Chapter Six—The First Crack
1360 Words
The next morning, Amara woke up thinking about Chloe.
She hated that.
She had spent most of the night trying to convince herself that she was making something out of nothing. Ethan had never given her a reason not to trust him. He had always made his feelings for her clear, and yesterday, when he noticed something was wrong, he had stayed beside her until she smiled again.
So why was Chloe bothering her this much?
Amara pushed the thought away as she got ready for school.
She wasn’t going to let another girl ruin her morning.
By the time she reached school, the noise of students moving through the corridors had already filled the building. She spotted Ethan near the lockers, talking to a few of his friends.
The moment he noticed her, his face lit up.
Amara smiled.
Whatever strange feeling she had carried with her that morning disappeared for a moment.
Ethan walked toward her, and before he could even say anything, Amara told him that she had been thinking about him.
He teased her about missing him after only one night.
She laughed and pushed his shoulder.
Everything felt normal again.
That was exactly what Amara needed.
For the first few classes, the day went smoothly. She focused on her lessons, talked with her friends during break, and tried not to think about Chloe.
Then, during lunch, something happened.
Ethan received a message.
He looked at his phone and frowned slightly before putting it back into his pocket.
Amara asked who it was.
He told her it was Chloe.
Amara paused.
Ethan noticed the change in her expression.
He explained that Chloe had asked him about an assignment they were both involved in. Amara nodded, pretending she wasn’t bothered.
She didn’t want to become the kind of girlfriend who questioned every message her boyfriend received.
Besides, Ethan had shown her the message without hiding anything.
There was nothing suspicious about it.
At least, not yet.
After lunch, Ethan left to meet one of his classmates. Amara went toward her next class with her friends.
Halfway down the hallway, Chloe appeared beside her.
Amara immediately became cautious.
Chloe smiled like everything between them was perfectly normal.
She asked Amara how her day was going.
Amara answered politely.
Then Chloe mentioned Ethan.
She casually brought up how much time she had spent with him recently because of their school work.
Amara listened without saying much.
Chloe continued talking, making little comments about how Ethan was such a nice person and how easy he was to talk to.
None of the things she said were openly disrespectful.
That was what made them worse.
Amara couldn’t accuse her of anything because technically, Chloe hadn’t done anything wrong.
She was simply talking.
But Amara could feel something underneath her words.
Something deliberate.
Before leaving, Chloe smiled and told Amara that she was lucky to have someone like Ethan.
Then she walked away.
Amara stood there for a moment.
The words sounded like a compliment.
But somehow, they didn’t feel like one.
She entered her classroom and tried to forget about it.
When Ethan came to find her later, he immediately noticed that she was quieter than usual.
He asked if something happened.
Amara almost told him about Chloe’s conversation.
Instead, she asked him why Chloe had been talking about him.
Ethan looked confused.
He said Chloe had only been talking about their school work.
Amara nodded.
She believed him.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about the way Chloe had looked at her.
That afternoon, something happened that made Amara’s feelings even more complicated.
The school was preparing for an upcoming student event, and several students had been assigned different responsibilities.
Ethan was helping with decorations.
Amara wanted to help too, so she joined the group.
Everything was fine until she noticed Chloe standing beside Ethan.
Again.
This time, however, Ethan wasn’t paying much attention to her.
He was focused on what he was doing.
Chloe kept trying to start conversations with him, but Ethan’s attention remained on the task.
Amara watched quietly.
For the first time, she realized something important.
Maybe Chloe wasn’t the problem.
Maybe Chloe was simply trying to become one.
There was a difference.
And Amara didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of reacting.
So she walked over and joined Ethan.
His face immediately brightened when he saw her.
He asked her to help with one of the decorations, and the two of them worked side by side.
Chloe eventually walked away.
Amara thought that was the end of it.
She was wrong.
Later that evening, Amara was scrolling through her phone when she received a message from one of her friends.
It was a picture.
Amara opened it.
Her heart sank slightly.
It was a picture of Ethan and Chloe from earlier that day.
They were standing together near the decorations.
Nothing inappropriate was happening.
They weren’t touching.
They weren’t even particularly close.
But the picture had been taken from an angle that made them look much closer than they actually were.
Amara stared at it.
Her first thought was that Chloe had probably taken the picture.
Her second thought was that someone else had.
She didn’t know.
And that uncertainty bothered her.
A few seconds later, another message arrived.
Her friend asked if everything was okay between her and Ethan.
Amara didn’t answer immediately.
She didn’t want to create a problem based on a picture.
She put her phone down and took a deep breath.
Then Ethan called.
The moment she heard his voice, some of the tension inside her disappeared.
They talked about their day.
Ethan made her laugh.
He told her something funny that had happened after she left school, and Amara found herself smiling again.
She wanted to tell him about the picture.
She really did.
But she stopped herself.
Not because she was afraid of Ethan’s reaction.
Because she wanted to handle the situation carefully.
She didn’t want Chloe to become the reason she and Ethan started fighting.
After the call ended, Amara looked at the picture one more time.
Then she deleted it.
She wasn’t going to let a photograph control her feelings.
The following morning, Ethan noticed that Amara seemed distracted.
He asked her what was wrong.
This time, she told him.
Not everything.
Just enough.
She told him that Chloe had been making her uncomfortable lately.
Ethan listened quietly.
He didn’t become defensive.
He simply told Amara that he had noticed Chloe had been around him more often too, but he hadn’t thought much of it.
That surprised Amara.
She asked him if he thought Chloe liked him.
Ethan laughed softly and told her that he hadn’t been thinking about Chloe that way at all.
His answer made Amara smile.
Then he reminded her that there was only one girl he was interested in.
Her.
Amara felt the tightness in her chest disappear.
She rested her head against his shoulder for a moment.
She knew she trusted him.
That hadn’t changed.
But as they walked through the hallway together, Amara noticed Chloe standing at the other end.
Their eyes met.
Chloe’s smile slowly disappeared when she saw Ethan holding Amara’s hand.
For the first time, Chloe looked frustrated.
Amara didn’t look away.
She wasn’t going to compete with her.
She wasn’t going to fight her.
She wasn’t even going to let her relationship become a competition.
If Chloe wanted Ethan’s attention, she could try.
But Ethan had already made his choice.
And it was Amara.
What Amara didn’t know was that Chloe wasn’t planning to give up.
She had realized something.
Trying to make Ethan like her wasn’t going to work.
So maybe she needed to stop trying to win Ethan directly.
Maybe she needed to make Amara question him instead.
And that was when Chloe came up with a new plan.
A plan that would test just how much Amara really trusted Ethan.
Across the hallway, Chloe watched them disappear around the corner.
Her expression changed.
This time, she wasn’t smiling.
She was thinking.
And whatever she was planning next, Amara had no idea it was coming.
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