“Then do something he can’t ignore,” Mia says as if it’s obvious.
I give her a sheepish smile and then call someone that can help me out. He picks up on the second ring. “George!” I say into the phone. “I need to ask you something.”
Chapter 47 – Come Clean
“I'm shedding, shedding every color / Trying to find a pigment of truth beneath my skin / 'Cause different doesn't feel so different / And going out is better than always staying in” – Come Clean, Hilary Duff
No POV
“Oh wow,” Elijah says, staring over Lexi’s shoulder. They are in the center of the rink, stretching, as the guys are warming up before practice starts. Skating, shooting, playing around until the coach comes out.
“What?” Lexi asks.
“Nothing.” Elijah smiles. “Just a hot blonde brunette, with a high ponytail.” Lexi rolls his eyes, continuing to stretch. “She’s talking to George, lucky bastard. Come on, Lexi, just take a look.” Elijah points with his chin to the player’s home bench.
Against his better judgment, Lexi turns around to look. "You have got to be kidding me."
Arya
"You need to leave, Arya," George says to me as I stand at the player's home bench, talking to him over the boards while he and all his teammates are on the ice.
“I just need to talk to Lexi,” I say. “It won’t take long.”
“I realize I gave you the start of our practice time,” George says, “but you can talk to him after. Coach will flip if he sees you here.”
“I can handle your coach,” I say. “Just get Lexi and tell him to come over here.”
“Arya.”
“I’m not leaving George,” I say sternly. “I’m not leaving until Lexi comes and talks to me.”
George gives me a look. “You’re going to get all of us in trouble.”
"Get him," I say sternly. "Unless you want me to walk out on the ice myself." George debates with himself. "You're just wasting time George, you know I'm not going anywhere." He just stands there, so I reach down for the door latch.
"Okay, okay," George says and starts skating backward, towards the center of the ice where Lexi is and smiles at me before he turns around to skate up to Lexi and I watch them exchange words.
No POV
“She wants to talk to you,” George says to Lexi.
“She needs to leave,” Lexi says sternly.
George looks over his shoulder at Arya, who is just staring at them, and then back at Lexi. “I tried. She’s not leaving. Not ‘til she gets to talk to you.”
“She can wait ‘til after practice,” Lexi says. “Tell her to get out of here.”
“Have you met Arya?” George says.
“I’ll go talk to her if you like.” Elijah smiles.
"Bloody woman…" Lexi says under his breath and reluctantly skates over to Arya.
Arya
“You need to leave,” Lexi says to me. This is the first I’ve seen him in his hockey gear, and he looks very attractive in it. There’s something about hockey players. I understand why Eleanor only dates them.
“I just needed to talk to you,” I say, leaning my forearms on the boards. “You’re not answering my calls.”
“Sound familiar?” Lexi says annoyed. “Now get out of here. Coach will flip if he sees you here and then he’ll blame me.”
“Don’t worry about him,” I say, brushing it off. “Lexi, I…”
“Leave, Arya,” Lexi says. “I’m serious. We can talk after practice.”
“Just listen…”
“Arya, I will drag you out of here by your bloody ponytail if you don’t leave right now,” Lexi warns.
“He raped my sister,” I say.
“What?” Lexi’s face changes.
“Henri,” I say. “He raped my sister. That’s the secret. That’s what I’ve been keeping from you.”
“Arya, no…” he can’t believe it.
“I’m so sorry, Lexi,” I say.
“I didn’t even think…” Lexi starts.
“I know you didn’t, Lexi.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Lexi asks.
“His dad threatened me,” I say. “Threatened to ruin my dad’s practice.”
“What about the police, Arya?”
"Remember how you said it's not always obvious?" I say and Lexi nods. "That's why. I was not going to put my sister through an ordeal like that where they would tear her apart for everyone to see and Henri would get off scot-free."
“Why didn’t you tell me, Arya?” Lexi asks, and I see him grip his stick, trying to hold the anger inside him. “When it happened. Before spray painting his locker. I would have beaten him up then. You know I hate him.”
“I wanted to expose him,” I say, pointing to myself. “I wanted to get justice for my sister. I wanted to do it myself and let everyone see Henri for who he truly is. I had to be the one to do it. My sister was broken, Lexi.” Lexi stares at me, coming right up to the boards to be as close to me as he can.
Then a puck ricochets off the glass, hitting it at Lexi’s head level, right next to us. It startles both of us. Lexi turns around on his skates. “Watch where you’re shooting!!” Lexi barks at the group of three players where the puck came from.
“I was!” one player calls back. “Just a warning shot!”
“You know the rules, Lexi!” another one calls. They’re talking about me, but I don’t care.
Lexi turns back to me, anger in his face, and then slams his stick on the boards hard, again and again, letting out his anger. "Stop it, Lexi," I say to him. "You're going to break your stick."
“I don’t fuckin’ care, Arya!” Lexi yells in my face, leaning over the boards, and I can see the pain in his face. “That guy has been walking around the school like some soccer hotshot and now I find out he’s a rapist?!”
