“Why can’t Harlow be on camera with you? Is she okay? Tell her hi for me and that I love her and that she did so good! Post again soon, please!”

Winnow ended the video by blowing kisses and waving. Meanwhile, Stella frowned as she stared at the screen before hitting the REPLAY button. Twice.

So good with what?

Her notifications list had been set to “oldest replies” first. She’d been watching them in the order they were received.

Winnow sent the video at 2:17 P.M. No. It couldn’t be … could it?

Following her hunch, she reset her notifications to “newest replies” first and clicked on the first video in the queue.

“Hey, Stella. I, like, never do video replies, ever, but I wanted to say, um, that I know exactly how you feel about your parents. Mine are like that too. At my school, this kid, he, well, um. It’s still really hard for me to talk about it. Sorry. I’m in therapy too. I’ve been working really hard, you know? I just can’t yet. Um, but yeah, now my parents are super overprotective too and they won’t let me do anything. I barely get to leave the house now. If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here. I’m rooting for you and Luna to win the game.”

“Sneaky, sneaky,” Stella whispered to her room. Laughter that sounded like she was hyperventilating bubbled out of her mouth. Her skin prickled with goose bumps as she went hot and cold at the same time. She stared at the camera in the corner of the bedroom. At the solid red dot in the center of the small black dome to remind her the camera was on.

Forget Big Brother, Golden Rule was watching.

But where were they watching? Stella went back to the landing page, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling—nothing. When she searched for The Cruelest Jewel, the only videos that popped up were about them. Theories and reactions and shipping—what the hell was shipping? She clicked on a video with her name in the title.

“Okay, guys, so I just spent the last two hours catching up and it’s totally not my place to speculate about her sexuality because she hasn’t said it, but it’s very obvious she’s not into any of the boys. I don’t buy that whole jury analogy she tried to sell. Ethan is hot as hell and she’s barely glanced at him?? Okay, like, wtf? But at the same time, is anybody else getting serious enemy-to-lover vibes between her and Francis? Yeah, I know he’s into Nicole, but I think he has the most chemistry with Stella. Breakfast was tense as heck, but at lunch he kept staring at her! I don’t think she even noticed—”