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Chapter One HUndred-Forty Six

Penulis: Onuorah Linda
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-08-24 12:24:42

J.J's POV

The gates of Covenant High groaned open that Monday morning, the weight of another term pressing down with the heat of late summer.

I’d been waiting for this day. Counting down the weeks, the days, the hours. Every late-night party, every haze of powder and smoke, every time Emma draped herself across my lap and whispered forget her—it all led to this.

The day I’d see her again.

Carolyn.

I told myself I wanted revenge. I told myself I was ready to play enemy, to crush whatever strength she thought she had left. But beneath the armor, beneath the sharp rehearsed lines, there was one thing I couldn’t admit even to myself—

I just wanted to see her face.

To prove to myself she was still here.

Still mine to destroy.

Still mine to want.

The campus was buzzing, uniforms crisp, voices loud. SS2 had that strange mix of pride and dread—too old to be called kids, too young to be treated like adults.

George spotted me first, slapping my shoulder with his usual grin.

“Back at it, man. SS
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  • Rich Love    Chapter One Hundred-Fifty

    Carolyn’s POVThe conference hall was vast, all glass and steel, buzzing with voices that echoed off high ceilings. Schools from across the country had gathered, uniforms crisp, banners unfurled, badges pinned like medals of pride.Hillcrest’s team huddled near the front, the navy blazers making us look sharper than I felt. I smoothed my skirt with trembling hands.This was Nationals. The kind of stage I’d once watched from a distance, never dreaming I’d stand here.Maya leaned in. “Ready, Care?”I nodded. Or tried to. My throat was too dry.Then I heard it.A laugh. Familiar. Rough around the edges, the kind of sound I hadn’t forgotten no matter how much I tried.I froze.And when I turned—There he was.J.ay Johnson.Tall. Perfectly pressed Covenant blazer. The kind of presence that sucked air out of a room.For a moment, the world stilled. His eyes flicked across the room, searching. Then they landed on me.I could swear my heart stopped.He didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. Just looked

  • Rich Love    Chapter One Hundred-Forty Nine

    Carolyn's POV When I transferred to Hillcrest Academy, I didn’t expect to be noticed.I wanted to disappear. To blend into uniforms and hallways, to let time bury Covenant High and all its ghosts.But Hillcrest had other plans.From the first week, whispers followed me—not the cruel, mocking kind I’d endured at Covenant, but curious ones. Admiring ones.“The girl with the blue eyes.”“She’s so pretty—where did she transfer from?”“Do you think she’ll join debate? Or choir? She has the kind of look that belongs on a stage.”I ignored them at first, clutching my notebooks close and tucking my hair behind my ears. Popularity had always been a curse to me, a spotlight that burned rather than warmed.But Hillcrest wasn’t Covenant.Here, I wasn’t the scandal. I wasn’t Emma’s shadow or J.J.’s mistake.I was just Carolyn Okoli.And for the first time in a long time, being seen didn’t hurt.It happened during Literature class.Mrs. Adeyemi, sharp-eyed and elegant, paused mid-discussion and se

  • Rich Love    Chapter One Hundred-Forty Eight

    J.J's POVThe announcement came on a Tuesday morning, the kind of morning when everything in Covenant High felt ordinary. The sky was the usual dull gray, the corridors buzzed with gossip and laughter, and I sat at my desk pretending to listen while my mind drifted elsewhere.Then Mr. Williams, the debate coach, walked into class.He carried that stiff-backed authority like always, but his eyes swept the room with purpose. Everyone hushed immediately. That was the effect he had—half respect, half fear.He cleared his throat.“As you all know,” he began, “Covenant High has been invited once again to participate in the National Secondary Schools Debate Competition. It is one of the highest honors for our school, and we only send the best.”Murmurs rippled across the room. I leaned back in my seat, uninterested.Debate had always been background noise for me—something Julius excelled at, something Emma dabbled in when she wanted attention. Not my thing.But then Mr. Williams said it.“Th

  • Rich Love    Chapter One Hundred-Forty Seven

    Carolyn's POVWhen Aunt Pat’s car pulled up in front of Hillcrest Academy, I pressed my forehead to the cool window, staring at the sprawling campus.It was nothing like Covenant High.The gates didn’t feel like prison bars. The buildings didn’t loom with sharp edges. The air itself seemed lighter, freer, like it hadn’t been poisoned by whispered rumors and cruel laughter.But my chest still tightened.A new school meant new faces, new names, new eyes to stare at me. And no matter how many times I told myself this was a fresh start, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Covenant’s shadows would follow me here.The first thing I noticed about Hillcrest students was how alive they seemed. They moved in clusters, laughter spilling across the courtyard, voices rising without fear of being crushed by some invisible hierarchy.It unnerved me.I wasn’t used to joy being so loud.When I walked through the gates that morning, uniform pressed and hair neatly pinned, heads turned.Some whispered. So

  • Rich Love    Chapter One HUndred-Forty Six

    J.J's POVThe gates of Covenant High groaned open that Monday morning, the weight of another term pressing down with the heat of late summer.I’d been waiting for this day. Counting down the weeks, the days, the hours. Every late-night party, every haze of powder and smoke, every time Emma draped herself across my lap and whispered forget her—it all led to this.The day I’d see her again.Carolyn.I told myself I wanted revenge. I told myself I was ready to play enemy, to crush whatever strength she thought she had left. But beneath the armor, beneath the sharp rehearsed lines, there was one thing I couldn’t admit even to myself—I just wanted to see her face.To prove to myself she was still here.Still mine to destroy.Still mine to want.The campus was buzzing, uniforms crisp, voices loud. SS2 had that strange mix of pride and dread—too old to be called kids, too young to be treated like adults.George spotted me first, slapping my shoulder with his usual grin.“Back at it, man. SS

  • Rich Love    Chapter One Hundred-Forty Five

    J.J's POVThe summer heat pressed down on the city like a living thing.Nights were the worst. The air thick, the silence suffocating, and every time I shut my eyes I saw her face.Carolyn.Her wide, tear-filled eyes when I made her watch me kiss Emma. The tremor in her voice when she cursed me out, every word slicing me open. The way she looked at me that last day — not with love, not even with hate, but with something worse.Disappointment.I’d been trying to drink her out of my system since school let out, but it never worked. Whiskey burned my throat, vodka left me numb, but nothing touched the ache in my chest. Nothing stopped the ghost of her voice whispering my name in the quiet.I hated her.That’s what I told myself. That’s what I told everyone.But hate is just love with its teeth bared.Emma was around more than usual.She liked to play the girlfriend role when it suited her, draping herself across my couch, her perfume thick in the air, her laugh too sharp. She’d talk abou

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