‘One hundred and sixty-two thousand pictures!’ She was alarmed as soon as she opened the gallery icon and saw in the upper right corner the number representing the number of saved images. ‘I really have a lot to check. I guess I’ll be able to take a look at everything before the first break of the morning, when the professor comes to my desk to demand any favors or anything else he can think of.’

  Preparing for the occasion when the professor would approach her station, Rebeka placed the unlocked phone in the middle of what was a trench of books and notebooks. Then, in a totally discreet manner, she began to swing her index finger from one side of the screen to the other. At the same time, she disguised herself with her pencil to be taking notes; even if the professor pretended to approach, she would keep her position under cover and could not be singled out as doing anything improper.

   ‘Mmm, at first glance, they all belong to places I know, but they are repeated at different angles and with other people. They are even lined up chronologically in a routine loop; the first one was taken six years ago. The bus stop, the library, the mall, an old school I used to go to, training elementary school students, the park, my house.....’

  Rebeka blinks twice in a row and settles back on the seat.

‘My house!!!? Weird, very weird. Let me leave my libido and sexual morbidity for a second, look no more for flesh and check again, go back to the first picture... and open it.’

  On the phone, the photos appeared arranged in rows of seven and infinite columns, whose screen could only display thirteen cells. Of course, you couldn’t make out the inner content of each photo. You could only see the exteriors and solid colors, with the occasional silhouette. When Rebeka wanted to remove her suspicions, although she only had to press the image and zoom in, it occurred to her that it would be better not to proceed, but should she really stop? Despite the obviousness of the question, she could not restrain her impulses.

   ‘The park... in the background,’ after touching the first picture, she moved as close as she could to get a better look at the girl sitting by the bushes. ‘That’s me! Ten years ago... If I remember correctly, that was the first day we met... when my father was taken into custody by the authorities.’

After looking up, Rebeka made sure no one was looking at her and returned to planting her eyes on the phone screen. Even if she pretended to be calm, the point came again when her mind became overloaded with information. So many thoughts came into her head that she could hardly act normal anymore.

  The teacher asks the students questions to confirm if they understand. As the questioner confirmed and wrote during the course of the class, the time on the clock ticked away.

   The phone screen went dark; it was a time when it was almost going to turn off, and Rebeka had to make a decision because in a few minutes, it would be recess time, the time when the bell would ring, but she kept thinking about the past.

   ‘When I woke up in the morning, on that day,’ she thought, distant and lost in the present. ‘Uniformed gentlemen came to my house and suggested to my mother that she let me go out to play. I knew something wasn’t right when they gave me permission to go out on my own. Not knowing where to go, I walked as far as I could until I came to a park that caught my eye, where I found him. Omar was a mess, full of dirt and wounds, but we played for a while, until dusk came and his mother came to pick him up.’

‘I was left alone, sitting and playing with the dirt. That must have been the moment when this picture was taken of me. I remember not moving from the spot until it got dark and I felt someone’s footsteps. I was scared and hopeful at the same time. I thought it was my parents coming to pick me up, or maybe it would be a stranger, but it was him again who came back.’

   “Mmm, this...” he said to me as one who wanted to help. “Someone calls a girl lost. Maybe I’m wrong, but you look lost.” 

   ‘With such news, I eagerly got up as fast as I could, I really didn’t know where to go. He took me back to my house while holding my hand tightly. Now I remember... he has always described himself as a forgetful person, That’s the reason why he always takes pictures of everything he considers important. A nostalgic moment from the past, portrayed in a photo, saved in the phone gallery of the boy I love so much. The best thing is that I still have a long line to keep going through, but it’s not the same with time, I must hurry.’

 Metaphorically, running against the clock on the wall, Rebeka with her finger actively scrolled through the gallery, seeing in the photos numerous landscapes, animals, the sky, trees, and notes, as well as Omar with his friends and her in the background.

