One reached out immediately. I flinched back, clutching the key tighter in my fist. Her hand froze, but her eyes didn’t leave mine. The other two hovered just behind her, watching and waiting.
I didn’t know them. How could I trust them?
“Hey,” the girl in the middle said softly. She didn’t push, didn’t move closer. Just held her hand out, patient. Her voice was steady, not pitying. “You’re okay.”
I scanned her quickly. Five foot seven—no, five foot eight. A fitted tank over her hourglass frame. Her sharp features weresoftened by her round brown eyes. Long hair, dyed brunette with red roots. Pretty. Confident. The kind of girl who never cared what people thought.
To her left stood another girl, a little shorter, with shoulder-length blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that looked like they noticed everything.
And the last one… she was smiling. Sweetly. Reassuringly. Straight dark hair that fell all the way down to her hips. Warm brown eyes that didn’t feel sharp at all. Just kind.
My chest squeezed. Too much. Too close. I shook my head quickly, lips pressed tight, taking a small step back.
The blonde tilted her head. “Can you—” she hesitated, eyes narrowing as if she were genuinely trying to figure it out, “not speak?”
The words hit like a dart.
Mocking?
Or real?
My throat closed anyway. I could speak. Of course I could. I just couldn’t… now. Not here. Not like this.
For a second, I expected them to leave. To roll their eyes, walk away, pretend they never stepped into the mud for me. Everyone else did. Why wouldn’t they?
I crouched down, fingers brushing the strap of my bag before yanking it over my shoulder, mud streaking across my palms.
“Hey, it’s okay—” the girl in the middle started, voice soft.
But I slipped past her, head low, clutching my bag like a shield. I didn’t need help. I didn’t need their looks. God knows I already drown in enough of that.
I’d never even seen them before in my whole year here. Strangers don’t just… do that. They don’t drop luxury handbags onto the mud, ruin shoes that probably cost more than my rent… for me.
No, people aren’t kind like that. Not without a reason. The whole campus had been watching; maybe they wanted an audience, maybe they wanted to look good.
I’d been here for over a year now, and no one had chosen to save me. No one. So why would I believe that this wasn’t for show? The golden trio saving the girl no one else wanted to touch?
I tightened my grip on the bag’s strap, the key biting into my palm. Better to believe that than let myself fall for the idea that someone might actually mean it.
I swallowed hard, forcing down the echo of their soft smile, their patient voices, that warmth I couldn’t afford to want. My chest tightened, but I shoved it down and slipped into the nearest bathroom.
The mirror didn’t lie. Mud on my clothes, streaks across my skin, hair plastered to my face. A wreck.
I gripped the sink, staring myself down.Focus on me. Not them. Never them.
I dropped my bag on the floor and turned the tap; the rush of water was loud enough to drown out thoughts that didn’t belong. My hands shook as I cupped the water, wiping at my arms, at my jeans… pointless, they were ruined. Still, I kept trying. Anything to erase the mess.
Maybe this should be my lesson. Always be ready. Keep clothes in my locker. Because deep down, I know this wouldn’t be the last time.
I never thought he would go this far…
No, not ever.
Fake throwing my key into the muddy field in front of everyone just so I could humiliate myself?
That was new.
This was completely different from the quiet insults he used to always give me, the glares or whatever else, but never in my life did I think he would make me get on myhands and kneesin front of the entire campus.
