Chapter 1"Congrats on marrying my HIV-positive bestie, Kai! Remember—PEP meds work best within 72 hours!"
My best friend stood up at MY wedding and said that. To MY groom.
Kai went white. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Sienna Waverly smiled. All innocent.
"Oh, didn't she tell you? Stevie's slept with eight guys. Had eight abortions. So yeah—better get tested. For HIV."
The room exploded.
Kai dumped me on the spot.
Guests pointed at me. Called me trash.
My parents believed her. Beat me so bad I ended up in the ICU.
Dying in that hospital bed, I got one last text from Sienna.
A photo—her in red lingerie, wrapped around Kai.
"The HIV stunt? All me and Kai. Took weeks to plan. Watching you cry? Best part."
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the wedding.
This time, I didn't defend myself.
I looked at Sienna's smug face and smiled. "Yeah. You're right."
Because this time, I came back with something she'll never see coming.
Karma's got a new messenger.
And bitch? It's ME.
---
"Kai, you look lost. Wait—you seriously don't know?"
"Okay, since it's your big day, lemme give you a wedding present—the truth."
Sienna Waverly snatched the mic from the officiant like she was wasted.
Started screaming at my groom.
"Stevie Marlowe? Yeah, she's been with eight guys. Fucked all of them. Hotels, motels, you name it."
"They sent me pics too. Nasty stuff. One dude was even Black."
"So like, if you're really gonna marry her, you gotta step it up. Or she's gonna ditch you."
Sienna said all that shit with this massive grin.
Then she turned to me. Put her hand over her mouth like she's shocked.
"Oops. Stevie, it's your wedding. Did I say too much?"
I just smiled at her. Didn't say a word.
The room went dead quiet for like a second. Then everyone lost their shit.
I saw some aunts up front already whispering, looking at me like I'm straight up trash.
Kai was standing there across from me. Face hard as hell.
"Stevie, is this true?"
"What the fuck's going on? You better explain. Right now."
I just stood there in my wedding dress. Face totally blank.
"Nothing to explain."
"See? Stevie's not even denying it!"
Sienna was cracking up, holding the mic like she owned the place.
"Stevie, don't be mad. I'm just tryna look out for your man. Like, AIDS'll kill you if you don't take your meds, you know?"
I nodded. "Yeah. AIDS kills people."
Too bad the one with AIDS isn't me.
Last time around, I cried and begged for the mic. Tried to explain I never dated eight guys. Never had eight abortions.
I even had the pre-wedding AIDS test. Kai watched me take it himself. Negative.
Everything was fine.
I screamed till my voice gave out.
Nobody listened.
Kai's mom shot up first. Hand over her mouth.
"This is fucking disgusting. I'm not sitting here with this whore."
Then she grabbed her purse and left.
Kai's dad looked over at his assistant. "Don't pay 'em. We're out."
"My son's not marrying this trash. He can die alone for all I care."
Kai just stood there. Threw the ring box down.
Face all twisted up. Started walking.
I grabbed his leg. Literally on my knees begging him not to leave. Begging him to just trust me.
He peeled my hands off. Finger by finger.
"If this is all bullshit, then how does she know all this?"
"She's been your best friend forever. So if none of this is true, why would she torch your wedding?"
"You want me to believe you? Fine. Tell me why she'd do this."
I went pale. Couldn't say a word.
Then he left.
The groom and his family walked out. Wedding's over.
Guests started leaving. Some of them literally stepped around me like I had the plague.
My mom grabbed my hair, screaming about how I embarrassed the whole family.
My dad slapped me so hard I didn't even feel it.
I just felt this ringing in my ears. And nothing.
Later I got beaten so bad I was bleeding everywhere.
Heard the ambulance take me to the hospital. The whole time I was looking for Sienna.
Wanted to ask her why?
But the bitch who caused all this had already disappeared.
Now I'm back. Back to the day of the wedding.
Watching Sienna lie about me having AIDS, just like last time.
Only this time, I'm not panicking.
I just looked at her and smiled.
"Go ahead. Say everything you know."
Chapter 2
My mom's face changed. She rushed up to stop me.
"Stevie, have you lost your mind?"
"Say what? You've been dating this guy for five years. You're finally getting married. What the hell are you doing?"
Her voice was shaking. She was pissed.
"You see how pissed your in-laws are? You see your fiancé's face?"
I looked down at her hands. Veins popping.
Last time, these hands put me in the ICU. Broke two ribs. Ruptured my spleen.
Right now they're just digging into my arm. Squeezing so hard I thought it'd snap.
"Mom, I'm not crazy."
I shook off her hand.
"Sienna's the crazy one."
"She just lied about me having AIDS. Made up eight boyfriends and eight abortions. Mom, aren't you gonna ask her why?"
My mom froze.
"She's lying? Then why didn't you say something?"
"Why are you just going along with it?"
"You're making your in-laws think it's true!"
Sienna stood on stage, mic in hand. Her face went from smug to nervous.
She clearly didn't think I'd just stand there all calm and flip it back on her.
"Stevie, what're you talking about? I'm not lying. This is all true."
Sienna looked up at me with that fake innocent look.
"You literally used to send me pics of you hooking up with those guys. Like all the time. I still got the screenshots."
Then she whipped out her phone and hooked it up to the projector.
Screen lit up. Chat logs popped up.
Profile pic was mine. Username was mine.
"Stevie, look. This is you and Lincoln, right? At the Hilton."
Sienna pointed at a naked pic on the screen, grinning like an angel.
The room exploded again.
My mom's hand slipped off my arm. Face white as paper.
Kai's mom was basically at the door already. She turned back. Looking even more disgusted.
