Page 36 of The King Contract
Me
Good night baby x
Millie
Ew. No.
Me
Babes? Sexy? How about munchkin?
Millie
GOOD NIGHT.
Me
Schnookims. Bubba. I’ll keep brainstorming.
Chuckling, I grab the yearbook still sitting on my desk, skimming through the pages again and land back on Millie’s graduation photo and cheesy smile. Who would’ve thought the two of us would be brought back together to carry out something so bizarre?
I flip to the section that covers athletics and scan the photos, smiling to myself as memories surface of me winning at sports carnivals and surfing at camp. Dan went to a different school, and I met Mack and Callum after I graduated, so the people I’m grinning next to, or running races with are people I barely recognise. It’s shocking to think how little of others I remember.
My gaze travels to the captions under the images, snagging on the one in the bottom right-hand corner.Photographer: Millie Schofield.
Frowning, I turn another page and there her name is again. Under photos of me at the swimming carnival, the ones of me on the podium after cross country. The photos of the art kids, the drama students and the home economics class. Millie’s name is underneath every picture.
She took every single photograph in this book.
And I never noticed.
SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS EVERYWHERE
@noahkinguploaded a new photo: Nothing I like more than sweaty men and their balls. Nice work lads. #cricketseason
@miapeters:He was a few rows in front of us @bellarose32. I nearly passed away.
@tantilly:The chick from the TikTok video was with him. Swear to god it was her.
@hunthunter:Look at those drunk eyes.
13
MILLIE
Brand new information
I’ve made a grave mistake.
Anonymity is a privilege most people don’t realise the value of until it’s gone.
Me.I’mmost people.
Apparently, everyone in the universe watches Australian cricket. Either that, or they feed on gossip like it’s food. Most likely the latter, but regardless, people have not stopped coming by the café. I’ve got people I’ve never met calling out my name. Teenagers popping in and holding up their phones to snap me behind the counter. All these people figured out who I am and where I work, which is terrifying given my personal social media account is private and my face was on TV for a few seconds. It’s enough to make me rethink my entire presence online and I’m seriously considering putting a pause on@soursnaps. When I uploaded the photos from the cricket, I was careful to choose ones that weren’t from our exact vantage point, but it’s not going to take a genius to connect the dots.
“Did these people seriously look up where I work to come and look at me?” I ask Ellis, ducking behind the coffee machine.“Some guy came up to me as I got out of my car this morning tohave a chat.”
Ellis shrugs sympathetically. “You’re a hottie. Can’t say I blame them for wanting to see who’s won King Fuckboy’s heart.”
