Chapter 5

My questions caught Magnus completely off guard.

He quickly stepped forward, trying to calm me down, but I dodged his reach.

"No, Laura, I don't know anything about those messages! Someone is framing me!"

"You say you didn't send them, so I only have one question for you. Did I actually say or do any of the stuff written on there?"

Magnus stood frozen, his eyes darting around nervously. He couldn't bring himself to admit in front of me that he was the one spreading those rumors.

At the same time, he couldn't let our classmates find out the rumors were fake either. If everyone stopped isolating me, would I still cling to him like before?

"I don't know!"

He didn't deny that the rumors were fake, nor did he admit to spreading them himself. He simply gave a vague answer, desperately trying to pull himself out of the splash zone.

I almost laughed at the sheer absurdity.

Emily wasn't buying it either. She turned on Magnus and demanded, "First you say you didn't send them, and now you say you don't know? Laura is with you every single day. How could you, as her boyfriend, not know a thing?"

The atmosphere instantly turned tense.

Emily was just about to keep pressing when Ivy cut her off.

"Emily! Even though Magnus and Laura are dating, that doesn't mean Magnus knows everything Laura does. But that doesn't mean Laura never said those things."

Ivy called out, her voice sweet and cloying. Every word she spoke was aimed at making excuses for Magnus while throwing me under the bus.

I walked up to Ivy and looked her dead in the eye. "Oh? And what exactly did I do?"

"Oh, you know... stuff like calling werewolves gross and all that. Everyone has their own personal taste, after all. I'm sure you didn't mean to say it on purpose, Laura."

On the surface, it sounded like she was trying to clear my name. In reality, every word she spoke was locking in my guilt.

Emily looked at Ivy, letting out a dry smile. "Did I even mention that specific line just now? For a transfer student, you sure know a lot. You seem to know plenty about things that even Magnus claims not to know."

The smile on Ivy's face froze for a split second.

"No! That's not it!" She hastily denied. "I just heard it from someone else!"

"Someone else? Who? From what I remember, you've been sticking close to Magnus ever since you transferred here. But isn't Magnus clueless about it?" Emily pressed, closing in step by step.

Frightened, Ivy shrank back and hid right behind Magnus.

"Enough!"

He threw his arms out wide, shielding Ivy behind him. After all, how could Magnus ever bear to see Ivy mistreated?

"What does any of this have to do with Ivy? If you want answers, go ask Laura!"

To protect Ivy, Magnus threw me under the bus once again.

"Aren't you Laura's boyfriend? You claimed you didn't know anything when Laura was being misunderstood, so why are you defending another girl so fiercely?"

Magnus squared his shoulders, firing back, "She's a new student and doesn't know how things work here. So don't you guys pick on her!"

I snorted. "She doesn't know anything, yet she knows every single detail about the rumors surrounding me? Could it be that she's the one who framed me with them?"

Having her true motives exposed, Ivy's face turned pale as she shook her head frantically. "I didn't..."

"Enough! Are you satisfied now, Laura? Are you happy now that you've seen Ivy bullied?"

I looked at Magnus as he pointed at me and yelled like a madman. The last trace of affection I held for him vanished completely.

"Magnus, I'm not targeting her. You two are targeting me."

Raising my voice, I announced our breakup publicly so everyone present could hear.

"And besides, we've broken up. I hope you won't bother me ever again, and don't go around spreading rumors about me using the excuse of being my boyfriend!

"You and I have absolutely nothing to do with each other anymore. Do you understand, Magnus?"