As Annie had expected, Saki avoided her the next day. The Asian girl had come in at the last minute for the first period and was the first out of class at the morning break.
Why had she that picture? Where had she gotten it from? What could have made her believe that having that picture gave her whatever it was that she wanted?
Annie had so many questions she wanted to ask yet she did not dare hunt Saki down to ask them. She remembered the fear in the other girl's eyes. Anger that time had made her disregard it. Now that she had time to think about it, she felt bad for the experience she had put her friend through.
She just wished she had someone to talk about this to. She should have confided in Big Sis about the picture the night before.
Annie needed to be with a friend. There was no need to tell her troubles to that person. She just needed someone close to her so she would not be alone. So she got up and walked over to Sabine's desk.
The plump girl was just picking up her bag from the floor when a book spilled out of it.
Annie retrieved the book and examined it. It was a travel book, bookmarked with a piece of folded paper. "Germany?" she asked her friend.
"Yes," Sabine replied nervously, "I picked it up during our trip to the bookstore."
"Yeah, but why Germany?"
"I thought of the country where Mama and Papa came from." Sabine bit her lip.
Annie flipped through the book, looking at the various pictures from the country. Then she came to the bookmarked page. She unfolded the paper. Her eyes grew as large as Sabine's had.
The paper had the same picture that Saki had.
She quickly refolded the paper and waved it in front of Sabine. "What's this?" she demanded in a harsh whisper, "Why do you have a picture of me!?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Sabine wailed over and over as she hid her face in her hands.
"Stop it," Annie snapped. But Sabine would not stop sobbing. Even a rough shake could not calm the girl down.
Annie had found two pictures. Why were these pictures appearing everywhere? Where did they come from? Everyone had them, did they? Why did everyone have them? Did everyone hate Annie?
The other classmates were looking in the girls' direction. Billy in particular watched with alarm. What were they thinking of? Oh no! Annie was being particularly hard on her friend. She looked like a bully! She was a bully!
Annie did not have time to worry about that now. She had a more immediate concern. She dropped the book on Sabine's desk. Taking the picture with her, she fled the classroom, stopping only to retrieve her white handbag.
Everyone had a picture of her. She did not like that. She must stop it.
Annie went straight to Mrs Johnson, her guidance counselor. The school had to do something about this. It was a bit embarrassing to tell the story to an adult. However, Mrs Johnson did promise to do something about it.
The school, Fernham High, would enforce the ban on inappropriate material. The ban had always been there. It was just that enforcement had been lax.
That would stop the spread of the pictures. But where had those pictures come from in the first place? And why did everyone have them? Did each student have one?
***
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