CHAPTER 7
848 Words
It started with silence that wasn’t really silence.
That quiet that pressed itself against your skull and made every breath sound louder than it should. Every step Avery took into the cafeteria felt like it echoed. Eyes flicked up from trays. Forks paused mid-air. Conversations dipped, then twisted — repurposed into something darker. Into her.
Her hoodie felt like paper. Thin. Pointless.
Lola was at her side, as always, like armor with chipped edges. But even that didn’t help today. Today, Avery wasn’t invisible. And being seen, really seen, was its own kind of exposure.
She didn’t speak as they moved across the room. She didn’t need to.
People were already speaking for her.
“That’s her.”
“The girl who shouted at Jackson.”
Avery kept walking. Tray in hand. Shoulders squared. But her fingers were white around the plastic, and her pulse pounded behind her ears.
She sat with Lola at their usual corner table. But nothing felt usual anymore. “Just ignore them,” Lola said, eyes already narrowed at the mean girl corner. “They’re pressed. You’re not even in their league, and they know it.”
Avery didn’t answer. Because she wasn’t sure she believed that.
Tiara stood. And when Tiara stood, everyone noticed. She walked toward them, the cafeteria parting like waves around her.
Tiara Nelson.
Behind her trailed her usual clique, perfect girls with perfect teeth and a hunger for spectacle. Tiara didn’t stop until she was standing at their table. Her gaze slid over Avery like she was a stain that refused to wash out.
Avery looked down at her food. She didn’t need this. Not today.
“Hey.” Tiara’s voice was sugar and acid. “You’re in my seat.”
Avery blinked up. “What?”
Tiara didn’t repeat herself. She just smiled, the kind of smile that made you flinch.
Lola stood. “There are literally fifty other seats. Try one.”
Tiara’s smile widened. “Oh, look. The dog barks.”
Avery’s hand shot out, caught Lola’s arm mid-lunge. “Don’t.”
Lola’s jaw was tight. Her hands were fists.
“Let me.” she whispered. “Let me just swing once.”
“No,” Avery whispered back. “Not like this.”
Tiara tilted her head. “Cute. Scholarship kids think they’re relevant”
Avery looked at her, really looked. And something in her wanted to scream. To shake the table. To break something.
But Lola wasn’t built to bend. “You came here to bark, or are you gonna fetch something useful?”
One of Tiara’s girls stepped forward.
Another inch and fists would’ve flown.
Avery stood, fast, catching Lola by the wrist. Her grip was steel.
“Don’t.”
Lola looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “She’s begging for it.”
“And you’re giving her everything she wants.”
Tiara watched. Studied. Then leaned in.
“I don’t know who you think you are,” she whispered, only loud enough for the three of them. “But you don’t touch Jackson. You don’t look at Jackson. He’s not in your story. He’s not in your world.”
Avery finally looked at her.
Eyes sharp. Quiet.
And full of all the words she wasn’t saying.
Tiara smirked. “Oh. You think you’re scary now? Because you had one loud moment?”
Avery still said nothing.
But something cracked beneath her skin. A fire. An urge. A scream with nowhere to go.
Her silence wasn’t weakness. It was thunder being held back. She didn’t want to be known as a tantrum girl, so she kept shut even if she didn’t want to.
And it was shaking the ground beneath them. The choice tasted bitter in her throat. Speak- and make it worse. Die- and let them win.
She didn’t move. Didn’t look away. But she didn’t speak.
Tiara turned, satisfied.
Then…
Jackson walked in.
The room tilted. Or maybe it just froze. He had that effect. Eyes followed him like heat. Like gravity.
Avery’s heart tripped once. He didn’t see her right away. But when he did, their eyes locked. For a second. Maybe less. There was something there. Something curious.
Then it was gone.
He looked away.
And Tiara moved fast. She was on him in seconds. Grabbing his arm. Laughing at nothing. Pressing her body close. Jackson didn’t pull away. But he didn’t lean in either. Just stood there, bored. Like he’d done this a hundred times. Because he had.
Avery looked back down at her tray. It was cold now. She hadn’t taken a single bite.
Lola huffed. “She’s so desperate.”
But Avery didn’t answer. Avery wasn’t thinking of Lola.
She was thinking of every night she swallowed her voice to keep the peace. Every test she’d aced that still left her behind. Every hallway passed without a single person knowing her name. Every second spent trying not to be noticed, and still never being seen.
Now she was seen. And she never felt so exposed in her life.
- Writer