“Lexi, I came to you for a reason,” I say. “I’m telling you this because my sister and I are going to create a video to expose him for who he truly is. I wanted you to know before it came out, so you weren’t surprised. Everyone will know, Lexi. Everyone will know him for who he truly is.”
Lexi is starting to breathe more normally now, the anger, kind of, leaving his body. "You were protecting your sister this entire time?"
“I couldn’t put her through that,” I say. “But I couldn’t stand aside as everyone thought of Henri as some sort of sports god. I went a bit crazy, I lost control, but I had good intentions. I thought a fresh start at East Side might be what she needed. And it was, at the time. It’s different now though, Mia wants to share her story, she wants people to know what happened. She’s ready.” I’m just hoping it doesn’t blow up in our faces. What if this makes things worse for Mia? And my dad. If something happened to his practice, I would never forgive myself. But Mia wants to do this, and I have faith that it will work out. I trust my dad will know what he’s doing.
“Lexi!” the guys call out from the center of the ice, where they are starting to gather together for practice to begin. I see the coach isn’t there yet, just the assistant coach. A player skates by, hitting Lexi lightly on the back of the legs with his stick as a warning to hurry up.
“I’ll call you after practice,” Lexi says. “You can explain it all then.”
I smile at him, but then I hear the sounds of skates on rubber walking up to me from the dressing room hallway.
"Coach," Lexi says to the tall man with skates, a helmet, and a stick, wearing a black tracksuit. He stands with a straight face looking between me and Lexi, waiting for an explanation as to why I'm at the player's bench talking to the team's captain. "I'm sorry, Coach. It was an emergency," Lexi says and then gives me a look. "She was just leaving."
“Oh, it’s fine,” he says sarcastically, and I see Lexi mentally preparing himself to get chewed out. I guess he’s a strict coach. “I know it must be an emergency,” he says, and then looks down on me. “Because I know my niece would NEVER disturb one of my players unless it was.” Lexi’s eyes
go big at me. “Right, Arya?”
“Of course,” I say as I look up at him, his eyebrows raised at me. “I should probably go now.”
“I think that would be best,” he says and opens the door, stepping out on the ice, but then turns to me to say, “Good luck for your game this week, Arya. I know you’ll do great.” And then he skates to the center of the ice where all the players have congregated.
"You never thought to tell me your uncle was my coach?!" Lexi says to my face. He's shocked, to say the least.
“He’s not my uncle anymore,” I say. “He divorced my aunt years ago. He was like a second dad to me when I was a kid, but I never see him anymore.”
“Lexi!” they call from the ice.
“I better go before I get you in trouble,” I say and then walk away.
No POV
“Everyone here?” Coach says when Lexi joins the group.
“Well Lexi is technically late,” the assistant coach, Brad, says happily. “Too busy flirting with his girlfriend. You know what that means, Lexi.” Brad smiles and the players groan.
“No,” Coach says. “It was an emergency. We’re starting practice now.”
“You’re kidding?” Brad says. “Lexi was just chatting up his girlfriend. What kind of ‘emergency’ is that?
“Are you calling my niece a liar?” Coach says, turning to Brad, who goes beet red, and all the players go silent.
“No, I’d never…” Brad starts.
"Good," Coach says. "Now let's start practice unless you want to delay us even more, Brad?" Brad shakes his head.
Lexi laughs to himself as he sees Arya walking out of the arena. Seems like their stern coach has a soft spot for the niece he lost.
Chapter 49 – This is Me
“Another round of bullets hits my skin / Well, fire away 'cause today, I won't let the shame sink in / We are bursting through the barricades / And reaching for the sun (we are warriors) / Yeah, that's what we've become / Won't let them break me down to dust / I know that there's a place for us / For we are glorious / When the sharpest words wanna cut me down / Gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out / I am brave, I am bruised / I am who I'm meant to be, this is me / Look out 'cause here I come / And I'm marching on to the beat I drum / I'm not scared to be seen / I make no apologies, this is me” – This is Me, Keala Settle
Arya
“Ready?” I ask Mia as she sits at her desk with her laptop open, ready to start recording her video whenever she wants.
"I think so," Mia says.
“You don’t have to do this now,” I say. “We can wait.”
“No,” Mia says. “It really can’t wait.”
“Do you want me to stay here?” I ask.
“Yes,” Mia says. “I think that would help.”
I go over to her bean bag chair in the corner and take a seat, out of view of the laptop's camera, but still in Mia's peripheral vision. "I'll be right here."
Mia nods to me. She looks back to her laptop and takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. She just sits there for a while. After a minute I fear that all of this is a big mistake, but then she opens her eyes and presses a key on the laptop.
"Hi," Mia starts, looking straight at the laptop, talking to herself on the screen, which will eventually be shared with everyone. "For those of you who don't know, I'm Mia Secord and I am in Grade 9 at East Side Academy. I was previously at West Side Academy last term with my sister, Arya, who is in Grade 11. We both switched to East Side a week into the second term of the year. There has been a rumour spread about my sister, that she falsely accused a boy at West Side of rape. That she spray-painted 'RAPIST' on his locker, even though it wasn't true. That she was forced to leave West Side to protect her reputation and the reputation of the boy.
