Chapter 5 - The Boy Holding the Camera Finally Broke
Tyler Brooks hadn't slept properly in four nights.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Emily's face.
Not the blurry image from the circulating video.
The real one.
Her trembling lips.
Her hands gripping her skirt.
The way she'd looked at his phone.
He had laughed while recording her.
That was the part he couldn't escape.
He remembered laughing.
Now his name was spreading across campus.
His parents had received a call from the university.
His internship supervisor had requested a meeting.
And Brandon, the person who'd encouraged him to record everything, had stopped answering his calls.
Tyler sat alone in his dormitory, staring at his phone.
Then a message arrived from Mason.
Delete your original video. Brandon's lawyer says it's safer.
Tyler stared at the screen.
He wasn't sure whether Brandon's lawyer had actually said that.
But the message made him more frightened.
He had already been instructed by the university not to alter potential evidence.
Now Brandon's friend was telling him to destroy it.
Tyler opened the conversation.
There were dozens of messages.
Some were from weeks before the restroom incident.
Brandon joking about Emily.
Kyle discussing ways to corner her.
Tyler sending photographs.
Then the message from the morning of the attack.
Brandon: Get a video. She'll stop acting innocent after that.
Tyler felt sick.
He'd known what they were planning.
He'd helped.
There was no way to pretend otherwise.
That afternoon, Tyler walked into the office of his attorney, whose services his parents had arranged.
He placed the phone on the desk.
"I need to tell you something."
His attorney looked at him.
"All right."
"I haven't told you everything."
For the next hour, Tyler explained the earlier harassment, the messages, the recording, and the way he'd sent the video to Mason.
He also showed the attorney Mason's instruction to delete it.
His attorney told him not to destroy evidence and discussed how to respond to the ongoing proceedings.
Tyler stared at the table.
"Can I give them the messages?"
"We'll discuss how to preserve and provide relevant evidence properly."
Tyler nodded.
Then he whispered, "I knew she was scared."
His attorney remained silent.
Tyler covered his face.
"I knew, and I kept recording."
Emily knew nothing about Tyler's decision.
She was trying to attend her first full architecture class since the incident.
The university had arranged measures to keep the three male students away from her.
Professor Anderson had also offered reasonable accommodations for missed assignments without reducing the academic requirements.
But walking through the building still made her sick.
Every hallway looked familiar.
Every burst of laughter sounded threatening.
Every student holding a phone made her wonder whether they were looking at the video.
Sophie walked beside her.
"You don't have to do this today."
Emily clutched her sketchbook.
"I know."
"We can go back."
Emily stopped outside the classroom.
Through the glass window, she could see her classmates talking.
A normal Monday.
Normal backpacks.
Normal coffee cups.
Normal people with normal problems.
She wanted to be one of them again.
"I want to try," she whispered.
Sophie nodded.
"Then I'll be here when you come out."
Emily opened the door.
Twenty-three students looked up.
The room became painfully quiet.
Emily felt her face burn.
She moved toward an empty seat near the back.
Then a girl named Jasmine Lee stood.
"Emily?"
Emily froze.
Jasmine walked toward her.
She was a senior in the architecture program, with straight black hair and bright red glasses.
"Would you sit with me?"
Emily stared at her.
"What?"
"I saved you a seat."
Jasmine gestured toward the second row.
Emily hesitated.
Then she followed her.
A boy behind them quietly moved his backpack so Emily could pass.
Someone else smiled.
It was a tiny gesture.
Almost nothing.
But Emily's eyes filled with tears.
She sat down.
Jasmine leaned close.
"You don't have to talk about anything. I just didn't want you sitting alone if you didn't want to."
Emily whispered, "Thank you."
Professor Anderson entered a minute later.
He saw Emily sitting in the second row.
His expression softened.
But he didn't single her out.
He simply began teaching.
"All right, everyone. Let's talk about the difference between designing a building and designing a place where people can actually live."
Emily opened her notebook.
For fifty minutes, she was allowed to be a student.
It felt wonderful.
After class, Jasmine asked Emily to stay for a moment.
"I want to tell you something."
Emily's stomach tightened.
Jasmine looked nervous.
"Brandon bothered me last year."
Emily stared.
"What?"
"He kept asking me out. When I said no, he started showing up at my studio."
Jasmine rubbed her hands together.
"He sent me messages. Made comments about my clothes. Once he wouldn't move away from the doorway."
"Did you report him?"
Jasmine shook her head.
"I told a student adviser. I didn't make a formal complaint."
"Why?"
Jasmine laughed bitterly.
"Same reason you didn't, probably."
Emily looked down.
Jasmine took a breath.
"I heard what happened to you. I didn't want to get involved because I'm graduating soon."
She swallowed.
"Then I saw that video."
Emily's hands tightened around her notebook.
Jasmine continued.
"I recognized the way he was talking to you. Like you owed him something just because he wanted your attention."
She looked directly at Emily.
"I've contacted the investigator. I'm willing to tell them about my own experience."
Emily's eyes filled.
"You don't have to do that for me."
"I'm doing it because it's true."
They sat quietly for a moment.
Then Jasmine smiled.
"Also, your housing project is incredible."
Emily blinked.
"My what?"
"The one you submitted for the design competition."
Emily froze.
"I haven't submitted it."
Jasmine frowned.
"What?"
"The deadline isn't until Friday."
Jasmine slowly opened her laptop.
"Emily, there's an entry under your name."
She turned the screen around.
The university's annual architecture competition website was open.
There was Emily's photograph.
Her student number.
Her project title.
THE PORCH PROJECT: AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR WORKING FAMILIES.
Emily stared.
Then she saw the uploaded design.
It wasn't hers.
The building was ugly, poorly proportioned, and full of basic structural mistakes.
A note beneath the submission read:
FINAL ENTRY — NO REVISIONS PERMITTED.
Emily's stomach dropped.
"Somebody changed my project."
Jasmine looked horrified.
"Who has access to your account?"
Emily's mind raced.
Then she remembered something.
Three weeks earlier, Kyle had stolen her notebook.
Her university login credentials had been written on a sticky note tucked inside the back cover.
She'd changed her password afterward.
But not immediately.
Not before he'd had several hours with it.
Emily stared at the screen.
Her future was being attacked from another direction.
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And this time, the boys weren't just trying to humiliate her.
They were trying to destroy the one thing she'd worked her entire life to achieve.
