Natasha grinned. "I knew a guy like that at my high school."
Arnella smiled. "There is always one, isn't there."
Natasha removed her jacket. "I am getting warm. You know, I predict that this will be the coldest winter in Mount Faith. It's just September and already I have to wear a jacket when I'm out. So, who else was there that you know?"
"Cory Livingston." Arnella shrugged. "He tried to chat me up from the moment I arrived at the party." She smirked. "He was always doing that to me in high school as well… following me around. I used to embarrass him, shoo him. It never worked. He was my adoring shadow."
"How many persons were there?" Natasha asked.
"Around thirty, I guess. There was the Mount Faith crowd, Tracy's new friends. They were friendly enough, but I didn't know them. I stayed in the pool most of the time. I didn't want to chat to the three guys that I actually knew from high school so I was feeling really bored. I was the only one who hadn't gone to sixth form and on to university, so I felt a bit left out of Tracy's life, you know."
Natasha nodded. "So you entered the party…stayed in the pool. What did you eat or drink?"
"I had a hot dog." Tracy had a caterer do the party. "I tried the hot dog and a slice of pizza then went to the bar and got a root beer. When it was finished, a guy came and refilled my root beer. A waiter."
"The bar?" Natasha asked, "Who was manning it?"
"A guy," Arnella shook her head, "I guess he worked with the catering company. He had on their uniform."
"How many beers did you drink?" Natasha flipped her notebook page again.
"About five, or six, but they were root beers." Arnella got up and stretched. "They were alcohol free. I don't drink alcohol. My Mom is an alcoholic, and my Dad died in a bar, so I vowed to stay away from that poison."
Natasha tapped her forehead with the pen. "Was Tracy serving alcohol?"
"No," Arnella shook her head. "It was an alcohol free party though David claimed he was drunk."
"Mmmh." Natasha scribbled something. "So you were in the pool and then you got out? Why?"
Arnella hung her head. She didn't want to face the reason why she had gotten out of the pool. She had been showing off for Alric, to be honest. She had wanted him to see her. She had wanted some reaction, so she had stretched in her little flimsy swimsuit. She was no better than Tracy had said. A piece of her had found him interesting, just because Tracy had, probably.
She sighed, "I came out because I was showing off."
Natasha grinned. "You were?"
"Yes, it was about the time when Alric came on the scene. I wanted him to see my nipple ring and I wanted to give him a bad girl impression. You know, to confirm all the stuff that I know he had heard about me. The people in my community thrived on rumors and I was their favorite topic."
"And then what happened?" Natasha was watching her closely.
"Then David came up to me and put his arm around me. He is taller than me you know; my head probably reaches his chin. He said, 'Nella, we would like to propose a toast to maturity, long life, and success,' or something like that. He handed me a cup, one of those red plastic ones, then Cory and Jeff came by, grinning."
I clicked my cup with theirs then drank the root beer. It tasted slightly off but I guzzled it down. I then remember David moving up close to my face and asking me if I felt okay.
Then Jeff said something about me looking like a short supermodel and then I laughed. Like an idiot."
Arnella hissed her teeth. "I laughed. Then the next thing I know everything started to look fuzzy and I mumbled that I was going to have to sit down, maybe change into my regular clothes. I had gotten fed up of the party. I think it was David, or Jeff who held my hand and said he'd help me to the changing room. Next thing I knew it was morning and I was in the Carr's guest room."
Natasha nodded. "Let me see the video."
Arnella glanced at her computer uncertainly. "I don't want to see it really. I can't bear to."
"That's okay," Natasha said, "I'll watch it."
Arnella pointed to the two emails and watched as Natasha clicked on the video links.
Natasha's expressions didn't change much during the videos. When she finally looked up at Arnella she said slowly. "This was carefully edited."
"The second video?" Arnella asked anxiously.
"Yes, both of them. It actually looks as if you were aware of what was going on." Natasha drummed her pen on the table. "Who were you waving to in the opening scene of the first video?"