  ‘I look at pictures of myself more and more often,’ she said to herself, looking at the first twenty-three thousand photos. ‘They have a better angle of focus, I must admit. I’d say it’s more like a shy little boy afraid of being found out, but who, at every attempt, takes more risks and dares more.’

  Rebeka adjusted her hair, looked up, and saw the clock. The atmosphere was quiet; the teacher was checking some papers, and the students were solving practice exercises.

   ‘Jesus... the shy kid has guts. This was definitely in the morning, as I walked by the bus stop, these are photos that captured the scenery under my skirt,’ she continued a bit more after the fifty thousand photos. ‘I must admit that my freshman year of high school, my underwear was pretty boring and unsexy, shorts, but... does he not keep pictures of himself? I’ve gone through more than half of them already and haven’t seen any. Aww, for now, I’d settle for one of them, in front of his bathroom mirror, showing his whole body or sideways... Mmm, I have to control myself. I’ve been lubing up longer than normal, and I don’t want to have to go so far as to change my underwear. In case I have to, I don’t bring another garment, and I didn’t go to the bathroom in the morning either. I usually put some paper over my underwear to retain fluids, but that’s not the case today...’

    ‘Now that I think about it better, I don’t have naked pictures of myself on my own phone either. Maybe there is something in common?’ After stopping her finger when she was close to a hundred thousand pictures, Rebeka dissimulated and raised her head to look in the direction of the blackboard.

  The professor was copying the assignment, which didn’t hurry her much since she almost always took his picture to save herself from having to write.

  ‘If I think about it, I have no reason to have pictures of myself. What would be the point of having the body I see every day stored in my gallery? Unless I intended to send those photos to someone who would appreciate them or out of curiosity to see a different point of view of me, then I end up deleting them. If he was corresponding with someone else, he should have personal photos, right?’

   ‘Oh, interesting. More pictures of my panties, these are more recent. I don’t look bad wearing them at all. The lace on the sides brings out the cheeks of my buttocks. It also has many more pictures of me doing different physical activities, in various positions, and while walking, but in all of them I appear on my back, with my hair up, carrying my purse, books, or backpack.’

 Once she reached the top of the one hundred and sixty thousand photos, Rebeka’s finger could not go up any further.

   ‘Already? This is the end?’ she thought,  ‘Ufff... how boring. Nice that she has so many pictures of me, but it's boring... not having seen her manly attributes a few times. Well, what can you do? From the gallery, we’ll go to the messages. I still have time, I think... I’m sure this area is more interesting.’

As soon as she pressed the blue icon with a white letter in the middle, Rebeka was petrified as her pupils flicked back and forth over the screen of someone else’s phone.

  ‘Lots of unknown numbers,’ she thought. ‘All sending her pictures, no text messages. Was I wrong, and if she has another one, Let's see the most recent one.’

  Rebeka selected the most recent message to see an empty box that needed to be downloaded in order to open. Confused, she repeated her finger movement and ended up reading the next message instead of seeing what she wanted to see:

    [In order to load the file, you will need to download the content. [Do you wish to download the image?]

Rebeka hit accept.

   [Unable to download. Insufficient space. [Empty memory before continuing].

   ‘Interesting,’ she thought. ‘Let me see what I can delete. Since all these images from under my skirt were not consensual, those will be the first.’

  Then, as if it were her own phone, she went to the gallery and naturally selected the entire first row of images, and without hesitation, she pressed the button that said [Delete] a few times to return to the email inbox.

  ‘Aww!’ She screamed inwardly. ‘Damn phone, I don’t have much left to throw you against the wall! That’s over 1500 deleted images, and you’re still telling me, “Not enough space!"’

 Back in the gallery, Rebeka randomly selected another hundred photos and hit the [Delete] button.

