Thanks for Pushing Me Off the Roof Chapter 06
Maren’s POV
People online are always the first to fall for a sob story. The moment that video goes up, the comments swarm in like sharks who just caught blood in the water.
“This is disgusting. Just because you have money doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.”
“Somebody needs to hold this Maren Voss accountable. You don’t get to treat people like this.”
“She doesn’t deserve Harvard. People like her shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a school like that.”
Within half a day, someone digs up my personal information and posts it. Someone shows up outside my family’s office and starts making a scene, throwing things at the entrance.
My mom is shaking with rage, already talking about paying to get everything taken down. I stop her.
“If we do that right now, it looks like we’re hiding something.” I stare at the screen, at the wall of comments, voice flat. She wants attention? Fine. I’ll give her more than she bargained for.”
I don’t post a statement. I don’t write a long explanation defending myself. You don’t argue with people like that. It just brings you down to their level. Instead, I walk into the local police department with the original security footage, the audio recording, and screenshots of everything Fern posted.
‘I’m here to file a report. Someone has been spreading false information about me online. This is defamation. It’s affecting my life and my family’s reputation.”
The department takes it seriously. A case with this much public attention moves fast. With evidence like this, there’s not much to argue
about.
Forty-eight hours later, the department posts an official statement.
It lays everything out clearly. A minor, age 18, fabricated claims of bullying against another minor, age 18, in order to gain public sympathy and deflect from her own actions. The security footage has been verified as authentic and unaltered. The individual has been detained on charges of criminal harassment and defamation.
I repost the statement from my own account and attach the full, unedited security footage.
Caption: “Evidence speaks louder than whatever someone decided to post crying in a hospital gown. The internet isn’t consequence-free.*
The whole thing flips overnight.
The same people who were calling for my head twenty-four hours ago are now tearing into Fern’s page, leaving comments that make what they said about me look mild.
‘I can’t believe I actually felt sorry for her. She changed their applications herself and then tried to blame someone else for it.”
*Completely deserved. Don’t come online and lie about people and expect nothing to happen.”
In a holding cell, Fern watches her accounts get suspended and the comments pile up. By the time it’s over, there’s nothing left of the reputation she spent so long building.
The police statement takes Nash and Declan down with her. They went from being two of the most promising guys in town to the punchline of every conversation. Community college, and now this. The story writes itself.
The fallout hits both families. Some of their business partners pull out, citing the whole situation as a sign of poor character and worse judgment at home. Both their dads beat the hell out of them when they find out.
“You two idiots threw away your entire future for a girl who was laughing at you the whole time. Your whole lives. Gone.”
After that, something in Nash and Declan finally breaks through. They’d handed over their futures, their reputations, their money, and gotten absolutely nothing back. The illusion they’d been living in collapses all at once.
The day Fern gets out, no one comes to pick her up.
She makes her way back to her apartment on her own. Nash and Declan are already there, waiting outside the door. But the way they look at her now is nothing like before. Whatever they used to feel for her is gone. What’s there now is something uglier.
“Nash. Declan. Fern tries the same move she always has. Her eyes go soft, her voice drops, a few tears start to form. I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been so scared…”
Nash grabs her by the throat and shoves her back against the wall,
“Shut up. Did you really think we’d never figure it out?” His voice is unrecognizable. “You took everything from us. My entire future. Gone. Because of you.”