Arnella sighed. "Alric. He was looking around for Tracy and I yelled something to him."
"They also showed you stretching seductively." Natasha shook her head. "I presume that was also when you were showing off for Alric?"
Arnella ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "It looks bad, doesn't it?"
"Did you see anyone around with a video camera while you were waving?" Natasha was also looking confused.
"No. No." Arnella shook her head vehemently. "To the right of the pool, there were only people dancing and that seems to be the angle of the video. I caused this, didn't I? If I wasn't so provocatively dressed, I wouldn't have been in this situation."
Natasha frowned. "This video is not your fault. It is not time to panic yet. The video footage is very damning, yes. I am not going to lie. In the first clip, you look happy. The videographer zoomed in on your tongue ring. You then came out of the pool and stretched elegantly like you knew you were being watched. Then there is a clip with you in a room, passionately kissing a guy. Only the side of his face is visible. Then there is a clip where they are taking off your clothes but only your face is visible, then there is one with your head, back, and spine arched with one guy, whose face is obscured, licking your body. You looked like you were enjoying it."
Arnella squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't remember any of that. I really don't remember the pool room part, except for some fuzzy pieces."
"Who knows this email address?" Natasha asked.
"I use it for everything." Arnella said despairingly. "I don't know who knows. It is no secret."
"How long have you had it?" Natasha had her pen poised above the paper.
"Since I was sixteen, nearly five years ago. That's why it's called Arnella16." Arnella scrunched up her face. "This doesn't look good, does it? Be honest with me."
Natasha shook her head. "It doesn't. If I didn't hear your side of the story and know that you are genuinely hurting over this video, I'd say you were posing for it and that you wanted this. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that there was a crime committed here unless somebody at the party can verify that they saw someone put whatever drug was used into your cup. Even then, a clever lawyer can have the case dismissed in a jiffy. This video is damning, but as yet, there is no blackmail or anything to prove that this is a crime."
Tears came to Arnella's eyes and she blinked them back. "All I did was go to a lousy party. I admit that I could have turned down the sex appeal a bit more, well a huge chunk more. I don't want these videos to get out. I didn't consent to it. Can't you do something about that?"
Natasha patted her on her hand. "There are still some things we can do."
"Like what?" Arnella sniffed.
"I could ask my friend, Miles, from the cyber crime unit to trace the email address of whoever sent this thing. She looked at the address again. Both videos were sent from the [email protected]. That would save us loads of trouble of going to investigate on our own. The only problem is this kind of information will take weeks to get because there is some red tape involved. Email addresses are usually private and protected closely by the companies who issue them. In the meantime, I am going to check out David, Cory, and Jeff and find out exactly who took this video of you and whether there are any copies and whether any of them sent the emails."
Arnella sighed, a huge juddering motion that did nothing to loosen the panic in her mind.
"Hang in there," Natasha said softly. "I have no pacifying
words to tell you, but I know how this must feel. If I can find out who used this date rape drug on you, I will personally make sure that they serve some time behind bars. This is abhorrent and criminal."
Chapter Twelve
It was shaping up to be an extremely wet September. It had been two days since Arnella had her interview with Natasha, and she was finding it hard not to blame herself for her current misfortune. In her session with Taj, he had told her that she was a victim and wasn't to be blamed, but she couldn't help but playing what-if-games in her head.
What if she hadn't worn that revealing bikini? What if she hadn’t tried to show off for Alric? What if she wasn't trying to be the life of the party? She would have been okay now. She wouldn't have been sexually assaulted and had a video of her in the hands of grimy pervs. God forbid that it starts floating around in cyberspace.
Arnella stepped into the Business Center. She had to eat some lunch. Her appetite had been playing hide and seek with her. She looked around the courtyard. Students were seated in little pockets around the indoor palm trees, talking and laughing. They looked so carefree and untouched by melancholy. That's exactly how she pictured that university students should look anyway, not burdened down with a million and one problems.
