Chapter 2

I walked back into the empty cheer room. The loneliness washed over me.

Inside my locker, the hot chocolate Harrison had left for me was still steaming.

I took a sip, and it immediately burned my tongue. I gasped in pain.

My old instincts took over. I turned around, my eyes red with tears, waiting for someone to pull me into their arms, kiss the top of my head, and make it all better.

Brooks, Carter, Harrison, any of them would do.

However, there was no one around.

My body was trembling nonstop, and my chest hurt so much it felt like it was being ripped open.

Then I stood up abruptly and bolted out.

I rushed out the door of the cheer room and plunged into the storm outside.

Splashing through the puddles and bracing against the freezing wind, I tripped and fell several times along the way.

But I didn't stop. I just kept running.

By the time I reached the student council room, I was completely soaked and looked like a mess.

I practically smashed my fist against the door, but the person who opened it wasn't Harrison.

It was Brooks.

He had been lounging on the sofa in the front room, playing video games. His gaze dropped, locking onto my scraped knees, my torn skirt, and the blood trickling down my calf.

A flicker of an unreadable emotion crossed his face.

But in the blink of an eye, it vanished.

"What are you doing here?"

Brooks was the first of the three boys I had ever met.

He came from a wealthy family and had a sharp tongue. He was arrogant and picky. Yet he was fiercely protective of me, and only me.

When he still cared about me, he was always lecturing me for running off alone.

"You're too reckless, Ivy."

"You always charge forward without ever using your brain."

His words were always harsh.

But every single time, this rich kid would also quietly trail behind me to clean up my messes.

Before I even realized my mistake, he had already fixed it.

Sometimes he yelled at me so much that I would run home and cry under my covers.

He would always sneak into my house at the right moment, wipe the tears from my face, and bring me my favorite things.

Sometimes it was a rare plushie, and sometimes it was my favorite bakery cookies.

When I was still furious, he would press a gentle kiss to my forehead and say, "I'm sorry, my little princess."

Right now, I treated him as if he were invisible. I looked right past him, staring into the inner office.

Realizing that I wasn't here looking for him, Brooks's jaw tightened.

He gripped the doorframe heavily and let out a bitter laugh.

"Harrison," he called out to the back room without turning his head. "Didn't clean up the evidence of your hookup? Ivy followed the trail all the way here."

His tone sounded like a joke, but it was incredibly cruel. "If Nova finds out, what then?"

The freezing wind from the hallway poured in. I hadn't even grabbed a coat when I rushed out.

By the time Harrison came out, I was shivering uncontrollably.

His shirt was only half-buttoned, and his usually perfectly styled hair was a bit messy.

What was even more obvious were the two glaring hickeys right above his collarbone.

My heart sank violently.

Harrison shot Brooks an annoyed glare before turning his gaze to me.

In that suffocating second, a flash of undisguised impatience crossed his face.

A chill instantly spread across my chest.

I instinctively took a step back.

Just then, a heavy warmth landed on my shoulders.

I looked up blankly. It was Brooks. Without a word, he had thrown a dry towel over me.

Harrison then walked toward me.

His face softened again. It was that gentle look I had once craved so much, the one that made me fall for him in the first place.

It almost made me wonder if that flash of impatience I just saw was a hallucination.

"Ivy," he called out softly. "What happened to you?"

My throat choked up all at once.

"Harrison, I... I'll never complain about cheer practice being too tiring again. I swear. I'll never act spoiled and demand you go buy pastries in the middle of the night. I'll never throw a tantrum because you didn't reply to my texts instantly. And I absolutely won't bother you anymore when you're dealing with student council stuff. I..."

I spoke so fast I didn't even know what I was saying.

I didn't even notice that Brooks, standing right next to me, had frozen in place.

"I just want you by my side. Just you is enough. Please, Harrison. Don't leave me all alone."

Harrison remained silent, his eyes falling on my scraped, bleeding knees.

I started to panic, reaching out to grab his hand, my voice cracking.

"You said you would always be with me. You can't lie to me..."

But I grabbed nothing but air.

He pulled his hand back. The motion was slow, gentle, yet cruel enough to make my blood run cold.

"It's too cold in the hallway," he said in a low voice. "Come into the office. We can talk inside. Okay?"