Chapter 12
606 Words
Chapter 12
I spent the entire morning avoiding Lucian.
Every time I saw him in the hallways, I turned the other way. When he tried to approach me during break, I quickly joined my small group of friends and pretended to be deep in conversation. My phone kept buzzing with his texts Please let me explain. Nothing happened. She was sick and I fell asleep on the couch. I swear. but I didn’t open them. I couldn’t.
The photos Sophia had sent were burned into my mind. His arm around her. Their bodies close in bed. It hurt too much.
“Lily, wait!” Lucian called out after the final bell. He jogged to catch up with me at the gate. “Just talk to me for two minutes. Please.”
I kept walking, eyes fixed straight ahead. My heart ached with every step, but I stayed silent. I was too scared to hear whatever excuse he had. Too scared that I would believe him and get hurt again.
He tried a few more times throughout the week waiting by my locker, sending notes in class, even showing up at the old oak tree. Each time, I ignored him completely. I walked away without a word. Eventually, he stopped pestering me. The texts became less frequent, then stopped altogether. The long love birds that had just started flying together were now flying in completely different directions.
The distance hurt more than I expected.
But the worst part was what came next.
Sophia and Mia became friends almost overnight. I saw them together in the cafeteria the following Monday laughing like they had known each other for years. Sophia’s slim, elegant figure next to Mia’s made them look like the perfect duo. And they had one common goal: making my life a living hell.
It started small.
They “accidentally” spilled juice on my seat during lunch. They spread rumors that I had thrown myself at Lucian and that he had rejected me for Sophia. My locker was decorated with new notes calling me “desperate fat girl” and “homewrecker.”
One afternoon, as I was walking to class, they both cornered me in the hallway.
“Stay away from Lucian,” Mia said coldly, her eyes full of satisfaction. “He was never yours to begin with.”
Sophia smiled sweetly beside her. “He belongs with someone who actually matches him. Not someone who looks like you.”
I didn’t fight back. I just nodded and walked away with my head down, tears burning in my eyes. Every day became a struggle. The bullying was constant but never dangerous enough to report just enough to wear me down slowly.
At home, Mia was extra cheerful in front of our parents. She would hug me in front of Mom and then whisper cruel things when we were alone. “How does it feel to lose him so quickly?” she’d ask with a smirk.
I cried myself to sleep most nights, wondering if I had made a mistake by pushing Lucian away. But the pain from those photos was still fresh. The distance between us grew wider every day.
Lucian watched me from afar now. Sometimes I caught him looking at me with sad eyes in the hallways, but he respected my silence. He no longer tried to explain. The spark we had was fading.
And Mia and Sophia? They were thriving the new power duo of the school, making sure I stayed in the shadows where they believed I belonged.
I didn’t know how much longer I could take this quiet hell.
- Writer
