<spanng="EN">Holden’s POV


    <spanng="EN">The man in charge of my surveince had contacted me to say that it had beenpromised. I had just hoped that no one had fallen while it was down. Seeing Ana with a segment of the footage that I was missing had really concerned me. Had she been the one to do it? Then she yed the audio, and I knew it had been Tiffany. I had heard several loud blows, but Tiffany had soundedpletely different than she usually does. The hate she felt for Ana was evident. To hear her threaten her at the end was an eye–opener.


    <spanng="EN">When Ana suggested that her mother and her best friends leave the room, dread crept in. What I just witnessed and heard was pretty bad. What could be so much worse than that she had to send the others away? Her brother and father were here, but Ana had a hard look in her eyes. I wanted to leave with them. I no longer wanted to know why she hated me. I could tell from the look on her face that, as far as she was concerned, she had a valid reason for it.


    <spanng="EN">They exited the room, with her bodyguards exitingst. Both of them gave me a death re, as if they were warning me not to do anything to her while they were gone. I would never intentionally hurt her. The only thing I have to look forward to is finding out what I did so I can fix it. I will help her deal with everything else.


    <spanng="EN">Even against my own sister.


    <spanng="EN">The room was quiet for a few minutes before Ana motioned for us to sit down. “You’ll need to take a seat. Just let me get through as much as I can. My head still hurts, and I honestly didn’t want to go through this just yet, but there’s no point in hiding what happened anymore. Might as well get it all out in the open,” she said.


    <spanng="EN">He father took the seat next to her and took her hand in his. She smiled at him, but it wasn’t the same smile that she used to give. She is still pretty upset with the three of us.


    <spanng="EN">“Okay, do you want me to bring you up to speed about what Tiffany did, or start with Holden?” she asked.


    <spanng="EN">I knew for a fact that I didn’t want to start with my sins, so I promptly said, “Tiffany.” Thankfully, Seth said the same thing.


    <spanng="EN">“You and Holden told me to stay near Tiffany, that she would protect me. Except my Sophomore year, which was your first year at college, that wasn’t the case. That’s when the bullying started. You both knew that Tiffany had a thing for you,” Ana pointed at Seth, “and Gretchen had a thing for you,” she now pointed at me.” Knowing that, how could either of you seriously think that either of them would help me? Let alone protect me. How could you think it would end well?”


    <spanng="EN">“She promised she would look out for you. Naomi assured us that she would also keep an eye out for you,” Seth argued. He was already trying to pin the me on someone else.


    <spanng="EN">“Right, because Tiffany always told the truth. Like how she told her parents she was a good girl because she didn’t date. She didn’t have to date; she did whatever she wanted at school. She didn’t have to date. You know first–hand about Tiffany, don’t you, Seth? She loved telling me how good you were. She then told me that one day she would be my sister–inw and continue doing the same things she always did to me. It was the very reason I made sure to stay in the dorms in college and didn’t return home. Not unless I was forced to. You all were just caught up in your own lives. No one cared about what had happened to me or was still happening. I was told to “Get over it” and to “Stop being petty“, instead of anyone making any real effort to check on me. Sending me off to therapy as a cover for you to get someone else to figure it out, and just tell you what happened,” Ana faced her nket on the bed, but I saw the first tears drop onto her sheets.


    <spanng="EN">“I’m sorry, Ana,” Seth said, but his voice was husky with tears he was fighting not to spill.


    <spanng="EN">“We were only trying to help. You didn’t want to talk to any of us,” her father’s voice was raw with guilt as every word she spoke was the truth. We had all failed her, in one way or another.


    <spanng="EN">“If I had spoken up, would you have believed me back then? Or would it just be my word against hers? Wouldn’t it have torn your close friendships apart? Or would I have just been shipped off to a facility to get the ‘help‘ I needed? I didn’t need that to happen. I needed someone who was willing to stand up for me, to protect me. Like I now have with Charlie and Drew, they stand up for me,” Ana said.


    <spanng="EN">I felt jealousy bubble up inside me. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything, but I couldn’t hold it in. “Ana, they don’t care for you; of course, they stand up for you. It’s their job. It’s what they’re paid to do.”