'Finally,’ she said, more relieved, seeing results. She decided not to wait to satisfy her curiosity, as the clock kept counting down the seconds. ‘Aww, I was able to download one. Let me see... Mmm, pictures of me from this morning. Now it all has a better explanation, but why do you have so many anonymous numbers sending you pictures of me? Now that I remember, when I was inside the train, I overheard a gentleman asking for his lost phone.’

  Rebeka needed to remember a few clues in order to deduce what was necessary in this situation:

   ‘Let me look on the internet about it.’ She pulled out her phone, and after putting a few words into the search bar, she was able to get to the most recent news section. ‘Forty-two cases of lost or possibly stolen phones. Yes, it’s definitely the station we use to catch the train in the morning. Oh, my beloved, you’re wrapping a noose around your neck; the authorities already have an investigation open and all.’

  Teacher:

“Are there any questions regarding today’s class or homework?”

After glancing at the clock above the board, Rebeka could tell that recess time had arrived.

   ‘Time can go fast at school too, all it takes is to be entertained. Who knew?” She complained, at the same time hiding and arranging what she had left on the table.

  Faced with the teacher’s question, the students refused to say yes, as they were all desperate to enter recess, and answering the opposite would result in extending the class.

  The teacher looked toward the last stall and continued speaking, “Otherwise, ask Rebeka. Of course, in the next class, you have a pop quiz on all the content we gave today, and the grade will affect your final grades by 45 percent.”

  ‘Yes, Professor Bob may be old and fat, but not dumb,’ Rebeka said to herself, keeping a calm look on her face. ‘During class, you noticed that I had spent the time hardly looking at the board or asking questions, as is usual for me. Of course, if you want to give me work, I have to make you pass work. Keeping him away from me had a purpose. Letting him confide in me, didn’t it? You figured maybe I was tired of drawing like others, but you didn’t care. It’s not like you can kick me out of school for not attending or not knowing how to answer any of the exercises either. You’d rather do this.’

  Why had Rebeka been the target of this teacher and so many others, as well as the principal? Why, when she made a mistake, was she given the biggest punishment disguised as work? Despite all her hard work and best efforts, wouldn’t it be enough to call her attention to not attending? Did the teacher have to put the weight of all the students in the class on such a delicate matter as final grades? Why make all her classmates see that she had to bear all the blame and responsibility for her grades?

  ‘No. All that the teacher cares about is making me give up and making me not want to go back to school. He doesn’t want to see the face of a murderer’s daughter. But, just as everyone was laughing behind Omar’s back, I’d like to see if that old man has the guts to treat me the way he does if my father were here.’

Irritation coursed through Rebeka’s veins, more so as she saw the eyes of everyone in the class looking at her.

 Intent on creating his way out of the situation he had created, the professor banged his desk loudly with the intention of organizing the papers he had collected and immediately, without even looking up, proceeded to walk out the door.

 “You can find me in the library at the end of the day,” said Rebeka, with her best confident face, pretending not to be on the verge of rage and despair.

  With the bell ringing at that very moment, the students decided to enjoy what they had been looking forward to for so long before the next class started, and they couldn’t snack. All but one, Omar.

  ‘Well,’ thought Rebeka, returning to her good mood. ‘Something interesting is about to take place. You, who were nervous during the whole class, are now looking for a way to get closer. Try as you might, you can’t disappoint me, my darling Omar.’

   “Omar, come with us to the cafeteria; it wouldn’t be the same without you." Lizandra spoke on the way out as she threw a glance at Rebeka.

  ‘The dirt cheap, fake, backstabbing snake is capable of speech...’ Rebeka thought, about to throw herself at her and pull her hair. ‘I’m sure she’s noticed that he’s paying much more attention to me than usual. I feel sorry for your case, but he is mine; his heart is in my hands from today. He is dirty, envious, jealous, and arrogant, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t keep your mouth shut or take away what belongs to me.’

  Omar, running his hand over his head, deep in thought, added:

“Ah, haha... I have to talk to Rebeka, and I can’t wait until the end of the day. I had a lot of doubts on the subject of the class.”

