The rest of lunch passed in a blur. She barely tasted her food, barely registered the chatter of the cafeteria. All she could feel was the weight of Kai sitting beside her, calm and steady, shielding her without a word.
Her fake friends kept quiet too. They laughed a little too loudly at their own jokes, their smiles tight, their eyes darting toward Kai and then back to her. The tension sat thick between them, impossible to ignore.
When the bell finally rang, she slipped out quickly, hoping to vanish into the stream of students heading for class.
But they caught her.
"Hey," one of them called, her voice sharp.
She froze. The group stood clustered near the lockers, their arms crossed, their smiles gone.
"So," the leader of the group said, tilting her head. "You and Kai, huh? That was… interesting."
Her stomach twisted. "It's not like that," she said quickly, her voice small.
"Oh, of course not." The girl's tone was syrupy, mocking. "He just chooses to sit with you out of everyone in the school. Totally normal."
The others giggled, but it wasn't playful this time. It was cutting.
"You know what?" another added, her eyes narrowing. "Don't get too comfortable. He's new. He doesn't know how things work yet. Once he figures it out…" She trailed off, her smirk finishing the sentence for her.
Her throat tightened, words tangling before they could escape. She wanted to argue. She wanted to defend herself. But all she could do was stand there, shrinking under their stares.
Then one of them leaned in closer, her voice dropping. "You really think someone like him would actually want someone like you?"
The words hit like a knife. Sharp. Familiar. And the worst part was… they echoed the voice in her own head.
She forced a small laugh, slipping the mask back into place. "You're right. I don't."
Their smirks returned, satisfied, and they walked off in a wave of perfume and false confidence.
She stood frozen, her mask cracking beneath the weight of their words, her chest tight.
And then, down the hall, she saw him.
Kai.
He wasn't close enough to hear, but his dark eyes were fixed on her, sharp and steady, like he knew. Like he always knew.
For the first time, she didn't look away.
Her mask slipped completely, just for a second—long enough for him to see the pain she hid from everyone else.
And in that moment, his expression shifted. Determined. Protective.
Like he wasn't going to let this go.