Flash
In the crush culture, the pretty girls dates the heartthrob, best friends eventually make their way to falling in love with each other, and somehow even the annoying class clown gets coupled up. A lot of people in high school are desperate for a relationship. Whether it was for show and tell or a deeply-rooted issue, Savannah did not know, but she knew it was normal to yearn for those cheesy relationships people see on TV. The kind where Noah Centineo stars as the main lead, and somehow always ends with a sweet tender kiss.
As for Savannah, she did not care for a relationship, on most days. Not that she didn’t want a relationship, but she wanted to know if she was likeable in a romantic sense. Hardly anyone had a crush on her, and the one relationship she did have, she got emotionally cheated on with an underclassmen! Savannah sometimes felt as if she’d die alone and love was something way off her radar. She was a solid 7, 8 on good days but everyone knows that you have to be very good-looking to bait someone to initiate a conversation with you. Then if they like your personality, that’s how you really reel them in.
Savannah always kept this in the back of her mind, and some nights it consumes her thoughts.
One day she decided to get glammed up for this family party she was going to. She wore a deep red dress that hugged her upper body nicely. It accentuated her perky breasts even through the thick material. She rationalized that the dress was family friendly due to the length of the dress being up to her knees and the bottom of the dress was flared out. Savannah even had help from her older sister with her makeup. Tiffany agreed but she didn’t do anything too dramatic. She merely filled in her eyebrows, did a soft orange eyeshadow look, used mascara and used a brown M.A.C lipstick on her.
It wasn’t much but it looked as if Savannah put more effort into her appearance than any time before. Savannah gained this new wave of confidence and it was like a high. She went a little crazy taking Snapchats with every single filter, but she ultimately posted one no filter selfie on her story. The selfie showed off her white pearly smile, her makeup, and her boobs.
“A little cleavage never hurt anyone” she thought as she changed the timer so that the selfie will only be on the viewer’s screen for 3 seconds.
She didn’t want to leave it for the full 10 seconds or under the “infinity” sign because that would give people the opportunity to stare at her face and point out her imperfections. She didn’t want to put the selfie for 1 second because it would hardly give people enough time to admire her beauty. So she then settled for 3 seconds. Of course every Snapchat user knows that you can easily hold down the picture so you can look at it longer. Savannah knew that, but she doubted anyone would do that for a picture of her.
When she got home from the party, she noticed she received a couple of direct messages from some people from her school. After reading through all of them, it was safe to say that her picture was pretty popular. Savannah once again felt that high she felt earlier and quickly replied to all of them.
This one particular guy wanted to start up a conversation with her. She was beyond shock but she had that thirst for attention, so she said yes.
The conversation started out normal, he asked her what she was doing and vice versa. This kind of small talk continued for about an hour until the guy asked her if she was down for 21 questions. Because Savannah had no experience talking with random guys who showed any sign of interest in her, she said yes.
Now, it’s safe to say that 21 questions almost ALWAYS ends up with one of the three questions:
“Are you a freak?”
“Are you a virgin?”
“Send pics?”
Most of the time, the guy would ask only one of these questions. Sometimes, if they’re really feeling gutsy, they’d ask all three. In that specific order. These kinds of questions makes its way towards the middle of the game because the guy usually tries deceiving the girl into thinking he’s genuinely interested. Unfortunately for Savannah, she took the bait.
The guy asked her two of the three questions. He must’ve sensed that Savannah was new to this. He first asked if she was a freak. Of course he didn’t mean if she was unusual in any way. He wanted to know if she has engaged in anything sexual. Savannah did not want to reveal that she was a senior and still a “goody-two shoes” so she said yes.
“Prove it.” he said to her.
“How?” she asked.
“Send pics” he told her.
She contemplated whether or not if she should give into his request. By then she figured out that he was not interested in the kinds of movies she likes, what her aspirations in life, what songs make her cry, because he merely wanted to calm his hormones. However, Savannah had developed this need to fulfill her quench of attention. The kind of attention that she felt she missed out on over the years. For a guy to want her. Even if it was only out of lust.
The desperation took over her and she decided to send them.
The sound of the flash in the hollow night nearly made her older sister on the lower bunk wake up. She quickly turned off the shutter sound and continued to get the right angle of her breasts. She wanted them to look full but not fake. The first couple of tries, you can see the goosebumps over her bare caramel skin. When she finally took the perfect photo, she stared at it contemplating whether this was worth the risk.
She closed her eyes and quickly tapped her screen. When she opened her eyes, she nearly dropped her phone to see that the photo had actually got sent. A part of her wanted chance to take over or give her some kind of omen that what she did was wrong. Before she even had time to repent, the red Delivered triangle, changed to the red and white Opened triangle as quick as a flash.
Savannah began to feel panic rush through her as a herd of questions ran through her mind.
“What if he didn’t like it?”
“What if he was never going to send any back?”
It wasn’t until her phone lit up the darkness in her mind. It was a notification from him.