Then she saw a head moving up and down in laughter and she realized that it was Cory Livingston. One of the criminals, she thought snarkily. He was in a green shirt and was sitting with a group of his friends. One girl had her hand around his neck in a possessive manner.
So he found something funny, she thought resentfully. He could laugh and carry on with his life while she was miserable. She clenched her fists in anger. She wanted to do to Cory the same thing that she did to David, but she couldn't. Not here. Not now. She would surely be arrested for assault, and that would not make her life any easier. She wondered if Natasha had interviewed them yet. Then she thought not. He wouldn't be there, acting all carefree, if he knew that she had reported him to the police.
She walked to the cafeteria section feeling anger and guilt erupting inside her. Then she stopped at the doorway. Maybe she wasn't hungry after all. She had no appetite and she didn't want to run into Cory because she would attack him in anger, and it would not be pretty. She would surely overreact; she knew it.
She was turning around to leave the cafe area when she saw Alric turning around from the counter with a tray in hand.
"Hey," he called to her. "What's going on?"
Arnella smiled half-heartedly. "Nothing much."
There was a girl standing beside him. She was in a white lab coat. Her hair was caught up in a high ponytail, and she had on braces. She had slanted eyes that indicated some kind of Asian descent. She grinned when she saw Arnella.
"Want to have lunch with us?" Alric asked her.
Arnella shook her head.
"Come on," the girl said. "I want to have lunch with a non-medical."
"A non-medical?" Arnella asked.
"Yup, someone who is not into medicine and isn't likely to talk about it. I want to hear about what is going on in regular school."
"This is Kim Lee," Alric said to Arnella. "She is going to be the youngest graduate from med school in recent history."
"Uh," Kim said, "we are going to go sit over there. Go get something to eat and come join us."
Arnella made a face. "Not hungry. I'll just come join you."
They headed to the other side of the courtyard to where Cory was. Arnella sat with her back toward him, across from Kim and Alric.
Alric had a worried expression on his face. "I don't understand. You aren't eating again."
Kim's eyes perked up. "Are you sick? Should we diagnose her?"
Alric glanced at Kim. "Okay, shoot."
"Well," Kim looked at Arnella assessingly. "She looks a bit underweight to me. I would guess anorexia or maybe bulimia."
"But there are no telltale signs around her lips." Alric said, looking at Arnella. "They look pink and soft, not cracked at all and..."
"Can we change the subject?" Arnella said quickly, "I am neither bulimic nor anorexic, and I thought you said you wanted to talk to a non-medical."
Kim laughed. "I know right. It always comes back to medicine for me. I hope you aren't sick though and all this concern is just from an overly sensitive med school boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend," Arnella said quickly.
Kim laughed and looked at Alric's crestfallen expression.
"He'd like to be though."
Arnella drummed her fingers on the table impatiently. If she were really honest, she'd like to be his girlfriend. Somewhere along the line, her perspective on Alric had shifted. She had gone from seeing him as a stuck up snob to seeing him as a guy she would have loved to date, but he wouldn't want to be her boyfriend if he knew what she was facing now. Alric didn't seem as if he would want somebody like her. He was better off with Tracy's type: circumspect in all her ways, ambitious, good family background.
She sighed involuntarily. Alric looked up from his food, frowning. Kim looked at Arnella at the same time. "So tell me about life outside of the medical building."
Arnella looked away from Alric. "I have no idea. I am here under duress so I just go to class and then home to work on my paintings."
"Interesting," Kim said, "I hear a lot of people say they are forced by their parents to come here. Not me, I couldn't wait to get out of high school."
"Which she did when she was just fourteen," Alric said admiringly. "Kim here is a genius."
"But," Kim said, "I am hopelessly underdeveloped socially. Just this morning I heard some girls talking to each other about a sex tape going around. I heard it had something to do with the president. If you ask me, I am not interested in seeing the president of this university in a lewd position."
