That night, hundreds of kids in our school get a message from Aidan from his Insta account. It’s not that hard to hack Instagram. There are even tutorials online that can show you how to do it. I guess Dee found out how. I mean, I can only assume she did. Nothing else really explains this:

HEY THERE. I THOUGHT IT’D BE A GOOD IDEA IF I LET YOU KNOW: I HAVE HERPES. IT’S CONTAGIOUS AND DISGUSTING, BUT IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO KNOW. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

*   *   *

I get a text from Ava with a screenshot of the message.

Is that even true??? she asks.

Does she think I’d know? Does it matter?

But that breathing, pulsing online world never sleeps if we don’t, and so of course there is more. People reacting, other posts, Aiden’s own fury whiplashing back, saying he’d been hacked and that whoever did that would not get away with it.

Dee and I get texts from the others. Michelle, whose attention from Breanne was part of the beginning.

Did you see that thing on insta

Yeah

Do you think it’s going too far

Dee writes back: No, man, not at all. Not far enough. Think about who he is, who they all are! I can’t believe you are doubting, now, after everything!

Ok Ok I’m sorry you’re right.

Goddamn right I’m right. Don’t look back. Eyes forward.

She makes me nervous when she’s like this. So unshakable in her beliefs, so committed to letting things unravel, to watching to see what will happen, to nudging it, or pushing it along if necessary. I watch through my phone as everyone is commenting, laughing, furious. Everyone feels different; everyone feels the same.

And then, late in the night, there is an Insta story from Breanne.

She flips her hair and talks to the camera: “I feel the need to speak out about something I’ve been worrying about for a long time, and that I think puts our safety and comfort at school in jeopardy.

“One of my teachers is changing her sex. I don’t think that’s appropriate for a teacher. I know maybe that’s not politically correct, but I’m just saying what lots of us are thinking. School is crazy enough right now, what with the bullying and stuff, it’s confusing, and now we don’t even know what our teachers are!

“But even worse than that is that I have a feeling she/he has a thing going on with one of the girls who I think is part of all the bullying. I saw them together and there’s no denying they have a relationship. A physical relationship. This person is very unstable anyway, if any of you have seen her videos. This makes me feel uncomfortable, so I thought I should speak out.”