Kai's POV
The cafeteria goes quiet when I walk in.
Not completely quiet—that would be too obvious. But quiet enough. Conversations drop to whispers. Eyes follow me. Someone giggles.
I keep my head down and walk toward the food line, even though just looking at food makes my stomach twist. I haven't been able to eat properly in weeks. Everything tastes wrong. Everything smells too strong.
"Oops, sorry!" A girl bumps into me hard, making me stumble. She doesn't sound sorry at all. Her friends laugh.
This happens every day now. The bumps that aren't accidents. The whispers that are meant to be heard. The laughter that follows me everywhere.
Two months. It's been two months since the Spring Gala, and the video still gets shared. People still comment on it. Someone even made memes out of my crying face.
I grab a tray and get some plain rice. That's all I can keep down lately—rice and crackers and ginger tea. The lunch lady gives me a pitying look that makes me want to disappear.
I find an empty table in the corner. It's always empty now. My old friends stopped sitting with me the week after the gala. They said it was "too awkward" and they "didn't want to pick sides."
There are no sides. There's just Ethan, the golden alpha everyone loves, and me, the pathetic omega who thought he had a chance.
My phone buzzes. I shouldn't look. I know I shouldn't. But I do anyway.
It's a text from my brother Derek: "Mom saw another video today. She's crying. Hope you're happy."
My hands start shaking. I put the phone face-down on the table and stare at my rice. I can't eat it. Just looking at it makes me feel sick.
"Hey, Kai."
I look up. Ethan stands next to my table.
My heart does something painful in my chest—a stupid, traitorous flutter that I hate. He looks tired. There are dark circles under his eyes that weren't there before. His perfect hair is messy.
For one stupid second, I think maybe he's here to apologize. Maybe he's going to explain why he did it. Maybe—
"I need you to stop telling people we dated," Ethan says. His voice is quiet but cold. So cold. "It's making things difficult for me. Just... let it go, okay?"
The words hit me like ice water.
"I haven't told anyone anything," I whisper. "I haven't talked to anyone in weeks."
"Well, someone's spreading rumors that we were together, and it needs to stop." He looks at me like I'm a problem to solve. Like I'm nothing. "Just drop it, Kai. Move on."
He walks away before I can respond.
I sit there, frozen, while my rice gets cold and my eyes burn with tears I refuse to let fall. Not here. Not where everyone can see.
The nausea hits me suddenly, violently. I barely make it to the bathroom before I throw up the nothing in my stomach.
I'm kneeling on the bathroom floor, shaking and sweating, when I hear the door open.
"Oh god, it's him again," someone says. "The loser omega who can't take rejection."
"Maybe he's pregnant," another voice says, laughing. "That would be perfect. Can you imagine?"
They leave, but their laughter echoes in my head.
Pregnant. The word sticks in my brain like a thorn.
No. That's impossible. Omega-alpha pregnancies are super rare. Like one in a million rare. And Ethan and I were always careful. Mostly careful. Usually...
Oh no.
The school nurse's office smells like antiseptic and lavender. Nurse Chen is an older omega lady who's always been kind to me, even after the video. She's the only one.
"Kai, honey, what's wrong?" She helps me sit down on the examination bed. "You look awful."
"I keep throwing up," I say. "And I'm tired all the time. And everything smells weird."
She frowns. "How long has this been going on?"
"A few weeks? Maybe longer?"
She's quiet for a moment. Then she pulls out a medical kit. "Kai, I need to run some tests. Just routine stuff, okay?"
Twenty minutes later, she sits down next to me. Her face is serious.
My heart starts pounding. "What is it? Am I dying?"
"No, sweetie. You're not dying." She takes my hand. "Kai... you're pregnant."
The world stops.
"That's impossible," I whisper. "Omega-alpha pregnancies are—"
"Rare, but not impossible. And honey, you're about eight weeks along."
Eight weeks. Eight weeks ago was right before the gala. Right before Ethan destroyed me in front of everyone.
I'm going to throw up again.
"There's something else," Nurse Chen says gently. "The ultrasound shows... you're carrying twins, Kai."
Twins.
Twins.
Two babies. Ethan's babies. Growing inside me right now while he tells me to stop "spreading rumors" about us.
"I can't—" My voice breaks. "I can't have babies. I can't. Everyone hates me. My family is ashamed of me. I don't have money or a place to live after this semester. I can't—"
"Breathe, Kai. Just breathe." Nurse Chen rubs my back while I try not to have a complete breakdown. "You have options. We can talk about them. But first, you need to tell the father."
Tell Ethan? Tell Ethan, who looked at me today like I was garbage? Tell Ethan, who destroyed my life for no reason?
"I can't tell him," I say. "He'll think I'm trying to trap him. Everyone will think that. They'll say I got pregnant on purpose to—"
I can't finish the sentence. The room is spinning.
"Let's get you some water," Nurse Chen says. "Then we'll figure this out together."
But there's nothing to figure out. I know what will happen if I stay. The whispers will get worse. The bullying will get worse. My family will be even more ashamed. And Ethan... Ethan will think I'm the gold-digger everyone says I am.
I can't stay here. I can't raise babies in a place where everyone hates me.
That night, I pack everything I own into two duffel bags. It doesn't take long. I never had much.
My roommate moved out three weeks ago. Said he "couldn't deal with the drama." So nobody sees me take down my posters. Nobody watches me empty my drawers.
I go to the administration building and withdraw from school. The lady at the desk doesn't even look surprised. She just processes my paperwork and wishes me luck in a flat voice that says she doesn't mean it.
I go to the bank and withdraw everything in my account. Three thousand dollars. It's all the money I have in the world. All my scholarship money, my summer job savings, everything.
It's not much. But it has to be enough.
The bus station is empty at midnight. I buy a one-way ticket to Silverpine City—far enough that nobody from here will find me. Far enough to start over.
I sit on the plastic bench with my two bags and wait for the bus that will take me away from Crescent Bay forever.
My hand rests on my stomach. It's still flat. In a few months, it won't be.
"I'm sorry," I whisper to the tiny lives inside me. "I'm sorry your father doesn't want us. I'm sorry I can't give you the life you deserve. But I promise—I promise I'll protect you. Even if I have to do it alone."
The bus pulls up. The driver loads my bags.
I take one last look at Moonstone Academy in the distance, at the city where I thought I'd found love, at the life I'm leaving behind.
Then I get on the bus.
I don't look back.
What I don't see: Ethan standing in the parking lot across the street, watching the bus pull away, his phone in his hand showing a text he's been trying to send for an hour: "Kai, I'm sorry. Please let me explain. It wasn't real. None of it. Please."
But he never presses send.
And I never know he was there.