Novel-novel oleh Storybygloria

I was in the kitchen, chopping onions and trying not to cry from the sting, when the doorbell rang. I wiped my hands on a towel, thinking it was my dad coming back from work early. I opened the door, and my stomach dropped.Oliver."Hi," he said, leaning against the doorframe casually, but his eyes gave him away, I could sense he was tensed.I froze for a second. "Oliver... hi," I managed, my voice quieter than I expected.He held up his hand, "I've been trying to reach you all week. Your phone's been off, or... something."I felt a twinge of guilt. "Yeah... my phone's been acting up. I didn't mean to worry you.""I figured," he said, shrugging, though his jaw was tight. There was a pause, heavy with all the things we hadn't said in the past weeks. With everything that had happened with Lindsay, Slater, the fight... it had put a strain on us. Suddenly, seeing him here, alone, in front of me, made the air feel charged and awkward.He hesitated, then asked softly, "Can I... come in?"I

I had grudgingly gotten up from bed to leave my dorm even though my body protested otherwise. Every inch of me ached like I'd been hit by a bus. I didn't know the source of the pain, but it throbbed deep, reminding me of everything I wanted to forget. Still, I wasn't one to skip lectures. No matter the whispers, no matter the stares, I was determined to walk through campus with my head high.At least, that was the plan.The second I got the call that the Vice Chancellor wanted to see me in his office, I began to regret my decision. Maybe I should've stayed in bed after all. "Is she the reason my son got into a fight?"The sharp question hit me the moment I pushed the heavy wooden door open.The voice belonged to a woman with sharp cheekbones and an even sharper tongue. Slater's mum. Her face was masked in layers of powder and lipstick, her jaw lifted unnaturally high, probably a gift from one of her doctors. She looked like someone who had never once lost an argument in her life.

"Somebody do something!" I screamed into the crowd, but it was pointless. No one moved. Not one person.They were all too busy cheering, too busy holding their phones high in the air, like this was some kind of pay-per-view fight instead of two boys breaking each other's faces.The noise was deafening-shouts, laughter, that shrill kind of whistle people do when chaos breaks out. And then, cutting through it all, I heard my name. "Zephyria! Zephy!"I spun around, my stomach twisting, and saw Freda, Amaya, and Lana pushing through the circle of bodies. Freda's hair was flying in the air, Amaya had ditched her heels halfway, and Lana's face was a mask of horror. "Oh my God! Oliver! Slater! Stop this madness!" Freda screamed, her voice cracking.It didn't matter because they didn't hear her.Oliver had Slater pinned, his fist cocked back like he wanted to erase him from existence. Slater shoved back hard enough that both of them crashed against the pavement, their body clanging so

"Fuck! I hate it, Zephy. Hate the fact that I've to painfully sit through history lectures. I've been trying to drop it but my course advisor just wouldn't let me."Lana groaned in frustration. We sat side by side in the tiny lecture hall for history students, the only class we both shared. "We signed up for this, Lana. You cannot skip history if you want to be an anthropologist." "I signed up for everything that comes with college except boring lectures. Also, Pete is annoying me to the core. He hasn't texted me since morning." She pouted and kept checking her phone every five minutes.It was a brutally hot day. I was sticky and would have happily gone back to the dorm to chill in the air conditioning, but I couldn't leave my seat. I had to sit through this history class to get Slater's work done. Speaking of Slater, I hadn't seen him all day and that was weird. Slater isn't someone you just miss on campus. His presence announces itself, and even his minions seemed oddly quiet

All I wanted was to rest after everything I had gone through the whole day. I had gone back to my dorm immediately after the whole Oliver and Lindsay situation without even checking back into the clinic. I tried my best to shove Lindsay's words about Oliver out of my head, but they clung like claws. I was too hurt to think. Too drained to cry.I had just gotten out of the shower, wrapped in my robe, ready to swallow my sleeping pills and disappear into the longest sleep possible when I heard the knock.That should be my roommate, I thought. I hadn't seen much of her these days anyway. We weren't exactly friends. "A minute, please," I called, padding toward the door. But when I pulled it open, my breath died in my throat. "Hiya."My eyes widened. "Slater?!" I rubbed them furiously, certain I was hallucinating. The last person I expected at the door of a female dorm was him. "In flesh and blood," he grinned. "Can I come in?" "W–what?!" I stammered, clutching the robe tighter a

"Heyyy... easy dear. It's a good thing you're awake now."A soft voice floated above me as my eyelids fluttered. My head throbbed faintly, and for a second I couldn't place where I was. I was aware only of the coolness of the sheets against my arms and the faint antiseptic scent in the air.This wasn't the storeroom. Thank God. I blinked fast, trying to sit up, when the same voice snapped gently behind me. "Careful."I turned my head and saw a nurse adjusting something on a clipboard. "Where... where am I?" I croaked, my throat raw. "You're in the school clinic," she said evenly. "Your friend was kind enough to bring you in after you had a panic attack. I'll need to ask you a few questions once I go through your medical records."My stomach clenched. No. Not more questions. Not about panic attacks, not about the real reason behind them. Because to explain the genesis meant reopening a wound no one here could understand. My dad knew how to steady me, how to anchor me. But he wasn