I’d taken a seat outside, beneath the third-floor window to Enzo’s room. There was no chance that I could observe anything from here directly, but I had chosen this location for a very specific reason. As I stared out at the open campus before me, the grassy field that sprawled out and stopped right at my feet where the pavement started, I took in my surroundings and slipped my headphones on. I only really used these on the bus ride to and from school for the sake oF passing time, so it was a bit strange that they’d have such a crucial use case. I put on a random meditation playlist I found on the internet.

  My only hope was that I’d be able to absorb what was going on around me a bit better this time. There would be less auditory distractions now that I was wearing the headphones. The fact that I was no longer in a moving vehicle would probably be a great asset too. As the sound of wind chimes from the music filled my ear, I pulled my hood over my head and imagined Enzo’s face. I thought of his manipulative behavior from earlier. He was exactly the kind of guy Lawrence should have been scared of. Was this all just a power play to get back at Lawrence? Was that the kind of person Enzo was?

  I focused.

  Focused.

  Focused.

  All my thoughts were of the face I’d seen earlier.

  His expressions.

  His scent.

  His build.

  I controlled my breathing.

  Krista’s boyfriend.

  The man who threatened Lawrence.

  The one Zoey had come in contact with.

  I focused.

  Focused.

  Focused.

  Enzo.

  Enzo.

  Enzo.

  En…

  --

  “So, what exactly did you want from me anyway?”

  The words came out of my(Enzo’s) mouth as the world around me had changed once more. His demeanor was calm, but I could tell that there was a ferocious hatred swirling inside of him. Hatred? That’s not quite right. This was more akin to what I felt that day when Ben and Zoey started ‘dating’. It wasn’t something as overbearing and violent as hatred. This was… envy. Yes, envy. And it was such potent envy that I recognized it almost immediately.

  But why? Why was he envious all of a sudden? Was it of me? Because I showed up with her? No, it couldn’t be that. If an outgoing person like this had such strong feelings for Laura then he would have made an attempt to speak to her since coming to college. And yet, Laura had no idea who Enzo was until Zoey started speaking to her about him recently. Was it Lawrence then? Why? Because of Krista? The two of them hadn’t been on speaking terms in ages. Neither conclusion made any sense.

  “I want to know what happened to the video Jacob sent to you,” Laura said.

  “The video…? Oh, that little thing.”

  My hearing was still fuzzy, and my vision a little blurry, but compared to earlier I could at least somewhat tell what was going on. It was a dorm room split down the middle with two beds, much like Laura’s own room from before. Enzo was seated at his own bed near the window, while Laura had taken a seat at an office chair closer to the exit.

  Laura raised an eyebrow. “It’s not just a little thing.”

  “Why are you asking what happened to it anyway? You already know that Jacob sent it to me, what else is there to know?”

  “Where else have you shared it?” she asked.

  Enzo’s heartbeat increased slightly from the question. “Is there any reason to believe that I might’ve shared it?”

  “I have reason to believe that Zoey Brahm also has the video.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Oh? And what reason is that?” I felt a grin coming.

  “Please answer me or I’m leaving.”

  The words came with a sigh, though the grin was still tugging at his lips. “You’re not leaving. You don’t really want me sending this to your brother, do you?”

  “I don’t, but I also believe that I shouldn’t stay here if you won’t talk to me.”

  He laughed. “Now now, okay fine. I guess I could tell you the truth. Zoey promised to torment Lawrence in my stead after all. Yeah, Zoey has the video. But I’ve never seen it. Not yet anyway.”

  Laura blinked, and her grip on her skirt tightened. “What… do you mean by that?”

  “Well, erm, to put it simply, she pretended to be me and had Jacob send her that video. Girl has two phone numbers, apparently, so it was easy to hand Jacob a second phone number. I was supposed to play along and pretend to have the video to keep the act up, but… to be honest the girl’s been avoiding my calls and texts today, so I kinda stopped giving a shit. Sounds like she already fucked with your baby bro’s head anyhow. I’ll have to swing by and talk to him about it later.”

  He wasn’t lying. His heartbeat had picked up, but there was no tension. He was elated. He was ecstatic at the idea of Lawrence getting served something that cold. He was relishing the thought of it. And Laura… Laura…

  “So no one owns a copy besides Zoey?” she asked, suddenly loosening the grip on her skirt as her cold expression pierced the pores on Enzo’s face.

