You Are Most Beautiful Through the Lens Chapter 6

I stared at the message from Ethan, my finger hovering over the screen, unsure who to believe.

Tyler had known me for eleven years. Ethan had only known me for a few weeks.

But—Tyler had also known Sophia for a long time, yet he never saw through her schemes.

I took a deep breath and called Ethan back.

"Is what you said true?"

"Skylar," his voice was serious. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like this. I have proof."

A few seconds later, he sent a voice recording.

It was Sophia’s voice: "Tyler, let's go to Griffith Park to see the stars! Just the two of us, like before."

Tyler's voice sounded exhausted: "Sophia, I'm really tired today, and—"

"You just don't want to hang out with me, right?" Sophia's voice suddenly became shrill. "Ever since Skylar left, you've been like this! Tyler, I need you too!"

"Fine, I'll go with you." Tyler compromised.

The recording ended there.

"Tyler's roommate recorded this," Ethan explained. "Sophia kept pestering Tyler that night. His roommate felt something was off, so he secretly recorded it."

"Later, when Tyler got hurt and Sophia pushed all the blame onto you, the roommate couldn't stand it anymore and gave the recording to me."

My hand gripped the phone tighter.

"Why give it to you?"

Ethan was silent for a few seconds. "Because he knows I care about you."

That sentence was like a pebble thrown into a lake, creating ripples in my heart.

"Skylar," Ethan continued. "You can go see Tyler, but don't soften your heart out of guilt. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Sophia is betting on your soft heart. She's betting that guilt will make you go back to Tyler."

"Don't let her win."

I closed my eyes, tears sliding down my cheeks.

"Thank you, Ethan."

"You're welcome." His voice was gentle. "Good luck with the interview tomorrow. I'll be right here, waiting for you."

After hanging up, I opened Instagram and looked at the overwhelming abuse under Sophia's post.

"Skylar Hayes, are you even human?"

"Trash! Tyler did so much for you, and this is how you treat him!"

"Get out of our school!"

Someone even dug up photos of me and Ethan, captioning them: "Look, this is her new boy toy. Her ex is still in a hospital bed, and she's already hooked up with someone else."

My hands were shaking.

These people knew nothing about the truth, yet they stood on the moral high ground to judge me.

Madison called again. "Skylar, are you okay? The comments on Instagram are vicious!"

"I'm fine." I took a deep breath. "Mads, do me a favor."

"Name it."

"Post that recording Ethan gave me on your Instagram. Caption it—'The truth is never late'."

Madison paused, then laughed. "Done! Posting it right now!"

Ten minutes later, Madison's Instagram blew up.

The comments section instantly shifted from "Attacking Skylar" to "Attacking Sophia."

"Holy sh*t, so that's what happened?"

"So Tyler getting hurt had nothing to do with Skylar?"

"Sophia's acting skills deserve an Oscar, what a manipulative snake!"

"Where are the people who cursed Skylar? Come out and apologize!"

Sophia's Instagram comments were also under siege.

"Speak up! Why did you frame Skylar?"

"People like you are disgusting!"

"Delete that post right now! Apologize to Skylar!"

Half an hour later, Sophia deleted the post and made a new one.

"I'm sorry, I was too anxious and didn't explain clearly. Tyler did accompany me, but he was thinking about Skylar the whole time. I shouldn't have pushed the responsibility onto her. Sorry."

It looked like an apology, but every word hinted that "Tyler still loves Skylar."

She still wouldn't give up.

Madison texted me: "This girl is unbelievable. Still playing games even now."

"Let her be," I replied. "I don't want to waste any more time on them."

I closed Instagram and opened my interview prep notes.

Tomorrow, I was going to give it my all.