All Chapters of Rich Love : Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

J.J's POVThere’s a heaviness in the air after the SS1 graduation party, like the halls themselves are still buzzing with whispers of what happened. People’s laughter lingers in the corners, but for me, it’s just static. Every step I take in this school feels like walking through smoke — blurry, suffocating, and hot with something I can’t name without choking on it.I should have felt proud. Victorious. I embarrassed Carolyn, didn’t I? I made sure she knew exactly where she stood — outside the circle, outside my life, outside of me. I had dragged her into the light and left her there to burn in front of everyone. That should’ve been enough. That should’ve killed whatever fragile thread tied me to her.But it didn’t.Instead, it made me restless. Uneasy. Angry in ways that had nothing to do with her and everything to do with myself.Because the truth was, even while Emma clung to my arm, even while I kissed her in front of Carolyn, my eyes had flickered — searching for her face. Watchi

Carolyn POVThe courtyard seemed to hold its breath.Maybe it was just me. Maybe the world hadn’t slowed, maybe the whispers hadn’t hushed, maybe the other students weren’t watching with wide, hungry eyes. But I felt it — the pressure of their stares, the sting of their laughter waiting to erupt, the weight of humiliation settling heavy in my chest.J.J. still had my wrist. His fingers dug into my skin, and the ghost of Emma’s lips still clung to his.I couldn’t breathe.“You’re cruel,” I whispered again, though my voice cracked this time, weak where I wanted it to be sharp.Emma only laughed, a high, cold sound that sliced right through me. “He chose me, Carolyn. Not you. Never you.”Her hand slid down J.J.’s arm, claiming him. My heart screamed inside my chest, but my face — my face burned with something hotter than shame.Rage.“You think this makes you powerful?” I snapped, yanking my wrist free. “Dragging me out here, humiliating me, flaunting yourself like you’ve won something?

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

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

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