  “As far as I’m aware.” He shrugged. “Could change in a heartbeat though. You could end up being the next Kim K if she decides to change her mind. Zoey was always kind of a bitch, but I had no idea she’d go that far. How’d you end up pissing her off anyway?”

  “No clue, I’ve been nothing but kind to Zoey. “Laura glanced off to her right, then sighed. “I’m going to open the window. Do you mind?”

  “The window?” Enzo looked behind himself over at the opened curtains besides him. “It’s cold out there. Don’t go doing that now.”

  “I just need the fresh air for a minute. Is it really not okay?”

  Enzo was confused, admittedly, but he decided that there was no use in pestering her over it. “Knock yourself out.”

  His eyes fell down to his phone, where he unlocked it using a strange pattern. After scrolling through menus until he opened his messages with Zoey. As Laura walked past him, he typed up a message letting her know that he’d told Laura everything, and that that was what she got for ignoring him all day. The whole thing reeked of pettiness to me, but I suppose that’s what happens when you get other people involved in your plan without the proper collateral.

  Everything she does is for power over people, isn’t it?

  Every move of hers carries with it some sort of collateral over others.

  But she didn’t have any of that with Enzo.

  Oh, Zoey. You should know better. But if you won’t collect any collateral on Enzo…

  “It’s open, go ahead,” Laura said.

  Then I will.

  Without looking, I thrust the phone out the window.

  ---

  I ended my meditation and looked up at the sky. I saw the phone hurdling down towards the ground before me. It was three stories high, so if I put everything into it, then I probably had enough time to save it. With every ounce of strength in my body, I pushed myself off the ground and leapt into a mad dash towards what I projected to be the landing point of the phone. The sun made it difficult to look, but I could still manage to follow it. I was calm. The tension I would normally feel in a situation like this was all but gone. The meditation seemed to have calmed me down, as I was in my element today.

  I leapt out as the phone descended, and with my hands outstretched, my body curved into a dive.

  And somehow, through my best efforts, I managed to catch it before landing the grass.

  My body did not enjoy the landing however, but the grass had softened it enough that it hadn’t caused me too much pain, though my forearms were screeching from bearing the brunt of the fall.

  “How’s that for a catch, Larry?” I muttered as I got in tune with my body in order to search for bruises. However, outside of the shock of the landing and some slight pain, I seemed to have gotten away mostly unscathed.

  After gathering my bearings, I checked the phone to find that it was, thankfully, still unlocked. Not that it mattered much, as I had committed the pattern from earlier to my memory.

  “Hey! Give me that!”

  I picked myself up and turned to the sound of the voice, only to find Enzo yelling my way from his third-floor window. The sight had managed to get a smile out of me. It felt good to get that guy after everything his grudge with Lawrence had put us through. If it wasn’t for his pettiness, things wouldn’t have turned out like this. In a sense, I was dispensing a justice that no one else was going to dish out. I waved his way as if he were an acquaintance I just happened to spot out in public.

  “You motherfucker!” He pulled his head out of the window and dashed off away from the window. It seemed like I didn’t have much time to get everything done. I was on a timer now. Looking down, I navigated to Zoey’s texts and took two screenshots of incriminating texts that he had sent her.

  Once that was done, I navigated through his pictures and picked out the photo of myself and Laura he had taken earlier and reached my thumb over to delete it. My fingers moved with such cool accuracy that I’d almost forgotten that I was on a timer to begin with.

  Only… I didn’t delete it. I hesitated. And that’s because, at a second glance, the picture carried none of the scandalous connotations I’d assumed it would from afar. To be honest, I really admired Laura. And I’d like to believe that she likes me to some degree. And this picture… This picture felt more important than anything else in this phone to me for some reason. Like I was being tugged into it.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to do this…”

  I opened a new text message and slipped my own number in, but only before attaching the picture he’d just taken to it along with the screenshots and sending it out. Afterwards, I deleted the text screenshots as well as the photo itself from the phone. Along with the message itself.

  After heaving a sigh, I lifted my head up expecting to see Enzo hurdling towards me. But the only thing greeting me were curious onlookers who had already moved on from paying attention to the spectacle him and I had caused.

  “Is he still up there? What is going on…?”

  I had no use for his phone anymore, so it was probably for the best if I went up to meet him if he wasn’t going to come down.