My dad couldn't even look at me. Just had his hand over his face like, "This is so fucking embarrassing."
And obviously half the dudes in there were just staring at the screen being total pervs.
"Damn, look at her!"
"Yo I didn't know Stevie looked like that. She's usually kinda basic."
Kai stood there, staring at the photo. Lips trembling.
"Stevie, what the fuck you gonna say now?"
I didn't even look at the photo. Just stared straight at Sienna.
"You got way better at Photoshop."
Sienna froze. Then just died laughing.
"Photoshop? Stevie, are you losing your mind? Look—timestamps. This is from two years ago. How am I gonna Photoshop that?"
"Did you like bump your head this morning?"
I nodded. Pulled my phone out.
"Cool. I got something to show too."
Sienna tilted her chin up, looking even more smug.
"Oh yeah? You gonna make some shit up? Go ahead, scroll through that phone. You're still screwed."
I ignored her. Looked at Kai.
"You think I'm lying."
He looked like he was about to throw up. Just stared at me, totally disgusted and over it.
"Stevie, dude, it's not about what I think. Your best friend just plastered a naked pic of you up there. What do you want me to do?"
"You didn't do it? Then prove it."
I smiled.
Last time I cried and begged him to believe me. Begged him to wait. Begged him to give me time.
What did he do?
He kicked my hand off his leg.
"Fine. I'll show you."
I unlocked my phone and pulled up the folder I'd been saving all week.
But right when I was about to hook it up to the projector—
The screen went black.
My stomach dropped.
Someone just locked my phone remotely.
I just stood there tapping the screen over and over. Nothing happened.
Sienna waited like three seconds. Then lost her shit laughing.
"Stevie are you serious right now? You're literally at your own wedding waving around a dead phone. Like what's that supposed to prove? We gonna stare at your black screen or what?"
Chapter 3
Everyone started laughing.
Kai frowned. Scoffed.
There's only one person who could remotely lock my phone.
Kai Hartley.
He knew my passcode. Knew my iCloud login. Knew everything.
In five years, I never hid a damn thing from him. Even handed him every key I had.
"So what's going on, Stevie? You said you had something. Where is it?"
Sienna kept cracking up. Walked right over, heels loud as hell.
Got right up in my face, staring at my dead phone. Made this shocked face.
"Oh wait, what? Your phone died on you?"
"Yeah that makes sense. You show what's actually on there, you can't ever look at anybody again."
I gripped my phone so hard my knuckles went white.
People just started yelling.
"She got something or not? This is taking forever."
"Dude the pic's right there. What's she even trying to do?"
"I'm saying, it's real. Her friend wouldn't lie about this."
My dad put his head down, just sunk in his chair. He looked like he wanted to just disappear.
"Stop talking. Please. I can't do this anymore."
My mom was up front, lips trembling.
"Stevie, did you do this or not? If you did, just tell me. We'll figure it out later."
"It's your wedding. Whatever happens, we take the L."
My mom's obsessed with what people think. She said that for everyone to hear, but I knew what was coming later.
A beating.
I stared at the black screen in my hand. Brain racing.
The backup USB drive was at home. No time to get it.
My witness? Different state. Couldn't make it.
Two months planning this—gone. Phone locked and I got nothing.
"What happened? You go quiet now?"
Sienna cocked her head at me. "You were talking all that shit a minute ago. Where'd all that go?"
She turned to the crowd, getting all loud like she owns the place.
"Everyone, I've known Stevie for twelve years. I'm not trying to hurt her. I'm trying to save Kai!"
"I don't give a shit what Stevie does outside. But she can't trap this guy into marrying her! Kai's a good guy. He doesn't deserve this."
"AIDS kills people. You all know that, right?"
Some people nodded. Some just sat there. Some were on their phones.
And a bunch of dudes were still staring at the screen, eyes glued to that fake naked pic.
I was shaking. So pissed.
Sienna walked over. Leaned in and whispered.
"Stevie, why don't you get it? I'm helping you."
"Come on—I'm your best friend. This is me looking out for you."
"Let me tell you something. Kai's not some good guy. He's been screwing me this whole time."
"That's why I did this. I've been trying to protect you."
I nodded. "Yeah, maybe."
"But you could've just told me before. You didn't have to do this at my wedding."
"Sienna, you knew this would destroy me and you did it anyway. So you wanted payback for something."
Sienna laughed.
"Stevie, I was gonna tell you after the wedding. But I couldn't help myself. I wanted to watch your face when you found out."
"Oh and guess what? That marriage license you were about to sign? Fake."
"He signed a real one with me last week."
"You wanted to be Mrs. Hartley so bad, didn't you? Well tough shit. You're just gonna be the slut everyone gossips about..."
Sienna stared at me, waiting.
She wanted to see me cry. Wanted to see me lose it.
But I just turned around.
And pulled an apple out of my bag.
Just a regular apple. Red with a little green. Still had the stem and a leaf. Like it was just picked.
Last time around, her lies killed me. When I died, I was so pissed I couldn't even move on.
Death saw my whole life and was like, you were good. You get a do-over.
So he gave me this apple.
"Looks like a regular apple, doesn't it? It's karma."
Death goes:
"Whatever trash she talks about you bounces back on her. You're good. Now get outta here."
I looked down at the apple.
Ever since Sienna started running her mouth about me having AIDS, it started glowing.
Faint. Like moonlight on water. Only I could see it.
Someone next to me cracked up.
"Stevie, what's wrong with you? You just whipped out an apple."
Sienna grabbed the mic, talking loud to everyone.
"Y'all see this? I just put her on blast and she's over there holding an apple. She trying to sell fruit or something?"
