Brooklyn slammed her dorm room door shut and leaned against it, her heart still racing. Amanda looked up from her laptop, startled.
"What happened?"
Brooklyn dropped her books onto the desk and pressed her hands to her face. "They fought. Not physically, but words. And it was… intense."
Amanda's brows furrowed. "Let me guess—Mani cornered you again, and Bryant swooped in."
Brooklyn's silence was all the confirmation Amanda needed.
Amanda groaned. "Of course. I told you Mani wouldn't let up. And Bryant? He's too proud to stand by while Mani plays prince charming."
Brooklyn sank onto her bed, hugging a pillow. "It's not just that. The way they looked at each other… Amanda, it was like watching a storm build. If I hadn't stepped in, I don't know what would've happened."
Amanda shut her laptop, giving Brooklyn her full attention. "And what about you? What do you feel in all this?"
Brooklyn swallowed hard. Her thoughts swirled—Bryant's steady voice defending her, Mani's sharp words about ownership, the crowd that had gathered like it was a show.
"I feel like I'm a chess piece," she whispered. "Like I'm being moved around in their game. And I hate it. I never asked for this."
Amanda softened. "You're not a piece, Brooklyn. You're the board. Without you, there is no game. They're only clashing because both of them see you as worth fighting for."
Brooklyn's chest tightened. "That doesn't make it better. It makes me feel guilty. Like I'm leading them on."
Amanda tilted her head. "Are you?"
The question hit hard. Brooklyn buried her face in the pillow, her voice muffled. "I don't want Mani. I know that now. But saying it out loud feels like I'm about to break something in him."
"And Bryant?" Amanda pressed gently.
Brooklyn hesitated, then whispered, "Bryant makes me feel safe. Like I can breathe. And when he looks at me, I… I don't feel like a prize. I feel like a person."
Amanda gave her a knowing smile. "Then maybe it's not about breaking Mani. Maybe it's about choosing yourself."
Brooklyn lay in silence, the weight of it all pressing down. Outside, laughter floated in from the quad, students carefree, unburdened. But for her, the campus felt smaller by the day, walls closing in.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. A new message. She reached for it, her chest tightening when she saw the name.
From Bryant: "Are you okay?"
Her lips parted, her fingers trembling over the keyboard. She wanted to answer, to tell him that just knowing he cared eased the storm in her chest.
But another notification appeared.
From Mani: "Don't let him twist things. You and I aren't done."
The two messages sat stacked on her screen like a cruel choice, light and dark. Her pulse pounded as she dropped the phone back onto the nightstand, unable to reply to either.
Amanda noticed her expression and sighed. "You're scared of choosing, aren't you?"
Brooklyn nodded wordlessly.
Amanda leaned back, her tone firm but kind. "You can't stay in the middle forever, Brooklyn. Eventually, you'll have to take a side. And when you do… the other one won't take it quietly."
Brooklyn clutched the pillow tighter, staring at the ceiling. She knew Amanda was right.
She just didn't know if she had the strength to face the fallout.