  Miguel, taking the initiative, threw himself into the situation.

“Don’t worry, girls, you have me... I’m paying for your breakfast today, if you want it.”

  The girls:

“How gentlemanly, well, let’s hurry up before the next shift starts.”

  In a classroom that was literally abandoned by the students as if it were on fire, only two were left. Rebeka was cleaning the blackboard, as wasOmar, who was still seated. She was trying to imagine ways in which she could continue to seize the heart of the wild and careless boy behind her. It wasn’t like she could stop wondering if there was anyone else going through the same thing and what that person did. He was looking for ways to be forgiven and not fall into the hole of rejection.

   Free time was running out. From one moment to the next, she heard Omar approach her from behind, and as a crude response to this approach, she kept her back straight and increased the force with which she used the eraser until she made up her mind to whisper the following words:

 “What do you want, liar?”

  Rebeka maintained a tone of voice and timbre that could freeze the air around her, though it was not enough, as she turned her face away, pretending to be indignant, while at the same time closing her eyes and raising her jaw.

  “I’m not someone who would tell lies...” said Omar, as he took a seat in front of her, ducking his head and with a hoarse voice, he said: “Please Rebeka. Don’t be mean, it was only a half-truth. At stake inside that phone is the opinion you might have of me. I have to protect that opinion and protect you as well.”

 More as a challenge, curious to know if she had the strength and control she truly believed she had, Rebeka paused to place Omar’s phone on the table she had been sitting at, to look him in the eye, and ask:

 “My opinion of you? Try me, what’s the password?”

  At the words of the angry girl with her hands crossed, Omar did not answer, he just picked up the phone, like a cat that was afraid, and stretched out its claw, waiting to be hit by its owner. Already with his phone in his hand, he entered the password and placed it back on the table, as if, with his face, he had said, Let it be what God wills.

    “The long password is your name plus the date of your birthday. The short one is ‘BK’. I’m not proud that inside, in the gallery, I have pictures of your panties... I’ve been taking them on the sly.”

  “Are you the one who leaves letters and messages in my locker?” asked Rebeka, not changing the expressions on her face at all.

  “Yes, it’s me, as well as drawings and poems.”

“The drawings have no color, the poems are full of spelling mistakes, and the letters are always crumpled. For society there is no value in anything you have done; do you know that?”

 “It’s cowardly, I admit it...” said Omar, breaking the expressions on his face as he knew Rebeka’s opinion of what he had done so far. “It was how I was able to find a way to calm this thing I feel for you, even though I am a horrendous person and not worthy of you. When you make that face, you scare me.” 

  “What aren’t you worthy of? What do you mean?” After ignoring the fact the fact that she was scared of the scariest boy in the whole school, Rebeka asked coolly as she took the phone in her hand, opened the calling app, and dialed a few numbers.

   “For what you suffer, every day, second and moment... it’s my family’s fault... and by association, I’m just as responsible... I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think so....”

   As soon as Rebeka heard such reasoning, she stopped what she was doing. She could not understand it, nor was her knowledge sufficient to formulate a response or react in the most correct way to those words. She understood that for now she should take as deep a breath as she could, let go, along with the air she exhaled, of any problems or nonconformity she had.

   ‘This is for the best. For my emotional sake, I know better than to inquire into the matter, though I refuse to believe that her answer is well justified. ‘I am happy I don’t want my happiness to go downhill because of past issues when we have to live in the present,’ she said to herself, indifferent to the reasons Omar had given.

  Rebeka pressed the call button, she had dialed his phone number, so she waited until it rang.

  Omar, on the other hand, was expecting to hear numerous retorts, reprimands and even  from school for indecent behavior and harassment. He was so shocked, however, that he opened his eyes like saucers, immediately moving on to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

  “You will leave the sense of guilt, as well as  when you understand that what happened, although it was not as I would have wanted, happened because it was due” she said, in order to think while Omar tried to understand.

