Miss Perfection Personified

5. | Pictures and Penance

5. | PICTURES AND PENANCE

A MERE two weeks had passed since Anastasia and I had made that pact but so much had changed since then. For one thing, the blog post seemed to ebb and flow in its impact on the school. There weren't any outward signs of disdain for Anastasia - not since that photo was uploaded on to the school system - but you couldn't fail to notice her declining friendship circle. By the end of the third week, I noticed that Anastasia had stopped coming down to the lunch hall altogether.

Not that I had much time to sympathise with Anastasia when my own social life was turning upside down. I was starting to get worried about Kitty ignoring me; she was spending all her time in the janky old art rooms. You had to be really desperate to avoid somebody if you were spending time there, everybody knew that. Instead, I spent much of my lunch times poring over the many scribbles and observations I'd made of Anastasia in my weathered old notebook.

I tried not to feel guilty about how much fun I was having. Journalism in the grown up world was probably a lot more harrowing but I couldn't deny that there was a sense of...purpose, to all of this. Not to mention the fact that I, as much as I hated to admit it, found Anastasia kind of fun.

But I'd gotten too relaxed. Not having people constantly talk about Anastasia made me feel a false sense of security, like I was finally safe from the waves of guilt that overpowered me at times - especially when I spoke to Anastasia.

It was English. Miss Burton was one of those Cool, Young teachers who thought letting us have our phones out during class meant that we would like her more. I'd just been texting Jane when suddenly my phone pinged with a notification. My heart rose up. It was Kitty.

check the website ASAPPPP. everyones re-sharing it.

The hope I'd felt at the initial text was immediately trampled on by panic. Hurriedly, I typed in the school website and waited impatiently for it to load. When it finally came to the main page, I scrolled down quickly.

I froze. This was...this was beyond what I had ever anticipated.

It was another picture of Anastasia. Only this time it wasn't some embarassing photo from years ago. It was recent. In fact, it couldn't have been more than a few months old. And it was decidedly more intimate. She was in nothing more than her bra and panties, her tongue sticking out in a way that I guessed was supposed to be nonchalantly flirty, but it came off ridiculously cringe-y. Try-hard. Like she was desperately trying to impress somebody with some half-naked picture of her arse sticking out in front of the mirror.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

I scrolled further down to read a caption:

"Clearly somebody wanted her cake eaten too x"

I put the phone down and glanced around, wondering if anybody else was looking at the picture. But the buzz around the room was distinctly normal. I watched as a few of my classmates giggled over some Instagram video.

Not everybody had caught on yet. Had Anastasia?

I left English in a hurry, racing down the corridor to find either Jane or Anastasia before shit truly hit the fan. But it was too late. There were already people walking out of class, whispering and gesticulating widely to each other.

"Always knew she was a slag," I heard another girl laugh as I rushed past her.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.