2

“Do you know who sent that email?”

“Not a clue.”

“I think it was…. Charles, for sure. His way of getting back at you.”

“Charles – sending a photo by email? It wasn’t him. He doesn’t know a thing about computers and he doesn’t even have an email account. To find out who it was, we need to figure out who could get their hands on that picture.”

At school, everyone was talking about Maxe and making fun of her. Even though she was just a little girl in the picture, she was embarrassed by the situation. Maxe tried to ignore the whole thing, but she couldn’t really. Especially when Charles came up to her and said:

“Hey, babe. You know, you’ve got a great bum.”

“You….”

“Stop it,” said Leo. “What’s happening to you has nothing to do with him.”

Maxe had never had such a horrible day at school. Who could possibly have sent that picture if it wasn’t Charles? And how would he have found it in the first place?

Maxe was feeling so awful that she left school before the last bell. Her mother was surprised to see her come home so early.

“Maxe? Are you sick?”

“No,” she said, rushing into her room.

Her mother came in. Maxe told her, in tears:

“This is the worst day in my whole life. Everyone at school was making fun of me.”

“But why?”

“Because of this!”

Maxe showed her mother the picture that started it all.

“That photo’s so cute. You were only four…”

“It’s cute to you, but not to me. Especially if everyone sees it. Someone sent it to the whole school. How did that idiot even find the picture? He must have come into the house and searched your computer. Or worse yet: some hacker got into your computer and stole the picture…”

Maxe could see her mother seemed to be feeling really uncomfortable.

“What?”

“He found the photo on Facebook.”

“What do you mean, on Facebook?”

“I posted it on Facebook three months ago, on your birthday.”

“You did what? No, tell me that’s not true! The photo’s public?”

“No, it’s not! I put it on my page, where only my friends could see it.”

“Mum, nothing’s private on Facebook. The minute you post anything, it’s easy for anyone to steal it. Thanks to you, I’ve had the day from hell!”

Maxe’s phone started to ring. It was Leo.

“Maxe, have you checked your email? I told you the worst was yet to come…”

Maxe opened her emails. There was one with a picture of her with no clothes on, just a black rectangle covering her chest and another hiding her hips. There was a message with the photo:

“Tomorrow I’ll reveal everything!”

Maxe couldn’t breathe. That wasn’t her at four in the picture. It was her right now.