‘Maybe I’m getting too carried away with my angry girl act. Well, I can’t deny that I’m enjoying the pleasure of leaving him like this, making him go up and down on a roller coaster of emotions, like he does to me. I could leave him like this until the night. My silence is indeed disturbing, but I want to make him feel even more... to crash a nuclear bomb into his mind.’

  Rebeka, still with her icy attitude, turned off Omar’s phone, put it back in her bra, and then went in the direction of her stall and grabbed the rest of her things. In the process, with her right hand, she took off her dampened panties that were already starting to feel uncomfortable and, with utmost naturalness and coolness, handed them to him along with what she had in her other hand, as she thought:

   ‘I didn’t think having him so close and so submissive would get me this way.’

   Omar received both objects with one hand; he looked so tense that he surely hadn’t breathed for a good while. The phone of the girl he was stalking sure had a lot of juicy information inside, but Juicier looked at her underwear.

 “For now, we have nothing more to talk about,” Rebeka said, making Omar breathe again “.Wait for my call in the evening...my phone has no password.”

   Rebeka paused and said to herself, ‘If I tell him in a more threatening tone, he’s going to feel less tense. A tone that matches the seriousness of the crime committed is perfect.’ Of course, she couldn’t say her thoughts in a way that Omar could hear them, but she did continue out loud:

  “You’d better answer” she said in a voice of being sure of herself, to continue, “I have the evidence necessary to turn you over to the police as the phone thief. Your father and the authorities will not be at all happy with the news....”

  Pausing the words she blurted out arrogantly from her mouth, Rebeka glanced at the clock on the board. ‘I must go to my locker to get the books for the next subject.’

  “Goodbye, Omar,” she said, after turning around in a seductive manner, which made her saya (skirt) rise. “One more thing I have to tell you, and let it be very clear: I forbid you to steal another phone to take pictures of me on the sly. Learn to enjoy the moment and stop living inside your gallery.”

  Rebeka, walked the halls, organized classes, and did what she usually did, which allowed her to spend the rest of the day much more refreshed than usual. ‘I could get used to doing my routine activities without panties,’ she thought, paying particular attention to the people who looked back at her.

   ‘How would the people around me act if they knew I had no panties?’ she wondered.  'Nowadays, we still can’t walk around with our breasts in the air in public places. But it’s not like this situation I’m walking around in is specified to be illegal at all.’

   ‘Well, it’s almost the end of the day, time for me to finish with my day,’ she thought. ‘Oh, no... I still have to go to the library in case someone shows up to consult about the first class.’

  “Very good afternoon, Miss Rebeka” a kindly old lady in elegant clothes interrupted the girl’s thoughts, who was almost on her way out of the school.

Rebeka turned around and, after greeting, continued:

“Did the math teacher take the trouble to request your services to make sure I fulfill my extracurricular duties?”

  “No” replied the old woman “it’s much worse, at least for you. The math teacher went to the principal and asked to take the place of librarian supervision. As soon as I heard the news, I didn’t know how to respond, as he specified that he wants to personally take over supervising your services as a tutor because he can’t take the risk of someone failing his test and worsening his reputation. May “the King of Heaven” have mercy on you and fill the hearts of those around you with kindness.”

After watching the librarian leave, Rebeka took as deep a breath as her lungs would allow before heading for the library.

“God damn it, ‘The King of the Heavens.' What god does anything for anyone?” She snorted grumpily.

  “Do you feel bad?” asked the professor, as soon as he looked up from his desk and could tell that the one, whom he was waiting for, was just opening the door to enter the library.

  Of course, Rebeka acted as if that individual, whom she disliked so much, was not there and went on to sit in the tutoring chair inside a library as large as it was empty.

 “I noticed you were somewhat distracted during my class. Unacceptable! How could I not punish you for such an insult? After all, it is a professor’s job to correct the head of a student who does nothing but neglect her duties. I am disappointed that the president does not set an example.”