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~Ophelia's POV~

Surprised, I blinked at him and waited for a minute, half expecting him to start laughing before telling me that he was only joking—except he never did.

"Zuri?" I repeated softly, furrowing my brows in confusion. This made no sense to me at all. "What? Why would you think it's Zuri? She has no reason to want to do that!" I huffed, feeling a little bit defensive of her. Sure, Zuri and I were definitely not the closest of friends by any means, but I still considered her my friend and I didn't want him to go accusing her of something like this without actual reason. She'd never been anything but nice to me for the entire time we'd known each other.

Luke sighed and glanced at the clock hung on the wall, seeing how much time we had left during lunch. "Okay, just let me explain this." He said, shaking his head as he dove into the story.

"So basically, Zuri has been having this thing with one of my friends, Benny. Anyways, that's not really important, but he told me that she mentioned a couple times how there was this girl getting in the way of her best friend's relationship," He began, giving me a look that said I'm talking about you. "And then he told me that a while after she'd mentioned that a few times, Zuri came to him really pissed off one day, asking him if he was willing to help her with something and then she asked if she could use his dad's printer for some pictures she had transferred from her phone to her laptop."

Luke sent me another look, this one saying you know where I'm going with this. "So he let her use it and then she left after like an hour. Anyways, he told me today that he went to use the printer in his dad's office a couple days ago and there were a few of those prints of you and I just in the tray. I guess she left some behind on accident." He finished, shrugging his shoulders. I frowned, staring up at him. "But why? Just because you and Stella broke up over me?" I asked, furrowing my brows. I didn't understand. There was no way that she'd do this, or at least that was what I truly wanted to believe.

"Well, they are best friends. Zuri and Stella have been best friends since elementary school, though you obviously don't know this since you just moved here this year. But I guess Zuri really takes their friendship seriously." He tsked, crossing his arms over his chest as he shook his head in disappointment. Although Zuri and I weren't the closest, I still felt a little bit betrayed. She'd completely invaded my privacy and spread my business around—pictures of me in ways that nobody had any business seeing me. I was upset, really upset.

"I'm gonna go ask her." I declared, already spinning around and marching towards the lunch table everyone was still sat at. Luke hurried after me, following me over to the table and acting as my support system so I could summon the courage to ask what needed to be answered.

He stood close behind me as I stood by the table, his sudden presence making everyone look up at us. Everyone looked confused except for Zuri and Stella, both of whom looked pissed off. I looked at Zuri and cleared my throat, already feeling nervous. Confrontation was not at all my thing, not even a little bit. "Zuri." I said, making her attention focus on me instead of the boy behind me. She frowned as she stared at me. "Were you the one who took and then spread those pictures of Luke and I?" I asked, staring down at her. She went to open her mouth and I cut her off before she could speak. "Benny told Luke that you printed the pictures at his house, with his printer. And that you even accidentally left some of the pictures behind when you left." I added before she could deny it all.

And I knew by the way she just gaped at me silently, not even trying to defend herself that she had done it.

"Are you serious?" Saniya blinked, surprised. Truthfully, everyone at the table was taken aback, even Stella. Yes, Stella perhaps looked most shocked of all. "Zuri...?" Stella frowned, like she was just waiting for her friend to insist that she hadn't done it. But Zuri just avoided her gaze, looking at her fingers instead. "Zuri!" Stella snapped. "Why'd you do that?" She demanded you know.

Zuri looked up at Stella. "Because! You had to break up with your boyfriend because he couldn't keep his dick in his pants! And for what?!" Zuri scowled as she gestured to me. "That?!"

I flinched a little, hurt that she had really just looked at me like I was merely a speck of dirt. "Besides, they both deserved it. It's not fair. They should have to feel what you did! So yes, I took those pictures, and yes, I spread them." She huffed, glaring at Luke and I again. "But shouldn't you be grateful? I mean, I got back at them for you."

Stella looked completely and utterly appalled. "Grateful?" She echoed, looking at her friend with surprise. "Zuri, I never asked you to do anything like that to them. I never wanted anyone to do anything to either of them! Yeah, I was angry, but I'm not so petty that I wanted to get back at them. I just wanted to move on. That's why I dumped him." She huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't like either of them, but don't get it twisted, either. I didn't wish anything like this on them, especially Ophelia." She continued, glancing at me with a little frown. Zuri looked irritated. "Luke is one thing, considering pretty much everyone has seen him naked already....but Ophelia? She didn't do anything, even if I don't like to admit that. It's not her fault he likes her more than he did me." She grumbled, her shoulders slumping. She didn't look sad, just like she hated to admit that aloud to everyone.

"So, what? You're mad at me?" Zuri scoffed, shooting Stella an incredulous look. When Stella nodded, Zuri looked even more pissed off. "Fine." She hissed, grasping her tray and standing up from the table. "Fuck you guys. I was trying to give them what they deserve, but somehow I'm the bad guy?" She scoffed, flipping everyone the finger before she strode out, tossing her entire tray into the trash can as she left.

I was left stupefied, watching her leave, clearly very peeved off. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd done to make her hate me, but some part of me felt a little bad for her. Even though she had done something bad, it had come from a good place—a place of protection and love for Stella.

Stella looked over and met my gaze. "I'm sorry that she did that." She apologized to me, completely ignoring Luke as if he weren't even behind me. And then she just continued to eat her food, while everyone else was left scrambling to figure out what just happened.

Noah scratched his head, looking a little confused. "Wait. Does that mean she's getting expelled?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. I saw Saniya roll her eyes. "Yeah, idiot. I mean, she took pictures of two students about to have sex without permission and then spread it all around school. She's going to get expelled." She scoffed, shrugging her shoulders. "But oh well. If she's going to do that type of shit, she can take the consequences when they come." She said, popping a fry into her mouth. Judah and Blade both nodded in agreement while Kimberly and Idris just sort of shrugged, frowning. It seemed like none of them really cared.

"Are...Are you guys still gonna hang around with her? I just was wondering because I don't exactly think I can hang out with her anymore..." I trailed off awkwardly, playing with my fingers. I didn't expect any of them to stop being friends with her just because she and I had an issue, but I also didn't want to be around her. So I suppose I'd just have to be around when she wasn't, which was fine with me. I just wanted to keep the friends that I had.

"No." Stella answered along with everyone else, surprising me. I looked down at her and she spared me a single glance. "I thought she liked you, and that you guys were friends at least a little...you know, enough that you should've been able to trust her not to do anything like that to you. I don't want to be friends with someone who does that to other friends." She mumbled, making me smile a little. Everyone nodded in agreement and Stella even glanced at Luke. "And I guess you can hang out with us again, as long as you leave me alone." She added.

Saniya looked like she had a problem with that, but she didn't protest, knowing I'd scold her if she did. Luke's arm slithered around my waist and he hugged me back against him. He was rather touchy and cuddly with me these days, even in front of others. "I think I'll have to take that offer." He grinned.

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