“Did you hear that?" I looked at Danielle in panic.
“Yes, I did,” she nodded with troubled eyes as she confirmed.
“I heard the sound from this window,” I told her as I pointed at my left window.
“Me too,” she replied with widened, fear-stricken eyes. My hands were trembling. It was my first time to see Danielle terrified. She had always been so courageous.
“I think it’s the sound of a camera,” I concluded.
“I believe so,” she agreed.
“I don’t want to upset you, dear,” she said, “but do you think it might be..." Then she hesitated.
“Who?" I asked her immediately. My eyebrows furrowed.
“Iverson,” she whispered weakly. Her mouth was downturned.
“No!” I hissed quietly, matching her whisper. “He can’t do that! Remember, he saved me!”
 
She looked away from me and sighed. It seemed that she was entertaining the possibility that Iverson could be the one stalking me. I glared at her. I was a bit angry. I tried to calm down. I breathed in and out. Then I calmly told her, “I think you should go home. We have school tomorrow.”
We said goodbye to each other. She left the house. I was mad. How could one of my best friends think and speak negatively about the boy that I liked? I listened to one of my favorite pop songs. It was a happy song. I wanted to replace my anger with happiness. But that didn’t work. I shook my head in disappointment. I turned off my phone and slept on my bed. I didn’t even eat my dinner.
The morning after, while I was eating a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and rice, Mom stated in her worried tone, “You didn’t eat dinner last night. Did something happen?”
I stopped chewing and retorted. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I drank a glass of water.
“Don’t talk to your mother like that!” Dad scolded me.
I stormed off and went to school. I walked and took a bus. I knew I was disrespectful to my parents. But I was enraged by last night's incident and Danielle’s accusation against my suitor, Iverson. I didn’t want my family to know about it. They had enough problems already.
Upon setting foot in school, everyone stared and grinned maliciously at me. Even the people I didn’t know were doing that. I had no idea why. I just ignored them as I walked the hallways. When I reached the corridor to my classroom, Rosalyn and her minions were smiling malevolently at me. I rolled my eyes and asked angrily, "What now, Rosalyn?"
“I didn’t know you had a nice body, Imogen,” she answered sarcastically. “You should be the model of a men’s magazine.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion. She gave me some pictures. I grabbed them and stared at them in horror. It was me stripping off my uniform! I was changing into my home clothes. Someone took a picture of me naked! I was ashamed of myself. Suddenly, a group of faces were laughing at me. Most of my classmates were laughing at me. I ran off to the restroom. My tears were streaming down my warm cheeks. Danielle followed me.
As I was crying in front of the restroom mirror, Danielle gently and calmly touched my shoulders and told me, “You can cry for a few minutes. But please calm yourself and be strong after. We have school. You need to be strong. We will investigate and find out who did this to you.”
“But I don’t want to go to school,” I shot back as I sobbed.
“You have to,” she stated. “Besides, school is important to you. You love studying, don’t you?”
I nodded while crying, “Yes, I do.”
She looked at me and my reflection in the mirror and said, “You are strong. Don’t ever forget that.”
I stopped crying after a few minutes. I wiped my tears. Danielle had relieved herself and left the cubicle. She approached me as I held the table in the restroom mirror.
“Are you ready now?” She asked me.
“Yes, I am,” I answered. I put some powder on my face and a lip gloss on my lips to look fresh.
We left the restroom and entered the classroom as if nothing had happened.
As the teachers discussed the lessons, I listened and took notes. On the left side, a few rows back, Rosalyn and her minions smirked evilly at me. I ignored them and focused on the lessons instead. We had seatworks and quizzes from the first to the second period. I excelled in them. I followed Danielle’s advice. I acted like nothing bad happened. I didn’t cry because someone leaked a picture of me almost naked. But I also became vigilant as my friend and I tried to figure out the disgusting person who took the sensitive picture. What a nasty thing to do, right? Who in their right mind would do such a horrible thing?
I didn’t deserve this. I was a good kid. Iverson looked at me with pitiful eyes. So he knew just what happened. He probably heard it from our classmates.
“Are you okay?” Iverson asked me as he slightly tilted his head.
I nodded faintly. “Yes, I am all right.”
“Let’s eat together during recess,” he offered.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Okay then,” he responded as he lowered his head. Then he left me and let me be.
I declined his offer, not because I didn’t trust him or because I thought it was he who did the evil thing. I just wasn’t comfortable being around a person of the opposite sex right now.
After recess, I continued attending the classes. At lunch, Iverson offered his companionship again to me. But I declined his offer for the second time. I would rather eat with my female friends.
At the cafeteria, I sat down at a table with Danielle, Ava, and Harper. We talked about the despicable incident.
“I can’t believe that Rosalyn would show your photos to everyone and make fun of you!” Ava exclaimed. “She’s acting like a guy.” She gulped her iced coffee. On the opposite side of the coffee was a grilled cheese sandwich.
“A terrible guy,” Harper corrected as she swiftly ate spaghetti with meatballs. “Rosalyn and her friends are female misogynists.”
“Yeah, including most of our classmates who laughed with them,” Danielle agreed as she chewed a cheeseburger and fries.
“Do you think Iverson did it?” Danielle asked her long-time best friends.
“No! ”Ava yelled vehemently. “He’s such a sweetheart, and he cares about Imogen.”
“But he seems obsessed with her too,” Harper noted. “I remember the story of how he saved you from the thief. I mean, don’t you think it’s too coincidental?” She looked at me.
“Guys, I told you, he can’t be the one who’s doing that! That’s impossible!” I defended him. “He will never hurt me like that!” 
I walked out on my friends. I didn’t even finish my lunch.
Upon setting foot in my bedroom after school, my ghost friend Seraphina appeared, held my hand, and told me, “Come here; I have something to show you.”