The Vanilla Love (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER 2: “Rumors and Rooftops”

“Some things spread faster than feelings. Like rumors.”

Wednesday, 10:43 AM – Room 2C, St. Lorenzo High

Jaxon Reyes never cared much for chismis—mostly because he was usually the one starting it. But this time, he wasn’t laughing.

“Uy, si Jaxon ah,” whispered a voice behind him. “Laging kasama si Ice Queen lately.”

“Baka may bet siya kay Avery.”

“Or maybe siya lang ‘yung matapang lumapit sa Elsa ng Science wing.”

He rolled his eyes and stared straight ahead. Mr. Santos was droning about chemical bonds at the front of the room, but the only bonds Jaxon could focus on were the ones unraveling.

Avery sat two rows away, head down, fingers curled tight around her pen. Not looking at him. Not looking at anyone.

She’d barely said a word since yesterday.

He knew why. Or at least, he had a theory.

Rumors were fast. Feelings were complicated. And high school? High school was a pressure cooker built for misunderstanding.

12:04 PM – Cafeteria, Left Side by the Old Vending Machine

“Dude, are you actually worried she’s mad at you?” Paul asked, mid-bite into a chili dog.

Jaxon groaned. “I don’t know. Maybe. She’s just—different today.”

“She’s always different. That’s like… her brand.” James remark

Jaxon frowned. “No. Yesterday, she wasn’t cold. She was—” He paused, struggling. “She was like… thawing.”

“Bro, did you just use a Frozen metaphor?” Edward joked

Jaxon shoved Edward’s arm. “Shut up.”

“Maybe she found out about the rumors and thinks you’re just messing with her?” Paul said, voice dropping slightly. “I mean… people do think you flirt for sport.”

Ouch.

“That’s not true,” Jaxon muttered.

James raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it?”

Jaxon said nothing.

12:31 PM – Hallway Near the Math Wing

He caught her by the lockers.

Avery was facing her open locker, pretending to be busy, even though there was nothing inside but a notebook, two pens, and a half-open pack of gum.

“Hey,” Jaxon said, leaning on the locker beside hers.

She didn’t look up. “Hi.”

“You’re avoiding me.”

“No, I’m just—”

“Busy? With your locker?”

She sighed. “I heard what people are saying.”

Jaxon leaned in slightly. “And?”

“And I don’t want to be someone’s rumor.”

“You’re not.”

She closed her locker—too hard. “You don’t get it. You don’t know what it’s like to be the punchline.”

He frowned. “You think I’ve never been talked about? Judged?”

“Not like this,” she snapped, her voice suddenly sharper than usual. “Not like people assuming you’re only worth noticing when you’re someone else’s joke.”

Jaxon fell quiet.

Because the way she said it—it wasn’t just about today. It was about before.

FLASHBACK – One Year Ago

Avery Collins didn’t always walk like she was invisible.

Back then, she walked beside Liana Ramos, laughing freely, hand-in-hand in the corridors like they owned them.

Liana had shiny hair, loud opinions, and the kind of social gravity that pulled everyone in. She used to call Avery her “ride or die,” the Watson to her Sherlock, the sister she never had. Her “sister by choice,” her “soul twin.” Avery, in return, gave her everything, her trust, her time, even her silence in moments when she should’ve spoken up.

She let things slide. Little things.

Like the way Liana always had to be the loudest in the room. The way she joked about Avery’s awkwardness. Called her “too emo.” Said it with a laugh, but it lingered.

Avery ignored it.

Because that’s what you do when someone makes you feel like you finally belong.

Until the day she didn’t. Until things changed.

It was a Tuesday.

Second period. Digital Media Class.

She walked in late—hair still wet from the rain, hoodie dripping, earbuds tangled—and froze when she saw the screen.

Someone had connected their phone to the projector by accident.

A group chat.

A familiar name.

