Holiday Series: Book Three - Independence Day

Chapter One

Kyla's phone chimed. Even though she didn't know the sender, she looked at the new message, "New exciting blog about students at Saint Mary Cathedral High School! Click the link below!" She clicked the link.

"Oh no, Kyla!" screamed Liv, as she ran up the stairs two at a time to their room. "KyKy, don't open the link!" Liv's warning was too late. Kyla opened the bedroom door. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. Liv ran to give her sister a hug. Sadly, Liv whispered, "Where's Mom?" With tears in her eyes, Liv answered, "Sewing."

Kyla and Liv walked slowly down the stairs, through the kitchen and then into the sewing room. Their mom was working on a new full size quilt. Last spring she won first place at the Phoenix Museum in Arizona with her small art quilts.

She looked up with a smile when she heard the girls approaching footsteps coming from the kitchen.  She loved it when her beautiful daughters shared her quilting time with her. When they entered the room she was alarmed when she saw their faces. She asked in a concerned voice, "What's the matter, girls?"

Liv handed her the tablet. Mrs. Rodriguez gasped and tears filled her eyes. She turned to her oldest daughter, "What is this?" Kyla answered, "I received a message about a new blog and when I clicked the link, this site came up." Liv pointed to the tablet and said, "Look, I have several texts from friends that received it." Kyla moaned, "I think everyone we know was on the address list!" Her mom wanted answers, she asked, "Who sent this?" Kyla shrugged and told her they didn't know.

Mrs. Rodriguez picked up her phone to call the school office. She talked to the secretary, Mrs. Conklin, who explained that phone calls had been coming in nonstop for the past ten minutes. Sr. Barb, the principal, decided to address it head on at the monthly parent meeting previously scheduled for that evening. A text message and email would be going out today inviting parents to bring their high school-aged children to the meeting.

One of the teachers, Mr. Dontay, walked in the office in the middle of the conversation. He was holding his tablet and when he heard Kyla's mom on the speaker phone he said, "Mary, this is Peter, don’t worry about this. We will get to the bottom of it. Tell Kyla I'm thinking only good thoughts about her."

This past year Kyla had acted in a disrespectful way, which had hurt Mr. Dontay's feelings. Her parents had been very disappointed in her behavior. Afterwards she had to work hard to repair the damage she had caused in the relationship. The time they spent together on the mission trip over Easter break had been a healing time. They had even been able to build a mutual respect for each other. He was very upset that someone would target Kyla and Matthew like this.

Kyla and Liv were busy texting. Kyla tried contacting her friend, Matt, but his phone was turned off. Their friends were all texting each other, asking if anyone had talked with Matt or Kyla. Everyone wondered who could have been so mean to send the link. Many of them wondered if the picture was real. A few people even thought that Kyla and Matt had actually done this. One person, however, was watching the blog track the number of readers and he was enjoying all the drama he created.