*POV Derby*
At first, the changes were easy to ignore. By the end of the week, pretending not to notice had become impossible.
By midweek, I noticed conversations pausing whenever I walked into a room. Some coworkers greeted me with smiles that felt a little too eager, asking harmless questions while watching my reactions a little too closely. Others barely looked my way, cutting conversations short the moment I joined them. Every now and then, quiet whispers floated through the hallway. I never caught enough words to understand them, only enough to know they stopped whenever I came closer. Whoever the rumors were about, people clearly didn't want me hearing them..
I kept telling myself it would blow over if I didn't give it attention. So I buried myself in reports, answered emails fast