Avery walked into a classroom and heard her name being dragged through a private group chat—exposed on the projector by accident. Everyone saw the screenshots. The way Liana said Avery was “too intense.” “Clingy.” “Social suicide.”

LiRamos 💅”

Then message after message. Blunt. Brutal.

“Avery’s getting too much lately.”

“Like, she doesn’t know how to chill???”

“I feel like I’m babysitting a storm cloud.”

“SHE ASKED ME IF I WANTED MATCHING NECKLACES 😭 Girl what is this, middle school?”

“She’s… clingy.”

“It’s getting embarrassing.”

“Lowkey social suicide.”

And right there, in front of half the class—some of whom she’d never even spoken to—Avery watched her name become a joke.

Liana stood at the front, frozen, color draining from her face.

Their eyes met.

Avery waited.

For a denial.

For outrage.

For anything.

But Liana just shrugged.

She hadn’t even denied it.

She just said, “Sorry, Ave. I needed space.”

Space, apparently, meant erasing her completely.

The damage was already branded behind every eyelid in the room. For the next week, people looked at Avery with secondhand pity or secondhand gossip.

She stopped speaking in class.

She stopped sitting in her usual spot at lunch.

Even the teachers noticed, but no one knew what to say that didn’t sound like a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

By the time the semester ended, Liana had filled the space Avery left behind with louder girls, edited photos, and curated chaos. They still passed each other in the hall sometimes. Once, Liana smiled politely.

Avery didn’t smile back.

Because silence wasn’t just survival.

It was revenge.

And from that day forward, Avery Collins didn’t walk like she was invisible.

She chose to be.

BACK TO PRESENT

1:07 PM – Science Rooftop

Avery didn’t come up during lunch.

Jaxon did.

He sat on the same bench where she’d drawn the sad deer, staring at the spot she usually occupied. He wasn’t sure what he expected—maybe some weird cosmic sign, or a falling leaf, or a sudden insight about teenage heartbreak.

Instead, he got a bird poop dangerously close to his sneaker.

He sighed. “Awesome.”

3:46 PM – Biology Class, Back Row

Someone behind him whispered loudly enough for the class to hear:

“Bet ko si Avery just keeps Jaxon around to look cool.”

Another voice snorted. “Bet ko si Jaxon just wants to win some weird challenge.”

He turned around. “Anong problema niyo?”

Everyone looked up, surprised. Jaxon rarely raised his voice unless he was joking.

“I’m serious. If you’ve got something to say, say it to me. Don’t use her name like it’s a joke.”

Avery, seated three desks away, blinked.

It was the first time anyone had defended her like that.

Especially someone like him.

6:13 PM – Library, Second Floor

He should’ve gone to Albie’s party. That was the plan. Music, junk food, bad decisions. But he walked past the gate and straight toward the school instead.

Because something about today wouldn’t sit right.

The library was nearly empty.

He found her in the far corner, tucked between shelves, legs pulled up into her chair, eyes scanning a book she clearly wasn’t reading.

“You skipped the party too?” he said.

Avery looked up, startled.

Then, “You came looking for me?”

Jaxon sat down across from her. “What gave it away? The part where I said your name or the part where I ignored a free pizza invitation?”

She didn’t smile, exactly. But something in her expression eased. Like tension slowly exhaling.

“You didn’t have to,” she said.

“I wanted to.”

“Why?”

He looked at her, really looked—at the faint shadows under her eyes, the way she hugged her knees to her chest like armor.

“Because people suck,” he said. “But not all of them. Not always. And I don’t want you to think I’m just another one of them.”

She swallowed. “You don’t even know me.”

“Then let me.”

A beat of silence. Two.

Then she said, softly, “You’re stubborn.”

“You’re surprised?”

She shook her head. “No. Just… not used to it being for the right reasons.”

They didn’t talk much after that.

Just sat.

She read quietly. He scrolled through his phone but didn’t really look at anything.

At one point, their knees brushed under the table. Neither moved.