Savannah quickly opened the photo and was a little underwhelmed with what she saw. The black weeds needed to be cut. The tree turned out to be a sapling. Nevertheless, it was her first one. Still, it disproves the “theory” that guys who are taller have their trees more sprouted. Clearly his needed more water to grow, and like a malnourished tree, he was thirsty.
The night continued with bright flashes hitting the girls’ ceiling. With insincere and loveless compliments shared between the two. With Savannah feeling that high again. She felt so special that someone took the time to notice something beautiful need her. That was all she needed to encourage herself to keep going. Not to mention some liquid courage from the guy’s tree sap slowly sliding the wood made her step up her game.
The next day, they saw each other at school and Savannah tried giving him a little smile. He immediately looked away and gave her the cold shoulder. Savannah was a little bummed because she hoped they can be something more, but she brushed it off seeing that she hardly knew the guy at all.
As she walked down the halls, something felt off. It was as if all the surrounding eyes were glued to her. Some eyes were being rolled to the back of their heads. Some eyes were exploring her figure. Some eyes were shifting back and forth. All that was certain was that all eyes were on her. The reason why, Savannah has yet to piece together the puzzle is because she is too innocent.
That innocence was gone that moment she sent him those pictures. Stripped from her, just as she stripped her clothes.
It was as if God was trying to communicate with her because Savannah’s best friend Kristina came running up to her.
“Girl is it true?” she asked pantily.
“Is what true” Savannah replied with a dumbfounded look across her face.
“That you sent nudes to the guy in our 3rd period class.” she said blankly.
She didn’t even have to say the name for me to know exactly who she was referring to. Savannah got so flustered but she didn’t deny the statement. Instead she asked how this information reached her. Kristina then explained that the whole school basically knows of what went down last night.
You can tell that Savannah did not know how to react to this whole situation. It’s not like she can say it wasn’t from her, her name and Bitmoji icon is shown in the screenshot. It’s not like she can play victim, because she very much exposed herself at her own expense. It’s not like she can report this, because her parents would know of the travesty she partook in. It’s not like she can confront him about it, because then she would be humiliated even more. She was stuck, to put it in simple terms.
Savannah didn’t even have it in her to cry because she knew she was stupid enough to do this. So instead she went about her day head on, with her heart hung low.
It had all started to make sense. What was up with the constant stares and whispers whenever she entered the room. It was even worse because people didn’t know that Savannah knew the rumors. Guys she thought were her friends would talk to her but couldn’t keep their eyes from violating her body. Some of those guys having girlfriends. She just wanted to go home.
Only when she got home, she got more information on her situation. Kristina told her that she overheard some guys say that she had a nice asset, but it was a shame that it was attached to an ugly face like Savannah. Of course, Kristina defended her, but Savannah couldn’t focus on the positives right now.
As stupid as it sounds, she secretely hoped guys would at least look at her different and give her a chance. Instead she got ridiculed for the way that she looked and she felt as if her temple was invaded and destroyed. No longer sacred. No longer for those who had pure intentions. She was condemned from every finding sanctuary in her own body. She made a fool of it by flashing it like some kind of Rolex watch.
In the midst of all of this, Savannah wanted to know why. Thinking Kristina would somehow provide the answer to her question, she asked her why would he do such a thing to her.
“You mean her.” the text read.
“What are you talking about?” she quickly replied.
Savannah did not get my answer until the next day because Kristina insisted that it was better if it was told face to face.
“It was Janice.” Kristina said to Savannah, waking her up from the trance she seemed to be stuck in. “You mean the junior?” Savannah said shockingly. “The very same” Kristina whispered as she motioned towards Janice walking down the hallways.
As Savannah saw Janice walk down the hallways, she noticed a little skip in her step that really rubbed her the wrong way. She just wanted to grab Janice by her greasy, blonde straightened hair and slam her against the wall. Instead, she channeled all those emotions to force a small smile on her face. It was one of those smiles you make when you make eye contact with a stranger you see walking by you on the streets.
Whether Janice knew that Savannah knew that she was the culprit behind the scandal, Savannah would never know. Yet Janice still managed to cheerfully greet Savannah with a toothy smile. Right then and there, Savannah wanted nothing more than to cry.
How could someone like Janice just walk past her and act like nothing was wrong? What went on through Janice’s mind when she saw Savannah standing there? Why did it look like she had no kind of remorse for her actions?
These were some of the questions that were racing through Savannah’s mind as she fainted on the mahogany floors. Kristina rushed down to her side and yelled out for the principal; whose office was just around the corner. Students began crowding the hallway to see what had happened. Once the principal showed up, Kristina was pulled to the side to explain what had happened.
While they were distracted, the guys thought it would be funny to feel if Savannah’s brassiere was stuffed or not. Students became bystanders and accomplices as they merely laughed and Snapchatted what had happened.
A week later, Savannah was announced dead. The students at that high school didn’t let her incident die with her. In fact, that was all she was remembered for. After about 12 years of going to school with the same people, some since elementary, she was reduced to a “wannabe playboy model.” Her reputation was forever tainted, just like the innocence she almost lost, just like the purity of heart during her last day of heart, just like her spirit, even before her soul left her body. Everything she ever was, or wanted to be, was gone in a flash.
