Unfold

Chapter Thirteen (13)

Chapter 13

The video had 11,000 views in four days.

Jean had spent most of her energy trying to report the video to different social media sites, but nothing was being done. People she barely knew were tagging her. She was getting friend requests from very shady looking people. The comments were the worst. They were almost worse than the video itself.

Some people were defending Jean and were reprimanding the people for filming. This made Jean feel better. However, there were also the people who judged her- from her actions to her character; her physical appearance to her clothing. Then there were the genuinely creepy comments that made her stomach sick at the sexual suggestions. She couldn't take it anymore.

Jean ended up deleting her social media pages to try to forget about the entire thing. She convinced herself that without anything to be traced to, people wouldn't recognize her in public. It was dark in the video, and even though there was a segment where they zoomed in closer on her face, she prayed that nobody would be paying enough attention to recognize her.

She wondered if Shawn was being harassed as much as she was. She doubted it; it was mostly his profile in the video and the back of his head as he's walking out of the building and out of the shot. Plus, like everyone said, and the reason the video was popular, he moved so quickly it took you by surprise.

He was the cool hero, she was the drunk slob. He basically had a fan base going at this point. Jean tried to remind herself that this would blow over, and things would settle down soon, but it seemed to be worse in the town. The majority of people who shared the video started the comments. Nobody cared about her before, but all of a sudden since they had an algebra class together in 9th grade, it was worth talking about.

She knew it was getting out of hand when she saw Brooke in the hallway.

"Hey, superstar," she said as she dug her key into her apartment lock. She looked over her shoulder at Jean with a devious look on her face. Her stomach sank as she already knew what she was referring to.

"Did you see the video?" Jean asked, worried.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "Who in Bellevue hasn't seen it?"

Jean bit her lip and looked down to the ground. She's only been back to work since the video had been released, and at that point nobody had seen it yet. Now it seems like everyone knew. She wondered if her customers would mention it. What would they think of her?

"The guys at work are the ones who showed me. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was you. They want to meet you, you're a celebrity."

The thought of men who were regulars at a place like that watching the video of her made her sick. There was nothing she could do about it, no taking it back.

Brooke must have noticed the grimace on her face because she smirked at her.

"Are you my friend, Jean?"

Jean was taken aback by the question.

"Of course."

"Then you'll quit judging me and my place of employment and come visit." Brooke smiled at her teasingly.

Jean felt her face to white. Go to a strip club? She barely made it out of a college bar alive.

"Please Jean, I want you to see that it's not as bad as you think."

Jean swallowed hard. "Brooke, I don't know..."

"Think about it," she said, winking at Jean and walking into her apartment.