Juliette:
It started with laughter.
Not the fun kind. Not the kind that made you feel welcome.
The sharp kind. The kind that made you instinctively brace yourself before it even reached you.
I’d been sitting alone for most of the game, watching Maddox dominate the field, trying to tune out the noise around me. I should have been caught up in the rush of it—his throws, his power, the way he owned the game.
But every time I started to feel proud… I’d glance around and see *another* girl in his jersey. And another. Leaner, louder. Glitter on their cheeks. Hair curled perfectly.
And there I was. Legs crossed. Arms wrapped around myself. Trying to feel like I belonged.
I didn’t hear the girls approach until they were standing just in front of me.
“Oh my God,” one of them said with a fak