“I’m making this video to tell you that what you have heard is not true. It’s the story my sister was forced to tell. I know it’s not true because, the boy in question, the boy who had ‘RAPIST’ written on his locker, is a rapist. I know because he raped me. Henri Young raped me, and my sister was seeking justice for me by exposing him to everyone for who he truly is.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t go according to plan, and to protect Henri’s reputation, Henri’s father forced Arya and myself to switch schools, to sweep us under the rug. Henri’s father didn’t want the word rapist connected to his son. But it’s true, he is a rapist. Mr. Young even went so far as to threaten our father’s dental practice if we didn’t do what he said. He forced Arya to say that she falsely accused Henri of rape to the principal and he forced her to make that story her truth.
“Henri, if you’re watching this, I want you to know that you hurt me beyond measure, beyond healing. There is no coming back from this, no way to go back. I know you think you did nothing wrong, I know you’re going to say you didn’t know, that you thought I wanted it, but we both know that’s not true. Guilting someone to have sex with you, convincing someone they want to have sex with you, pushing someone to have sex with you, telling them that they want it, forcing yourself on someone that never gave consent; it’s all rape. Maybe you don’t see it that way right now, but I hope one day you do. No good man would ever do that to any girl, no decent man would guilt, push or force someone to have sex with them.
"I will be forever haunted by you. You took everything from me, and you don't even care. You made me feel like a prude if I didn't want sex, you made sex seem like nothing at all, just a way to pleasure yourself. You've left a permanent scar, Henri, but I won't let you ruin me. I will continue with life and I will go on knowing that it was you that was in the wrong every single time, it was never me. I'm not to blame for anything that happened, that is on you and I hope you can live with that, knowing that because of you, I will never be the same. I will be stronger, but what will you be? Will you continue pressuring girls for sex? I pray that you never treat a girl the way you treated me.
"I won't let you ruin my sister anymore. She doesn't deserve anyone, especially a guy like you, to ruin her life. You weren't able to own up to your true self and she had to suffer because of it. Now it's your turn, Henri. It's time for everyone to know that their West Side sports star is a rapist."
Mia clicks a key on the laptop and lets out a deep breath. "Mia," I say, starting to get up.
“How was it?” Mia asks, looking for honesty.
"Incredible," I say, hugging her.
***
Mia and I lock up our bikes at the side of the school like any other day. But it's not any other day. "Are you okay?" I ask her.
"I feel like a burden has been lifted," Mia says smiling. I hope you are still smiling at the end of today.
We walk through the side door together, and all eyes are watching us. People stop their conversations as we walk by like we don't know what they are talking about. People don't say anything to us though. I walk Mia to her locker, not wanting to leave her side.
“Go to your locker, Arya,” Mia says, but I hesitate.
A girl comes up to Mia that I don't recognize. "That was brave what you did," she says. "You're not the only one this has happened to."
“Thanks,” Mia says, and the girl walks off.
“Do you know her?” I ask.
“No,” Mia says. “Now please go to your locker, I’m fine.”
“Okay,” I say. “But you know that I’m around. Find me if you need me.”
Mia gets some kind comments throughout the morning, but most people are scared to approach her. Too many people don't know how to handle someone that has been through something traumatic. They don't know what to say, so their solution is to just avoid it completely and instead just talk about you behind your back. Nobody comes up to talk to me, except of course my friends and James.
"I'm proud of her," James says to me at my locker. "It takes a lot of courage to do that."
“I am too,” I say, but James can sense the uncertainty in my voice.
“What is it, Arya?” James says.
I look at James. “I c
ould handle it when all the heat was on me,” I say. “But now that it’s on her, there’s nothing I can do.”
“You can’t be her shield forever, Arya,” James says. “She needs to do this for herself and all we have to do is make sure that she knows that we are here for her, and she can always come to us no matter what.”
“I know, James, it’s just…” I start but then my phone starts ringing in my locker. I grab it, but the screen shows a number I don’t recognize. I answer, wondering who is on the other end of the line.
“I know it was you. I know you had something to do with it,” Henri’s voice fills my ear. I should have expected he would come after me. I should have expected it earlier actually.
“What’s wrong, Henri?” I say into the phone and James immediately tenses when he hears that name.
“What is he doing phoning you?!” James says to me, and I wave at him to be quiet.
"What's wrong?" Henri says irritated. "What's wrong is that your sister decided to post a video full of lies and dragging my name through the mud. You told her to do this, didn't you?"
"She told her truth," I say. "Not that it matters, but it was her idea. She thought it was time that everyone knows the real you. You see, underneath the rich, sports star exterior is just a boy with anger issues that thinks he's so desirable, but you really just force yourself on girls so you can talk with your friends about it later. I'm sure Mia's not the first. You have done this before to other girls and never held yourself accountable. You think what you are doing is okay. I'm right, aren't I?"
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Arya,” Henri says. “I’ve always thought you were annoying. Walking around this school like you own the place, perfect grades, soccer star, all the guys falling over you, but you never gave any of them a second look. Well, except a certain hockey captain, I guess. You had everything, why are you trying to ruin my life?”
"You ruined your own life, Henri," I say.
East Side Academy Page 33