Arnella felt her blood run cold. Her mouth fell open and she struggled to breathe. Sex tape. It must be the one with her!
"That's only a rumor," Alric said, "and since I have become friends with Arnella, I am counseling myself to stop listening to rumors. These things are whack. No truth to them. Right Arnella?"
Arnella wanted to run from the building, all the way down the hill to the plains of Santa Cruz and into her house, and lock the door and never talk to anyone again. "Right," she answered Alric faintly. "I think I am coming down with something."
Kim raised her eyebrows. "I hope it's not the flu. I can't afford to catch anything now."
Arnella shook her head. "I hope not; gotta run."
She got up and headed to the courtyard exit. She hadn't even realized that Alric was at her heels; he grabbed her hand and spun her around when they were away from the Business Center.
"What's wrong?"
Arnella's eyes watered. "Nothing." She cleared her throat. "Nothing."
Alric nodded. "I don't believe you. You were clearly upset when you heard about a sex tape involving your uncle. Don't worry about it; they have rumors flying around the campus all the time."
"They do?" Arnella asked calming down enough to think about it. Maybe she had overreacted because the words sex tape was a hot button issue for her. Maybe there really was a coincidental rumor about a tape going around. She breathed out. She was super sensitive these days.
"Yup." Alric grinned. "There was a time when there was this rumor going around that the old president was murdered by his gay lover. They even said your uncle did it."
Arnella smiled. "I heard that one."
"Then there was this rumor that Micah was the rapist around campus a couple of years ago. Of course, that proved to be untrue and then there was a rumor that your cousin Adrian was hiding Cathy from that druggist guy. What's his name again? Nanjo."
Arnella inhaled and then exhaled in a huff. "Okay. I see where this is going; my family is a target for the rumor mill."
"You know I never knew that you felt this way about rumors," Alric said ruefully, "You always seemed so unaffected by them. Listen, Arnella," he said, holding her hand, "I am sorry I listened to
all the crap I heard about you and believed them."
Arnella chuckled. "Does this mean that you don't think I am morally bankrupt anymore?"
Alric frowned. "I decided to forget what I saw and judge you on what I know now. Okay?"
"'Kay." Arnella felt a raindrop land on her forehead, and she looked up at the sky. "Another downpour is coming. What are you going to do now?"
Alric grinned a lopsided grin that showed off his left dimple. "I am going to interpret that question as you wanting to spend time with me. As a matter of fact, I planned to go to my apartment and continue studying for the infamous Multiple Mini Interview."
"What's that?" Arnella asked, suddenly not wanting to be alone and wanting to hang with him a bit longer.
"That's when they ask you questions based on your whole medical career in a circuit interview setting. You can't graduate med school without this dreaded interview cycle."
"So you will be finished this year?"
"Yes," Alric nodded, "from med school. Then it's internship at the Medical Center and then three years residency. By that time, I'll be twenty-seven. Do you think you can handle having an intern doctor friend for three years?"
The rain started pouring down in earnest, but Arnella couldn't move. Was he asking her to be his girlfriend? Was this his backhanded way of asking?
They stared at each other while the rain came down harder. Little rivulets of water were winding their way down his smooth nutmeg skin to his lips. Arnella watched them fascinatedly then finally shook her head. "Of course. I'll be your friend, if that's what you want."
Alric smiled slowly. "That's a start. You're wet."
"So are you," Arnella said shyly.
"Want to come to my apartment and dry off?" Alric asked.
Arnella thought about it for so long that Alric folded his arms and shook his head, "I promise; I will behave myself."
Arnella wondered if she could trust him. She had just come from a situation where she was finding it difficult to trust men. She finally nodded.
"Good," Alric said playfully, "because I am getting soaked here."
The air felt freezing as they walked together toward the Blue Palm Apartments.
Sense of Rumor (Mount Faith Series: Book 6) Page 10
