Chapter 5: No Apologies

I thought that tweet might help. Maybe someone would back me up, or at least slow the hate.

Nope. The replies came fast and brutal:

“Everyone knows Kay-Kay was just putting on a show. You’re the one who can’t handle losing, spewing filth and nearly making our Kay-Kay cry.”

“Yeah, Kay-Kay’s so sweet. We’re not that easy to bully.”

“People like you deserve to get roasted. We’re just fighting fire with fire.”

“Stop talking and just apologize.”

Kayla Lin, tagged in my post, shot back with the most pointed non-apology I’d ever seen:

“Sorry if you felt attacked. Let’s just move on, okay?”

My eyelid twitched so hard I thought it might actually jump off my face.

Pretend it never happened? So I got trampled by the internet for nothing?

I replied instantly:

“Just because you say it didn’t happen, it didn’t? I’m the one getting cyberbullied and doxxed. They’ve seriously disrupted my life. Aren’t you going to stop them?”

Kayla fired back, as if she was watching from above it all:

“But I didn’t say anything. They’re just worried I’d be wronged. Don’t blame them.”

That was all her fans needed. By late afternoon, my Twitter was toast—completely frozen from the onslaught.

Then people started digging. Someone figured out my university. Suddenly, the anonymous campus forum was a dumpster fire of insults and demands for me to apologize.

I started glancing over my shoulder in the dining hall, checking my window at night. Every time I walked to class, I wondered if someone would recognize me. For a second, I considered calling my parents—just to let them know. The real-world fear was creeping in.