“You’ve always been cursed,” Liz mumbles, still glued to her phone.“Today’s just extra.”
Lola spins around to face me, eyes narrowing.“Alright.Spill.Did Reece finally grow a soul and make a move, or is he still acting like the emotionally stunted man-child we all know and love?”
I exhale through my nose, the tired kind.“Still playing.”
She beams.“Love that for you.Nothing says romance like unresolved sexual tension and deep-rooted trauma.”
“Thanks, Dr.Phil.”I roll my eyes at Lola’s comment as Tia walks into the room.
She’s alone.
No backup dancers.No smug parade of cheerleaders snapping gum at her heels.Only her, and the flick of her eyes, scanning the room for one person.
Noah.
She spots him easily, seated next to Aubrey with their heads close.But it’s not him that hurts, it’s Aubrey.The girl who shattered Tia’s perfect little world in two.The one who didn’t back down, even when Tia charged at her claws first.
Aubrey didn’t just steal Noah; she stole the entire narrative.Now, because of that, Tia walks in without anyone bowing.They just watch.
It’s strange to see Tia like this—quiet.This is the same girl who used to own hallways like a runway, whose laugh could turn heads and ruin reputations instantly.The one who once had girls begging to sit at her lunch table and boys lining up just to be ignored.
Now?
Nobody looks up.Nobody gasps.Nobody even blinks.
She walks past our row without a single glance.Not a glare.Not a smirk.Nothing.And somehow, that hits harder than any insult ever could.
Tia doesn’t ignore people.She breaks them down.
Her quietness isn’t surrender.It’s the storm gathering strength before it strikes.She’s not finished.She’s watching.Waiting.And when she fights her way back to the top—because girls like her always do—someone’s gonna bleed.And it won’t be her.
Tia barely takes her seat before the next act walks in.
Nicole saunters through the doorway, gum snapping between her teeth, her skirt riding too high, and that voice already grating on my nerves.She walks as if the floor was made for her heels, as if the rest of us are just scenery.
She tosses her hair with dramatic flair, as if she’s practiced in front of a mirror a thousand times.She dramatizes dragging her freshly manicured nails across Reece’s desk as she walks by.
He doesn’t even blink.
He leans back, legs spread, one arm draped over the back of the chair.That stupid silver ring glints on his thumb as he twirls his pen between his fingers, all casual sin and zero shame.
Nicole slows down, eyes narrowing as she tracks the direction of his gaze with sharp focus.
And then she notices it.
Sees me.
Her mouth twists, but I hardly notice because now I’m the one caught.
Reece is watching me.Not just in passing or by accident.
Really watching.
My pulse wavers.I quickly look away, pretending I didn’t notice it.That slow crawl of heat up my neck, the twist low in my stomach, the ache I’ve spent months trying to hide.
His eyes stay fixed on me anyway.I can feel them dragging over my skin.
Nicole doesn’t speak, but her silence is heavy.She hates it—hates that for once, the attention isn’t on her.
