CHAPTER 2
1199 Words
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JADE — POINT OF VIEW
The bell rang, signaling the end of Biology, and just like that, the rest of the morning slipped by in a blur. My mind wasn’t really in the classes anyway—I was starving. When lunch finally arrived, I turned to Joey.
“Let’s just eat in the cafeteria today. I don’t want to deal with the smoke in the garden.”
Joey wrinkled her nose. “You sure? It’s loud in there.”
“Better noise than smoke,” I muttered, already heading that way.
The cafeteria was chaos incarnate. A thunderstorm of voices, laughter, trays clattering. It was loud enough to shake the walls, or at least rattle my brain. But I held it together. Deep breath. Focus.
As we scanned for a seat, I spotted her.
In the farthest corner, nearly invisible, sat a girl alone—head down, a book open in front of her like a shield. Something about her quiet, almost invisible presence made me pause. She wasn’t hiding from the crowd. She was enduring it.
I grabbed Joey’s arm. “Come on. Let’s sit there.”
“Wait—what?” Joey yelped as I dragged her across the room.
We reached the girl’s table. She looked up, startled. Big, chocolate brown eyes magnified behind thick glasses. Her expression—soft, unsure, almost... startled.
“Hey,” I said, smiling, “can we sit here with you?”
She blinked. Then nodded, slowly, like she couldn’t quite believe it.
Joey dropped into the seat beside me with a loud sigh. “Why are we sitting with her? She’s boring.”
I turned sharply. “Excuse me?”
Joey shrugged. “You know the school hierarchy. We’ve got two official nerds. That’s the female one,” she said, pointing, “the male one’s probably hiding in the library. I tried being nice to her once, but she looked at me like I killed her pet hamster or something. So, I gave up.”
I narrowed my eyes. “So, you just walked away and let everyone else keep bullying her?”
“She didn’t want help!” Joey defended herself. “What was I supposed to do?”
The girl lifted her gaze again, voice so soft we almost missed it.
“It’s not that I didn’t want help... I just thought you were like the others. Helping so you could dump your homework on me.”
Joey’s face softened. “Oh no, darling. I suck at Biology. If I asked you to do my work, my parents would murder me. I may be the only child, but I’m definitely not spoiled.”
I smiled, trying to make the moment lighter. “Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe we can all be friends.”
The girl blinked again. “Okay.”
“So, what’s your name?”
“Jessica.”
“Enough of the Oprah session,” Joey moaned, clutching her stomach. “I’m starving.”
But before I could respond, a sharp voice cut through the chatter.
“Hey, Joey.”
We turned to see Carmen approaching with her entourage—four perfectly curated girls in coordinated outfits and predatory smirks. Carmen looked like a Vogue model dipped in venom.
Joey rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Carmen?”
Carmen ignored her and focused on me, her lips curling. “I’m actually here for the new girl.”
New girl? I raised a brow.
Carmen’s eyes narrowed. “I heard you’ve been getting close to Damien. Just a warning—he’s mine. So if you let him screw you—and that’s if you’re even still a virgin—he’ll toss you aside just like he did with her.” She gestured disdainfully at Jessica. “So if you don’t want a public humiliation, back off.”
The words hit like a slap. I looked at Jessica—her head had dropped, her shoulders hunched. She looked like someone trying desperately not to vomit.
I leaned back in my seat, crossed my arms. “So, bottom line: don’t touch your boy-toy?”
Carmen smirked. “Exactly.”
“Fine,” I said coolly, “but only on one condition. You get the hell out of our faces. You leave Jessica alone. You and your plastic Barbies can march out of here and stay out of our lives.”
Carmen’s smile faltered for a moment before she recovered. “Deal.”
She turned, her minions clacking after her like overdressed ducklings.
Joey whistled low. “Damn, Jade. That was... savage. I underestimated your inner b***h. I’m impressed. Besties for life, yeah?”
I smiled. “Jade, the sharp-tongued one. Joey, the chaotic one. And Jessica…”
Jessica looked up, startled again.
“Jessica the sweet one. The mom of the group,” Joey said dreamily. “She’s like a pocket-sized angel.”
But I wasn’t done. I turned to Jessica, my tone gentler.
“Jessica... what did she mean about Damien and... your virginity?”
Jessica’s breath caught. Her lips trembled. And then—tears. Not dramatic ones, not loud sobs. Just quiet rivers slipping down her cheeks. Joey instantly wrapped an arm around her.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “You don’t have to tell us if it hurts.”
But Jessica shook her head. She wanted us to know.
“It was when I first transferred here,” she said softly. “Damien approached me. He was sweet. Charming. He sat with me. He made me feel... like I mattered. I was new and scared, and he made me feel like I belonged. He even proposed to me in front of the whole school. I was overwhelmed—but I said yes.”
She paused. Joey gripped her hand tighter.
Jessica continued, “He never pressured me. He was the perfect boyfriend—gentle, funny. He made me believe I was safe. And when I finally gave in... when I slept with him, it felt right. It felt... real.”
Her voice cracked.
“But the next morning, he was gone. No note. No call. Just... gone. I didn’t think much of it. Took a cab home, still smiling like an i***t. But when I got to school…”
She choked.
“The photos were everywhere. My body. My face. Leaked on the school group, on social media. They called me names. Slut. w***e. Everything. I wanted to vanish.”
Joey pulled her into a full hug, and I wrapped my arms around both of them.
Jessica whispered, “Since then, no one talked to me—except to laugh. I became invisible. Easier than getting hurt again.”
I swallowed hard. My jaw clenched in fury.
“Jessica,” I said, “that doesn’t define you. He doesn’t define you. You’re not invisible anymore. Not to us.”
She didn’t say anything. Just leaned into us, crying silently as we held her like we could somehow glue her back together again.
The cafeteria noise faded around us. For a moment, it was just the three of us.
And this—this was the start of something real.
- Writer
