The Girl He Couldn't Break

Chapter 6: The Fall

Peter's POV

When I got to the scene, I froze instantly at the sight of what I saw.

A boy lay motionless on the concrete courtyard below. His schoolbag had burst open, scattering notebooks across the pavement. One of his shoes had been thrown off several feet away, and a thin, dark trail of blood was already spreading beneath his head.

For one horrifying second, nobody moved. Then, panic exploded.

“Oh my God!”

“Call an ambulance!”

“Someone help him!”

Students rushed toward the courtyard from every direction. Teachers poured out of nearby classrooms, shouting at the crowd to step back. My stomach twisted violently. I couldn't look away.

The boy on the pavement was Ethan—one of the few scholarship kids at West Bridge.

I didn't know him personally, but my mind instantly flashed back to what Ryan had said in the math classroom: “You nearly killed Vanessa yesterday for insulting her.”

And then, Vanessa's chilling voice from the hallway echoed in my skull: “If I were you, I’d keep a very close eye on her today.”

A suffocating chill crawled straight down my spine. A terrible thought struck me.

No... Surely she couldn't...

Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second. Within minutes, the school nurse arrived flanked by two security officers.

Teachers forced the growing crowd farther back, draping a jacket over Ethan to shield him from the staring eyes.

The whispers spread faster than wildfire through the surrounding students.

“It was an accident.”

“I heard he slipped.”

“No... I heard someone pushed him.”

Pushed him?

The word hit me like a physical blow. The second-floor balcony had waist-high stone railings. You couldn’t simply trip and tumble over them.

My eyes swept frantically across the crowd, hunting for one specific face.

I found her. Samantha was standing a few yards away, her fingers trembling against her backpack. Her face was completely drained of color as she stared at the wreckage.

Suddenly, her eyes lifted. They met mine across the panicked crowd.

Neither of us spoke. But in that brief, heavy moment, I saw the terror in her expression—and the realization that she was thinking exactly what I was thinking.

Vanessa.

I turned on my heel and began walking rapidly toward the academic building. I wasn't fleeing the scene. I was heading straight for the staircase.

My jaw tightened. I wasn't looking for answers anymore. I was looking for Vanessa.

Heavy, hurried footsteps sounded right behind me. I glanced back over my shoulder. Samantha had shoved her way through the chaotic crowd and was following me up the steps. She didn't say a word, and neither did I.

She didn't ask where I was going. Somehow... She simply followed because she was chasing the same answer.

We flew up the stairs to the exact spot Ethan had fallen from.

The second-floor corridor was completely abandoned. Then I saw her. Vanessa stepped out of the girl's restroom, casually applying lipstick to her perfect red lips with the help of a small pocket mirror.

As our frantic footsteps approached, she didn't look scared at all. She slowly turned around, a cruel smile stretching across her face as she looked directly past me, locking her eyes onto the girl at my side.

She slipped the lipstick back into her handbag, closed the mirror with a soft click, and smiled.

"You're late, Samantha," she purred into the dead silence. "I've been waiting for you."