Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 67

Vivian wasn’t sure if she was imagining it or not, but it felt like people were staring at her when she walked down the hall. Even during class there seemed to be a low murmur going on around her that normally wasn’t there. It continued throughout all her morning classes and even as she sat at the usual spot in the cafeteria.

Had someone found out about her being involved in the shooting at the mall? Or how bad her driving had been during the escape and subsequent chase?

A few minutes later Miriam joined her at the table, dropping into her usual seat with a huff. “Remember how you asked what’s the worst that could happen with someone impersonating you on social media?”

Vivian paused mid-chew for a second before swallowing. “Yeah…”

“Well you’ll be happy to know it got a lot worse.”

This caught Vivian’s attention as she set down her fork and stared at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t have the messages or photos or proof, but from what I’ve overheard you’ve already chatted up most of the school.”

“…chatted up how, exactly? What does that mean?”

Looking visibly uncomfortable, Miriam glanced around quickly before lowering her voice as she leaned closer. “Well, you know… flirting and… sending photos…”

Why would anyone think this person was actually Vivian if all they did was flirt with everyone? For the most part she didn’t know how to hold a normal conversation; who would believe this impersonator was the real deal? “What kind of photos are they sending? As far as I know there aren’t any out there to use, so are they secretly taking photos of me or something?”

“Uhm…” Miriam’s hesitation last for a few seconds before she found the courage to say, “I think they’re using AI to put your face on some of them…”

That made sense, but Vivian still couldn’t see the big deal. Were they of her doing something like drinking or doing drugs? “Okay, but… why is that a big deal?”

Miriam let out a sigh before blurting out, “some of them are of you in… very little clothes or… compromising positions…”

Now that caught her attention. Vivian stared at her friend for nearly a minute before she regained the ability to talk. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, so, whoever is doing this is flirting with tons of people and sending out photos like that to … pretty much everyone.”

“Well that’s dumb of them,” Vivian retorted, a heat blooming in her chest as her fingers clenched her fork so hard her knuckles turned white. “I’d never do anything like that so this makes no sense.”

“That’s just it — they’re probably trying to turn everyone against you, or at least get everyone to believe you’re… well, a loose woman, if you will.”

“A loose woman,” Vivian echoed as she forced herself to let go of the fork to give her aching fingers a break. “That’s just…”

A tray slammed down across them from and Theo glared at Vivian as he looked at her, not taking his usual seat. “What the hell, Vivian.”

“Not you too,” she sighed, leaning back in her chair. “Before you start, I don’t have, nor plan to ever have, a social media account.

The boy paused as he continued to glare at her as if caught between believing her words and whatever he’d come to say. For an entire minute he stood there, never looking away before letting out a sigh and dropping into a chair. “Well that ruins my entire speech.”

“Good,” Vivian nodded once.

“Can I hear your speech?” Miriam spoke up, a smile tugging on her mouth as she ignored the sharp look Vivian directed her way.

“Well…” he trailed off, looking a bit uncomfortable as he ran a hand through his unruly hair. “To be honest, I didn’t have an actual speech prepared.”

“So what were you going to say?” She prodded again as Vivian let out another huff.

“It’s embarrassing now,” he finally admitted with a sheepish grin.

“Perfect!” Miriam laughed. “Now you really have to tell us. Come on, Theo, spill!”

It was his turn to sigh. “Fine. I was pissed because I kept hearing about everyone chatting with Vivian and my friend request kept getting declined.”

“You wanted her to flirt and send you photos, too?” Miriam teased, but the look on his face wiped the smile from her own. He looked mad. “I’m just teasing you; sorry, Theo. Really. Just trying to make light of the situation.”

“It’s not like I have your number,” he said as he turned his attention to Vivian, “so I couldn’t ask what was going on. I was getting all this weird info from tons of people and none of it made sense, but you wouldn’t add me as a friend so I couldn’t send you a message to ask about it.”

“I’m happy to let you know it’s not me behind the account,” Vivian informed him. “So you aren’t actually missing out on anything other than someone using my name to play games.”

“Yeah… about that. You know people are dragging your name through the mud, right?”

“I figured as much,” she nodded. “Let them. If they actually took the time to get to know me they’d realize it was all fake in a heartbeat.”

“That’s not how high school works,” he laughed a little. “The gossip will only get worse the longer you let it go without addressing it. We need to find whoever is behind the account and get them to stop.”

Vivian raised her brow. “I’m not worried about any of it though.”

Theo stared at her for another long moment. “How does this *not* bother you? It bothers *me* and it’s not even about me. Even Miriam seems bothered by it.”

“It definitely bothers me,” Miriam agreed, eager to jump on the ‘do something about it’ bandwagon the two of them were loading up. “You should at least tell the school administration. If things keep going you could be up for disciplinary action or even expelled for conduct unbecoming of a student.”

It was two against one, but Vivian ignored the peer pressure and shook her head. “No. Let it snowball all it wants. I literally don’t care.”

“Vivian,” Theo snapped, his hands clenched into fists as he leaned forward. “How can you not care at all about this? Do you not value yourself in the slightest?”

Tilting her head a little to one side, Vivian took a second to find the appropriate words to get her point across. “You’re acting like this is the end of the world, but to me it isn’t,” she began, speaking slowly, almost carefully as she weighed each word that left her mouth. “There’s so much worse out there that this kind of thing barely registers for me.”

Her two friends — Theo had suddenly jumped into the friend category — stared at her but she ignored them and finished her meal in silence.

“Vivian…” Miriam trailed off as she pushed away what remained of her meal before turning to face the raven-haired girl who seemed unable to understand their concern. “You make it sound like you’ve… seen some of the ‘worse’ that’s out there…”