And in that tiny, almost accidental contact, something shifted—just a little. Like a spark refusing to be ignored.

Not a confession.

Not yet.

But maybe… a beginning.

Suddenly, stood up and leave the library silently. Avery didn’t care, or was she?

7:11 PM PM – Rooftop

The sky over St. Lorenzo High was doing that soft lavender thing again—sun barely hanging on the edge of the horizon, like even it wasn’t ready to let go of the day.

Jaxon pushed open the rooftop door with his shoulder, a pack of chicharon in one hand and two cans of iced coffee under his arm. His sneakers scuffed against the concrete, announcing him.

Avery was already there, her usual spot under the awning, knees hugged to her chest, book open but unread in her lap.

She didn’t look surprised to see him.

Didn’t smile either—but she didn’t leave.

“Brought peace offerings,” he said, tossing the chicharon onto the table between them. “Also caffeine. Because I care about your sleep-deprived, overthinking soul.”

Avery glanced at the coffee, then at him. “Flavored?”

“Vanilla.”

He smirked. “I’m not a monster.”

She gave a tiny nod, barely-there amusement flickering in her eyes. She reached for the can, fingers brushing his. Just for a second.

Jaxon sat across from her, not slouching this time. Upright. Present.

She opened the can but didn’t drink it.

Instead, she stared out at the view. Buildings, cars, people who didn’t know what it felt like to be… cracked open by someone you once trusted.

He noticed the way her eyes stayed distant.

He noticed everything lately.

“So…” he started, twirling his own can on the table. “You and Liana used to be close, huh?”

She didn’t ask how he knew.

Didn’t flinch either. Just let out a quiet breath. “Too close, maybe.”

There was a pause.

Then,

“She said I was too much,” Avery murmured. “And maybe I was. I mean, I loved her like family. Gave her the raw, unfiltered version of me. The ugly bits. The insecure stuff. I thought that’s what you were supposed to do when you trust someone, right?”

She laughed, but it was hollow. “Guess it’s only cute when it’s convenient.”

Jaxon stared at her, something tightening in his chest.

God, if he could go back in time and punch every single person in that classroom… he would.

Especially Liana Ramos.

“That’s not on you,” he said firmly. “That’s on her. Anyone who calls vulnerability a burden is probably terrified of their own reflection.”

She blinked.

Slowly.

“You’re a lot,” he added, softer this time. “But in the best damn way. Like—like a thunderstorm in a glass. Some people just… can’t handle that.”

“Maybe.” Her voice was quiet. “Or maybe I’m just cursed to be too much for everyone.”

That made something snap a little in Jaxon. A small, quiet fury curling under his ribs.

He didn’t know what he and Avery were. He didn’t even know what he wanted from her yet.

But he knew what she wasn’t, A burden.

And anyone who treated her like one didn’t deserve to say her name, let alone be remembered.

“I don’t think you’re cursed,” he said. “I think you’re scared.”

She turned to him then. Really looked at him. Like she was searching his face for something real.

“And what about you?” she asked. “What are you scared of?”

Jaxon swallowed. That question hit harder than he expected.

He could’ve said something dumb, like “failing calculus” or “clowns.”

But instead…

“Disappointing people,” he admitted. “Not being enough. For my dad. For anyone.”

A beat passed.

Then another.

“Guess we’re both scared of not being the right size for someone,” she said.

And for the first time since the conversation started, her voice didn’t sound bitter. Just… tired.

She shook her head. “No. Just… not used to it being for the right reasons.”

They didn’t talk much after that.

Just sat.

She read quietly. He scrolled through his phone but didn’t really look at anything.

At one point, their knees brushed again. Neither moved.

And when Jaxon stood to leave, he hesitated.

“Same time tomorrow?” he asked.

Avery didn’t look up, but her voice was soft. “Yeah.”

He smiled to himself as he walked away.

He didn’t know what this was between them.

But it was starting to matter.

END OF CHAPTER 2.