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“You okay?”
The other woman frowned. “I’m fine. Why?”
“Worry isn’t good for you. You’re getting bigger by the day and the last thing you need is one more stressor.”
“I’m not stressed. I’m concerned. She was so quiet when she came home from school.” Allison twisted her hands together. “No, it was worse than that. She came straight home. She didn’t stay to talk to her friends or go to practice. She was here by two-fifty. That never happens. She barely said hello to Jackson, then she locked herself in her room. She won’t tell me anything. She says she’s fine.”
Allison shook her head. “I didn’t want to push her too hard, so I texted Mara. She couldn’t get anything out of her, either. She looks okay, so I don’t think it’s anything physical.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Erica handed back Jackson, then went upstairs. She quickly changed into jeans and a sweater, then knocked on her daughter’s closed bedroom door.
“It’s me,” she called.
“The door’s open.”
She found her daughter lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her backpack was sitting, unopened, by Jackson’s crib. Erica sat down on the bed.
“Hey. What’s going on?”
Summer opened an app on her phone and then turned it toward Erica.
Guess who’s a jailbird?
The fancy font covered a photoshopped picture of Summer’s face on a dancing crow. The bird was behind bars.
Erica scrolled through the posts. There were mean comments about criminals running in families and accusations of Summer stealing a car. Someone had posted Peter’s arrest warrant. Several videos had the song “Bad Boys” playing in the background.
Erica’s stomach immediately clenched. With everything going on with Allison and what to do about her situation, she’d somehow forgotten about Summer. In this digital age, nothing was private—certainly not in a high school. She should have helped prepare her for when the information inevitably came out.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry.”
Summer rolled on her side, facing her. “It’s not that bad,” she whispered. “I know some kids have it worse. But it’s never been me before. I’m not super popular, which means I don’t get a lot of attention. Sometimes people get on the whole softball team if we’re losing and I’ve been called out for missing a catch, but that’s easy, you know.”
She blinked away tears. “This is about my life and my dad. I didn’t realize what was happening for a while. I walked into class and I could hear ‘Bad Boys’ on someone’s phone, but I didn’t think it was for me. Not until Avery showed me. By then it was everywhere.”
She rolled on her back and wiped away tears. “It’s not a lot of kids. My friends are totally supportive. I know they’ll be there, but people I don’t know are saying things and posting things. I’m so ashamed.”
Erica stretched out next to her and took her hand. “This sucks. I’m sorry. I should have realized word would get out. When I was in high school, you could go home and forget about it. The worst that happened were some prank calls. With social media, there’s no escape.”
Summer shifted close, put her head on Erica’s shoulder and started to cry. “They’re so mean and they’re saying stuff about my dad.”
Erica stroked her back, her heart breaking for her daughter’s pain. “I know.”
“It’s so personal. Why do they care? The kids that are doing this don’t even know me. Why does my life matter?”
“They’re small people with small lives. They’ve decided it’s fun to torture other people. It’s a game to them. They’re too self-absorbed to know or care they’re hurting other people. What they think of you isn’t who you are. You’re stronger than they are.”
“I don’t feel very strong.”
“I know. We can talk to the administra—”
Summer sat up. “No! We’re not escalating this. No meetings. I don’t want to make it bigger. If someone had hit me or something, I would be all in on grinding them to dust, but this isn’t that. You’re right—this is a game to them. I can either do it better than them and be a total troll on social media or I can pretend to not care.”
“Do you want to be a total troll? No offense, but I doubt your techie skills are up to it. But we could ask Killion. He probably knows a guy.”
That earned her a faint smile. “I’m sure he does. And I thought about it. I nearly texted him earlier.”
