked at her with a strange look in his eyes. It looked like he was pleading with her to just let it go. He wasn't ready to say whatever he was hiding. "Please?"

She blinked several times, not taking her eyes off him. "Okay."

"Okay. You were... saying something."

"Yeah. It's Maggie-Lyn, my cousin. You know, that blonde that let you in yesterday."

"What about her?"

"This morning, I caught her going through the emails YWN sent me. Interestingly, I also found out she knows YWN, too. I saw a text from them on her phone."

"But how is that even possible?"

"I have no idea, Beau. She only arrived a few weeks ago, and it just doesn't make sense. I mean, she's my cousin."

Bella didn't try to talk to Maggie-Lyn after seeing the text, choosing to ignore her, and, due to her cousin's absence at breakfast, Maggie-Lyn was avoiding her, too.

Beau thought about it for a while, then he said, "There has to be something in it." When Bella gave him a confused look, he elaborated, "Just like with Travon, maybe there's something they're blackmailing her with."

Bella shook her head in disbelief. "Beau, I'm scared," she admitted, staring at him, and his expression softened as he stared back.

"Try to relax, okay? Now that we know Maggie-Lyn's in it, we could ask her about it after school."

"What if she doesn't say anything to us?" She folded her arms over her chest to steady herself. Her legs were suddenly feeling weak, and she prayed they wouldn't buckle beneath her. The facts surrounding her were making her dizzy.

"She doesn't have anything to lose, does she? If they're keeping her secret, they'd reveal it when they find out about her slip up."

He was right, and she saw then how terrible things really were. What if Maggie-Lyn's secret could ruin a lot of things in her life?

"I'll come over later, okay? I have to go home and search Fleur's room for something useful."

She was about nodding when the meaning hit her. "Wait. Now?"

"It's the only time I have, Bella."

"But you can't ditch school, Beau."

"I'll pretend to be sick. It won't be anything much."

"Beau—"

"Bella." He took a step closer to her and looked into her eyes. "I'm okay doing it for you, okay? Don't worry about it, I'll catch up."

She didn't say anything, staring at the boy she was falling so hard for.

He pulled her into a gentle hug, holding her close to his chest, and she listened to the unsteady beating of his heart. The hug helped her legs gain some strength.

"I'll see you later. I have to get in character."

She laughed, but it came with tears, and she stopped, sniffling and tightening her grip around his waist. She liked hugging Beau. He just knew how to hold her.

"It's gonna be all right," he whispered in her hair.

"Thank you, Beau."

He slowly let go of her and she pulled away, then used her thumbs to clean the tears off her face. He watched her, waiting for her to regain herself, and that gesture alone made her heart swell even more for him.

* * *

"Okay, so for our next meeting, you'll all be turning in your designs, and we'll work on some basics together. I'll see you on Saturday."

After one of Teen Stars' Fashion Department instructors dismissed them, Viola remained in her chair. Teenagers around her packed their things and engaged in small conversations, but she just sat there, feeling like she stole her best—ex-best—friend's dream.

Ever since she could remember, Teen Stars had been on Bella's tongue. When they were twelve and she was studying for Are You a Math Whiz? Nationals, she would say, "This time next year, I'll be doing all I can to get Michelle Henshaw to notice me. Maybe I'll start a math channel, or a math and fashion channel."

Three years and multiple fights later, they were as good as strangers, and Viola was sitting in the Teen Star building Bella was supposed to be walking past a few days a week.

It was haunting.

Every time Viola came here, the Entertainment building would taunt her, the sunlight bouncing off the glass walls as if saying, Thief!

She let out a huge sigh and stood, carrying the bag her mom had the decency of buying for her off the floor. After months of neglect, her mom was finally paying attention to her. Maybe she was trying to make it up to her for not being there for her when she needed her companion, but Viola couldn't enjoy it.

Her dad was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do to make the hurt go away.

Since he died, her mom had been more motherly, noticing she rarely wore pants around the house, and that her hair wasn't as long as hers, and that she hadn't smiled all day.

"You're a beautiful young lady, Viola," she had said one evening, "and guys would be falling at your feet if you smiled more often. What's the name of that boy next door? The one that keeps coming over?"

She didn't even know her mom had noticed Jake.

She made her way through the elegant hallway of her building, then got into the elevator with a pretty girl with dark skin.

Viola watched the girl push the buttons and couldn't help but compare it to her life. Just as the buttons couldn't make choices for themselves, she had never had control of her life. She hadn't expected her mom to be happy about her getting into Teen Stars. She had expected her to scold her for not wanting to become a lawyer, to do anything but hug her and tell her she was proud of her. It gave her something new to add to her 'things I got wrong' list.

"Hey," the girl beside her said, and she turned to her with a tiny smile.

"Hi." She silently prayed the girl didn't recognize her from the video of her and Bella going around, but, due to the way she kept giving her side glances, it was better to conclude she had been recognized.

Viola leaned her head against the wall and shut her eyes, focusing on the elevator music, and immediately she heard the ping indicating they had reached the ground floor, she stood up straight. She waited for the elevator doors to open, then smiled at the girl beside her, before stepping out.

She rushed out of the building like she had an animal on her tail, almost letting the revolving doors humiliate her.

She managed to get out unscathed, though, and as she turned the corner leading in the direction of the Entertainment building, she bumped into a girl speaking Spanish on the phone. The girl's fancy-looking duffel was sent to the floor.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

When Viola looked at who it was, though, she froze, and so did the girl with the phone pressed to her ear.

"Amparo?!" Amparo swallowed, but didn't say anything. "What are you doing here?" Viola wanted to smile, but Amparo's widened eyes moved down to the duffel between them.

Viola looked, too, going even more rigid when she saw the Pietra Tiorano logo all over one side of it.

* * *

So Maggie's a YWN employee too. If you saw the betrayal coming, let me see your hand!

What do you guys think Beau's hiding? I'm so excited to share the next chapter with you! *rubs hands maniacally* Till next time (which is hopefully very soon)! 💕