Chapter 4: The Hallway Humiliation

I finally made it to the main office. The woman behind the desk wasn't as mean as the other guy; she gave me my schedule with a small, sympathetic smile. I mumbled a "Thank you" and walked out, my hand trembling as I took a peek at the schedule. I tried to make my way to my first class, my eyes scanning the confusing hallway numbers.

I was walking down the long corridor, trying to decipher the room numbers, when I overheard a group of guys laughing. Their voices carried, dripping with a nasty sarcasm that made my stomach clench.

“…did you see the new girl? The one who almost knocked Jude down?” one of them said.

"She's huge!" one of guys said.

“Jude, man, she’s got like, two watermelons strapped to her chest,” another one added, and the group erupted in laughter again.

"Her thighs are bigger than mine." one of them said.

My face flushed with a heat so intense it felt like a sunburn. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic, painful rhythm. I knew they were talking about me. I wanted to disappear, to melt into the linoleum floor and vanish completely. But I forced myself to keep walking, my head held high, even though tears were stinging the backs of my eyes.

As I walked past the group, I made the mistake of making eye contact with the guy I bumped into earlier. The melted chocolate eyes boy. He was laughing too. He met my gaze for a brief, brutal moment, his expression unreadable, before quickly looking away.

That was it. All the newfound confidence I had gathered with Roxy was gone, shattered into a million pieces. I was back to being the fat girl, the target of ridicule, the outsider.

"Hey, watch it!" a voice snapped.

I jumped. It was Roxy. "Leave her alone." She marched right to my side, glaring at the group of boys. Her presence was like a shield.

“What’s wrong, Roxy? She can’t handle the truth?” the guy sneered, puffing out his chest.

"Truth? The only truth I see is that you’re still rocking those braces from middle school, Ryan. Figured you’d be done with them by now. And also maybe you should worry about passing your classes instead of making fun of people," Roxy retorted, her voice sharp enough to cut glass.

The group of guys snickered, and Ryan’s face flushed a brilliant crimson.

"Cut it out, guys," the guy I ran into said, his voice low and cutting through the laughter. He shoved his hands in his pockets and gave Ryan a pointed look. "Seriously, just drop it."

Roxy wrapped her arm around my shoulders and steered me away from the group. "Don't listen to them, Aria. They're just a bunch of jerks."

I didn't say anything, my throat choked with emotion. But as I walked away, I couldn't shake the image of the boy with the melted chocolate eyes. Jude. That was his name, and he had just laughed at me. The first day was definitely not going the way I wanted.