Semua Bab Rich Love : Bab 91 - Bab 100

Carolyn's POVIt had been weeks since school resumed, but this particular morning back at school after the holidays felt strange.I should’ve felt rested. Ready to focus on schoolwork, exams that were going to happen in the next three months, I mean it was still very far, but I won't mind, I just wanted to stop coming to this school, I wanted something, something to get my mind off the wreckage of last term and what had happened to me weeks ago. But instead, I woke with a weight in my chest and a sense of wrongness I couldn’t quite name. Like I was walking into something… waiting to happen.It wasn’t just my usual anxiety. No, this was different. It sat under my skin like a vibration—tense, alert, suspicious. Even my mirror seemed to reflect back someone more fragile than before. I had taken my time getting ready. Extra lip gloss, neat braids, pressed uniform. I needed the armor. Infact, the extra time I take in front of the mirror helps me get my self-confidence back, something that

J.J.’s POVYou know that feeling you get when you're standing at the edge of something terrible? That split second before a car crashes, before lightning strikes? I felt that all day.It was like something in the air was crackling. The silence between conversations. The hush when Carolyn passed. Even the way the teachers watched her—like she was something fragile about to break, or worse, something dangerous they’d been warned about.And I knew.I knew Emma had done something. I just didn’t know what.I skipped first period.I wandered behind the administrative building instead, smoking half a cigarette I didn’t even want. My stomach churned. My hands wouldn’t stop twitching. Everything inside me screamed: do something.But I didn’t.I kept hearing Emma’s voice in my head:“Trust me. You’ll be glad you stayed out of it.”And part of me still wanted to believe that. That maybe she just wanted to embarrass Carolyn. Make her cry. Make her leave school for a day or two. Nothing serious.I

The hardest part wasn't watching her walk out of the principal's office like a ghost of herself.It was doing nothing about it.I stood by the lockers, surrounded by noise—slamming doors, someone laughing too loud, the squeak of sneakers on tile—but I couldn’t hear any of it. Not really. Everything sounded like it was underwater. All I could hear was my heartbeat, thudding in my chest like a fist knocking from the inside. Loud. Fast. Uneven.Carolyn passed me.Her eyes slid over mine like she was looking straight through glass. Like I wasn’t even there.I should’ve said her name. Should’ve reached out, grabbed her wrist, made her stop. Told her it wasn’t true. Told her she didn’t deserve this.But my feet were concrete. My throat was a closed fist.And just like that, she was gone—her silhouette swallowed by the hallway’s sharp light.I stared after her, trying to replay what had just happened, but it kept skipping like a scratched disc.Julius appeared beside me like he’d sprinted ou

J.J.'s POVIf guilt had a voice, mine wouldn’t shut up.It echoed in every step I took, every time I passed her empty seat in class, every time I opened my phone and ignored Julius’s messages. And when I passed Carolyn’s locker—bare, emptied out like she never existed—it screamed.But I didn’t do anything.Because doing something meant admitting I was part of the reason she was gone. I won't lie, I felt empty and strange, maybe weird to no longer have Carolyn in the school. Her being gone did something to me and in a bad way, it was really hard to walk around the school not seeing her face and not feeling a glimps of those beautiful blue eyes of hers. I want so badly to go to her place and talk to her, to tell Aunty Pat that Carolyn was innocent, to kiss her and let her know that everything thing would be okay but I know I was in no position to be seen by her, she probably hates my guts and if I were her I would hate me too. Sometimes I felt nothing but guilt, other times I felt the

J.J.'s POVI had never known silence to be so loud.Everywhere I went in school, it followed me. Through the corridors, into class, even during lunch—an uncomfortable buzz that grew louder with every stare, every whisper, every glance that wasn’t just curious, but expectant.People were waiting.For me to say something. Do something.To admit it. To deny it.To stand up for Carolyn—or confirm her guilt.And every day I said nothing, it got worse.I thought it would get easier after she left. After the scene in the principal’s office. After she walked out with her head down, her shoulders hunched like someone carrying too much grief for a body so small. I thought the rumors would quiet. That people would forget.But they didn’t.They watched me now.Emma especially.She didn’t say anything directly after the meeting with the principal. But she didn’t have to. The glint in her eyes was enough. Victory. Control.She’d made her move.And I’d let her.Julius cornered me again about Carolyn