Kane furrowed his brows; if Robby was not there, why would he get in trouble? It meant he wasn't involved, meaning that he shouldn't have any trouble. But from the way the colours from Robby's face drained and his eyes seemed filled with fright, Kane knew he was lying. "Why would you get in trouble?"

Robby eyed from side to side, exhaled a long breath before grabbing Kane by the back of his neck and leaning forward. His lips reached the side of Kane's neck, glancing over his shoulder at the same time that his lips began glazing over to his ear where he subtly whispered, "I signed an NDA. Non-disclosure agree—"

"I know what that is." Kane oddly could not control his breathing. He felt as if his lungs weren't getting enough air and he couldn't do anything to increase it. It felt as if his throat was shutting in on itself, realizing that Robby had been one of them attempting to protect Jasper and his father from Jay revealing the truth against him, at least that was what he assumed. Robby noticed the way Kane's eyes instantly became cold, narrowing them towards Robby as if he had been an accomplice.

That was when Robby rapidly shook his head, glanced to the side of the hallway again before reaching for Kane's wrist, feeling a sudden ache when Kane attempted to pull away from him. His eyes shifted from fright to hurt, and he inhaled a sharp breath before said, "I had nothing to do with what happened to him. I wasn't even there."

"Then why did you have to sign the NDA?"

"We all did!" He shouted through a whisper, raising his eyebrows. "The entire football team did since we all knew what happened. The video was shared to all of us and I downloaded it without even knowing what it was because it was sent from my captain. I watched the beginning of it and when I realized it was Jay, I erased it right away but I had to sign the NDA."

Kane still shook his head. "You could've said no—"

"That video had been on my fucking phone at one point, Kane. They would've found it and they could've charged me for it," Robby hissed sharply, narrowing his eyes back towards Kane, "I could've gone to jail."

"Not if you're truly innocent, you wouldn't have—"

"The judicial system doesn't work that way Kane!" he hissed, leaning closer towards him. His breathing heavy, his mind rushing with thoughts that he had attempted to eliminate months ago. "It's about who has the money to get the better lawyer and I didn't want to get involved like that."

Although Kane had every right to be frustrated over what happened as he was now Jay's friend, he had no right to assume anything about Robby as he had no idea what really happened neither did he know the full story. "Do you know how much Jasper's dad threatened me? He threatened my whole fucking life, my future! He even threatened my little fucking sister!"

It was painful for Robby to remember those memories; when Jasper's father arrived to his home in a van, ordering him to get inside his car to speak with his lawyer. He remembered how much they had threatened him, showed him the list of charges the prosecutors were drawing up, targeting every single one of the football team members regardless if they had been present or not. Robby was forced to hear about the way they would burn his future into ashes, causing all his dreams of ever arriving to the Olympic try-outs as a wrestler to vanish, or even continuing into a decent university, even holding a job needing while needing to check the portion of the application asking if he had ever been convicted of a crime.

They read to him every single way his life would be ruined, destroyed forever and without any further thoughts, he signed the NDA. He didn't care if it would protect Jasper or his family, he didn't care if it would prevent Jay from ever getting justice, all he cared about was making a name for himself. As selfish as it may sound, at the end of the day, High school would eventually be over and his loyalty to anyone wouldn't matter when he would be rejected from his goals in the future.

That was why he signed those documents. Not because he wanted to hurt anyone but because he had to protect himself and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Of course he felt guilty and wished he could have helped Jay, but he had to fend for himself.

He felt his skin start to crawl, remembering the way his tears had started to drop onto the page as he read the entire agreement, handing over his phone and having the lawyer verify every single evidence on his phone that he had to bury. They concealed everything, caused everyone to sign documents to assure that none could allow the evidence to surface and that was how eventually, everything returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.

Robby's teeth gritted, eyeing Kane's clueless eyes, knowing that he knew nothing of what had happened. He had no idea how it had ruined him as well, how it had changed him and haunted him for weeks after that. And to assume that he had been the one to torment Jay like one of these football players?

Robby distanced himself from Kane, shrugging his shoulders and stepping away from him. "The fact that you stared at me that way, as if I was one of them to hurt him that way, hurts me. I would never do that to anyone." He sighed and hissed, "I'm pissed that I had to shut my mouth and I feel guilt at as fuck, but don't ever look at me that way because you don't know me. And at this rate, you might never know me. I'm done talking about this; have a good lunch."

***

She stared at the picture, stopped for a few minutes before scrolling back to the picture again. After a while, she zoomed in on the picture and watched their faces pressed against one another, the way their bodies squeezed against each other's as if they needed each other's presences to have enough oxygen to survive. Eventually, she shut her phone and laid on her back, staring at the ceiling and attempting to clear her head. But she couldn't, whenever she did try, she felt a sudden hateful rage again burn within her blood and she reached for phone again, studying that picture.

She even rotated the picture, added light to emphasize their bodies and deny the shadows, seeing their hands grip the other's waist or chest. She remembered the way they sounded, how their moans were loud enough for her to hear. At first, that picture was only because she had wanted it for herself, to glance over once in a while and feel flustered that she suddenly felt her body throbbed.

But now, she could use it for another reason. And she didn't want to, but the devil on her shoulder continuously found reasons as to why she should.

And eventually, she did. She reached for her phone one last time that night, created the fake account, added the picture tagging multiple individuals of the school. After a few seconds, taking a look at her scheme, the only thing she felt was joy as she pressed submit and saw the picture finally makes its way to social media, where everyone would see it and it would never be erased from the world.

She fell asleep and when she woke up, it was one of the most peaceful sleeps she ever had.