He stood up, walking away with a bunch of giggling girls trailing behind him. As Lireal watched him leave, she felt as if a part of her was dying inside. She wanted to run after him, to beg him to reconsider, beg him to love her. But she knew that it was too late for that. He had already made his decision.
The crowd in the cafeteria slowly dispersed, leaving Lireal alone with her thoughts and her tears. She felt as if everyone in the school was staring at her, judging her, wondering what had gone wrong. Her heart ached, and her chest burned with the pain of rejection.
Without thinking, she ran. She ran until she could no longer hear the laughter or the whispers behind her back. She ran until she found herself deep in the woods, far away from the prying eyes of her classmates. There, in t
