Maybe that’s my own fault.I built this armor.I perfected the polished smile.I made sure no one could see how much those throwaway lines sting, how much the heat in Reece’s voice turns to ice when he uses it on someone else.
They don’t know it gets hard to breathe when he looks at me and laughs, all teeth and heat, like I’m the setup to a punchline he never finished.Or when he throws out that one word… “Red” as if it means nothing to him and everything to me.
They don’t realize that every time Nicole calls me a tease, a prude, or a virgin, it sinks into my skin and stays there.
I keep my chin high and my voice steady, pretending none of it ever lands.I tell myself their words bounce off, that his laugh doesn’t hit bone.But I feel every bit of it.And then I bury it deep where no one can see.
The classroom’s half-full, sunlight slicing across chipped desks and half-dead posters peeling off the walls.
I see Liz near the back, phone in hand, typing with the kind of fury that means someone’s about to get a very aggressive reminder to attend Student Council.
She looks up from her phone.“Please tell me that flustered look is because you tripped over your own shoelaces and not because Reece winked at you again.”
I sigh as I settle into the seat.“Yeah.You know.Just another Monday where I question all my life choices.”
She doesn’t pause.“Ah yes.Monday.Where Nicole calls you a tease and Reece decides the hallway is his personal strip club.Very peaceful.”
I snort.“You missed the part where Tia tried to kill me with her eyes.I’m pretty sure she’s still manifesting Aubrey’s downfall so she can steal Noah back.”
Liz finally looks up, unimpressed.“Tia’s just bitter Noah fell for someone who didn’t spend two years fake-tanning and terrorizing freshmen.”
“And Nicole?”I ask.
Liz shrugs.“Oh, she’s bitter no one’s fallen in love with her yet.”
Right on cue, the classroom door swings open.
Aubrey walks in with that flushed, just-kissed glow she probably doesn’t even notice.Her hair’s loose, falling over her shoulders, an effortless beauty that doesn’t need a filter.She heads toward us, her hand already reaching for Noah’s.He catches it without missing a beat.
Noah used to be a fuckboy.Cold smile, hot hands, and a reputation that followed him into every room.He played girls the way Reece and Jace still do—easy, careless, never sticking around for the fallout.All sharp edges and zero apologies.He used to be untouchable.Unreachable.
Until Aubrey.
Now he walks beside Aubrey with his hand wrapped around hers, and you can see the shift in him.The way his eyes never leave her.The way his body moves in sync with hers, ready to shield, ready to strike.Now he bends for her.
And when he looks at her, it isn’t soft.It’s brutal.Possessive.The kind of look that imprints itself into memory and refuses to fade once the moment’s over.
It says touch her, and you’re dead.Cross that line, and he won’t hesitate.
They sit down in the seats across from us.Aubrey raises her hand and waves.I wave back, relaxed, casual, pretending the knot in my chest isn’t tightening.
I really am happy for her.I am.She deserves it.After everything she’s been through, she fucking deserves this peace, this love, this boy who would torch the earth just to keep her warm.
But still...something twists.It lingers there, just behind my ribs.
It’s not envy.Not exactly.
It’s that quiet, unbearable ache that hits when you see someone else get everything you act like you don’t want.It’s wondering what it would be like if someone looked at me the way Noah looks at her, as if she’s already home.Like the war’s over and she’s the reason he made it through.
To be truly seen and still be chosen.
Not for the way I look.Not for the red hair or the body they think I haven’t given away yet.
But for me.
Lola charges through the door as if she’s late to her own drama.She holds a half-eaten muffin in one hand, her bag barely hanging on her shoulder, with crumbs trailing behind her like confetti.
“Don’t ask,” she groans, dropping into the seat in front of me.“I stepped in gum, spilled my coffee, and got hit in the face by my locker door.The universe is out for blood.”
