The Morning After

[Ava’s POV]

I pull the strap of my bag tighter around my shoulder and step through the main doors of the academy. The hallway is already packed.

 Every pair of eyes seems to find me the second I walk in. Phones are out, screens glowing, and I do not need to guess what they are scrolling through. 

Yesterday’s kiss is probably on every story, every group chat, every private message by now. I keep my head down and walk straight toward my locker, pretending the weight of their stares is not pressing against the back of my neck.

When I reach the metal door I twist the combination and pull it open. Something thin and white flutters out and lands near my shoe. I bend down and pick it up. The handwriting is messy and angry.

Back off, bitch. He’s not yours.

I stare at the words for a second, then fold the paper once and toss it into the bottom of my locker without another thought. I already knew yesterday would invite trouble, especially from whoever thinks they have a claim on Kyle West. 

Today I planned to end it. I planned to tell everyone it was a joke, that I never meant any of it, that Kyle and I have nothing to do with each other. Nobody is going to beat me up for admitting I lost my temper. That is what I tell myself as I close the locker door.

Then I turn around and freeze at the sight in front of me.

Sophie is walking toward me. Two girls flank her like bodyguards. One of them is Nicole, the girl Sophie and I used to whisper about in the back of class, the one we made a pinky promise never to befriend because she treated people like furniture. 

The other is the same girl who used to shove my books off desks last year, the one Sophie always stepped in front of to protect me. Now Sophie walks between them like she belongs there, with her chin high up, and her smile sharper than I'd ever seen.

They stop a few feet away. Nicole looks me up and down slowly, like she is checking for dirt.

“So yesterday you thought putting on that little show to mock Ryan was just going to end there?” one of the girls says, voice sweet and fake.

Nicole tilts her head. “Look at her. She actually thinks she can get Kyle.”

The third girl laughs under her breath. “Not even knowing that Nicole and Kyle are already the campus sweethearts. I don’t know where this little peacock thinks she’s going, trying to seduce someone who already has better options.”

“No wonder Ryan dumped her,” the first girl adds.

“At least we’re proud he finally chose our queen,” another says, and all three of them glance at Sophie. Sophie’s cheeks pink, but she does not look away from me.

I keep my arms folded across my chest and say nothing. Yesterday the anger had been so loud it drowned out everything else. 

Today the hallway feels too bright and too full of people who can ruin a scholarship with one well-placed rumor. These girls run the social side of this school. One wrong word and the board will start asking questions I cannot afford to answer.

One of them steps closer and knocks the bag off my shoulder with the back of her hand. It hits the floor with a dull thud.

“You better know what you’re doing next time,” she says. “We won’t let you off with a simple warning again.”

They turn like the conversation is finished. I let out a breath I did not realize I was holding. At least I know better than to enrage them further. 

Then Sophie stops as if she remembers something, she pivots on her heel, and walks right back to me. 

My lungs lock. She reaches out, grabs the strap of my backpack, and yanks it hard, taking me completely off guard. 

The zipper gives way. The notebooks, pens, and the little pouch I keep my bus fare in spill across the tile. I lunge for the bag immediately, trying to save what little face I have left. 

We both pull, making the fabric tear a little at the seam, and the rough tug sends me flying forward, my knee hits the floor hard enough to sting.

Someone behind them laughs.

“Where’s all that pride she had yesterday when she was claiming to be somebody?”

“She thinks she’s a phoenix or something,” another voice says. More laughter follows.

I push myself up, gather what is left of my dignity, and try to step around them. They move with me, blocking the path. 

The crowd that had been pretending not to watch now parts just enough to give Nicole a clear walkway. She strolls forward like the hallway belongs to her. Sophie rushes to her side. They both glare at me like I'm the one thing standing between them and their future.

Nicole’s mouth curves into something that is not quite a smile. But just as she opens her lips to speak.

“What makes you all think you can bully my girlfriend?”

A voice cuts through the noise from behind the group, calm and cold enough to make the nearest phones lower.

Every head turns. I know the voice before I see him. It is not Ryan. Ryan never stood up for me once in two years. 

When I look over my shoulder, Kyle West is walking toward us. His dark hair is still damp, a few droplets sliding down the side of his neck like he just stepped out of a morning shower. 

His hands are tucked into the pockets of his jacket. As he steps past the girls and stops directly in front of me, the scent of clean soap mixed with whatever cologne he wears drifts over.

He does not look at me, instead, he looks straight at them.

“Touch her again and you’ll regret it,” he says, his voice even and cold.

The hallway goes quiet in a different way this time. Nicole’s expression flickers. Sophie’s mouth opens and closes once. The other girl takes a half-step back like the floor has shifted. 

Kyle still does not move. He just stands there between me and them, shoulders relaxed, as if daring anyone to test the words he just spoke.

I can feel the heat of every stare shifting from me to him and back again. My bag is still half-open in my hands. My knee still stings. 

The note from earlier is crumpled at the bottom of my locker. And the boy who was supposed to be a one-time desperate lie is now claiming me in front of the entire junior class like it is the most natural thing in the world.

I do not know whether to thank him or run.