Tyla smiled weakly at Harper as she led her to the classroom. Harper couldn't speak; she just followed Tyla meekly, the tears threatening to flow. She didn't want to. She couldn't let it out. She wanted to stay strong, but it just hurt. Who could have just embarrassed her like that?
"Are you sure you are fine, Harp?" Tyla turned to her, her words cracking the silence as she stared at her friend. Harper Reed, whose face was buried, slowly looked up at Tyla. She remained quiet for a while, her lips slowly parting.
"I... uh, I am fine, Ty," she forced herself to speak, but her voice was shaking, portraying her pain clearly, and that just made Tyla hurt. Seeing her best friend that way made her feel sad and mad at herself for not being there.
"I don't think you are, Harp. Do you wanna... perhaps go to the dorm?" Tyla questioned, her hand on Harper's shoulder. "I—I could take you if you want, you know."
"I am f—fine," Harper breathed, gulping afterward.
She quietly led the way to the classroom, and Tyla sighed. She felt very miserable for what was happening to her friend. She couldn't bear seeing Harper like that.
Sighing loudly, Tyla followed, entering the loud classroom.
The moment Harper and Tyla entered the Biology class, it went silent. All eyes turned to face Harper. Some students, of course, didn't care about the new college drama.
But others did. Some of them stared at Harper with sympathy written on their faces. Others giggled, but most of them just whispered.
Every move felt heavy for Harper. She wanted to scream. She wished that the ground would just open up and swallow her. At least that would be better. As she quickly made her way to her seat, Alexis' eyes followed her.
Alexis swiftly turned to Alexa, who was scrolling through some Instagram reels on her phone.
"Are you paying attention? Harper Reed just got in," Alexis nudged her, rolling her eyes.
"Oh... Where's she?" Alexa scanned through the class and spotted Harper, whose head was on her desk, probably sobbing.
She smirked. "Ho ho ho, Hazel's gonna love this," she chuckled and opened the camera on her phone.
"Move, I'm trying to take a shot of this helpless slut," Alexa shot as she positioned her phone to the right angle, trying to film Harper.
Snap—
A satisfying smile graced her lips as she stared at the pictures. "Aw," Alexis commented.
"She's now going to probably stay away from The Logan Hayes," Alexis continued as they both stared at the picture. With each second passing by, their smiles got wider.
"Probably? No, not probably. She is going to stay away from Hazel's guy," Alexa corrected, her tone sharp. "Speaking of Hazel," she continued, sitting up. "She's got to see this shit." With that, she sent the picture to Hazel Freedman. A wicked chuckle escaped her lips as she did that.
All of that felt too good for her. She had missed this. A competition. And an easy target like Harper Reed.
As Alexis just observed Harper, she abruptly realized that Harper had a familiar jacket around her waist. Her eyes widened.
"'Lexa, doesn't that look familiar?" she turned to her twin sister.
"Uh..." Alexa just shrugged and went back to her phone.
"OMG! I remember now! It's Logan's," Alexis shrieked. Eyes bulging, gasping all at once.
"What did you just say?" Alexa didn't wait for a reply. She just went to text Hazel.
Message: And she's in LOGAN'S JACKET!!!!
Seconds later...
Her phone buzzed.
Message from Hazel:
Hazel: WTF?! m coming there ASAP!
Alexa grinned and turned to Alexis. "Hazel's coming. Prepare to ruin that slut," she warned, her gaze not leaving Harper.
"I am ready," Alexis smirked.
"Harper, please, let me just get you outta here, okay?" Tyla tapped Harper, her voice weak.
"No." Harper lifted her head, her eyes were all moist, and she breathed out, deep and loud. "I'm okay."
"No, Harper. No, you're not," Tyla said, taking Harper's hand in hers.
Harper opened her mouth to protest, but then, before she could even say a word, they noticed Hazel had just entered the class. A nerdy-looking girl suddenly took a seat next to Tyla and Harper.
"Hi, Harper Reed. Hi, Tyla. I'm Lydia Scott," she greeted. Tyla just replied with a hi, and Harper reciprocated the greeting with a mere nod while sniffing in the process.
"I feel so sorry for you, Harper, you know." She continued. Harper looked away. "I know who did it," she added boldly, confidence in each word.
"What?" Tyla said, but it came out as a whisper out of shock. "You sure you're not kidding?"
"No. I kid you not. It's Hazel and her minions. They poured ketchup on Harper's chair in the library," the girl, Lydia, spilled the milk.
"I wanted to stop Harper from sitting, but she sat in it too fast. I'm sorry," Lydia explained, a sorry look on her face.
While Harper Reed remained shocked, Tyla felt her blood boil. She quickly banged her desk and stood up. Harper's eyes widened in shock.
Tyla wore an expression that made Harper look horrified. She knew her best friend, and that face...
And that face screamed...
Danger.