Chapter 2
That evening, I came home after work and found my boyfriend, Aaron, slouched on the couch scrolling through his phone with a small smile on his face.
When he heard me come in, he flipped the phone face down and sat up straight.
“Summer, you’re early.”
“Yeah. Were you talking to someone?”
“Just a buddy.”
My stomach dropped.
He was lying.
Aaron always blinked when he lied.
I told myself everyone deserves some privacy and let it go.
I vented about work like usual.
Aaron listened like usual, but his eyes kept drifting back to his phone.
After rambling for a while with no real response from him, I felt drained.
On a whim, I asked, “Hey, did anyone random try to add you on Instagram today?”
He smiled.
“Nope.”
My stomach dropped again.
I gripped the collar of my shirt and pushed the thought out of my head.
Aaron and I had been through a lot.
Plenty of girls had tried before—classmates, coworkers—and he’d turned them all down.
Why would some internet stranger be any different?
I knew who Aaron was.
I went to my room to relax.
Then I made the mistake of opening the app again.
The relationship tester had posted:
“Poor girl. I actually feel bad for you.”
Underneath was a screenshot of her chat with Aaron.
It started slow and awkward until she found out he was into gaming.
Then they clicked instantly.
My grip tightened on my phone.
Aaron really was great at games.
I, on the other hand, was terrible.
Eventually I had stopped playing with him so I wouldn’t drag him down.
The comments piled on fast.
“She still won’t break up.”
“She’s never seen a decent man in her life.”
“She deserves what she gets.”
“Props to the blogger for putting up with such a gross guy.”
The relationship tester replied sweetly:
“I’m not suffering. I just want to help other women see the truth.”
People ate it up.
Her follower count shot up overnight.
I clicked on her profile.
Post after post of her testing other women’s boyfriends.
Every cover image had big text stamped across it:
Certified Scum.
The comment sections were full of people thanking her.
And now it was my turn.