    <spanng="EN">“No, it’s more than that. I trust them. They’ve proven themselves to me over and over again, despite it only being a short amount of time. They blocked me from the cameras when they certainly didn’t have to. I told them to go grab lunch ande to the police stationter, but they were behind me every step of the way. I’ve had security before; they are different from the teams that you three have. They actually care about my well–being,” Ana replied.


    <spanng="EN">She pointed to herptop, the screen frozen as that jerk carried her out. He had her blood on him, but it was obvious that he was worried about her. She was right. Now that hurts, because she is willing to defend them when she’s only known them for a day. That’spletely ridiculous. I hate that she is willing to trust them so easily, when we’ve known each other our whole lives. Seth didn’t like it either, but he stayed silent.


    <spanng="EN">“Tiffany and Gretchen left me alone for the first few months. They were too busy cheering and doing other stuff, and I was fine. Just a little bullying, a shove here, a trip there, from their friends. But then, things changed about two weeks before Thanksgiving. Our team hadn’t made the yoffs, and suddenly, they had a lot more time on their hands. By November, they had my ss schedules down. I had a free period right after P.E., which one of my favorite teachers ran. She knew why I showeredst. She knew that I had gained weight and didn’t want to be made fun of. So she let mee to sste,” Ana statedly with almost no emotion as she spoke.


    <spanng="EN">She had to shut down to do this. She stared out the window at something far away. Why did she have to shut down to do this? I looked at Seth, and he was ring back at me. I’ve never seen him so angry in all the years that we have known each other.


    <spanng="EN">“Tiffany took pictures of me naked in the showers. She shared some of those pictures with her friends. She put arge sticker that said fat ass on my locker with super glue that I got med for, and it couldn’t be removed because of the super glue. The camera in the hallway malfunctioned during the time frame that the sticker was put on. Just like they malfunctioned the time she let some of the football yers into the girls‘ locked room while I was trying to get dressed. No camera, no crime,” Ana said.


    <spanng="EN">“Did they touch you?” Seth asked through clenched teeth.


    <spanng="EN">“No, but they took more pictures of me. It was bad enough they were even there. Then Tiffany released photos she took that looked like I wanted to be in there with them. Hiding my face, so you didn’t see I was crying. That experience was the very reason I learned how to hack. I was isted and tormented. I became anxious and depressed. Designing became the only thing that helped me get past it. I started to see a therapist in college, and that helped,” Ana answered.


    <spanng="EN">“I am so sorry, Ana. I hope you know that I condemn her actions. I speak for my parents as well. None of us knew what she was doing to you, or we would have stopped her. I would never hurt you like she did.” I replied. I was so d they hadn’t touched her. I know that would be something that Ana might not have been able to get past.


    <spanng="EN">“But you already have, Holden. Tiffany wasn’t the only Vaughn that hurt me back then. Why would I punish you for her actions? I didn’t me you or Seth for what she did. She was just a horrible choice to assign as a protector when she was my biggest bully. Tiffany’s actions are just that, her own actions. Gretchen’s actions. were her own. Although Gretchen never put her hands on me. What she did, in my opinion, was worse,” Ana said.


    <spanng="EN">“Whatever you need, we will help you with. I will pay for your stay here. I will also pay for any therapy you need. I wish I could take it all away, but I swear to you that I never knew that you were put through so much. I want to make this right,” I offered.


    <spanng="EN">“Ana is a Caldwell; she doesn’t need your money, Holden. I won’t let Tiffany traumatize my sister any longer. We don’t need your help; we will handle this ourselves,” Seth advised quietly.


    <spanng="EN">Things were going very badly, and I wish I had just listened to Seth and left. This conversation might have been better just between the two of us. I didn’t want to ask, but I knew that was exactly what she was waiting for me to do. “What did Gretchen do?” I managed to ask.


    <spanng="EN">Ana’s low chuckle let me know immediately that I wasn’t going to like what she said, “What did Gretchen do? Funny how you would phrase it that way, Holden. Like it was all her fault.”


    <spanng="EN">My scalp tingled at her reply. I could tell from the way Seth was ring at me, he was waiting to find out exactly what I did to her, too. His hands were clenched into fists as he stared at me. I think Seth was actually ready to swing on me. Her father looked the same way. Like he was ready to burn the world down to protect Ana.