Chapter 3:Last Minute save

Hazel’s POV 

By the time I got back to my dorm, my head was spinning. I didn’t even bother taking off my sneakers. I just collapsed face flat into my bed, burying my face in my pillow and hugging it tight. My heart still hadn’t calmed from everything that happened today at school.

Jaxon stealing Trey’s moment on the rink, Trey barely acknowledging me in the locker room, Jaxon discovering both of my secrets–my anonymous blog and the crush I had never dared say out loud. Then Tiffany’s icy threat echoed in her ears like a ticking bomb.

I rolled over to my side, grunting out loud and hugging my other pillow tightly to my chest.

“How did all these happen to me today?” I whispered into the cotton. 

For the first time, I hated the thought of school the next day. I miss being a wallflower except for when Trey was on ice. 

Now, I was in the middle of all these dramas that I wanted to explode

***

The next day, I tried to act normal. I forced myself through my classes, pretending like my insides weren’t crawling with nerves. By lunch, I was exhausted and I just wanted to eat in peace.

The dining hall was buzzing with the usual chatter and clatter, but as I stepped in, everything changed.

Phones buzzed, one after the other.

Ping. Ping. Ping.

The sound became deafening.

Heads turned and most eyes were locked on me.

Then came the first laugh.

Followed by another.

Then the whispers. Not even hushed.

"Is this for real?"

"She wrote that about her step-brother?"

"Freak."

"Yo, she's wild."

I paused for a bit there, my tray trembling in my hands with the thousand eyes that stabbed into me, each laugh felt like a slap. My breath came in short, sharp gasp, and my vision blurred not from tears, but from shame

I knew it.

Someone had leaked my letter.

Tears burned behind my eyes but I forced myself forward, taking a seat at the far end of the room, where maybe I could pretend I didn’t notice.

I fumbled for my own phone immediately. My fingers trembled as I unlocked the screen. Please let it be nothing but a meme, prank or campus alert. Anything.

But I was right as the screenshot of my love letter stared back at me mockingly. My grip on my phone tightened with sweat trickling down my spine and heat spreading up to my neck like wildfire.

Then Tiffany climbed onto the low platform near the salad bar confidently like she was giving a press conference. Her high ponytail swished together as she raised her phone in the air.

"Hello, hello, Sterling student body! Just in case you haven’t read the trending story of the week, let me do the honors." she said, her eyes locked on mine.

My heart stopped.

"Our very own Hazel Pierce wrote this steamy little fantasy starring none other than her step-brother.”

Gasps. Laughter.

I stood up, trembling. "Tiffany, stop it." I yelled stepping into the center of the hall

She grinned. "Oh, don’t be shy, You wrote this, didn't you? I mean it's okay for people to write what they fantasize, right? But don't tell me you have a crush on your own step-brother. That’s gross.”

More laughter.

“Does your dad know what kind of creep you turned out to be?”

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out 

Trey pushed through the crowd, his expression unreadable. “Hazel…” His voice cracked slightly. “Tell me it’s not true, please.”

I turned to him, shaking my head. “It’s not, Trey, I …”

But Tiffany cut in, waving the paper. “It’s all here. Every fantasy, every sick line about him.” How did she get a hold of that paper? 

I knew I shouldn't have taken her threat yesterday lightly but why was she snooping around my stuff? Thank goodness she hadn't seen any of my blog manuscript blog because that would have bigger repercussions.

Trey’s brows pulled together, his eyes seeking for answers in mine before his expression shut down.

I wanted to disappear. How could I ever think he’d want someone like me? Well, he would never want me now if I told the truth and everything I’d ever hidden would be ripped open.

He’d never look at me the same way again. Not as his stepsister or as the girl who cheered the loudest at every game. Only as the creep who wanted what she could never have.

Then, just as the floor threatened to give way beneath me, a deep voice cut through the chaos.

“Actually,” Jaxon said, stepping out from the crowd. “That story wasn’t about Trey.”

My heart stopped, What did Jaxon have up his sleeves now? Not again.

The crowd fell silent.

Jaxon walked forward, slow and deliberate, his eyes locked on Tiffany. “It was about me.”

She sputtered in disbelief “Excuse me? Why would she write a love story about you?”

He stopped beside me, arm sliding around my shoulder like we’d done this a thousand times. I stiffened but didn’t pull away.

“You haven't heard? Hazel is my girlfriend.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd like a wave.

Tiffany’s mouth hung open. “There’s no way.”

Trey’s brows furrowed. “Hazel? Is that true?”

I froze.

If I said no, they’d know I wrote the story about Trey.

But if I said yes..

“Tell them,” Jaxon whispered in my ear, his breath hot on my skin, “unless you want your secret out.”

I swallowed hard. “Yes. Jaxon’s my boyfriend. I’ve liked him… for a long time.”

The moment the words left my lips, my heart tore in two because in saving myself,

I lost the only person I ever truly wanted.

Tiffany’s face turned red. Her plans to humiliate me just crashed.

“You’re lying,” she snapped. “Hazel’s not your type. This is a joke.”

“You want proof?” Jaxon said.

Before I could stop him, he turned me gently and kissed me.

My first kiss.

Warm, unexpected… and completely disarming.

My fingers touched my lips before I could help it.

Phones flashed.

Whispers multiplied.

Tiffany was flailing now. “Are you serious right now?!”

Jaxon pulled out his phone and tossed it to Trey. “Check the messages. She invited me to her dorm last night and I told her I wasn’t interested. So maybe worry less about Hazel and more about the girl you’re actually dating.”

Trey stared at the screen.

“I..I was just..” Tiffany reached for him.

“Don’t touch me.” His glare cut like a blade. “You were trying to humiliate Hazel and throwing yourself at him?”

“I can explain!”

“She’s not worth it,” Jaxon said, rolling his eyes.

“You think you are that hot, Jaxon? You are telling me that you have been hitting on my step-sister and my girlfriend was trying to be with you. Just fuck off!” Trey closed the gap between him and Jaxon 

“I thought you hated him.” Trey faced me now

“I…” My voice cracked, but Jaxon was quicker. He stepped between us, lips curled in a lazy grin.

“Maybe I just like getting under her skin. Looks like it worked.”

“Shut up,” Trey snapped, storming out of the dining hall.

Tiffany called after him, desperate and humiliated.

But no one cared anymore.

Eyes were still on me, but they weren’t mocking now.

They were curious.

Whispering.

But that was the least of my problems because as I watched Trey walk away, it felt like watching the version of me I’d been building die. I told a lie to protect myself and it shattered the one person I wanted to believe in me.

Right now, standing here with Jaxon arms wrapped around my shoulders made me feel seen for th

e first time in a long time. I wasn’t the invisible girl in school anymore 

Even if it came with chaos

“Let’s get out of here, babe. You just broke the school.” Jaxon teased