Someone Blackmailed Me For Revenge

My name is Danny William. I'm originally from Los Angeles, California, but my family and I moved to New Zealand when I was 10. I studied at a Catholic high school in Auckland, where I was particularly bright in the sciences.

My best friend is from the UK, but his grandparents, Anne and Graham, live in Taupo, a five-hour drive south. I know them a little bit because I attend the same church. During the 2021 mid-year holidays (first two weeks of July down there), they wanted to take my friend over to stay with them, but he was busy, having many commitments. However, my friend suggested that they take me instead, given that I know them a little and for them to know me more.

I remember getting into Anne and Graham's car and seeing their happy faces. They were so excited to have me stay with them for five days and to know more about me. I loved long drives (what would you expect from growing up in LA) but what added to my ecstasy was the natural beauty of NZ. During the drive, I enjoyed conversing with Anne and Graham about what life was like back in America, how I had quickly adjusted to living in NZ, and how trips to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Griffith Observatory, and Mt. Wilson inspired my lifelong interests in geology and astrophysics.

Eventually, the blue simmer of Lake Taupo peered in through the green rolling hills and I was in awe of Taupo. After twenty minutes, we arrived at their spacious house with a broad backyard, a swimming pool, and two stories with a balcony (unlike my house) that opened up too amazingly vivid views of the Taupo countryside. I was given a room on the top floor. I tried not to get too excited but stayed humble and grateful to Anne and Graham for their service. However, I decided to get mischievous: after my first night at their home, I decided to get down to the living room, take my pajamas off, play rock music, and dance around in only my underwear—unaware their house had a security camera that recorded my fun. Strangely, when Anne and Graham found out, they were OK with my antics; as long as I was happy with being with them, they were happy. I even allowed them to post the video on their Facebook account. Eventually, I enjoyed the rest of my stay with my friend's grandparents, before returning to spend the rest of the break in Auckland and returning to school.

Around the first week, while hanging out during lunch, our school's principal, Mr. Hallstead, came over and asked me to go to his office. After thirty seconds of walking into his room, I sat down. After looking at my face, he spoke.

"You know Jake Perlstein?"

"Yes, I do. The troublemaker."

"For the umpteenth time, he's gotten himself into a lot of trouble. Insulting and egging students at McArthur High School. He was caught on camera! I'm starting to get to the end to my tether."
"What should we do?"
"That's the big thing. I don't know if we should punish him as usual. I'm not sure if he'll ever learn. I'm thinking I should suspend him, but I feel like not giving a note or email to his parents in the traditional way."
"I heard him saying that his birthday is coming soon."
"Hmm..."

After a few seconds of thinking, Mr. Hallstead suggested a seemingly good plan."Are you often invited to parties?"
"No, but I wish I could go to some people's parties."
"If you want, how about you wanna go to his birthday party and give my note to his parents? If you don't want to go, it's fine; I won't make you."

Knowing what he was up to, I said "yes."

However, a more serious yet seemingly comical idea came out of Mr. Hallstead's mouth.

"I'll ask Mr. Marcel to create an antivirus program. Although it removes any viruses, it will also destroy his computer. It's to get his mind off rubbish and back into study and being sane."

"Good idea."

As July passed into August, Mr. Hallstead approached me privately and gave me the "antivirus" Mr. Marcel had developed. I also overheard him bribing Jake (who was not a big fan of me) into inviting me by giving him NZD 20 (USD 12). Eventually, the day arrived. I told my parents about the plan between the principal and me, and before long, I entered the grounds of Jake's house, note and "antivirus" in my pocket, and rang the doorbell.

"Hello?"

"Dan Will, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Happy birthday, Jake!"

"Thanks, Dan Will."

"I've got you a new antivirus for your birthday!"

"Thanks, I'll get my friend over to test it!"

While I went over to see if there were any sensible friends for me to hang out with, Jake gave Trevor, one of his naughty acquaintances, the "antivirus". I overheard Trevor installing the "antivirus" on Jake's desktop computer. I tried not to get pleased or anything with what was going on, bearing in mind this was a serious operation, but I was able to work out that something was going on. Eventually, I heard it—a soft bang.

Jake's desktop was unable to handle the "antivirus", and, lo and behold, it overheated and exploded. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished within a minute. That's when I heard Jake exclaim.

"I will NOT let my birthday be ruined!"

Looking down the hallway, I decided to run out to the backyard and peek in into one of the windows of Jake's bedroom. I saw an adult, presumably one of his parents or a family friend, walk into Jake's bedroom, carrying a birthday cake. However, after expressing shock at the destroyed desktop computer and tripping over something—either some toy or a piece of debris from the computer explosion—he dropped the cake, which splattered spectacularly on the floor.

The moment I realized what had happened, I pointed at the window and exclaimed, "Surprise!"

Jake and his parents were shocked.

"It's that American kid!"

Without hesitation, I quickly ran into the house and gave Mr. Hallstead's note and gave it to Jake's mom. She read the whole note, which also detailed Mr. Hallstead's plan to and responsibility in foiling Jake's party. When she was done, instead of being angry at me or Mr. Hallstead, she looked at her son in the eyes, his own eyes filling with dread. She told me calmly, "Go Home." Which I did, satisfied our work was done.

Jake was reportedly grounded for two weeks and was not allowed to spend the school term playing rugby (as he usually liked) and he was not getting a desktop computer until the end of our studies that year. Obviously, being a jock that he was, he was angry, and perhaps looked of a way to humiliate me. He did, because of what happened once the two weeks were over.

I walked into a school assembly expecting nothing out of the ordinary. After the typical Catholic prayer, the principal came in and gave usual notices. However, he had a special announcement.

"Now, one of the boys came to me and told me they videoed one of our students doing an amazing song performance. They confirmed we can play this for our assembly, to show how amazing our students can manifest their hidden talents."

A few seconds after he stopped, a video came on... it seemed familiar...

On the first second, I realized: it was the video taken on Anne and Graham's house camera of me dancing in my underwear! And even the music was recorded! Somehow, Jake must have found the video of me dancing to Bob Seger on Facebook and told Trevor about it, who would then lie to Mr. Hallstead about it to try and make it look more suitable to show to the school. And I will never forget the day the school—Mr. Hallstead included—laughed uncontrollably in their seats while I sat down, embarrassed. One of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Schwartz, bent over to me in her fits of laughter and said something I'll never forget:

"Oh Danny William... you're the most amazing cissy!"